Blaster Wizard with Sharply Limited Sources

[zimmerwald1915]

So here's the story. I'm making a wizard for an RL game, for a group that rather needs a wizard. My usual practice in these situations is to build towards buffing the party and debuffing everything else, but in this case I've decided to take a more, say, direct approach to harming "everything else". That is, I've decided to blast. I know it's not supposed to be the best route for a wizard to take, but it'll be fun.

The problem is, most of the good blaster options I've seen suggested to other players asking for similar advice have been disallowed by my DM's choice of allowable sources. For reference, we are allowed to build characters with options from these books:

Player's Handbook
Player's Handbook II
Complete Warrior
Complete Adventurer
Complete Divine
Complete Arcane
Complete Mage

No east-asian themed stuff from these books is allowed either. So, I ask you, how would you go about making the best blaster you can with only the content my DM has allowed? Starting level is seven, and we get three bonus feats. Below I'll be keeping a table of what I've decided on, based on the advice I get. Advice on what magic items to purchase would also be helpful. Fire away.

{table]Level|Class|Feats
1|Beguiler|Improved Initiative, Metamagic School Focus: Conjuration, Spell Focus: Conjuration, Empower Spell
2|Focused Conjurer|Scribe Scroll
3|Focused Conjurer|Practiced Beguiler
4|Focused Conjurer|-
5|Master Conjurer|Skill Focus: Spellcraft
6|Ultimate Magus|Arcane Thesis: Melf's Unicorn Arrow
7|Ultimate Magus|-
8|Ultimate Magus|-
9|Ultimate Magus|Elven Spell Lore
10|Ultimate Magus|Twin Spell
11|Ultimate Magus|-
12|Ultimate Magus|Arcane Thesis: Orb of Fire[/table]

[Flickerdart]

Focused Conjurer into Master Specialist with Cloudy Conjuration and orb spam will get you pretty far, since all your blasts now come with a debuff.

[Kol Korran]

i'm fairly crap at optimization, but i saw a few others play. some things that worked for them:
- lesser rod of Maximize: worked wonders for fireballs and such. you didn't write your available loot, and the rod cost 14000, soi don't know how effective it is.
- many jaws was a surprisingly useful 3rd level spell
- if your Dm uses SR monsters a lot (i do) Assay SR (4th level) is a good spell.
or you can count on Orb spells.
- are you allowed to use the MIC? if so belt of healing (750) and anklet of translocation (1400) are a good investment,

all i got... for now.

[zimmerwald1915]

i'm fairly crap at optimization, but i saw a few others play. some things that worked for them:
- lesser rod of Maximize: worked wonders for fireballs and such. you didn't write your available loot, and the rod cost 14000, soi don't know how effective it is.
- many jaws was a surprisingly useful 3rd level spell
- if your Dm uses SR monsters a lot (i do) Assay SR (4th level) is a good spell.
or you can count on Orb spells.
- are you allowed to use the MIC? if so belt of healing (750) and anklet of translocation (1400) are a good investment,

all i got... for now.
Standard gold, so 19000 gp. MIC ain't allowed. Available sources are detailed in the first post.

[Flickerdart]

Maximize is too expensive, but Empower is hella cheap. If you can find a spell that hits more than once (such as Power Word Pain, or something that lets you make a bunch of touch attacks with it), Empower really stacks up.

[hex0]

You can get into Master Specialist a lot faster (level 3). You can even be a focus master specialist as well.

[zimmerwald1915]

You can get into Master Specialist a lot faster (level 3). You can even be a focus master specialist as well.
Getting the minor esoterica faster isn't worth the wizard bonus feat. This is particularly true considering that the campaign only goes up to level 12, and I likely won't reach the capstone of any PrC.

[Corlindale]

Are Core prestige classes still ok? I notice the DMG is not listed among your available sources, but if that's simply an oversight Archmage is a pretty decent blaster Prc - while it's certainly no Incantatrix, Mastery of Elements and Mastery of Shaping are both very useful abilities to have (especially MoE which essentially lets all your energy damage be Sonic).
Since you can't go Archmage, consider Energy Substitution (X) and Sculpt Spell as replacements for these abilities. Or just get the corresponding metamagic rods.

Orb of Fire seems to be the standard choice for Arcane Thesis, which I note you plan on getting - though you'll need either Energy Substitution(X), Mastery of Elements or a similar way to alter damage types for it to work.

Residual Magic from CM is a nice feat for anyone planning to make extensive use of metamagic, which you as a blaster surely will.

EDIT: As you just posted that the campaign ends at 12, my Archmage suggestion is obviously irrelevant :smallsmile:

[zimmerwald1915]

Since you can't go Archmage, consider Energy Substitution (X) and Sculpt Spell as replacements for these abilities. Or just get the corresponding metamagic rods.

Orb of Fire seems to be the standard choice for Arcane Thesis, which I note you plan on getting - though you'll need either Energy Substitution(X), Mastery of Elements or a similar way to alter damage types for it to work.

Residual Magic from CM is a nice feat for anyone planning to make extensive use of metamagic, which you as a blaster surely will.

EDIT: As you just posted that the campaign ends at 12, my Archmage suggestion is obviously irrelevant :smallsmile:
Actually, I can't use Arcane Thesis on Orb of Fire if I take the feat at sixth level. At that point I can only cast third level and lower spells. I'm planning on using it on either Lesser Orb of Force or Scorching Ray, applying MSF to either Conjuration or Evocation depending on which spell I choose, and meta-ing that spell as much as I possibly can.

[Ifni]

Elven Spell Lore (PHBII, can be taken at L9) on your arcane thesis spell also works for energy substitution purposes, and lets you change it to Sonic or (possibly) Force, which Energy Substitution does not. On the other hand, if your GM is letting Arcane Thesis or similar feats reduce the cost of metamagic below 0 (can't remember how the errata on this one came out), then definitely go for Energy Substitution :smalltongue:

I personally would be inclined to Arcane Thesis Scorching Ray if you want to blast, just 'cause it's lower level and lets you stack on more metamagic (and works with Split Ray), but you do need a way to beat SR. Assay SR from Complete Arcane works, and at lower levels you shouldn't be encountering SR too much anyway.

Also, Melf's Unicorn Arrow from PHB2 is a decent blasting spell: it's Conjuration, untyped damage, SR:no, save:no, and Medium range, with a bull-rush side effect. Damage jumps every three levels after L5 (8, 11, 14, 17); at L6, with Arcane Thesis and Empower, it'd be an average of 56 damage per casting if you hit on all three ranged touch attacks. At the same level, Empowered Split Scorching Ray (with Arcane Thesis) would be average 63 damage if you hit on all the ranged touch attacks, but fire type and SR:yes - and you wouldn't have Orb of Fire yet. (I haven't taken into account any bonuses from class features or other abilities, just the basic feats.)

EDIT2: Just realized this example also needs Metamagic School Focus to work at L6, as both spells in it are still effectively L4 (Scorching Ray = L2 + (2-1) Empower + (2-1) Split Ray, Unicorn Arrow = L3 + (2-1) Empower)).

EDIT: Ninja'ed - to be clear, when I was recommending Scorching Ray for Arcane Thesis, I was contrasting it with Orb of Fire. Also, I'd probably grab Quicken with one of those free L1 feats; you won't be able to use it for a while, but it's nice eventually, and the higher-level feat slots are going to be precious. I can't remember the prereqs on Twin Spell, maybe grab that as well?

[zimmerwald1915]

Elven Spell Lore (PHBII, can be taken at L9) on your arcane thesis spell also works for energy substitution purposes, and lets you change it to Sonic or (possibly) Force, which Energy Substitution does not. On the other hand, if your GM is letting Arcane Thesis or similar feats reduce the cost of metamagic below 0 (can't remember how the errata on this one came out), then definitely go for Energy Substitution :smalltongue:
He's not allowing meta-reducers to go below 0, and he's probably right to.


Also, Melf's Unicorn Arrow from PHB2 is a decent blasting spell: it's Conjuration, untyped damage, SR:no, save:no, and Medium range, with a bull-rush side effect. Damage jumps every three levels after L5 (8, 11, 14, 17); at L6, with Arcane Thesis and Empower, it'd be an average of 56 damage per casting if you hit on all three ranged touch attacks. At the same level, Empowered Split Scorching Ray (with Arcane Thesis) would be average 63 damage if you hit on all the ranged touch attacks, but fire type and SR:yes - and you wouldn't have Orb of Fire yet. (I haven't taken into account any bonuses from class features or other abilities, just the basic feats.)
Ah, this I like. Thanks.


EDIT: Ninja'ed - to be clear, when I was recommending Scorching Ray for Arcane Thesis, I was contrasting it with Orb of Fire. Also, I'd probably grab Quicken with one of those free L1 feats; you won't be able to use it for a while, but it's nice eventually, and the higher-level feat slots are going to be precious. I can't remember the prereqs on Twin Spell, maybe grab that as well?
Twin's prereq is just another metamagic feat, but it uses a slot four levels higher than normal. Even with MSF and Thesis, that's expensive.

[Ifni]

He's not allowing meta-reducers to go below 0, and he's probably right to.

Oh, I concur, hence the :smalltongue:


Ah, this I like. Thanks.

You're welcome :smallsmile: It's one of my bread-and-butter damage spells (in addition to its other benefits, certain of my characters have appreciated being able to kill people with Sparkly Magical Unicorns :smallwink:) It has decent level scaling, too, up to L17 (where its base damage is 40 + 5d8, which is very similar to 18d6 on average, albeit with much smaller variance). The only problem is it doesn't play well with Maximize, and Split Ray doesn't work on it, so you can run into the problem of not having enough interesting metamagics to augment it with. Twin and Empower work, but they're the only ones I know within your book selection. I still like it better than Orb of Fire though.


Twin's prereq is just another metamagic feat, but it uses a slot four levels higher than normal. Even with MSF and Thesis, that's expensive.

For cheap metamagic, I like Sculpt and Split Ray. I only suggest Twin because it's a straight damage-booster that works properly in conjunction with Empower, unlike Maximize.

[zimmerwald1915]

You're welcome :smallsmile: It's one of my bread-and-butter damage spells (in addition to its other benefits, certain of my characters have appreciated being able to kill people with Sparkly Magical Unicorns :smallwink:) It has decent level scaling, too, up to L17 (where its base damage is 40 + 5d8, which is very similar to 18d6 on average, albeit with much smaller variance). The only problem is it doesn't play well with Maximize, and Split Ray doesn't work on it, so you can run into the problem of not having enough interesting metamagics to augment it with. Twin and Empower work, but they're the only ones I know within your book selection. I still like it better than Orb of Fire though.
Fortunately, Twin and Empower might just be the only ones available to me due to the shortness of the build and the scarcity of feats. So that's not a problem.

[dextercorvia]

Hail of Stones was originally printed in CA, IIRC. That is a proper say yes to damage spell.

[Flickerdart]

Hail of Stones was originally printed in CA, IIRC. That is a proper say yes to damage spell.
It also has a 1 round casting time.

[Zaq]

It also has a 1 round casting time.

Rapid Spell is from CDiv, which is an approved source.

[Keld Denar]

Since you are playing around with MM, a good feat is Residual Magic from Complete Mage (an approved source, I see). This does 2 things. A, when you cast a MM version of a spell, and the next round cast an unmetamagic'd version of it, you get free metamagic applied to it. This doubles your high level spell slots, essentially, but restricts which actions you can take on which rounds in order to take advantage of it.

The other thing it does is if you cast a spell in one round, and then use a Spell Trigger item of that spell in the next round, the spell trigger version is EXACTLY the same as your wand version. Buy a cheap wand of Scorching Ray for 4500. Cast one Ray from your normal spells at CL 12 (3 rays), and when you use the wand the next round, it'll be at CL 12 instead of CL 3. More daily longevity without sacrificing potency.

[dextercorvia]

It also has a 1 round casting time.

I had never noticed that before.

[Flickerdart]

Rapid Spell is from CDiv, which is an approved source.
Sadly he doesn't have the feats to spare, and that extra spell level can be put to better use than metamagicking a gimped spell to suck slightly less.

[Grendus]

You could also consider going into Ultimate Magus. Wizard/Beguiler/UM nets you some scary powerful magic. Plus it makes it easy to ban illusion, enchantment, and something else (probably necromancy). In return, you get some wicked powerful metamagic shenanigans, a CL boost, and only one lost wizard CL. The trick is to take Practiced Spellcaster(Beguiler), so your beguiler caster level is never below your wizard caster level and you can always take that "lowest level" as wizard.

The most common build is Beguiler 1/Wizard 4/Ultimate Magus 7 for a level 12 game. You can consider dropping a level of UM after 4 for that fifth level wizard bonus feat, but it's up to you. UM 7 only increases your CL for the lowest class, so in terms of spell levels you actually gain by not taking that seventh level in a 12th level game.