Greenfield
Adventurer
Preface: I've been playing D&D since it was three saddle-stitched books. I haven't done much with Pathfinder. I normally hang on the
Older Editions D&D" forum, not here.
I dropped by my FLGS today and saw some friends playing a Pathfinder game. I wasn't in it but I listened for a bit and I heard people talking about how important it was for a caster to be high in the initiative order. The way they were playing it, if a caster took any damage in the round prior to their action, they had to make a Concentration check or the spell fizzled.
The D20 system introduced the "cyclic initiative" concept, that there wasn't a true "start" and "end" to the round as such, but that spells and other effects would run from a character's action in one round until their action in the next. In other words, other than in the first round, Initiative dictated the sequence in which characters acted, but that there wasn't any significance to that moment after Initiative of 1 and the top of he order. So there was no "before" or "after" as such. After one was before the next, regardless of which initiative count it came on. No miraculous "reset" of anything after Initiative 1.
In D&D the rules for Concentration checks being called for due to damage said that they came up when the character took damage while casting. The idea of having a spell fail because of damage taken in the round was a leftover from 1st edition.
I checked the Pathfinder rules and they said the same thing.
The DM explained that this had been corrected in the FAQ. I looked and couldn't find any such thing.
So can one of the Pathfinder gurus here clarify this? Is there any kind of official FAQ for Pathfinder that says damage taken prior to casting (not "while" casting), and in the same round, forced the caster to make a Concentration check or lose the spell?
If so, can someone post a link? It seems really strange that a later edition of the D&D-ish family should throw back to 1st edition.
Older Editions D&D" forum, not here.
I dropped by my FLGS today and saw some friends playing a Pathfinder game. I wasn't in it but I listened for a bit and I heard people talking about how important it was for a caster to be high in the initiative order. The way they were playing it, if a caster took any damage in the round prior to their action, they had to make a Concentration check or the spell fizzled.
The D20 system introduced the "cyclic initiative" concept, that there wasn't a true "start" and "end" to the round as such, but that spells and other effects would run from a character's action in one round until their action in the next. In other words, other than in the first round, Initiative dictated the sequence in which characters acted, but that there wasn't any significance to that moment after Initiative of 1 and the top of he order. So there was no "before" or "after" as such. After one was before the next, regardless of which initiative count it came on. No miraculous "reset" of anything after Initiative 1.
In D&D the rules for Concentration checks being called for due to damage said that they came up when the character took damage while casting. The idea of having a spell fail because of damage taken in the round was a leftover from 1st edition.
I checked the Pathfinder rules and they said the same thing.
The DM explained that this had been corrected in the FAQ. I looked and couldn't find any such thing.
So can one of the Pathfinder gurus here clarify this? Is there any kind of official FAQ for Pathfinder that says damage taken prior to casting (not "while" casting), and in the same round, forced the caster to make a Concentration check or lose the spell?
If so, can someone post a link? It seems really strange that a later edition of the D&D-ish family should throw back to 1st edition.