[PF] Help planning a wizard for 2 man party

[behaigo]

I will soon be starting a pathfinder-only campaign that involves only me and one other person. The campaign is heavily inspired by Demon/Dark Souls, so we expect it to be fairly difficult. The other player is going to be playing a barbarian (invulnerable rager) and I've decided to play a wizard. Now, I've never played a wizard for a group this small before, nor have I played one that was pathfinder-only, and I'm unsure of what I should focus on to maximize our survivability. I'm leaning toward battlefield control, though I don't know if that would make the best use of my actions.

I think I am going to play a Strix for the fly speed, though I am open to suggestions. The ability scores I rolled up are:

18
15
15
15
12
12

We will be starting off at level one and when we die, instead of the usual punishment, we "respawn" at our last checkpoint and lose all of our progress to the next level unless we can fight our way back to where we died to reclaim it.

Anything from small tips to complete builds would be appreciated.

[Southern Cross]

I'd assign the 18 to Int, and both Dex & Con would be at 15. And I'd also give the character the Toughness feat at 1st level.

[Corlindale]

Be a conjurer with the Teleportation subschool. Focus on summoning and battlefield control, to mitigate the drawbacks of having only 2 players.

Take 18 Int, 15 Con and Dex. Rest is up to you.

Consider grabbing the Dangerously Curious trait to pick up UMD as a class skill. Then you can use divine wands and scrolls, making up for the lack of a cleric in out of combat situations.

[behaigo]

I'm thinking I will go with the following ability scores (after racial mods):

Str 12
Dex 17
Con 15
Int 18
Wis 12
Cha 13

Toughness will definitely help out a lot, especially at 1st level. I could also see the teleportation ability getting me out of a lot of jams, so that seems like a pretty good idea. Having access to divine spells is also a pretty large boon, so I will likely take dangerously curious.

Are there any archetypes or prestige classes that might be helpful to take?

[Corlindale]

I would personally put the +2 from race in Int instead of Dex (I assume you're human). In the long run higher save dcs and more spells per day will help you more than the +1 to AC, init and reflex saves.

EDIT: Nevermind, I just noticed you are playing a different race.

There aren't that many worthwhile prestige classes for a wizard in PF. Loremaster is the only one that won't cost you caster levels, and even that is probably not worth it given the bonus feats and school power progression you will be sacrificing.

There aren't many good archetypes for the wizard either. I would stick with a regular wizard.

Improved Initiative is also a very good feat for any wizard, though I agree Toughness will be helpful too in a 2 person party.

[behaigo]

I was thinking of taking improved initiative fairly soon, possibly even my next feat. For now I took the reactionary trait for an extra +2 initiative. I was tempted to try a gish, but as far as I can tell that is probably a poor choice. Other than improved initiative and augment summoning are there any other feats I should take ASAP?

[Lonely Tylenol]

I was thinking of taking improved initiative fairly soon, possibly even my next feat. For now I took the reactionary trait for an extra +2 initiative. I was tempted to try a gish, but as far as I can tell that is probably a poor choice. Other than improved initiative and augment summoning are there any other feats I should take ASAP?

Actually, a gish isn't a bad idea if you are playing in a very small group. The ability to do at least a little of everything (even hit things) is huge when you have almost nobody else to do anything, and it also gives you other options (or something to fall back on) if your resource pool (spells) gets expended (which is more likely to happen, as you have to expend more resources in a given encounter to compensate for the lack of other people expending their resources, and because you have more roles that your spells will be tasked with filling). Assuming you can back-log 3.5 PrCs like Abjurant Champion (which are Wizards with better bodies and class features) and so on, you really can't go wrong by gishing (except for the loss of caster levels by taking martial classes, but you can still get 9th-level spells, just later, and you're not exactly going to be crying over their loss if you've built around the concept well).

[behaigo]

The only problem is that I can't bring in any 3.5 PrCs into the mix. Is there a way to make a decent gish using only pathfinder material?

Also, I have decided to take a compsognathus as my familiar for another +4 initiative.

[doko239]

Best Gish-like classes in PF are the Synthesist Summoner archetype, Magus, or Sorcerer into Dragon Disciple. Wizards don't really get a lot that'll help them be melee-functional until later levels, although a Teleportation-school Wizard multiclassed with a melee type and using the Dimensional Dervish feat tree could be workable.

[Chained Birds]

I would either go with your current familiar or a toad familiar for the extra 3 HP. Not the best thing ever seeing as Initiative is a level 1-20 thing compared to just 3 HP, but it would increase survivability at the first few levels.
6(Max HP at 1st level)+2(Con)+3(Toughness)+3(Toad) = 14 HP at 1st level.

If you really want to be the type that never gets surprised, then Divination School would allow you to act in a surprise round (I believe) and give you an initiative bonus equal to half your level.
+3(Dex)+2(Trait)+4(Compsognathus)+1(Divination)+4( Improved Initiative) = +14 to Initiative at 1st level (+plus You can act in a surprise round).

Gish is fine too, but your current stats support an Arcane Archer or Arcane Trickster type approach; which is good because you wouldn't want to steal the Barbarian's melee glory.
If you're going Arcane Trickster, then take your level necessary for Sneak Attack in Alchemist (Vivisectionist) instead of Rogue (X?). You will be given some nifty buffs you can eventually give to the Barbarian in potion form, and the mutagen can raise your Dex so you Initiative and Ranged Attack would be boosted up pretty nicely.

[behaigo]

The more I think about it the more I like the idea of becoming an arcane archer. It will give me something nice to do while I'm flying around not wanting to waste spells. However, I'm not too excited about losing caster levels. I was thinking of taking a 4 level dip, though if it seems worth it I might take more. What is the easiest way to get in without too much loss of casting?

Actually, if there are any good arcane archer builds that anyone could direct me toward, that would be awesome.

Edit: I'm thinking something like wizard 1/fighter 1/wizard +4/eldritch knight 3/arcane archer 4/eldritch knight +7. Does this look good?

[deuxhero]

Eh, Arcane Archer is best off with Zen Archer Monk/Emperical Sorcerer entry.

[grarrrg]

Loremaster is the only one that won't cost you caster levels

I beg to differ.
*casts LINKSTORM!*

PrC Miniguide (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=12613038#post12613038)
[/shameless plug!]

Full casting PrC's, can be entered with only "wizard" levels:
Bloatmage (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/a-b/bloatmage)
Cypher Mage (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/c-d/cyphermage)
Diabolist (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/c-d/diabolist)
Genie Binder (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/e-h/genie-binder)
Harrower (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/e-h/harrower)
Loremaster (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/core-rulebook/loremaster)
Spherewalker (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/s-z/spherewalker) has 3/4 bab

Almost Full casting PrC's (only loses 1 level of casting), can be entered with only "wizard" levels:
Agent of the Grave (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/a-b/agent-of-the-grave)
Daivrat (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/c-d/daivrat)
Demoniac (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/c-d/demoniac) has 3/4 bab
Pathfinder Savant (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/n-r/pathfinder-savant)

Other:
Arcane Trickster (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/core-rulebook/arcane-trickster): Full casting, requires 2d6 Sneak attack.
Easiest entry: Rogue 1 and 1 level of either Assassin (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/core-rulebook/assassin) or Inner Sea Pirate (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/i-m/inner-sea-pirate).

Dragon Disciple (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/core-rulebook/dragon-disciple): 3/4 casting (can be used to advance ANY arcane casting) has 3/4 bab, requires the ability to Spontaneously cast Arcane spells.
Easiest entry: Any one level of Bard, Sorcerer, or Summoner.

Eldritch Knight (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/core-rulebook/eldritch-knight): 9/10 casting has Full bab, requires all Martial Weapons proficiencies.
Easiest entry: Any one level of Barbarian, Fighter, Gunslinger, etc....

Mystic Theurge (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/core-rulebook/mystic-theurge): Full casting, requires 2nd level Divine casting.
Easiest entry: 3 levels of Cleric (or 4 levels of Inquisitor or Oracle).

[Larpus]

Another pretty respectable gish is the Alchemist.

The class lacks in control spells, however you can more than make up for that with bombs and discoveries (and having something to target the 3 saves), the bombs are more plentiful than highest-level spells of full casters and have the same DC as full casters on even levels, so they're definitely an option.

Discoveries can also greatly increase your survivability by various means (and there's a certain one that assures you'll never die as long as you have a safe place somewhere in the world and some gold to burn).

All that said, I'll second the Summoner, in this situation it seems like the best option as both the Eidolon and Summons (with increased duration!) will be very helpful if not for anything else, just to distract the enemies.

Good luck on your game, those games are great fun, I've been trying to make an adventure that feels like them, but haven't found that sweet spot of "very difficult but doable" yet.

[behaigo]

I am starting to like the idea of playing a summoner, though I don't know if I like it better than having access to wish eventually. Magic items are likely going to be pretty tight and I doubt we will have access to tomes.

That being said, wish won't do us any good if the campaign ends before I have access to it, so that is something else for me to consider.

For now I think I want to stick with wizard so I can be a bit more dynamic than some of the other options. If I can I would like to pull off a gish, though my priority is being an adaptable spellcaster.

[Waker]

If this is a two-player party I would suggest you consider the Mystic Theurge. A general rule of thumb in most team games and sports is that the more people, the more you specialize, while the less people the more you generalize.
Mystic Theurge will grant you a great deal more spells per day, while allowing you quite a bit of flexibility. On the Wizard side, take the Teleportation subschool as suggested earlier. Focus most of your Wizard spells on battlefield control, summons and miscellaneous spells, like divination. For your opposition schools, go with Evocation, Enchantment or Necromancy.
On the Cleric side, there are several domains you could go for. Some of the ones I would suggest would be Restoration or Community to help alleviate your friend's fatigue after he rages (or more importantly if he is hit by an effect that forces fatigue). You may want to take the Merciful Healer archetype, so as to not provoke AoOs when you heal.

[behaigo]

Actually, mystic theurge might not be a bad idea. Depending on how well the other player can take care of enemies it could open a lot of options.

[Waker]

Actually forget to say that if you do go the theurge route, on the cleric side, you should focus more on buffs and restorative spells (Restoration, Cure Blindness etc). Between channel energy, swapping spells for cures spontaneously and cure wands, you should be set.

[deuxhero]

Personally, Razmiran Priest is a better Theurge than an actual Theurge (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=13210180#post13210180) if I read the archetype right.

Low loot hurts it though.

[Acanous]

isn't Razmiran Priest a sorc PrC?

[doko239]

If you're going Mystic Theurge, don't go Wizard/Cleric; You'll spread your stats too thin. Go either Empyreal Sorcerer/Cleric, or any other Sorcerer/Oracle.


isn't Razmiran Priest a sorc PrC?

It's an Archetype actually.

[Acanous]

in that case, Razmiran Priest into Cypher Mage. That'd be pretty darn sweet.

[behaigo]

Thanks a bunch for all of the advice. I think I'm going to stay with wizard for now and use wands for healing and such. I haven't quite settled on what path I will go down, but now I have several ideas that I could call upon as we figure out what we need from me.