Technique for immunity to area dispel magic

[kerbarian]

The area version of dispel magic affects spells in order of descending caster level. So you can pad yourself with lots of useless spells that have a higher caster level than the spells you care about. The thing I hadn't considered until now is that you can do that with permanent-duration spells.

Arcane Mark would be perfect if it weren't an effect spell, but Magic Mouth is pretty good. So cast several Magic Mouths on everyone in the party and then cast the buffs you care about at -1 caster level (which typically just means a slightly shorter duration), and they'll never be hit by an area dispel.

Or, if you want to avoid the annoyance of -1 caster level on your spells, you could use something like Spell Enhancer (SC) with the Magic Mouths, so that they're higher caster level than your normal spells.

Edit: Just noticed that Magic Mouth costs 10gp per casting, which is less than ideal for this technique. I don't see any other lowish-level, permanent, targeted spells in the SRD -- are there any good candidates in other sources?

 

[Nail]

Charm Person isn't permanent, but it's duration is long enough....and since you're casting it on a (supposed) friend anyway......

 

[Nail]

How about an extended Endure Elements spell?

 

[starwed]

Well, modify memory has a duration of permanent. As long as you trust the caster, that would work well.

Mark of justice would kind of work, but since it acts like bestow curse, only against greater dispels. (Again, you'd need to trust the caster.)

Personally, I'd just research a version of (Nystul's) magic aura which could target creatures.

 

[kjenks]

Check with your DM to see how he interprets a Ring of Counterspells. Some of us believe that it counters area spells per the counterspell action. Others believe that it only affects spells with a Target: entry.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I accidentally stumbled upon Water Breathing as surprisingly good for padding. Good duration. You can divide it up many targets as desired. 3rd level so that many standard buffs are protected to some degree.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I accidentally stumbled upon Water Breathing as surprisingly good for padding. Good duration. You can divide it up many targets as desired. 3rd level so that many standard buffs are protected to some degree.

The spell level is irrelevant; it's caster level that determines the order.

A 5th level spell at caster level 9 will be buffered by a 1st level spell at caster level 10.

-Hyp.

 

[Nail]

Hence wanting to find the lowest level spell possible.

...Or a bead of karma. There's always room for a Bead of Karma!

 

[Jack Simth]

Umm..... I don't think that works out too well all the time... a buffer, sure, but not immunity:

Area Dispel: When dispel magic is used in this way, the spell affects everything within a 20-foot radius.

For each creature within the area that is the subject of one or more spells, you make a dispel check against the spell with the highest caster level. If that check fails, you make dispel checks against progressively weaker spells until you dispel one spell (which discharges the dispel magic spell so far as that target is concerned) or until you fail all your checks. The creature’s magic items are not affected.

(Emphasis added).

So, yeah, if he has a 50/50 chance of dispelling the highest level spell on you, you have a 50% miss chance for the area dispel hitting something you care about. Of course, if it misses, he now has a 55% chance of dispelling the next highest level spell on you......

 

[ThirdWizard]

Pass the +1 caster level ioun stone to the wizard, get the charm person, and then pass it back to its origional owner, who isn't a buffer.