Consistent way of blocking line of sight in combat


Advice


The idea: To be unable to be targeted by target/touch spells by simply not being a target that is visible. The idea is specifically to counteract touch spells like snowball.

What are some methods you know of to protect yourselves from spells like snowball, most specifically in the form of no longer being able to be targeted.

A few ideas I've thought of:
Invisibility/Vanish (Have a familiar cast it on you as a readied action to seeing an opponent cast a spell OR just cast it on your turn)
Create pit directly on yourself using a ring of feather falling
Wall of <basically anything>
Obscuring mist (only grants total concealment which is a 50% miss chance as they could still attack the square they saw you in)

Any other unique ways to block line of sight?


If the goal is to be immune to Snowball blocking line of sight isn't going to cut it. It's not a targeted spell (it has no Target line, it uses Effect instead). Enemies can happily blind-fire it and hope for the best.

That being said, you're missing smoke, darkness, fog, and any other environment or effect that grants total concealment. That's all invisibility does too. And I'm not sure why you think that doesn't do what you want since the first line in the definition of Total Concealment is "If you have line of effect to a target but not line of sight, he is considered to have total concealment from you." By definition Total Concealment means they don't have line of sight.


Yeah, you need an actual physical barrier, a la Wall of X spells, to provide you with total cover.

Total concealment is relatively easier, especially if you have the right equipment. A great magic item is the Goz Mask, which lets you see through all types of fog, in addition to a few other miscellaneous bonuses. This item, paired with such spells as Obsuring Mist, an item like the Eversmoking Bottle, or even a humble smokestick, can grant total concealment without penalty to your character.


saltspray ring cost the least and is only 10 ft radius so doesn't bother your friends too much (unlike the smoking bottle for example)


Like the others say, snowball won't be stopped by lack of line of sight. The caster would still have a concealment miss chance (and have to guess the right square you are in if they can't see you). That can be plenty effective though, especially if you and your allies want to be able to attack back without cover getting in the way.

Two other options for such tactics that get overlooked are illusory wall and tiny hut.

Illusory wall lets you see through it but no one else can, even if they disbelieve it. It's a bit high-level and would affect your allies though.

Tiny hut is my favorite. Low enough level for a reasonably priced scroll or wand if you don't want to use the slots and is completely opaque from outside. You and your allies can fire freely while having total concealment (and be at a comfortable temperature).

The tiny hut doesn't care if people have darkvision, goz masks, see invisibility, or even true seeing. Plus the spell lasts a long time.

Allies can even move in and out if necessary (you can't leave it but can still move about inside to keep foes from guessing your location). Enemies can try to move in, but if your front-liners are in position, they'll get AoOs from trying to enter occupied spaces (with loss of Dex and potential sneak attack) and then still fail to enter the occupied space. The enemy will know those spaces have creatures, but will still have 50% miss chances when they attack, assuming your allies don't shift spaces and make them miss regardless. They won't know if the missed from concealment or if the space is empty and have risk another AoO trying to step in again.

Grand Lodge

Wall spells, smoke/fog spells

Hellcat stealth or Shadows Shroud feats, or some other version of hide in plain sight.

Dampen presence feat to help with blindsight and blindsense. Negate aroma spell for scent, air walk/fly/overland flight for tremorsense. Nondetection spell to not be found through divination spells.

So let’s see... a character with some version of HiPS+high stealth, +invisibility, dampen presence, negate aroma, nondetection, and flight cannot be seen by any means (with the caveat that nondetection allows a caster level check), not even with true seeing or locate creature. It’s possible to do but requires a ton of set up.


Syries wrote:
So let’s see... a character with some version of HiPS+high stealth, +invisibility, dampen presence, negate aroma, nondetection, and flight cannot be seen by any means (with the caveat that nondetection allows a caster level check), not even with true seeing or locate creature. It’s possible to do but requires a ton of set up.

Replace nondetection with mind blank to lose the caveat. It's much higher level, of course, but by the time you get all the rest set up you can probably afford a few scrolls of it, and it lasts 24 hours.


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Plant a tower shield for total cover from one direction.


I have had funs with the shennanigans of Kinetic barrier bfore. Ready to cast it until your opponent begins to cast a spell. A few certain elements (mine was earth at the time) actually block all line of site, so you pop the barrier right in front of the enemy, they will lose line of sight, as well as line of effect to you, as there is now essentially a wall in their way. And this can be done at level 1!

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