[3.5] Rerolling from Rogue to Wu Jen, need your guidance.

[Isiloki]

Hey there.
I'd like to begin this post by saying I've already read a lot about Wu Jen, especially the Handbook you can find here.

The background of the class (and the fact that he's a spellcaster) is what made me chose this class. I used to play rogue but I had no fun with it, so my DM allowed me to reroll for a Wu Jen. Tonight (in 9 hours) I have to be a ready-to-fight lvl 5 Wu-Jen, and I just can't chose between the spells to learn and which ones to improve with the Wu Jen given metamagic feats.

I want to go full caster, no gish build (didn't find an exact translation for gish on google, what does it mean?). I have no idea of a particular spell build as it's the first campaign I play.
I had an idea of what feats to take for a rogue, but for Wu Jen it's completely different and I've no time to really think about it before tonight. (I've read about wizzard feats because it's a similar class, but nothing came out)

The only thing I know is I'm not willing to go full DPS, I'd rather take the best DPS spell at each level and then crowd-control/bluff/flavor spells.
I didn't see a general direction to elements like "water=support, fire=aoe damage, earth=disable", so I don't really know what I'd like to do in the future.
One more thing : what items should I go for? I have ~6000 gp to spend.

I'd also like to point out that the spell list appearing in the Handbook is short compared to the actual spell list a Wu Jen can pretend to. I need your experience here too.

TL;DR :
Going Wu Jen (lvl 5) because I like the lore, need ideas for items to buy, spells to learn and to improve with class ability, and feats to take, keeping in mind that I want to go full caster (no gish even with body outside body)

Thank you in advance for sharing your experience!

[DeltaEmil]

I want to go full caster, no gish build (didn't find an exact translation for gish on google, what does it mean?).Gish refers to the Githyanki, who back in 1st edition were (in)famous for being fighter/magic-users.

Nowadays, that term is used for any fighting character that augments his or her fighting capabilities with magic, or uses magic to also accomplish roles the normal fighting chassis wouldn't be able to do.

[ben-zayb]

The ones in the Handbook are the ones unique to the class. For spell choice, simply look at the Wizard guides and look for the spells suggested there that are in the WJ list.

[Isiloki]

The ones in the Handbook are the ones unique to the class. For spell choice, simply look at the Wizard guides and look for the spells suggested there that are in the WJ list.

Oh, ok. Thank you for that.

[DMVerdandi]

I would pick for feats, one reserve feat for damage, and the elemental summoning one. Those are awesome.
Also, collegiate wizard if it applies. Gets you bonus spells known each level you get new spells.

As far as what spells you want, what role do you want to play as? Also what element do you want to focus on?
I would suggest possibly water? And then picking up illusion and enchantment magic. Work around the concept of fog and the reflection of water.

Not necessarily because it is the strongest you can do, but because it can be fulfilling character-wise. Obviously if you were just into being strong(as a prepared caster), you would have picked a wizard, or an archivist.

Also pick up spells that have to do with spirit, as it works well with the flavor of the unseen truth behind the reflection.

Spend one spell known per level on your chosen element, and use the rest to grab untyped ones.

As far as what you should buy, it's not really my specialty. See what you CAN buy. I prefer to purchase spell trigger items when it comes to mages. Eternal wands are awesome, and if you have access to ebberon stuff, minor schema.
Rings are always cool, if not expensive. rods too.

A handy haversack is good.

[Isiloki]

I would pick for feats, one reserve feat for damage, and the elemental summoning one. Those are awesome.
Also, collegiate wizard if it applies. Gets you bonus spells known each level you get new spells.

Thanks, I'll check that



As far as what spells you want, what role do you want to play as? Also what element do you want to focus on?


I'd like to go mainly utility (crowd control spell like stuns, dazes etc), with the possibility to do damage when it's needed (any big nuke like fireball)



I would suggest possibly water? And then picking up illusion and enchantment magic. Work around the concept of fog and the reflection of water.

I've thought about metal, because I'm a dwarf and dwarves are known to be close to that.



As far as what you should buy, it's not really my specialty. See what you CAN buy. I prefer to purchase spell trigger items when it comes to mages. Eternal wands are awesome, and if you have access to ebberon stuff, minor schema.
Rings are always cool, if not expensive. rods too.

I'm lvl 5, so around 6000 gold at my disposition (and no ebberon stuff)

[Zaq]

At least some of that gold should go to stuffing your spellbook full of nice spells. The two you get for free at level-up aren't enough on their own to give you all the options you want, right? So figure out what spells you want to have, figure out how much it'll cost you to scribe them, and then look at how much GP you have left over.

With your leftover gold, I find that unless you invest heavily in "NO!" buttons, it's never amiss to just prop up your defensive numbers. So a Ring of Protection +1, an Amulet of Natural Armor +1, a Cloak of Resistance, etc.

[Chronos]

Eternal wands and minor schemas might look good at first glance, but for most spells, they're not worth it. Most spells are only really worthwhile while you're actually in an encounter of some sort, and encounters tend to give you XP and gold quickly enough that by the time you've used up all of the charges in a normal wand, the cost to replace it is trivial. Likewise, encounters tend to come many in one day, with none at all on most other days, so the eternal wand can't keep up. The only things that are really worth using eternal wands or schemas for are the things that you can cast every day during your downtime and stockpile them for when you need them, like Explosive Runes.