Anti-caster mutagen

[My Self]

So let's say you've beaten up and tied up an enemy caster. You want to keep him alive for a while, but you know he can cast through gags and and while bound or paralyzed. Is it viable to feed him mutagens every hour to disable his casting?

[LazarX]

Just club him on the head until he's unconscious. Then strip him naked. If he's a sorcerer... kill him.

Then again, it depends on how dangerous his spells really are. 1st and 2nd level casters are far less of a threat than 5th to 9th or above.

[My Self]

LazarX wrote:

Just club him on the head until he's unconscious. Then strip him naked. If he's a sorcerer... kill him.

Then again, it depends on how dangerous his spells really are. 1st and 2nd level casters are far less of a threat than 5th to 9th or above.

And if you need him to be in a condition to walk a fair distance (no horses available), or if you want to interrogate him, would this work?

[Chess Pwn]

it's a sorcerer with silent and still spell then there's not much you can do. You can interrupt his casting when he tries, but that'll probably kill him.

[LazarX]

My Self wrote:

LazarX wrote:

Just club him on the head until he's unconscious. Then strip him naked. If he's a sorcerer... kill him.

Then again, it depends on how dangerous his spells really are. 1st and 2nd level casters are far less of a threat than 5th to 9th or above.

And if you need him to be in a condition to walk a fair distance (no horses available), or if you want to interrogate him, would this work?

Again, how powerful is he? Does he have friends that you can hold hostage to his behavior? Unlike many PC's, most NPC's have ties that bind.

Otherwise just question... presumably you'll be able to tell if he starts casting or have your ally ready an action to hit him on the head if he does so.

If he's just a third level plebe, his casting isn't much of a threat. And if he's a really power ful caster, then you should have thought things through when you decide to make him a kidnap victim. Flesh to Stone.... portable hole... that takes care of both his behavior and transport.

[zainale]

the short and long of it is you want to keep this guy from casting spells .....>.> let me get a little mid evil here but pain is really great at messing up a persons concentration and if he cant concentrate he can't cast his evil spells. anyone in your party have a hammer? ask to barrow it. if not find a hefty rock a big one you need both hands to hold it steady. use the rock or hammer to break his or her hands he cant make funny hand movements anymore, he is most likely screaming in pain so no funny words. now just strip him or her naked and tie him or her tightly to a pole also bind his or her legs then spike them to the ground. now that his or her feet are bound you build a fire to close to his or her feet so the heat is a discomfort but not out right cooking his or her feet . set a leaky water container on the top of the pole that your prisoner is bound to and make it so the water drips onto that person. once softened enough just cast charm person on your subject and milk the info out of them. afterward put them out of their misery.

this person should be very distracted and in pain. which should limit his or her ability to cast them pesky spells. this is something a bad person or some religious person would do. if you want a good way to do this find a spell/ring of anti-magic.
but a poison might work or a drug so they are tripping so much balls

[My Self]

zainale wrote:

the short and long of it is you want to keep this guy from casting spells .....>.> let me get a little mid evil here but pain is really great at messing up a persons concentration and if he cant concentrate he can't cast his evil spells. anyone in your party have a hammer? ask to barrow it. if not find a hefty rock a big one you need both hands to hold it steady. use the rock or hammer to break his or her hands he cant make funny hand movements anymore, he is most likely screaming in pain so no funny words. now just strip him or her naked and tie him or her tightly to a pole also bind his or her legs then spike them to the ground. now that his or her feet are bound you build a fire to close to his or her feet so the heat is a discomfort but not out right cooking his or her feet . set a leaky water container on the top of the pole that your prisoner is bound to and make it so the water drips onto that person. once softened enough just cast charm person on your subject and milk the info out of them. afterward put them out of their misery.

this person should be very distracted and in pain. which should limit his or her ability to cast them pesky spells. this is something a bad person or some religious person would do. if you want a good way to do this find a spell/ring of anti-magic.
but a poison might work or a drug so they are tripping so much balls

Yeah, but how do we get him to walk? If we don't want to carry him, how are we going to get a tied, bound man to move? Also, if we want to interrogate him, how can we do that without risking him casting?

[Irthos]

Assuming the caster has no alchemist levels, then yeah, force-feeding mutagens would work. Just bear in mind that you'll need an alchemist of at least 6th level to keep him permanently nauseated, and that said alchemist won't be doing much else. (Brewing a mutagen takes 1 hour.)

If your alchemist has to do something else, then you'll have a to get a bit creative with your anti-magic. Here are a few suggestions:

- Keep him on his feet and moving. As long as he's moving more than his base speed each round, he won't have an action to cast spells.

- Whenever possible, force him to make high-DC concentration checks. Handle him roughly (violent movement requires a check), or have the party meathead give him a bear hug (grappled and pinned creatures have to make checks as well).

- Limit his use of spell components. Take away anything that looks like a material component. Bind and gag him so he can't use verbal or somatic components. If he's a psychic spellcaster, make Intimidate checks to prevent him from using emotion components. For thought components, just keep jostling him - the concentration check will be that much harder.

- Make him use up his spells. Every tactic above has a feat-based workaround, but he'll be using up higher-level spell slots for most of them. Once he's running on empty, keep him from getting a good night's rest so he can't replenish spell slots.

- If all else fails, slap some manacles of cooperation on him. They're cheap, and good, for making captive bad guys sit down and behave.

[justaworm]

You can also try the charm, suggestion, dominate, geas line of spells to cooperate.
If he is already captured, he will eventually fail a will save. Or, you can intimidate him to force him to willingly be subject to the spell as well.

My alchemist knowledge is weak, so maybe someone who says this will work can explain:

(1) How this prevents spellcasting? I don't see text the prevents spellcasting in the PRD...
and

(2) How you get around this ...

PRD wrote:

A non-alchemist who drinks a mutagen must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 the alchemist's level + the alchemist's Intelligence modifier) or become nauseated for 1 hour—a non-alchemist can never gain the benefit of a mutagen

Infuse Mutagen Does not have the same text as Infusion that lets it work on non-alchemists (plus at 1000gp a pop, it is rather expensive way even if it did work).

[justaworm]

Ahh, never mind. You are relying on the automatic nauseated to stop spell-casting. :)

There are a whole host of ways to nauseate someone that is probably better than this, but that pesky Fort save is always there as well. One time he passes and you are in trouble again.

I would go with lesser geas, "Do not attempt to cast spells."