Wizard Bonus Feat? (PF/Dragonlance)

[NeoSeraphi]

I don't have the Dragonlance Campaign Setting material, but my DM does. Anyway, I've finally got my build almost done for my RL Pathfinder game that's coming up, but after reading the background on the world, I decided that playing an elf wouldn't fit. (Which is good, since I hate elves anyway).

So I switched over to human, replaced my longbow with a light crossbow, but...I'm not sure what to do with my bonus feat. Glancing over the Pathfinder feat selection, I really didn't see anything too appealing when I was looking for feats previously.

My feat selection so far consists of Scribe Scroll (Bonus), Spell Focus (Enchantment), and Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment). I am a specialist Enchanter with the Controller subschool. My restricted schools are Abjuration and Divination. (Thank Asmodeus Pathfinder lets us ban Divination now!)

My ability scores are:

Str 10
Dex 14
Con 12
Int 18
Wis 8
Cha 10

Spells known:
All 0 level spells, save abjuration and divination, except for detect magic
1st level spells: mage armor, bungle, charm person, delusional pride, sleep, ear-piercing scream, color spray, silent image
2nd level spells: oppressive boredom, invisibility

Starting level is 3. Other players include a ranger/rogue, a dancing dervish bard, a fighter, and a monk.

So, are there any gems out there that I'm missing, or am I going to have to suck it up and take Spell Mastery or Point Blank Shot?

[ArcGygas]

Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot are always useful if you've got a melee heavy group (which you do!) as to avoid accidentally zapping them with your well meaning Scorching Ray.

On the other hand, Spell Focus (Enchantment) and Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment) would work quite well, too. DC 17 for Charm Person? Yes please.

I'd also consider picking up Threnodic Spell (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateMagic/ultimateMagicFeats.html#threnodic-spell) so your Enchantments (Mind-Affecting) can affect undead. It does take up a spell slot two levels higher, however.

If Traits are allowed, grab Magical Lineage and pick something like, say, Charm Person or Monster? -1 to the Metamagic modifiers after all of them have been applied (so, still/silent spell wouldn't affect that spell's level at all).

Edit; Derp, didn't read post close enough.

[NeoSeraphi]

Well, I wasn't planning on shooting my crossbow or spells that often, but I suppose that...well, no. I don't have to put up with this! I'm not taking two feats just to be effective in combat. The entire rest of my party is DPS, I don't need to do that, and I certainly don't need to waste feats on it. I'll replace scorching ray with a different spell, maybe glitterdust...

...That still leaves the problem of which feat to take though. :smallsigh: Playing a battlefield controller is tougher than I thought it would be.

Edit: Thredonic Spell is nice, but I don't qualify for it until 7th level because of the Knowledge (Religion) prerequisite.

[ArcGygas]

Touch of Idiocy is quite nice, as it lowers their Wisdom and thus Will saves. Or Unnatural Lust... for hilarious purposes. Qualm is rather nice to mess with someone who needs to make ability/skill/concentration checks.

For the non-Enchantment side of the spell books, Blur, Mirror Image, Glitterdust, Mad Hallucination, etc. Look at spells that either help your allies avoid getting hit/taking damage, or reduce their saves so they're more likely to fail a nice save-or-suck spell.

Edit; Right, thread is about feats. I knew that!

Persistent Spell in PF is rather nice; make TWO saving throws, fail either and you still fail.

[NeoSeraphi]

I ended up going with invisibility for now. And Persistent Spell is decent, but I was planning on taking that as my 5th level bonus metamagic feat (after all, I can't really use it until then, and there aren't that many other good options for an enchanter. Extend doesn't help at all, since the best enchantments last for hours already)

Edit: The traits I chose were Gifted Adept (Charm Person) and Theoretical Magician. They are both part of my character's backstory, so I can't really change them. But thanks for the advice.

[ArcGygas]

Actually, because most Enchantment spells last for hours, that makes Extend Spell even better. 2 hours/CL? That's pretty nice. At 12th level, your spells last for literally 24 hours. That person is your buddy until you decide to not waste a spell on them. Or it gives you plenty of time to use them for what you want, then get out of Dodge before they get the opportunity to realize they handed you the keys to their safe!

[NeoSeraphi]

Actually, because most Enchantment spells last for hours, that makes Extend Spell even better. 2 hours/CL? That's pretty nice. At 12th level, your spells last for literally 24 hours. That person is your buddy until you decide to not waste a spell on them. Or it gives you plenty of time to use them for what you want, then get out of Dodge before they get the opportunity to realize they handed you the keys to their safe!

Yes, but by the time that I'll have the 2nd level spell slots available to make it worth my time, I'll already have dominate person, and that lasts for 1 day/level with a much higher DC and a much better controlling effect. I might take Extend Spell as my 10th or 15th level bonus feat (I seriously doubt I'll have much else to do with it), but it's not worth blowing a feat slot on at the moment.

I'd rather use it on something Enchantment-specific, like Augment Summoning is for Conjuration. Is there anything like that?

[NeoSeraphi]

For now I guess I'll go with Spell Penetration, since almost all of my spells will allow SR. If anyone has a better suggestion though, I'd be grateful to hear it.

[ArcGygas]

There aren't any, as far as I'm aware. In fact, I think all of them have something except Enchantment and Evocation. Weird. :smallconfused:

Well, what about Brew Potion?

[NeoSeraphi]

I can't take Brew Potion as my human bonus feat, since that comes at 1st level. Though I suppose there would be nothing stopping me from taking it as my 3rd level feat and pushing GSF to 1st level (for some odd reason. Why does GSF not have a caster level prerequisite?)

Hmmm...Brew Potion...Spend resources, including spells known, in order to allow allies to waste their actions buffing themselves instead of having me waste the actions. It's not quite the Controller method I was going for, but...I could definitely see its usefulness.

Still, I play video games. I have the mindset of "Never use your items, what if you need them later?" If it was me personally, I would probably never use a potion that a caster gave me. I guess I'll talk it over with my party members, just to see their take on it. After all, I don't want to blow all my resources if they're not even going to use the potions. Still, that's something I hadn't thought of, and if my party is up for it, I guess it'd be more useful than Spell Penetration.

Oh, I'd also have to make sure the bard wasn't taking it. Thanks, ArcGygas. Got any other ideas?

[ArcGygas]

It'd be weird if the Dancing Dervish Bard, who's Battle Dancing only affects themselves, grabbed Brew Potion. Just seems... strange to me.

Well... Conjuration has all kinds of neat feats to better their summoning. Spell Focus (Conjuration), Augment Summoning, and Superior Summoning (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateMagic/ultimateMagicFeats.html#superior-summoning). An extra creature to benefit from Augment Summoning, and you don't need to be a Conjurer. So, perhaps something to consider down the line once you get some more spells to benefit it.

[gourdcaptain]

If you can take a 3rd level feat, take Craft Wonderous Item. Since the PF crafting rules don't cost XP, it's pretty much a net wealth and item customization benefit to the party. (Plus, as every time a wizard in a game i've played uses it, he tends to charge a surcharge on it to make some money himself.)

[NeoSeraphi]

Eh, I personally don't enjoy summoning. Lots of book diving for stats and extra creatures to keep up with on the battlefield. It's a solid strategy, just not for me.

Hmm...Guess Pathfinder just doesn't support casters like 3.5 does. That's kind of disappointing. Oh well. Brew Potion/Spell Penetration it is then.

[NeoSeraphi]

If you can take a 3rd level feat, take Craft Wonderous Item. Since the PF crafting rules don't cost XP, it's pretty much a net wealth and item customization benefit to the party. (Plus, as every time a wizard in a game i've played uses it, he tends to charge a surcharge on it to make some money himself.)

Doesn't crafting wondrous items take like...days though? I'm not sure if the rest of the party would appreciate having to sit around while I work on that stuff.