Wondering the opinion of the board on this matter....

[BSF]

I don't think casting defensively is broken. To keep your odds of success very high, you do have to max out the skill. That is just to avoid drawing an AOO when you are casting. An opponent can still ready an attack for when the spellcaster begins to cast a spell. If that hits, they have to make a second concentration check to avoid losing the spell.

Casting defensively doesn't prevent somebody from attacking you, it just prevents you from completely dropping your guard at a dangerous moment.

 

[Psion]

I just failed a concentration check last game and squandered one of my few good spells at that level trying to cast defesnively. I've also seen too many NPC spellcasters flub a spell. I'm definitely in the "not too good" camp.

It seems a bit to easy to never fail a spell when a big beefy warrior is standing there watching you cast and goes "oh well wont swing" but then if you drink a potion he can beat your brains in. Doesnt make sense to me that without any cost the AoO does not happen and the spell cannot be interrupted.

The spell can be interrupted even if the caster casts defisively. You just have to hold an action or grapple the mage.

It's a give and take. Casters (especially arcane casters) have a hard enough time when they get sucked into melee. No sense in giving the burly barbarian a free ride. If he is really interested in stopping that mage, make him work for it.

 

[ashockney]

It has worked very well in our campaigns. At lower levels, these are tough checks to make. At higher levels they become more routine, but you've made a pretty significant investment in a skill, you should get SOME benefit from that! A rogue can just DISAPPEAR! All you're doing is what you're supposed to do...cast a spell! I've also fell prey, especially at mid levels, to the BBEG missing his combat casting check while trying to cast his "getaway" spell. The players certainly seemed to enjoy that.

 

[Vaxalon]

If you only fail on a one, that's 5% of the time.

How many casters do anything in their power to avoid arcane spell failure?

 

[Voadam]

This hasn't come up a lot in my game. The casters stay pretty far away, and when close often use a 5ft step to back off before casting.

I'll probably start using the Epic rules though, as it just seems more logical to me, and I'm already using the same rule for Tumbling.

BTW, a roll of 1 can still succeed for skill checks, it's not an automatic failure. That's why I started using the rule for tumbling. Otherwise, character would rarely develop it to more than +14.

James, its DC 15 + spell level, so there is an incentive to get it up to 14+spell level.

from the 3.5 srd:

Special: You can use Concentration to cast a spell, use a spell-like ability, or use a skill defensively, so as to avoid attacks of opportunity altogether. This doesn’t apply to other actions that might provoke attacks of opportunity.
The DC of the check is 15 (plus the spell’s level, if casting a spell or using a spell-like ability defensively).

The main danger to wizards in melee is not the AoO from casting, it is the fact that they are in melee. They usually have poor ACs and very low hit points. Most melee combatants can tear a wizard apart in a round or two even without the AoO if they can manage to get into melee. Alternatively they can grapple easily which stops almost all spell casting.

 

[Arnwyn]

Casting defensively (DC 15+spell level) is easy, but certainly not to the level of being called "broken".

To this day, I've never seen anyone botch a Concentration check when casting defensively. Of course, to this day I've never seen one of my spellcasting players ever *not* max out his/her Concentration.

 

[jmucchiello]

Which can be done by 4th level if you'd want to

At the loss of a bunch really useful feats.

I think I'm going to house rule certain checks as: "fail on a 1, succeed on a 20". Tumble, concentration, disable device and spellcraft seem prime candidates.

Why punish someone for choosing to be good at something? Every rank put into an already high skill check is a rank not used to diversify skills.

Personally I was glad when the two rogues in the party got their tumble up to +14. It cut most of the tumble checks out of the game, speeding up combat.

 

[Shallown]

I Just use a variant rule of defensive castingis a Dc of 10 + spell level + BAb of threatening opponent.

I use the same for tumble I subtracted 5 and added BAB. This is seldom a problem for dedicated caster's or Tumblers. It does make a differnce versus the dragon they fought recently.

Just my thoughts as disturbing as that may be to you

Later

 

[shilsen]

Seriously, one of my closest NPCs was raised under the yolk of a Mind Flayer...

Mataphysical question - is it better to be under the yolk of a mindflayer in heaven or over the albumen of a bullywug in hell?

Sorry - just had to get in touch with my spelling geek there

 

[Lord Pendragon]

To be honest, I've never understood those who want to make Tumble and Casting Defensively harder, or add the opponent's BAB, just because eventually the rogue/wizard will eventually always succeed. The fighter's BAB means that eventually his first attack will always succeed too, but that doesn't mean we need to add his opponent's BAB to its AC to make it more difficult, does it?

Skills are meant to be "masterable" in that eventually you will always succeed. I believe that the Sage used the example of tying one's shoes to illustrate this point. There comes a point where, no matter how many times you tie your shoes, you aren't going to fail. Certainly not 1 in 20 tries. I see no reason to deny rogues and wizards their edge if they sink enough skill points into Tumble or Casting Defensively. They've paid for it.

And what about Improved Trip, Disarm, and Bull Rush? These feats negate AoOs period at the cost of a feat. Should they be changed to "+4 to AC for the AoO" instead, so those checks remain valid as well?