Prepared Caster Build

[Stuvius]

Good Day Playground!

I will soon be starting a campaign starting at level 2. Allowed materials are core plus any of the ‘Complete’ books as well as the MIC. My experience as a player has included non-spell casting classes and sorcerers but this time I wanted to try a prepared caster. I would like to focus on BFC but still have a few damage dealing spells in the holster if needed.
Any recommendations would be appreciated.

In terms of stats we are rolling for them but the DM is granting each of us an 18 to use wherever we desire.

[TheNivMizzet]

If you want damage wait until level 3 and take Scorching Ray. Spend level 1 covering the field in grease and spamming Color spray at anything that looks at you funny. You're squishy and blinding and stunning every low HD threat at the same time is the first step to reaching level 5, which is where the Wizard's power really takes off. Level 1 spells which are really effective are: Grease, Color Spray, Protection from Chaos (Depends on campaign), Benign Transposition, Expeditious Retreat and Wall of Smoke. Once you get level 3 try to get: Mirror Image, Protection from Arrows, Rope Trick and Invisibility. Between all of them you should be fine. Just survive the early levels and you'll be hooked.

[Troacctid]

You might like the Collegiate Wizard feat from Complete Arcane. It doubles your free spells known at each level, which saves you gp and gives you some nice options. You could also consider picking up a reserve feat from Complete Mage as a "backup weapon" in case you need something to do but don't want to spend a spell slot, kind of like being a bootleg version of a Warlock; Fiery Burst or Acidic Splatter can be taken at level 3 and are basically Eldritch Blast.

I recommend the Spontaneous Divination variant, from Complete Champion, once you hit level 5. It's pretty great having access to all your divinations without preparing them.

If you're interested in battlefield control, consider being a Conjurer. Conjuration has most of the best BFC spells.

You should not spend level 1 covering the battlefield in Grease, BTW. Like Summon Monster I, it's a fine spell, but the rounds/level duration makes it useless if your caster level is that low.

[TheNivMizzet]

You should not spend level 1 covering the battlefield in Grease, BTW. Like Summon Monster I, it's a fine spell, but the rounds/level duration makes it useless if your caster level is that low.

It's fine if you're utilizing it as a Save or Suck for your opponents. With the right application it can turn a fight into a joke.

[Brova]

One major change to note between playing a spontaneous caster and playing a prepared caster is downtime spells. A Sorcerer is not going to spend a spell slot on animate dead or lesser planar binding when he can get evard's black tentacles or cloudkill instead. But a Wizard totally can. And a lot of those spells become totally insane with enough downtime. There's no real limit as to how many things you can hit with planar binding, and each one of them is a reasonably good threat. You should figure out how much you'd like to do with your spell slots in downtime. That can be "nothing" or it can be "win the game". Your choice, really.

Another notable benefit of being a prepared caster is that you get to use spells that are only usable in a certain situation. ray of stupidity isn't a spell you can take as your only 2nd level spell, because it does close to nothing against 90% of enemies. But if you can chose to prepare ray of stupidity only when you encounter the "clear a nest of raptors" adventure, it's awesome because it kills those raptors with no save. Note: ray of stupidity is in the Spell Compendium, so it's not legal for you. But the idea applies to spells like command undead as well.

Some notes on specialization. Almost every school is a reasonable choice for specialization. The exceptions are evocation (because it sucks) and divination (because spontaneous divination is much, much better). Basically, you can find one spell of every level you want to cast in every school, and giving up evocation plus another random school is not much of a cost. The harder question is what to be a focused specialist in. The strategic cost is somewhat bigger, but the real disadvantage is that it costs you a generic spell slot. That's not nothing. Generally, focused specialization in conjuration or transmutation is a safe bet, though necromacy or enchantment can be okay in certain campaigns. Focused specialist illusionists don't exist under the constraints you're under, though they make good Shadowcraft Mages. Here's some notes on specific schools:

Abjuration: This is a okay candidate for regular specialization. dispel magic, protection from evil, and eventually mind blank are all things an archmage would like, but many of them can be cast in downtime. I wouldn't ever give this school up, but it could be a hard sell for actually specializing in.

Conjuration: A big pile of battlefield control and summoning spells, as well as some of the broken things in 3e. Good choice for specialization and reasonable for a focused specialist. I would probably never give it up, considering that it has the best battlefield control, one of the strongest downtime spells, and some decent save or dies.

Divination: Specializing in divination used to be an awesome deal. You gave up evocation (which is bad) and got extra spells (which is great). Spontaneous divination pushed that pretty hard the other way, as you can use your specialist slots for divinations regardless of what kind of specialist you are. You can't give this up, and I wouldn't if you could.

Enchantment: Enchantment and illusion are similar schools. They basically exist to tell people without the appropriate defenses to go home, but don't do much otherwise. Enchantment is easier to counter, but better if it works. I'd basically never recommend being a specialist (a Beguiler is a better you), but I wouldn't ban both this and illusion.

Evocation: Ban this. If you want to do damage, buff a Fighter.

Illusion: Basically enchantment, but worse if it works and better if it doesn't. The line of shadow conjuration spells are good enough that I'd probably ban enchantment over this if I expected enchantment to not work. Specializing is okay, but suffers from the Beguiler problem.

Necromancy: K's Revised Necromancer Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5584). Read the parts on Wizards. Okay to ban unless you anticipate encountering enough unintelligent undead to make command undead insane at low levels.

Transmutation: It's got the most broken spells in the game (alter self and friends) as well as most of the good buffs. Very solid specialization, even for a focused specialist. Weirdly, I think this is basically okay to drop. It does very good things, but those things are generally either buffs (which you might not want) or broken (i.e. polymorph).

Finally, a word on PrCs. Basically, you want to bail out of Wizard after Wizard 5. Spontaneous divination is good enough I wouldn't take Master Specialist, but "improved familiar abilities" isn't enough to make it worth sticking around.

[Troacctid]

I don't think Diviner is a bad choice at all. Only having to ban one school instead of two is nice.


It's fine if you're utilizing it as a Save or Suck for your opponents. With the right application it can turn a fight into a joke.
Color Spray, Sleep, and Cause Fear are save-or-suck. Grease just knocks them prone, which costs them a move action and that's about it. Not only is it just flat worse than putting them to sleep or making them run away, but if you're fighting goblins or kobolds (as level 1 characters are wont to do), you're targeting their strongest save.

Once Sleep and friends fall off in usefulness and Grease gets a better duration, then it becomes a much more appealing use of a 1st level slot.

[Brova]

I don't think Diviner is a bad choice at all. Only having to ban one school instead of two is nice.

Evocation is functionally a free banned school. The only spells you miss there are contingency and invoke magic, which only become necessary in high powered campaigns. And frankly, you don't really want to ban any schools in a high powered campaign. And you can ban one of a enchantment or illusion without losing much. Other schools are rougher, but you can find two you're willing to give up easily.