Arcane Caster AC


Advice

Sovereign Court

Just curious - past the first 2-4 levels where a caster has a decent AC just by casting mage armor - how many people worry much about AC with their wizards/sorcerors etc? Or do you just rely upon mirror image/displacement etc along with allies keeping them off you? Instead you might focus your wealth on more offensive/utility gear.


People had some good comments in this thread where I was asking about importance of AC for a high-level oracle.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

My arcanes don't exist in a void, they rely on their teammates.

That said some small investments in some basic AC items doesn't hurt.
Even if your AC is easy to hit, you don't want all the monsters iteratives...especially with crits to auto-hit/confirm.

Aside from that, no monster can hit you after you've melted its face/ vaporized/stun/daze-locked it.

By mid (7th) most of my arcanes have a ring of protection, amulet of natural armor, +1 mithral buckler, jingasa. They have a means of damage avoidance via invisibility and Mirror Image/Displacement. All of them can fly.

They also have at least one panic button (earth meld, dimension door, gaseous form, etc.)

Between that and usually ending the combat in 1-2 rounds they've held up fairly well.

Grand Lodge

The first few levels mage armor and a +3 dex is typically a really good AC.

At level 4+ mirror Image is really a work horse if you find that staying out of combat is difficult. I don't see whats so hard about standing in the back and being a Pokedex of monsters. So I hardly worry about Mirror image until level 7+ and my 2nd level spells are plentiful.

At level 6-9 Defending Bone becomes another layer of defense I can pile on if I find a need be. Stoneskin is so freaking expensive and I'd rather wait for the Communal version of the spell. Because for some reason it is cheaper. o.O

Resist energy is another source of layer defense I like because it last a nice long time per casting and reflex saves are not the best for a wizard like the will save is. Shaving off 10-30 damage per elemental hit is a nice thing.

By level 10 I should have bought a Lesser rod of Extend. This makes shield a viable choice as it can be extended to 20 minutes of +4 AC and Magic missile eater.

By level 10 my wizard will:
On the day before adventuring: Prepare and cast- Endure elements (24 hours), Mage armor w/ extend rod (20 hours), False Life w/ Extended rod (20 hours), and Defending Bone w/ extend rod (20 hours). This is right before my mandatory sleep to regain my spells for the next day. Now I've freed up 2 1st level spells, 1 2nd level spell, and 1 3rd level spell that day to be prepare to stomp more encounters with.

Fully buffed he typically runs with: Endure elements, False Life, Mage Armor, Defending Bone, Resist energy, Mirror Image or Invisibility, and Shield.

Scarab Sages

Charon's Little Helper wrote:
Just curious - past the first 2-4 levels where a caster has a decent AC just by casting mage armor - how many people worry much about AC with their wizards/sorcerors etc? Or do you just rely upon mirror image/displacement etc along with allies keeping them off you? Instead you might focus your wealth on more offensive/utility gear.

I do.

Surprises happen.

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