Thought on gnome war wizard build

[Brenoli]

Hi all,

I am thinking about a wizard build that's not too squishy, but without multiclassing, since I do not want to be behind in spell levels (we level extremely slowly).

I very much like the Alert feat for the bonus to initiative and next to that I need to take care of concentration.

Now I was thinking about a forest gnome (nice advantage on wis/int/char magic saves) war wizard with 16 int and 16 dex and 13 con from start. This gives him standaerd16 AC (with mage armor) and 18 when using arcane deflection). Than I would take resilience at level 4 and int at 8 and 12.

War wizard already gives a bonus to initiative, so I feel that Alert is less of a must have (allthough not getting surprised is obviously nice).

Now from level 4 onward I've read a lot that a feat in order to maintain concentration better is good to have. Typically for most wizards war caster is better for keeping concentration then Resilience (at least at low levels), but as a war caster you can get a plus 4 on saving throw, so if we have 14 concentration through resilience and if needed a plus 4 on save, that would get you plus 8 on save to keep concentration at level 4 and already plus 9 at level 5. At that level I doubt you will get hit with 20 plus damage, so I would think that that would be enough for concentration checks. The nice thing is that at level 10 when you concentrate on a spell, you get a plus 2 bonus on saves as well and since we will often start as one of the firsts (due to tactical wit bonus on initiative), you can often get that bonus right at the start of a battle.

I like bladesinger as well, but I then feel like I have to get 2 feats, Alert and Resilience and I obviously don't want to postpone getting int up too much.

Thoughts? Is this indeed solid?

[Man_Over_Game]

Hi all,

I am thinking about a wizard build that's not too squishy, but without multiclassing, since I do not want to be behind in spell levels (we level extremely slowly).

I very much like the Alert feat for the bonus to initiative and next to that I need to take care of concentration.

Now I was thinking about a forest gnome (nice advantage on wis/int/char magic saves) war wizard with 16 int and 16 dex and 13 con from start. This gives him standaerd16 AC (with mage armor) and 18 when using arcane deflection). Than I would take resilience at level 4 and int at 8 and 12.

War wizard already gives a bonus to initiative, so I feel that Alert is less of a must have (allthough not getting surprised is obviously nice).

Now from level 4 onward I've read a lot that a feat in order to maintain concentration better is good to have. Typically for most wizards war caster is better for keeping concentration then Resilience (at least at low levels), but as a war caster you can get a plus 4 on saving throw, so if we have 14 concentration through resilience and if needed a plus 4 on save, that would get you plus 8 on save to keep concentration at level 4 and already plus 9 at level 5. At that level I doubt you will get hit with 20 plus damage, so I would think that that would be enough for concentration checks. The nice thing is that at level 10 when you concentrate on a spell, you get a plus 2 bonus on saves as well and since we will often start as one of the firsts (due to tactical wit bonus on initiative), you can often get that bonus right at the start of a battle.

I like bladesinger as well, but I then feel like I have to get 2 feats, Alert and Resilience and I obviously don't want to postpone getting int up too much.

Thoughts? Is this indeed solid?

It's quite good for stacking up defenses..the problem is that the things you're saving up for are kinda already countered by being a War Mage. Your staple spell should be Counterspell, so you're unlikely to see the Gnome's Advantage effect actually have much use. If a barrage of tiny cantrips is something your party should expect, there's probably better choices to attack than the mage in the back.

Don't get me wrong, it does what it does well, but it's kind of like stacking dodge rate on someone who's heavily armored. You have two solutions to one problem, and there are a lot more problems to worry about than spells. With the Gnomish Advantage, I'd probably hold off on grabbing one of the two feats, and focus on gaining an ASI.

[Brenoli]

It's quite good for stacking up defenses..the problem is that the things you're saving up for are kinda already countered by being a War Mage. Your staple spell should be Counterspell, so you're unlikely to see the Gnome's Advantage effect actually have much use. If a barrage of tiny cantrips is something your party should expect, there's probably better choices to attack than the mage in the back.

Don't get me wrong, it does what it does well, but it's kind of like stacking dodge rate on someone who's heavily armored. You have two solutions to one problem, and there are a lot more problems to worry about than spells. With the Gnomish Advantage, I'd probably hold off on grabbing one of the two feats, and focus on gaining an ASI.hmm yea, I see that gnome cunning might be overkill. Still it's a good race, but maybe just high elf for a nice perception proficiency. Or do you have other ideas?

I might misunderstand you, but did you agree that with this build Resilience at 4 would be good? And afterwards intelligence to 20. I would think that the bonus to initiative and the bonus to concentration at level 4 (plus some extra hp) addresses the typical weaknesses of a mage enough to focus on intelligence thereafter.

[Corran]

Nice analysis in the op. Another possibility is to play a variant human and grab both alert and resilient con by level 4. Though you are not getting the cool gnome features that way, so there is that to consider. It's a trade basically. If you stick with the gnome, I would try to make the most of that +2 to INT they get, by looking at INT half feats (I am a big fan of observant). Or you could start with a 14/16 in CON and with 17 in INT, grab resilient to push CON to an odd number, and later on use an ASI to bump both INT and CON by 1.

If you end up not taking alert, you might want to use contingency (once you get access to it, so it will take some time) as a defense against surprise (eg if I am surprised, contingency kicks in and turns me invisible, or teleports me, or whatever). It's not as reliable as alert, and a DM can easily screw with that plan (and it also means that you will have not to depend on consistency for other stuff), but it's an idea.

[Brenoli]

Nice analysis in the op. Another possibility is to play a variant human and grab both alert and resilient con by level 4. Though you are not getting the cool gnome features that way, so there is that to consider. It's a trade basically. If you stick with the gnome, I would try to make the most of that +2 to INT they get, by looking at INT half feats (I am a big fan of observant). Or you could start with a 14/16 in CON and with 17 in INT, grab resilient to push CON to an odd number, and later on use an ASI to bump both INT and CON by 1.

If you end up not taking alert, you might want to use contingency (once you get access to it, so it will take some time) as a defense against surprise (eg if I am surprised, contingency kicks in and turns me invisible, or teleports me, or whatever). It's not as reliable as alert, and a DM can easily screw with that plan (and it also means that you will have not to depend on consistency for other stuff), but it's an idea. Certainly very viable, but any of those combination means not starting with 16,16. I like starting with 16 intelligence and 16 dexterity (for the armour and initiative and others bonuses), because if you want 16, 16 later, it will probably be high level. That's why I like the idea if the war wizard with improved initiative. Feels like I get Resilience at 4 and then focus on intelligence at 8 and 12 while I have 16 dexterity from the start.

[Bobthewizard]

Great idea for a gnome War Wizard. Seems really cool.

With War Wizard's bonuses to saves and initiative, I would wait on Res. Con and Alert and bump INT first to make sure your spells stick. So start with 17 INT, then take Observant at 4, then INT to 20 at 8.

[Keravath]

Certainly very viable, but any of those combination means not starting with 16,16. I like starting with 16 intelligence and 16 dexterity (for the armour and initiative and others bonuses), because if you want 16, 16 later, it will probably be high level. That's why I like the idea if the war wizard with improved initiative. Feels like I get Resilience at 4 and then focus on intelligence at 8 and 12 while I have 16 dexterity from the start.

A variant human using point buy and resilient con at level 1 can start with 8 16 14 16 12 8 as an example so you can have both dex and int at 16 plus con saving throws and a 12 left over for wisdom. This build can also have int 20 by level 8 if you focus on ASI and leave Alert or other options for later. The only real problem is that they are a bit inept socially. You could make them average with 10 wis and 10 cha but I'd lean toward the 12 wis for improved save and related skills.