How to Shut Down Spellcasters in Pathfinder

Magic is perhaps the most potent force in fantasy roleplaying games. From the sheer destructive power of evokers, to the mind-twisting subtlety of enchanters, to the holy wrath of clerics and oracles, there's a reason your final boss often ends up being a human bursting at the seams with spells. After all, what could be more deadly?

What indeed?

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of parties have met their ends when facing masters of arts mystical and arcane. If you want to make sure your party isn't numbered among them, here are some tactics you should keep in mind the next time you have to beard a necromancer in his lair.

Alchemical Aids

I mentioned a lot of stuff that could save your butt in my guide The Best Alchemical Items For Your Pathfinder Party, and in between the swarm-killers and troll styptics I pointed out several items that can make a big difference when it comes time to throw down with magic users.

Top of the list are tanglefoot bags. These sacks of goo don't do any damage, but their actual effects can be game changers. Targets who are hit with a tanglefoot bag (a touch attack) have to make a DC 15 reflex save or be stuck to the ground. Even if they make the save they're still entangled for 2d4 rounds, which means a -2 on all attack rolls, a -4 on dexterity, and casting any spell requires a concentration check. That can have disastrous results for any magic user. You should also keep Spider Sac in mind. While the negatives aren't as bad, it acts like a lasso. In short, if your target wants to get away then he or she has to take a standard action to break the goo rope you've just stuck to them. A great method to keep magic users from running away.

Another great monkey wrench to throw into a caster's plans is a thunderstone. Again, these items do no actual damage, but if those in the area fail a DC 15 fortitude save then they're deafened for an hour. A deaf spell caster has a 20 percent chance to blow any spell with verbal components, which can be a life saver for parties who want to strip an enemy's capabilities. This strategy works best with wizards and sorcerers due to their low fortitude saves, and traditionally low Constitution scores.

There's one other bottled solution that can be a serious aid for you; alchemist's fire. While typically used against swarms, alchemist fire provides 1 round of recurring damage. We all know that casters who are injured during a spell must make a concentration check equal to 10 + damage taken + spell level in order to not lose the spell. The same is true for recurring damage, except the check is 10 + 1/2 damage taken + spell level. It doesn't do you any good if the caster is immune to fire, but if he isn't then you might cost him a spell in addition to doing a greatsword worth of fire damage.

Fighting Dirty

There are a lot of ways you can trip up a spell caster. Perhaps the most basic is to ready an action until you see the magic user putting a spell together, and then to attack (this usually requires some kind of ranged weapon). As we all know getting hit during a spell requires a concentration check that adds the damage you do into the DC. That's going to be a big problem for most casters, unless you do minimal damage or they have some truly huge bonuses on concentration checks.

The dirty trick combat maneuver is often overlooked by players. After all, what does it do but allow you to give someone a handful of minor status effects lasting between one round and a few rounds?

Ow! Ugh... all right, which of you is hurt? I can't see shit...

While it requires you to get into melee with a spell caster (something that rarely lasts for more than a round or so, if you can manage it) you can do a lot of damage to that enemy's strategy in a short time. Boxed ears or spit in the eyes can make the caster deaf and blind respectively, and if you have the Dirty Trick Master feat (not to be confused with my post A Pathfinder Build For A Dirty Trick Master) you can make a spell caster sickened and then nauseated, which means he or she can't cast spells at all for that round.

Even if you opt not to use the dirty trick combat maneuver, you still have grappling available. Spell casters tend not to have terribly high combat maneuver defense scores, which means grappling them should be pretty easy (assuming they haven't cast freedom of movement on themselves). A grappled spell caster has to make a concentration check to cast while grappled, and if a caster is pinned it's impossible to cast any spell with a somatic or material component. That can take away a magic user's options in a big hurry if they aren't prepared for it.

The disarm and steal combat maneuvers are another smart move, since you can use them to yank away a spell caster's holy symbol or material component pouch. Of course taking eschew materials or one of the many traits that gives you a tattooed holy symbol or a birthmark holy symbol will render such attempts less useful, they're still a solid bet if you can get close enough to rip out the spell caster's batteries, so to speak.

Additionally, if you're a fighter (or a class capable of taking feats as a fighter would be) the Disruptive feat (Core Rulebook 122) is something you should keep in mind. When you get to a certain level casting defensively becomes a formality in combat, but if you have Disruptive you add +4 to the DC the caster has to beat. Add in the Spellbreaker feat (Core Rulebook 134) and you get to smack any casters you threaten when they fail their checks.

It might also be a good idea to take feats like Step Up (Core Rulebook 135) so that when a caster (or anyone else) attempts to step away from you, that you get to follow. That way they still have to make the concentration check to cast, which can be an issue at low levels, or under adverse conditions (like a sword in your face).

It's also a good idea to keep a net or a lasso on hand. These cheap, common items allow you to render an enemy entangled, and if you have the lasso you can make it harder for them to get away. It's easy enough to break, but that's just one more thing your enemy will have to spend an action to do.

Lastly, monks and brawlers looking for their time to shine should put their Stunning Fist and Knockout features to use against spell casters. Since these abilities require a fortitude save, the chances of being able to hit an arcane caster's reset button is fair-to-middling. That can be a combat ender if the rest of the party can dog pile on the individual.

Fighting Fire With Fire

One of the most potent ways to shut down enemy spell casters is, of course, to bring your own. While it might sound like a nuclear deterrent sort of situation, there is a lot of strategy that goes into nullifying the threat posed by an enemy magic user.

Never underestimate the power of a bard.

The counterspell mechanic (Core Rulebook 207) is something we almost never use as players. It doesn't seem like a good economy of action, since you have to ready an action to counter a spell, and if the enemy caster uses Silent Spell, Still Spell, or does something other than cast such as use a magic item, your action was wasted. Even if the enemy does cast a spell there's still a lot of chance that goes into it. Do you have the exact spell prepared that your opponent is casting? Do you have dispel magic prepared, and can you beat your enemy's caster level? Do you have the right feats or class abilities (like Improved Counterspell, Varisian Tattoo, or the Counterspell Wizard School) which mean you're going to make a perfect foil?

Maybe you do, and maybe you don't. Still, if you are going to walk into a fight with a powerful spell caster it would behoove you to be able to both stop him from casting any new spells, as well as to dispel any buffs he already has cast on himself. If you want to go this route examine the Counterspell Wizard School, and the counterspell abilities you can take as an Arcanist.

Even if you are not a counterspell specialist you have options available. Silence, even if it's cast from a wand, can strip an enemy spellcaster of options and force him to move where you want him to move (in addition to protecting you from any sonic effects, or effects that require you to be able to hear the caster speak). All you have to do is cast it on an item or in space, rather than on the caster himself; items you're holding and points in space get no saving throw. Obscuring mist can make it impossible for an enemy spell caster to target you, but you can still target them if you have an item like a goz mask or fogcutter lenses, or the 9th level ability of the Boreal sorcerer that lets you see through mist and fog. I made this very recommendation in my Batman character build. Wall effects can give you some breathing room, or cut off your enemy's maneuverability, essentially letting you re-draw the map in your favor instead of your enemy's.

There are also spells like pilfering hand, which allow you to use disarm or steal at a distance. It's the same move mentioned for your martial classes, but you can do it safely from further away. It doesn't do you much good when you're facing creatures that have spell-like abilities, or the aforementioned tattooed clerics or sorcerers, but it's a handy strategy when that isn't the case.

I'm going to repeat it, because it bears repeating; do not overlook the importance of dispel magic. If you pump your caster level up it will become simple for you to grab whatever spells your foes are casting, or which are already in effect, and wrench them away like they'd never existed.

There Are No Guarantees

Given all of these different options it seems like spell casters would be no challenge for a properly prepared party. One or two rounds to render the caster de-buffed into the ground, a knock on the noggin from the monk, and the combat's over.

If only it were that easy.

Baleful Polymorph is always an option...

While good strategy is a big part of triumphing over an enemy spellcaster, it's important to remember that for every move you make there is a counter your enemy can make (or become). For example, spell casters that have tremorsense know where you are even while they're blind and deaf as long as you're touching the floor. Spells like true seeing, or arcane sight can pick you out of thin air, even if you'd otherwise be hidden or concealed. Undead casters like liches and vampires are immune to nearly anything that requires a fortitude save, and if a caster uses grease or freedom of movement then getting a grip on them becomes somewhere between difficult and impossible. If your enemy starts flying then it's impossible to get in melee with them unless you've got some method of getting yourself up to them.

That's why it's so important for you to have a big bag of tricks. If all you've got is one or two gimmicks then you're going to end up bringing a cestus to a gun fight. The more options you have available to you, the better your chances of being able to pull out a win even when things look grim.


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A Pathfinder Build For A Dirty Trick Master

Anyone who's ever been in a fight, or even participated in sport combat knows that winning a fight is about more than who's the biggest of the strongest. It's often about technique, experience, and being able to predict your opponent and take advantage of the weaknesses you see. Some people, especially those who've come out ahead because they don't fight fair, are aware that a momentary advantage can be the difference between walking away from a brawl and leaving your blood on the pavement along with your dignity.

For those who want to duplicate this kind of experience in Pathfinder you should invest in a character skilled at using combat maneuvers against her enemies. More accurately you should invest in a character that specializes in the dirty trick maneuver.

Sign didn't say nuthin' about your eyes, though. Ain't much a fight if you can't see.

How The Dirty Trick Combat Maneuver Works

Before we get too in depth on mechanics I know that not a lot of players use combat maneuvers. Most players forget these maneuvers even exist until a monster uses one on the party, and for a brief instant in time players see how devastating a properly placed grapple, bull rush, or trip can really be. So here's a quick refresher on how dirty trick works.

Outlined in the Advanced Player's Guide a dirty trick maneuver can only be done in melee. It is a standard action where you roll a D20 and add your combat maneuver bonus to the roll. This provokes an attack of opportunity (unless you have the improved dirty trick feat), and if you are hit by the enemy then you add the damage you took as a negative to your attempt. If you beat the enemy's combat maneuver defense then you have succeeded, and may apply the blinded, dazzled, deafened, shaken, or sickened condition to the target for 1 round. For every 5 that you beat the target's CMD by the condition lasts for an additional round. The target can remove the condition as a move action, though.

So what does this look like? Well say that you wanted to blind your opponent; maybe you gouged him in the eyes with your thumb, or tossed your ale in his face. If you wanted to entangle your enemy maybe you undid his belt, or yanked on his armor lacings so they were out of true. If you wanted to deafen an opponent you might clap his ears, and if you wanted to sicken him you might kick him in the crotch.

Why Use Dirty Trick?

I'll tell you why; because there are lots of ways to win a fight. One of them is to debuff your enemy into next week.

Son, I'm afraid if you get up it's going to provoke an attack of opportunity.

If you're fighting a spellcaster and you manage to deafen her then that's a 20% miscast chance on any spells that aren't cast with the metamagic feat Silent Spell, and it's still serious negatives to notice anyone sneaking up on her. Add blinded to that and she can't target anyone specifically unless she has another means of sight. If you're fighting a swashbuckler or a rogue who depends on dexterity then leaving them entangled will reduce their dex by a -4 and any attacks by an additional -2. The list goes on and on, but if you combine the temporary status effects of dirty trick with other combat maneuvers like trip or disarm then you've got a character who doesn't need to be the best to win; he simply makes those he's fighting do so at an extreme disadvantage.

The Classes

Getting the best build for a dirty trick master isn't easy. But you're going to want to start off with at least one level of the Maneuver Master archetype (Ultimate Combat 58). This does mean you need to have a lawful character (and if you're trying to square "lawful" with "fights using dirty tricks" then you simply need to include something in the monk's credo to the effect of "there is a time for honor, and that time is not when my life and the lives of others are at stake"), and it means you won't be wearing any armor, so you're going to have to get creative. What the Maneuver Master gives you in addition to the unarmed damage, monk saves, AC bonus, and monk bonus feat (which can include any improved feat, so improved dirty trick is yours for the asking at level one) is something called flurry of maneuvers.

What makes this ability so special is that during any full-attack action a Maneuver Master may perform a bonus combat maneuver, regardless of whether or not it would replace an attack or require a standard action all its own to use. For this bonus maneuver the monk replaces his base attack bonus with his monk level for the purpose of calculating his combat maneuver bonus, but all combat maneuvers attempted in that round suffer a -2 penalty.

So say that you came out of the gate as a level 1 Maneuver Master with improved dirty trick as your bonus feat. You could also take combat expertise as your 1st level feat and improved trip if you were a human and had a bonus feat. With that build up you could take your full attack action, trip the enemy, and then kick him while he's down in order to make him sickened. You take a -2 to both combat maneuvers (which is canceled out by the +2 you get from the two improved feats), and you've got a pretty solid shot at putting at least one opponent in a pretty compromised position.

But wait, there's more!

While you can keep taking levels of Maneuver Master (because we know that monks are strongest when they're kept pure), you could also multiclass and start taking levels of the fighter archetype Cad (Ultimate Combat 45).

In addition to a full BAB and bonus feats, Cad gives your character a lot of bonuses and extra opportunities to get your dirty tricks in. While these fighters don't get access to medium armor, heavy armor, or tower shields, they do gain dirty maneuvers which provides a +1 bonus to disarm, steal, and dirty trick CMB and CMD at level 2, and every 4 levels thereafter. The cad also gets catch off-guard as a bonus feat, and gains the ability payback, which grants him an increased bonus to hit and damage any enemy that has attacked him since his last turn. There's a slew of other useful abilities, but one that's going to come in very handy is the level 7 ability deadly surprise, which allows you to attempt a dirty trick as an immediate action if you hit an opponent denied its dexterity bonus to AC with a melee weapon or unarmed strike.

The setup I would recommend is 1 level of Maneuver Master and 11 levels of Cad, though there are certainly other, legitimate ways to achieve good results.

Feats

The level recommendation isn't random, and though it might work for Pathfinder Society that isn't exactly the reason I assigned a 12-level build. The reason will be obvious when you examine the feat list below. This list works for any sort of build, and does not assume that a character is playing a human or include fighter bonus feats. Combat maneuvers other than dirty trick can be swapped out to fit your preferred play style.

- Level 1: Combat Expertise (Core Rulebook 119): Take negatives to your attack to gain bonuses to AC.

- Monk Bonus Feat: Improved Dirty Trick (Advanced Player's Guide): Gain a +2 to CMB and CMD for dirty trick maneuvers. Do not provoke AOO when performing a dirty trick.

- Level 3: Improved Trip (Core Rulebook 128): Gain +2 to CMB and CMD for trip maneuvers. Do not provoke an AOO when performing a trip.

- Level 5: Dodge (Core Rule Book 122): Gain +1 dodge bonus to AC.

- Level 7: Quick Dirty Trick (Ultimate Combat 114): May replace a melee attack with a dirty trick maneuver.

- Level 9: Greater Dirty Trick (Advanced Player's Guide): Gain an additional +2 to CMB and CMD for dirty trick maneuvers. The penalty now lasts for 1d4 rounds +1 round for every 5 by which you beat the target's CMD. Removing the penalties now requires a standard action.

- Level 11 (or whatever level you meet the prerequisites at): Dirty Trick Master (Bastards of Golarion 25): Cause the condition affected by any dirty trick maneuver to worsen. Dazzled becomes dazed, entangled becomes pinned, shaken becomes frightened, sickened becomes nauseated. This worsened condition replaces the initial one, and may be removed with a standard action.

*It's also a good idea to supplement your dirty trick with Gauntlets of the Skilled Maneuver (Ultimate Equipment), which provide a +2 to a single combat maneuver. The same bonus can be granted to trip or disarm attempts by simply using a weapon with one of those qualities.

The Goal

Once your character has Dirty Trick Master (a feat that I wrote for Bastards of Golarion, if I'm to toot my own horn) you are a threat to any enemy you can touch in melee. With your high BAB from Fighter and Quick Dirty Trick you can perform several dirty trick maneuvers, and to top it off you still get your bonus maneuver from Maneuver Master. You can pull a dirty trick on anyone you catch flat-footed or that you flank (or who is pinned, as per the increased condition), and even if an enemy does remove the condition you put on him it still takes a standard action; that's a round that enemy had their options significantly limited. And if you have more than one dirty trick effect that's been stacked on, it takes more than one action to remove them.

The Weaknesses

While every character build has something it's really good at, it will also have something that it's really bad at. While the dirty fighter we've outlined here is great for debuffing enemies in ways that will not give them a saving throw against the attack, the build does have some weaknesses. This character will have a very low AC (unless you toss the monk level and use bonus feats to get heavier armor or replace the monk level with another class, which is an option), and he will have issues with opponents that are very large, who remain out or melee range, or who are invisible/incorporeal. While this character will not have the biggest damage output in the party, those bonus feats can also be used to increase how hard he's going to hit once he's stacked status conditions onto the bad guy.

The key with the Dirty Trick Master (just like any other build) is to recognize what your weaknesses are and to have something else you can fall back on when your big gun doesn't work. Are you fighting enemies that are large sized and have multiple legs? Why not throw a tanglefoot bag at them to keep them tied up for a couple of rounds, and then either shoot from a distance or stick and move (assuming you invest in mobility and spring attack)? What do you do if an enemy is immune to being blinded or sickened? Well entangle and pin them instead, or ask if their enhanced senses are hearing based and deafen them. What if you want to avoid getting splattered all over the battle field? Well try using smoke sticks to give yourself concealment, or invest in a cloak of displacement.

Whatever your weakness is, you need to prepare for it so there are no fights where you're just sitting there doing nothing but pissing and moaning that your special trick won't work. Even if you're not single-handedly reducing the big bad into a buffoon who's got spit in his eye, his pants around his ankles, and a solid shot in the gut to knock the wind out of him, you can still do something to help out the rest of the party.

If you're looking for something to do with all those bonus feats then you might want to check out The Bullyboy and my Ultimate Aid Another builds. Remember that it's your character so make it into whatever you want!

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