[3.5] Too much freedom in choices

[wanderer227]

Hi,
I am a newer convert to DnD and my DM asked me to be a wizard for our next campaign (3.5). I have read at lot of the wizard guides like the Batman guidehttp://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104002 but I need some advice on how to best handle my situation. The thing is that the DM handles wizards oddly, with a bit more freedom from some rules.
Specifically:
1) At level 1 my spell book has ALL spells from the 3.5 PHB and Spell Compendium.
2) My DM stated that never in the campaign will anyone or thing attempt to steal or damage my spellbook.
3) My spellbook is large enough to hold every spell ever.
4) I was STRONGLY encouraged to not consider specializing in any school of magic or prestige.
5) Yet I am allowed to take immediate magic, so the Conjurer's "Abrupt Jaunt" is completely okay by the DM.
6) I do not need to ever worry about needing any material for spells.
7) I have no carry weight.

Our game is 3.5 core only, the exception being my access to Spell Compendium. Many guides for Core only suggest a Wizard with Archmage/Loremaster prestige. I am wondering what is a good idea for the progression of my skills and feats considering it will be 20 levels of wizard along with my allowed rule freedoms. Other then abusing Abrupt Jaunt to stay alive I do not want to ruin the game. Thanks.

Info:
Party- druid, cleric, thief, wizard (me)
My stats: STR: 9, CON: 15, WIS: 10, DEX: 16, INT: 17, CHA: 14
(also should I take my first stat boost to go the 18 INT for the extra abrupt jaunt per day or put it into CON?)

[Xerlith]

*slow blink*
*jaw drop*

Wow. Go for it. As long as you play as a blaster/controller, there shouldn't be THAT much problem.

But boy, that one rogue is going to feel so damn small in the pants...

[Urpriest]

6) I do not need to ever worry about needing any material for spells.


Is this just in regard to the free spell components, or does it also include the expensive ones?

Anyway, I'd increase Int, since you're going to want to keep raising it as the campaign progresses and you're even getting defensive value out of it via Abrupt Jaunt.

For feats...Improved Initiative, then start stacking up a few Spell Focuses and Greater Spell Focuses. Maybe Extend at 6 or so, probably Quicken around 12, and since it's Core only you might as well get Spell Penetration eventually (though with access to Assay Spell Resistance that may become unnecessary).

Skillwise, Spellcraft is less useful for you than for people with more sane houserules, but it still lets you identify spells (unless your DM always tells you the spells enemy casters use as well). Concentration of course, then see what Knowledge skills your party already has covered.

[wanderer227]

Thanks for the good advice so far.


Originally posted by Xerlith:
As long as you play as a blaster/controller, there shouldn't be THAT much problem.

I am going to enjoy the power but intend to be more hands off in battle. A buff or save everyone spell but otherwise just hanging back with a crossbow. One benefit is that with all spells I can prepare for a battle and then completely respec to Charm person and the like for going into town. I want to be the face and trickster of the group rather then the God of Death. Yes, the thief will feel small in battle and out of it.


Originally posted by Urpriest:
Is this just in regard to the free spell components, or does it also include the expensive ones?

I only have to worry about XP cost for spells. If the spell requires an item that is worth 10,000GP I don't worry about it. It is crazy. I know it, prepare it, and basically wave the hands and say the words - boom, done.

I was worried that blindly following other build's level 1 feats of Skill focus- Knowledge Arcane and Skill focus- Spellcraft were not the best use of my feats.
I will definitely be looking at some of your suggestions like Improve Initiative. I never asked but probably could take leadership. Should I do so now or wait until later?

Since I will be the face of my group should I take some skill points out of knowledge and spellcraft and look more towards appraise, bluff, diplomacy, or gather information?

Thanks again for the input

[XionUnborn01]

Wow. First off I would talk to the DM to make sure he realizes how over the top powerful this makes you.

You don't even need a party after a few levels, you're basically going to be a god.

[Particle_Man]

At this point make sure you have spells that let other people in the party be awesome so they don't feel left out. You don't have to play the power game; you have won it. Now you just need to help the other players have fun too. The trick is not to be too obvious about it. Effectively, you are a mini-DM.

[Bloodgruve]

You have no carry weight because the thief will be carrying everything for you and your cleric n druid. As he will have nothing else to do.

Kick Int up as much as possible. All those (ALL THOSE) fun Save or Die spells..

Your DM either has a ton of experience with 3.5 or not enough to know this is a bad idea for him ;)

At any rate have fun with it, cuz it will be fun. As a group player though I'd suggest making a pact with the cleric n druid to only buff the Rogue on the first round of combat...

Blood~

[broodax]

Take a look at this thread: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16739386&postcount=11 Where Kraken describes his experience and build as a core-only wizard.

I am also playing a core-only wizard in a game at the moment, and planning on the following. Kraken stayed wizard, I plan to go Loremaster/Archmage, so my feat choices are more dictated by those requirements. I'm also a conjuration specialist (ban Evocation and Enchantment), and I think with your situation, knowing ALL spells, specialization is even more powerful because you'll be able to find secondary options for anything you're missing pretty easily. You can swap Craft Wondrous Item and Empower for another crafting feat or Metamagic freely here depending on what is covered in your group, etc. I waffled a lot on whether to take Craft Wand and Rod, whether to take Empower, when to take Quicken, etc. I actually don't know what I'll do at 10th and 15th level yet. The rest of the feats are pretty mandatory

My build (I first talked about it here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=319311 ) is:
Wizard 1 Imp Init Spell Focus:Conj Scribe Scroll
Wizard 2
Wizard 3 Craft Wondrous Item
Wizard 4
Wizard 5 Empower Spell
Wizard 6 Skill Foc: Kn Arc
Wizard 7
LoreM 8 +4 UMD Ranks
LoreM 9 Lore (level+int as BK) Spell Focus:Trans
LoreM 10 Loremaster Feat:(craft rod, Spell Pen?)
LoreM 11 Language
LoreM 12 Skill Focus: Spellcraft 2nd level spell or +2 fort
LoreM 13 Free Identifies
LoreM 14 2nd level spell, Save, Dodge AC?
Archmage 15 Feat: (Quicken, Spell pen?) Sculpt Spell
Archmage 16 Arcane Reach
Archmage 17 Timestop SLA

Grease and Glitterdust will let your rogue actually hurt things, Haste will help the whole party, etc. I think you probably know all of that after reading Batman guides.

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

Sounds like your GM is running a high-optimization campaign. I imagine that the other players were also told that they could use all kinds of non-core material. You should plan accordingly, your GM is probably planning to throw really nasty encounters at the party.

I recommend you play a Batman Wizard (google it, it's an optimization guide built around buffing your party members and using no-save debuffs to level the playing field). There's no way you're going to have enough spell slots to have offensive spells for everything the GM could possibly throw at you, but if you rely on your party members you'll do a lot better.