Kingmaker - Beginners Guide

azarhal said:

For spellcasters, makes sure to take combat casting, point blank shot and precise shot feats. Combat casting helps with concentration check to avoid attack of opportunity when melee casting and precise shot remove the -4 penalty for "ranged attack in combat".

There is also a teamwork feat that improve concentration further if I remember properly.

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3 feats just so you can cast spells in melee combat? Not sure how you can spare so many feats. The only spellcaster that should be getting down and dirty is the magus. You are pretty much ruling out spell perfection which is the best feat in the game for most spell casters.

bjon045 said:

3 feats just so you can cast spells in melee combat? Not sure how you can spare so many feats. The only spellcaster that should be getting down and dirty is the magus. You are pretty much ruling out spell perfection which is the best feat in the game for most spell casters.

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Those feats aren't all to cast spells in melee combat, they're so you can have a reasonable chance at hitting with ranged touch attacks and when you have allies that are in melee with your targets.

Also your casters usually have a standard ranged weapon like bow or crossbow. There is no default "magic" attack, just limited spell uses which don't automatically refill after combat. So you need to have a profane attack option.
(I know about cantrips, but if you don't have snaeak attack they're too weak to be usedin serious combat.)

Rhawkas said:

Those feats aren't all to cast spells in melee combat, they're so you can have a reasonable chance at hitting with ranged touch attacks and when you have allies that are in melee with your targets.

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Edit: NVM. I see precise shot also helps with engaged melee enemies (i.e. no -4) for ranged touch.

To explain, you should have the initiative (if you took the right feats) to get your spells in before melee even begins. Improved Initiative is pretty much mandatory for most caster builds. Also pretty much post lvl 8 you shouldn't be relying heavily on ranged touch spells, but each to their own.

I put extensive time in the beta as a caster sorc, wizard and magus(used combat casting when Magus) and I got by without any of those feats. It sounds like depending on how you play they become more mandatory. I played as an enchantment wizard and it was all about sleep/charm/hold and AOE's spells for damage. The when I was a sorc I had a secondary focus in transmutation and used web extensively.

Out of interest have you got a list of feats that you take? Just wondering if you can still fit spell perfection in? I can't imagine not being able to cast a maximized intensified spell when there are so many good options at spell level 4-6.

edit: Double uggh. It also looks like Intensified spell has been removed from game since Beta. That reduces the effectiveness of spell perfection significantly but i think it is still worth it with just maximize.

So 1.06 introduced a game breaking bug where buffs from equipment stacks after each save/load.
(I noticed when my Ranger companion did 129 damage with a single shot and my cleric had a damage reduction of 52.)

If you haven't updated already, stay at 1.05.
Or don't use this kind of gear. (Check Steam or Owlcat forums for more infos.)

@Bjon45 - I have the magus in my party, and he's the one I'm worried about. I didn't play the beta and I have not used a magus in P&P PF. So I know little about how it works. But he does a lot of casting in combat, and there's no defensive casting mode so opponents always (I assume) get an attack of opportunity (as per PF rules) when he casts his touch spell next to them? So then it becomes an issue of avoiding failure by taking the hit and rolling a good concentration check, which sucks for a class that specialises in using spells in close combat. Unless there is some way to avoid the AoO? Improved initiative means you get a first hit in if you're lucky, but that won;t help later in combat. Unless it means something else here compared to the P&P game.

booboo said:

But he does a lot of casting in combat, and there's no defensive casting mode so opponents always (I assume) get an attack of opportunity (as per PF rules) when he casts his touch spell next to them? So then it becomes an issue of avoiding failure by taking the hit and rolling a good concentration check, which sucks for a class that specialises in using spells in close combat. Unless there is some way to avoid the AoO?

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There is. In the game you just need to suceed in your concentration check and you will avoid the AoO.

Here is how the game handles it:

This makes spellcasting in melee more dangerous, so to ease the burden on melee spellcasters we changed the policy with AoO on casting. In a tabletop, you decide what to do (to provoke an AoO, cast defensively, move away and so on) on a case-by-case basis. We decided to simplify this bit by making you always roll a concentration check with DC = 10 + 2 * Spell Level to avoid provoking attacks of opportunity. By canon tabletop rules this would make you not provoke an AoO but will make you lose your spell if you fail your concentration check – not something you want to do against, for example, opponents that you know will fail to hit your AC. Instead, failing your concentration there only provokes an AoO instead of losing the spell.

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So if you are a magus pump your concentration as much as possible! II is more useful for a sorc/wiz but still don't underestimate the value in attacking first in every round. If you are a barbarian and you normally kill things in one hit, it is the difference between getting hit every single time when you are in 1on1 combat versus almost never getting hit.

@Bjon45 - thanks! That's good to know - it's a good compromise I think. I didn't really think carefully when I rescued Regnorak (or whatever his name is so probably didn't choose feats properly when I leveled him..oh well.

booboo said:

when I rescued Regnorak (or whatever his name is

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Ragnarök ? Anorak ?

If you take the feats mentioned above mages and sorcerers will be your biggest damage dealers from level 8 or 9 on. Just cast invisibility with your wizard then sneak and use a maximized fireball. This will kill most large groups of enemies, then you let the wimpy melee characters finish up, while you drink an ale

However, if there are no large groups on a map, don't blow your wad. Use scrolls and potions on the melee and animal companions and you save your spells for the big fights. Just use your crossbow or drink more ale while they do your light work for you.