The dreaded scrying / teleportation hunter-killer problem

[transcendation]

The plot of my game is starting to get repetitive...

The players have been using the strategy of scrying on their enemies, studying the area, and then teleporting in to wipe out the bad guy, usually when he's alone.

I need some ideas to prevent this technique from ruining my campaign.

Help!

 

[jedavis]

Nondetection. Or Ring thereof.

Or, if you want to be more subtle, don't let them know who their enemies are.

Or better yet, have your villains use body doubles/simalcra. And set traps based on the assumption that someone is going to come for the double.

On the other front, you might try Anticipate Teleportation and the greater version thereof (Complete Arcane). And I'm pretty sure I've seen a redirect teleportation spell before, but I don't know where. Even with the normal anticipate, it gives the villain a round to alert the guards and teleport out.

Or you use villains with extraplanar lairs. Can't scry off of the material plane, and can't teleport there either.

 

[Moleculo]

You could have the villians do the same thing to them as well. You could also have villians set illusions around their surroundings when they sleep. Maybe a villain sleeps on a bed surrounded by a pit of acid which is glamered to look like a solid floor...

 

[Mark Chance]

There are oodles of ways to defeat this tactic. False vision, hallucinatory terrain, mirage arcana, screen, veil, dimensional lock, mage's private sanctum, and sequester all present good options. The rather basic detect scrying is an obvious choice. Nightmare against the scryer can also be discouraging. Finally, don't forget the target of scrying gets a Will save to negate the spell.