+2 trait bonus against charm and compulsion.
Had this on a dwarf druid in a Kingmaker campaign. I poured it on with Iron Will and later the improved version. A couple times I hit the jackpot and had to save against fey that were trying to charm/compel. I pretty much never failed a will save, maybe 2-3 times the whole adventure path.
One of my biggest annoyances is people who don't understand Dominate. It's nowhere near as powerful as people seem to think it is. Note these two important parts:
Subjects resist this control, and any subject forced to take actions against its nature receives a new saving throw with a +2 bonus. Obviously self-destructive orders are not carried out.
I think it kind of depends on how you define the word nature. I would use "the innate or essential qualities or character of a person or animal." In game terms, this is probably best represented by alignment subtypes, such [good] or [lawful]. This is what composes the very fiber of your being, not what you are taught - that would be "nurture". While paladins and clerics might be close enough to one of these alignment subtype categories by virtue of their auras, most other characters don't. For most PCs, killing things and taking their stuff is about as close as they come to having innate "qualities".
Dominate person is crazy powerful, perhaps even being the most powerful spell in the game. You can't command a dominated character to do anything without triggering a second save, but a well worded command will work without a save 99% of the time.
Unholy Blight has no extra effect against Aasimar either. They do not have the [Good] subtype, and therefore are not considered "Good Outsiders", regardless of alignment.Has anyone mentioned playing a native outsider as it makes you immune to all spells that affect humanoids? Charm person, dominate person - you wont need to think about those.That is just.. brilliant. Just have the whole party be aasimars, tieflings and so on. I think this is the best suggestion so far.as someone who is currently in a mostly Aasimar party
you get unholy blighted a lot
and it really hurts
also it doesn't stop charm monster
the spell doesn't specify that the Good subtype is needed for the increased damage, it just says good outsider. So anyone with a good alignment and the outsider type qualifies
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the spell doesn't specify that the Good subtype is needed for the increased damage, it just says good outsider. So anyone with a good alignment and the outsider type qualifiesUnholy Blight has no extra effect against Aasimar either. They do not have the [Good] subtype, and therefore are not considered "Good Outsiders", regardless of alignment.Has anyone mentioned playing a native outsider as it makes you immune to all spells that affect humanoids? Charm person, dominate person - you wont need to think about those.That is just.. brilliant. Just have the whole party be aasimars, tieflings and so on. I think this is the best suggestion so far.as someone who is currently in a mostly Aasimar party
you get unholy blighted a lot
and it really hurts
also it doesn't stop charm monster
Except that's not what "good outsider" means in game terms. In game terms, that means "an outsider with the good subtype".
Except that's not what "good outsider" means in game terms. In game terms, that means "an outsider with the good subtype".
the spell doesn't specify that the Good subtype is needed for the increased damage, it just says good outsider. So anyone with a good alignment and the outsider type qualifies
Do you have a rules citation that indicates that?
I don't actually know if outsiders need the good subtype or not. Without the rules indicating somewhere that they do, however, I don't see why good outsiders need the good subtype to be affected for double damage any more than a good creature needs the good subtype to be affected at all (the good subtype usually applies to outsiders, but by strict RAW it doesn't have to).
My problem with the seducer's bane bracelet is that it is a resistance bonus and thus doesn't stack with the cloak of resistance you normally wear.
I now decided on playing an outsider (sylph) caster (witch) wearing a cap of the free thinker.
So I have immunity to some spells because I'm no person, have a high base save and a free reroll and a fly speed (via racial traits) to get away from controlled companions.
While I do not have the slumber hex the witch spell list has enough options to hinder/debuff people.
Ok, everyone always loves to suggest human for barbarian due to the favored class bonus...but I question whether that is necessarily the best option.
The favored class bonus does not have an effect until you spend 3 bonuses on it. It takes a while to get a rather noticable increase to superstition.
So, my suggestion is this- a half elf with the dual minded racial trait. That is a +2 to will saves, and elven immunities give another +2 to saves against enchantment spells and effects. That is a +4 that you get right from the get go. While the human favored class bonus can eventually surpass that, and it obviously covers a wider area of saves....surpassing halves in this one area doesn't happen until level 15 (it matches at level 12). Both of those are caps that a lot of campaigns will never achieve. So getting a huge boost at the beginning seems like it would be more effective.
Side note- relying on the dwarves' hardy/steel soul combo is a horrible way go doing this. That only protects against spells and SLAs. It doesn't stop supernatural powers...such as vampires and anything else with dominate. So it is not a niche scenario (particularly for a determined GM). Sure, spells are far more common...but we are talking about the effects that make you murder your team mates. The dwarf race traits help, but I still like the fact that half elves have a high resistance to enchantment 'effects'.
Also, obviously, half elves provide an excellent boost against this scenario, no matter what class you pick. Minimal investment with solid protection. Half elves also have a racial trait that lets them reroll against enchantments, which you could possibly stack with improved iron will's reroll against will saves in general.
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I'm curious what kind of mind control he's using.
If you folks are low level, then charm person isn't really effective at that. Its really tough to make a guy fight his friends at another friend (or trusted confidante)'s behalf.
Also 'mind control the beefy guy' is a standard tactic. Enchanters in my campaign used it on the barbarian so much he got sick of it (I think getting unnatural lust for a pit was the straw for the proverbial camel), got Iron Will as a feat and picked up stuff like superstition.
Mind affecting compulsion spells, short of dominate, don't do what the DM seems to think they do.
They don't let him puppet you.
Charm person is so damn finicky in its interpretations I'm willing to bet you could find like five or six different threads on it.
And other compulsion effects are typically short lived and really, really narrow in their focus.
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I think it kind of depends on how you define the word nature. I would use "the innate or essential qualities or character of a person or animal." For most PCs, killing things and taking their stuff is about as close as they come to having innate "qualities".
Ha, that give me the idea: if I use Dominate I will take out a character by telling him to stop fighting and loot the bodies.
Ok, everyone always loves to suggest human for barbarian due to the favored class bonus...but I question whether that is necessarily the best option.
The favored class bonus does not have an effect until you spend 3 bonuses on it. It takes a while to get a rather noticable increase to superstition.
So, my suggestion is this- a half elf...
Half-elfs are also human and can thus qualify for the human FCB. The same for half-orcs.
Half-elfs are also human and can thus qualify for the human FCB. The same for half-orcs.Ok, everyone always loves to suggest human for barbarian due to the favored class bonus...but I question whether that is necessarily the best option.
The favored class bonus does not have an effect until you spend 3 bonuses on it. It takes a while to get a rather noticable increase to superstition.
So, my suggestion is this- a half elf...
Well...while I never entirely liked that decision, it does mean that you pretty much have a winner for 'screw the saving throws'.
Hell...I am beginning to think you can take on the dreaded kitsune fey sorcerer with this. I can think of about +23 bonus from class and race alone, and with the right feats and rage powers, you can get 3 different reroll abilities (one of which recharges with every fight/round with rage cycling).
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Ha, that give me the idea: if I use Dominate I will take out a character by telling him to stop fighting and loot the bodies.
I think it kind of depends on how you define the word nature. I would use "the innate or essential qualities or character of a person or animal." For most PCs, killing things and taking their stuff is about as close as they come to having innate "qualities".
Don't even need a dominate for that. A suggestion can pull it off ("Hey, you better check that stuff. Your friends might have to run after this battle and you wouldn't want to miss out on the loot!) at a cheaper slot (assuming you're ok with the DC being lower).
Enchantment/Charm is really about subtlety, which is a shame that people use it like a bloody sledgehammer.
Indirect actions, coercion, and sneaky phrasing. Although it can backfire spectacularly.
Like I said, I'm still curious about the OP's situation. If his party's muscle gets charm person'd, the bad guy can't direct them like marionettes. If they're higher level, and its dominate, that's a different thing.
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The Unbreakable heart spell is one of my current staples for dealing with charm and compulsion. It's on nearly every spell list except wizard. Automatically suppresses confusion, and lets you roll twice at +4 against most other stuff.
If you can, play as one of the native outsider races (aasimar, tiefling, oread, undine, ifrit, sylph). As a native outsider you aren't a valid target for charm person or dominate person.
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To the OP: is your DM running a homegame or is he running published adventures? (i.e. modules or AP?)
I'm wondering if he really likes mind controlling PCs or if he's doing his best to win with the stats he's been given...
I'm currently a player in our local Skulls and Shackles game (I GM'ed Chapter 2, and now one of my previous players is GM'ing Chapter 3). I play a Gunslinger 7 and even with a Cape of Free Will +2/+3 and a Wisdom of 14 his Will save is a whopping +7 which means he's prone to confusion and charm person... I'm not blaming the GM as the AP comes with casters that have mind control stuff on their list, and I'd do the same thing as a GM (when the fight doesn't go your way, charming or dominating is an excellent way to turn the tide). After being mind controlled a few times (effectively sitting two games out as drawn out fights can take hours), my character now always begin the fight by downing a potion of protection from evil. 50gp per fight is a small investment to retain the capacity to act on your turn... I don't care if this means I get to kill the bad guys a round later... :)
The problem being that in Skull and Shackles, many of your enemies are CN, not evil. And they're all a*&%$*~s.
Its his own game.
I would highly recommend the divine strategist archetype for cleric. You always act in the suprise round, you gain a bonus to init, and you grant a bonus to init. This will help you deal with surprise round dominate.
Further you get your int to readied actions a few times per day dependent on level (two at level 10). This and some work to boost the caster level of dispel magic can mean easy solution to dominate. Lets say you have +3 int, trait gives +1, spell specialization gives +2, and varisian tattoo gives +1. That's +17 dispel check at level 10, not only are you the bane of all enchanters, but you are the bane of all casters if you ready to counterspell.