Best protection from bigbys?

Post by **VagaStorm** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 10:40 am

Last night I go ownd(when I say ownd I mean ownd, I just saw the hand grabing me from behind and from then on the fight was basicly ower for my part :p) by a wiz or sorc using one of the hands(the one that holds you still') What is the best way to protect from theese? Feats, skills, saves?

NB! This is not a rant, I just need some advice, so keep your nerf bat(add encantment bonus her) off :p

watchwood · Post by **watchwood** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 11:03 am

It depends on which bigby was used. Each one has a different save. It's basically just a guessing game.

Post by **Yonwe** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 11:05 am

Well, once you get hit, the skills Discipline and Tumble are your best defenses; they use ranks, not modified totals, so maxing your class-skills helps a lot. The epic foci in Discipline and Tumble also increase your opposed checks, sort of like the epic spell foci help the caster.

However, if you ask me, the best way to avoid Bigsby is a high AC... it's the safeguard we put in to give fighter-types a chance where they had none before. The attack roll for the caster is an attack taking into account their caster level, ability modifier, and foci, so if you keep your AC high, you have a fighting chance of not needing to make skill checks at all (which is very, very helpful if you don't have enough skill points to cross-class in a vain hope of beating it with the checks).

CrazyJ · Post by **CrazyJ** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 11:54 am

Potions of spell mantle can be helpful as well...

algol333 · Post by **algol333** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 2:54 pm

CrazyJ Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 10:54 am Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Potions of spell mantle can be helpful as well...

i dont think mantles or SR stop bigs anymore.....

i could be completely wrong but oh well...

however mantle could be useful for what is to follow after the bigs ie flood of IGMS's....until that mantle gets morded....

kingfatzo · Post by **kingfatzo** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:59 pm

spell mantel does squat

for more specifics see page 3 on :
http://www.nsrealm.com/public/ns4/viewt ... sc&start=0

Kirg · Post by **Kirg** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 4:34 pm

If you're still able to move: Banishment!

Post by **VagaStorm** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 9:05 am

it where the hand that holds you still, grasping I think.

Will greater sanctuary make youinvis to true seeing?

Post by **DeputyDog** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 9:29 am

You can cast dismissal on the ground and it can work to remove it.

Squikker2001 · Post by **Squikker2001** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 10:17 am

Since the Bigbys spells are treated as summons, shouldnt they also dissapate when the caster dies? I was playing through zons once, when a ritualist cast a bigby spell on me. I made the initial checks and was able to move around, but the hand was still on me. I killed the ritualist, but the hand was still there and slowly squoze me to within an inch of my life, with me sucking down healing potions the whole time untill it dissapeared.

Post by **VagaStorm** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:21 am

What is the dc to dissmiss those? I tested with a rouge with the scroll, but I'm asuming a pure caster will have a much higher dc. Will an epic spell focus in the domain that has dissmissal help? (I'm not a pure caster) Also, you can not realy cast that spell after the hand grabs you, but it is posible to get off a quickened spell the same round as the hand grabs you....

Kirg · Post by **Kirg** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:53 am

Hm, dont know if you have to overcome a special DC to dismiss or banish the hands. I always had success with my non caster means against mages.

Post by **Binkyuk** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 10:09 am

(while i don't definitively know the answer...)

dismissing a summon is based the summon making a will save, not (directly) on the caster's level.
i suspect that, being big dumb hands, bigbys should have spectacularly low base will saves, and probably don't scale their stats on caster level either, so it'll probably stay that way regardless of caster level.

Post by **Amoenotep** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 11:20 am

bigby hands don't have saves vs dismissal

Post by **Binkyuk** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 11:42 am

VagaStorm wrote:Also, you can not realy cast that spell after the hand grabs you, but it is posible to get off a quickened spell the same round as the hand grabs you....

Yes, it is difficult to get off a normal spell 'cos until you time it absolutely perfectly it can easily hit you again before you finish. quickened will work (but you have to devote a level 9 slot to it pre-epic), but there are also dismiss rods available to arcane crafters that are near instantaneous to use.