The best anti-caster tactic

[MarauderX]

Nope. Nice try, though.

Hm...

Well, if they don't need to stand to cast (still not sure about that one, having been stopped from doing it once), doesn't casting itself provoke an AoO? In which case the monk drags the sorry caster from the ground only to test gravity with her again.

Ruleslawyer: stunning fist runs out after a few rounds (if you hit), not to mention there is a relatively low DC Will save for the caster that she will most likely make.

 

[youspoonybard]

Stunning Fist is a fort save, but you're limited to only 1/round, so it's all or nothing.

 

[Endur]

Monks.

Improved Grapple, Combat Reflexes, Stunning Fist, SR, various immunities, good saves. Monks are a spell-casters worst nightmare.

 

[Al]

doesn't casting itself provoke an AoO?

Casting on the defensive for a high level primary caster is a joke- about the only time you could ever fail is if you're playing critical failure rules and the caster rolls a 1.

Stunning Attack him. Next round, full attack him with more Stunning Attacks.

Stunning Attack works fine at low and mid levels, until Freedom of Movement or equivalent magics start appearing.

Xavim's sentiments are pretty much right. A well-prepared top-level wizard in his own tower is nearly invincible short of truly overwhelming force, and you'll definitely need rogues, lots of protection spells and a small company of casters to defuse his traps and wards. Even a relatively obvious tactic such as dropping the intruders into a vat of acid and then antimagicking the area (through e.g. minions standing on a grille above the pit, with holes less than arrow width, who can cast AMF) can be a TPK for a top-level party. That's one I dreamed up in a couple of minutes, and I don't unfortunately have an Int score in the 30s. Essentially, the only way to attack a wizard's tower is to gain 'proper' access- this will require non-combat methods such as persuading a leading minion to defect, seducing the wizard in question or bluffing your ways past the guards. For isolated liches with minions who are 100% loyal to them and with orders to let *no one* pass without his express permission, you can pretty much drop the 'nearly' from my second sentence.

 

[Thanee]

Monks are a spell-casters worst nightmare.

Not really!

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

PC spellcasters still alive... please provide more deadly info!

Hey, it's not your job to kill off PC spellcasters!

It's your job to ensure that everyone has fun (this includes challenges, of course)!

Well, maybe you can give more information about your party (classes, levels and other important bits and pieces)?

Bye
Thanee

 

[Li Shenron]

Hey, it's not your job to kill off PC spellcasters!

It's your job to ensure that everyone has fun (this includes challenges, of course)!

Don't forget that is includes the DM

Well, maybe you can give more information about your party (classes, levels and other important bits and pieces)?

Bye
Thanee

Well, really it was a general question, and I am player in other games so the most I am going to make out of your suggestions is to protect my own Wiz/Sor other than opposing my players

And so far the thing that scares me most is Trip. Once you are on the ground, you provoke AoO if you try to stand up (and another AoO if you move away, since you can't Withdraw anymore), you provoke and AoO if you crawl away, you provoke an AoO if you cast a spell. An enemy with Combat Reflexes and Improved Trip becomes a nightmare. I tried to play Neverwinter Nights few months ago and I quitted when I got unbelievably pissed off by the knocking-down monsters, and now they even give an AoO for standing up in 3.5

 

[Xavim]

If your wizard is high level improved trip doesn't matter. Use the casting defensively option they mentioned and no AoO. Or always have a Contingency Teleport effect on so that if anyone engages you in melee you are teleported several hundred/thousand feet into the air. You then cast fly and destroy the enemy with your offensive spells or summon a host of extremely HEAVY monsters and literally rain cats and dogs.

Let's see a monk deal with that.

 

[MarauderX]

So I suppose we are talking 1 high level caster, not a bunch of lower level ones ganging up on a party. If that's the case, you should get a stealthy character (or two) with all sorts of buffs to silence him, make him invisible, etc. so that he can pounce on the high-level caster when she is unaware. The sneaky guy(s) would only do one thing - grapple. A high level caster may have a contingency to get out of it in a flash, and if so the next task is to find out where he will go and be ready for him - with another grappler.

Once grappled, a high level caster may have Still Spell or other such feats, in which once pinned the grappler(s) should try to do some damage to make force a concentration check. Hopefully more help will be close by to the caster and can back up the grappler quickly by casting Silence 15' on the grappler, not the caster.

Which class is most adept at the above? It would depend on what components you may place more weight on. Getting to the caster may be the toughest part, so a rogue would be best. Or if the caster is a good grappler or can run faster than anyone, use a Str-based Monk. I would use the two of them in conjunction for flanking and if the caster somehow shrugs off one of the grapplers. If the caster has Detect Invisible or other enhancements, the rogue would probably be the best to make it to her first followed by the fast moving monk. Enter the rest of the party to help with 'subdual'; the party casters to start casting Save spells, like feeblemind if they are high enough level to make the DC at least a 25% chance of missing for the caster, and the party tanks to wreak some serious damage on the caster if she tries to cast anything or disarm her if she tries to use an item.

 

[Felix]

3 liquid injury poisons held in 10-dose vials in the hilt of daggers, each one targeting a different mental stat. Each time the dagger strikes, a dose is released into the target's bloodstream.

What this does is allow you to grapple with a caster (to stop them from running away too soon) and perforate them with your dagger. You can also stop them from using any somatic, material, and verbal component spells. (That can be defeated by a Stilled, Silenced, Material Eschewed spell, but how often does that happen?) Likely the poison will drain their prime casting stat causing them to lose their highest level spells. Once you get them below 10, they're toast.

It also has the benefit of rendering them unconscious, and not dead, to allow you to interrogate/capture if that's what you're all about.