Social Wizard?

[scon]

Hey guys.

I'm currently working on a new character for an Eberron campaign, starting from lvl 1. I'll be playing a wizard in a game that is likely to have a large number of political and social encounters.

I'd appreciate some feedback on what I've got so far. I'm not necessarily going for anything super-optimized, but honestly some of the "broken" options are also some of the neatest (Abrupt Jaunt, Item Familiar), so I have taken them.

I'm not philosophically opposed to dips, but part of the back-story involves having magic when the game begins, and also a few of the options I've taken are only available at first level, which adds another restriction. I've considered hitting Factotum or Human Paragon at first level, but due to the above I haven't planned on it. I could be convinced otherwise, though.

So here's the current state of affairs

Human Conjurer 1 (Banning Evocation and Enchantment)

Stats (32 pt buy):
Str: 8
Dex: 10
Con: 14
Int: 18
Wis: 8
Cha: 14

Feats:
1: Immediate Magic (Abrupt Jaunt) replacing familiar
1: Improved Initiative (Martial Wizard, replaces Scribe Scroll)
1: Aereni Focus (Diplomacy) (specifically allowed by DM even though I'm human)
1: Keen Intellect
1: Able Learner (provided by taking Flaw: Slow)
3: Item Familiar (ran past DM, advised him that this was widely considered OTT, got the go-ahead as long as I ignore the XP portion of the feat)

I'm looking at Alacritous Cogitation and Insightful Reflexes later on, maybe Spell Focus: Conj. Not entirely sure what else might come in handy.

We're using a condensed skill system similar to Pathfinder that puts Spellcraft info K: Arcana, which is handy. I'm considering asking the DM to look at just using Pathfinder skills straight up instead of the version we're currently using, but we'll see.

As far as skills, I'll be putting full ranks in Diplomacy and Concentration, advancing Bluff, Sense Motive, and Disguise as fast as possible, and splitting the rest between various Knowledge (lots of Arcana, Local, Nobility/Royalty, some Architecture, and History) as this skill system folds a bunch of stuff into Knowledges (Forgery, for example)

Item Familiar will be used on a custom +skill magic item, and used to invest skill points. I'll probably split the bonus skill modifiers between Concentration and Diplomacy.

As is evident, I don't really have a complete build planned out. Any thoughts are appreciated, I'm sure there are plenty of things I've overlooked.

Thanks!

[GnomeGninjas]

If you ban enchantment you lose access to mind control, since this sounds like it will have a lot of social encounters it probably will have a lot of people to mind control. Just one 1st level enchantment spell makes it so you don't need to make a diplomacy check they just become your friend after a saving throw.

[scon]

Duh :smallbiggrin:

That is an excellent point.

Banning Ench. is a left-over from before I decided to add social skills to the character. I'll probably swap that to Necromancy then.

[Flickerdart]

Uncanny Forethought is vastly superior to Alacritous Cogitation.

[HunterOfJello]

If you play a Enchanter, then you can take the Social Proficiency ACF from Unearthed Arcana to gain Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate, and Sense Motive as class skills at the cost of sacrificing your bonus wizard feats.

Enchanter wizards are also great candidates for going into Master Specialist at level 4. It's only really worth taking 4 levels in the class, but it will net you a bunch of nice feats, a bonus spell from your chosen school (that doesn't have to be from your class list iirc), and improved abilities on your enchantment spells that occasionally offer benefits against enemies who are threatened.

The only hard part about taking that route is that you wouldn't have access to Abrupt Jaunt.

[Rossebay]

Uncanny Forethought is vastly superior to Alacritous Cogitation.

Lots of DMs don't like that one, though.

Mine specifically banned it. And he mentioned that he wasn't going for super-powered, so Uncanny Forethought is sort of an out.

I could be wrong.

[Darth_Versity]

Just out of curiosity, but if you want a social 'wizard' type character, why dont you play a beguiler? They have a large number of skill points, an excellent list of skills and an amazing set of social spells. On top of that they only depend on INT, cast spontaneously and get the amazing Glibness spell (usually only for Bards).

For a social wizard you cant do much better than a beguiler.

[scon]

Just out of curiosity, but if you want a social 'wizard' type character, why dont you play a beguiler? They have a large number of skill points, an excellent list of skills and an amazing set of social spells. On top of that they only depend on INT, cast spontaneously and get the amazing Glibness spell (usually only for Bards).

For a social wizard you cant do much better than a beguiler.

Well to start, I didn't create a Beguiler mostly because I had completely forgotten about the existence of the class.

I've never been a huge fan of spontaneous casting though, and I find it hard to say why. I think I've played one sorcerer ever, all the other casters I've ever done have been wizards. Never much liked Druids/Clerics/Bards/etc either.

On the other hand, the class is, as you mentioned, pretty much exactly what I'm looking at. A quandary. I'll have to think about it.

[Kuulvheysoon]

Well to start, I didn't create a Beguiler mostly because I had completely forgotten about the existence of the class.

I've never been a huge fan of spontaneous casting though, and I find it hard to say why. I think I've played one sorcerer ever, all the other casters I've ever done have been wizards. Never much liked Druids/Clerics/Bards/etc either.

On the other hand, the class is, as you mentioned, pretty much exactly what I'm looking at. A quandary. I'll have to think about it.

It's an excellent choice, I can tell you from experience. It's not as sorceror-y as you think, mainly because you don't have/get to choose your spells (you have a set list that you can add to with class features), but also because it has the wonderful UMD as a class skill. I'd highly recommend it for this character concept.

[Snowbluff]

It's an excellent choice, I can tell you from experience. It's not as sorceror-y as you think, mainly because you don't have/get to choose your spells (you have a set list that you can add to with class features), but also because it has the wonderful UMD as a class skill. I'd highly recommend it for this character concept.

In addition, Arcane Disciple will add spells to your list for very little, increasing your diversity or strengthen your Enchanments/Illusions as needed ^^

[Darth_Versity]

In addition, Arcane Disciple will add spells to your list for very little, increasing your diversity or strengthen your Enchanments/Illusions as needed ^^

as does a bloodline feat from the dragon compendium

[Slipperychicken]

If its a social game, I suggest moving two points from charisma to wisdom. You'll need to see through lies.

Beguiler gets Still and Silent free. Quite handy for casting unnoticed, and maintaining your reputation. Glibness is wonderful, try to make an item, just remember to keep your lies believable.

Nystul's Magic Aura to disguise the Glibness, and your other sketchy auras. Should be 2k for an at-will item. Keep your non-sketchy auras visible, so its not obvious you're using the spell.

Detect thoughts, for anyone too stupid/poor to protect against it.

[scon]

Well, I think I've been successfully convinced to try a Beguiler.

I'll use the same stat distribution as for the wizard. I'm avoiding the extra points in WIS, as Keen Intellect gives me INT to Sense Motive and Will saves.

I'm looking at sticking with Improved Init for my next feat.

Since I won't need Able Learner or Aereni Focus due to the Beguiler's class skills, I'll drop those.

Then for my last feat (from the Flaw), I'm looking at Vow of Nonviolence.

It seems quite restrictive, but the +4 to save DC's is just so attractive. What's the general consensus on this feat?

My only worry about the Beguiler is the heavy focus in Illusion and Enchantment, since don't lots of enemies gain immunity to [Mind Affecting] relatively quickly? That'll leave me with the Illusion spells, but I'm worried about the Enchantment side becoming much less effective as we level.

[Keld Denar]

If you were gonna go with wizard still, I'd suggest keeping Enchantment, pick up the 1 requisite level in Mindbender for Telepathy, and then hop into Urban Savant from Cityscape. It's a great, underrepped PrC. It gets 6 skill points per level from a really good list, along with some neat class abilities.

Beguiler is a good idea though, and straight Beguiler is solid. Otherwise Beguiler5/Mindbender1/Beguiler+14 is also good due to how it offsets your advanced learning.

EDIT: do you REALLY want to be exalted for a city based intrigue campaign? Sure, your charm spells will be really really hard to resist, but you won't be able to take advantage of it! On top of the stipulations in the feat (not harming folks), you also have to maintain an Exalted alignment, which is Good++. Blech! A little exploitation and manipulation is wunderbar in this case.

EDIT EDIT: Have you considered Psion(Telepath)? There is an ACF that grants Telepathy, and you pick up some extra social skills as class skills. Also Int based, for maximum skillage.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You could go Beguiler 1/ Wizard 4/ Ultimate Magus, and have the best of both worlds. Take the feat Able Learner and you can keep up your ranks in those Beguiler class skills at no additional cost. With Practiced Spellcaster: Beguiler you can apply 9/10 UM casting toward Wizard, and if you make your character an Illumian with the Krau sigil you can put 10/10 UM toward Wizard. Illumians are Humanoid (Human) so you can even get Able Learner still. Take the feat Versatile Spellcaster, it allows you to spend two spell slots of the same level to cast any spell you know of one level higher, which means those Beguiler slots can be used to cast Wizard spells you've learned.

[Kuulvheysoon]

Obligatory Cerebremancer (Beguiler/Psion) mention.

[scon]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.



EDIT: do you REALLY want to be exalted for a city based intrigue campaign? Sure, your charm spells will be really really hard to resist, but you won't be able to take advantage of it! On top of the stipulations in the feat (not harming folks), you also have to maintain an Exalted alignment, which is Good++. Blech! A little exploitation and manipulation is wunderbar in this case.

EDIT EDIT: Have you considered Psion(Telepath)? There is an ACF that grants Telepathy, and you pick up some extra social skills as class skills. Also Int based, for maximum skillage.

Initially when I saw the feat I thought "Hey awesome, all my enchantments and whatnot at +4"! Then I started thinking "Well, say I cast Silent Image to conceal a pit (for example), *poof*, no more feat". So yeah, I think that's ditched.

I looked at Psion too, but I think right now I prefer the Beguiler. I was sceptical, but the more I think about it, the more I think it might be a lot of fun.

The next thing I have to consider is whether or not to do some multiclassing, a dip into Mindbender, or the Ultimate Magus route. One thing I'll say is that our campaigns tend to stall around level 7-8, so a build that took a while to "come online" is less than ideal.

[JohnDaBarr]

Generalist Wizard + Unseen Seer (Complete Mage) + Divine Insight (Spell Compendium)