Noob wizard questions

[PhantomVector]

Hello all. So me and a group of friends started up DnD a few months back and it's been fun since one of ours had previous experienced so he DM'd the first games.

Anyways I'm playing my first wizard for our first hardcore campaign were starting up soon and I've never dabbled into the arcane before so I've no idea what feats or spells are super useful.

We've really only used SRD feats but he's allowing us to use feats from official sources for this campaign. So what feats would be good to start with and eventually get? We're starting level 10. Guess it's the normal progression? Feats every 3 levels, 2 starting and a wizard feat. So I'll have 5 normal feats and a wizard feat to fiddle around with.

I was thinking of flyby attack, dodge/mobility and practiced spell caster, maybe craft wand and/or craft rod. Though I might drop dodge mobility for metamagic, maybe empower. Any other feats I should consider?

Would I be screwing myself over by going 2 sorcerer/8 wizard? Part of his backstory is that he was born with a natural magical aptitude and because of that he was drafted into the military at a young age. Pretty much a child soldier. But by going the split route though I get more 0/1 spells I don't have access to level 5 spells for two more levels. Should I just stick to wizard or would multiclassing be alright?

Ugh sorry this is so long. But I think lastly what are some good spell combos at level 10 and beyond? Would level 1-3 spells still be effective? Like could I use fog cloud(variants) with like web at higher levels or do these fall off?

[BowStreetRunner]

Try reading this (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=394.0) first.

[dascarletm]

Yes, read that, but also remember the cardinal rule to spellcasters... NEVER lose caster levels.

(Don't take both sorcerer and wizard.) Just pick one.

[Reathin]

Hello all. So me and a group of friends started up DnD a few months back and it's been fun since one of ours had previous experienced so he DM'd the first games.

Anyways I'm playing my first wizard for our first hardcore campaign were starting up soon and I've never dabbled into the arcane before so I've no idea what feats or spells are super useful.

We've really only used SRD feats but he's allowing us to use feats from official sources for this campaign. So what feats would be good to start with and eventually get? We're starting level 10. Guess it's the normal progression? Feats every 3 levels, 2 starting and a wizard feat. So I'll have 5 normal feats and a wizard feat to fiddle around with.

I was thinking of flyby attack, dodge/mobility and practiced spell caster, maybe craft wand and/or craft rod. Though I might drop dodge mobility for metamagic, maybe empower. Any other feats I should consider?

Would I be screwing myself over by going 2 sorcerer/8 wizard? Part of his backstory is that he was born with a natural magical aptitude and because of that he was drafted into the military at a young age. Pretty much a child soldier. But by going the split route though I get more 0/1 spells I don't have access to level 5 spells for two more levels. Should I just stick to wizard or would multiclassing be alright?

Ugh sorry this is so long. But I think lastly what are some good spell combos at level 10 and beyond? Would level 1-3 spells still be effective? Like could I use fog cloud(variants) with like web at higher levels or do these fall off?

Strongly recommend that you don't take those feats. Flyby attack MIGHT be useful, but dodge/mobility imply you be in melee range, which is not usually a good thing for the squishy wizard. Practiced spell caster will do literally nothing for you, as it can't boost you beyond your hit dice (which is to say, your levels). It's for people who dip into other classes who want to keep their spells decent.

Multi-classing is a bit different for wizards. There isn't much incentive to go pure wizard, but there is HUGE incentive to stay with their casting. So if you find a prestige class you like (I'm very partial to Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep and the incredible defensive power of the Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil), make sure it retains the full caster levels from your wizard levels. This isn't actually too hard, as there are many prestige classes to hcoose from.

I'm not the best person to ask about spell combos. One piece of advice people often offer is to stick with buffing and debuffing and battlefield control over raw damage. I'm not quite so extreme, but a single wizard can turn a good party into a terror with the right spells.

Choose spells that give you entirely new options. Illusions are handy, but not always reliable, but are worth a slot in your book. Fly introduces lots of movement opportunities and defensive moves against melee opponent. Haste will make your physical types MUCH more dangerous (more attacks are a huge advantage). Invisibility is a tried and true spell with tons of uses. Pick up prestidigitation as one of your favorite cantrips; it does so, so many small things. Mage Armor is nice for its duration and low level, Major Image has tones of potential options (even Silent Image, a level 1 spell, is great for tricking people in a variety of ways). Conjuration's summonings have so much diversity it's not even funny; consider picking up the Planar Binding spells for negotiation role playing. Protection from Evil boosts your durability, but more importantly provides you with solid mental defenses, which is always good. Stoneskin can make your squishyness a thing of the past. Others will likely be able to give you better combos.

One tip: you get Scribe Scroll as a bonus feat at level one. Make good use of it. There are many spells that are handy to have, but niche enough that you won't be using them every day. The solution is to create a scroll for it. Cheap and disposable, you can build up a big pile of extra magic to help your party out of a jam. While playing a "Batman" wizard, with a scroll for every situation, is probably not a good thing to aim for when first picking up Wizards, don't be afraid to have a little diversity introduced with scrolls.

You don't need too many damage spells. If you can get things that limit enemy movement (better yet, change the environment to prevent their access, since the world doesn't get a saving throw XD), that's a solid contribution. Try to identify what you're likely to encounter that day while preparing spells, and then throw in a few extras, just in case. You're over the hardest few levels, since you start at 10, so I hope you enjoy my favorite class!

[PhantomVector]

Strongly recommend that you don't take those feats. Flyby attack MIGHT be useful, but dodge/mobility imply you be in melee range, which is not usually a good thing for the squishy wizard. Practiced spell caster will do literally nothing for you, as it can't boost you beyond your hit dice (which is to say, your levels). It's for people who dip into other classes who want to keep their spells decent.

Multi-classing is a bit different for wizards. There isn't much incentive to go pure wizard, but there is HUGE incentive to stay with their casting. So if you find a prestige class you like (I'm very partial to Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep and the incredible defensive power of the Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil), make sure it retains the full caster levels from your wizard levels. This isn't actually too hard, as there are many prestige classes to hcoose from.

I'm not the best person to ask about spell combos. One piece of advice people often offer is to stick with buffing and debuffing and battlefield control over raw damage. I'm not quite so extreme, but a single wizard can turn a good party into a terror with the right spells.

Choose spells that give you entirely new options. Illusions are handy, but not always reliable, but are worth a slot in your book. Fly introduces lots of movement opportunities and defensive moves against melee opponent. Haste will make your physical types MUCH more dangerous (more attacks are a huge advantage). Invisibility is a tried and true spell with tons of uses. Pick up prestidigitation as one of your favorite cantrips; it does so, so many small things. Mage Armor is nice for its duration and low level, Major Image has tones of potential options (even Silent Image, a level 1 spell, is great for tricking people in a variety of ways). Conjuration's summonings have so much diversity it's not even funny; consider picking up the Planar Binding spells for negotiation role playing. Protection from Evil boosts your durability, but more importantly provides you with solid mental defenses, which is always good. Stoneskin can make your squishyness a thing of the past. Others will likely be able to give you better combos.

One tip: you get Scribe Scroll as a bonus feat at level one. Make good use of it. There are many spells that are handy to have, but niche enough that you won't be using them every day. The solution is to create a scroll for it. Cheap and disposable, you can build up a big pile of extra magic to help your party out of a jam. While playing a "Batman" wizard, with a scroll for every situation, is probably not a good thing to aim for when first picking up Wizards, don't be afraid to have a little diversity introduced with scrolls.

You don't need too many damage spells. If you can get things that limit enemy movement (better yet, change the environment to prevent their access, since the world doesn't get a saving throw XD), that's a solid contribution. Try to identify what you're likely to encounter that day while preparing spells, and then throw in a few extras, just in case. You're over the hardest few levels, since you start at 10, so I hope you enjoy my favorite class!

Ohh you can't attack of opportunity with a bow, well yeah screw dodge/mobility.

What feats should I use instead?

I was going to use flyby attack more as a kiting buff. With flyby I can move and cast two spells instead of just move and fire. So it's easier to stay away from the enemy and still be able to combo at least two spells in a turn.

Are there any spells that are good to always have no matter the situation?

[Tvtyrant]

What kind of a Wizard do you want to play? Hordes of minions, manipulating the battlefield, blowing things up, improving your allies, improving yourself and punching/stabbing things? Different guides are going to steer you in different directions with the Wizard, and not knowing your party or yourself we can't tell you which one is right for you.

[PhantomVector]

Try reading this (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=394.0) first.

Been checking those out in fact, but I haven't seen anything on spell combos in the guide, but as I said I'm still checking them out.

[PhantomVector]

What kind of a Wizard do you want to play? Hordes of minions, manipulating the battlefield, blowing things up, improving your allies, improving yourself and punching/stabbing things? Different guides are going to steer you in different directions with the Wizard, and not knowing your party or yourself we can't tell you which one is right for you.

Well I don't know what other players are doing, since were all coming from different regions in the game, so we wouldn't know each other till game start which is kind of cool but annoying since I don't know what anyone else is doing.

I was hoping to main battlefield control, with decent damage and minor in buff/debuffs. If that's a bit too generalized then I probably would go battlefield control and damage just as personal preference though I do see the advantage of a battlefield control/debuff specialist.

[eggynack]

Spells usually aren't about combos. Yeah, there are synergies, but the individual items in those synergies tend to be very substitutable. So, if you shoot out a freezing fog, and layer a black tentacles on top of that, before using haste to give the party melee some extra ability to capitalize on the inevitability, that's going to be a lot like dividing up the battlefield with wall of stone, using some summon monster to capitalize on the inevitability, and defending yourself with resilient sphere, and most combinations of those six spells work pretty well. Thus, you're better off learning about the individual spells, so that you can use whichever one is most effective at any particular moment, with only limited attention paid to preconceived notions of how those spells should fit together.

[Reathin]

Ohh you can't attack of opportunity with a bow, well yeah screw dodge/mobility.

What feats should I use instead?

I was going to use flyby attack more as a kiting buff. With flyby I can move and cast two spells instead of just move and fire. So it's easier to stay away from the enemy and still be able to combo at least two spells in a turn.

Are there any spells that are good to always have no matter the situation?

I'm not much of a feat specialist, I just worried about those specific choices. My suggestion here is actually that you should find a prestige class you like and tailor your feat selection to match that (they usually have requirements to that end).

It's true that some spells are good no matter the sitaution. The aforementioned fly and haste will rarely do you wrong. If you're dealing with tight quarters, Wall of Force is functionally invincible in most cases. Teleportation is always handy: it'll let you travel very fast and give your party a quick escape option if things go wrong. The Silent/Minor/Major image spells can be tailored to create an illusion of your choice at casting. Need to hide? Silent Image up a wall. Intimidate someone? Why, you suddenly have a small army of backup. Whatever you need when dealing with sapients, Illusion can often provide. Polymorph is a phenominal spy and combat tool, giving lots of options, so there's that. And Lesser Planar Binding will open up many, many creatures to serve your needs. Look up these creatures ahead of time to learn how they think and what they want, then find one that matches your requirements so you're getting a bit more willing service.

Hope that helps a bit.

[Tvtyrant]

When you say spell combo, are you talking about grease + fire + Permissive DM stuff?

Rope Trick + a large water supply = stationary time bomb.

Decanter of Endless Water + Permanent Wall of Force + Permanent Wall of Fire= Infinite steam engine.

Lesser Planar Binding+ Magic Jar= Maurezhi body, granting you infinite free uses of Animate Dead.

[PhantomVector]

Spells usually aren't about combos. Yeah, there are synergies, but the individual items in those synergies tend to be very substitutable. So, if you shoot out a freezing fog, and layer a black tentacles on top of that, before using haste to give the party melee some extra ability to capitalize on the inevitability, that's going to be a lot like dividing up the battlefield with wall of stone, using some summon monster to capitalize on the inevitability, and defending yourself with resilient sphere, and most combinations of those six spells work pretty well. Thus, you're better off learning about the individual spells, so that you can use whichever one is most effective at any particular moment, with only limited attention paid to preconceived notions of how those spells should fit together.

Think you could give a few more examples of smart uses of spells, or where I can find a guide for it? Or can I just google it?

[PhantomVector]

I'm not much of a feat specialist, I just worried about those specific choices. My suggestion here is actually that you should find a prestige class you like and tailor your feat selection to match that (they usually have requirements to that end).

It's true that some spells are good no matter the sitaution. The aforementioned fly and haste will rarely do you wrong. If you're dealing with tight quarters, Wall of Force is functionally invincible in most cases. Teleportation is always handy: it'll let you travel very fast and give your party a quick escape option if things go wrong. The Silent/Minor/Major image spells can be tailored to create an illusion of your choice at casting. Need to hide? Silent Image up a wall. Intimidate someone? Why, you suddenly have a small army of backup. Whatever you need when dealing with sapients, Illusion can often provide. Polymorph is a phenominal spy and combat tool, giving lots of options, so there's that. And Lesser Planar Binding will open up many, many creatures to serve your needs. Look up these creatures ahead of time to learn how they think and what they want, then find one that matches your requirements so you're getting a bit more willing service.

Hope that helps a bit.

Hmm what are some good arcane prestige classes? The only pure arcane in SRD is Archmage. Which I might do anyways but any sort of wiki or guide to them somewhere? Though I'm not sure if we're playing with extra prestige classes yet I'll have to ask.

Anything I can take at/before level 10? Since i don't know how difficult it will be to multiclass into certain prestige classes in game. If I would actually have to travel somewhere to get it. Might be easier to start with a level in it.

[eggynack]

Think you could give a few more examples of smart uses of spells, or where I can find a guide for it? Or can I just google it?
That guide that was linked is about as good as exists currently. The whole thing is mostly just solid spell evaluations, and those are the main building blocks for good spell use. Coming up with good uses for spells is tricky, however, because it tends to be so situationally dependent. The basic idea of battlefield control is that you separate enemies from one another, in order to create an action advantage, while simultaneously sapping them of resources, to increase that advantage, and then you just apply some sort of pressure, to make proper use of that advantage. The best way to do that depends fundamentally on what your spell list looks like, and how the combat is structured. But, y'know, as long as you put the spell on top of the enemies, and try to divide them somewhat, your use shouldn't be going too far off track.

[PhantomVector]

When you say spell combo, are you talking about grease + fire + Permissive DM stuff?

Rope Trick + a large water supply = stationary time bomb.

Decanter of Endless Water + Permanent Wall of Force + Permanent Wall of Fire= Infinite steam engine.

Lesser Planar Binding+ Magic Jar= Maurezhi body, granting you infinite free uses of Animate Dead.

Stuff like that, or smart uses of spells. A lot of guides say spells are good, but don't give a specific example of their use. I'm sure I can figure it out, but I'd like to have some sort of foundation for efficient spell use past flinging fireballs like they're going out of style. Since that's what the last sorcerer in our group did lol.

[PhantomVector]

That guide that was linked is about as good as exists currently. The whole thing is mostly just solid spell evaluations, and those are the main building blocks for good spell use. Coming up with good uses for spells is tricky, however, because it tends to be so situationally dependent. The basic idea of battlefield control is that you separate enemies from one another, in order to create an action advantage, while simultaneously sapping them of resources, to increase that advantage, and then you just apply some sort of pressure, to make proper use of that advantage. The best way to do that depends fundamentally on what your spell list looks like, and how the combat is structured. But, y'know, as long as you put the spell on top of the enemies, and try to divide them somewhat, your use shouldn't be going too far off track.

Hmm, I'll finish it up. It's just a some of the terms and spells I'm a bit unfamiliar with and it's a lot of back and forth from the SRD site and the guide.

[Tvtyrant]

Stuff like that, or smart uses of spells. A lot of guides say spells are good, but don't give a specific example of their use. I'm sure I can figure it out, but I'd like to have some sort of foundation for efficient spell use past flinging fireballs like they're going out of style. Since that's what the last sorcerer in our group did lol.

As a Wizard what you are looking for is either Golden Tickets or Silver Bullets (this is not the normal parlance for D&D but it works).

A Golden Ticket spell is something like Glitterdust or Summon Monster III, which is good in almost every encounter. You share this with Sorcerers, whose spells known are almost entirely made up of these.

Then, as a Wizard, you also get the ability to swap spells. This leaves you room for Silver Bullets (like in killing a werewolf). These spells are situationally broken but not something you use any day. Spells like Control Undead/Command Undead or Ooze Puppet are the most straight examples of this, which utterly wreck a particular type of encounter.

To know what you are going to face you use spells like Scry to find out what the opposition is going to be that day and prepare accordingly.

There are also over powered situational spells with more general purposes. Planar Binding takes prep work but nets you an over powered ally, Wall of Stone can be used in a battlefield or to greatly speed up building making, etc.

Since you are going battlefield control you are going to want to have a variety of Golden Ticket spells, since battlefield control is nearly always somewhat effective. Solid Fog, Glitterdust, Grease, Wall of Ice, Black Tentacles, etc. Each one does the same job but in a different way, so if you run into a creature with a great grapple check you can grease or solid fog it instead.

[PhantomVector]

As a Wizard what you are looking for is either Golden Tickets or Silver Bullets (this is not the normal parlance for D&D but it works).

A Golden Ticket spell is something like Glitterdust or Summon Monster III, which is good in almost every encounter. You share this with Sorcerers, whose spells known are almost entirely made up of these.

Then, as a Wizard, you also get the ability to swap spells. This leaves you room for Silver Bullets (like in killing a werewolf). These spells are situationally broken but not something you use any day. Spells like Control Undead/Command Undead or Ooze Puppet are the most straight examples of this, which utterly wreck a particular type of encounter.

To know what you are going to face you use spells like Scry to find out what the opposition is going to be that day and prepare accordingly.

There are also over powered situational spells with more general purposes. Planar Binding takes prep work but nets you an over powered ally, Wall of Stone can be used in a battlefield or to greatly speed up building making, etc.

Since you are going battlefield control you are going to want to have a variety of Golden Ticket spells, since battlefield control is nearly always somewhat effective. Solid Fog, Glitterdust, Grease, Wall of Ice, Black Tentacles, etc. Each one does the same job but in a different way, so if you run into a creature with a great grapple check you can grease or solid fog it instead.

Hmm I'll keep this in mind. Thanks for the advice.

Two more questions, what's a good way to make money as a wizard? I asked the DM about starting equipment and he said" don't worry about it."

So I might be going in with nothing but my spellbook.

Anywhere I can find a full list of prestige classes? All I have are the SRD ones.

[Tvtyrant]

Hmm I'll keep this in mind. Thanks for the advice.

Two more questions, what's a good way to make money as a wizard? I asked the DM about starting equipment and he said" don't worry about it."

So I might be going in with nothing but my spellbook.

Anywhere I can find a full list of prestige classes? All I have are the SRD ones.

There are lots of ways to make money as a Wizard, including selling Walls of Salt for a tremendous amount of money a day or kidnapping wealthy individuals and casting a Geas forcing them to give their money to you. The best way is to just take the treasure you get from adventuring, generally speaking, as otherwise you may end up in conflict with your DM. If you need money find quests where they are going to pay you, etc.

I don't think there is one like you will find with other classes. No one has made a complete Wizard Handbook to my knowledge, because the class is enormous. Dictum Mortuum's Wizard Handbook talks a great deal about races, skills and feats, Treantmonk's deals with spells, Logicninja's Guide to Being Batman is about spells with some PRC advice, etc.

A short list of the Wizard PRCs by power;
Strong to broken: Halruuan Elder, Incantatrix, Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil, Tainted Scholar, Shadowcraft Mage, Cancer Mage
Medium to Strong: Abjurant Champion, Cancer Mage, Fatespinner, Loremaster, Mage of the Arcane Order, Malconvoker, Nightmare Spinner, Pale Master, Recaster, Spellwarp Sniper.
Weak to Medium: Way to many to list. Zounds.

[Troacctid]

Hold on, why is Cancer Mage on that list? It doesn't even progress casting at all!

[NecessaryWeevil]

I was going to use flyby attack more as a kiting buff. With flyby I can move and cast two spells instead of just move and fire. So it's easier to stay away from the enemy and still be able to combo at least two spells in a turn.


Wait, what?

[Tvtyrant]

Hold on, why is Cancer Mage on that list? It doesn't even progress casting at all!

Illumian Wizard/Cancer Mage with festering anger and Aeshkrau gets NI bonus spells a day based on their strength score. You lose 1 level of casting for as many bonus spells as you want.

[Troacctid]

Illumian Wizard/Cancer Mage with festering anger and Aeshkrau gets NI bonus spells a day based on their strength score. You lose 1 level of casting for as many bonus spells as you want.

The same is true if you have no levels in Cancer Mage at all. Just take Faster Healing. It's a lot easier, it's only one feat instead of three, and you don't lose any casting. If you really want to be sure, you can take Shape Soulmeld (Strongheart Vest) too to completely negate all the ability damage, and/or Martial Study (Moment of Perfect Mind) to auto-succeed on the Will save to avoid hulking out. Or if you must dip, dip into Binder and bind Naberius, and you get the same thing at level 2 instead of level 16, and with no feat tax at all, plus you can go into Anima Mage for value.

Cancer Mage is a fine class with some interesting abilities, but it's not good for casters.


Anyway, OP, if I were you, I'd take a reserve feat (from Complete Mage). Having abilities that you can use at will without worrying about expending a spell slot is handy, and takes some of the resource management pressure off. You can take a reserve feat as a Wizard bonus feat, so maybe do that. One of the damage-dealing ones might be nice as a fallback option that deals reasonable damage (possibly to multiple targets) and ignores spell resistance; Summon Elemental has loads of utility if you use it creatively; Dimensional Jaunt gives you some great mobility and lets you easily escape from grapples and other such entanglements; and Minor Shapeshift is a strong defensive choice for its replenishing temporary HP buffer.

[Tvtyrant]

The same is true if you have no levels in Cancer Mage at all. Just take Faster Healing. It's a lot easier, it's only one feat instead of three, and you don't lose any casting. If you really want to be sure, you can take Shape Soulmeld (Strongheart Vest) too to completely negate all the ability damage, and/or Martial Study (Moment of Perfect Mind) to auto-succeed on the Will save to avoid hulking out. Or if you must dip, dip into Binder and bind Naberius, and you get the same thing at level 2 instead of level 16, and with no feat tax at all, plus you can go into Anima Mage for value.

Cancer Mage is a fine class with some interesting abilities, but it's not good for casters.


Anyway, OP, if I were you, I'd take a reserve feat (from Complete Mage). Having abilities that you can use at will without worrying about expending a spell slot is handy, and takes some of the resource management pressure off. You can take a reserve feat as a Wizard bonus feat, so maybe do that. One of the damage-dealing ones might be nice as a fallback option that deals reasonable damage (possibly to multiple targets) and ignores spell resistance; Summon Elemental has loads of utility if you use it creatively; Dimensional Jaunt gives you some great mobility and lets you easily escape from grapples and other such entanglements; and Minor Shapeshift is a strong defensive choice for its replenishing temporary HP buffer.
I have to disagree. Saying that there are other ways to do overpowered things doesn't invalidate this one. Besides which, have a Warp Touch attack is awesome. 1/10 chance of instant death no save.

[Surpriser]

I was going to use flyby attack more as a kiting buff. With flyby I can move and cast two spells instead of just move and fire. So it's easier to stay away from the enemy and still be able to combo at least two spells in a turn.

Flyby attack actually doesn't work this way. You still get only a single standard action per turn - the only difference is that you can take it in the middle of your move action instead of either before or after it. So you will not get additional spells per round from it.

If you want multiple spells per round, look into spells with a swift action casting time (Spell Compendium has some of those for example) or into Quicken Spell (ideally in combination with some way to reduce the metamagic adjustment). At level 10, a Belt of Battle is already affordable (Magic Item Compendium).

[bjoern]

Treantmonks guide is neccesary reading for sure.

So is this
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?104002-3-5e-The-Logic-Ninja-s-Guide-to-Wizards-Being-Batman

[PhantomVector]

Flyby attack actually doesn't work this way. You still get only a single standard action per turn - the only difference is that you can take it in the middle of your move action instead of either before or after it. So you will not get additional spells per round from it.

If you want multiple spells per round, look into spells with a swift action casting time (Spell Compendium has some of those for example) or into Quicken Spell (ideally in combination with some way to reduce the metamagic adjustment). At level 10, a Belt of Battle is already affordable (Magic Item Compendium).

Are you sure?

[When flying, the creature can take a move action (including a dive) and another standard action at any point during the move. The creature cannot take a second move action during a round when it makes a flyby attack.]

The second part of the feat makes it sound like you would have another action left over after the flyby if it states that you can't use that action as a move action. Otherwise wouldn't it simply say that after a flyby your turn is over or something?

[Troacctid]

I have to disagree. Saying that there are other ways to do overpowered things doesn't invalidate this one. Besides which, have a Warp Touch attack is awesome. 1/10 chance of instant death no save.

Cancer Mage is letting you ignore 1d3 Constitution damage and a DC 22 Will save once per day at the cost of a caster level and 3 dead feats. That's not an overpowered thing at all. It's not even a powerful thing. It's not even like it automatically lets you contract festering anger. And if you did somehow get blasted with enough gamma radiation to contract festering anger, there are much better, easier ways to negate its drawbacks with less investment and at a lower level. I mean, you could just buy a rod of bodily restoration for a couple thousand gp and call it a day.


Are you sure?

[When flying, the creature can take a move action (including a dive) and another standard action at any point during the move. The creature cannot take a second move action during a round when it makes a flyby attack.]

The second part of the feat makes it sound like you would have another action left over after the flyby if it states that you can't use that action as a move action. Otherwise wouldn't it simply say that after a flyby your turn is over or something?

Normally a creature can take a move action plus a standard action before or after the move action. With Flyby Attack, you can take a move action plus a standard action during the move action.

[bjoern]

Are you sure?

[When flying, the creature can take a move action (including a dive) and another standard action at any point during the move. The creature cannot take a second move action during a round when it makes a flyby attack.]

The second part of the feat makes it sound like you would have another action left over after the flyby if it states that you can't use that action as a move action. Otherwise wouldn't it simply say that after a flyby your turn is over or something?

Its poor wording but flyby attack (and springattack) let you use your standard attack action in the middle of a your move.
With out it you have to either move and then attack, or attack and then move.

[atemu1234]

Yes, read that, but also remember the cardinal rule to spellcasters... NEVER lose caster levels.

(Don't take both sorcerer and wizard.) Just pick one.

I felt it bore repeating. A lot. Loudly.

[PhantomVector]

I felt it bore repeating. A lot. Loudly.

Lol will do, just out of curiosity what is your opinion of ultimate magus? Or Mage of the arcane order?

[PhantomVector]

Also thanks a lot for the links and advice guys :) feeling pretty good about this.

[fishyfishyfishy]

Lol will do, just out of curiosity what is your opinion of ultimate magus? Or Mage of the arcane order?

I'm honestly surprised that no one brought up Ultimate Magus when you mentioned Sorcerer Wizard multiclass. It is exceptionally good. So good that it is worth losing caster levels for.

Check out this handbook: http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-character-optimization/threads/1086066

Oh that rule "don't lose caster levels" is more flexible than some like to say. A gish type character can afford a level loss here and there, as can other types of characters.

[atemu1234]

Lol will do, just out of curiosity what is your opinion of ultimate magus? Or Mage of the arcane order?

Okay, I'll clarify.

Wizards get 9th-level spells at lvl 17. Sorcerers at 18. The basic measure of any theurge build (my personal favourite) is whether or not it can get both to that level.

[dascarletm]

Of course you can lose caster levels in certain cases, but if you want to Full-time as a caster... the more you have the better.

As far as ultimate magus, it depends on your gaming table tbh.

In tables that run characters through a marathon of challenges with little chance of reprieve, it is better than games where you get to rest fairly often.

[Studoku]

Lol will do, just out of curiosity what is your opinion of ultimate magus? Or Mage of the arcane order?
Ultimate Magus is a lot of fun. You end up with more spell slots than you know what to do with but you also have abilities based around that. Being able to use spells from one class for free metamagic with the other class is insanely powerful.

[Loopholes007]

There is an infinite number of possibilities for classes and spells. If I were you I would ask 3 questions 1) what does my party need right now? 2) what kind of monsters am I likely to encounter often 3) is there a school of magic I really feel like playing with more?