Arcane Spell Failure

[Kitsune YMG]

I intensely dislike the flavor of ignoring arcane spell failure by armer type. I think it should be reduce spell failure by X%. This allows for armor from 3.5 books to be imported and allows for new armors/materials/enhancement's to be added to pathfinder w/o worry about whether the % spell failure is correct wrt armor type. It also means that a magus could wear heavier armor and take a smaller penalty.

e.g. a chain shirt is %20 IIRC. Full Plate is %50. A magus who can wear a chain shirt and have a %0 should not have a %50, he should have a %30.

I don't propose giving them medium/heavy proficiency earlier, or even at all; this is what feats are for. I just think a 1st level magus should be able to blow a feat on medium armor and suffer a reduced penalty instead of nothing or everything.

[AvalonXQ]

Hmmm. Arcane spell failure reduction of 5% per level?

[Synapse]

The thing is... wizards' 3.5 books also gave up on the concept. Most stuff that came on the second half of the edition's life was also "light->medium->heavy" instead of fixed chances. Bards ignored light armor, duskblades eventually ignored heavy armor and heavy shields, knight phantoms ignored light armor and so on. It's simpler and it doesn't make you keep juggling enchantments and feats just to have them grow obsolete.

Also note that there are a pair of feats that eat your swift action to reduce spell failure by as much as 40%.

[Darkholme]

I'm going to agree with Kitsune here.

I seriously think that the % reduction is the way to go.

In my own games I've already changed the Magus to have armored casting like this instead.

DH's Game wrote:

Armored Casting 1: At level 1, Arcane Spell Failure chance is reduced by 15%.
Armored Casting 2: At level 7, this increases to 25%
Armored Casting 3: At level 13, this increases to 35%.
These stack with feats that reduce ASF, but not with Armored Casting from other classes.
Armored Casting applies to all spellcasting subject to ASF.

And while I think that's a better way to approach it, I don't see paizo doing it that way for the simple reason that it's inconsistent with the treatment they gave the bard and summoner (Whom I also changed to a % ASF reduction, and gave them Armored Casting 1.)

[Kitsune YMG]

Darkholme wrote:

I'm going to agree with Kitsune here.

I seriously think that the % reduction is the way to go.

In my own games I've already changed the Magus to have armored casting like this instead.

DH's Game wrote:

Armored Casting 1: At level 1, Arcane Spell Failure chance is reduced by 15%.
Armored Casting 2: At level 7, this increases to 25%
Armored Casting 3: At level 13, this increases to 35%.
These stack with feats that reduce ASF, but not with Armored Casting from other classes.
Armored Casting applies to all spellcasting subject to ASF.

And while I think that's a better way to approach it, I don't see paizo doing it that way for the simple reason that it's inconsistent with the treatment they gave the bard and summoner (Whom I also changed to a % ASF reduction, and gave them Armored Casting 1.)

Since they are already presenting alternative magic rules (Words of Power) in UM, I'd like to see a small section converting Ignore %Failure(type) into flat percentages*. I'd be nice simple from a choice perspective. I think a bard w/ftr1 (or a feat etc) should be able to cast in full plate at level one with a better chance (low failure) than a wizard. It seems a solid house rule.

* Something like
Ignore %Failure in light armor: -> %20
Medium: %30
Heavy: %40
Shields: %5

I'd throw in a bit about needing proficiency with armor to gain he reduction as well. This means a brd1 w/medium armor proficiency could cast w/o failure in medium armor (Hide is identical to chain shirt in AC and %fail, but slows speed and -3 A.C. -- also costs less) but at the cost of blowing a feat. At brd2 should be able to afford a chain shirt so it's not too big of an advantage. Under this system (by blowing a feat) the bard could have an AC of +6 (v +4 chain shirt) with a %fail of %5 (Breast Plate). Is the extra 2 AC worth blowing a feat, 100 g.p. and Still having a 1 in 20 chance of having all somantic spells fizzel? My hunch is, from an optimizers POV, no. But sometimes in RPGs people pick sub-optimal choices because they are fond of them, thinks it builds character, and/or it's fun. That's what I'm trying to preserve.