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I've never been a wizard before and had a question with ranged touch attacks. I know with a touch attack you use a normal attack roll but with a ranged touch attack would you use dexterity as you would when using a ranged weapon. And also on skills. In the old 3.4 edition you could take your beginning skills and times them by four to get your full skill points. I've read the new pathfinder book but it doesn't mention this. Does this mean when making a new character you just add your intelligence score to what your class gets. Thanks for anyone's help and any tips on wizards would be awesome.
I've never been a wizard before and had a question with ranged touch attacks. I know with a touch attack you use a normal attack roll but with a ranged touch attack would you use dexterity as you would when using a ranged weapon. And also on skills. In the old 3.4 edition you could take your beginning skills and times them by four to get your full skill points. I've read the new pathfinder book but it doesn't mention this. Does this mean when making a new character you just add your intelligence score to what your class gets. Thanks for anyone's help and any tips on wizards would be awesome.
In pathfinder you max ranks in a skill can not be higher than your character level. If you put a rank into a class skill you get a +3 bonus, so your total skill bonus will be your number of ranks in that skill, + your ability modifier for that skill, + 3 if the skill is a class skill, + any miscellaneous modifiers such as from masterwork kits.
For class skills, you'll have the same maximum modifier in Pathfinder RPG as you would in 3.5, which is character level +3.
Ranged touch attacks use base attack bonus + dexterity modifier + size modifier + misc (such as +1 for weapon focus (ray).
The sweet thing about touch attacks, ranged or melee, is that they are made against a creature's 'touch' AC, which does not include armor bonuses or natural armor bonuses. This means that it'll be a lot easier to hit a giant or a dragon with a ranged touch attack than with an arrow, but just as hard to hit a wraith or a monk with the touch attack as with a weapon.
I've never been a wizard before and had a question with ranged touch attacks. I know with a touch attack you use a normal attack roll but with a ranged touch attack would you use dexterity as you would when using a ranged weapon. And also on skills. In the old 3.4 edition you could take your beginning skills and times them by four to get your full skill points. I've read the new pathfinder book but it doesn't mention this. Does this mean when making a new character you just add your intelligence score to what your class gets. Thanks for anyone's help and any tips on wizards would be awesome.
That's correct.okay, but the book says that the ranks cannot exceed the amount of hit dice you have. So if your a second level doesn't that mean you can only have two ranks in it?
Right.
2nd level
2 Ranks in spellcraft + (4) Int bonus + 3 Class skill = Spellcraft skill of 9.
You only have 2 ranks in it, but you add 9 (or whatever your total is with modifiers) to your d20 roll.
-Campbell
As a wizard you also might want to look at your languages. You get bonus languages based on your INT mod and pick from your racial list. For every point put into Linguistics you gain another language.
Being able to read old languages or understand extraplaner creatures is always useful to a wizard. And you might not always want to have to cast a spell to do so in the case of languages you come across often.
As a wizard you also might want to look at your languages. You get bonus languages based on your INT mod and pick from your racial list. For every point put into Linguistics you gain another language.
Being able to read old languages or understand extraplaner creatures is always useful to a wizard. And you might not always want to have to cast a spell to do so in the case of languages you come across often.
All of which is true...but brings up a good point...ever notice how if you couldn't handle the adventuring, a wizard could make a darn good linguist just off of natural talent...and has been that way in virtually every edition...
All of which is true...but brings up a good point...ever notice how if you couldn't handle the adventuring, a wizard could make a darn good linguist just off of natural talent...and has been that way in virtually every edition...
It makes sense. A wiz who retired from adventuring, for whatever reason, would be a very smart guy with a great deal of knowledge, compared to the norm for NPCs. He's studied spellbooks and various other things along the way.
He could find work in a number of academic fields; work as a translator, a teacher, or, if he had to, even find work as an extremely good housecleaner with spells like prestidigitation and unseen servant.
Compared to most commoners and experts, a low-level wiz who's had enough of the adventuring life would still be quite special compared to most of his peers. He'd have more hit points, be better with weapons, and be able to cast a few spells on top of that.
All of which is true...but brings up a good point...ever notice how if you couldn't handle the adventuring, a wizard could make a darn good linguist just off of natural talent...and has been that way in virtually every edition...It makes sense. A wiz who retired from adventuring, for whatever reason, would be a very smart guy with a great deal of knowledge, compared to the norm for NPCs. He's studied spellbooks and various other things along the way.
He could find work in a number of academic fields; work as a translator, a teacher, or, if he had to, even find work as an extremely good housecleaner with spells like prestidigitation and unseen servant.
Compared to most commoners and experts, a low-level wiz who's had enough of the adventuring life would still be quite special compared to most of his peers. He'd have more hit points, be better with weapons, and be able to cast a few spells on top of that.
Yeah, I know...I just find it amusing...I know a couple of rocket scientists who couldn't learn a second language to save their lives...they can do calculus in their head, but even learning the basics of spanish is beyond them...
All of which is true...but brings up a good point...ever notice how if you couldn't handle the adventuring, a wizard could make a darn good linguist just off of natural talent...and has been that way in virtually every edition...As a wizard you also might want to look at your languages. You get bonus languages based on your INT mod and pick from your racial list. For every point put into Linguistics you gain another language.
Being able to read old languages or understand extraplaner creatures is always useful to a wizard. And you might not always want to have to cast a spell to do so in the case of languages you come across often.
The perks of digging around in ancient tombs and catacombs for lost knowledge instead of staying home. Knowing that the difference in a translation could save your life is a great motivator to learn that translation correctly.
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For class skills, you'll have the same maximum modifier in Pathfinder RPG as you would in 3.5, which is character level +3.
That's right. And a character who chooses to max all his skills at level 1 will have the same number of maxed skills as he would in 3.5 (plus one if you apply favoured class bonus to skills).
Overall, you gain more from your skill points than before, since next level, if you choose to buy different skills, you still gain the +3 class skill bonus as soon as you take the first rank in it.
And don't forget, that once a class skill, always a class skill, so if you multiclass, you still get the bonus if you buy your first rank in a skill that is proper to one of your classes, regardless of what class you just leveled up in.
And all skill ranks cost one. No more double cost for non-class skills.
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For class skills, you'll have the same maximum modifier in Pathfinder RPG as you would in 3.5, which is character level +3.That's right. And a character who chooses to max all his skills at level 1 will have the same number of maxed skills as he would in 3.5 (plus one if you apply favoured class bonus to skills).
Overall, you gain more from your skill points than before, since next level, if you choose to buy different skills, you still gain the +3 class skill bonus as soon as you take the first rank in it.
And don't forget, that once a class skill, always a class skill, so if you multiclass, you still get the bonus if you buy your first rank in a skill that is proper to one of your classes, regardless of what class you just leveled up in.
And all skill ranks cost one. No more double cost for non-class skills.
This is such a welcome change. No more headaches for making multiclass characters and trying to determine which skill points apply to which class at which level. Was it a class skill or cross-class skill? Yikes! That was a nightmare!
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It also makes adding levels to monstrous humanoids easier and more effective.
When making, for example, gnoll rangers, or bugbear rogues, I was always hampered by the fact that their racial HD crippled their skill points, by assigning them (2+Int)*4 points for their first HD, instead of (6+Int)*4, or (8+Int)*4, making them incapable of effectively fulfilling the role intended. Even though these were the roles they were designed to fill, being favoured class.
It meant a human, or other 1HD base race, taking ranger or rogue, would have more skill points at level 1 than either of these humanoids would have at class level 2 or 3, plus 2-3 levels of race. Which just didn't make sense.
As a result, I sometimes cheated, and allowed them to take their class level as their first level, while they were still a pup, given that a favoured class should have enough teachers. Then add their rotten racial levels after, as they grew up.
Now I don't need to fudge it, since it doesn't matter what order you take your class/racial levels.
Huzzah!