Making a Battlefield Control wizard

[Drinzor]

hey guys, I am working on a BFC wizard, and I could use some ideas for gear / spells / feats so if anyone got some good ideas tell me, its atm level 3, but the adventure is going for level 14+

[Mystral]

I'd advise reading the following guide:

http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19873034/Treantmonks_guide_to_Wizards:_Being_a_God

In short: Roll a conjurer, get sculpt spell and cloudy conjuration and have fun with spells like grease, glitterdust, solid fog, evards black tentacles, web and many others.

[Vladislav]

The various Wall of XYZ spells are also very good.

[Sudain]

I'm playing one right now, so I can offer some experience.

You want anything with AoEs. If it doesn't have an area, I'd look hard and long at it. Also consider the sizes and ranges of your AoEs - not all the time do you want to coat a battle field with something that blocks vision and hampers movement - sometimes you just want to affect a small subsection. Sometimes it's far more effective to cripple the one strong guy than hamper his 15 minions.

The cloud line blocks vision block targeting. Don't underestimate this. Archers need to see to shoot; casters need to target, thugs like to know where the stand in relation(for AoO if nothing else). Spells that inhibit movement are very helpful. Grease, Web, Sleet storm to name a few. The wall lines of spells will block line of effect - again extremely important. These three things are your bread and butter - think and cast in terms of them.

Plan and talk with your party - Most AoEs offer no SR, and little to no saves if any and sever penalties - which is great. Until you realize you are lobbing them about with no concern for the collateral damage of your party. You may control the battlefield, but they have to work in it. Also consider that the majority of the time the party will be killing the baddies - you will run into a threshold where it will be more effective to do anything other than use an AoE.

Consider a couple blasty spells. You will eventually run up against something that rest of the party can't hurt and they will need you to fireball/lightingbolt it to death/submission. AoE blasty spells are also a form of battle field control - it forces the baddies(the ones who live anyway) to not stand close to each other. Great for opening gaps to their backline(if they fight in formations).

Consider illusions - sometimes simply the threat is good enough. People generally don't try to run through walls, off cliffs, or straight into a monster's gaping jaw to see if they are real or not. Very useful if you are creative.

Consider divination - Things like arcane sight - knowing who's the most buffed can give you an edge. Also handy for tracking people who think they are invisible - they may be but their aura is not.

Don't forget debuffs - Pyrotechnics for example. Blinding them is just as good as dumping a cloud on top of them(and it moves with them to boot). You will need to do your research as to what debuffs mean and do.

Defensive spells are useful! - Mage Armor, Dispell Magic, Gust of Wind, Wind Wall are a couple of types things you'll want to be able to do. Go through the exercise of playing against your build and seeing how you'd go about smashing it. You'll learn what types of things you need to defend against.

Out of Combat - you will not be in combat all the time. Find a couple fun things. I like explosive runes("I cast it on the wanted poster of me & walk off." "DM: ... Okay..."), Shrink Object("I shrink this 5 ton boulder, and then use my sling to gently chuck it on the window sill of the church. And I wait for people to congrigate before reverting it back... :smallbiggrin:" "DM: ... oh god..."), Unseen servant("I have the servant hold out a platinum piece to the beggar and keep pulling it back just outside of his reach."). This is a game, it's supposed to be fun.

Spell levels - So far I've only mentioned spells at level 1-3. They will be with you throughout your career, pick them very wisely. Level 4-6 will be helpful and awesome. Pick carefully but feel free to go for fun. End your pre-planning here. Levels 7-9 will be with you for a very short time compared to your 1-6 spells. Unless you are going for a specific build; choose them as you get to them based upon what you've seen and what you need. Simply having a 7th level spell does not imply that your 1st level spells are useless and are not the correct tool for the job.

Think outside the box - You've got a specific spell list which is great. But also consider spells that are off your list, like remove curse, restoration, rusting grasp, etc.... to get them you will either need some form of UMD, or research. Your mileage will vary.

Time - be aware that controlling the battlefield slows battle down. After all, you are one less person dealing damage. Every check slow things down. Baddies walking through mist at half pace, drags the battle out. Nothing to do about it; just be aware of it.

That's my 2 cents for the day. I hope it helps provide food for thought.

[Malachei]

Despite its bad reputation, Evocation actually offers some nice battlefield control to complement Conjuration.

Howling Chain, with its reach and ability to trip and AoO is just one example, Vortex of Teeth another good one.