Sources of low-level fire resistance

[Godskook]

Ok, I'm plotting a few bounty hunters to show up against my party, and since they know an NPC bard(whom is their target) with the party can deal fire damage, I expect they've prepared for this. This means fire resistance, at the very least.

So far, I've got:
Dragon Shaman - Unusable, due to the level of familiarity of dragons in the setting.
Ranger 4 - Good, but single-target use without bumping the CR through the roof, which is discouraging. Cheap to make into a potion/scroll form, I guess.
Druid - Party just faced 2 of them, so let's keep it a little fresh, eh?
Abjurer 3 - Good, can hit the whole troupe, but something dissuades me from it at this stage of the game.
Swordsage - Explicitly single-target, but would otherwise work.

Anything I've missed, class-wise? I'm shooting for individual CRs to be about 2-4 range, and I'd rather not break out 3rd+ level spells against the party at present.

[Jack_Simth]

Swordsage - Explicitly single-target, but would otherwise work.It's also two feats from that book... which are explicitly Fighter Bonus Feats, to boot. As Flame's Blessing is a 1st level stance, an anything-2/Fighter-1 can get both feats at 3rd, and be CR-3.

Fiendish creatures all get Fire Resistance - which means Summon Monster I or II can both get you flame-resistant targets.

The Fiendish template is +0 CR at the level of HD you're talking about, and grants fire resistance 5.

[Godskook]

It's also two feats from that book... which are explicitly Fighter Bonus Feats, to boot. As Flame's Blessing is a 1st level stance, an anything-2/Fighter-1 can get both feats at 3rd, and be CR-3.

Yeah, but I'm trying to avoid building things that are too versimilitude breaking in how they get the fire resistance, cause these are bounty hunters who likely didn't have it before deciding to hunt the Bard.


Fiendish creatures all get Fire Resistance - which means Summon Monster I or II can both get you flame-resistant targets.

The Fiendish template is +0 CR at the level of HD you're talking about, and grants fire resistance 5.

That's a good point in terms of SM II though.

[poignant123]

Dragoncraft Items, from Draconomicon. Fire Resist 5, for low prices.

[Godskook]

Dragoncraft Items, from Draconomicon. Fire Resist 5, for low prices.

Draconic sources would not be available, as mentioned in the OP. Tucked away in a bad place, but still mentioned.

[Runestar]

Potions of resist energy?

You can get it as a ranger1 spell, meaning each potion costs only 100gp, rather than the normal 300gp, if it is npc wealth you are worried about.

Duskblades (PHB2) also get them as a 1st lv spell. A 3rd lv dusblade with 12int would have 5 1st lv slots, enough to buff the entire party. Or give him a partially depleted wand to use?

[Ernir]

Psions can get Energy Adaptation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/energyAdaptationSpecified.htm) vs. fire at level 3, and Psychic Warriors at level 4.

If such low level bounty hunters having access to the "perfect" power for the situation at hand sounds unreasonable, you can explain it by either these bounty hunters having been selected exactly because they knew this power (which, admittedly, sounds a bit thin to me), or maybe they didn't know it, but just bought a power stone (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicPowersOverview.htm#manifestAnUnknownPowerFr omAnothersPowersKnown) precisely for this mission.

[poignant123]

I can only think of the fire variant races, which get Fire Resistance 5 as one of their traits.:smallconfused:

[Jack_Simth]

Yeah, but I'm trying to avoid building things that are too versimilitude breaking in how they get the fire resistance, cause these are bounty hunters who likely didn't have it before deciding to hunt the Bard.The PHB II has retraining rules. How long have they been hunting this guy? If they've known they'd be going after him for a month or two, it's not overly out of line.

That's a good point in terms of SM II though.
You can also pick up potions of Resist Energy (fire) at 300 gp each. If you can arrange to have them made by a Ranger-4, then they're much less expensive at 100 gp each (spell level 1, caster level 2).

Oh yes, and as the first thing the bounty hunters do is drink them, you boost the NPC's equipment value by that amount, and you've got no worries about giving your PC's more treasure than expected.

[Ernir]

I can only think of the fire variant races, which get Fire Resistance 5 as one of their traits.:smallconfused:

Oh, there's also just plain old tieflings...

"They have fire! Send the tieflings!" doesn't sound that unreasonable, actually...

[Godskook]

The PHB II has retraining rules. How long have they been hunting this guy? If they've known they'd be going after him for a month or two, it's not overly out of line.

True, but the smaller portion of the class assigned to the "make bard useless" goal, the less like railroading it feels, and will seem to the players. Burning a full-caster's precious "spells known" slots on it seems like more of a waste, while a ranger's or duskblade's seems more reasonable(Since they're still armed and armored when they run out of spells).


You can also pick up potions of Resist Energy (fire) at 300 gp each. If you can arrange to have them made by a Ranger-4, then they're much less expensive at 100 gp each (spell level 1, caster level 2).

With the duskblade, I can get it down to 50 gold potions, 25 gold scrolls, or as low as 12.5 gold if he's one of the bounty hunters.


Oh yes, and as the first thing the bounty hunters do is drink them, you boost the NPC's equipment value by that amount, and you've got no worries about giving your PC's more treasure than expected.

So true.

[dextercorvia]

I'm AFB. but IIRC,there is a soulmeld that grants fire resistance.

[Godskook]

I'm AFB. but IIRC,there is a soulmeld that grants fire resistance.

Phoenix belt, now that you mention it. And while single-target, makes a great "I prepared this just for you" type thing.

[dextercorvia]

Phoenix belt, now that you mention it. And while single-target, makes a great "I prepared this just for you" type thing.

Flame Cincture actually. Fire Resistance 10 +5/ess. is its unbound ability.

[Zaq]

Flame Cincture actually. Fire Resistance 10 +5/ess. is its unbound ability.

And Draconic Mantle. And Planar Chasuble, if you're lawful.

By the way, this is really bugging me . . . in the first post, you misused "whom." You meant to say "an NPC bard (who is their target)" instead. If you're ever not sure, just ask yourself if you would say "he" or "him" once you identified the person. If you would say "he," you want "who." If you would say "him," you want "whom." In this case, you would say "Which person is their target? He is their target" (not "Him is their target"), so you want "who."

[Naeo]

What about a simple Ring of Fire Resistance?

[tyckspoon]

What about a simple Ring of Fire Resistance?

Too valuable for a CR-3ish enemy to be carrying; looting it after the fight would add too much cash to the party. And most of the other ways suggested so far are more effective anyway.. I'm particularly fond of Specified Energy Resistance, because when you hit manifester level 7 you can use it as an immediate action, and adding Essentia to the Flame Cincture makes you dang near invulnerable to low-level fire attacks.

[woodenbandman]

They could just drink potions or have a rogue buy a few scrolls and do the ol' use magic device.

[Godskook]

They could just drink potions or have a rogue buy a few scrolls and do the ol' use magic device.

Cause potions of resist energy made by a wizard are expensive(300gp) when I'm dealing with a 2kgp budget. That's a *LOT* to be spending on an expendable resource that doesn't help you kill the target. Made by a Ranger, they're more reasonable, and by a Duskblade, quite doable, but in those cases, I'm kinda meta-gaming to get that kind of discount on the potion, unless one of the party members is of those classes, and in which case, the Duskblade could just cast the spells directly.

[Runestar]

Make them azers. Immune to fire. :smallbiggrin:

[Darrin]

Touchstone feat (Sandstorm) linked to the Salt Statuary provides Improved Heat Endurance as a bonus feat. Improved Heat Endurance provides fire resistance +5. Combined with a Fire Race (Unearthed Arcana/SRD, Fire Elves, Fire Half-Elves, or Fire Hobgoblins), that gives you fire resistance 10.

Instead of Dragon Shaman, use a Marshall (Miniatures Handbook). Dragon Magic p. 86 says Marshalls can learn any of the draconic auras presented in this book, and on the next page is Resistance: pick an energy type, resistance = 5 x (major aura bonus). If you can't call it a "draconic" aura for fluff reasons, refluff it to something else.

[Curmudgeon]

Resist fire 5 is provided by the heavy Brass Dragonhide Mantle (Draconomicon, page 118).

[Karuth]

If you really want to go cheap with the fire resistance, just have them pour water over them shortly before they attack (or if it fits their race/classes wet mud).

I dunno if that is somewhere in the official rules, but my GM allowed me Fire Resistance 5 (only for one fire attack) for putting on a layer of wet mud (and increased my Armor Penalty since the mud got everywhere).

Also consider if all attackers need fire resistance. They could have pooled their rescources for a sinlge potion, for the one who is most likely to get attacked with the fire.

[Gullintanni]

Cause potions of resist energy made by a wizard are expensive(300gp) when I'm dealing with a 2kgp budget. That's a *LOT* to be spending on an expendable resource that doesn't help you kill the target. Made by a Ranger, they're more reasonable, and by a Duskblade, quite doable, but in those cases, I'm kinda meta-gaming to get that kind of discount on the potion, unless one of the party members is of those classes, and in which case, the Duskblade could just cast the spells directly.

Rangers are common enough in the world I'd think that making use of one to manage fire resistance is fair play. In fact, as Bounty Hunters go, one ought to be a Ranger from a flavor perspective. Tracking is kind of their thing, and that's one role that every party of bounty hunters should have filled. You could even, in theory, have said Ranger play with the relevant humanoid as a favored enemy.

If Ranger-4 is sufficiently low level, then it's hard to believe that a party of bounty hunters would be without a dedicated tracker.

[Foryn Gilnith]

It is possible for more than one character to cooperate in the creation of an item, with each participant providing one or more of the prerequisites. In some cases, cooperation may even be necessary.
Get any random person with Brew Potion to provide the prerequisite feat. Get any random duskblade to provide the prerequisite spell. Nice, easy, efficient, completely undercuts any wizard potion of Resist Energy.

[Malbordeus]

theres a shield augment clasp that does resist 5 or more.

improved elephantal heratige - fire

feindish heratige/fiendish resistance.

pay a local caster to cast protection from energy before they go in

potions of dragonskin - red or gold. (gold might confuse the bjebus out of them)

[Person_Man]

Phoenix belt, now that you mention it. And while single-target, makes a great "I prepared this just for you" type thing.

Yup. Phoenix Belt soulmeld provides (5 * essentia invested) Fire Resistance.

Planar Chasuble soulmeld provides 10 + (5 * essentia invested) resistance to one form of energy based on your alignment (Lawful = Fire). So that would be the superior choice, and would thematically fit for bounty hunters.

Dragon Mantle soulmeld provides 3 * essentia invested resistance to Acid, Electricity, Fire, and Cold, and it explicitly stacks with resistances from other sources (a rarity).

Also, Spellward Shirt soulmeld provides 5 + (4*essentia) Spell Resistance.

Although all of the above except for the Phoenix Belt are Incarnate soulmelds, each of them can be gained with the Shape Soulmeld feat, and boosted with any essentia feat or racial abilities.

Also, the Binder can bind the Aym vestige to gain Fire Resistance 10, and some other minor abilities.

[Draz74]

Another draconic source, though possibly easier to refluff than the others, is just to take the Draconic Aura feat. Voila, Resist Fire 5 for the whole party from one feat. Just pass it off as something like a Marshal Aura. (In fact, that's another class-based option; Dragon Magic says a Marshal can take a draconic aura in place of a Major Aura.)

Note that this doesn't scale well to higher levels, and will become a waste of a feat, unless the character is dragonblooded (which seems unlikely given what you've said about dragons) or goes straight Marshal.


Also, the Binder can bind the Aym vestige to gain Fire Resistance 10, and some other minor abilities.

With only a single level of Binder, no less (IIRC)!

[ericgrau]

Since they know the PCs have fire, they've probably prepared for it with items, not trained for it all their lives. Or maybe they hired someone who can protect them, like a level 3+ caster who can cast resist energy.

The simplest solution would be some potions of fire resistance. If they're the one's laying the ambush then a 30 minute duration is plenty and the cost would be justified since their life is on the line. Don't forget to multiply its cost by 5 for balance reasons when figuring out NPC wealth, since it's a consumible.

[Godskook]

Thanks guys!

I'm likely going with a Duskblade who can just cast it. For their short spell list, it seems like they'd learn it fairly often in one of their 'utility' slots.

My previous choice was to have a Ranger+Wizard team, and have them collaborate on scrolls of the stuff, and my "hold-out" was to find 4 classes with fairly change-able resources who could all grab it in-class(such as a Lawful Incarnate, a Totemist, a Swordsage and a Binder).

[BenInHB]

What if the Bounty Hunters also typically use fire in combat. It could be their theme. Some of the original members of the squad have natural fire resistance from race or template and the more recent additions have magic items or potions to keep them safe from their own tactics.

They could prep the battlefield with oil then light it on fire when the party gets there to cut off their retreat and funnel them to where they want them to fight. It could be a simple as a grid like a # symbol. Taking 1d6 fire damage every time they cross a fire line adds up and Fire Resistance 5 would let the Bounty Hunters ignore that and maneuver freely.

[true_shinken]

There is a feat in Player's Guide to Faerun to get fire resistance 5.