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Almost is the key.
Almost always a melee-weak caster would stay way out of AoO risk.
Almost always you haven't your back pressed against the wall, being overrun by a swarm of critters.
Almost.
Casting defensively is that last-ditch option you need in desperate times, or that extra trick you use to pull off a sorely needed win despite being in a close pinch.
Just because you have it available doesn't mean you should always risk so much.
And you can take a 5 foot step with difficult terrain. You must to cast defensively to make a touch attack.
I think both are powerfull reasons.
You can't take 5 foot step in difficult terrain without a feat.
Also my magus casts defensively pretty much all the time.
. You must to cast defensively to make a touch attack.
Really? I don't think so.
EDIT: You're right. I've done this wrong since 3.0 it seems.
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Hmm step up doesnt seem to work with reach weapons though.
How common is difficult terrain anyway? I get the impression most DMs dont use it very often.
Step Up works against the most common tactic - a caster is standing next to a character with a non-reach weapon, takes a 5fs to get out of threatened area, casts a spell. If the opponent has Step Up, he makes an immediate 5fs and is again right next to the caster.
Difficult terrain is quite common in my groups. I use it a lot - especially when in a forest, in the mountains, in a ruin, in a sewer, in a swamp, on a winding stair ways, in ...
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Right, but a fighter with a longspear or other reach weapon cant use it to threaten a caster doing a 5ft step. Not sure why...greatswords are way overused as it is.Step Up works against the most common tactic - a caster is standing next to a character with a non-reach weapon, takes a 5fs to get out of threatened area, casts a spell. If the opponent has Step Up, he makes an immediate 5fs and is again right next to the caster.Hmm step up doesnt seem to work with reach weapons though.
How common is difficult terrain anyway? I get the impression most DMs dont use it very often.
Well if you hunt casters, reach weapons are not the best choice - you want them up close and personal, not at a distance :)
Casting defensively also leaves you the option of casting something like invisibility and still being able to move your full move speed.
Technically, touch attacks don't require casting defensively in and of themselves. It is possible to cast the spell first while outside the enemy's range and then move up to the enemy to make the touch attack. It's the fact that if your opponent is right there by you already, if you want to cast the spell and actually use it in the same round, a single 5' step to step away isn't going to help you.
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Right, but a fighter with a longspear or other reach weapon cant use it to threaten a caster doing a 5ft step. Not sure why...Is there a reason why a fighter with a longspear wouldn'y be able to threaten a magician casting a spell who had stepped 5' away previously? Is this a rule I am missing?
I think the person you're quoting was saying that if the caster is beside the fighter who has a reach weapon then the caster isn't being threatened. If they're not being threatened then they have no need to step away before they cast, and in fact if they did step away, they would now actually be threatened by the fighter.
They seem to be complaining that characers with reach weapons don't threaten adjactent squares so people use Greatswords more than they would if reach weapons threatened everything out to thier reach value.
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I think the person you're quoting was saying that if the caster is beside the fighter who has a reach weapon then the caster isn't being threatened. If they're not being threatened then they have no need to step away before they cast
Ah, if that is the case then that makes sense.
Armor spikes + reach weapon. You threaten both 10' and 5'.
Or Improved Unarmed Strike + Reach Weapon; something my Druid could do :)
Aaargh, am I dumb or what.
Armor spikes + reach weapon. You threaten both 10' and 5'.
Or glaive-wielding half-orc with toothy alternate racial trait.
Or now, with UC available, archer with Improved Snap Shot.
Speaking of reach... Why the hell the haft of a reach weapon, like a Spear, cannot be used as a club or quarterstaff by default? People was trained to use them like that in the old days... That would make the point of threatening an adjacent caster moot.