Hello all!!
I am playing my first official full caster, an Elven Wizard with the Wood elemental school.
My question is not about the actual character. I am going to have a journal to have as a physical book for my spell book. Inside I would like to have helpful things for me so I won't need to go hunting for info. I will also have inside all of my spells known written out.
Here is what I have so far.
Concentration checks DCs for
Casting defensively, injured while casting, grappled or pinned casting, entangled casting.
SR check.
Here is my question. What other useful info should I have at the ready for a wizard? Thanks!!
Any modified DCs and CLs that only apply to particular spells. Like spell focus or Mage tattoo would probably be worth including.
That swift action spells don't proc attacks of opportunity
Verbal spells can be used while grappling
Full round action spells take place at the beginning of your next turn
Dismissing spells is a standard action
A reminder to leave a few spellslots empty so you can prepare them later
And an inspirational poster of a 17th level caster
Full round action spells take place at the beginning of your next turn
Not quite right: a "full round" casting time spell completes at the end of your current turn, while a "1 round" casting time spell takes until the beginning of your next turn.
Definitely an example of confusing terminology that's worth writing down (although it comes up more for Sorcerers than Wizards; metamagic cast time increases and all).
Common DCs for spellcraft skill: understanding scrolls, copying spells, identifying magic items.
.
If you take Metamagic feats, you need to add them to the prepared spells you want, adjusting the spell level accordingly. You can't just adhoc apply them like spontaneous casters can.
Thank you all for the great advice so far. I will be adding more to my cheat sheet. If anyone else has anything else I am always open to the input. Thanks again!
Something that you should always always always consider when you're playing a full caster is that your defense and survivability is near-100% in line with when you act in a round. You NEED high initiative. Acting first or second in a round allows you to Withdraw as a full round action when needed, charm/root things that should really stop moving, and distributing "need it now" buffs/effects to aid allies, etc.
Also, with high initiative, you can Ready an Action against a particularly pain in the butt mob or enemy caster. So on your turn, you have the freedom to say "I ready an action; if that enemy caster begins casting, I want to spellcraft it and counterspell with Dispel Magic." Or something.
One thing that I always like to do is have a cheat sheet (if you use an Ipad, this is really simple) for all your spells. Include the spell ranges, DC's, material components, radius of effect, damage, any thing that increases per level or CL (in case you choose to Intensify the spell), etc. PLUS any modifiers to any of these effects from your gear and universal items.
And have a plan for dealing with Surprise rounds, like a fast teleport or a feat that can give you at least a move or a standard action when surprised. Ambushes are the death of full casters.
Also on your cheat sheet, enumerate a list of tasks for your morning and evening rituals, and a pre-fight ritual. Whenever you know you're about to get into a fight, and you have anywhere from 1 round to 10 minutes to prepare for it, having a pre-fight "buff-up" myself and others ritual can really help.
If you have a smart phone there are a few pathfinder spellbook apps (all 3rd party so at your own risk) that allow you to hot link spells in your books and has all the effects ready for you. The ones i use havent been updated for a while so no new spells from 2014 on i think but covers crb+ a few more.
Know the duration of your buffs. hour per level spells soon become "all day spells" (or as good as) and some 1min or 10/min level buffs will be able to cover multiple encounters. talk to your gm about encounter pacing to see how often/feasable it is to renew buffs. This goes for cantrips (resistance, virtue, guidance, message, light etc)that could possible be up at the cast every few mins without expenditure.
If you are going to summon stuff, everyone will love you if you know before hand and have prepped what you are going to summon. [edit - this goes for polymorph spells too]
Also, with high initiative, you can Ready an Action against a particularly pain in the butt mob or enemy caster. So on your turn, you have the freedom to say "I ready an action; if that enemy caster begins casting, I want to spellcraft it and counterspell with Dispel Magic." Or something.And have a plan for dealing with Surprise rounds, like a fast teleport or a feat that can give you at least a move or a standard action when surprised. Ambushes are the death of full casters.
Ryze, I am taking Improved Initiative as my first level feat and I have a +2 mod to my dex. I should, hypothetically, be going towards the front end of initiative order. We also use d12 for initiative instead of d20.
I don't know of a feat that allowed you to have a move/standard action when surprised. What feat is this?
If you are going to summon stuff, everyone will love you if you know before hand and have prepped what you are going to summon.
I would LOVE to be able to summon, but due to this exact issue, our GM said for this campaign he was not going to allow summons. I am ok with this. I thought about trying it, but I am a GM that hates the lag in combat because of picking out what will be summoned and what exactly does this creature do...
What has not been mentioned yet?
- Line of sight/line of effect: many spells can be shut down by blocking those
- Spellresistance: don't forget, that of your partners works against you, too
- Effects of darkness: might be useful to have at hand, if your setting/DM make use of it
I don't think there is a feat that allows a regular action when surprised. But I think there was something allowing a 5-foot step, if someone comes adjacent to you.
Also, with high initiative, you can Ready an Action against a particularly pain in the butt mob or enemy caster. So on your turn, you have the freedom to say "I ready an action; if that enemy caster begins casting, I want to spellcraft it and counterspell with Dispel Magic." Or something.And have a plan for dealing with Surprise rounds, like a fast teleport or a feat that can give you at least a move or a standard action when surprised. Ambushes are the death of full casters.
Ryze, I am taking Improved Initiative as my first level feat and I have a +2 mod to my dex. I should, hypothetically, be going towards the front end of initiative order. We also use d12 for initiative instead of d20.
I don't know of a feat that allowed you to have a move/standard action when surprised. What feat is this?
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2qba4?Ways-to-Act-in-the-Surprise-Round
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/feats/ready-response-psionic/
Sandals Of Quick Reaction: When the wearer acts during a surprise round, he can take a standard and a move action during the surprise round. If the wearer already has the ability to take a standard and a move action during the surprise round, he instead gains a +10 circumstance bonus to speed when acting during a surprise round.
I thought there were some other feats that helped with this, but so far this is what I've found. I'm pretty positive that there are some traits that help with surprise round stuff, but as far as I remember, most of the traits only give mediocre bonuses like +1 attack or a 5-foot step.
I had a scribe scroll question. Below is the cost for scribing a scroll... Does this mean 0-level spells are free to make?
To create a scroll, a character needs a supply of choice writing materials, the cost of which is subsumed in the cost for scribing the scroll: 12.5 gp × the level of the spell × the level of the caster.
No. For most purposes regarding item crafting lv0 spells are considered lv1/2 spells
Pro-tip:
If you have a familiar, it can be the best trick you have. Know which spells are personal with a range of touch, that you can then cast on your familiar and have it use its action to handle directing it (if it needs direction) or concentration.
Examples of spells you'd never use yourself:
Burning Gaze: Have your familiar spend their standard action trying to light things on fire.
Fire Sneeze: Have your familiar use its standard actions to sneeze fire everywhere and potential knock someone down.
No. For most purposes regarding item crafting lv0 spells are considered lv1/2 spells
But pathfinder rules round down per RAW, so it'd still be CL 0, and therefore not cost anything.
It's clearly not intended, and I wouldn't allow it at my table, but it's certainly an amusing rules lawyer answer.
But pathfinder rules round down per RAW, so it'd still be CL 0, and therefore not cost anything.
It's clearly not intended, and I wouldn't allow it at my table, but it's certainly an amusing rules lawyer answer.
No. The rules explicitly call out treating 0 level spell in magic item creation as 1/2 cost of 1st level spells. You still need to have a minimum caster level of 1 to cast a 1st level spell.
Spell Level: A 0-level spell is half the value of a 1st-level spell for determining price.
List the alchemical power components, and what they do.
Some add to CL, some to range, some to DC, and so on.
All are added material components, and many can be quite useful.
Check out Alchemical Power Components
/cevah
So I was looking at some higher level spells and saw some have cost.
Lets take Stoneskin for example. It says it takes 250GP of granite or diamond dust. Does this mean to cast these spells I need to buy this before I go out and want to use the spell?
Thanks!
Yes.
Wow, I never realized this. Thanks for the info!
A brief primer for your DM on how knowledge checks work and what the DC is for getting how many useful pieces of information about your opponents. (DC 10+CR or 15+CR for particularly rare creatures. 1 piece of useful information gained, plus 1 per 5 points by which you succeed on the check.) Spellcraft DCs for identifying spells as they are cast (if your DM doesn't flat out tell the table the spell cast.
You are not your spell list!