Escape Artist DC

[zhazz]

Piggy-backing off of Steve's post about Bigby, and how to defeat it, I figured I'd ask about Escape Artist here.


Is the DC to escape it via Escape Artist still the same (52 + d20)?

The Wiki states that the DC might be too high.

I am also curious about the part with AC for the initial check.
Does an AC of 73 give immunity to all the Bigbys, regardless of Escape Artist ranks, provided at least 1 rank is had in Escape Artist?

Bigby 7-8-9 take the highest of your AC our your escape artist score for the initial check on those spells. So that's d20 + Primary Spell Ability Modifier + Caster level + 12 - 1 ~ 52 +d20 for a CL 30 caster with 11 INT/CHA mod

As for escape artist it's the total score so ranks + DEX mod + bonuses (spell/items), and while they're not common you can buy a bunch of escape artist items at the Avernus shop, going to 60 escape artist is fairly possible.

With complete investment in escape artist bigby are unlikely to work on you. That said it's clear that this is a huge investment for not much, the DCs for escape artist should probably be lower.

[Valefort]

If you beat the DC through high AC of high escape artist score then no bigby effects.

[Winterborne]

As far as I know you don't have to have the 1 rank in escape artist for it to work.

Bigby will contest the higher of your AC and EA ranks from what I know. If your AC is higher than your EA ranks, then EA is not used at all.

Given how much easier it is to get high AC vs high Escape Artist, the skill has little mechanical value but I've used it a fair few times in DM events.

[Thaelis]

Can't it just do a grapple check?

CL+13+1d20 against 10+Base Attack Bonus+Dex mod+Str mod.
(Or Escape Artist skill if higher)

So a 30th level caster would have ~50% chance to affect a 30th level Fighter (assuming BAB +30, Str mod +11, Dex mod +3), and a 100% chance to affect a 21st level Fighter.

A 30th level caster would have ~50%
chance of affecting a Rogue with maxed out Escape Artist (rank 33, Dex mod +11), 30% with Greater Heroism, 10% with GH and a single piece of skill-boosting gear.

The Rogue has a better chance, but they had to spend 33 skill points, whereas the Fighter sacrificed nothing. Seems pretty balanced to me