Armored Spellcasting (Feat)

Kerrick · Dec 13, 2006

Just came up with this one today, wanted to get some feedback on it. I know there's a feat of the same name in Complete Arcane (?) but I don't have that book, and I'm not totally sure what it does (allows you to cast in light armor?). Anyway, here's my version.

Armored Spellcaster [General]

You can cast spells in armor with less chance of failure.

Prerequisite: AP Light, Medium, or Heavy.

Benefit: If you are wearing armor or a shield with which you are proficient, the chance of arcane spell failure is reduced by 20%. If you are wearing armor and a shield, this reduction applies to the total percentage, not both items.

Special: You can take this feat up to three times. The second and third time you take this feat, it reduces the spell failure chance by 10%, to a maximum of 40%.

Pyrex · Dec 13, 2006

Seems reasonable to me.

Though, honestly, it's likely more efficient for a mage who wants to cast in heavy armor just to use Still Spell...

TheLe · Dec 13, 2006

Nice. Another option is to boost it to -20% the first time they take the feat. Then it decreases by only 10% each additional time they take it.

Feats are pretty precious, especially to arcane casters, so it may warrant the boost I mention above.

Looks good regardless of my rant.

`Le

Kerrick · Dec 15, 2006

Though, honestly, it's likely more efficient for a mage who wants to cast in heavy armor just to use Still Spell...

True... Still Spell would be better if you have only a specific set of spells that you cast a lot (combat spells, e.g.), while Armored Spellcaster would be better for the fighter/mage types (Eldritch Knights, e.g.) who could wear, say, chainmail and cast spells. And it's better for sorcerers - no full-round actions.

Nice. Another option is to boost it to -20% the first time they take the feat. Then it decreases by only 10% each additional time they take it.

Feats are pretty precious, especially to arcane casters, so it may warrant the boost I mention above.

That might work too - 20% (1 feat) would give you all light armors and hide; 2 feats would give you medium armors, and 3 heavy armor. Hmm.... that makes sense. :lol:

I could change it to say you can take it up to 3 times, for a maximum of 40% - so someone wearing full plate and carrying a heavy shield would still suffer a 10% failure chance. Good idea - thanks.

D.Shaffer · Dec 15, 2006

Battle Caster (Complete Adv, P75), let's someone with the ability to cast in armor without arcane spell failure, to cast in a heavier set of armor without penalty. (Note, they still have armor proficiency issues if they dont have the relevant feat). So for example, a Bard, who can cast in light armor without worrying about his spells fizzling out, can now do the same in medium armor. It's already a lot more efficient than the feat you proposed in many cases.

I think a slightly better way to get what you want is to let a character without an inherent 'Ignore spell failure chance' ability to gain the ability in light armor using the above feat. I think it'd be balanced as they'd still take a decent hit on many things without also adding Light Armor proficiency.

Another thing to look at is the alternate fighter class ability in Complete Mage. As an alternate 1st level feature, they give up medium and heavy proficiency to get the ability to cast in light armor without spell failure.

Armored Spellcasting (Feat)

Kerrick

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Pyrex

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TheLe

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Kerrick

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D.Shaffer

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