Wizard feat advice?

[Eliana Solange]

I'm playing a gestalt Wizard/Scout in a campaign with a Warmage/Barbarian and Cleric/Fighter. We've just reached 5th level and I would like some suggestions for my 5th level Wizard bonus feat.

We are limited to PHB, PHB2, CAr, CAd, CW, CD

Since there is another blaster (warmage) in the party, I'm more of a utility spellcaster (non-specialist, and sadly couldn't even take the Elf levels since we don't have that book). I'm also focusing on ray spells to which I can add skirmish damage. I'm a squishy little gray elf, pretty much staying out of melee and using ranged attacks (longbow or magical) with skirmish added whenever possible.

On the wizard side, I'm headed toward Iot7V and ultimately Archmage. Since I'll enter Iot7V at 10th, this will be my only Wizard Bonus Feat.

I'm tempted by Explosive Spell, but as I've mentioned blasting isn't really my specialty, since we have the warmage, but eventually I'll be an archmage and be doing a fair bit of blasting in that guise.... Then again, I'm probably going to be taking fireball and lightning bolt as my free spells at this level because the warmage doesn't get them yet and, hey, they're darn nice spells :) So, I certainly do some blasting, though I don't think I have many spells yet that permit a reflex save. But I'm interested in Explosive Fire Burst as a way of protecting my squishy self from foes who come too near ;-)

My feats so far are
Point blank shot
spell focus abjuration (yawn, needed for iot7v)
Precise Shot

Planned future feats:
6th: Greater Spell Focus abjuration
8th (scout): dodge (working on shot on the run)
9th: Skill focus spellcraft
12th: mobility + shot on the run (scout)
15th: another spell focus for archmage
16th (scout): improved precise shot?
not sure about 18th or 20th.

So, anyhow, any feat suggestions for my wizard bonus feat?

[evil-frosty]

Sculpt Spell could be nice. Sculpt web to get the most enemies while leaving allies untouched, same with fireball and lightning bolt. Glitterdust can now hit even more targets. Eventually with archmage you will want to retrain this feat if possible as I believe there is a high arcana that lets you do this.

[Hirax]

Arcane disciple from Complete Divine is nice if you want to grab some spells off the cleric list, or perhaps spells banned due to specialization.

[Eliana Solange]

Sculpt Spell has a prerequisite of any other metamagic spell, so I couldn't take it yet.

Arcane disciple is interesting -- I had initially stated that my character's deity was Elhonna (NG) which does not match her CG alignment, but she could probably change over to Corellon Larethian, who does match. But I don't think Arcane Disciple can be taken as a wizard bonus feat.

A wizard bonus feat has to be Metamagic, Item Creation or Spell Mastery. Leaning toward Metamagic because our campaigns don't usually allow time for item creation. Possibly I can talk the DM into letting me take something different as a Wizard bonus feat (like maybe greater spell focus abjuration, needed for iot7v)

[Eliana Solange]

Any other thoughts? Thanks in advance :)

[BowStreetRunner]

For a spell-casting scout I would take Silent Spell.

[Gandariel]

Fireball AND lightning bolt? i'd just pick one of them (Fireball, in my opinion) and then leave the other slot for something else (Fly and Haste come to mind)

As for your feat.. Extend Spell? or you could take Sudden Maximize for some situational power-up.

(Also, get some Arcane Archer levels on the Scout side!)

[Eliana Solange]

Extend spell makes a lot of sense, since part of my role is casting buff spells, and unlike my complaints about a lot of the other metamagic feats, it would be easy to know in advance which spells I want to prepare extended. For things like maximize, silent, etc. I like the metamagic rods much better because you can use them on whatever. (For that same reason, the sudden metamagic feats seem like a waste because you can get that in an item -- the rods)

And yes, I'll probably only take Fireball and then grab something like Fly, Haste or Displacement. (If there are other great 3rd level spells I should know about in the Spell Compendium, let me know -- we are allowed taking most of those with prior approval of the DM)

I had looked at Arcane Archer and decided against it because I wasn't convinced that the Scout capabilities I'd give up would be worth it -- but it does look like fun :) -- I think my problem will be fitting in the Weapon focus feat alongside all of the feats I need for the wizard prestige classes, and all the ranged feats I want. If I give up on shot on the run, though, that saves 3 feats (dodge, mobility SotR) and allows more flexibility to do other things.

Thanks!

[Doxkid]

A reserve feat is also a legal option for a Wizard Bonus feat, so there's always that; this will even let you trigger skirmish damage.

[Eliana Solange]

What's a reserve feat?

[Raendyn]

Reserve feats are feats that give free using of an ability as long as you have a spell of some sort prepared and not used yet. usually they get more powerfull based of the spell lvl you have unspent. Google it, and run through completes arcane/mage, and also google helps.
As an example: there is one that lets you heal your party without wasting any resources but only up to half their max hp.

Now, as my advice on your feat:
take the alternative class feature to swap your 5th lvl metamagic spell for a domain granted power.

Travel domain is a nice option, for 5 turn/day FoM.
Inquisition domain to optimize dispell since you are utinity caster
add dispelling chord from MiC and you have a total of +6 bonus

countless domains give a bonus feat, you can get improve initative, or uncanny dodge or w/e

Also,
i would suggest taking War weaver from heroes of honor. have each day 3 x(stoneskins, heroisms, bears endurance, mage armor/greater0 and you can have up for ALL 3 battle/day all those awesome buffs for the entire party.

[Squidfist]

Here's a list of reserve feats: http://dndtools.eu/feats/categories/reserve/

DnDtools is quite awesome btw, lets you search spells and feats by keywords or name.

As for feat help, I suggest considering Extend Spell if you're a buffer / support. Metamagic School Spec is good with any metamagic that adjusts by 1 level, 3 per day you can reduce the cost of metamagic when applied to a certain school by 1. So you could extend 3 spells for free each day.

Chain Spell is also great for helpful spells with a range greater than touch.

[Eliana Solange]

Thanks folks. What books introduce Reserve Feats and the alternative class feature -- we are playing with limited sources and I'm not familiar with those, so guessing I don't have access to them.

[gorfnab]

Thanks folks. What books introduce Reserve Feats and the alternative class feature -- we are playing with limited sources and I'm not familiar with those, so guessing I don't have access to them.
Reserve Feats: Complete Mage
Domain Granted Power ACF: Complete Champion

[Wise Green Bean]

Not of much use now, but once you get 4th level spell slots, empowered scorching rays are fun if you are focusing on ray spells. Not sure if the damage from skirmish also gets empowered, in which case major pain.