What are some good ways to effectively make Undead more resistant to Channel/Command/Turn?
Besides an 11th level Cleric of Urgathoa with Bolster Undead. Lol. Although, there will be several of these Clerics, for sure.
All I got besides that is a Ring of the Godless with the Fate's Favored trait.
Is there any way to be more resistant to holy symbols and mirrors keeping Vampires at bay other than a high Will save? Like Vampire Hunters have the scaling DC for their holy symbol instead of the normal DC 25, and I think there are traits that can raise the DC to overcome a holy symbol, as well... I want the opposite of that, like a trait that makes the normal DC 20 instead of 25, or something like that.
I'm open to classes, archetypes, equipment, special materials, anything really... need to add some survivability to some Undead against a party specializing in hurting the Undead.
Desecrate. Maybe on an item.
Command/Control/Turn are all carefully worded to avoid falling under the Undead Traits immunities. And since they avoid it altogether, instead of specifically overriding the racial immunities, other things that help with mind-affecting effects, charms, and compulsions don't seem to help, either.
Like the Steadfast Personality feat applying Charisma to Will saves against mind-affecting effects. That could be mighty helpful except Command/Control/Turn are not necessarily mind-affecting effects... why would they be? Undead are immune to those. Lol.
The Mesmerist's Towering Ego is great, assuming Undead are capable of providing the emotional component of psychic spells... otherwise, well, that is useless, too. I have at least one Undead psychic spellcaster, so I hope they can do the emotional components.
I can't even find a feat to improve Channel Resistance. And everything that gives Channel Resistance gives a set amount, not adds to any you may have... or at least in my searches, I haven't found anything other than the Urgathoa Cleric's Channel Negative Energy with Bolster Undead.
Am I missing an Ioun Stone? An alter? Is there a spell to increase Channel Resistance or offer temporary immunity to it? A magical tattoo like Penumbra protects one against the sun? Maybe an Antipaladin or Cleric archetype that gives up Channel Energy specifically for scaling Channel Restistance? An Obedience I'm missing?
Desecrate. Maybe on an item.
I don't know how I missed this response, or the fact Desecrate gives a +3... but thank you.
Protection From Evil/Good is awesome because it says ANY spells or EFFECTS that possess or exercise mental control over the creature (including enchantment [charm] effects and enchantment [compulsion] effects, such as charm person, command, and dominate person... and Magic Circle works the same way just as an aura, right? Because even handing out Protection From Good in its Communal version is madly impractical beyond protecting just a select few within the horde.
Magic Circle and Desecrate being emanations definitely opens up their usefulness in these endeavors. Combined, they are probably as good as protection as one can reasonably expect.
I did find Civilized Ghoulishness, which says it raises existing Channel Resistance by 2. Probably banking on Ghouls/Ghasts having Channel Resistance 2, and it raising to 4, which is standard. But there are things that give you Channel Resistance 4, like Oracle Curses or Templates, which would then be raised to Channel Resistance 6... and that is decent.
I like to cover as many bases as possible, because you know the party is bringing the pain. Gotta at least try mitigate being steamrolled. Even going so far as little things like Vampires with racial Swim speeds to reduce their vampiric weaknesses.
I assume you're the GM. So add a feat Improved Channel Resistance. +2 sounds fair. Greater Channel Resistance for +4 with an Evasion effect.
But ultimately, you're looking to improve Will Saves. Iron Will does that. So do various traits and items.
I am trying to keep it relatively legit.
And plus, it is fun to try work within limitations. I don't expect to make everyone immune to the possibility of being Commanded or Turned or burnt to crisp by Channel Positive Energy... but having some defensive options against it is nice.
I understand that your average minions end up having the basic chance as everything else... whatever its Will save is from HD, stat modifier(s), and Iron Will. The Improved version of Iron Will is actually clutch for minions that will likely only show up to face the party once per day. All the generic stuff that increases Will saves still helps, but the stuff that helps double against compulsions or mind-affecting effects will be of no use.
The Ring of the Godless comes in your average variety ranging from +1 to +5, and offers a Luck bonus against Channel Energy (a divine spells in general), as well as raising one's Spell Resistance by an equal amount against divine nonsense. This Luck bonus can be increased by 1 with the Fate's Favored trait. That's a decent toy from named NPC's, but is not something that can be handed out to every minion.
A few Clerics of Urgathoa with Bolster Undead will be able to cover a lot of this... spamming Desecrate, Magic Circle, and Protection From Good. Although, you can only have so many level 12+ Clerics, and pretty much everyone in the party is going to be bringing all the variant channels that light Undead on fire and every other trick specifically designed to nuke or otherwise punish the Undead.
You could go for misdirection. If your lich or vampire or whatever casts something like Alter Self, the PCs won't try to turn it. Conversely, the non-undead mooks might have some disguise or uber-goth fashion statement that makes them look undead (I suspect Whispering Way cultists would go in for that sort of nonsense). So when the PCs try and fail to turn the Addams family, profit.
Well would you look at this...
Lazurite-Bonded Armor: While crafting lazurite equipment has proven to be a notoriously difficult feat, some artificers, particularly among Darklands ghouls, have concocted a means of coaxing small amounts of lazurite into sets of armor. These sets of armor include thin lines of blackened lazurite crisscrossing the regular surface of the armor. A creature wearing a set of lazurite-bonded armor gains a +2 bonus on saves to resist channeled energy and against cure spells. The wearer must attempt a Will save against positive energy channeling, regardless of whether it’s harmful or helpful to the wearer. A living creature slain while wearing lazurite-bonded armor has a 10% chance of spontaneously rising as a ghoul after 24 hours.
Lazurite-Bonded Armor is freaking fabulous for all the wanna-be's out there... the still technically living, yet devoted enough to have suffered through 5 levels of Agent of the Grave... 10% chance to raise as Ghoul with your mind and class levels ain't bad. Probably about the same chances one has on successfully becoming a Lich.
Chances raise to 50% if we can find Lazurite in the wild...
AoN wrote:
A corpse left within 30 feet of a naturally occurring deposit of lazurite for 24 hours has a 50% chance of spontaneously reanimating as a free-willed ghoul (often with the class levels it had in life). All undead within an area of lazurite radiation gain a +4 bonus on Will saves to resist channeled energy.