Building a War Wizard [3.5]

[Tokuhara]

I'm building a back-up PC in case my dwarf dies, so I decided to dig through my stack of old Dragon magazines. I came across the War magic section, explaining the effectiveness of AoE spells. Now I know optimizers scoff at the idea of the "blaster mage," but to me, I just find the Crowd Control/Debuffing/Buffing routines to be painfully dull. It's boring to just mind control the ogre when I could've blasted him halfway between Toril and Tamriel (10p to those who get the joke here).

So, using wizard as a platform, how do I build the Arcane Damage Machine. I'm not looking for the standard answer "Blasting Sucks." I'm looking to build around the "Magic Artillery" concept.

[Karnith]

Are you set on AoE spells for blasting? Because single-target blasting (which typically offers no save and no SR) tends to be better than the AoE type (which usually offers both a save and SR). There's a fairly established build for the former (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19868534/The_Mailman:_A_Direct_Damage_Sorcerer), and though you can apply most of the tricks from it to other types of blasting, they'll usually be less effective.

[bobthe6th]

go sorc, make a mailman. done, go blast things blastasticly.

[Kuulvheysoon]

If it's a lower-powered game, go Warmage (CAr) for hilarity.

[Tokuhara]

Well, let me give the party layout:

Human Courtier - He's our party face. The character is a merchant who has no combat skill at all.

Goliath Barbarian - Charge and Swing. That's all he can do.

Half-Ogre Fighter - Planned to be a big damage number maker

Me, the Arctic Earth Dwarf Crusader - Tank. I've already been close to death, and if it happens again, it'll likely end him.

Human Rogue - Investigator type themed around flank-SAing and skills galore

Human Cleric - Healbot who blows his spell slots on in-combat healing

Dwarf Monk - What can I say? She's a Dwarf Monk.

So basically, if the Doorstop gets dropped again, and the cleric cannot Out of Combat heal him (idiot didn't buy a CLW wand), I'm a dead man.

So the plan was damage. We've had the following over the whole of the adventure encounter-wise:

1 Winter Wolf
3 Yetis
6 Goblins (did this fight twice)
3 Goblins
2 Gnolls
20 Goblins and the BBEG (who escaped)
2 Gargoyles (when I went Negative for the first time)

So I want an answer to Mobs and to "solo" fights

[Illarion]

Good luck, you are all going to die.

[Tokuhara]

Good luck, you are all going to die.

What?

I'm sorry. I'm utterly confused by that statement. Care to break it down for me "Barney Style?"

And for those confused by this, I want to build a damage-based caster who has access to DoT (Damage over Time), AoE (Area of Effect), and Alpha Strike (Single Target) spells that do enough damage to make the enemy who stands before me regret the day they were born.

[Fyermind]

Build a sorcerer.

Wings of flurry is the centerpiece of your build. Work on dual threat debuff and damage or control and damage spells

[Tokuhara]

I'm assuming that I should spend resources (feats, items, etc) to make my damage more potent (Reserves of Strength, Easy Metamagic, Extend/Widen/Enlarge) and grab the spells from Heroes of Battle?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Take Incantatrix, as much metamagic as you'll want to have, it's an obvious choice.

As everyone has said, use Sorcerer, and do this trick (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=267805#4) to help skirt the limited spells known.

Take Arcane Thesis (PH2): Wings of Flurry. Keep in mind that Easy Metamagic is a [metamagic] feat and using it will decrease the spell slot cost of a thesis spell. Twin Spell is +4, -1 for thesis. Easy Metamagic on it is -1, and another -1 for thesis, making it a total +1 metamagic cost. Easy Maximize is free. Easy Fell Drain is not just free, it negates the +1 cost of Twin.

With Incantatrix you can also use persistent spell shenanigans with Metamagic Effect and Cooperative Metamagic. You can Cooperative Metamagic your own spells when outside of combat, as the action economy system only exists during initiative. Put a Competence bonus to Spellcraft on your Ancestral Relic, and always take ten on the checks to use those two abilities. Don't forget to have Persistent Fell Drain Death Armor and Fire Shield (twice). Persistent Fell Drain Cloud of Knives (multiple times) is also extremely good. If you weren't going for a dedicated blaster, I'd say get Fell Frighten as well for all of those, anything that attacks you is automatically panicked for ten rounds.

[Piggy Knowles]

Everyone's going to point you to the Mailman, but I'd like to suggest the Nuker (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/29194961/) instead.

Pretty fun (and fairly simple) take on a direct damage machine. Bonus points because it doesn't require a lot of mucking around with the action economy like the Mailman - crazy arcane fusion/celerity/residual metamagic shenanigans are fun on paper, but not necessarily that fun in an actual game, IMO. I'd say that the Mailman borders on theoretical opt-fu and crazy spike damage, while the Nuker was designed to actually be played in a game.

[Tokuhara]

The Nuker has some appeal, and it's more group-friendly. However, if the Dwarf dies, I'll be hopping in at 4/5, smack dab in the middle of this build's venerable levels.

On a side note, I had thought of doing something similar to Nuker with Sorcerer, but Elf Generalist on the +2 INT -2 CON elf (not a fan of Grey, since they have to juggle 4 stats) with said Thrush and pumping the Initiative as much as I can to loose my Acid Rain/Shrieking Blast/Twinned Orb of Force, obviously aiming for whomever seems most dangerous

I just need a way for Wizard to get Wings of Flurry and some Early Access spells without screwing my Wizard casting

And I know that Sorcerer is a ready-made death ray mage, but to me, without Pathfinder Material, it's okay.

[Gwendol]

Enter the War Wizard of Cormyr PrC?

[Tokuhara]

Enter the War Wizard of Cormyr PrC?

I hate to flat-insult a PrC, but dear god... The PrC is actually bad at what it's supposed to do...

[yugi24862]

If you want a blasting Prc which is actually useful, look up Warmage in the dragonlance: age of mortals book. Unfortunately it does not count as official WoTC content, but adding +3 to each dice rolled is good for a blaster.

[Piggy Knowles]

I just need a way for Wizard to get Wings of Flurry and some Early Access spells without screwing my Wizard casting.

Recaster (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20050407b&page=3) can do the trick at the cost of one CL. You also get some other nice benefits, including free Silent/Still/Quickened spells, the ability to turn some regular metamagic feats into the Sudden versions, and some nice shaping options.

[Gwendol]

I hate to flat-insult a PrC, but dear god... The PrC is actually bad at what it's supposed to do...

:smallsmile:
Yeah, I'd go with a sorcerer build instead.

[Jopustopin]

Check out the Age of Mortals "War Mage" prestige class. Ask if you can refluff it for your campaign world. Don't mention it has an errata.

[Tokuhara]

I ain't seen the War Mage PrC, but a bonus to Damage Dice is sexy. I'll see if if I can get my hands on it. I was looking at Reserves of Strength, but its a little painful (the Stunned condition sucks with the action cost).