Looking for advice on a couple of requested custom items

[King of Nowhere]

My players asked me for a couple of custom items that I'm not sure how to handle, so asking here

1) after learning that the end-campaign boss favored strategy is disjunction + quickened banshee's wail, my players wondered if a miracle/wish spell could be used to make an item undisjoinable, so that they could keep a death ward active.
I normally would be cool with it, and it's certainly within the limitations of wish as used in my campaign, but there are a couple of things bothering me:
- I run a high-magic, high-rich world. Both pcs and npcs are way above wbl. So getting the money for the required wish spells is trivial. getting enough high level npc casters willing to do it is not, but it's ultimately only a matter of time. Furthermore, the party just hit level 17, and the party casters could easily do the job themselves with the p for a few encounters.
- most of my party is very casual players, so I kept the magic relatively simple and avoid all the crazy combos. Basically, the only things that work are blasting and save or die. I am afraid that my main villain, that right now could probaby take on the whole party singlehandedly thanks to his high DC, would be reduced to just blasting if the party became immune to death effects. and blasting against a party with two healers is not very practical.
Similarly, I worry that all the npc enemy casters will be reduced to casting fireball and buffing martials if the party can acquire undisjoinable immunity to all the nasty effects.
So, I'm thinking of allowing it, but with some limitation. Like, "a succesful caster level check can still suppress the item", or "this item get to roll the saving throw against disjunction twice with a +4 bonus", or stuff like that. Looking for suggetions.

2) To be protected against disjunction, the characters wanted to have a magical rope binding them to the wizard, who has a contingency to gtfo if she'd be subjected to disjunction. the rope would create contact with the other party members and include them in the effect, so that the wizard's contingency-activated teleport would also affect the party.
they also want the rope to be able to change lenght and stuff so that basically it never impedes her.
I have nothing against this effect, but it's very unconventional, and I don't know how to price and stat it. So I'm asking if there is some similar item or effect in some splatbook that I can use as a reference. Doesn't have to be a rope; maybe it's a "bracelet of sharing the wizard's contingency"

thanks

[DarkSoul]

For the first item, if I were to allow it at all it would be as a single-use item each person would have to carry, and the next time they'd be affected by a disjunction, the item absorbs the effect for them and is destroyed. An alternative would be to make it something like a wilding clasp where it's attached to an item, and that item is protected from the next disjunction it would be subject to. I'd also make it relatively expensive because if it's cheap, why doesn't everyone have it and why isn't Disjunction a useless spell?

The second one I don't think I'd let them make, because then you might have to explain why they could make an item that lets them be in touch range (regardless of actual distance) for teleportation but they can't make an item that counts for other touch spells.

As an aside, I'm not sure I'd allow a contingency to trigger on "being affected by a disjunction spell" because by the time you're affected, it's too late and the contingency would already be dispelled.

[King of Nowhere]

As an aside, I'm not sure I'd allow a contingency to trigger on "being affected by a disjunction spell" because by the time you're affected, it's too late and the contingency would already be dispelled.

As far as I know, "when I'm attacked" is a valid condition. So "when someone is casting a disjunction and I'd be in its area of effect" should also be a valid condition. I wrote "being affected by a disjunction" for short

EDIT: as for sharing a contingency, I'm thinking of a specific item that does not otherwise tamper with the touch/range distinction

bracelet of shared contingency
those bracelets allow the sharing of contingencies and they always come in groups. To use them, all the characters who want to share a contingency must wear one of the bracelets and be in contact with each other. Once one of them cast a contingency, the condition and effect of the contingency are applied to all characters that shared it. If the contingency activates for one of them, it activates for everyone, and it is discharged.
For example, Lidda shares with Jozan a contingency "if I'm targeted by a ranged touch spell, dimensional anchor me 10 feet out of the way". At this point, if Jozan is targeted by a ranged touch spell, both he and Lidda will teleport 10 feet (lacking better diretions, Lidda will be teleported in the same direction of Jozan), discharging the spell for both of them.
It is only possible to have one shared contingency at a time, and it does count on one's maximum allotment of contingencies.
Price: 5000 gp per bracelet (I don't see this as particulaarly powerful; you're not getting extra contingencies out of it, and the "triggers for anyone" is a potential downside)

how does that seem?

[DarkSoul]

As far as I know, "when I'm attacked" is a valid condition. So "when someone is casting a disjunction and I'd be in its area of effect" should also be a valid condition. I wrote "being affected by a disjunction" for short

EDIT: as for sharing a contingency, I'm thinking of a specific item that does not otherwise tamper with the touch/range distinction


how does that seem?

"When I'm attacked." would be fine for a contingency trigger. IMO, once you find out you're in the area of a disjunction it's already too late because you (nor the contingency) have no way of knowing if you'll be in the effect until it's there, so I wouldn't let that second condition work. If you do, though, that's fine.

Regarding the items, I think 5k is too cheap. Take a look at the ring of communication from the MIC for a baseline version of how these items could be linked together, and note that just speaking to each other is worth 2,000 gold. I'd probably put it somewhere in the 10-15k range, especially since you said your PCs and NPCs have more than enough gold.

Here's a thought. Make it 15-20k for the ring, and whenever a contingency would trigger on everyone, anyone who didn't actually have the contingency cast on them can choose (not an action) to be affected by it or not. It's still discharged as normal, though. This would prevent Jozan from D-Dooring 10 feet from unconscious Regdar and ruining the heal spell that would get him back in the fight.

[Quertus]

So, Teleport Through Time, retroactively cast an Epic spell that counters all Disjunction effects targeting the party. Done.

Maybe price the Bracers of Shared Contingency as Arms of the Naga & a feat (aberration heritage for longer arms), and only allow them to function a) on spells that could work at range touch (like Teleport); b) only within a limited range.

Honestly, the best answer (IMO) is just to let everybody have their own Contingency. No need for custom items.

Also, it sounds like you've heavily house-ruled the beautiful array of colors in 3e down to black & white, and are now feeling the pain of doing so. Yes, if there are a very limited number of viable tactics, then it becomes very easy to defend against them. Or, in common parlance, limiting offensive options has given a stealth buff to defense. You've made defense king as a logical consequence of your world-building. Now, you've got several options, a few of which are:

You can let the players' plan work, like you think it should. This might make your players feel smart & their PCs feel awesome, or it might make your BBEG feel like a chump.

You can change the rules. This might make the final fight more enjoyable, or it might make you look like a chump.

You can try to let the PCs plan work, and make the final fight with the BBEG seem a fun challenge. Depending on how much you've butchered the rest of the rules, the Playground may or may not be able to help you with that without getting an associate's in "your world". This path is hard work, and could give you every success... or every failure.

Also, out of curiosity, how was the party supposed to have a chance against (Disjunction and) high-DC AoE SoD without resorting to bring immune to the BBEG's schtick?

[King of Nowhere]

Also, it sounds like you've heavily house-ruled the beautiful array of colors in 3e down to black & white, and are now feeling the pain of doing so. Yes, if there are a very limited number of viable tactics, then it becomes very easy to defend against them

1) I like that. Prolonged fights are more exciting than rocket tag

2) I only have one experienced player in the group, and he's a melee. The other four still need me to figure out their saving throw bonuses affter we've played for two years. they clearly have no interest in trying the more complex tactics, I can't have the npcs act much more optimized than they do.

Why I got players like that? they are all good friends of mine, and they like tabletop gaming, and I tried to get them to roleplaying. Didn't work, except for that one guy who became experienced. Still, I asked them many times if they actually enjoy the game, and they always were positive about it, so the group remains, at least until we end the campaign.

Also, out of curiosity, how was the party supposed to have a chance against (Disjunction and) high-DC AoE SoD without resorting to bring immune to the BBEG's schtick?

they themselves have very high saving throw buffs, including some that are not disjoinable. Including some earplgs that give +5 to saving throw against all sound-based effects, which they got originally to protect themselves from the pandemonium chihuahuas, and being inside the earhole they will not be affected by disjunction; I gave them those items specifically because I was thinking of the final fight. I'm also planning to give them some more buffs before the final fight.
I fully expect the combo to drop a couple of pcs, but I also expect that the remaining ones will win by action economy. And I will not let the spell kill more than half the party in any case.

[rel]

I'd say make it a number of individual items, one for each party member. Feels like 8th level magic and should be priced accordingly.
I would also add a costly material component and maybe some way to shut the defence down.

While on the subject of disjunction, there is a risk of losing your magic when breaking artifacts so a defense against the spell is to carry as many minor artifacts as you can get a hold of into combat.