Frost Mage

[Lisselys]

I'm starting a new campaign, level 13, and I was thinking about a Frost mage.
So I was going to be:
Grey Elf (+2 Int -2 Con) Middle aged
Wizard 5/Frost mage 8

Ability Scores:
Str 8
Dex 13
Con 14
Wis 10
Int 24 (18 + 2 Racial + 1 Middle aged + 3 Ability increases)
Cha 10

(I can slightly modify them)

Oh Mighty Playground, could you help?
Which feats/Magic items (I've got 110'000 GP) should I take?
I was thinking at:
Headband of intellect +6 (36'000 GP)
Heward Fortifying bedroll (3'000 GP)
Rod of metamagic, Extend (11'000)

Thus leaving me an open spot of 60'000 GP. What should I take?

Note: If I take any of the item creation feat I can halve the prices

[Gorfang113]

You could try a Staff of Frost (56,250gp, pg. 244 DMG)

[noparlpf]

I'm pretty sure the Grey Elf's racial traits include +2 Dex, -2 Str as well.

Being a caster, you probably want some kind of boost to your Con and Dex so you don't die as often.
Ring of Protection, Cloak/Vest of Resistance, Bracers or Armor, Cloak of Displacement, typical items like that.
A Ring Dagger/Sword/whatever weapon lets you use an extra ring as long as you keep the weapon drawn.
A couple of potions or wands; Rod of Many Wands lets you use three wands at once (but it also costs three charges per wand).
Casting Glove lets you always have said Rod on hand and not have to draw it. (Which, although slightly more expensive, can let you do some showoffy things. I guess that's more important as a sorcerer though.)
Orange Ioun stone is a bit expensive but can be useful.
Get an adamantine dagger. Mages are infamous for never being able to cut something as simple as a rope (at least in my experience; I was once literally holding the rope in my hand and failed the attack roll).

[Swooper]

Circlet of Rapid Casting, to begin with. I'm a fan of runestaves, Conjuration is a good one (50k though, probably not worth it unless you go for item creation feats). Ring of Counterspells. Robe of Arcane Might is decent. Anklet of Translocation or something similar, unless you have Abrupt Jaunt. Gloves of Object Reading are a fun and useful toy. A Healing Belt for emergencies.

Otherwise, a bunch of utility scrolls and wands.

[Person_Man]

I know that this is a silly suggestion that would drastically weaken your build, but you may wish to consider Wu-Jen (Complete Arcane) instead of Wizard. Ice Blast, Ice Storm, Wall of Ice, and Cone of Cold are all on their default "Water" spell list. Complete Mage adds Storm of Fire and Ice (plus a few other great spells on their generic list). Oriental Adventures (which is where the Wu Jen originally was published) also includes Ray of Frost, Ice Knife, and a few other general spells which your DM might allow you to carry over (it's 3.0 material). And I think a reasonable DM would also allow you to add most of the Cold spells in Frostburn to the Wu-Jen's Water list as well.

In exchange for a drastically reduced spell list, you'd be getting a +4 to your Caster Level on your chosen element. +2 from the 6th level Wu Jen class ability, and +2 from the Rod of Elemental Might (9,600, Complete Mage, Wu Jen only).

Again, it's not an optimal choice. But if you know you're going to be casting Cold spells 80% of the time, you might want to trade versatility for increased raw damage/duration/range/area of effect/Spell Resistance penetration.

There's also a Cold reserve feat in Complete Mage that will give you another +1 to Caster Level (which anyone can take).

And there's an Aquaman-ish race in Stormwarack that gets +1 or +2 to all Water spells. A nice DM might allow this to apply to all Wu-Jen spells in the Water category (ie, all the Ice spells which lack the Water descriptor for some reason), and not just the 8ish mostly useless spells with the actual Water descriptor.

[dextercorvia]

I highly recommend the Piercing Cold feat. It is the Searing spell of [Cold] spells.

I forgot that Frost Mage gets it for free.

[Lisselys]

To be honest I was thinking a nice double element mage.
Going into frost mage for 10 levels, then taking spells to be either a Frost and a Fire mage.
I'm not eager to be a Wu Jen, since I'm going to use cold spells for flavour, not for optimization. I'll be a normal utility mage, not being overpowered but very flavorful.
For those who have seen Avatar, The last airbender, I'd like to be a water bender ;)

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Frost Mage should be taken for only four levels, fill out the rest with Elemental Savant from Complete Arcane.

Take Eschew Materials, so you can use Snowcasting with every spell without using snow. Flash Frost Spell (PH2) would also be very fitting, especially added to Batman spells like Stinking Cloud and Glitterdust via Snowcasting. Consider getting Metamagic School Focus (CM) to put Piercing Cold on some of your higher level spells for free.

I'd get Arcane Disciple for the Winter domain (FB) and a Lesser Rod of Extend, to put (Extended) Snowsight on yourself and cast (Extended) Obscuring Snow every day. If the rest of your party wants Snowsight cast on them, they should each buy you a 1st level Pearl of Power and 1/3 of a Lesser Rod of Extend. Pearls of Power get around the only-prepare-one-per-day limit of Arcane Disciple.

For your items, you definitely want a Circlet of Rapid Casting (MIC), with the +6 Enhancement bonus to Int added on for the same price as a Headband of Int (MIC p233-234).

Circlet of Rapid Casting, +6 Intelligence (51,000)
Necklace of Adaptation (9,000)
Heward's Fortifying Bedroll (3,000)
Heward's Handy Haversack (2,000)
Lesser Metamagic Rod of Extend (3,000)
Lesser Metamagic Rod of Silence (3,000)
Blessed Book (12,500)
Sandals of the Vagabond (CC) (4,000)
Healing Belt (MIC) (750)
Ring of Sustenance (2,500)
+1 Mithral Buclker (2,165)
Shadow Cloak (DotU) (5,500)
Robe of the Vagabond (CC) (6,000)
Gloves of the Starry Sky (MIC) (1,100)
Bracers of Arcane Freedom (MIC) (2,300) or Bracers of the Entangling Blast (MIC) (2,000) if you have Flash Frost Spell
2,179 gp remaining (+300 with Bracers of the Entangling Blast)
I'd recommend a few low-charge wands of useful 2nd level spells, multiple spell component pouches if you don't have Eschew Materials, plus inks and pens for adding spells to your book.

You'll want to cast either Greater Resistance (SpC) or Superior Resistance (SpC) on yourself every day, which is why there's no Cloak/Vest of Resistance listed there. You'll also want to use Greater Mage Armor (SpC) or more preferably (Greater) Luminous Armor (BoED), Extended via the lesser metamagic rod. The other two charges of that rod should go toward Snowsight and Obscuring Snow. Your other spells should be a mix of Batman spell choices and efficient cold damage spells.

[Lisselys]

Why only 4 levels? And... Is it good to go through elemental savant? I'll lose caster levels...

[yugi24862]

4 levels gets you free piecing cold on all [Cold] spells, so you want at least 4 levels or frost mage and 1 of elemental savant for [Cold] on all spells, then use snowcasting and spell focus [Cold] to buff them.

[Randomguy]

If you'd like to be a waterbender, you could take the homebrewed waterbender class. :smallbiggrin:

[dextercorvia]

Be aware that the interaction between Snowcasting and Eschew Materials is not always accepted the way Biff indicated. Ask your DM how he will rule it first.

[Lisselys]

4 levels gets you free piecing cold on all [Cold] spells, so you want at least 4 levels or frost mage and 1 of elemental savant for [Cold] on all spells, then use snowcasting and spell focus [Cold] to buff them.

Free? What? I don't see that anywhere o.O

[dextercorvia]

Free? What? I don't see that anywhere o.O

The feat is free. The effect still costs +1 spell slot level.

[Graytemplar]

U said u wanted to mix fire and ice, does that mean u want ur character to be like Equinox at epic levels?

[Lisselys]

Phew, I thought I just went blind :smallredface:

[Alefiend]

Take Eschew Materials, so you can use Snowcasting with every spell without using snow.

I believe the consensus is that this isn't legal. Eschew Materials applies to the normal material components of the spell (the ones listed in the spell description). Snowcasting adds an optional component after the fact, so it's not covered by EM.

I'm only reporting what I've read. Hopefully somebody will come by with a better explanation and perhaps a citation.

[darksolitaire]

Cloistered Cleric dip would allow you to go for Winterhaunt of Iborighu (be chaotic neutral for this), who actually gets free Piercing Cold at sixth level. Cloistered Cleric can net you Knowledge Devotion, Extend Spell, Improved Iniative and Turn Undead.

It's cold outside.
But it is nothing compared to the cold inside.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

If Eschew Materials won't work for Snowcasting, then get a (few) Wand(s) of Summon Component (CM) for when there's no snow on hand.

I'd forgotten that Elemental Savant loses caster levels, but it could still be worth taking nine levels of. If you want to take just four levels of it, then consider finishing off with something like Paragnostic Apostle (CC) or Divine Oracle (CD). More Frostmage levels aren't exactly bad, but they aren't exactly good, and you actually want to avoid taking all ten because you'll be stuck with vulnerability to fire.

I'd go something like Wizard 5/ Frost Mage 4/ Paragnostic Apostle 5/ Elemental Savant 6+. You wouldn't lose the caster level to Elemental Savant until level 19, after you've gained 9th level spells, and you'll get the elemental creature type in the epic levels for tons of immunities. Your Paragnostic Apostle abilities should be Backhanded Attack (with Flash Frost!), Energy Supremacy (Cold), Mind Over Matter, Spatial Awareness (for Haste), and Penetrating Insight.