Whats wrong with the feat "combat casting"

[darkblust]

Whats wrong with combat casting?

[Indon]

Many times when you would need to cast a spell in melee combat, you can take a five-foot step out of melee and the feat becomes irrelevant.

[Tavar]

Whats wrong with combat casting?

It's a small, situational benefit that only applies to a very easy check, and that check is similarly easy to avoid.

[Korivan]

To expand. Quicken spells don't provoke AOO, staying out of someones "reach" doesn't provoke AOO, having enough ranks and or constitution bonus for concentration is enough since the check is only 15+spell level, even if check is unsuccessful, they have to be able to hit you, and you get another check (this one tends to be harder). Theres the mage slayer feat that makes combat casting obsolete. All in all, you don't need to waste a feat for this. If theres a nice PrC that has this as a requirment, sure, but only then.

[lsfreak]

And on top of all of that, Skill Focus (Conc) is almost as good as Combat Casting for casting defensively, but applies to a lot more situations.

[Korivan]

Oh ya, can't believe I forgot about skill focus Concentration. A +3 to all concentration checks compared to a +4 to situational checks....ya, combat casting...big whoop.

[Gorbash]

A +3 to all concentration checks

It's not like you use those other concentration checks that often, really.

[Saph]

On the credit side for Combat Casting, it's a pre-req for a few things, notably the excellent Abjurant Champion prestige class, and Duskblades get it for free.

It's still not great, but can be useful if your caster likes getting up close and personal.

[Dixieboy]

It's not like you use those other concentration checks that often, really.

I use them a lot, my DM tends to monologue

[Tyndmyr]

It's not like you use those other concentration checks that often, really.

Recurring damage doesn't show up for you? Or taking damage while casting? I agree that casting defensively is probably the most common use of concentration, but there are definitely other pretty common cases as well. Id rather have +3 to all instances than +4 to one. Frankly though, even skill focuses are a bit weak as far as feats go, I usually tend to favor more unique things.

[quick_comment]

It's not like you use those other concentration checks that often, really.

Diamond mind maneuvers use it. A dip in warblade is great for wizards.

[Teron]

To expand. Quicken spells don't provoke AOO, staying out of someones "reach" doesn't provoke AOO, having enough ranks and or constitution bonus for concentration is enough since the check is only 15+spell level, even if check is unsuccessful, they have to be able to hit you, and you get another check (this one tends to be harder). Theres the mage slayer feat that makes combat casting obsolete. All in all, you don't need to waste a feat for this. If theres a nice PrC that has this as a requirment, sure, but only then.

The bolded part is incorrect. Failing the check to cast defensively causes you to lose the spell outright, but you still don't provoke an attack of opportunity.

[Korivan]

The bolded part is incorrect. Failing the check to cast defensively causes you to lose the spell outright, but you still don't provoke an attack of opportunity.

Really? Wow, I've been goofing up all this time. Well, oh well, live and learn, thanks for the clerification though.

[Tyndmyr]

That seems to be a very common interpretation of that, actually. I played that way for years, and I definitely wasn't alone in that.

Not saying it's legit via RAW, it's just one of those things that seems to come up often.

[quick_comment]

There are three reasons to take combat casting

1) So you can take spellguard
2) So you can take abjurant champion
3) So you can take shielded casting

[LibraryOgre]

I'll point out that in 3.0, combat casting was a bit more attractive, as it added twice the bonus Skill Focus would. They respecc'd Skill Focus, though, and left CC behind. A +6 to skills is a bit nicer.