Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="skelso" data-source="post: 4153977" data-attributes="member: 54189">It does make sense, though.  The wizard won't draw an AoO for attempting to hit someone with a quarterstaff because he's concentrating on the fight.  Casting a spell draws an AoO because it's assumed he's thinking more about the spell he's casting than the fight he's in the middle of.  A high Concentration score indicates the character is good at concentrating on two things at once.The other thing is, barring a tremendous Constitution score or the expenditure of feats, there will usually be some risk associated with casting defensively.  Take the example of a Wizard with a Constitution of 12 and max ranks in Concentration at every level 1-20.  Look at the DC to cast his highest level of spells each time he gains a new level of spells.Listed in order of Spell level, followed by the Concentration DC, the minimum Wizard level to cast the spell, then the Wizard's check result at the level given the above conditions:1st - DC 16 - Wizard 1 check = +5 (50% success rate)2nd - DC 17 - Wizard 3 check = +7 (55% success rate)3rd - DC 18 - Wizard 5 check = +9 (60% success rate)4th - DC 19 - Wizard 7 check = +11 (65% success rate)5th - DC 20 - Wizard 9 check = +13 (70% success rate)6th - DC 21 - Wizard 11 check = +15 (75% success rate)7th - DC 22 - Wizard 13 check = +17 (80% success rate)8th - DC 23 - Wizard 15 check = +19 (85% success rate)9th - DC 24 - Wizard 17 check = +21 (90% success rate)Wizard 19 check = +23 (First time this wizard is assured of succeeding at Casting Defensively when casting his highest level of spells.)Of course taking Combat Casting or Skill Focus (Concentration) would make assured success occur much sooner as would some kind of Constitution increasing magic item, but even then Success is not terribly likely until much later in the game.  If you are going into a tough fight, even the 15th level Wizard's 85% success rate seems like a big gamble if you are really counting on a spell to work to save the party's bacon.</blockquote>

Verification