Thinking about the problem of BBEG single mob encounters and how to make it so that one beasty can take alot of damage without making them guaranteed TPK's. Shield Other seems a great start, but if used you have a caster in the area making it not a single BBEG encounter and this spell will at most only double the length of the fight. So how about a Greater Shield Other that could change how this works?
My thought would be a very high level spell that could divide the damage amongst more than just 2 people. You would have a focus that is the target of the spell and then 1 extra target per four caster levels (5 people with a 20th level caster) the damage is then divided equally amongst the targets. An optional use of this spell is that it can also be used with specially prepared objects, a hunk or stone, or iron, or wood carved with magic symbols that contain a pool of hp's and costs depending on material (500 gp for a block of wood that has 50 hp, just an example). The materials should be fairly costly for something of this caliber. I'm guessing the spell should be 7th or 8th level, possibly even 9th. The range should be Long so it could cover a large area if needed. I strongly advise against giving this to pc's though.
Thoughts?
The greater shield other we had divided the damage in half and then reduced the damage to the caster (By 3+1 per 3 caster levels after 3rd). Putting that on a barbarian, we won almost every encounter that way (And since I was playing a character who specialized in damaging strength). Dividing it amongst multiple targets is really a lot better than that. The thing is, monsters would go after the caster and beat on him, or just hit the barbarian anyway until the caster went down. That spell was 5th level I believe, and lasted for 1 min/level.
The greater shield other we had divided the damage in half and then reduced the damage to the caster (By 3+1 per 3 caster levels after 3rd). Putting that on a barbarian, we won almost every encounter that way (And since I was playing a character who specialized in damaging strength). Dividing it amongst multiple targets is really a lot better than that. The thing is, monsters would go after the caster and beat on him, or just hit the barbarian anyway until the caster went down. That spell was 5th level I believe, and lasted for 1 min/level.
My intentions were for more of a DM only spell or something that could spur an interesting side quest (destroy the Enchanted Greater Shield Other Orbs(TM) before fighting the BBEG) type thing, not something that should fall into the party's hands, tbh.
Well, if it's a spell I always expect it to get gotten by the party somehow. After all, turnabout's fair play (As is dispel magic). If you want them not to want to use it, have it make all but one member of the group mindless (A great ploy that I shamelessly stole from the DM of that very same game with the greater shield).
There is a vestige in the Tome of Magic that has the ability to use Shield Self. It's basically Shield Other, but he can force an opponent to take 1/2 his damage if it fails a Will Save.
Might make for an interesting NPC item or ability.
