3.5 Wizard Build Advice

[Winterwerewolf]

I'm building a wizard for a 3.5 campaign and wanted to ask for advice on a couple things. First I'd appreciate some advice on a prestige class to spec into. The difficulty with that is the DM, while not forbidding me from making an Initiate of the Seven Veils, requested I not make one. I also just don't want to make an Incantatrix. We're starting at level one and even though I recognize that abjuration is useful I just don't like specializing in it. Also I was able to specialize in conjuration and get abrupt jaunt, and I don't want to lose that or be barred from three schools of magic. I've also heard a lot about Mage of the Arcane Order, but my DM advised that with where he is tasking my campaign that would be a bad idea. So ideas for any other useful/strong prestige classes would be appreciated.

I'd also like any ideas you all may have about feats and lower level spells beyond the ones found in the basic player's guide. We have access to practically all the books, but that's a lot if stuff to go through and I'd be grateful for any assistance.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Is there anything specific that you want from a wizard? There is a lot a wizard can do and then there are a ton of good to middling PrCs that are fun to use.

I mean, I have a focused Abyssal Specialist waiting to go as well as a focused Illusionist (I like focused specialists TBH) so what do you hope to get out of being a wizard?

[ATHATH]

Have you read the Wizard handbooks?

[Winterwerewolf]

I want to use him for general battlefield control rather than as a blaster or summoner.

In the backstory I wrote for him he's a bit of a scoundrel and I like the idea of him being a wizard who can do the kinds of thing a rogue can do without ever actually taking any levels in rogue.

So I guess anything that helps in either of those aspects would be great. Although I'm open to anything that seems fun or powerful. I'm even willing to reconsider the summoning thing if there is a really good summoning prc out there.

[Winterwerewolf]

Wizard handbooks? Is that complete mage/complete arcane?

[DeTess]

In the backstory I wrote for him he's a bit of a scoundrel and I like the idea of him being a wizard who can do the kinds of thing a rogue can do without ever actually taking any levels in rogue.
How about a beguiler/wizard/ultimate magus? Taking this on human with able learner gives you a fantastic skill list, a great collection of spells and more spell slots than you could ever need

[Elkad]

So go deep into Conjuration.
Focused Specialist Conjurer, Master Specialist, Thaumaturgist, more Master Specialist, Archmage.

You have someone else in the party to cover enchantment/illusion? (beguiler, bard, etc)


Wizard handbooks? Is that complete mage/complete arcane?
No, player written guides.

https://dictummortuum.blogspot.ca/2011/09/wizards-handbook-part-one-attributes.html
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?498825-the-Conjurer-s-Handbook
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?104002-3-5e-The-Logic-Ninja-s-Guide-to-Wizards-Being-Batman
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?471542-Treantmonk-s-Guide-to-Wizards-Being-a-God-in-D-amp-D-3-5-(Treantmonklvl20-CantripN-Tsuyoshi)

[Winterwerewolf]

I am the only arcane caster in the group. We'll have a divine caster to help with enchantment, but illusion is on me.

I'll check out the beguiler/ultimate magus combo but I'm concerned about losing out on higher spell levels.

Thanks for linking the wizard guides. I'll check them out

[DeTess]

I'll check out the beguiler/ultimate magus combo but I'm concerned about losing out on higher spell levels.


If you take practiced spell-caster(beguiler), you'll only lose two wizard levels if you go beguiler 1/wizard 4/ultimate magus 10/wizard progression 5. This is because ultimate magus only advances lowest caster level at levels 1,4 and 7, and wizard and beguiler will be tied at levels 1 and 4 of ultimate magus if you've taken practiced spellcaster, which means you get to pick which to advance.

Edit: which means you get 9th level spells at level 18.

[Eldariel]

For a Rogue/Wizard, I'd go Rogue 1/Wizard 4/Unseen Seer 10/Arcane Trickster 5. Unseen Seer is in Complete Mage. Loses 1 level of casting but gets metric ton of skill points and 3 non-Wizard Divinations for the trouble (I'm partial to Hunter's Eye, Divine Insight and Choose Destiny). Practiced Spellcaster makes Divination Spell Power have no drawback. You could also take Wizard 5 instead of Wizard 4 for Spontaneous Divination [Complete Champion], which is really good.

For a more traditional Wizard, Divine Oracle, Fatespinner, Master Specialist, Sacred Exorcist, Paragnostic Apostle, Mindbender, Loremaster, Archmage, etc. Those are all examples of fair, fine PRCs that lose no caster levels on key points.

[Mike Miller]

If you are interested in battlefield control and not summoning, then I wouldn't recommend Master Specialist. As a conjurer, you won't be benefitting much from the PrC. Other suggestions people have made are better routes.

[Eldariel]

If you are interested in battlefield control and not summoning, then I wouldn't recommend Master Specialist. As a conjurer, you won't be benefitting much from the PrC. Other suggestions people have made are better routes.

Eh, getting Greater Spell Focus for free is pretty nice even if the other effects aren't. But actually, both Moderate and Greater School Esoterica are really solid for a BFC Conjurer as well; free Quickens and some anti-Dispel features for your Black Tentacles & al. The anti-Dispel isn't that big since many Conjurations can't be Dispelled in the first place but it's very useful for the rest. Also, the caster level bonuses are always nice; bigger Gates when you get there and all the Duration/Range/Anti-Counterspell-and-Dispel features, plus some spell-specific bonuses (again, the quintessential BFC/damage Conjuration in Black Tentacles comes to mind).

And while not major, getting extra spells known without having to spend resources to scribe them is cool. And you can never have too much Spellcraft for understanding unique effects and it enables you to enter Archmage easily later if you so desire as well. Literally the only feature that's not useful is the Minor School Esoterica, which isn't all that in the first place - BFC Conjurers certainly stand to gain quite a bit from Master Specialist as well.

[AvatarVecna]

Middle-Aged Grey Elf Wizard X (Elven Generalist 1 and 3)
Stats (lvl 1, 32 pb): 8/14/12/20/12/7
Rat Familiar
Feats:
HD 1: Collegiate Wizard
Wizard 1: Scribe Scroll
Flaw (Pathetic Charisma): Faerie Mysteries Initiate
Flaw (Slow): Greyhawk Method
HD 3: Insightful Reflexes


At level 1, you have AC 12, HP 9, Fort +3/Ref +2/Will +3, and 16 1st lvl spells in your spellbook. Go straight wizard, no PrCs, and you'll get 9 additional free spells at every wizard level, distributed among your castable spell levels as you wish. At lvl 3, you'll have AC 12, HP 24, Fort +6/Ref +6/Will +4, and have 25 1st lvl and 9 2nd lvl spells in your spellbook. Make sure to pick up a donkey or something to carry you and your stuff around, to mitigate your low Str/speed, use the assistance of handbooks to pick up some nice spells, and you'll be golden. Use your adventuring moneys to pump your Int,
buy more spells, and pick up a Ring Of Sustenance to get a full night's trance in 2 hours.

The big draw with this build is going to be your massive spellbook, which you'll constantly be adding sweet new spells to. In the early levels, you should prepare generally-useful spells in all your slots, because the goal right now is just to survive the early levels. Once you've got more than a few levels under your belt, though, things start getting interesting: you've probably got that Ring by now, so you're rested up in 2 hours, and you can probably convince the DM to start letting you prepare spells. What you want to do is prepare half of your spell slots using 30 minutes instead of the full hour, leaving the other half unprepared. The point to this is that, because of your massive spellbook, you're basically guaranteed to have the perfect spell for a problem available in your book, but not in your prepared spells, so leave those slots open to be prepared later in the day. When you come across a challenge that your generalist spells won't solve, but your specific-tool spells can, take another 15 minutes to prepare a quarter of your spells, and now you have a bunch of spell slots tailored specifically to the problem at hand. Heck, if your group has the time to wait for it, and you need this many slots to pull off something fantastic, take a full 3 hours to take a full trance and prepare all your spell slots for the new overwhelming situation you've found yourself in.

Ultimately, the goal of this build is to have a massive spellbook and the versatility to really abuse it, but it also given it a bit of extra defense. I've used a few feats (Faerie Mysteries Initiate, Insightful Reflexes, and Keen Intellect) to sub Int for Con in regards to HP, Dex in regards to Ref, and Wis in regards to Will. Incidentally, an Elven Generalist with a Rat familiar has another +4 to Fort, which is gonna be your worst save. If you're fine having standard wizard HP levels and Ref saves, drop FMI for Aerenal Arcanist (or maybe Improved Initiative if your DM's a stickler about Regions) and drop IR for Spell Penetration or something equally generally useful to a BFC mage. You'll likely wanna pick up Imp Init and Spell Pen eventually regardless.

Of course, if you want massive versatility for your wizard, it's hard to beat a cheesed-out Shadowcraft Mage.

EDIT: Almost forgot to mention, but if you don't mind having a standard wizard Fort save as well, you can ditch your familiar and Scribe Scroll and your standard spellbook to be an Eidetic Wizard, who picks up new spells by using another wizard's textbook to roll up fat joints. No familiar, no spellbook, no hassle...and no decent Fort save, but who needs that, you're a freaking wizard. :smalltongue: