Playing wizard or Warlock

[Drizzcon]

Playing a 3.5/pathfinder home brew. Only base classes available.

So basically I have only played a rogue, but we are starting a new campaign and I want to play some sort of caster. I'm not sure what class to play though. I'm trying too find where each of the caster classes shine.

I don't really want a cleric because I don't want to play lawful good, while everyone else plays chaotic neutral. The same reason I scraped my paladin after 2 sessions.

So if someone could help me out with choosing, I need some pros and cons to each class. Along with some back story type information of each of the classes.

Much appreciated

[Malroth]

Clerics can be any alignment, you can be a follower of the neutral god of not caring what alignment anyone else is, or of the chaotic neutral god of I want to get paid no matter what, or even of the chaotic evil god of I like to set things on fire. or the lawful evil god of i want to mind control people into being my puppets.

Edit
But on to the original topic

Full casters and their pros/cons
First the tier 3/4's that fit in well with melee guys without outshining them too much

Beguiler:
An infiltration specalist Beguilers get 9th lv spells from a selected list of mostly buffs illusions and mind affecting spells.
Pros: Highly skilled with a role similar to that of a Rogue
List casters are easy to learn for first time casters and always have at least some good spells avalible
Medium BAB and good dex synergy
Cons: Almost all spells either harmless or mind affecting
List casters have a lower maximum power ceiling

Warmage:
Direct damage caster most like video game magic users
Pros: Medium Bab With good str synergy and armoured casting
List casters are very easy to pick up for first time casters and always have at least some good spells avalible
Decent Martial capabilities and improved spell damage
Cons: Spell list is almost entirely direct damage
List casters have a lower maximum power celing

Dread Necromancer
Undead focused Necromancy specalist with lots of class features.
Pros: Can get infinite self healing between battles with Tomb tainted soul
Rebuke undead
Absolutely Insane minion cap once you hit lv 8
Fear aura
Decent Cha based skill list
List casting is easier to pick up for first time casters and always get at least some good spells
Can gain some out of class spells for a big power boost
Cons: Tons of undead can creep out party members
List casting has a lower maximum power celing
You're usually harder to heal in combat thanks to being negative energy focused.
Finding enough Onyxes

Warlock:
Creepy guys with magic in their blood who can perform a few magical tricks as often as they like
Pros: Very easy to pick up, You don't ever have to track uses per day of any power you have.
Incredible Dip for Stealth types, 2 levels can give you infinite detect magic, ranged magic attacks to sneak with, hide in plain sight, and the ability to see in magical darkness.
Incredible Dip for Diplomonsters. 1 level can give you a permanent +6 untyped to all social checks.
Incredible Dip for Melee. 2 levels can give infinite ability to walk on walls and to make full attacks as touch attacks.
Great Debuffer and crowd control guy.
Tied with Artificer for best use or UMD
Cons: Limited power selection that contains some very useless powers as well as some very useful ones.
Poor damage scaling without High optimization.

[demigodus]

First off, what kind of caster do you want? Are you still at the phase where you believe arcane casters blow stuff up?


I don't really want a cleric because I don't want to play lawful good, while everyone else plays chaotic neutral. The same reason I scraped my paladin after 2 sessions.

Play a Cleric that worships a Chaotic Neutral diety?


So if someone could help me out with choosing, I need some pros and cons to each class. Along with some back story type information of each of the classes.

Simply put, playing a wizard takes a ton more planning. Warlock has a lot less firepower.

How many fights do you tend to have between long rests? If it is 1 or 2, Wizards have an overwhelming advantage in your game. However, playing a wizard to its full takes a lot of work.

If you are new, a sorceror might be better than a wizard. So long as you pick the right spells (which people here can help you with), you are good. With a wizard, you have to pick the right spell load out every single roleplaying day.

[Aegis013]

Edit: My reviews are based on 3.5 system, not Pathfinder.

First off, I think it's important to point out by the normal rules, Clerics can be any alignment (including Chaotic Neutral). Since you mentioned it's a homebrew [setting], I'm guessing that might be a quirk of that particular game.

If your wanting to choose between the two mentioned in your title, I'll give a quick overview of each one.

Warlock:
The Warlock has reasonable levels of power, not too strong, and not especially flexible, but it's good enough that it can generally find a way to contribute to the group. It has highest ranks in endurance. It can use its abilities continually day in day out. If you do not like resource management or bookkeeping, Warlock is your friend. However these benefits come at the cost of power and flexibility.

Wizard:
The Wizard has absurd potential levels of power. It's hard to describe how strong it really is when played well. If you focus on blasting stuff, you will not reach the heights of power. The easiest strategy to feel powerful is to utilize buff and battlefield control spells to improve your allies and hamper your enemies. However, if you want to feel like you're up in the face of the foes and be on the front lines, Wizard is not for you. A Wizard's incredible power comes at a bit of cost in the form of high amounts of bookkeeping outside of the game, and careful resource management inside game. Without those Wizards can find themselves in bad situations at times.

If you want to feel like a melee front-liner while still keeping a caster feel I point you to another option.

Duskblade from the Player's Handbook 2. It's your quintessential gish-in-a-can. It has a few nice support spells, and it can attack with both a weapon and spells simultaneously. It sits comfortably in a middle ground, a bit stronger than Warlock, less strong than Wizard, with less bookkeeping, and less emphasis on careful resource management than Wizard. Presented for your consideration.

[Kelb_Panthera]

While the wizard has dramatically more potential, your OP suggests to me that you'd probably enjoy a warlock more.

Shoe-horning your dozen or so special abilities into the situation at hand is much easier than trying to plan ahead by an entire day even if you're good at that sort of thing. UMD as a class skill means you can get scrolls for the corner cases, same as a wizard.

Come level 12, you could pick up scribe scroll or craft wondrous item and take care of magical tools yourself; though, to be completely honest, the no PrC restriction makes me feel a bit dubious about suggesting item crafting under this DM.

[Andezzar]

Simply put, playing a wizard takes a ton more planning. Warlock has a lot less firepower.This is only partially true. While the wizard has to select his spells each day, he can correct any "mistakes" in his spellbook at the cost of a couple of gold pieces. A warlock only gets 12 invocations over 20 levels and can only exchange a limited amount of them.


If you are new, a sorceror might be better than a wizard. So long as you pick the right spells (which people here can help you with), you are good. With a wizard, you have to pick the right spell load out every single roleplaying day.While the sorceror does not have the problem of selecting the right spells for the day, he has a very short list of different spells he can cast, and can exchange the spells on that list even less than the warlock can with his invocations.

[Psyren]

I suggest Witch - this would give you the prepared spellcasting potency of a Wizard, and also the longevity of a Warlock as your Hexes give you something to do every combat free of charge. Like a Warlock, you would never have to worry about "running out of magic for the day," but you would be on a Wizard's power level. You also would never have to worry about running out of pages in your "spellbook."

Focus on battlefield control, with a side of summoning and debuffing; you can even pick up a wand and be the party healer between fights.