Divination Wizard lvl8 (Storm King's Thunder)

[Corran]

So, in a few weeks I'll be joining my group who are already playing SKT, and they are @ level 8 currently. I will be joining them with a level 8 divination wizard (that much is decided).

The DM told me that the module is difficult and that there is a high kill count till now (3 chars, 2 pets, or was it 4? anyway they die a lot), and he also told me that he is going easy on them. So, that, and the fact that I will be playing an actual wizard for the first time (I played one in 4e but that doesn't count), has me a little intimidated.

The group consists of:
1) Human fighter 8 (melee)
2) Elf ranger 5/ fighter 3 (arcane archer)
3) Dwarf Gunslinger 8 (I guess it's the Mercer's one)
4) Goliath Druid 4/ Barb 4 (I am assuming moon)
5) Aaasimar Paladin (Conquest) 8
6) Human Cleric (Light) 8 (cant make it all the time from what the DM told me)
7) Wizard (Diviner) 8 -that's me!

So, with the group comp, and given that we will be fighting giants most of the time (or so I guess), what spells would you suggest I should take? Any interesting combos you see?
The campaign will most likely continue after the module is finished.

Thanks in advance!

ps: Please no spoilers!

[Clone]

While I haven't played SKT and knowing that line up, I'd personally go Sorcerer simply to grab those twinned Hastes onto your damage dealers, but you said you were Wizard so lets work with that.

I'd choose spells like Banishment which don't target Strength or Constitution (thats hardly spoilers that Giants are strong and resilient) but rather target other stats. Spells which divide the Giant forces and allow you to conquer will help a lot, while spells like Fireball/ Lightning Bolt can help chunk down those big sacks of hit points. If the party doesn't get swarmed you'll be fine, but try have an escape route planned out at all times such as a high level fly for two of them and dimension door outta there.

I haven't fought Giants as a player myself but I have them in my setting so all of this is based off of how I would play them. Hope this helps!

[Gtdead]

The weakest stats of the giants are Dex and Int, followed by Cha and Wis.

My suggestions would be Grease, Suggestion, Web, Slow, Polymorph, Counterspell, Banish and later Hold Monster. Grease and Web target Dex and give advantage to your dpr classes, cs is always good, banish for the cha save and something to use portent on.

Suggestion has potential. From a "you are tired, go to sleep" to "I love you more, help me win". It takes some experimentation to learn what flies with the DM. Careful of the range though.

Slow would be my goto spell against big strong melee enemies. half speed and -2 ac, combined with bless from the priest will help with ranged focus fire.

There is always some use for polymorph. I consider it a spell tax.

Hold monster with portent is amazing in a party with 4 dpr classes in the party. Advantage for ranged, autocrit for melee. I don't see anything without legendary resistance surviving the round.

Anything else should be the standard utility spells, perhaps wall spells if you like them. I'm not sure if I would pick fireball at all but tbh, I can't find anything else mandatory.

[Corran]

Thank you for your suggestions. I can see the benefits of the ideas you presented, and I will be sticking with them.

I did something naughty fellow giants. I looked at the stats of our kin, the MM's giants, and I am trying to figure out optimal strategies depending on which kind of giant me and the group will be facing.

I'm assuming a +5 INT mod (at this point I dont know my stats, cause I'll have to roll them; though the group uses a very advantageous rolling system and we get a free feat, so I assume that a 20 INT is certainly easily achievable even if I want to go with some feats for flavour -looking at you, diplomat). I also leave out hill and storm giants atm, and I will pay little attention to how portent can influence my strategy at this early stage (though yeah, portent and hold monster from next level, even portent and polymorph at this level, is all kind of amazing). I also hesitate a lot to pick up illusion spells, even though int saves is a massive weakness for most giants. Ilussions are not really my style, and I am not really the creative type (more of a planner, than a thinker); so not much to target int saves with.



Success rates

Fire Giant: INT (75%), WIS (65%), DEX (60%), AC (55%), CHA (50%)
Stone Giant: CHA(80%), INT (75%), AC (60%), WIS (55%), DEX (50%)
Frost Giant: DEX (80%), INT (80%), AC (70%), WIS (60%), CHA (55%)
Cloud Giant: DEX (75%), AC (75%), INT (70%), WIS (50%), CHA (50%)



Strategy

1) Use slow (WIS) for fire giants if in numbers, to take away one of their melee attacks and to also help my martial allies land their blows against the fire giants' good AC. Maybe polymorph (possibly used with a portent roll to avoid the 35% miss chance, if against one fire giant with mooks). Suggestion also looks promising, assuming I can make it work. Wondering if phantasmal force is worth it... maybe have it replicate evard's black tentacles (if the DM buys it), for restraining and maybe even doing the 1d6 psychic damage.

2) Banishment (CHA) seems the go-to spell if against stone giants (upcasting it for sure, to get as many as half if possible). Then probably spam them with firebolt or sth that targets AC, while trying to avoid losing concentration on banishment, and letting my allies deal with the enemies in doses.

3) Web, grease and AoE's (DEX) seems to be the best plan against frost giants (web some, grease on some other, and nuke with non-fire spells the webbed ones, possibly with fire spells the greased ones -if the DM allows some extra fire damage due to grease).

4) For cloud giants, same as above. Maybe hold back a bit more on grease than in the case of frost giants above.



Spells
(Your suggestions in bold)

1. Grease (DEX)
1. Find Familiar*
1. Detect Magic
1. Feather fall
1. Mage Armor
1. Absorb elements
1. Shield
1. Tasha's ?
2. Suggestion (WIS)
2. Web (DEX)
2. Misty Step
2. Mirror Image
3. Slow (WIS)
3. Counterspell
3. Fly
3. Fireball / Lighning bolt (DEX)
4. Banishment (CHA)
4. Polymorph (WIS)
4. Dimension Door
4. Arcane Eye

EDIT: +9 more spells!

*Find familiar is just for rp purposes. It wont be used for combat or for scouting. It's just a canary in a cage. I just wanted a magic bird.:smallbiggrin:

These are my starting spells, but on top of them I will be able to start with a few extras (DM ok'ed it). So I am open to ideas about which spells I should add, and if I should drop any of the existing ones.
I am thinking about wall of fire, outiluke's resilient sphere and evard's, do you think it's worth investing in them? Could be put to good use against frost and cloud giants, but since they are 4th level spells I am just not sure.

Oh, I am also allowed 2 magic items in total, from the DMG's tables A and B. If you have any suggestions, feel free to tell me.


Thanks for your suggestions so far, and thanks in advance if there are any more to come!

[Jerrykhor]

For magic items, the general rule is don't pick consumables, and both table A and B are full of them. So that narrows down your options a lot. Its unlikely your party don't have Bag of Holding already, but if they don't, then that is an obvious choice.

The other good picks are:

Cloak of Manta Ray: Impress everyone with your swimming abilities, and swim better than the martials. Also, you cannot drown, ever. Ignore Cap of Water Breathing and Ring of Swimming, this cloak basically is a combination of both (without the stupid bubble around your head)

Helm of Comprehending Languages: Understand any language whenever you want. Also saves a spell known slot if you were planning to get it, and saves the 10 min ritual casting time.

Immovable Rod: You could find many creative ways to use this, like winning bets involving lifting objects

Lantern of Revealing: Great if you don't have darkvision, even better for the see invisible. I'd highly recommend this.

Robe of Useful Items: Get some useful items, but its a gamble, and you'd be the worst dressed Wizard in town.

[Corran]

snip
Thanks for the suggestion (forgot to mention that immovable rod was not for grabs). I will be going with a bag of holding (the group indeed has one, but I wanted by character to carry lots of books with him, so it made sense), and with a rope of climbing, just incase we will need to drag unconscious or dead giants (I am sure there are more efficient ways to do that, but it seemed hillarious to drag one around with a rope - at least the ones that are light enough for the rope to manage, which most of them are). We've got the lantern and there is one cloak of manta ray too, so I guess it doesn't hurt that much to go with second-rate picks.



Pumping this up, in the hopes of getting some further advice on combat tactics against each giant type (fire giants worry me the most, I think - aside storm giants of course).

[Sir cryosin]

Storm kings thunder is not a deadly module. We just finished and we only had one death and it was me doing something stupid. We ran through it with a gunsmith Artificer, Archery assassin rogue, lore bard, and me circle of the shaperd Druid. Spell you want are wall of force, greater invisibility, slow are three I would of liked to have when playing. On a side note go for the clock the let's you swim and breath underwater trust me you'll need it.

[Sir cryosin]

Oh also you don't have to fight the giants. We only fought the hill giants in are game.

[Corran]

Storm kings thunder is not a deadly module. We just finished and we only had one death and it was me doing something stupid. We ran through it with a gunsmith Artificer, Archery assassin rogue, lore bard, and me circle of the shaperd Druid.
Perhaps it's the DM upping the difficulty then, because of many players or just to make it a deadly campaign, dunno (the guy DM'ing does it for the first time, so it might just be a case of inexperience setting up appropriately difficult encounters). Then again it might be because of bad tactics -the fact that they are all martials that target AC makes me think of that, and knowing most of the group already, I know that combat is not their strngth.


Spell you want are wall of force, greater invisibility, slow are three I would of liked to have when playing.
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll definitelly grab wall of force at next level, and I will most likely have slow too (though I wish that spell was a little better). Not sure about greater invisibiity though, I think I can do better with my concentration during combat. I'll probably pick invisibility for some utility though.


On a side note go for the clock the let's you swim and breath underwater trust me you'll need it.
:smallsmile:
Thanks for the tip! Since another PC has it, I am not sure I would like my character to show up with the same item. I guess it's me being weird about it, but oh well. I will be looking at grabbing water breathing of course...:smallwink:


Oh also you don't have to fight the giants. We only fought the hill giants in are game.
Yep, I figure it's not going to be giants all of the time (though that seems to be the case so far for them, from what they told me; I think they have strayed somewhat from the expected course of the module, which is good imo -not a fan of premade adventures). But I would just like to nail down some good tactics for when up against the big guys.
Thanks for the suggestions!