Vanvidum
2012-07-12, 02:50 PM
So I just got into a Pathfinder campaign in meat space. The GM has a quite impressively detailed homebrew world that's very high on magic.
Rolling my ability scores the first time, I rolled so low on them that I was allowed to try again. On the second try, I rolled hot. Very hot. Taking into account racial bonuses and our starting level of 4, my stats ended up to be STR 12, DEX 15, CON 12, INT 20, WIS 18, CHA 18. I had already decided on playing a wizard, but these scores ensured that things were wide open.
Let me say this--I've no intention of min-maxing this character so long as my plans for him don't leave me useless to the party. I just want to be sure that I'm not making any obvious mistakes, and that this isn't entirely a broken build.
Without further ado, I chose the Manipulator subclass of the Enchantment school (the Beguiling Touch intrigued me). The Enchanting Smile ability alongside his Charisma score leads me to believe I'm apt to be the party face by default.
His starting traits were "World Traveler" and "Dangerously Curious", which I'm integrating into his back story as the child of a pair of traveling wizard-merchants dealing in magical/enchanted objects.
The character's accumulation of diverse experiences, inherent curiosity, intelligence and force of personality suggested to me someone who developed a great deal of mental flexibility and exposure to a number of skills. So for feats, I felt inclined to select "Fast Learner", and "Improvisation" from the ARG. Those feats do worry me a bit as obviously I don't have any metamagic available until he gains a level, but I'm hoping the additional skill bonuses compensates for that, especially as the party doesn't have a rogue in it. His other feat is Eschew Materials, because when you're traveling a lot, the last thing you want to worry about is a bag of low-value spell components.
This is obviously a rare wizard that's a people-person that can manipulate people's minds, but doesn't always have to. In his backstory, family dealings with cheating traders (both magical and mundane) and his constant exposure to pragmatic magic seems as though he'd be irritated by many people's belief in magic as all about explosions and fireballs. Now, don't get me wrong, those can be great fun, but in most settings there's so much more utility to magic elsewhere. That conclusion led me to place Evocation and Necromancy on his prohibited schools list.
All together, I'm hoping for this character to be the party's utility belt, magical and otherwise, capable of talking our way out of problems or devising creative solutions that could be magical or mundane as the situation warrants. He's a flexible character that wants to see and experience the world and meet new and interesting people--for whom standing still is dull, and boredom is dangerous. If he can do a little good along the way, so much the better... And if he has to manipulate people one way or another to do the right thing, well, he's just a pragmatist living in the real world.
But my question here is, is he of enough practical value to the party, especially as a wizard? Are there any minor changes I ought to make, or weaknesses I can address through spell selection and such?
Rolling my ability scores the first time, I rolled so low on them that I was allowed to try again. On the second try, I rolled hot. Very hot. Taking into account racial bonuses and our starting level of 4, my stats ended up to be STR 12, DEX 15, CON 12, INT 20, WIS 18, CHA 18. I had already decided on playing a wizard, but these scores ensured that things were wide open.
Let me say this--I've no intention of min-maxing this character so long as my plans for him don't leave me useless to the party. I just want to be sure that I'm not making any obvious mistakes, and that this isn't entirely a broken build.
Without further ado, I chose the Manipulator subclass of the Enchantment school (the Beguiling Touch intrigued me). The Enchanting Smile ability alongside his Charisma score leads me to believe I'm apt to be the party face by default.
His starting traits were "World Traveler" and "Dangerously Curious", which I'm integrating into his back story as the child of a pair of traveling wizard-merchants dealing in magical/enchanted objects.
The character's accumulation of diverse experiences, inherent curiosity, intelligence and force of personality suggested to me someone who developed a great deal of mental flexibility and exposure to a number of skills. So for feats, I felt inclined to select "Fast Learner", and "Improvisation" from the ARG. Those feats do worry me a bit as obviously I don't have any metamagic available until he gains a level, but I'm hoping the additional skill bonuses compensates for that, especially as the party doesn't have a rogue in it. His other feat is Eschew Materials, because when you're traveling a lot, the last thing you want to worry about is a bag of low-value spell components.
This is obviously a rare wizard that's a people-person that can manipulate people's minds, but doesn't always have to. In his backstory, family dealings with cheating traders (both magical and mundane) and his constant exposure to pragmatic magic seems as though he'd be irritated by many people's belief in magic as all about explosions and fireballs. Now, don't get me wrong, those can be great fun, but in most settings there's so much more utility to magic elsewhere. That conclusion led me to place Evocation and Necromancy on his prohibited schools list.
All together, I'm hoping for this character to be the party's utility belt, magical and otherwise, capable of talking our way out of problems or devising creative solutions that could be magical or mundane as the situation warrants. He's a flexible character that wants to see and experience the world and meet new and interesting people--for whom standing still is dull, and boredom is dangerous. If he can do a little good along the way, so much the better... And if he has to manipulate people one way or another to do the right thing, well, he's just a pragmatist living in the real world.
But my question here is, is he of enough practical value to the party, especially as a wizard? Are there any minor changes I ought to make, or weaknesses I can address through spell selection and such?