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View Full Version : Making low levels wizards good.



Ssiauhll
2007-07-14, 12:29 AM
If any one has played a low level wizard, you know it can be an exercise in frustration. Of all the classes wizards are hit hardest and have less to show aside from their primary class feature. At low levels (especially before they get third levels spells) a wizard is near helpless. Granted they suck less in the third edition rules, but they are still frightfully useless.

Lolth
2007-07-14, 12:34 AM
Well, Specializing can help, esp. with the optional rules in the PhB2.

Precocious Apprentice and Collegiate Wizard Feats help add some spell oomph.

Mostly, though, being clever and using your other resources (read: party members) to help you get to a useful stage is a main challenge.

Tallis
2007-07-14, 12:55 AM
They're not that great at low levels, but once you hit mid levels they rock. I figure it's just the price you have to pay to be a god later.

Piccamo
2007-07-14, 01:40 AM
Low level wizards rock pretty hard. They have lowish HP, but even before 3rd level spells they can end a lot of encounters with one spell. Read TLN's guide to being batman for more info: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19085

Rad
2007-07-14, 01:46 AM
there are a few spells that allow you to shift the balance of a combat in favor of your party (like grease). See the wisard guide linked above for some ideas.
At low levels it is evident that being a blaster is not doing it... you have too few spells for that. If you get the hang of a different style you'll hardly want to even take fireball later

ByeLindgren
2007-07-14, 02:48 AM
Making a low level wizard good has to do with a good spell selection, specializing for more spells/day, and having a good tank to keep the baddies away (yay, Enlarge Person). Like others have said, see TLN's guide. I honestly believe that guide is much more useful for lower level characters, since wizards essentially go to town with whatever they do after the levels get into the double digits.

Kurald Galain
2007-07-14, 03:48 AM
The simple answer is not playing a blaster caster.

We had a first-level adventure last week, starring two wizard-types. One was an invoker, who could do a shocking 1d4 points of damage with Burning Hands and so forth, and was severely outclassed by our resident archer.

The other (me) was an enchanter. Now apart from simply Dazing creatures until they are dropped by the rest of the team (which proved rather effective), at one point we had a "boss encounter" with an ogre. Quite the challenge for level-ones. But we spotted each other well out of melee range. Round one: I cast Sleep. Combat ends.

Likewise, my first ever character was a wizard, one of those 2-spells-per-day second edition specialists. First ever combat, we meet some fighter type, I win initiative and cast Color Spray. Fighter drops.

And that is why low-level wizards are pretty cool already. Just stock up on SOS/SOL and some utility spells.

Armads
2007-07-14, 04:23 AM
At low levels (especially before they get third levels spells) a wizard is near helpless. Granted they suck less in the third edition rules, but they are still frightfully useless.

Not true. A low-level wizard can arm himself with a scythe (who cares about nonproficiency penalties), and then use color spray/sleep to knock people out and then coup de grace them.

Skyserpent
2007-07-14, 04:39 AM
Do we HAVE to do this?

Really?

*sigh* okay fine...

Low Level Wizards have their array of "Save or Lose" Spells, Sleep, Color Spray among them. They do just fine so long as they have a solid warrior backing them up. It's struggling through your squishy levels that makes you WORTHY of being the utterly game-breaking deific force of nature that is a Wizard.