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Starsinger
2007-06-28, 11:07 AM
I'm playing a wizard, and as I usually play spontaneous casters, I'm having trouble with spell preparation..

Right now I get 4 0 level spells/day and 3 (including bonus) 1st level. Everytime I prepare combatty type spells, I get screwed over and there isn't much if any, combat. Likewise, when I prepare charm person, it ends up being a wasted spell slot. Right now, my spell book is
0- All PHB (We aren't using other supplements)
1- Color Spray, Charm Person, Burning Hands, Magic Missile, Mage Armor, Identify, Shocking Grasp, Alarm, Unseen Servant, and Disguise self.

Is this a problem all low level wizards have? I don't really care about being Batman, but I'd like to be effective in the type of spells I have prepared.

Tyger
2007-06-28, 11:16 AM
Well, at low level, spell choice becomes painfully situational, and if your DM is setting things up and you haven't the foggiest idea what to expect, then you are often going to be in a situation where your spells aren't as effective as you'd hoped. Its the price low-level wizards pay for the [deep voice] phenomenal cosmic powers [/deep voice] they wield at later levels.

Ordinarily, I suggest scribing scrolls at that level, for the spells that you might want to use but not every single day. Alarm, Unseen Servant and Disguise Self are great for that. They are spells that you aren't going to be casting in combat, but can come in really handy. Such low level spells are dirt cheap to scribe (12.5 GP and 1 XP each) if you get any downtime to scribe them in.

Identify of course is not one that you need to have memorized daily. You've got Detect Magic as a cantrip, so if the thing shows up as magical, toss it in a sack and Identify it when you get back to town/camp/the palace.

Shocking Grasp, Magic Missile, Burning Hands and Color Spray are all combat spells (though at low levels, your MM is only as effective as your crossbow) and depending on your party make up you might want to tailor your choices there a bit.

That leaves you free to memorize your <combat spell>, Mage Armor and Charm Person spells each day. Then you are ready if combat does bust out, but can also help out in the social situations too.

Scrolls are your friend. But at low level, that crossbow is still going to be your most used implement in any combat anyway. Later on, things change. Oh how they change. :smallbiggrin:

Matthew
2007-06-28, 11:18 AM
Don't prepare all of your Spell slots after resting. Keep some open for non combat Spells. Then, when you are aware of the problem, prepare an appropriate Spell (15 min) and cast it.

Starsinger
2007-06-28, 11:31 AM
I don't have scribe scroll. I'm not actually a wizard wizard, my DM found a Warhammer 40,000 d20 game and he's a big fan of WH40k. And so I'm essentially a wizard, as the guy who made it just cut paste parts of d20 modern + d&d together for the most part. Anyways, long story short, I'm a 2nd level wizard who doesn't have a familiar or scribe scroll.

But, when do I know when to cast Color Spray? I don't know how many combats are ahead, and its not really fair for me to ask. "Are we going to fight twice more today?" Man... a wizard's version of "fire and forget" is much more different than the "fire and forget" I'm used to from a Sorcerer.. being a wizard is hard. :smallfrown:

Tyger
2007-06-28, 11:35 AM
Ahhh... when to cast those spells. That's a whole other kettle of fish. A lot of it again depends on your RP and your DM. The game I am in has a DM who doesn't really go for the whole "5 encounters a day" formula (or whatever it is) and we can usually count on each day having only one, or maybe two encounters. So spells aren't quite such a commodity.

As for your game, you need to tailor your spell casting to that sort of schedule. And of course, to your RP. Is your caster a patient, cautious sort, who saves his spells because he might need them later? Or perhaps he's a reckless gambler who squanders his magical power on the weak goblins, and then hopes for the best for the rest of the day? It really does depend.

Of course, it all becomes pretty academic in a few levels, when your spells per day get up a bit higher, and you can afford to "waste" a couple here and there.

psychoticbarber
2007-06-28, 11:37 AM
Don't forget, as a Wizard with a decent dexterity, you probably have a crossbow as an option in combat. They do decent amounts of damage and they let you save spell slots for when you really need them!

And they're not too terribly expensive.

valadil
2007-06-28, 11:37 AM
In my experience, if the GM is giving you more combat after you've exhausted your spells, he's usually aware that thats the case and tailors the combat accordingly. I'm not saying to blow your wad in the first combat because you know it'll be fine out of game, but don't fret over it too much.

I've also noticed that as a group advances they become far more effective in combat. This isn't because you level but because the group learns how to play their characters as a group. You've got some adjusting to do, but it will happen as you play. That and having more spells slots will help too.

Also, I'd consider talking to your GMs about the scroll situation. Being able to offload your non essential spells to scrolls is huge for wizards. Are scrolls just not part of the game world? Or did they want you to burn a feat? Homebrewed classes usually need some tweaking, so ask the GMs to tweak things.

Starsinger
2007-06-28, 11:42 AM
Homebrewed classes usually need some tweaking, so ask the GMs to tweak things.

It's not homebrewed so much as it is a tweaked version of the d20 modern mage. In d20 modern you can't take a level of wizard until your 4th level. For this game, the guy added talent trees and bonus feats that the smart/charismatic/dedicated hero class(es) can take to give them caster levels before level 4. Because if anything sucks more than being a level 1 wizard, it's being a level 1 wizard when you're level 4... So I won't have access to scribe scroll until I'm level 4.

Fixer
2007-06-28, 12:21 PM
Leave a couple of your 0 level spell slots open when you memorize spells. Unless you are expecting combat, do the same with one of your first level slots as well. Memorizing spells later only takes 15 minutes of time so you can memorize a spell and cast it (like detect magic to find any magic items in your loot, or read magic if you find a weird scroll, or alarm to protect your campsite...).