How do I boost monster / NPC will saves?

[Raymond Lambert]

Looking for options beyond:
Iron will
Extra hit dice
Cloak of resistance

I am very open to 3.5 material! Skeptical but still willing to.look at 3rd pp material. Please include the sour ebook if you recall it.

Think there us at least one trait based on religion. Hoping to find another trait also.

[tkul]

well the simplest if it's an NPC is to nudge their wisdom up, they're NPCs they don't have to use the point buy system if you don't want them to just don't go nuts with it. You can also apply templates that increase their Wisdom (Advanced, Lycanthrope, Fey Animal, etc). Amber Spindle and Incandescent Blue Sphere Ioun stones aren't bad for slotless items.

[Skizm]

Maykem ragin barbarians!
RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!

[Mudfoot]

If it's just for one specific adventure, you might have something in the water (literally) that makes the denizens of the area stubborn, bloodthirsty, obstinate and less susceptible to mind-affecting effects. If the PCs twig what's going on, they can even bottle it, though it doesn't preserve very well and might have side effects.

Don't abuse this sort of thing, of course; make it a positive plot point rather than a mere crude GM fudge to counter the uberoptimised enchanter wizard.

Or use monsters like undead that are immune to the spell in question (if applicable).

[Skeld]

Raymond Lambert wrote:

Looking for options beyond:

Iron will
Extra hit dice
Cloak of resistance

I am very open to 3.5 material! Skeptical but still willing to.look at 3rd pp material. Please include the sour ebook if you recall it.

Think there us at least one trait based on religion. Hoping to find another trait also.

If you're the GM, you can just raise the monster/NPC Will save modifier if you want or need. It's completely valid to change a modifier by +/-2 as needed to represent atypical circumstances in an encounter.

-Skeld

[Douglas Muir 406]

Increase their Wisdom. Give them a class level or two. Just a single level of Expert gives +2.

What kind of monsters/NPCs are we talking about here?

Doug M.

[bfobar]

Also protection from good may make them immune to your party enchanter's shenanigans. Unless he's neutral.

[Sic_Pixie]

Advanced gives you +4 per stat which is a +2 on their Will saves.

Sic

[BigDTBone]

Look at the stat block, find the will save box. Cross out the number in the box. Write down the number you want it to be.

Seriously, if the game is better with the NPC having a higher will save then just give them a higher will save.

[Astral Wanderer]

If the NPCs and monsters belong to the same group, and that group has both means and good reasons for this, you can give them single-use items that give a bonus to Will saves for some time.
Such as: Brooch of Mental Shielding - When the wearer is subject to an effect that requires a Will save, he receives a +X bonus on such saves for 1 minute.
You can change or add effects, like "the wearer may reroll any failed Will save after the result is revealed, but he must take the second result even if lower" or "natural 1s are not automatically a failure". And adjust the duration as appropiate, of course.
The boons of them being single use are: 1) low cost, easy to mass produce and distribute; 2) once used, it loses magic, so the PCs won't end up with excess loot.

[Lathiira]

You can also give them traits to boost the saves you need. They don't need to follow the guidelines on such things: pick a few traits that bump the save you want, make sure they use different bonuses (or take the best one). You could even say something like, "the Denizens of Hardheadford are known for their stubbornness throughout the kingdom." then give every NPC in that town a trait to match.

[Zhayne]

Just change the numbers to be what you need/want them to be. NPCs/monsters aren't PCs; they serve an entirely different purpose in the game, and aren't subject to the same rules.