Dwarf wizard with Int 12, What to do...

[8wGremlin]

Ok I have a level 1 dwarf wizard with the following stats

Str 16, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 8
Feats: Golddwarf Dweomersmith, shape soulmeld(lightning gauntlets), improved initiative

Taken the domain wizard, storm, and animal companion ACF, with a

Given that these can't change, I'd like to see what the Playground can do with this?

Suggestions on what to level up in, how to expand this, focus etc..
Thanks

[Ravens_cry]

Stick to spells that don't have saves when you use them. With only a d4 and only 14 Con, you can't really pretend to be Sir Beat-Stick, not without dying anyway.

[Daftendirekt]

Don't play a wizard? You have 16 str and 14 con, why not be a martial character? If there has to be some wizard in the build, go mostly martial with the little magic you can do with a 12 int (2nd level spells tops...) or something.

[Renen]

I'd love to hear how you ended up in this predicament

[TaiLiu]

I'd love to hear how you ended up in this predicament
Likewise. This sounds like an interesting story.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

This is basically someone who can't even do basic addition and subtraction in his head trying to become an accountant. It's something that he's obviously not good at. People are naturally drawn to perform their natural talents, not something they're predisposed to being less than mediocre at. This type of character doesn't make you any better at role-playing, it actually does quite the opposite by shattering the suspension of disbelief for the rest of your gaming group. Any actual adventuring party would tell this guy, "Maybe next time!" as they round up a more capable NPC wizard, or just don't bring a wizard at all.

Edit: Just watch the first round of American Idol, people who are terrible at singing but have always been told they're good at it and can make it big if they just try. That's what this character is doing with wizardry.

[Marnath]

Play him as a force missile mage from Dragon Compendium? You can't cast higher than 2nd level spells, but you still get higher leveled slots right? Fill them all with magic missile. Take empower and arcane thesis so that you can cast most of them as empowered?

[Xerxus]

Put yourself on a lag - get yourself to level 5 (you'll be able to cast third level spells with a +1 in intelligence) then go fighter for a level. Then go eldritch knight for three levels, after which you just alternate between eldritch knight and fighter. Every time you get an ability score boost you put in another two levels of eldritch knight. Or Abjurant Champion, either way you should focus on abjurations etc. Assuming Eldritch Knight, you'd be a Wizard 5/Fighter 7/Eldritch Knight 8 with 7th level spells at level 20.

With a more daring attitude you could rely on intelligence-boosting items to make sure that you can cast every new spell level, but a targeted dispel could knock out spell levels 7 through 9 at level 17. Not a particularly safe plan.

[8wGremlin]

I usually play hyper optimized builds, campaign dictated that I had to play wizard, so far really good campaign, with great players and cool GM.

Anyhow, I wanted to gimp myself and try more roleplaying thematical build and optimize from a hard starting point. I have a build concept myself ( stated to 10th) and wanted to see what the playground would come up with given same parameters. I'll post my skeleton build later in the tread, but not just yet.

[Randomguy]

Try going Duskblade 3/Wizard 4/Abjurant Champion 5/Eldritch Knight 8, and get int-boosting equipment. It's not an optimal Gish Build but you probably won't be going into really high levels, so it won't matter much.

[chaos_redefined]

Having some horrible drawback, like a wizard with a 12 int, is not roleplaying. In fact, it's the opposite. Adventuring is a difficult job, and you need to be good at what you do. While hyper-optimization is not necessary, if you were a strong person who could take a few hits, but didn't really take to that book-learning like other wizards do, you wouldn't become a wizard. You'd become a warrior of some variety. It's not that you gain a high intelligence by becoming a wizard, it's that people with high intelligence become wizards.

In any case, if this was me, I'd treat the wizard levels as a dip, and start looking for some martial classes to take.

[tadkins]

Edit: Just watch the first round of American Idol, people who are terrible at singing but have always been told they're good at it and can make it big if they just try. That's what this character is doing with wizardry.

"I don't care! Just you watch! I'm gonna be the greatest wizard this world has ever seen! One day you'll hear my name everywhere, and...and...!"

[KillianHawkeye]

Edit: Just watch the first round of American Idol, people who are terrible at singing but have always been told they're good at it and can make it big if they just try. That's what this character is doing with wizardry.

"I don't care! Just you watch! I'm gonna be the greatest wizard this world has ever seen! One day you'll hear my name everywhere, and...and...!"

Exactly. It's kinda sad, but most of those people are going to keep believing in what everybody has been telling them rather than admit that the judges are right about how terrible they are. If they can get to that point without ever hearing themselves sing and realizing the truth, they aren't going to quit now because of one rejection. Heck, they are probably already used to rejection, but they have already found a way to ignore it and continue trying.

Coming up with the kind of personality it takes to persevere in a field that they aren't suited for can be a really interesting experience. Anybody who says this isn't roleplaying is flat-out wrong. You don't need to have good stats to roleplay, and if you think you do you need to realize that the Stormwind fallacy goes both ways.

[Callin]

If Ronald Weasly can become a wizard why not the Marble Licker?

[TuggyNE]

Coming up with the kind of personality it takes to persevere in a field that they aren't suited for can be a really interesting experience. Anybody who says this isn't roleplaying is flat-out wrong. You don't need to have good stats to roleplay, and if you think you do you need to realize that the Stormwind fallacy goes both ways.

Let's put it this way: having bad stats is neither necessary nor sufficient to roleplay, and having good stats neither prevents nor interferes with good roleplaying. However, some concepts more or less require sub-par builds, and similarly, some concepts more or less require highly effective builds.

Really, optimization level is mostly orthogonal to roleplaying, except if one of those takes time away from the other.

[8wGremlin]

Having some horrible drawback, like a wizard with a 12 int, is not roleplaying. In fact, it's the opposite. Adventuring is a difficult job, and you need to be good at what you do. While hyper-optimization is not necessary, if you were a strong person who could take a few hits, but didn't really take to that book-learning like other wizards do, you wouldn't become a wizard. You'd become a warrior of some variety. It's not that you gain a high intelligence by becoming a wizard, it's that people with high intelligence become wizards.

In any case, if this was me, I'd treat the wizard levels as a dip, and start looking for some martial classes to take.

I should point out that this Campaign is a WIZARDS only campaign, nothing states that we have to continue being a wizard.

Now go and look at my stats again, and see if you can't work with it...

As to everyone else, I'm glad that this has caused a good natured and interesting debate. thanks, and I'll look in to a few of these suggestions.

any other build ideas given the base?

[Callin]

Put yourself on a lag - get yourself to level 5 (you'll be able to cast third level spells with a +1 in intelligence) then go fighter for a level. Then go eldritch knight for three levels, after which you just alternate between eldritch knight and fighter. Every time you get an ability score boost you put in another two levels of eldritch knight. Or Abjurant Champion, either way you should focus on abjurations etc. Assuming Eldritch Knight, you'd be a Wizard 5/Fighter 7/Eldritch Knight 8 with 7th level spells at level 20.

With a more daring attitude you could rely on intelligence-boosting items to make sure that you can cast every new spell level, but a targeted dispel could knock out spell levels 7 through 9 at level 17. Not a particularly safe plan.

This along with Tomes to boost Int and if ya want to cheese it you can get some Shiruken Luck Blades and wish your Int higher for cheap.

[Eldariel]

Honestly, yeah, he'd probably be naturally inclined to gish. You can get spells in schedule up until level 7; then you need to wait until level 8 for 14 Int to cast the 4th level spell. Magic item might smooth this out but either way, losing a caster level isn't that big a deal given this.

Someone with 16 Str and 14 Con is probably inclined to use them. Buff up, go Swiftblade, Abjruant Champion or something and call it a day.

[Big Fau]

I should point out that this Campaign is a WIZARDS only campaign, nothing states that we have to continue being a wizard.

A party with 4 wizards is going to have the answer for every single conceivable problem a DM can think up, barring ridiculous amounts of homebrew or fiat. Your best bet is to gish it up and focus on Transmutation and Conjuration spells.

[SaintRidley]

This is basically someone who can't even do basic addition and subtraction in his head trying to become an accountant. It's something that he's obviously not good at. People are naturally drawn to perform their natural talents, not something they're predisposed to being less than mediocre at. This type of character doesn't make you any better at role-playing, it actually does quite the opposite by shattering the suspension of disbelief for the rest of your gaming group. Any actual adventuring party would tell this guy, "Maybe next time!" as they round up a more capable NPC wizard, or just don't bring a wizard at all.

Edit: Just watch the first round of American Idol, people who are terrible at singing but have always been told they're good at it and can make it big if they just try. That's what this character is doing with wizardry.

You do know what average means, and that 12 is above average, yes? Not much above average, but above average. Basic mental addition and subtraction do not require high int to pull off.

[eggynack]

I don't actually know if this is much of a problem. Your save dc's are going to be terrible, but you should be able to get all the spells on time. At level 4, you get 13 int, so the next break point is 7 when you need 14 int. Fortunately though, items exist. A +2 headband runs for 4,000, which you could theoretically get as soon as 4th, +4 costs 12,000 to upgrade the +2, which you could get by 7th, and +6 costs an additional 20,000 gp which you get by 9th. That gets you the spells on schedule with time to spare.

Spend one of your feats on craft wondrous item, and you can get the items even faster, and without having to search for them. The int growth goes 13 int at 4th level, then you get a headband for 15 int. You can upgrade at 7th to 17 int, at 8th to 18 int, and at 9th to 20 int. It's a big resource sink, and you're going to want to spend money on spells, but there's definitely a progression out there that should work for you. It's not like you have to buy the items immediately, as long as you pick up the +2 prior to the spell level crunch at 7th.

[Gnorman]

You do know what average means, and that 12 is above average, yes? Not much above average, but above average. Basic mental addition and subtraction do not require high int to pull off.

Exactly. The accountant metaphor is off. This is more like a reasonably intelligent engineering grad attempting to get a Ph.D. in theoretical physics.

Sure, you're not going to be the grand high archmage of Wizardington, but there will always be a place in the magical bureaucracy for a character that can eventually cast reasonably high level spells, albeit with poor DCs.

Of course, "magic bureaucrat" doesn't exactly equal "daring adventurer."

[Rhynn]

Put yourself on a lag - get yourself to level 5 (you'll be able to cast third level spells with a +1 in intelligence) then go fighter for a level. Then go eldritch knight for three levels, after which you just alternate between eldritch knight and fighter. Every time you get an ability score boost you put in another two levels of eldritch knight. Or Abjurant Champion, either way you should focus on abjurations etc. Assuming Eldritch Knight, you'd be a Wizard 5/Fighter 7/Eldritch Knight 8 with 7th level spells at level 20.

This is the best idea. Do this, and focus on buff spells and spells with attack rolls and no save. You'll be an arcane dwarf fighter.


Having some horrible drawback, like a wizard with a 12 int, is not roleplaying. In fact, it's the opposite. Adventuring is a difficult job, and you need to be good at what you do.

There are going to be good wizards and bad wizards. Being a bad wizard does not preclude someone from becoming an adventurer. In fact, it may be part of the reason they did.

"I flunked out of wizard school, so I had to do something with my life..."

It is, indeed, roleplaying to play a bad wizard.

[Waspinator]

Maybe go Wizard / Warblade / Jade Phoenix Mage?

[Seer_of_Heart]

I like wizard 6/swiftblade 9/Abjurant champion if you fancy gishing it out. Obviously put the first level up bonus into int and you can buy a +6 item to get 9th level spells :D.

However, I think that for wizardlyness Go Wizard 5(or wizard 3/master specialist 2?(I forget how it works and I'm too lazy to check)/Incantrix 10/archmage 5. Buy a +2 item before level 7 and upgrade it to a +4 or +6 eventually. You definitely want to put all your level bonuses into int for this build.

If you had a decent wisdom I'd suggest going wizard 1/druid 3/Mystic theurge until you can go into arcane hierophant/Arcane hierophant 10/mystic theurge rest. Take the domain wizard variant and take the versatile spellcaster feat at level 3. Of course your wisdom is terrible so this doesn't work :\

[BowStreetRunner]

Instead of Eldritch Knight or Abjurant Champion, this is one of the rare instances I would recommend taking a long, hard look at Mythic Exemplar (Ktolemagne). While it has only 3/4 BAB, and you lose 2 caster levels, you can enter without taking a level in fighter and at 10th you get an additional +2 INT. If you grab an INT boost every 4 levels and go with Wizard 5 / Mythic Exemplar 10 / Wizard 5 you could have INT as follows:

1st: 12
4th: 13
8th: 14
12th: 15
15th: 17
16th: 18
20th: 19

Something else to keep in mind...while the rules state that "the wizard must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level" in order to "learn, prepare, or cast a spell", you still get the spell slots. Since a "spellcaster always has the option to fill a higher-level spell slot with a lower-level spell" you can still use the higher-level slots even if you can't cast higher-level spells.

Edit: I've had a chance to take a close look at this now that the kids have gone to bed. By 20th level you would have sacrificed 2 wizard bonus feats and 2 caster levels in exchange for 10 levels of d8 HD and 4 + INT mod skill points, a net +2 BAB and +2 Will saves, and a set of supernatural abilities including temporary +4 insight boost to INT, Identify as a Su ability, temporary Spell Resistance, and the ability to lose a prepared spell to cast a divination spell you know. Since this build gives you 18 caster levels and 9th level spells, I would put it up there with the Gish builds.

[Wookie-ranger]

1.
you could always focus on items.
Spell trigger items only check if the spell is on your list; and Spell completion also check if you are high enough level. scrolls and wands (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm#usingItems)do not care if you are to dump to actually spell the spell.

2.
From an RP perspective you could try to play him as a the "item guy".
You know you are a wizard, the spells are just SO hard to learn! All those formulas and diagrams, Its just a little too tough! But you still want to be a wizard (may be only because your family made you study it as a child).
So what can you do? You know just enough about magic to use the right item at the right time. You can only afford so many scrolls or wands at a time, meaning you need to use those spells even more creatively! (aka, try to have the DM cut you some slack in what your spell can and cannot do)

3.
Given that your general stats are ..... not as good as they could be....
Cleric is not really an option with wis10.
sorcerer with cha8 is also not a good idea.
Artificer might be an option. "But with int12 and cha8??? why would i do that??"
well, it gives you infusions (also int, but what ever), Disable traps (neat, can be useful) and lots of item creation feats.... but the main thing that you can look forward to is level 6 and 11. Now you can use metamagic feats on items. This is far from optimized but you be good RP when going with the "Item guy" idea.

4.
Go Necropolitan.
It will give you some more hp and bunch of immunities.
You should also think about getting a level or so in Dread Necromancer. If you are undead it will give you infinite free healing, and some other nice stuff.

[Sith_Happens]

Headband of Intellect. Done.

Just stay away from anything with a saving throw.

[Susano-wo]

it all depends on the story and character in question. while having a high int wiz is not worse RP, neither is it better. For instance, if, in the campaign world wizards are rare at all, the fact that he has magical talent makes him a better wizard than most.
hell, even if there are plenty of wizards, there are some that may never get past 1st level spells. Wizardry might also require a certain knack that not everyone possesses (like in the previous example) so a 12 INT character (who is smarter than your average bear) might still want to pursue that, even if he is not the best at it

[Chromascope3D]

There are going to be good wizards and bad wizards. Being a bad wizard does not preclude someone from becoming an adventurer. In fact, it may be part of the reason they did.

http://mydisguises.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/journey-quest-1.jpg
"Well, what spells do you know?"
"Mending, Conjure Milk, and Vague."
"I thought you were a wizard!"
"Well I'm not a very good wizard."
I dunno. I could see this happening, but it seems to me that a wizard that couldn't wizard properly would have a very short career.

While you are level 1 now, you could look into focusing in minionmancy later with crafting constructs and whatnot.

[Sylthia]

I can understand not wanting to super-optimize, but by trying to deliberately make a character with a 12 in what should be his best stat, you are going to be an obstacle to your party, rather than a contributing member.

[eggynack]

I can understand not wanting to super-optimize, but by trying to deliberately make a character with a 12 in what should be his best stat, you are going to be an obstacle to your party, rather than a contributing member.
Well, y'know, meh. As many people including myself have noted, having a wizard with a starting int of 12 is really only going to represent a magic item tax for the character. Even without craft wondrous the character can easily keep up, and with it he's absolutely sure to. Moreover, a wizard is never going to be an obstacle to his party, even one made entirely of wizards. In fact, having low save DC's likely limits him to some of the most powerful spells in the game. Polymorph, solid fog and fly aren't going to change just because you have below average int for a wizard. Conjuration and transmutation have tons of spells like that, and those schools of magic are hyper-optimal. Stuff like the debuffs from necromancy, dominate person effects from enchantment and save for half damage spells from evocation are the things you're really missing out on. Except those are the schools that high-op folks probably ban the most. Will it limit the guy's options away from certain optimal paths? Absolutely. Will it make him a burden to his party? Absolutely not.

[Lord Haart]

Is it me or did this thread instantly devolve into a) explaining to OP that he made a bad character and should feel bad or b) giving an advice about how to build him on nth level instead of how to play him now (first level, the one where HP don't matter not because of save-or-die, but because of orks) and next two or three levels? Other than Wookie-Ranger's post, i don't see any useful advice, so i'll try to provide one.

First, about feats. None of your current feats seem to be a wizard bonus one, so i assume they represent first level feat and two flaw-bought feats. That means you're still free to take a wizard bonus feat — or to exchange your wizard bonus feat and Scribe Scroll for a fighter bonus feat. Then, you may take Improved Initiative as said fighter feat rather than flaw-bought feat, ending up with one unrestricted feat choice, which can be used to increase your survivability in a number of ways. From the top of my sleepless and weary head i can think of Hidden Talent: Vigor, Shape soulmeld: rageclaws and similar stuff for hp, Shape soulmeld: dissolving spittle for an unlimited attack option that does not require you to get in melee (lightning gauntlets are not bad at all at the first level, but sometimes housecat just rolls better initiative) or my personal favorite, troll-blooded for staying alive for as long as you don't get magma all over yourself or drink seven-hundred-years-old mountain ale (requirements which, admittedly, are pretty arbitrary and may easily lead to becoming un-dwarf).

Considering other survival tactics: at first level you don't have much in the way of spells per day (although those you can cast may make a huge difference at the right time in the right place), so valuable items are really valuable. I see three main courses of appearing useful when combat breaks (out of combat, it all depends on your selection of spells, which are limited, and scrolls, which cost money; as a rule of thumb, they are more important, since a battle you haven't fought is a battle you didn't risk losing, and even first-level wizard may pump some decend noncombant utility).
1. Since you aren't a full-fledged wizard yet but you already are a full-fledged dwarf, why not dwarf up? Buy a reach weapon of choice, heaviest armor you can get (if you can afford Mechanus Gear from Planar handbook, by all means, go for it), suck up armor check penalties — you're making melee touch attacks with lightning gloves and you've still got a decent strenght — and try to not tempt fate too often. You're still worse at this than fighter or barbarian, but orks don't care about your hp and your attack is not that much worse, so you're doing better than your average awakened magicarp; you also can cast some useful spells whenever you have time to get rid of your protection. However, if you don't have enough starting GP for a decent armor, this option loses it's good points while keeping bad ones.
2. Buy a wand of your favorite sleep/color spray/silent image/magic missile (if you're that determined about not abusing save-or-suck effects and/or if there's no way you could refluff color spray as thematically-appropriate rain of blinding and stunning lightning bolts, in which case you'd probably have hard time refluffing magic missiles too) and try to reach level 2 before it runs dry. Any remaining money, as well as your own spellslots, dedicate to protecting your ass. Still requires you to start with at least 750 gp.
3. Oldest option in the book and the only one that works (for a given quality of work) with PHB-suggested started money and without putting any effort into level one-proofing your build: get a ranged weapon, any ranged weapon (personally, i'm partial to slings; they were pretty stylish in Baldur's gate and they pair well with splash coctails), dress in furs and/or bare manliness so they'll think you're some kind of archery barbarian and not a prime target (as any dude in robes is instantly identified by any monster with ranks in knowledge: tier system) and take notes from Diablo II Amazon about thematically linking cowardly ranged weapons with manly thunderstorm thingy. Dissolving spittle gives you ranged touch attack instead of ranged AC attack and cuts down ammunition budget.

You also have your animal companion, which is half as powerful as druid's but at first level it rounds up to still out-grappling and out-tanking any kind of non-crusader you might have in party. Take good care of him and try to fast-talk DM into letting him take flaws.

Finally, no build advice here because first, there are too many ways to build a wizard without prohibited schools that may or may not lend himself to gishing, so for any concise advice i need more suggestions about direction you want to take him; second, there was plenty of that already; and third, if this character is so thematically oriented by your intent (as opposed to losing a bet/getting premade character, both quite plausible explanations), you'll probably also guide his further development by same principles more than by optimisation considerations.

[eggynack]

The reason people are giving him advice about high level play is because the problem comes pre-solved at low level play. He has 12 intelligence, so he can cast all of his spells until 7th level. He even gets an additional 1st level spell from the +1 mod, so he won't be seeing an effect on his abilities outside of save dc until level 3. People have already said that he should prep spells without save dc's, though that seems self evident. Having 12 int doesn't have that big an impact on his power. It has an impact, but it's a pretty limited one. High int is great, low int is terrible, but 12 int isn't a death knell.

Edit: Changed 5th level to 7th level.

[Marnath]

The reason people are giving him advice about high level play is because the problem comes pre-solved at low level play. He has 12 intelligence, so he can cast all of his spells until 5th level. He even gets an additional 1st level spell from the +1 mod, so he won't be seeing an effect on his abilities outside of save dc until level 3. People have already said that he should prep spells without save dc's, though that seems self evident. Having 12 int doesn't have that big an impact on his power. It has an impact, but it's a pretty limited one. High int is great, low int is terrible, but 12 int isn't a death knell.

Actually he is good up to 7th level, because he picks up a +1 int before he picks up 3rd level spells. At that point he's only missing out on one 4th level slot until the next level when he gets another +1 int. After that tomes and/or items become available. He could go straight wizard still.

[Rhynn]

I dunno. I could see this happening, but it seems to me that a wizard that couldn't wizard properly would have a very short career.

That's what you find out by playing, isn't it?

It's not like the self-buffing gish build is that bad. I mean, it's no full wizard, but at least it's not a straight fighter.

[eggynack]

Actually he is good up to 7th level, because he picks up a +1 int before he picks up 3rd level spells. At that point he's only missing out on one 4th level slot until the next level when he gets another +1 int. After that tomes and/or items become available. He could go straight wizard still.
Crap. I actually got that right every single time before that. My D&D brain must have turned off or something.

[8wGremlin]

All Brilliant suggestions, and I have much to thank and think about.
I'll wait another 24 hours to post up my build concept, and links to the campaign (for those that are interested in such things)

[SinsI]

Get to level 7, Polymorph into an animal, pay a druid to Maximize Awaken you - problem solved.

[dascarletm]

Cool idea, especially for an all wizard party. You will stand out!

I see your character like this.

Lacking the raw power of other wizard colleagues you use you magic more cleverly (I'd suggest moving more to wisdom for fun). Instead of trying to blow past a magical defense you find the cracks, the holes that those other high-power wizards wouldn't look for.

I'd play up your lack of int. Would make things that know of your group target you less. Use this to your advantage, catch them off guard.

As for build advice:
I'd go full wizard, because why not? Show them the power of a well placed grease.

[Waspinator]

I still think some kind of gish is the way to go. You've got that Strength score, you might as well buff up and hit things. As I think I said earlier, Warblade makes sense as your melee class since it has some benefits from Intelligence, which you will probably be raising via magic items. Then you probably want to go into a prestige class with spellcasting progression, which there are a TON of.

[Edenbeast]

Having some horrible drawback, like a wizard with a 12 int, is not roleplaying. In fact, it's the opposite. Adventuring is a difficult job, and you need to be good at what you do. While hyper-optimization is not necessary, if you were a strong person who could take a few hits, but didn't really take to that book-learning like other wizards do, you wouldn't become a wizard. You'd become a warrior of some variety. It's not that you gain a high intelligence by becoming a wizard, it's that people with high intelligence become wizards.

In any case, if this was me, I'd treat the wizard levels as a dip, and start looking for some martial classes to take.

On the contrary, I believe the character in the OP is roleplaying. This is coping with your weaknesses. Something a highly optimised character doesn't have to worry about. Survive and deal with your handicap trough sheer determination and willpower is a challenge everyone should at least have tried once. I've played a fighter once who should have been a wizard based on stats. Even in real life people are not always doing the job that is most suitable. I know people who wanted to be a veterinary, and got there through force of will, not becuse they had the "natural" talent.

[Juntao112]

On the contrary, I believe the character in the OP is roleplaying. This is coping with your weaknesses. Something a highly optimised character doesn't have to worry about. Survive and deal with your handicap trough sheer determination and willpower is a challenge everyone should at least have tried once. I've played a fighter once who should have been a wizard based on stats. Even in real life people are not always doing the job that is most suitable. I know people who wanted to be a veterinary, and got there through force of will, not becuse they had the "natural" talent.
Do you let them treat your pets?

[Garwain]

Obviously, save or suck spells are not an option. I'd focus on Conjuration, and Summon Monsters in particular. You'll need some INT boosting equipement for the higher level spells, but for the first 6 levels, you're only lagging behind on lvl 3 (when you put +1INT on lvl 4 to get the third level spells).

As a conjuration focused specialist there are nice ACF (rapid summoning, augmented summoning, etc.) so that your meagre INT will not be notices (at lower levels).

[TuggyNE]

It occurs to me that a few of the ideas in the UPS Man may be useful for inspiration.

[Calmar]

Erm, guys, Int 14 is well above average. 10-11 is average. With 14 you can cast 2nd-level spells. In games where the Elite Array is used, wizards start with an only slightly better Int 15. :smallconfused:

In a realistic world, there'd be plenty of people who weren't genetically engineered towards one profession. Perhaps Dwarf's mommy and daddy sent their boy to wizard school, because wizards earn a ton of gp and have little dirty melee fighting to do, or something like that.

[Susano-wo]

Do you let them treat your pets?

sure, because the vet he described is perfectly good at their job. they don't have natural talent/aptitude, but they have trained through work/will/etc to be a good vet

[Ashtagon]

Having some horrible drawback, like a wizard with a 12 int, is not roleplaying. In fact, it's the opposite. Adventuring is a difficult job, and you need to be good at what you do. ...

There's a fallacy in here somewhere.

[Taveena]

Runesmith is a neat class for Dwarf Wizards, if you can get the heavy armor proficiency. Wizard 4/Warblade 1/Runesmith 1/Abjurant Champion 5/Jade Phoenix Mage 9 could get ninth level spells in heavy armor with no Arcane Spell failure. If you're able to get your int up to par.

[Seffbasilisk]

Sounds like the Stormwind Fallacy to me. Then again, that's what most of you seem to be focusing on, not his situation.


He's in a wizard-only campaign. He doesn't have to stay wizard, nor is he technically a 'bad' wizard.

How about Barbarian? I've not yet tested Rage-mage (though people seem to love trodding on it.) If you can go Good, there's a feat in the BoED that allows you to cast while raging (skip a whole prestige class? Fun.)

High Str, high Con, natural ruggedness? Intellectualized barbarian. Someone who's a bit smarter than the average dwarf, but understands the place ferocity and savagery have even in a civilized world. You can skip armor for a few levels with Mage Armor, but I suggest branching out. Things like False Life can help with the HP issue, but even better are avoiding it entirely. Illusions, misdirects. Heck, utility spells can help. I recommend going with more obscure spells, as everyone else will be casting the same PHB spells over and over, and if you do something like, bring tattoos of snakes to life so they can fly out and bite someone, then swallow them as they fly back to you so they reappear as the tattoos? Way cooler than a scorching ray. Get creative! Have fun!

...and I totally love barbarians. If you're the meatshield wizard, own it. Maybe dip one of those Gish prestige classes, or go with a more dwarvish one. Depends on personality, and how you aim to take him.

Rule #1 of games. Have fun. If you don't build something you can have fun with, you lose. Automatically. Having fun is the purpose of games.

[Deepbluediver]

This is basically someone who can't even do basic addition and subtraction in his head trying to become an accountant. It's something that he's obviously not good at. People are naturally drawn to perform their natural talents, not something they're predisposed to being less than mediocre at.

I just want to remind you that a "10" in any stat is supposed to average. So this character won't exactly be Einstein, but he's not a drooling idiot.

A lot of D&D players seem to mistakenly believe in the fallacy that if they don't have at least one score as 18+ and have anything below a 13 that they are somehow doing it wrong, or that the character is unplayable.
The proscribed method of stat generation (4d6 drop lowest) averages out in the 12-13 range.

Now, there are lots of problems with D&D's magic system, and a 12 in Intellect can be troublesome, but it's not exactly the end of the world. Particularly in any game that doesn't last the full 20 levels. Given the flexibility and the volume of material to work with, there are plenty of work-arounds, and if you move outside core it's hardly an obstacle at all.

[Emmerask]

The main problems I see are that you don´t have many spell slots and that you pretty much can´t use any spells with a saving throw.

So either go summoner with maybe a reserve feat to be able to blast all day

Or go gish which I think would be the better option

[Edenbeast]

Do you let them treat your pets?

Of course.

[Sylthia]

Low Int Wizard is viable, I've just had bad experiences with fellow players making similar characters as a joke and getting themselves or fellow team mates killed.

[Juntao112]

Of course.

Good to know.

Very important bit of information.

It's like when you say "I love him like my brother."

Only works if you actually like your brother.

[nedz]

Int 12 = +1 to spell DCs
Int 18 = +4 to spell DCs
So you either cast spells without saves, or you focus on AoEs which force lots of saves — in fact you could do both. In the latter case more opponents will make their saves but you will still be effective. It's just the single target SoS/SoDs which you should avoid, since they will more likely to result in a wasted action.

More importantly though: What sort of Wizard do you want to play ?
Knowing this will allow us to focus on mitigating your low Int.

[Rhynn]

Really, if you max out your Int (12+5 +6 enhancement +5 inherent = 28), you're only barely shy of what an elite array wizard (15+5 +6 enhancement +5 inherent = 31) gets, and only 1 point lower on DCs. Not exactly crippled.

I find it interesting that people take Int 18 as the default, when that's not the intention and probably not even the overwhelming majority practice.