PH only wizard

[bjoern]

I want to make a bare bones, no shennanagins PH wizard. So when I sit down at the gaming table I have only one book in front of me. Players Handbook.
Now, obviously there are no magic items in the PH so we can go to other books for that. 3.0/3.5 only preferably not dragon mag.

What I was thinking was human wizard. And just cherry pick the best spells from each level . not too hard. What I'm not sure about is what feats to get. Which PH feats are the best choice for a wizard?

Any thoughts on any part of the build are welcome.

Thanks

[Troacctid]

For metamagic feats, Quicken Spell is nice for high levels. Spell Focus in your preferred school is good. Leadership is worth boosting Charisma for. Improved Familiar is quite nice.

Normally I would also recommend Craft Wondrous Item and Skill Focus (Knowledge [any individual Knowledge skill]) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/prestigeClasses/loremaster.htm), but those are of course useless without the DMG.

[Crake]

color spray at level 1, never forget

[Karl Aegis]

Just don't choose any spell that appears on the cleric's list and you should be fine.

[Rowan Wolf]

Just don't choose any spell that appears on the cleric's list and you should be fine.

The magic circles can be useful later though, but that might be an exception to prove a rule.

[jiriku]

Which PH feats are the best choice for a wizard?

Almost Always Useful

Improved Initiative
Extend Spell
Quicken Spell (no earlier than 12th level)
Craft Wand (take early, make wands of 1st and 2nd level utility spells)
Craft Wondrous Item
Scribe Scroll (free from class)



Useful For Some Environments

Toughness (if your DM permits you to retrain feats, take at 1st level and trade out around 3rd to 5th level. otherwise pass.)
Point Blank Shot + Precise Shot (if you use a lot of rays)
Spell Penetration + Spell Focus (if you use a lot of targeted offensive spells)
Heighten Spell (if you use a lot of charms or save-or-die spells)
Empower Spell (if you use damaging spells, take at 10th or 15th level)
Craft Magic Arms and Armor (if you have many martial allies in the party)




Any thoughts on any part of the build are welcome.

In a core environment, specializing in divination is a strong play. You give up only one school, and you can almost always find one useful divination spell to prepare at each level, especially once you have a few metamagic feats. Weasel and Rat familiars are great familiar choices because of the saving throw bonuses they grant.

I strongly recommend the best Dexterity and Constitution scores you can get, and don't completely dump Wisdom either. A core-only wizard has relatively few defensive spells, so you want your initiative, armor class, saving throws, and hit points to be the best they can be. If your DM allows you to just take average hit points per die instead of rolling (2.5 instead of 1d4), do it, because low hit point rolls will hurt you more than high hit point rolls will help you.

[Kraken]

All drawn from memory, about a year ago I played a core only wizard.

Spell focus (conjuration) and augment summoning can be pretty good. Augment summoning isn't as good for a wizard as a druid due to druids being able to spontaneously summon, but at least you have spells that will benefit from spell focus (conjuration). Down the road you can even consider greater spell focus (conjuration), as grease, glitterdust, stinking cloud, and cloudkill all benefit and have good staying power collectively. Depending on how you opt to play, spell focus in other schools might be worth it.

Improved initiative is always solid. I'd take extend spell at level 5, that way you can start casting extended rope trick every night for peace and quiet. You'll get great use out of extend in general from that point on making hours/level buffs last most of the day, and down the road I'm fond of extending 10 minutes/level buffs. Spell penetration and greater spell penetration are okay in core, due to the fact that there just aren't many good feats. Level 10 is an okay time to pick up empower, then I'd grab quicken at level 12.

Crafting feats will depend a lot on playstyle and campaign environment, but one trick to remember if you know you'll have a 8 hours of downtime is that you can scribe multiple spells on a scroll. Utility spells like open lock that you won't need every day make for great uses of your scribe scroll feat, though if you're flush with copies of all the utility spells you know, summon monster 3 and higher spells are good options too as they don't suffer from the wimpy save DCs that would hamper a scroll of something like fireball. Invisibility is another good 'nothing better to do' scroll, you can never have too much. Improved familiar can be pretty good if you're creative with your familiar's abilities, for instance you can get a lot of utility out of an imp's at-will invisibility. Heighten can be okay, if you know a foe you'll be facing will be vulnerable to a particular spell and you want to make the save as hard on it as possible.

Still and silent spell can be lifesavers, but I'd save them for rods. If you think there's a chance you'll ever be imprisoned, or otherwise stripped of all your possession, eschew materials and spell mastery suddenly become awesome, but if such a scenario never manifests, you'll feel like you're carrying around a couple dead feats.

If you're willing to dip into the Monster Manual, gray elf is a race you might consider for the intelligence bonus. Flyby attack is also a good feat, if you keep overland flight active all day and your DM will let you qualify that way.

Here are some good spells that character had, several of which are marked scroll candidates (which you might also leave some spell slots open for, to have them ready in 15 minutes instead of consuming the scroll, or if you don't have a scroll of it). I remember the campaign pretty well, so most, if not all of the stuff I mention actually got used at some point, though I'm inevitably leaving some stuff out - though I know I remember all the level 6 spells, as I only got the 4 that I did from choosing them at level ups.

Cantrips:
Prestidigitation (entire threads are devoted to how great this is)
Ghost sound (excellent for distraction and misdirection if you put the sound somewhere out of sight from your intended target)
Message
Mage hand
Open/close (another tool for misdirection and confusion, scroll candidate)
Dancing lights (great for creating signals, scroll candidate)
Arcane mark (another signaler, scroll candidate)
Light (stick to torches and so forth in general, but having one copy on a scroll can be useful)

Level 1:
Summon monster 1 (not at level 1, iffy at level 2, decent once you can get a 3 round duration)
Color spray
Silent image (learning to be creative with illusions will make you exponentially more dangerous)
Grease
Comprehend languages (scroll candidate)
Feather fall
Mage armor
Enlarge person (buff your party fighter)
Reduce person (buff your rogue when they need to sneak somewhere, especially good if they'd become tiny, scroll candidate)
Shield
Disguise self (scroll candidate)
Unseen servant (scroll candidate)

Level 2:
Alter self
Fog cloud
Invisibility
Arcane lock (scroll candidate, great if you don't want someone to follow you through a door)
Detect thoughts
Knock (scroll candidate)
Gust of wind (scroll candidate)
Rope trick
Web
Mirror image
Resist energy (scroll candidate, possibly with raised CL)
Shatter (scroll candidate)
Summon monster 2

Level 3:
Summon monster 3
Arcane sight (scroll candidate)
Blink
Displacement
Sleet storm (another great tool to kill foes vision)
Fly (can be a high use spell, scroll candidate)
Haste (another potential high use scroll candidate)
Major image
Phantom steed (scroll candidate)
Wind wall (scroll candidate)
Protection from energy (scroll candidate, possibly with raised CL)

Level 4:
Arcane eye (scroll candidate)
Summon monster 4
Black tentacles
Greater invisibility (scroll candidate)
Mass enlarge person (my party had 3 warrior types that loved this, scroll candidate)
Dimension door (excellent panic button if you're grappled, or otherwise in an uncomfortable spot, as it has not somatic or material components, only verbal components)
Resilient sphere
Polymorph (lots of handbooks on this)
Stoneskin (has saved me many times with many characters)
Solid fog
Scrying

Level 5:
Overland flight
Summon monster 5
Persistent image
Teleport (scroll candidate if your part is small)
Telepathic bond (scroll candidate)
Wall of stone
Passwall (scroll candidate)
Secret chest
Cloudkill

Level 6:
Acid fog
Summon monster 6
Contingency
True seeing (scroll candidate)

Misc. tips:
Get a handy haversack to retrieve those scrolls as a move action and be able to cast them in the same turn.

Search the forum for threads on how to use illusions. Something is simple as creating the illusion of a wall with silent image can get multiple enemies to waste actions, for instance. If there's a cluster of ranged attackers troubling you, just create the illusion of fog between you and them, they arguably won't even be entitled to a will save if they can't reach the fog to interact with it.

Learn to use your familiar. Personally I'm fond of ravens, having a flying, talking emissary can be very useful. Share spells combined with polymorph and buffs can be devastating. If you use reduce person, your raven becomes diminutive sized. Combine that with invisibility and silence, and you've got a scout that's very difficult to spot. Don't forget that familiars also share your skill ranks, so arguably they can use use magic device to cast from wands, with some investment. Your familiar shares your skill ranks, so it can even make knowledge checks with increasingly good frequency, as its intelligence rises as you level. Depending on the situation, it might be able to use the aid another action on skill checks, too. Make sure it takes spot and listen checks too.

It sucks that they're cross-class, but consider ranks in spot/listen. You'll never be the best at this, but thanks to your familiar at least you get two tries at it much of the time. It seems like a small thing, but it can be the difference between acting in the surprise round or sitting it out. It will occasionally come in handy at crucial moments.

Metamagic rods are great.

If you end up taking flyby attack, a simple tactic to use with it is to hide behind some sort of cover on the battlefield (or create a fog cloud or something similar with your spells), then use part of your move action to move out into the battlefield, cast a standard action spell, and the remainder of your move to get back out of sight.

[Killer Angel]

Metamagic rods are great.

And the combo with pearls of power, is a "must have"!

[bjoern]

All drawn from memory, about a year ago I played a core only wizard.

Spell focus (conjuration) and augment summoning can be pretty good. Augment summoning isn't as good for a wizard as a druid due to druids being able to spontaneously summon, but at least you have spells that will benefit from spell focus (conjuration). Down the road you can even consider greater spell focus (conjuration), as grease, glitterdust, stinking cloud, and cloudkill all benefit and have good staying power collectively. Depending on how you opt to play, spell focus in other schools might be worth it.

Improved initiative is always solid. I'd take extend spell at level 5, that way you can start casting extended rope trick every night for peace and quiet. You'll get great use out of extend in general from that point on making hours/level buffs last most of the day, and down the road I'm fond of extending 10 minutes/level buffs. Spell penetration and greater spell penetration are okay in core, due to the fact that there just aren't many good feats. Level 10 is an okay time to pick up empower, then I'd grab quicken at level 12.

Crafting feats will depend a lot on playstyle and campaign environment, but one trick to remember if you know you'll have a 8 hours of downtime is that you can scribe multiple spells on a scroll. Utility spells like open lock that you won't need every day make for great uses of your scribe scroll feat, though if you're flush with copies of all the utility spells you know, summon monster 3 and higher spells are good options too as they don't suffer from the wimpy save DCs that would hamper a scroll of something like fireball. Invisibility is another good 'nothing better to do' scroll, you can never have too much. Improved familiar can be pretty good if you're creative with your familiar's abilities, for instance you can get a lot of utility out of an imp's at-will invisibility. Heighten can be okay, if you know a foe you'll be facing will be vulnerable to a particular spell and you want to make the save as hard on it as possible.

Still and silent spell can be lifesavers, but I'd save them for rods. If you think there's a chance you'll ever be imprisoned, or otherwise stripped of all your possession, eschew materials and spell mastery suddenly become awesome, but if such a scenario never manifests, you'll feel like you're carrying around a couple dead feats.

If you're willing to dip into the Monster Manual, gray elf is a race you might consider for the intelligence bonus. Flyby attack is also a good feat, if you keep overland flight active all day and your DM will let you qualify that way.

Here are some good spells that character had, several of which are marked scroll candidates (which you might also leave some spell slots open for, to have them ready in 15 minutes instead of consuming the scroll, or if you don't have a scroll of it). I remember the campaign pretty well, so most, if not all of the stuff I mention actually got used at some point, though I'm inevitably leaving some stuff out - though I know I remember all the level 6 spells, as I only got the 4 that I did from choosing them at level ups.

Cantrips:
Prestidigitation (entire threads are devoted to how great this is)
Ghost sound (excellent for distraction and misdirection if you put the sound somewhere out of sight from your intended target)
Message
Mage hand
Open/close (another tool for misdirection and confusion, scroll candidate)
Dancing lights (great for creating signals, scroll candidate)
Arcane mark (another signaler, scroll candidate)
Light (stick to torches and so forth in general, but having one copy on a scroll can be useful)

Level 1:
Summon monster 1 (not at level 1, iffy at level 2, decent once you can get a 3 round duration)
Color spray
Silent image (learning to be creative with illusions will make you exponentially more dangerous)
Grease
Comprehend languages (scroll candidate)
Feather fall
Mage armor
Enlarge person (buff your party fighter)
Reduce person (buff your rogue when they need to sneak somewhere, especially good if they'd become tiny, scroll candidate)
Shield
Disguise self (scroll candidate)
Unseen servant (scroll candidate)

Level 2:
Alter self
Fog cloud
Invisibility
Arcane lock (scroll candidate, great if you don't want someone to follow you through a door)
Detect thoughts
Knock (scroll candidate)
Gust of wind (scroll candidate)
Rope trick
Web
Mirror image
Resist energy (scroll candidate, possibly with raised CL)
Shatter (scroll candidate)
Summon monster 2

Level 3:
Summon monster 3
Arcane sight (scroll candidate)
Blink
Displacement
Sleet storm (another great tool to kill foes vision)
Fly (can be a high use spell, scroll candidate)
Haste (another potential high use scroll candidate)
Major image
Phantom steed (scroll candidate)
Wind wall (scroll candidate)
Protection from energy (scroll candidate, possibly with raised CL)

Level 4:
Arcane eye (scroll candidate)
Summon monster 4
Black tentacles
Greater invisibility (scroll candidate)
Mass enlarge person (my party had 3 warrior types that loved this, scroll candidate)
Dimension door (excellent panic button if you're grappled, or otherwise in an uncomfortable spot, as it has not somatic or material components, only verbal components)
Resilient sphere
Polymorph (lots of handbooks on this)
Stoneskin (has saved me many times with many characters)
Solid fog
Scrying

Level 5:
Overland flight
Summon monster 5
Persistent image
Teleport (scroll candidate if your part is small)
Telepathic bond (scroll candidate)
Wall of stone
Passwall (scroll candidate)
Secret chest
Cloudkill

Level 6:
Acid fog
Summon monster 6
Contingency
True seeing (scroll candidate)

Misc. tips:
Get a handy haversack to retrieve those scrolls as a move action and be able to cast them in the same turn.

Search the forum for threads on how to use illusions. Something is simple as creating the illusion of a wall with silent image can get multiple enemies to waste actions, for instance. If there's a cluster of ranged attackers troubling you, just create the illusion of fog between you and them, they arguably won't even be entitled to a will save if they can't reach the fog to interact with it.

Learn to use your familiar. Personally I'm fond of ravens, having a flying, talking emissary can be very useful. Share spells combined with polymorph and buffs can be devastating. If you use reduce person, your raven becomes diminutive sized. Combine that with invisibility and silence, and you've got a scout that's very difficult to spot. Don't forget that familiars also share your skill ranks, so arguably they can use use magic device to cast from wands, with some investment. Your familiar shares your skill ranks, so it can even make knowledge checks with increasingly good frequency, as its intelligence rises as you level. Depending on the situation, it might be able to use the aid another action on skill checks, too. Make sure it takes spot and listen checks too.

It sucks that they're cross-class, but consider ranks in spot/listen. You'll never be the best at this, but thanks to your familiar at least you get two tries at it much of the time. It seems like a small thing, but it can be the difference between acting in the surprise round or sitting it out. It will occasionally come in handy at crucial moments.

Metamagic rods are great.

If you end up taking flyby attack, a simple tactic to use with it is to hide behind some sort of cover on the battlefield (or create a fog cloud or something similar with your spells), then use part of your move action to move out into the battlefield, cast a standard action spell, and the remainder of your move to get back out of sight.

Cool. Thanks.

[Vrock_Summoner]

Everything mechanical is pretty much being covered here. So all I have to say is... Play a half-orc, name yourself D'orc.

(Not actually worth it, because you're getting penalties to your casting stat for boosts to a dump stat, but makes for good dialogue. Or at least, what passes for "good dialogue" in the context of D&D.)

[bjoern]

Everything mechanical is pretty much being covered here. So all I have to say is... Play a half-orc, name yourself D'orc.

(Not actually worth it, because you're getting penalties to your casting stat for boosts to a dump stat, but makes for good dialogue. Or at least, what passes for "good dialogue" in the context of D&D.)

I like it. Had a player make a half orc rogue once who dumped Dex. It was hilarious.it was along the same lines as the barbarian who thinks he's a wizard.

He'd "sneak attack" people with his Axe.

[Grek]

Don't knock it till you try it! Strength Rogue is a perfectly legit idea. Well, as long as you're still actually sneak attacking, anyways.