Burning Hands and AoO

[Lord_Kimboat]

I have vague memories from my 3.5 days that Burning Hands and maybe even Shocking Grasp didn't provoke an Attack of Op. However, I can't find any confirmation of this pretty much anywhere so I'm wondering if I imagined the whole thing or something else. If this is the case, Burning Hands in particular sounds pretty awful as it goes off then and there and you can't hold it, move in, and then let it go as you can with other spells (or at least I think you can't).

So, does anyone have an idea about this?

[Deophaun]

It's a DC 16 Concentration check to cast a level 1 spell defensively and not provoke an AoO.

[Mordaedil]

You can't cast spells without provoking attacks of opportunity, but shocking hands is a touch spell, so you could hold the charge for a number of rounds equal to your caster level, so you could cast it, hold it, and then release it afterwards and not take AoO.

To make attacks of opportunities using spells, you need a particular feat.

[Kurald Galain]

You're probably thinking of 4E; burning hands is one of the spells that doesn't provoke in that edition.

The point of burning hands is that it still hits three squares away from you, AND is an area effect. You can conceivably hit two enemies without standing adjacent to either of them. Plus it's very useful against swarms (which don't make opportunity attacks and take extra damage from area effects).

[Elder_Basilisk]

Color spray suffers from the same limitations. However they can be mitigated.

The first mitigation method is simply to not stand next to the enemy when casting it. This limits your options for getting lots of targets but depending on the position of the enemies, it might not make a difference.

The second method as people noted is making a concentration check. That is going to be a challenging DC 17 in Pathfinder (15+2x spell level) but if you have combat casting and/or a concentration boosting trait, you could have as much as +12 to the roll (combat casting, 20 int, and +2 concentration trait--+9 is more likely). So depending on your build, it could be doable.

The third method is teamwork. Have someone else provoke the AoO first. That way you can cast with impunity. Depending upon the party's build and the particular enemies, there may be characters able to draw fire without much risk. At higher levels, litany of sloth will prevent an enemy from making AoOs for one round.

The fourth level, which can be combined with the fifth is to provoke the AoO yourself with movement. That can still deal damage but because it doesn't occur during spellcasting it won't generally disrupt your spell.

The fifth level is just to make the AoO miss. Depending on the level of your character, you could easily have a 14 or 15 base AC (16 to 18 Dex plus silk ceremonial armor) which would push your AC to 17 or 19 with mage armor or shield and as high as 22 with both spells. That could be cranked higher by your party or previous actions-- -2 if the target is shaken due to intimidate (dazzling display, enforcer, successful save vs cause fear, etc), -2 if entangled (rime spell, net, tanglefoot bag), -4 to hit if prone, +2 or more to your AC from bodyguard aid other, +2 for saving shield feat. If you want your thing to be getting in the enemy's face and casting spells, there are ways the party can make that work.