Combat Casting...is it worth it?

[Elder-Basilisk]

Fenes has it right. If you must take something, take skill focus concentration. Otherwise, keep your concentration skill maxed and you won't have troubles casting defensively after a few levels.

 

[Asheron]

Tnx all......

Ok here are the stats:
Str 8
Dex 14
Con 16
Int 10
Wis 12
Cha 18

You'll see a 16 for Con (+3) that's to my advantage.
Btw I only have an average int of 10 (0).
I still have Concentration maxed out, so thats +9.
If I take the feat (skill focus or combat casting), it will be +11 or +13 respectively

Skill focus is indeed interesting and definitly worth considering so if I choose for buffing up my concentration checks i'll go for that one cause it works for every situation not like combat casting.

But I'm not certain yet which way to go right now: metamagic or concentration feat....

o Btw up untill now I was able to stay out of the heat of the battle, mainly because we have Barb, Pal, monk and cleric to take the heat, but sometimes it's just me and the barbarian so that puts me in a relative 'unsafe' position

Asheron

edit: put in party composition

 

[Shard O'Glase]

nope take skill focus if you need a concentration boost.

But as a genral rule don't take any concentration boosts.

General rules exception #1 Skill points are a big issue, a dumb, non-human sorcerer might find it hard to even come close to maximizing concentration.(I recomend minimum 12 int or be human with 10 int for the skill points on a sorcerer)

Exception #2 small number of people in group(or no beef) so you are lacking in the meat shield dpartment. In these cases you might need it to survive.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

another reason why I almost never take feats like this. They don't do anything. Yeah there is a mechanical advantage, but it's just a +4, it's just a number IOW. i like feats that let me do things that I couldn't do before, not merely increase my probability of success. So for me it's always metamagic and item creaiton for my spellcasters(very little item creation on a sor though, you can get by with making tiems form scrolls if you go for it)

 

[Seule]

I took Combat Casting for my Evoker. I have never regretted it, even at high (20th) level. Sure it rarely comes in handy any more, because I auto-make all Concentration checks, but that Epic Dragon with Spellcasting Harrier (1/2 Concentration bonus or some such) made it useful again.
Plus, it meant that I could auto-succeed on spells 4 levels earlier than otherwise, and that's a big deal.

--Seule

 

[Poltergeist]

I think combat casting is essential for healing classes...they have no real option about where to cast their spells. If they are going to heal a fallen comrade, they may have to do so adjacent to people who will get the attack of opportunity.

For non-healing classes, I think you can get by with out it. For the most part, your goal is to remain a good distance away from your foes and frequently you can 5 foot step to avoid the AoO if you need to cast spells up close.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I think combat casting is essential for healing classes...they have no real option about where to cast their spells. If they are going to heal a fallen comrade, they may have to do so adjacent to people who will get the attack of opportunity.

For non-healing classes, I think you can get by with out it. For the most part, your goal is to remain a good distance away from your foes and frequently you can 5 foot step to avoid the AoO if you need to cast spells up close.

I see those points as supporting Skill Focus over Combat Casting.

A cleric is often forced into the thick of it to heal allies. That makes him very vulnerable to harrassing spells such as Entangle & Web as well as Readied Actions. Skill Focus allows the cleric a better chance to make those Concentration checks, not just the defensive casting check.

I agree you can probably get by without for non-clerics. Another point in favor of Skill Focus is that a spellcaster hanging back from the fray is an obvious target for a readied spear or arrow.

 

[Archer]

Combat casting is a pre-req, not a feat. That's my take on the matter. There are a number of classes and other feats that require combat casting and that's why most people take it.

 

[Thanee]

Combat Casting is pretty much a waste of a feat, yes.

Most Concentration checks are so easy, you really don't need it once you rack up some levels and there are far too many really good feats to choose from.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Grog]

I would say never take combat casting unless you plan to take the character to epic levels. At epic levels, it seems like Improved Combat Casting is almost a necessity and Combat Casting is a prerequisite for that. So it's probably better to take CC early on since you'll get some benefit out of it at low levels, too.

But if you're not going epic, then yeah, I'd say it's a waste of a feat.