Need help with low-level drow wizard in FR campaign

[Eldebryn]

Ok, so here's the thing:

I play a 3rd level Drow wizard (generalist) in a FR-based campaign and I don't have much experience playing a caster in 3.5 . The rest of our party are three level 5 humans (ranger, dread necro, swordsage) plus an elf druid, also level 5. The thing is that for the most part so far, I haven't been able to be of much use to my party. The only exception was a good use of Charm person that gave us a nice advantage in a fight in our second adventure. To be honest though, the druid had that spell prepared as well, while the necro and the melees would probably win the fight easily any way.

Most of the time I resort to using a crossbow due to extremely few/low-level spells and because our CR 5 enemies may be non-humanoids or simply have too much hp/HD to make a difference. The 3 humans tend to take care of all the fights by themselves while even the druid is more useful than me thanks to having 3 times my hitpoints, armour and longbow proficiency. So I am asking if any of you have tips on what I can do to offer more to my party, both in combat and RP/out-of-combat situations.

Extra notes:

I have 13 hp (taking 3 out of d4/level), regular drow race LA+2, abilities are 8,16,12,18,14,12
Plan on taking DM-approved ASoC (http://nwn2.wikia.com/wiki/Arcane_Scholar_of_Candlekeep) from NWN2 at level 7 and Archmage from DMG at level 16
Have taken the Elf Generalist variant from races of the wild by trading my familiar
I want to maintain a full caster progression build, emphasizing on spells, no gish
Lesser drow variant without LA is out of the question due to preference, and I don't know if I can convince my DM to accept the LA buyout from UA.
I want to maintain equal level of access and power on all arcane spells/schools, excluding the focus feats for Archmage (any recommendation on what these two should be by the way?)
Currently possess about 5.5k of gold, no magic gear at all
Excluding the half-lunatic elf, racial hatred towards drow has been absent in our campaign so far
We are adventuring around the regions of Rashemen and Thesk, working for the Hathrans (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Hathran) mainly. For the current level we are in a small village with no access to magic items or scrolls


Thanks in advance for any help/advice on the discussion.

[Morithias]

Buy marbles. A mundangerous item in the arms and equipment guide. If someone ever gets in melee with you, back off and throw a back in between you. You need make a DC 15 balance check to not fall prone, and even then it's considered uneven land so they can't charge you.

They're one of the best get away items in the game. Also consider buying some alchemist fire and acid, throwing that stuff can make for good ranged attacks that don't require much BAB if your spells run out.

[Gorfnod]

Lesser drow variant without LA is out of the question due to preference, and I don't know if I can convince my DM to accept the LA buyout from UA.


I would never suggest using Lesser Drow (read as lame drow) to anyone that wanted to play a Dark Elf but perhaps the following thread could prove useful if you show it to your DM.

Drow as a LA+1 Race (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238670)

I recently had a player request to play a drow in my game and have decided to allow him to play it as a +1 LA instead of +2 based on the feedback from this thread.

Thread was [TL;DR] - Spell resistance is the main reasoning behind the +2 LA. In low-op games the spell resistance really matters, +2 LA is justified, particularly at lower levels. In mid-high op games +1 LA is enough as enemies will know and counter for SR.

[Eldebryn]

I would never suggest using Lesser Drow (read as lame drow) to anyone that wanted to play a Dark Elf but perhaps the following thread could prove useful if you show it to your DM.

Drow as a LA+1 Race (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238670)

I recently had a player request to play a drow in my game and have decided to allow him to play it as a +1 LA instead of +2 based on the feedback from this thread.

Thread was [TL;DR] - Spell resistance is the main reasoning behind the +2 LA. In low-op games the spell resistance really matters, +2 LA is justified, particularly at lower levels. In mid-high op games +1 LA is enough as enemies will know and counter for SR.

That is an interesting point, so are the alchemist's fire items. I will look into both. Any other suggestions for spells or general behaviour/things my character can do?

EDIT: Also found this, Drow Paragon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/racialParagonClasses.htm) and I think I might check with my DM about taking the 1st level in that one too. Seems nice, right?

[Aharon]

Can you still shuffle your stats around? Putting the 16 to con nets you at least a few HP, which you do need, being two HD behind.

Otherwise... maybe focus on crafting? You're behind on HD anyway, may as well make the gap bigger. Experience is a river, etc.

[Eldebryn]

Can you still shuffle your stats around? Putting the 16 to con nets you at least a few HP, which you do need, being two HD behind.

Otherwise... maybe focus on crafting? You're behind on HD anyway, may as well make the gap bigger. Experience is a river, etc.

I have considered crafting numerous times but that will cripple any attempt on those 2 PrCs I mentioned. Even though I like the crafting concept, it requires of me not only to stay even further back in XP but to also sacrifice 1 of the PrCs OR the ability to get extend+persistent metamagic by level 18, which I kinda wanted for buffing (perma Haste ftw). As for the stats, I doubt it will be allowed, not to mention I kinda want to RP a physically-weak drow.

[Aharon]

@Drow Paragon
It's ok, but your SLAs aren't really something major.
If you do take it, consider also taking
Magic in the Blood[Regional](Player's Guide to Faerûn) (each SLA +3x/day)
and one of the feats from DotU that lets you do more with your SLAs. They let you use the spell-likes as swift or immediates, so that you don't need actions for them. But you'd have to spend 2 feats on them, and you're already feat-starved...

Maybe ask the DM if the prereqs of either AsoC or Archmage can be waived? You're already rather weak, and you don't spend the feats on phenomenal cosmic power, just something handy that fits your fluff. Seems to be the kind of thing you'd want.