So, there are several debates raging over just how boned Wizards are in PF2.
I was wondering why nobody seems to be talking about the Learn a Spell activity (CRB page 238, upper right corner).
In PF 1, the DC to add a new spell to your book was 15 + Spell Level, a.k.a. 'trivial'. In PF 2, not so much. Not only does the DC scale much higher, the tight math means you can't just cheese your skill modifier like in 'the good old days'.
In other words, the chance of not learning a new spell is not trivial.
Soo... Fess up everybody, who here is outright ignoring the Learn-a-Spell rules?
I consider Magical Shorthand practically a required feat for wizards for this reason. Waiting a week instead of a level to learn a spell you failed to learn is great, as well as allowing you to learn a lot of spells quickly.
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My Wizard has Assurance(Arcana). He can’t fail to learn spells that are lower than his highest level slots.
I'm playing PFS and while on occasion I failed a roll to learn, it's honestly not a big deal. You wait a bit, get the spell.
The few spells that are *that* critical, you just pick for your 2 free spells per level.
I saw Magical Shorthand in the APG and couldn't understand who would bother wasting a class feat on that. Even with Wizards subpar class feats.
It's not a class feat, it's a skill feat.I'm playing PFS and while on occasion I failed a roll to learn, it's honestly not a big deal. You wait a bit, get the spell.
The few spells that are *that* critical, you just pick for your 2 free spells per level.
I saw Magical Shorthand in the APG and couldn't understand who would bother wasting a class feat on that. Even with Wizards subpar class feats.
Ah, true, I mixed it up with Spellbook Prodigy.
Magical Shorthand is a skill feat.
Anyway, the tests are usually easy, you begin by having to roll an 8 to learn spells of your maximum lvl but it goes down fast as you gain item bonus and increased proficiency, going as low as having to roll a 3-4 to learn spell of your maximum lvl.
Primal and Divine Witches that might have a harder time as they use Wisdom instead of Intelligence to learn the spell unless they don't mind the familiar consuming the scroll for automatic success.
I consider Magical Shorthand practically a required feat for wizards for this reason.
My Wizard has Assurance(Arcana). He can’t fail to learn spells that are lower than his highest level slots.
Soo... feat taxes? That is not good. :(
Anyway, the tests are usually easy, you begin by having to roll an 8 to learn spells of your maximum lvl but it goes down fast as you gain item bonus and increased proficiency, going as low as having to roll a 3-4 to learn spell of your maximum lvl.
Sure, but a Wizard's identity is in large parts his spell collection. There are so many gripes about 'Wizard has no class identity'. But as prepared casters with a spell book, a large part of their power comes from having (at least potential) access to so many spells.
It may not happen often, but if you have been looking forward to a particular spell (having used the 2 guaranteed spells on level-up for the 'must-haves') and then the die falls unfavourably, that might be a turn-off. It's not like most other classes have to roll for their class features.
Has that ever happened to you? I'm playing a Fighter in our RL-TT group and my Wizard pal has had good fortune on his skill checks so far...
I think part of it depends on how much your group uses downtime. For the wizard in my group (who was a witch until recently, but we had misread the rules for witches learning spells so we ran it like how a wizard does it) she's failed to learn spells a few times. However, my game frequently has travel times of 4-10 days, so the weeklong wait from Magical Shorthand is basically nothing. Hell, pretty soon they're going to be on a boat for two months, so she'll have a lot of time to learn spells then.
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Soo... feat taxes? That is not good. :(
Skill Feats are sort of intended to be aids to this sort of downtime stuff, though. And both of them are also very useful for things other than just this.
I mean, Magical Shorthand effectively lets you use Arcana for Earn Income, and Assurance applies to lots of Arcana checks other than learning spells.
In my experience with Wizards they usually want to focus on learning spells that are not the maximum level that they are, mainly because they want that juicy critical success to half the value of learning the spell and saving tons of money.
My issue with the Learn a Spell rules is how exorbitant the costs are. What is the point of having the broad Arcane list if it costs you ~71GP to add a 4th level spell to your book at level 7. That's roughly 40% of your currency for that level for a single spell. I don't know if I missed the part of the rules that details how much it costs to go to the local Wizard forum to discuss the finer details of spellcraft.
On that note, how in the world is there no option to spend downtime researching a specific spell to reduce the cost of acquiring and learning it as a "crafting" activity? Why can't I spend a month working out my own spell that lets me Fly rather than buying a scroll to work off of? Seems like a massive missed opportunity for flavour as well.
I also haven't found any rules for starting with more spells in your spellbook (beyond the two per level) if your character starts at a higher level.
The fact that you can't purchase a specific spellbook of spells is also unfortunate, though I expect they'll add some soon (hopefully with some unique abilities, like they did in 1st edition).
Soo... Fess up everybody, who here is outright ignoring the Learn-a-Spell rules?
I suppose I might be. Whenever I'm making a high level character with a familiar or spellbook, I often buy additional spells known. I've never once bothered to make the check unless it was during a live campaign.
I suppose it doesn't matter unless my skill modifier is somehow low enough to risk crit fail.
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On that note, how in the world is there no option to spend downtime researching a specific spell to reduce the cost of acquiring and learning it as a "crafting" activity? Why can't I spend a month working out my own spell that lets me Fly rather than buying a scroll to work off of? Seems like a massive missed opportunity for flavour as well.
You still need a source to learn it from, but Magical Shorthand lets you spend time reducing the cost of the spell like crafting does.
