Do you expect to be anywhere near the front row? What is your int and level? What is your con? And what do you spend your favored class on?
Toughness can save you from that derpy situation where you get ambushed and spend the first round in reach of an enemy. Combat Casting is nullified by the 5-foot step.
The few times I've played a d6 caster, Toughness has always been my first feat.
Combat casting can only be replaced by a 5 foot step if you play easy mode. If there are several baddies, difficult terrain, bod guys with reach, step up or a myriad of other things combat casting is still good if you plan on casting your highest level spells in situations like that.
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Toughness is probably a higher priority than Combat Casting, those extra 3 HP at low levels can be lifesavers, and you can still cast defensively, it's just a little harder to pull off. However you're going to want Combat Casting eventually for those few times an enemy gets to you and you can't get away, or when creatures have the Grab special ability. The extra 4 to casting is incredibly useful for the dimensional door from a monsters mouth to 400 feet away.
It depends on what level you will be going to. Combat Casting starts out OK when you need to make concentration checks but will fall off pretty quickly if you make sure to keep your casting stat boosted as you will reach a point where you automatically pass any defensive casting check.
Is that true? I'm playing a level 8 Sorcerer. The Casting Defensively DC for level 4 spells is 23. My concentration check is d20 + 8 + stat bonus. To automatically pass I'd need a Charisma of 40. Even with Combat Casting, I'd need a Charisma of 32. With a 'normal' Charisma of 22 and no Combat Casting, I'd have only a 60% chance of success.
I would say combat casting so you can get the spell off. It also stays useful longer. Taking a 5 foot step is not always an option, and people that I see die normally do so by enough hit points that toughness would not have saved them, but others could have a different experience.
As for the DC of the spells it gets a little easier, but it takes a long time to get into auto-make territory if you are using your highest level spells.
Example:
13th level wizard/cleric 7th levels
DC = 15 + (2x7)=29
Caster level (13) + casting mod(+8) = 21
You need a 8 which is a 40% chance of failure. While you have a high chance to make it, those are dangerous odds if you are in a position where you can't step away or where you are already at the range of a short range spell so you cant step away and keep the spell useful.
Combat Casting would drop it down to a 20% failure chance, which is a lot more manageable.
There are probably more feats and maybe some magic items, but unless you really push it that auto-make it not all that automatic.
PS: If your GM does not normally put caster in very tough situations where taking a 5 foot step is not an option then you might want to go with toughness.
My Charisma actually is 20. (Base: 15. +2 racial. +1 at level 4. +2 for headband.) I'm in a campaign with limited access to magic items. I didn't take +1 Cha at level 8 because there's no point in an odd-numbered stat when I'm not expecting the campaign to reach level 12. And I avoided maxing out initial charisma because I was the most experienced player in a group of newbies and I didn't want to out-optimize them.
(Seriously, the game is more fun when Save or Suck spells incapacitate half the enemies instead of all of them.)
It depends on what level you will be going to. Combat Casting starts out OK when you need to make concentration checks but will fall off pretty quickly if you make sure to keep your casting stat boosted as you will reach a point where you automatically pass any defensive casting check.Is that true? I'm playing a level 8 Sorcerer. The Casting Defensively DC for level 4 spells is 23. My concentration check is d20 + 8 + stat bonus. To automatically pass I'd need a Charisma of 40. Even with Combat Casting, I'd need a Charisma of 32. With a 'normal' Charisma of 22 and no Combat Casting, I'd have only a 60% chance of success.
It is not true for full casters but. But if you cast spells that is not in your highest 2 levels it Will often be true. If your sorcerer cast invisibility instead of dimension door for example.
I think the Bard in my game had his Charisma reduced to 14 in a Reincarnation accident...
Possibly more relevant to the original subject - with my Sorcerer I've hardly ever been in a situation where I wanted to cast defensively (in a campaign with lots of PCs, so I'm rarely adjacent to an enemy if I don't want to be). But there was a time when a vampire with Greater Invisibility hit us with a fireball in a surprise round, then won initiative and hit us with a second one. At times like that, Toughness can be a lifesaver.
Combat Casting should be avoided in favor of Skill Focus (Concentration). Skill focus does start out at 1 point less, but doubles to +6 later.
Combat casting only applies when casting defensively or in a grapple. IT does not help if you just take damage, or in any other situation that requires concentration. Skill Focus applies always - you will always get the bonus on Concentration checks.
Edit: Forgot the stupid Pathfinder change where Concentration isn't a skill.
Combat Casting should be avoided in favor of Skill Focus (Concentration).
Concentration is not a skill in Pathfinder...
Combat Casting should be avoided in favor of Skill Focus (Concentration).Concentration is not a skill in Pathfinder...
Right. I forgot that. Another stupid Pathfinder change.
Accidental house rules. GM's interpretation of the phrase "First eliminate the subject's racial adjustments (since it is no longer necessarily of his previous race) and then apply the adjustments found below to its remaining ability scores."
Followed by the player just setting his race to Goblin in HeroLab and it changing all his stats automatically.
Actually I think he wound up with a Charisma of 12.
In almost all cases I would rather have combat casting than toughness. There are ways to get more hit points and temporary hit points, but when you are a full caster, sometimes you really NEED a spell, and nothing else will substitute.
Plus, wizards already seem to me to be full of hit points in Pathfinder. Real Wizards got by on a d4 hit points and no favored class bonus.
Loosing a caster progression level is a Big deal. And magic knack only give caster level not spells pr Day.
Toughness is replaces by a 4000 gp magic item combat casting is not.
But i stand by my questions. How good is con and all that? And since 1 HP =100 for effectivity then toughness is not always Best:)
For a pure caster, I'd grab combat casting because spells are usually my best option. For a hybrid caster (like a melee eldritch knight), I'd choose toughness because my PC is likely throwing himself into the fray.
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Right. I forgot that. Another stupid Pathfinder change.Combat Casting should be avoided in favor of Skill Focus (Concentration).Concentration is not a skill in Pathfinder...
Not stupid, means Concentration doesn't become meaningless at high levels. Under the old rules between Combat Casting, Skill Focus (Concentration) and the half dozen or so other synergies and boosts, Concentration checks would basically become impossible to fail.
Under Pathfinder even high level casters gotta watch out for heavy hitters.
Most prestige classes are no good for casters. If the Daily extra hour is nothing then it is better yes. Skills are all good and well but spells trumpf skills in most cases.
Toughness is replaces by a 4000 gp magic item combat casting is not.
Combat Casting can be 'replaced' by getting Gloves of Elvenkind for 7500gp, which also boosts your spellcraft. (The 4000gp belt also boosts your Fortitude save.)
But since both feats stack with both items, it really depends on what your character needs.
Toughness is replaces by a 4000 gp magic item combat casting is not.Combat Casting can be 'replaced' by getting Gloves of Elvenkind for 7500gp, which also boosts your spellcraft. (The 4000gp belt also boosts your Fortitude save.)
But since both feats stack with both items, it really depends on what your character needs.
Hehe if they are available then never look at combat casting again:)
It will depend on your game more than anything else.
In my experience, Toughness is overvalued. In 15 characters, I've only taken Toughness once: on a 9th level frontliner who had a 10 Con (she had only been knocked out twice in her entire career). I've also only had one character death, on a 3rd level 14 Con character who got crit in the surprise round by an empowered shocking grasp with sneak attack, and the GM rolled near max damage: she went from full health to well beyond dead, and 3 more hit points would not have helped.
For a caster, I'd probably go with Combat Casting, because if you don't provoke from that casting, you won't get hit that round. With Toughness, you might not go unconscious from the AoO, but you can easily lose the spell, which hurts you twice.
But again, it all depends on your game.