Just starting out, varied questions

[Thingol]

This is the first time for all of us and I received the Core Rulebook and Advanced Rulebook. I've played/am playing other games so I'm picking up on the rule pretty quick and I am familiar with DnD type systems from games like Baldur's Gate and all that. However, I feel like the rulebook just assumes all of us played 3.5e. The truth is, not all of us have and that is posing to be a problem because I don't know some things that I really can't find. However, I love the game! Played only one session before and I loved it and the freedom. It was easy to learn as a player.
Me and my friends made a party (I'm DMing)
All are level 1 still, as we have not finished character creation because I'm not quite sure how with some.
Dwarf - Barbarian - Drunken Brute
Elf - Sorcerer - Boreal
Half-Elf - Ranger
Elf - Wizard - Necromancer
Half-Elf - Witch
They ignored my advice on how to make a good, balanced party

Anyways, I have some questions. Mostly about spells.

1. How many spells do wizards begin knowing? I understand the concept of Spells Per Day (3 level-0's and 1 level-1 before +INT Mod.)

2. What spells do Witch's begin knowing? I'm confused when the book says that they (familiar, I know) know all the level-0 witch spells. Is that the two in the Witch specific category of spells or does it include all the level-0 spells like bleed as listed in the Witch's class description. I don't have the book on hand to check for page numbers.

3. Will somebody please give me a good, simple explanation on how to determine the CR of NPCs/creatures that I generate? I figured I would just make a human rogue character and use it as a bandit. Is that even the right way to make NPCs/creatures for encounters? I'm confused.

Any help is great, these forums are awesome. Thank you.

[Name Violation]

Thingol wrote:

Me and my friends made a party (I'm DMing)
All are level 1 still, as we have not finished character creation because I'm not quite sure how with some.
Dwarf - Barbarian - Drunken Brute
Elf - Sorcerer - Boreal
Half-Elf - Ranger
Elf - Wizard - Necromancer
Half-Elf - Witch
They ignored my advice on how to make a good, balanced party

Anyways, I have some questions. Mostly about spells.

1. How many spells do wizards begin knowing? I understand the concept of Spells Per Day (3 level-0's and 1 level-1 before +INT Mod.)

2. What spells do Witch's begin knowing? I'm confused when the book says that they (familiar, I know) know all the level-0 witch spells. Is that the two in the Witch specific category of spells or does it include all the level-0 spells like bleed as listed in the Witch's class description. I don't have the book on hand to check for page numbers.

3. Will somebody please give me a good, simple explanation on how to determine the CR of NPCs/creatures that I generate? I figured I would just make a human rogue character and use it as a bandit. Is that even the right way to make NPCs/creatures for encounters? I'm confused.

Any help is great, these forums are awesome. Thank you.

1- its not int mod for spells/day. There's a seperate table non specialist wizards know all 0s + (4+int mod) first levels, and gain 2 spells known (free) every wizard. They can research more.

2-all the 0s they can cast. Those on the wizard or cleric list are still witch spells

3- generally level-1 (1/2 for 1st levels). But that's if they have npc stats and gear, and unoptimized. Optimized may be cr=level.

[Carbon D. Metric]

1) A wizards spellbook starts with all cantrips and 3 1st level spells, he may gain bonus spells in addition to this if they have a high enough int score as well.

2) Their familiar is their spellbook. It works the same way as it does for a wizard except instead of studying they spellbook in the morning, the convene with the familiar. It means all cantrips that are available to a witch as per their spell list.

3) Most creature that has class levels and no racial hit dice will have a CR equal to their level - 1 (Minimum 1/2). For example a level 6 orc rogue will have a CR of 5, whereas a level 1 orc rogue will have a CR of 1/2.

[Thingol]

This is starting to make sense. So let me see if I get this right:

1. Non-specialized wizards get all cantrips and 4(+ int mod) level-1 spells.
Specialized wizards (like my necromancer player) get all cantrips but only 3(+ int mod) level-1 spells. Presumably, this comes at the cost of the abilities and bonuses that come with being specialized I'm guessing?

2. Witches receive all cantrips available to them found in the table in the class description, rather than just the witch spells in the spell chapter. This must then be true for the rest.

3. I think I've got this down for now. For enemies made up of core classes at least. Oh well, I've got the bestiary and I feel like maybe I know what I'm doing with that.

Am I there yet?

[Name Violation]

uggg. its 3+int mod. effin typo's

[Thingol]

Name Violation wrote:

uggg. its 3+int mod. effin typo's

Haha, those can be costly in equations like this.

3+int mod for first level spells for all wizards then, making it unimportant if they are specialist or not?