Elf Wizard question

[Pippin]

Can I choose to take only 1 level of "Elf Wizard" (the first one) ? (so that I could still take the Wizard's feat at Lv5)

[Elderand]

Yes, you're not forced to take all the levels. You can take as many or as little as you want.

[Pippin]

Yes, you're not forced to take all the levels. You can take as many or as little as you want.
Perfect, so I would only have to take the first level to get the additional spell slot as well as 1 extra spell for every wizard level. Thank you.

[Afgncaap5]

Can I choose to take only 1 level of "Elf Wizard" (the first one) ? (so that I could still take the Wizard's feat at Lv5)

I may not be understanding something. Are you asking if you can take one level of wizard, do other things, and then get the bonus feat that wizard's get at level 5? I don't think you could do that. If you're just looking to have a level of Wizard to gain spell progression from a prestige class or something, though, yeah, you could do that.

[Pippin]

I may not be understanding something. Are you asking if you can take one level of wizard, do other things, and then get the bonus feat that wizard's get at level 5? I don't think you could do that. If you're just looking to have a level of Wizard to gain spell progression from a prestige class or something, though, yeah, you could do that.
I meant taking 1 level of Elf Wizard (my first level at all) then 4 levels of "standard" wizard and gain the wizard feat.

[DrMotives]

Yes, the OP is talking about the elf wizard substitution levels from Races of the Wild. The level 5 elf wizard sub is losing the normal metamagic or item creation feat to get an archery-related bonus feat, which sucks if you don't want to run your wizard as a gish. RAW, you can always pick and choose when it comes to those substitution levels, you aren't stuck with the level 5 option just because you picked the level 1 option.

[BowStreetRunner]

In fact you could take any of the three substitution levels without the others. So for Elf Wizard which offers substitution levels at 1st, 3rd and 5th you could take 1st and 5th, skipping 3rd, or any other combination you want. In this instance, the OP probably just wants 1st and none of the others, but the flexibility is there regardless.

[Afgncaap5]

I meant taking 1 level of Elf Wizard (my first level at all) then 4 levels of "standard" wizard and gain the wizard feat.

Ah, gotcha. Sorry, I misread the post somehow.

[Pippin]

No problems.

I wonder if taking the substitution level is a smart thing to do, though. I'd usually go with wild gnomes for their +2 Int and +2 Con. This "substitution class" requires an elf, so there's a difference of -4 Con.

The question is, is an additional ninth-level spell slot worth giving up 40 HPs at Lv20?

[Afgncaap5]

No problems.

I wonder if taking the substitution level is a smart thing to do, though. I'd usually go with wild gnomes for their +2 Int and +2 Con. This "substitution class" requires an elf, so there's a difference of -4 Con.

The question is, is an additional ninth-level spell slot worth giving up 40 HPs at Lv20?

Well... 25 temporary hitpoints can be gained with 7th level magic using a Maximized, Empowered False Life (and there are probably, realistically, other ways to get many more hitpoints with magic that don't involve metamagic, that's just off the top of my head.) Wait... three levels for maximize, two for empowered... yeah, 7th level. So, with two seventh level spells you can have more than forty HP. Using the logic that two spells of the same level equals the power level of one spell level higher (I forget which sorcerer feat does that), you're arguably trading an 8th level spell's power for an extra ninth level spell. Now, ignoring the fact that this logical reasoning is full of various issues that I'm hand-waving, I'd say you're still coming out ahead.

Or go with the gnome. Either way. What sort of story do you want to tell? That's what's more important.