I need help building an illiterate wizard

[Faolin]

I am going to be in a 3.5 game soon, will everything open. So with al of this freedom I am hoping I can get this concept to work.

In the back story I am planning on having my character's knowledge of reading and writing erased in order to escape a trap and forced to be unable to learn letters again or he could lapse back into the trap.

I know geometer will be helpful here as he can still pictures and math. Is there anything else that can make this concept work?

[daremetoidareyo]

A focused specialist illusionist can trade out extra spells for being a specialist 4 spell mastery in 2 Illusionist spells per spell level

[gorfnab]

The Easy Bake Wizard, see handbook in my signature below, is a Wizard build that does not use a spellbook. On a more humorous note, there is this Barbarian "Wizard" (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?195049-Help-Me-Be-Annoying-with-a-Barbarian-Wizard)

[Nifft]

The Easy Bake Wizard, see handbook in my signature below, is a Wizard build that does not use a spellbook.

The best part about the Easy Bake Wizard is that when you find a scroll with a new spell that you want to learn, you find some expensive "incense", roll it up in the scroll, and smoke the whole thing.

[daremetoidareyo]

Complete arcane p.186 with maxed k. Architecure and engineering and a relevant profession/craft skills can build structures to prepare spells from.

It's not easy or cheap, but would be awesome to have a "spell garden" of erected monuments that you use to prepare spells.

With the right spells you can assist other spellcasters to ace their checks in your spell garden to help create new spells known.

[PacMan2247]

Funny thing about wizardry: I'm not entirely convinced literacy is necessary. The class description states that all wizards can prepare read magic from memory, and the spell then allows you the facility to decipher magical inscriptions, including the ability to understand the same inscription in the future without needing the spell again. Even without resorting to the various builds that get around spell books you can have a wizard walking completely unable to read anything non-magical, and needing a spell to read anything outside of a single book. Spells can certainly be recorded as a series of symbols that aren't strictly letters and words as other people can recognize them; that quirk of magical writings is part of why read magic is necessary to begin with.

[Falontani]

Complete Arcane has alternative uses than spellbooks, allowing you to tattoo your body with a few spells. With Geometer's focus on shapes you could tattoo vague shapes all over your body and just use a mirror to prepare spells

[Darrin]

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to do... do you need help with the illiterate part, or the spellcasting part?

Anyway, if you want an illiterate wizard... then make your race neanderthal (from Frostburn), and so long as you don't put 2 skill ranks in Speak Language, you are illiterate. You can fluff it as your character has been put under a curse, or has been polymorphed into a neanderthal. Breaking the "curse" could involve getting a break enchantment cast on you, or some other "quest" requirement.

[Esquire]

Why not... just... be a sorcerer?

[ATHATH]

Why not... just... be a sorcerer?
HERESY.

/joke

[Yogibear41]

Dragon Magazine #344 the Anagakok Wizard ACF is specifically illiterate if I recall.

[Zombulian]

Not necessarily helpful for a Wizard per se, but the Illiterate Trait (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterTraits.htm#illiterate) is pretty neat.


The best part about the Easy Bake Wizard is that when you find a scroll with a new spell that you want to learn, you find some expensive "incense", roll it up in the scroll, and smoke the whole thing.

This tickled me more than I'd like to admit. It's bedtime I suppose.

[Kelb_Panthera]

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to do... do you need help with the illiterate part, or the spellcasting part?

Anyway, if you want an illiterate wizard... then make your race neanderthal (from Frostburn), and so long as you don't put 2 skill ranks in Speak Language, you are illiterate. You can fluff it as your character has been put under a curse, or has been polymorphed into a neanderthal. Breaking the "curse" could involve getting a break enchantment cast on you, or some other "quest" requirement.

Doesn't work. There's an explicit exception for Neanderthal illiteracy when they enter the wizard class.


Not necessarily helpful for a Wizard per se, but the Illiterate Trait (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterTraits.htm#illiterate) is pretty neat.

This gets it done though.

[Zombulian]

Funny thing about wizardry: I'm not entirely convinced literacy is necessary. The class description states that all wizards can prepare read magic from memory, and the spell then allows you the facility to decipher magical inscriptions, including the ability to understand the same inscription in the future without needing the spell again. Even without resorting to the various builds that get around spell books you can have a wizard walking completely unable to read anything non-magical, and needing a spell to read anything outside of a single book. Spells can certainly be recorded as a series of symbols that aren't strictly letters and words as other people can recognize them; that quirk of magical writings is part of why read magic is necessary to begin with.


Dragon Magazine #344 the Anagakok Wizard ACF is specifically illiterate if I recall.

After looking at the Anagakok, I think the uppermost post is correct. Being able to read regular written text has nothing to do with arcane markings. Now if you don't want to be an Anagakok - because they're bad - I think an Easy Bake Wizard -> Geometer with the Illiterate Trait is a good idea. The flavor of being Eidetic works well with being all about shapes.

Edit: Nevermind the Book of Geometry class feature does absolutely nothing for an Eidetic Wizard. I thought that it perhaps reduced the cost of putting spells in your spellbook, but all it does is reduce the amount of pages they take up. Oh well, you'd have to take Scribe Scroll and 9 ranks of Decipher Script to get into that class anyway so it may be rough going if you can't actually read.

[noob]

Why not... just... be a sorcerer?

Sorcerers are not illiterate.
In fact the hoops that allows to get an illiterate sorcerer are the same as the ones who gets an illiterate wizard

[Kelb_Panthera]

Edit: Nevermind the Book of Geometry class feature does absolutely nothing for an Eidetic Wizard. I thought that it perhaps reduced the cost of putting spells in your spellbook, but all it does is reduce the amount of pages they take up. Oh well, you'd have to take Scribe Scroll and 9 ranks of Decipher Script to get into that class anyway so it may be rough going if you can't actually read.

Reduction in page count -does- reduce the cost to put a new spell in your book. The normal cost is 100gp per page, for a geometer it's just 100gp per spell. Alt-scrolls, rather alternate spell completion items, don't have to involve reading. Decipher script, however, does pose something of a consistency problem.

[Zombulian]

Reduction in page count -does- reduce the cost to put a new spell in your book. The normal cost is 100gp per page, for a geometer it's just 100gp per spell. Alt-scrolls, rather alternate spell completion items, don't have to involve reading. Decipher script, however, does pose something of a consistency problem.

W-... wow I'm not sure how I misread that poorly. I thought it somehow said the price didn't change but you only used one page in the spellbook. That's what I get for posting right after waking up.