Advice for fighting spell casters

[northbrb]

i was wandering if anyone had some nice advice for a worrier such as a barbarian of fighter to fight a spell caster in direct combat.

what i mean is what tactics work best, i know that there are feats and rage powers that help but im talking about tactics that will work well.

[stringburka]

northbrb wrote:

i was wandering if anyone had some nice advice for a worrier such as a barbarian of fighter to fight a spell caster in direct combat.

what i mean is what tactics work best, i know that there are feats and rage powers that help but im talking about tactics that will work well.

What levels? At low levels, just run up to the caster. At higher levels, you need to specialize more, but basically it's the same thing: Get to the caster. It's just harder, and might often require the help of another spellcaster on your side.

[james maissen]

northbrb wrote:

i was wandering if anyone had some nice advice for a worrier such as a barbarian of fighter to fight a spell caster in direct combat.

what i mean is what tactics work best, i know that there are feats and rage powers that help but im talking about tactics that will work well.

Mess with their casting.

Don't let them simply 5' step back and cast at you.

-James

[kenmckinney]

northbrb wrote:

i was wandering if anyone had some nice advice for a worrier such as a barbarian of fighter to fight a spell caster in direct combat.

what i mean is what tactics work best, i know that there are feats and rage powers that help but im talking about tactics that will work well.

Take a ranged weapon, then ready an action to shoot them when they try to cast. That way they can't 5ft step away to avoid it. And concentration checks are a lot harder than they used to be.

Also , there is a fighter bonus feat that lets you follow someone as an immediate action when they 5ft step away. If you have that, they're toast.

If they instead try to do a normal move away and cast, you'll get an AOO. One idea would be to use it to trip them. Then they'll be prone and adjacent to you. If you have combat reflexes, you'll get another AOO then if they try to cast next to you and you'll have a good chance of disrupting their spell.

The key to all this working is that 'cast defensively' got a whole lot harder in pathfinder. This was absolutely needed.

Ken

[Charlie Bell]

Many spellcasters don't even bother to draw a weapon. That means they don't threaten an area. That means you can grapple the bejeezus out of them. Most of them have a sucky CMD, to boot. Especially at low levels, a spellcaster in a grapple is screwed.

[Morgen]

For added insurance, you can always get a tangle-foot bag and/or a thunderstone to really ruin their day.

[Mynameisjake]

northbrb wrote:

i was wandering if anyone had some nice advice for a worrier....

Stop obsessing on things beyond your control. Change those things that you can change, but beyond that, what happens, happens. Recognize that worrying is generally counter productive. If the worst is going to happen anyway, then try to enjoy the time you have before then. You may discover that you have more influence over events than you think.

-DrJake

[Eric Mason 37]

If you haven't already, read the section on Concentration.

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/magic.html

(Concentration is near the top of the page, if you're scrolling, you've probably gone too far.)

We've had very nice results at level 4 with grappling casters to shut down their spell casting. However you need to make sure the other opponents are occupied so aren't going to go kick the grappler in the kidnies ;)

[TLO3]

Grappling can ruin their day. So I don't have imp. unarmed strike/imp. grapple. Take your AoO with that quarterstaff at +4 to hit and 1d6-1 damage. Now try to beat my cmd. I just wanted a hug... sorry about the armor spikes.

[Madcap Storm King]

TLO3 wrote:

Grappling can ruin their day. So I don't have imp. unarmed strike/imp. grapple. Take your AoO with that quarterstaff at +4 to hit and 1d6-1 damage. Now try to beat my cmd. I just wanted a hug... sorry about the armor spikes.

If you're planning on doing this, carry a light weapon like a shortsword or dagger so you can stab them repeatedly. Only do this when you're fighting just a spellcaster. If they DD out (After making the concentration check) they basically have two options for range, and you should be ready for both of them.

1. Within killing range. Likely out of your double move. Depending on the area, make your way to them as quickly as possible, running if necessary, or take cover if available to cut off line of sight and re-asses a strategy. If he's a wizard, that's probably his only dimension door. Grappling again may work unless he casts Black Tentacles or another freezing spell in front of him. If he's a Sorcerer who didn't use a magic item, re-asses the strategy and try something else.

2. Out of killing range. This is a few miles away. Employ tracking spells, take all the stuff he left, etc. If he likes doing this, next time you grapple him, rip out some of your spellcaster's hair and stuff it in the teleporter's pocket. The hair is an object, so Locate Object with a big bonus is headed his way. Don't give him time to recuperate, unless you can do nothing about it because he's a few miles away and you can't scry-and-die him today.

A lot of these overall strategies rely on a spellcaster, but as a wise old Chinese man once said to me: "Magic must defeat magic!"