a very tiny wizard

[KevlarTheD]

Hi all,
I was hoping to get some help with a character build. I have a few specific ideas, which I will go over at the end of the post. My group's campaigns generally end well before the Epic tier, so the build only goes to level 15.

My character will be entering the campaign at level 5, just before level 6 (when a PC dies in our group, the next session they can bring in a new char with the same XP, but they don’t get any XP for the session they died during. Mine is coming in with ~13,500XP). I have access to just about every book through the magic of the internet. My rolls were decent - highest 16 into INT, lowest 8 into STR, decent DEX and CON.

I’ll break down the build I have in mind below. Please criticize and post your opinions. Should I be taking different feats? Etc. The main thing I’d like to keep is the Spryte Wizard bit, as I just can’t get past the image of something the size of Tinkerbell shooting horse-sized fireballs.

Race: Loresong Faen (Small, -2STR +2INT, Bonuses to Spellcraft)
Traits: Slow (Half ground movement speed but I’ll usually be flying. +1 Hp/Level)


1. Domain Wizard 1 – Abjuration Domain, Collegiate Wizard feat, Scribe Scroll

2. Loresong Faen 1 - SLA’s, +1 spellcasting level, may use Faen spell template

3. Loresong Faen 2 - Eschew Materials feat, +1DEX, +1INT, +1 spellcasting level

4. Loresong Faen 3 +1DEX, +1INT, +1 spellcasting level

5. Domain Wizard 2 – (+1BAB and a spellcasting level)
THIS IS WHERE MY CHARACTER WILL ENTER THE CAMPAIGN

6. (a +1 BAB Class) - Underfoot Combat feat, (class abilities)

7. Spryte 1 – Tiny size, Average Flight 30ft, SLA’s, +1DEX

8. Spryte 2 - +1DEX, +1 spellcasting level, SLA’s

9. Spryte 3 - Combat Casting feat (to get into Champion), Perfect Flight, SLA’s

10. Abjurant Champion 1 - Abjurant Armor, Extended Abjuration

11. Abjurant Champion 2 - Swift Abjuration

12. Abjurant Champion 3 - Flyby Attack feat

13. Abjurant Champion 4 - Arcane Boost

14. Abjurant Champion 5 - Martial Arcanist

15. Domain Wizard 3 – Spell Focus (Faen) feat



What I’d like to do:
I am attracted to the idea of Small-sized or smaller characters, but have never really played one up until now. I think Wizard is a great class for this type of character because their damage isn’t based off Strength and they’d very much benefit from being harder to hit.

Wizards are very squishy, though, and my group doesn’t shy from killing PCs. I don’t want to give up TOO much in the way of spellcasting (I want to be a wizard, not a gish), but I’m looking for some extra survivability and I’m willing to dip out of wizard for it.

get into Abjurant Champion as soon as practical. Between the tiny size, perfect flying, and bonuses to mage armor & shield spells, my guy will be very hard to hit. The BAB progression is nice as well – between that and the size bonus, he should rarely have a problem hitting anything with ranged touch attacks.

The fastest way for me to get into abjurant champion, from my wizardy base, is dip one level into a class with full BAB progression and a martial weapon proficiency. I know there are a quite a few –I’ve narrowed it down to Ranger Variant or Fighter, I think.
RGR VARIANT – d8HD, access to a lot of unwizardlike skills such as Spot, Listen, and Survival. There are enough undead in our campaign to not make Favored Enemy totally useless. Track (lol). Fast movement. (The variant drops combat styles for Wildshape and Fast Movement.)
FTR – d10HD, a bonus feat (if a good feat, the reason I would take this over ranger)

If I don’t dip into a +1BAB class for level 6, but still want to be a sprite within a decent amount of time, I’ll have to put a feat towards learning a martial weapon and wait to get my perfect flight maneuverability until level 15. In a campaign where I’m looking to hit level 20 with maximum spellcaster ranks it’s probably worth it – but we’re not worried about that quite as much.

1. WIZ 1
2. LSF 1
3. LSF 2
4. LSF 3
5. WIZ 2
6. SPRYTE 1
7. SPRYTE 2
8. WIZ 3
9. WIZ 4
10. ABJURANT CHAMPION 1
11. ABJURANT CHAMPION 2
12. ABJURANT CHAMPION 3
13. ABJURANT CHAMPION 4
14. ABJURANT CHAMPION 5
15. SPRYTE 3



Lastly, there’s a feat called Eidetic Spellcaster - amazing, but I can take only 1 feat at first level (Either this or the Collegiate Wizard feat). Which is better for my purposes? A Quickling Faen could take both (they get a bonus feat like humans), but I’d lose out on a whole crapload of INT bonuses (to be replaced with… more DEX. Hooray.)

Thanks in advance for any help!

[herrhauptmann]

What are those Spryte levels at leve? Savage progression? Racial HD? Or LA?
If HD/LA, you usually have to take those at start. Ditto for Loresong Faen. (What book is Loresong Faen in anyway?)

Does wild shape ranger really give you anything
Look at Solo Hunting and Distracting Attack ranger too. I don't believe you give up anything that wildshape ranger also requires you to give up.
Do fighter if you really need that bonus feat, otherwise Ranger is preferred, if only for the skill points.
Also, Favored Enemy: Arcanists.

Spellsword 1 is generally referred to as Abjurant Champ level 0.

Can you take the domain wizard and martial wizard ACFs?
Martial wizard gets fighter bonus feats in place of wizard bonus feats (including scribe scroll at level 1). So one less reason for a fighter dip.

I'd say Collegiate Wizard over Eidectic. Essentially doubling your spells known for free is pretty nice, especially if you don't want to spend your money on scrolls/scribing.

[KevlarTheD]

Sorry for the lack of explanation regarding the loresong faen/spryte racial levels. They're in Arcana Unearthed if I remember correctly. Loresong Faen are basically fey-blooded halflings.
They can take racial levels, and with the Loresong variety I add to my spellcaster level as well (3/3 progression). The Faen levels only give a BAB of +1, though (at level 2).
In addition to the Faen racial levels, you can "metamorphose" into a spryte for the cost of a feat (which I've forgotten to include, oh no!). Your size changes to tiny, you get average flight and new SLA's. You can then progress in Spryte levels up to 6, but it's 3/6 caster level progression. You gain perfect flight maneuverability at level 3 of spryte. I was hoping to hit that part of my build relatively quickly.

[holywhippet]

One thing you might want to be cautious of is grapple attacks. Being small means you are much easier to grapple which is a bad thing for a caster. Consider magical counter measures like a ring of freedom or having a spell that can help you get out of the grapple like a still metamagic grease ready.

[Ruethgar]

Muckdwellers don't have racial levels to worry about, are tiny and can blind everyone within 25ft every round as a free action(almost no chance of failure). Their stats do not directly benefit a wizard, but do not hinder them either.

Hengeyokai Sparrows can shift down to fine size. I can't recall the rules for spellcasting while shifted but I think surrogate spellcasting may be required which is why people tend to do warlock instead. I think that may be about as small as you can get.

Just some other race ideas to throw out there, if you wanted a different flavor.

[KevlarTheD]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I actually played a muckdweller rogue earlier in the campaign. He fell off a building.

It looks like I should be patient getting to spryte. I'll dip fighter so I can pick up a level of swordsage before I get to abjurant champion.

My edited build looks like this:


1. Domain Wizard 1; – Abjuration Domain, Collegiate Wizard feat, Scribe Scroll

2. Evolved Loresong Faen 1; - SLA’s, +1 spellcasting level, may use Faen spell template

3. Evolved Loresong Faen 2; - Eschew Materials feat, +1DEX, +1INT, +1 spellcasting level

4. Evolved Loresong Faen 3; +1DEX, +1INT, +1 spellcasting level

5. Domain Wizard 2;
THIS IS WHERE MY CHARACTER WILL ENTER THE CAMPAIGN

6. Fighter 1; Improved Initiative, Alacritous Cogitation feat

7. Domain Wizard 3;

8. Domain Wizard 4;

9. Spellsword 1; Ignore spell failure 10%, Combat Casting feat

10. Abjurant Champion 1 - Abjurant Armor, Extended Abjuration

11. Abjurant Champion 2 - Swift Abjuration

12. Spryte 1 (uses feat); Change to Tiny size, gain Average Flight 30ft, new SLA’s, +1DEX

13. Spryte 2 - +1DEX, +1 spellcasting level, new SLA’s

14. Spryte 3 - Perfect Flight, new SLA’s,

15. Abjurant Champion 3 - feat

16+. Continue with Abjurant Champion, then continue as a Domain Wizard.

So in a 15-level build it has a 12/15 caster level progression, a BAB of +10, perfect flight 30', and the ability to wear a bit of armor (on top of being tiny and covered in magic force fields). Have I missed anything vital or obvious?