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Why is it so weirdly hard to figure out what a character's spell roll mod, and save DC are, and perhaps most importantly why is it impossible to figure out what you actually roll for ranged or melee touch attack spells.
Every spellcasting class tells you what attribute you should use for Spell Rolls and Spell DCs, but then refers you to page 291 for how to calculate them, a page that has zero to do with calculating them. That page doesn't mention spells at all. It does have some general stuff on calculating target DCs though, so maybe that's what is intended? Anyway, it's super cryptic.
Finally, after a super long time searching I checked the glossary in the back where it revealed to me that Spell DC is 10 + your spell roll modifier, and your spell roll modifier is your prof modifier in that type of spell plus the associated attribute modifier. It's weird that this isn't just mentioned either on page 291 or more usefully just in the spellcasting section of each class that gives you spells (seriously, what is up with the overuse of cross referencing in this book, I shouldn't have to flip to an entirely different section every 2 minutes).
Now that we've figured that out let's try to use it. I want to cast a Ray of Frost at that there goblin. What modifier do I use? My Spell Roll modifier? I would think so, but none of the pregen characters did that, they use a trained DEX prof modifier. But then the Spell Attack section on page 197 says I'm supposed to use the prof modifier from my spell attack stat. Is that supposed to be with the spell attribute mod or the DEX mod? It's totally unclear.
Does anything actually use a Spell Roll at all? At first glance I couldn't find anything while paging through the book. Everything is either using the Save DC or a Ranged or Touch Attack.
This shouldn't be anywhere near this hard to figure this stuff out.
Hey Rooneg
So there's some interesting wording in the rulebook but I decided to flip through to see what you mean.
Usually, such spells require a melee touch attack or a ranged touch attack. In both cases, make an attack roll and compare the result to the target’s TAC. Your proficiency modifier for a spell’s attack roll is the same as your proficiency modifier with spell rolls.
So I think the only confusing thing here in terms of spell mod or DEX mod was the fact that you had a prior example from the pre-gens. A mistake maybe? I think if you don't consider DEX an option, its fairly clear.
Might be easier if they referred to the roll you make with spells not as ranged / melee touch attacks, but as Spell Attack vs TAC (since I don't think your mod is going to change based on range anyway)
Might be worth looking into...
shrug
Spell attack rolls are made using Dex instead of your spellcasting modifier. It seems like the actual spell roll is only used in... spells that ask you to roll your spell roll? Not sure which ones these are. Also melee touch attacks use Str but are finesse, so they can use Dex as well.
The bit that concerns me on spells is Spell DC scaling. Sure, all casters become Legendary in it, but does anyone else find it odd that there can be up to a +5 item bonus to all saves, but not a similar item bonus to spell DCs?
Spell attack rolls are made using Dex instead of your spellcasting modifier. It seems like the actual spell roll is only used in... spells that ask you to roll your spell roll? Not sure which ones these are. Also melee touch attacks use Str but are finesse, so they can use Dex as well.
The bit that concerns me on spells is Spell DC scaling. Sure, all casters become Legendary in it, but does anyone else find it odd that there can be up to a +5 item bonus to all saves, but not a similar item bonus to spell DCs?
We definetly don't want spell to actually be reliable, that would be really bad, wouldn't it?