PDA

View Full Version : Wizard building



nekomata2
2010-01-23, 01:02 PM
So I decided to play a wizard in my next game. 8th level, stats 18,18,15,13,12,10. I'm think either a generalist, or focused specialist conjurer or transmuter. The party is Half-Clay golem Dwarf Cleric (only preps heals), 2 Doppelganger Chameleons (don't know their bases classes), and Barghest (don't know what his class levels are).

So any suggestions on PrCs, feats, and/or spells? Thanks.

Pharaoh's Fist
2010-01-23, 01:04 PM
Incantatrix.

taltamir
2010-01-23, 01:07 PM
feat 1: collegiate wizard.
it grants you a bonus to WBL that varies between 15 and 40%. it starts high, dips down to 15, then begins rising again... most levels its 20% ish.

if you play a generalist, playing an elven generalist with the "elven generalist" substitution level for wizard 1 (substitute your ability to specialize in a school for some bonuses, including 1 extra spell known per level).

otherwise specialize and drop evocation (worthless, if you want to blast use conjuration... there are also some nice ones in transmutation and necromancy) and enchantment (everything high level is immune to the whole school, everyone important is immune to the whole school, enemies can become immune with a level 1 spell, and many higher level spells. etc).

if allowed to be a focused specialize, then be one... i suggest dropping necromancy in addition to the above two. illusion is also acceptable (but you miss out on some nice spells)

NEVER drop conjuration or transmutation. if you do, you lose in DnD.


Incantatrix.

incantrantrix is generally considered broken and banned...
But if the DM allows it then its a great way to go...
OP, what level of brokenness does the DM allow?

Evard
2010-01-23, 01:11 PM
Be a transmutation specialist :D

Gaseous form, haste, slow, flesh to stone, stone to flesh (die golem die) are all great spells :D... Sure you won't be blowing things to hades but with enlarge person mass or polymorph fun things can happen (oh remember some polymorphs are permanent depending what you turn it into)

Also just for kicks if you want to go melee http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/transformation.htm

nekomata2
2010-01-23, 01:11 PM
Everything is in, nothing is outright banned.

taltamir
2010-01-23, 01:12 PM
Be a transmutation specialist :D

Gaseous form, haste, slow, flesh to stone, stone to flesh (die golem die) are all great spells :D... Sure you won't be blowing things to hades but with enlarge person mass or polymorph fun things can happen (oh remember some polymorphs are permanent depending what you turn it into)

Also just for kicks if you want to go melee http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/transformation.htm

you forgot flight!
Transmutation lets you fly
Conjuration lets you teleport.

sonofzeal
2010-01-23, 01:16 PM
1) The more tightly specialized you are, the more magic you get. If you choose a flexible school to specialize in, the dropped schools don't cost you so much (even if you lose some nice spells), since it boosts your spells-per-day. As much as the theoretical flexibility of knowing all spells is a good thing, the actual flexibility of having way more spells to chuck around is better.


2) PrC out as soon as you can. I highly recommend "Master Specialist" (CMage), since you can enter it fast and cheaply, and it'll speed you on your way to everything else. It's mostly just a filler on the way to better things, but it is quite nice at that nice. Other than that though, you should pick at least one good "main" PrC. IotSV and Incantatrix are classic, but there's a lot of other good ones that aren't so over-used. Fatespinner, Mage of the Arcane Order, Abjurant Champion, Nightmare Spinner, Wild Mage, Alienist, and Geometer are all ones that spring readily to mind as playable and interesting.

taltamir
2010-01-23, 01:20 PM
best school to specialize in either conjuration or transmutation. It is a good idea to focus specialize.
Ban: Evocation, Enchantment, Necromancy

PrC out of wizard ASAP into something that gives you full caster level advancement. All of those PrCs give better stuff than the core wizard. Consider dipping.

Incantantrix is unbelievable... if you are a focused specialist AND incantantrix and need a 4th school to ban, ban illusion.

Initiate of the 7 fold veil is also very good.

Superglucose
2010-01-23, 01:31 PM
So I decided to play a wizard in my next game. 8th level, stats 18,18,15,13,12,10. I'm think either a generalist, or focused specialist conjurer or transmuter. The party is Half-Clay golem Dwarf Cleric (only preps heals), 2 Doppelganger Chameleons (don't know their bases classes), and Barghest (don't know what his class levels are).

So any suggestions on PrCs, feats, and/or spells? Thanks.
My first advice is to not bother specializing if you're starting at level 7 or above. It's a rare GM that will have you going for so long that you'll run out of spells, especially since you have spells that end entire encounters. So on that I have to disagree with sonofzeal. Banninating Evocation leaves you short of Contingency, banning Enchantment cuts out Suggestion, Dominate, and Charm series, and banning Necro gets rid of your major single-target debuff spells as well as the major fort save or dies. EDIT: And banning Illusion gets rid of a lot of the best defensive buffs in the game (Superior Invisibility, Greater Mirror Image, Blur/Displacement (I forget which is the higher level spell)).

In any case think about it this way: every encounter lasts maybe 3-4 rounds. Casting once/round that's four spells, but you're unlikely to need to cast one spell per round and they don't all have to be high level spells.

Incantrix is probably too powerful for your campaign, as is (probably) Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil. I would avoid those for that reason; they take the Tier 1 Wizard 20 and turn it into something absurd. Same with that UA Abrupt Jaunt variant, though the UA Abrupt Jaunt variant is less powerful than Initiate which is less powerful than Incantrix.

onthetown
2010-01-23, 04:05 PM
NEVER drop conjuration or transmutation. if you do, you lose in DnD.


I've dropped transmutation with one. It doesn't affect me in the least. That said, it's an insanely fun school and one worth keeping.

I would recommend not dropping enchantment or necromancy. They're my two favourite schools so I'm a little biased, but my enchanter whose second school of choice is necromancy has done nothing but kick butt since I introduced her.

Actually, I'd just recommend not specializing. It saves a lot of headaches; it's hard to decide what to drop, since everything has its merits and people will tell you 50 different "best" combos of what to drop and what to do.

If it's Pathfinder, though, you get neat abilities depending on what you specialize or don't specialize in. If you do specialize and drop schools, you can still cast those schools but just at a -2 to caster level or something like that.

Superglucose
2010-01-23, 05:06 PM
IMO specialization is MOST important at low levels due to the extremely low number of spells. At first level you start with 1 spell per day, and specializing gives you a 100% increase.

At 20th level, you start with 36 a day and get 9 extra spells for a 25% increase.

I'm not sure giving up two spells is worth increasing the amount you can cast by a quarter, though it sure is nice for doubling your slots per day!

Penitent
2010-01-23, 05:34 PM
Be a Gray Elf Dragonborn.

Be an Elven Generalist Domain Wizard.

Be awesome.

Gnorman
2010-01-23, 06:10 PM
Focused Specialist Conjurer, PrCing into Master Specialist and Malconvoker. Play a Lesser Tiefling and really amp up the Lower Planes potential.

Feats: Spell Focus (Conjuration), Augment Summoning, Cloudy Conjuration, Summon Elemental.

Spells: Summon Monster, Summon Monster, Summon Monster. Versatility trumps all here - in any given situation, you should have a few great choices available to you.

At level 8, you'll have level 4 spells even with the lost Malconvoker level. Summon Voors like mad. Malconvoker hits the awesome event horizon around level 10, when all of your evil summons are doubled.

It's not eminently broken and your party members will appreciate the support. But it does slow down the table - if this is a PbP game, it'll be easier to deal with.

faceroll
2010-01-23, 07:01 PM
Be a transmutation specialist :D

Gaseous form, haste, slow, flesh to stone, stone to flesh (die golem die) are all great spells :D... Sure you won't be blowing things to hades but with enlarge person mass or polymorph fun things can happen (oh remember some polymorphs are permanent depending what you turn it into)

Also just for kicks if you want to go melee http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/transformation.htm

I am playing a transmuter specialist right now, and I'm really wishing I went conjurer. The save or die quality of most transmutation spells is pretty lame. SoD only work if you fight things equal to your CR straight out of the monster manual.

Solid fog is good++ would recomend