Pathfinder 1E Removing spells per day rule?

[Memorias]

We just started playing Jade Regent and I have made an awesome female witch character that I really enjoy playing. After listening to an podcast where they talked about how it is playing a spellcaster in an rpg where they said: "In battle you either hide in the corner or liying on the floor bleeding to death" and there is some truth behind this. So my question is, why do spellcasters have a limited amount of spells they can cast each day? I brought this up with my gamemaster and asked the group if we couldn't remove that rule from the game altogether but will this make the game unbalanced? The spells gets depleted so fast and spellcasters have no armour or other weapons like swords or bows to join the fight. All I have is my fierce quarterstaff

 

[delericho]

So my question is, why do spellcasters have a limited amount of spells they can cast each day?

Because those spells are individually more powerful than the warrior's attacks. The trade off is lots of power for limited uses per day.

I brought this up with my gamemaster and asked the group if we couldn't remove that rule from the game altogether but will this make the game unbalanced?

Most definitely. The spellcasting classes are already the most powerful in the game (no, really). Removing their one limitation won't do good things.

The spells gets depleted so fast and spellcasters have no armour or other weapons like swords or bows to join the fight. All I have is my fierce quarterstaff

Item crafting is your friend. Specifically, run up a bunch of scrolls of your 'utility' spells, so that you can save you spell slots for casting combat spells.

 

[was]

...You do have a few offensive cantrips that are at-will like Acid Splash, Ray of Frost and Disrupt Undead. Also, investing in scrolls and wands are a must. I like to always have a wand of magic missiles as a back-up.

...You can also invest in a ranged weapon to have a backup to your spells. Bows, crossbows, slings and darts all work well.

 

[Kinak]

Yeah, the way casters are set up in Pathfinder, just removing the spells/day limit would mess up the game pretty badly. Sorry to say, but your GM is absolutely right.

As a witch, you do have hexes, which can generally be used as often as you want (or one per day per target for some hexes). Invest in a few offensive hexes like evil eye or slumber and use those before resorting to spells everytime.

Basically, until higher levels, you shouldn't be casting a spell every round in combat. Use a hex or a cantrip when things aren't too tense, make attacks with your quarterstaff, whatever. Then use the spells you have when things get more dire.

If you want to deal magical damage constantly, the new kineticist from Occult Adventures does that. But it doesn't get a lot of the utility spellcasters have (and pay for with their limits).

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[The Crimson Binome]

If you're very low level, then you might still be able to contribute with weapon attacks. You're proficient in simple weapons, so pick up a light crossbow. I'm guessing that you probably have okay-ish Dex, so that should help you out when you can't do anything else, at least up until level 3 (at which point your 1d8 damage won't be very helpful).

You get one Hex at first level, and another at second level. Hopefully one of those is Slumber, because you can use that on every single enemy you encounter for the rest of your life, except for constructs and undead and possibly a few other things that are immune to sleep. Try to use it on the enemy standing right next to the fighter, so the fighter can perform a coup de grace on the helpless opponent. Misfortune is another great one, but you really need to take Cackle alongside it in order to prevent the effect from ever ending.

Avoid casting actual spells unless you know that it's going to make a huge difference, or else you will run out and not have the spells when you really need them later on. That's part of the game balance, is that most turns will have a spellcaster doing very little (just defend yourself, use a weak cantrip, or make a weak attack), and then maybe a quarter of them time you get to do something super awesome (like turning a dragon into a sheep, or completely frying a dozen enemy soldiers). If you could just do that all day, with no limit, then there would be no reason for anyone to play a fighter type. The witch actually kind of crosses the line, because you can use a Slumber or Misfortune hex almost every round, and it's a lot more than any other spellcaster can keep up indefinitely.

 

[Koloth]

Invest in a feat or trait or something that lets you use a longbow. Especially if your Dex is good, even better if you have Str bonus > 0. Having a chance to do 1d8 out to a range of 110ft with no range modifiers lets you be useful while waiting for the best time to zap something with a spell. Also comes in handy at higher levels when the anti-magic stuff starts flying. Plus at higher levels, you will eventually get a BAB that lets you have multiple attacks. If Str bonus > 0, invest in upgrading to an appropriate strength bow.

 

[Kip Shades]

Another thing to remember (that my group neglected while starting out) is that you should have bonus spells per day from whatever ability score your class uses for casting spells.

But yeah. Anything with a full spellcasting progression in Pathfinder is already incredibly powerful. Removing the restriction will only make this worse.

The Kineticist has magical abilities that it can use at will, though its burn mechanic has issues with how it scales, and if DM permits third-party material, I'd highly suggest looking at Dreamscarred Press' Akashic Mysteries, which, in lieu of spells per day, has your character prepare a small number of magical "Veils," which provide passive and at-will abilities, or Drop Dead Studios' Spheres of Power, which sacrifices power in exchange for being easier to customize magic abilities, and draws from a Ki-like pool of Spell Points to use more powerful abilities.

 

[Sarac]

Echoing what has been said, getting a crossbow is a MUST for spell casters. I like playing the Magus myself, you don't get the full gambit of arcane spells like a sorcerer or wizard, but you get the ability to have better and better armors not interrupt your spell casting so you can mix it up in combat. I throw an Enlarge Person on my bastard sword wielding Magus, and suddenly only one or two Magic Missiles don't seem like that big a problem.

And a very big yes to scrolls and wands. I took Scribe Scoll at level 1 and afer a few days of downtime after a dungeon crawl turns into half a dozen Burning Hands during the next one instead of two.

 

[Scott DeWar]

I know you are playing a witch, but what every one is mentioning about spell caster as a whole are super powerful at higher levels is so very true. With wizard specialists - especially the elementalists - they have a class power. for example, the fire elementalist has a fire jet that does 1d6 +1/2 levels and can do this 3 times per day plus the intelligence modifier. This is a supernatural ability so it does not incur an attack of opportunity. great thing at low levels when you are out of offensive spells, in a big way! I have a level 12 fire elementalist that is in Living Pathfinder threads that is quite effective. I have a list of feats that keep him from being a one trick pony too.