How viable is a Wizard with a greataxe?

[KingSmitty]

I know a wizard should never be on the front lines, sometimes it just happens, and sometimes you get tired of tumbling to safety.

I feel as if a mixture of "Domain Granted Powers" ACF at 5th level for the wizard to take a War Domain Deity with greataxe and spells like true strike and greater mighty wallop, could be a funny yet somewhat useful last resort for a primarily non-blasty wizard, though at some reflection I think gloves of Master's Touch would work better than losing a feat....but thats a slot I could use for other more useful gear...although the ability to be proficient with ANY weapon sounds somewhat appealing....Dwarven Waraxes come to mind...

Any Opinions?

I know GMW works only with bludgeoning weapons, I could easily craft my own spell to make one that works with axes instead. Call it "Raul Bunyan's Handy Hacker" or something. Force effect that gives a size increase to damage +1 size category/4CL , utilizing the free size increase due to Practiced Spellcaster, that'd be for some good clean melee damage.

This is mostly for fluff, but I would like to at least make it viable.

Burning a bunch of quickened true strikes is a possibility, as a Wiz 3/ Archivist 3/ Mystic Theurge 3 I would have plenty of spells per day, although I won't have access to quickened spells till level 12 unless I can get a metamagic rod, I can still hit every other round with it, if i'm not casting other spells.

Is there a good spell somewhere that buffs my to-hit so I don't have to burn 5th level spells to actually hit with melee? I'm looking for a bit more than the +4 str from Bull's Strength, perhaps Weapon Finesse combined with a +dex spell like Cat's grace (or better).

Would Strongarm Bracers mixed with Master's Touch allow me to wield a Dwarven Waraxe my size one-handedly? I would assume so with the "as if you were one size category larger than normal" deal and proficiency through the spell. Though I would think Master's Touch would cover "special training".... I'm a bit unsure of that one.

Sorry for the long post, plenty of questions! I don't know if anyone else sees the appeal in the "HULK SMASH" method. :smallbiggrin:

[Ziegander]

A "Skillful" weapon (+2 effective enhancement, IIRC) brings your BAB when using that weapon to medium, which is very nice. After that you really only need one or two buffs to ensure you hit and deal solid damage. What you really need are solid defenses to duke it out in melee.

[Vaz]

Reasonable. Proficiency can be gained via Heroics, and spells like Bite of the Werebear or Draconic Polymorph into War Troll makes you hit harder than a raging Barbarian.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Straight wizard or a properly built gish?

It's tough with a straight wizard but still doable. Pick up a skillful weapon or drop a feat on arcane disciple for the war domain and you're sporting average BAB or can cast divine power for full BAB for rounds/level. Then it's just a matter of picking out some good buffing spells and learning how to avoid ambushes so that you can usually get a few buffing rounds.

If you're talking about a straight up gish, however, it's pretty simple. Properly built they can fight decently without buffing and then their spells make them even more dangerous.

[Eldariel]

Depends on how much effort you put into it. Persist Divine Power from e.g. War-domain, get damage immunity through one of the hundred means (e.g. Trollform + non-lethal immunity such as Favor of the Martyr, or Delay Death+Beastland Ferocity, or Hide Life, or whatever), you're pretty darn scary in melee.

With less effort, just cast Polymorph (some strong biped, like Troll-form for instance; Cave Troll [MM3] is nice with Pounce for instance) with maybe (Empowered) False Life and some defensive buffs & maybe Haste on and you're still really scary in melee, just a tad less invulnerable. Don't forget to Greater Magic Weapon your Axe and keep e.g. Mage Armor/Luminous Armor [Book of Exalted Deeds], Heroism, etc. up. (Greater) Blinking, (Greater) Mirror Image, etc. are nice auxillary forms of defense too.


In general, you want to shore up your defenses anyways so that means being in melee isn't all that scary if you're set up for it. Then it's just a matter of getting your To Hit and damage up there, for which you have buff spells. Overall, quite feasible if you feel like it.

[GreenETC]

I know GMW works only with bludgeoning weapons, I could easily craft my own spell to make one that works with axes instead. Call it "Raul Bunyan's Handy Hacker" or something. Force effect that gives a size increase to damage +1 size category/4CL , utilizing the free size increase due to Practiced Spellcaster, that'd be for some good clean melee damage.
Unfortunately, Practiced Spellcaster will only give you a free size increase if you're down 4 CL from multiclassing, not any other way.

Burning a bunch of quickened true strikes is a possibility, as a Wiz 3/ Archivist 3/ Mystic Theurge 3 I would have plenty of spells per day, although I won't have access to quickened spells till level 12 unless I can get a metamagic rod, I can still hit every other round with it, if i'm not casting other spells.
Quickening True Strikes outside of a 5th level slot is relatively hard to do, and probably shouldn't be where you want to go with this. Especially with a build like that, since you'll be so far behind on actual spells and nothing but d4s for HP, which will make you die very quickly if you ever get into melee with something. If you do decide to go with that build, you should really try an Aeshkrau Illumian, as it would let you set all your bonus spells per day off of your Str, which will help reduce MAD. But I believe a Duskblade is basically what you're looking for without jumping through all these hoops.

Is there a good spell somewhere that buffs my to-hit so I don't have to burn 5th level spells to actually hit with melee? I'm looking for a bit more than the +4 str from Bull's Strength, perhaps Weapon Finesse combined with a +dex spell like Cat's grace (or better).
The best thing you could go for is using Divine Power, a 4th level spell from the War Domain or Cleric, which you could get through Arcane Disciple.

Would Strongarm Bracers mixed with Master's Touch allow me to wield a Dwarven Waraxe my size one-handedly? I would assume so with the "as if you were one size category larger than normal" deal and proficiency through the spell. Though I would think Master's Touch would cover "special training".... I'm a bit unsure of that one.
Master's Touch gives you proficiency and Dwarven Waraxes are in fact 1 handed weapons, so you don't even need Strongarm Bracers, unless you want to wield one larger than yourself 1 handed.

[Eldariel]

The best thing you could go for is using Divine Power, a 4th level spell from the War Domain or Cleric, which you could get through Arcane Disciple.

I'd say the best thing is to have is actually Wraithstrike; a couple in 2nd level slots and voila.

[Vaz]

Only gets you 2 attacks a turn at 11th level. At least with Divine Power, you're getting it from ECL7 onwards (and also getting additional iteratives at ECL11 and 16).

The two go together, but out of them, I'd say that you're likely to get more out of Divine Power.

[Somensjev]

if you can get away with it use the feat lost traditions (pretty sure that's what it's called :smallconfused:)

start casting spells from your strength, and start pumping it to incredible heights, i'm sure you can figure out what to do from there :smallwink:

[Eldariel]

Only gets you 2 attacks a turn at 11th level. At least with Divine Power, you're getting it from ECL7 onwards (and also getting additional iteratives at ECL11 and 16).

The two go together, but out of them, I'd say that you're likely to get more out of Divine Power.

Provided you can make it last all day or at least quicken it, yes. It has the annoying downside of being mere Rounds/Level and a standard action to cast, as opposed to the swift action of Wraithstrike.

[KingSmitty]

Thanks for the replies!

Mainly, I'm focusing on a build that will allow me to decently buff the party via the cleric spells i have access to via Archivist, i lose out on the granted powers but having intelligence be my only spellcasting slot is ideal

on the random off chance i have to smack someone with something, well i'd like to at least hit for decent damage, and it be an axe. Being there are no greater mighty wallops for axes i can craft that spell, but the endgame is that i would like my Gnome spellcaster to whirling blade the hell out of a "60ft line of enemies":smallbiggrin:

In no way will this be my tactic during combat, but if i can at least get one hit, I'll be very happy and most definitely amused.


Unfortunately, Practiced Spellcaster will only give you a free size increase if you're down 4 CL from multiclassing, not any other way...
True, but at level 10 per this build, if I take practiced spellcaster for each class, they would then increase to plus 4 CL due to the feat's description.


....Master's Touch gives you proficiency and Dwarven Waraxes are in fact 1 handed weapons, so you don't even need Strongarm Bracers, unless you want to wield one larger than yourself 1 handed.

Muahahahaha! :smallamused:


A "Skillful" weapon (+2 effective enhancement, IIRC) brings your BAB when using that weapon to medium, which is very nice. After that you really only need one or two buffs to ensure you hit and deal solid damage. What you really need are solid defenses to duke it out in melee.

I never considered the skillful trait...hmmmmm


if you can get away with it use the feat lost traditions (pretty sure that's what it's called :smallconfused:)

start casting spells from your strength, and start pumping it to incredible heights, i'm sure you can figure out what to do from there :smallwink:

That sounds awesome! However I'm much too weak.

[Rastapopolos]

Mirror move can get you some decent combat ability for a wizard. combine with heroics for the stuff you want but the fighter doesnt have (if you cast heroics on him you can copy the feat you want with mirror move and you both have it).

Another fun thing to do with a greataxe is to summon a grapple monster and then just roll profession (executioner) against anything that it grabs (its a flat DC18 to insta-gib ANYTHING), No proficiencys or to-hit required :smallbiggrin:.

[FabulousFizban]

muscle wizard. cast your fists