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Shadwen
2009-10-29, 10:33 AM
Only Level 1 from the following books. PHB 1 and 2, Dungeon Masters Guide, Complete Warrior, Complete Arcane, Complete Adventurer. I need the start with it including where to put the stats listed below, and what race what feats, and where to put my skills. Please only use the books i listed. Then if you would not mind, tell me the rest leading up to 20 such as feats, MC if needed, and the general spells/ideas for a potent tier 1 wizard.


18 17 16 16 16 14

infinitypanda
2009-10-29, 10:35 AM
Treantmonk's guide to wizards: being a god. (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19873034/Treantmonks_guide_to_Wizards_Being_a_God)

Shadwen
2009-10-29, 10:37 AM
updated original post

kamikasei
2009-10-29, 10:39 AM
What does the rest of the party look like? What's the overall optimization level? What kind of game style does your DM favour as far as time constraints on adventures, availability of downtime and resources for crafting and scribing and the like, availability of new spells etc. go?

Shadwen
2009-10-29, 10:48 AM
What does the rest of the party look like? What's the overall optimization level? What kind of game style does your DM favour as far as time constraints on adventures, availability of downtime and resources for crafting and scribing and the like, availability of new spells etc. go?

Everyone else is fairly new so i want it to be easy for them...so i decided a wizard is the master of all. its every two weeks. Can only use the books allowed but it doesnt matter that way. He runs a fast pace combat style game. Little downtime cept to sleep and buy. Everything is available if you go the gold. Spells are easy if you go to the library. The rest of the party so far is a fighter 2, ranger 3, barbarian 4, and the other 2 are remaking after an unfortunant event.

kamikasei
2009-10-29, 10:53 AM
Sounds like your best bet is to avoid crafting (no time) and summoning (soaks up too much table time), and focus on utility and buffing so you can cover the rest of the team's weaknesses.

Shadwen
2009-10-29, 10:58 AM
So go for the buffing wizard? any suggestions on where to put things and the feat list and such? Or is ray wizard a better choice? or the debuff wizard?

Logalmier
2009-10-29, 11:28 AM
Treantmonk's guide to wizards: being a god. (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19873034/Treantmonks_guide_to_Wizards_Being_a_God)

Also, Logic Ninja's Guide to Being Batman. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104002)

ericgrau
2009-10-29, 11:35 AM
Those are crazy stats. 18 int, 17 con, 16 dex, 16 wis, w/e. For race anything will do, though human is popular for the feat, gray elves for int and I like gnomes for con.

At level 1 try sleep, color spray and/or grease. At higher levels switch to something else in your level 1 slots. Hunt around for a good wizard spell list or three, then pick spells from them. Put other low level utility spells on lots of scrolls, to be ready for anything.

Most of the spells in those guides are already support spells. Battlefield control (barriers, area debuffs, etc.) and status-effect buffs (invisibility,haste, etc.) are the way to go.

Shadwen
2009-10-29, 12:13 PM
so the general idea for a power build wizard is battlefield control and buff?

BRC
2009-10-29, 12:56 PM
so the general idea for a power build wizard is battlefield control and buff?
The strength of a Wizard is that they can prepare for any situation.

If you're going to be swarmed by mobs of enemies, you prep AoE's. If you're fighting somthing with SR, bring Buffs.

You don't "Build" a strong wizard so much as you Play one, because you can switch out your spells every day.

Now, a good general tip is go for spells that give you lots of bang for your buck, especially at low levels where you have very few spells a day, and do things the rest of the party can't. A spell like Magic Missle deals damage, but that's what the big guy with the sword is for. On the other hand, spells like Enlarge Person, Grease, Cause Fear, your teamates can't do that, and they all last more than one round.
If you shoot a Magic Missle, that takes out 1 goblin. If you Enlarge your fighter so he can one shot goblins with ease, that takes out one goblin a round. Later, once the game moves from one-shotting to smacking each other for eight rounds, you can move to spells that kill or disable them with one shot.
Well, that's the most efficient way to play a Wizard. But the most fun way to play a wizard is probably best described by the following statement:
"FIREBALLFIREBALLFIREBALLBOOOM!"

Shadwen
2009-10-29, 01:00 PM
Thank you working towards efficientcy on my build now. Thank you very very much. Time to make that fighter feel strong....

JeenLeen
2009-10-29, 03:53 PM
I would recommend dwarf as a race. Although they are sterotyped as non-spellcasters, their innate bonus to saves against spells make them good and the +2 Con for -2 Cha is probably better than the -2 Str you get from Gnome (although the +1 AC for being small and the spell-like abilities can be nice). But with your stats, it's not too relevant.

If you go Dwarf:
Stats: 18 17 16 16 16 14
Int - 18
Con - 16 + 2
Will - 16
Dex - 16
Str - 14 //not really relevant, but you can carry your stuff and more
Cha - 17 - 2 = 15 //meets prereqs for some subpar feats you might want

From Complete Arcane, I'd look at the following PrCs: Geometer and Mage of the Arcane Order are nice and helpful. Fatespinner is a good PrC. Initiate of the Sevenfold Veils is powerful, but fairly overpowered and it sounds like it might make you overshadow the rest of your party.

For feats: if you multiclass, Practiced Spellcaster can help you make up your spellcaster levels for overcoming SR and resisting dispels. Obtain Familiar will let you recover a familiar (if you want one), if you drop it for the PHB II alternative class feature. But you said you're a generalist (?), so that doesn't apply.

Delwugor
2009-10-29, 03:57 PM
The strength of a Wizard is that they can prepare for any situation.

If you're going to be swarmed by mobs of enemies, you prep AoE's. If you're fighting somthing with SR, bring Buffs.

You don't "Build" a strong wizard so much as you Play one, because you can switch out your spells every day.

Now, a good general tip is go for spells that give you lots of bang for your buck, especially at low levels where you have very few spells a day, and do things the rest of the party can't. A spell like Magic Missle deals damage, but that's what the big guy with the sword is for. On the other hand, spells like Enlarge Person, Grease, Cause Fear, your teamates can't do that, and they all last more than one round.
If you shoot a Magic Missle, that takes out 1 goblin. If you Enlarge your fighter so he can one shot goblins with ease, that takes out one goblin a round. Later, once the game moves from one-shotting to smacking each other for eight rounds, you can move to spells that kill or disable them with one shot.
Well, that's the most efficient way to play a Wizard. But the most fun way to play a wizard is probably best described by the following statement:
"FIREBALLFIREBALLFIREBALLBOOOM!"

This is excellent advice.

Gorbash
2009-10-29, 04:53 PM
so the general idea for a power build wizard is battlefield control and buff?

Buff, debuff and battlefield control.

Although battlefield control is going to be hard to manage at lower levels, since your party will get in the way until you get Archmage's Mastery of Shaping.

I find it easiest combat solvers are buffing/debuffing, so keep an eye on those.

Here (http://pifro.com/pro/view.php?id=589)'s a sample 'batman' wizard, so that you gain the general idea on use of spells, items, feats, etc.