PFS Caster Build Advice


Advice


So, my son recently commented to me that I never play casters. I take that as a challenge; now to roll up a full caster. My problem is, I know very little about feats/traits for casters. I am considering either a Witch or a blaster (Wizard?)

Can anyone out there give me some advice on what I should be selecting for traits/feats to get started? For the witch I will focus on things related to hexes (debuffs mostly) with some DPS ability as a fall back. For the blaster, it will be just that...blowing stuff up. I would prefer an option that does not focus on fire spells as they seem to be all over.

Anyone out there have some advice? Thanks in advance!

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

There is a guide to Blaster Wizards that is fairly well done.

There are also a number of different witch guides out there. Here are two that I liked:
Viking Irishman
A witch's guide to shutting down enemies

My thoughts on both classes... Blaster wizards are a little less interesting than wizards that do the "God Wizard thing" a la Treantmonk, but they can be a good place to start with casters because it is often easier to understand how to play a hammer and focus on damage than be an anvil and focus on battlefield control. And going boom can be fun!

Witches are amongst the best battlefield controllers in the game with slumber hex, evil eye and cackle. However, being a slumber witch can be problematic because you are almost too effective. I've known a number of witches who stopped using slumber because they didn't want to shut down the fun for everyone else. In my local PFS group, one Venture Captain plays a channeling warpriest of Gorum who wakes up any enemies that have been slumbered because his character demands "Fair Fights!"

I think witches are a very interesting class, with lots of great spells from the arcane and divine lists. I'm playing in a Kingmaker game with another character who is a support witch. He's been just delightful... I think you could have a lot of fun with either class.


To be honest, a Witch would be my preference because they seem very versatile. Hex the bad guy, Fortune the Barbarian, throw a damage spell out there, and put a particularly nasty guy to sleep.

I also don't have a full understanding of what you can actually do with the Familiars.

Time to read some Witch guides, thanks Hmm!

By the way, I will most likely be doing a full rebuild on my level 4 Skald that I really screwed up to build the Witch. So, level 4 and one scenario to level 5.


fire has the best damaging spells is why you see blasters use fire spells.


Would you have enough prestige and gold to do a full rebuild of a skald? That sounds mighty expensive.


I have a boon which will allow a full rebuild. Race, Class, Traits, Feats, etc.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Krell44 wrote:
I have a boon which will allow a full rebuild. Race, Class, Traits, Feats, etc.

Ooh, I'm envious! Those boons are like gold in the boon trading thread. Well I hope that you enjoy your witch.

Silver Crusade

Skipping low levels definitely makes casters easier. I tend to use GM credit to skip level 1 on any PC, but especially on casters, I want to get to level 3 or 4 before playing them much. Full casters are just useless at low levels.


If you're doing a blaster wizard, consider putting an 11 in charisma and taking a single level of cross-blooded sorcerer (orc / red dragon). The extra 2 points of damage per die on your fireball help a lot.


Personally I prefer Sorcerer over Wizard for the blaster/combat mage. With the right feats and a decent selection of damage spells you can be the master of damage spells. YMMV.

Grand Lodge

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Fromper wrote:
Skipping low levels definitely makes casters easier. I tend to use GM credit to skip level 1 on any PC, but especially on casters, I want to get to level 3 or 4 before playing them much. Full casters are just useless at low levels.

I don't know about useless at low levels... I've played my sorceress, Zahra, all the way from level 1. Of course, it helped that she has a tiger to order around... Still, there was ALWAYS something she could do!

  • Roll spellcraft and Knowledge arcana checks!
  • Handle animal -- I've gotten wild dogs to stop attacking us
  • Endless acid splash, message spell (frees up the rogue), mage hand
  • Good battlefield control with grease and other fun stuff
  • Scrolls, scrolls, scrolls
  • Wand activation
  • Social skills! My diplomacy started out high, but I rolled bluff, intimidate and even perform untrained many times.

I've always felt useful, even at low levels. Of course, now that Zahra has hit level 5, she can do a lot more. But she's been fun from day one.

Hmm

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