My sorcerer is going to be in a spellcasting tournament tonight, and I've never done a 1-on-1 spellcaster duel in pathfinder before. So, I'm looking for advice on tactics etc.
I don't expect to win overall, but I would like to make a nice showing.
The tourney rules:
* 1-1 combat
* Any "spellcaster" is allowed to enter-- so I may be against clerics, bards, wizards, oracles, sorcerers, summoners, alchemists (our GM ruled that our party's alchemist could also participate), etc.
* No pre-buffs allowed, and there are refs checking.
* Magical stuff *IS* allowed!!! Equipment, items, etc
* There will be one round allowed for self-buffing before combat begins.
* All matches will happen same day, so some thought may be needed for conservation. I
* I believe its 4 rounds: 1) 16 duelists; 2) then 8; 3) then 4; 4) Then the final 2. (Although there might be 5 rounds starting with 32.)
* The caster levels range from 4- 10.
My sorcerer:
She's already in play, so I can't change her feats or spells known.
Also, as a sorcerer, I can't memorize different spells to suit the occasion.
What I can do is exercise strategy, and buy items...
We're off a recent big victory, so I have about 6000 gp to spend.
Currently:
Ifrit: All sorcerer abilities as if Cha +2
7th level: Cross-blooded elemental fire/djinni
Feats abilities:
(Change any energy type to fire or electricity)
Combat Casting (from staff)
Craft Wondrous
Dark Adept
Dodge
Empower Spell
Spell Penetration (from staff)
Weapon Focus: Ray
1st: 8 per day
Ear Piercing Scream
Liberating Command
Mage Armor
Magic Missile
Shocking Grasp
2nd: 7 per day
Acid Arrow
Invisibility
Mirror Image
Scorching Ray
3rd: 5 per day
Fireball
Fly
SLAs
Elemental Ray 8x day
Burning Hands 1x
Detect Magic 1x
Feather Fall 1x
Levitate 1x
Items with:
Blink
Cone of Cold
Liberating Command
Prot f Law
Shard of Chaos
Combat:
AC 19, Tch 17, FF 13
HP 42
Initiative +9 (Wildfire heart trait +4)
CMB +4
CMD 21
Stats w Items: S12, D20, Cn14, I10, W12, Cha 22- effectively 24 for Ifrit bonus
Quarterstaff +1 (+5 to bonus to hit)
So, some of my basic questions are;
I have one round to buff. Usually I use Mage Armor, but vs a spellcaster should I choose something else?
I have UMD of +16. I will *usually* make my roll. Any cross-class items to get?
We are expecting combat with an assassin at some point during the tourneys. (There are 3 tourneys... melee, marksmanship, and spellcasting.) So I'll have to keep something in the tank for her too.
The other spellcasters will have had a chance to hear about me, and learn that I'm all about fire. And prepare. Any suggestions to foil their expectations?
In the same line, I'm trying to keep the electricity thing as an ace up my sleeve, and not use it until later.
I'm interested to hear how you guys would prep for this kind of tournament.
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Well, a lot of spells require line-of-sight, so pre-buffing with Invisibility is probably a good call (and make sure you have a method of defeating opponents who do this! Be ready for their pre-buff to be Resist Energy: Fire, too.) Normally, the best bet in a spellcaster v spellcaster duel is to land a quick Fort-based (for most of them, some may be weak to reflex instead) save-or-suck type spell. Regardless, you're going to have to be ready to defend yourself against these. You don't seem to have many of those, unfortunately... Acid Arrow is probably good to help disrupt enemy spellcasting, or if you go first on initiative you could ready a blast for every time the opponent starts to cast to try to make them fail concentration checks. Can you buy scrolls?
Thanks for the suggestions.
And yes, I can use scrolls. What are some good fort-based spells?
I think the most important thing to know is the Victory condition. What constitutes a win?
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Well, scrolls usually have low DCs unless you spend a lot on them, so I wouldn't use them for that. But definitely have scrolls of spells like See Invisibility, maybe Resist Energy or Protection from Energy, and other things that don't require a high DC (Touch of Idiocy could be fun). You could also consider using your pre-buff round to cast an illusion to throw off your opponent, though talk with your GM about what gets a Will save to disbelieve.
Since you have good UMD, Silence could really screw a lot of people over if you use something (like, say, a Tanglefoot Bag) to stop them from moving outside its range. If you don't cast it on them personally, they don't get a save. (Better yet, just cast it on the tanglefoot bag in your prebuff round and throw it at them in the 1st round!)
Keep an eye out for things that force concentration checks. Summoning a creature or a swarm in your prebuff round could be quite excellent (hello Mad Monkeys), or a spell that whacks the opponent every round. Grappling is wonderful - some summoned creatures are good at it, or you could cast Strangling Hair for bonus style points.
hmm..wouldn't a wand of ghoul touch/wand of ray of enfeeblement be good? a paralysed victi..competitor is a good competitor, as well as a comatose.
Deep slumber perhaps?
I'm curious, is your DM using the optional Spell Duel rules? If so: Keep in mind the modifiers for counter-spelling with non-traditional counter spells. Especially if you have to conserve; you'll want to avoid excessive spell loss.
I've never done this sort of thing.
With your dex and weapon focus against a spellcasters touch AC, you should have a real good shot at landing a scorching ray. Of course you've got magic missile too.
If you win initiative, you might consider just readying an action to magic missile or scorching ray your opponent to cause them to fail a concentration check while doing damage to them at the same time.
I wouldn't buff with invisibility since you don't have any combat options that will allow you to stay invisible.
If you have the gold and want to buy a scroll, a scroll of greater invisibility would be nice. A few scrolls of glitterdust wouldn't hurt either.
Mostly I'd focus on getting initiative and then readying attacks. If you don't get initiative, perhaps turning invisible will allow you to reverse the action order and use the same tactic.
Good ideas all. If you have any more in the next little while, keep em coming.
Oh... and victory is unconsciousness or surrender. Death can happen, but its not the objective.
Hold your actions to interrupt your opponents actions... May be able to cause o fizzle, but you will be relenting initiative if you win.
Win Initentave. Dont flinch.