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scsimodem
2009-05-28, 04:26 PM
Having seen many threads in the past with people wondering how to play wizards, and seeing as how my responses typically got buried in a sea of replies, I thought I'd put this here as its own thread. I'm choosing to write it from a 3.x (mostly 3.5) perspective because the guidelines laid down in that can apply to pretty much any game in which there are wizards.

As for my qualifications, I am an avid wizard player (though I have yet to play one in 4e) and have played 2e, 3e, and 3.5e wizards extensively, as well as White Wolf mages, and I have played with an Exalted Sorcerer (I'm new to Exalted, but it looks like Exalted Sorcerers don't suffer the same limitations as most types of wizards because, well, it's Exalted). I am also very effective with my wizards, often having to step back to keep from outshining the party, even when lower than the average level. So, here it is, my way of passing on my years of experience to those just starting out.

Character Creation:
I love the spoiler tag. It makes things so easy. Ok, anyway:

Abilities:
As a wizard, your first and primary duty will be casting spells. The only stat you use for casting spells is intelligence. By hook or by crook, get an 18 in this stat, even if it gimps most of your other stats. Every two points of int gives you more spells to play with and spells that are harder to resist. If you can't get an 18, put your highest stat into int. You won't regret it.
After that, strength and dexterity are good picks if you plan on using a lot of touch and ranged touch spells. If you do both, go with dex and take the weapon finesse feat. Wisdom is also a good stat, as it raises your will saving throw, which is useful against other wizards. Constitution gets you hp and charisma helps in social situations, including negotiations with summoned creatures. In other words, max out your int and then pick other abilities based on your personal preferences.

Race:
This is mostly a matter of personal preference, but some are better than others. I tend to go with human or a race that grants a bonus to int (such as the sun elf). Most of the core races have abilities that can compliment a wizard (dex and size making it easier to hit with touch attacks, immunity to certain spell effects, the ability to recover spells in 4 hours instead of 8, etc.). The only two core races I would shy away from are the dwarf, which doesn't give any penalties to the wizard but no outstanding bonuses either, and the half-orc, which has no benefit to give the wizard but gimps him out of the gate with a -2 int penalty, which, at least by my reckoning, is unforgivable.

Skills:
Max out all arcane type skills: Knowledge (Arcana), Spellcraft, Concentration, Decipher Script, and, if playing 3e, Scry. After that, remaining skills are mostly a matter of taste. I tend to take additional knowledge skills (my best wizard ever took a special variation in the Quintessential Wizard that allowed him to get two ranks out of every skill point spent in knowledge), but nothing says you can't take social skills if you want to cross-class or have a feat that makes one or more of them a class skill. If you've followed this guide so far, you should be able to max out a minimum of 6 skills (7 with a human or high int race).

Feats:
With most early metamagic feats too expensive to use and most other feats out of reach (crafting feats have a 3rd level minimum, while combat feats often have a BAB prerequisite), your choices are limited. Consider taking spell focus or getting a head start on metamagic. Going spell focus (conjuration) and augment summoning can be great for a human concentrating on summoning. Improved initiative is also a good pick, as going first means you get to unleash your AoE attacks before your meat shields get in the way. There are also plenty of good feats in various splat books.

To specialize or not to specialize:
It's a good question. If you specialize, you get extra spell slots, but two schools of magic (varies in other editions) are forever closed to you. I usually don't specialize because I want my characters to be flexible, but if you foresee your wizard casting pretty much the same kind of spell all the time, then specialization may be for you. If you must specialize, forbidden schools are largely a matter of taste, but I recommend against forbidding transmutation and in favor of forbidding necromancy. Granted, there are good necromancy spells, but that's true of all schools. However, necromancy is limited in that most of its more powerful spells have the evil descriptor or are primarily useful for performing evil acts (disregard if, for some reason, your DM allows evil characters, which I don't).

Spell Selection:
This is what makes or breaks a starting wizard. High level wizards can pick pretty much anything and be effective (though those who started at level 1 are probably better at it). There are only two things to consider early on: flexibility and duration. Your spell slots are very limited (If you specialized and took a +2 int race, you have 4. My human generalists start with only 2), so you need to stretch them. Magic missile may seem like a staple, but at 1st level, it uses up half of your spells and, at most, kills one creature. Then it's gone. Instead, consider going with color spray and sleep as your combat spells. They're useless at high levels, but at low levels can take multiple opponents out of the fight. Other good ones (both in and out of combat) are disguise self, magic weapon, enlarge person, and burning hands. Now, as you level up, it's advisable to add more first level spells to your spellbook. Magic missile and animate rope are staples of mine, but their limited utility at first level means I hold off on learning them.

Now, you have a viable 1st level wizard. You're going to be underpowered at 1st level, as you have nothing but your spells and not many of those. Druids have wild shape and clerics are decent fighters, but don't worry, you'll make up lost time later.

General tips for playing a wizard at all levels:
Spell selection:
This is the single greatest issue for wizards, as wizards have the fewest spell slots per day and the largest potential for having a number of spells available to fill those slots. Also, unlike a sorcerer, you must fill those slots at the beginning of each day, rather than making it up as you go along, so here are some general tips for making it happen.

Likelihood of use: This encompasses two principles. The first is how many different situations the spell could be used in. Illusions are great for this, as most general illusion spells have the ability to be used in or out of combat. Look for spells that don't specifically do damage or inflict status effects. Things like fog cloud and spider climb will typically find use in a single day, no matter what you do, so they're always spell slots well spent. The other principle is how likely the situations the spell is designed for are to arise. Combat is a constant in most RPGs, so spells designed to harm, inhibit, or otherwise mess up your enemies will typically see use, as well as spells that beef up or protect your allies. Unless you're pretty sure you're going to come up against a specific situation, it's typically advisable to carry around scrolls of highly specialized spells, rather than memorize them 'just in case.'

Total Impact: You only have so many actions in a battle and spell slots in a day. Make sure each one counts. Now, that doesn't mean to blow your biggest, flashiest spells at the first thing that looks at you funny, but unless the situation is dire, try to save a spell for when it will have the most impact. A fireball might to great damage to that one creature, but why not scorching ray it and use a fireball against multiple fores later? Always try to make spells count for as much as possible.

Not to be used for the other use: This bad case of Engrish is a perfect example of what a wizard SHOULDN'T do. Just because the spell was clearly intended for one purpose doesn't mean it shouldn't be used for another. Got some spare money and a choke point? Use rope trick at the choke point and pack it full of alchemists fire, acid, and lamp oil. When you dispel a rope trick, all the stuff drops out and BOOM! Alternatively, you could hide the party in there for an ambush. Telekinesis doesn't do much damage, but if you hurl somebody off of a high ledge, falling damage can do the rest. Alternatively, a dimension door paired with a feather fall can get a rather hefty object high enough to do some damage to whatever it hits. Don't have a heavy object? Summon a large creature. The range on a summon spell is short, so you can actually get it a good distance off the ground. Judicious use of such principles can even get around spell resistance.

Synergy: Cast spells that go well together. Enlarge person and bull's strength stack. True strike will ensure that your attack spells hit. The deadliest piece of synergy I've found so far is combining shapechange with foresight. As long as you can see what's about to hit you, you can shift into a form that's immune (or resistant) to it. Also remember to try to limit your polymorphing to forms capable of casting spells. Remember, synergy.

Other tips:

Scrolls, scrolls, scrolls: All wizards have the scribe scroll feat at first level. Yes, it will keep you a little behind in xp, but scrolls are actually pretty cheap, and they both expand your spells per day and allow you to carry around spells that prepare you for obscure situations without wasting precious spell slots on them. It's worth the xp hit. Trust me. Also look into taking the higher level equivalent, craft wands.

Crafting: Once again, it sets you back in experience, but given the ridiculous stuff you can make with the standard crafting rules, you can become a walking arsenal. You'll also make friends in the party if you decide to take craft magical arms and armor.

Above all, be creative: Sometimes, your DM will provide you with what seems like an insurmountable obstacle. My DM did this to me all the time not because he thought I needed to be humbled, but because he was curious to see how I'd get out of it. If a creature is immune to magic or has high magic resistance, use a spell to hit him with something that's not a spell. Summon creatures, drop a rock on him, open up the ground and watch him fall, or whatever. There's ways around just about anything. Just remember not to think about what spells are supposed to do, but rather what they can do. Example: My wizard's party was once surrounded by undead with a whole army of warforged and not enough transportation to get all of them to safety. I wasn't high enough to have teleportation circle, so I cast prismatic wall. My allies held off the onslaught while I dispelled the first 6 layers, after which we all fled through the 7th layer, which teleports the character to a random plane. Everything but the plane of shadow and the ethereal plane had been locked out, so we figured it was safe enough. I used a nigh impassable wall as an escape rout, then dispelled and escaped through more mundane means (fly).

More to come.

Emy
2009-05-28, 05:02 PM
Here are some previous wizard guides, for your enlightenment, from a fairly neutral tone to expressing opinion very loudly:

Dictum Mortuum's guide contains general wizard information, not particularly geared towards one build or playstyle. (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=881457)

LogicNinja wrote another wizard guide, based around a specific play style ("batman"). (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104002)

Treantmonk created yet another wizard guide, based around a specific play style ("god") with certain builds (mostly specialist transmuter or conjurer). (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=956548)

You may also want to reserve a few posts, so that you don't have your guide interrupted by other people's posts (like this one) when you hit your first post's character limit.

Nohwl
2009-05-28, 05:31 PM
you're comparing a wizard to a druid at level 1. druid is one of the few classes that is actually good at level 1, a lot level 1 characters are worse than a level 1 wizard.

Dixieboy
2009-05-28, 05:32 PM
Weapon finesse...

i stopped right there...

Mages don't do melee :smallannoyed:

Zeta Kai
2009-05-28, 05:38 PM
you're comparing a wizard to a druid at level 1. druid is one of the few classes that is actually good at level 1, a lot level 1 characters are worse than a level 1 wizard.

Bards, paladins, & monks are also front-loaded classes, making them great choices at level 1. The only difference is that the druid stays great, whereas the others fall behind at different rates (the bard probably slowest of all, while the monk suffers the quickest decline).

scsimodem
2009-05-28, 06:33 PM
Continued.

Low level play:
The first main realization to reach concerning low level play is that your spells aren't underpowered, but you have a limited number of them, so making each spell count is extremely important at low level. Try to stick to spells which effect multiple targets or have long durations, since once you're out of spells you're pretty much stuck with a crossbow and a low attack bonus. A few good ones to remember are color spray, sleep, and flaming sphere, as those will make a significant impact on the battle at low levels. Also keep in mind buffs/debuffs like the various stat enhancers (bull's strength, etc.), ray of enfeeblement, and enlarge person.

Also, remember that while you don't use a lot of standard magical equipment like swords, shields, armor, etc., you're still entitled to a share of the loot. Whether it's by selling your share of if the DM throws you a bone in the loot, go for scrolls. I can't emphasize scrolls enough. It's the best way to bulk up your limited spell repertoire. Don't be afraid of overusing them. They're cheap enough that you can handle a little waste from time to time without breaking your piggy bank. Around 3rd level or so, you should also see about getting some 1st level wands of useful spells, like magic missile, burning hands, or animate rope.

Mid level play:
By this time, you should have enough spells in your spellbook to be effective, and unless your DM is running multiple encounters a day, you shouldn't have to worry too much about running out of spells. Don't see this as a sign to stop trying to optimize your spells or twist them into purposes they weren't designed for. Instead, this is breathing room enough to take some one-hit wonders, like magic missile, fireball, and true strike. You should also be switching out some of your 1st level spells that are ineffective against high level creatures (like sleep and color spray) for spells that work at higher levels (like the aforementioned magic missile and true strike). Just remember that you still have limited spell slots, though at your higher level, what would have been short-lived wastes of a spell (such as summoning something for one round) are now more flexible, longer lasting spells.

Also at low level, you need to start considering metamagic feats. Wizards, with spell memorization, are the arcane casters best suited to utilizing metamagic, as casting a metamagic spell takes a full round for a sorcerer or bard. While they all have their uses, the one I most recommend for mid-level is empower spell, and here's why. As you get into higher levels of spells, the effects of some spells are similar to lower level spells, but have a higher maximum to their effects, so until you get at least close to that cap, empowered spells of lower level are often more effective. The perfect example is fireball vs. cone of cold. Both to 1d6 damage per caster level, but fireball is a 3rd level spell that maxes at 10d6 while cone of cold is a 5th level spell that caps at 15d6. All other differences can be achieved with custom spells or items/feats that alter blast shape or elemental type. You first get 5th level spells at level 9, but lets round it to 10 to make the math easier. At 10th level, a cone of cold does 10d6 cold damage, but an empowered fireball takes the same spell slot and does 15d6 damage. The only consideration for cone of cold is the fact that, as a higher level spell, the saving throw DC is 2 higher. In this same vein, it is also worthwhile to take the heighten spell feat, as some of your lower level spells will still be highly effective, but you may need a bump in the saving throw DC or spell penetration to adequately overcome the defenses of higher level creatures. Spell penetration, though not technically a metamagic feat, also deserves mentioning, as mid-level is when you first start coming across spell resistance.

You'll also start coming across more powerful magic items. Prioritize items that increase intelligence, number of spell slots, and efficacy of your spells, though defensive items will help make up for your meager hp pool.

High level play:
There's not much to say about high-level play that hasn't already been said, except to remember everything that got you to high level. Continue to optimize spells and carefully utilize metamagic feats. While maximize is good at this level, quicken is an absolute must. Also keep in mind that higher level wizards have many varied ways of changing the outcome of a battle without those big, flashy damage spells. When my first 1-20 wizard got to high level, he delayed taking meteor swarm until he found it as a scroll and then seldom memorized it because it wasn't useful enough.

I will only say one thing about spell selection: take wish and limited wish and always have at least one of them memorized. These are the most flexible spells in the game and have saved my butt more than once. I know they cost experience. Get over it.

Also, at this level, you have no excuse for running out of spells unless your DM is some kind of sadist. With staffs, wands, and scrolls all available to you, as well as spells of very long duration, you should have enough spells to last you for quite some time if you get desperate enough. Just keep your int maxed and keep your options open. If you've made it this far, you should be fine. (If you're starting the campaign at high level, I recommend playing a simpler class until you've had a chance to play a lower level wizard. Most people who start with a high level wizard play the wizard like a warmage, and the warmage class is better at the role. In fact, I recommend playing a warmage).

Final thoughts:
Just remember, you're a wizard, not a cannon. Far from the stereotypical roles in most video games, especially MMOs, wizards are not one-trick ponies, nor can they last as long in combat with nothing but explosions as their digital counterparts. Wizards are one of the most flexible classes in the game, and can be useful in almost any situation. A wizard can even fill the role of the party tank starting at mid-level by specializing in summoning. So let the warmages and sorcerers take care of 'spamming' the same spell. Be creative and look for synergy.

On one final note, NEVER overlook the utility spells that can only be used outside of combat. Leomund's secure shelter isn't going to beat any dragons, but if you're attacked in the middle of the night, it provides a defensible position and a series of alarms to ward off intruders. Mordekainen's magnificent mansion also isn't going to win any awards, but virtually guarantees a good night's rest, eliminating the need to even set watches or scrounge for food. In addition, it's great fuel for role-playing. Maybe your wizard uses his first spell slot of said level to memorize those spells because he grew up indoors and is sick of sleeping outside. Reducing objects can be used to sneak in weapons. My wizards thrive on spells most wizards don't even consider taking. Your wizard doesn't have to be that way, but don't overlook a spell just because it doesn't have an obvious combat use. Never sell a spell short. They're all in there for a reason.

Well, that about does it. I may add more as it comes to me. I also only mentioned specific spells in a few locations because my knowledge of every useful spell would take far too long. If you have more specific questions, I'd love to field them. If you have anything to add, please do so.

scsimodem
2009-05-28, 06:37 PM
Yes, I know that druids are better than wizards at first level. That's kind of what I'm pointing out. You're a wizard, not a druid or other class with a backup option. You have to stretch your spells.

As far as "I only read as far as x, then decided the whole thing was trash." That's kind of a dumb thing to say, especially, if you actually read the rest of the sentence. Lots of spells use touch attacks. If you like those spells and rays both, taking weapon finesse is a good investment, since you'll only have to use dex to attack.

Nohwl
2009-05-28, 07:09 PM
you don't need a backup option because you get more than enough spells. that is why you use a race that boosts int and a specialization. get a 20 in int and a specialization, and you have 1 first level spell for every encounter that day. fights are over in like 2 rounds, so you gimp a bunch of things with color spray or sleep the first round, and then use a 0 level spell the second round. if its even needed. you could easily be moving to coup de grace things.

if you go focused specialist from complete mage, you can cast even more spells at first level.

you make it sound like wizards are horrible at level 1. druids are one of the best classes at level 1, if not the best. a wizard is better than most of the classes too. it's worse than the druid, but it is still good.