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I have a question.
I have one character, a mystic theurge, whom i have gotten to 14 level in PFS, and i have primarily relied on a Wand of Mage armor and Wand of Shield for his armor class needs.
(I also employ such spells as improved invisibility and Mirror image).
I got through all right with those wands.
However, I now have a low level, Arcanist, and I am again thinking of AC for my spell caster.
Should I invest in Bracers of Armor rings of protection amulets of Natural Armor....or should i just stick with a Wand of Mage Armor and Wand of Shield?
Should I worry about AC? Thanks what do you think?
If you feel you can keep the AC at a relevant level it can be a good trick for when the bad guys close with you. But since you mostly plan to stay out of reach, i think having the HP to surviving a hit or two is a better investment. Both can be done but it generally when they can attack you in melee it is time to get the hell out of Dodge.
So i guess the answer is only if you have spare resurses.
Yep it's been said already but I'll add anyway - Mage Armour is great as a long buff you can cast and forget about, especially at lower levels when all it takes is one or two hits and it's lights out!
Shield, not so much after the first few levels. I've only really engaged with a shield buff on against casters; magic missile immunity is a nice thing to have. But most things attempting to hit an arcanists AC are going to have an easy time of it.
Mirror Image, Invisibility, Displacement (or Blur at lower levels) are a better investment of time. Of course they won't really help you against certain enemies but most things walking around with blindsense or the likes are usually walking around with a nice 'to hit' number to boot.
I'd stick with the wands ;)
With a mystic theurge, I'd say the only AC spells you'd probably need are your Protection from Evil/Chaos/Law and Mage Armor. Arcanist? Just Mage Armor. Maybe Shield if you're that worried about Magic Missile. That'll probably be all the AC you'll need. Mirror Image, Blur, and Displacement will probably be your better solutions in combat.
Nah. Mirror Image and/or Cloak of Displacement.
The first trick to avoid damage in melee is to just not be there.
My advice: Invest in Con instead. You won't win the AC race, might as well be able to take the hit when it comes. With a wizard with a con of 16 you can have d6+3(con bonus)+1(favored class) which is equivalent (on average) to a d10 fighter with a 14 con who poorly chose to put his favored class bonus into skills. Get / make a belt of Con. Get / make a tome of Con when you can afford it. What other physical stat really interests you? you can still put all of your ability increases into your casting stat and still wear a +6 ability headslot item. Running around with a wizard with a 28 con and d6+9+1 HP per level is fun. That's 270 HP at level 20. Come at me, bro.
Had a wizard who did this in my RotRL campaign. Ended up with more HP than the party fighter.
I'm currently playing in a game in which the party sorcerer has a Dex of 10, wears no armor, and didn't take any protection spells, so was constantly running around with an AC of 10. He only recently obtained a minor boost in AC through a ring and when the monk got a wand of mage armor he willing usually take a charge too.
All that being said, things hit the sorc with no problem. But between a 16 Con, Toughness, and +1HP/level from favored class, the Sorc is still ahead of the rest of the party in hit points and so has managed along well enough. It helps that the rest of the party is quick to protect the sorcerer when we can, but obviously it can still be done. This is at level 7 currently, but if anything, its only going to prove a better investment over time as the to-hit scaling would quickly outpace the defense anyway.
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If you are using ultiamte equipment add the Silken cerimonial armor or the hakirimaki to your bag of tricks too. each 'only' give a +1 to armor AC, but you can enchant them and put armor enchantments on them. Sure it will negate/be negated by mage armor but at the very least it's a cheap work around at lower levels, and can help with bracers of armor. (+5 is 25K for the bracers, 16 and change for the silken ceremonial armor, if you want to go that route. Just keep a mage armor around in case you deal with incorporeal touch. Or spend the additional 9k gold to make your armor spell storing and prepare a nasty surprise for when someone hits you.)
I tend to think it is mildly important at higher levels to have an AC that the flat mooks cant hit (e.g. 20+), but I wouldn't worry about jacking it up unless you are playing Mythic (in which case you have to be able to avoid secondary attacks from full attacking + moving martials).
You won't be in martial range with it either way in terms of AC.
Give the AC boosting items to the characters who will attract the most attacks. You can take their hand me downs when they upgrade.
Give the AC boosting items to the characters who will attract the most attacks. You can take their hand me downs when they upgrade.
So give them to the Casters then. That makes sense. Because they are going to be attracting all the attacks.
Not in the games I've played in where there was teamwork. Martial characters run interference for casters, casters stay away from melee combat.
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Running interference relies on the kindness of the GM, unless you're doing grapple stuff or have otherwise very hard control.
AC is a worthwhile pursuit for a while, and then eventually it's not. It's still nice to be able to avoid iteratives and secondary attacks, but ideally you should never be eating a full attack anyway. Some things have pounce though.
If you're talking about Mythic, Mirror Dodge solves everything, ever.
Time spent buffing defenses is time that you're doing nothing useful. Don't do that, unless it's quickened mirror image or something.
TLDR: AC is a low priority for PFS casters, make sure you have saves and buy useful things that make you more versatile or powerful. There's limited amounts of things like that, so afterwards you can invest in AC stuff.
Running interference is always going to be campaign/adventure/GM dependent. In a relatively tight dungeon, its fairly easy for the front liners to establish a line of defense. In the middle of a wide open grassland, it tends to be much more difficult, though it can be easier for the caster to at least stay further back. Most campaigns of course will feature mostly encounters that fall somewhere in between those two extremes of course.
But in any event, you'll likely quickly fall into a category where you are just not able to keep up anyway, and trying to do so will likely eat up a lot of your offensive potential. Whether or not its worth it depends on what you are looking to do of course.
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I object to the notion of low ac casters!
As a member of the Equally Equipped Party, you have to think outside the box on what you use when you are a caster in Full Plate.
With a bunch of spells that have no somatic components, a witch can easily support their party with debuffs that can let the party succeed.
Remember, "Don't be weak, go with EEP!"
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I object to the notion of low ac casters!
As a member of the Equally Equipped Party, you have to think outside the box on what you use when you are a caster in Full Plate.
With a bunch of spells that have no somatic components, a witch can easily support their party with debuffs that can let the party succeed.
Remember, "Don't be weak, go with EEP!"
Or one could simply elect to use the numerous other, far less expensive ways for a spell caster to have more AC than the sword and tower shield fighter in fullplate.
It's pretty easy to get your AC on a spell caster pumped up far higher than martials of an equal level would have, honestly. ... And I highly recommend doing it.
2nd level fighter:
+2 Dex+4 Shield
+6 Breastplate
+1 Shield Focus
= 23
2nd level witch:
+2 Dex
???
= 12
2nd level wizard:
+2 Dex
+4 Mage Armor
Spend standard action to Shield
= 16 or 20
I don't see it. The wizard gets decently close spending half of her spells and a standard action. But I don't see how you get to "far higher"?
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Or one could simply elect to use the numerous other, far less expensive ways for a spell caster to have more AC than the sword and tower shield fighter in fullplate.I object to the notion of low ac casters!
As a member of the Equally Equipped Party, you have to think outside the box on what you use when you are a caster in Full Plate.
With a bunch of spells that have no somatic components, a witch can easily support their party with debuffs that can let the party succeed.
Remember, "Don't be weak, go with EEP!"
Don't just allude. Show your work!
Cast Barkskin on yourself. Then wear whatever the Fighter wears. Don't cast Barkskin on the Fighter. Victory!
Comparing ACs in a vacuum is a pointless exercise. I'll agree that casters can be much more resilient than martials, but it's not because of AC. Not by a long shot.
AC is a meaningless number.
The important number is % chance of being hit.
Mirror Image, Blur, Displacement, Invisibility, Glitterdust all give you a great chance to not be hit.
I'd like to reiterate, however, that not being there at all is a superior and totally viable option.
Melee mook giving you a case of the mondays? Put him in a Pit (TM).
It's pretty easy to get your AC on a spell caster pumped up far higher than martials of an equal level would have, honestly. ... And I highly recommend doing it.
Would you mind expanding on that? I would love to see how you're easily surpassing a fighter's AC without spending the whole combat buffing yourself. And even then, I still don't see it.
If you lower the enemys chance of hitting from 90% to 80% youve gained about 12% longetivity. If you drop it from 20% to 10% youve doubled your longetivity.
That said, ive found that for most characters, its worth investing in even a decent AC because while it doesnt stop the BBEGs main attacks, it can still save a lot of healing that would need to be done after easy encounters.