Help me pick Wizard Spells (Wujen)

[Drache64]

Hello Everyone!

I am playing a Wujen Mystic but the DM has ruled that ONLY the Wujen Disciplines are allowed, so I cannot take any Disciplines from any other Mystic Orders.

That being said my Character is an Investigator who has a strange connection with elements (some experiment run on him in the past that he is trying to figure out), I am looking at some spell choices that fit the play style.

I was thinking Misty Step, Fire Ball, and perhaps Haste, but Haste does not allow me to cast additional powers, so it is not that useful.

Other Posts I found on this topic did not have the restriction of only using WuJen Disciplines so their advice was based on the fact that many other Order's Disciplines could replicate any spell effect, so they were ruling out many spells that could be great recommendations for me, or they were encouraging the OP to not even go Wujen.

Reminder, I can only pick 3 spells at from Spell Level 1-3 on the Wizard list, AND those spells can only be boosted to level 5.

Any recommendations are appreciated.

[Chugger]

how many times can you cast your spells? I don't understand the class you're asking about (is it UA?).

Shield is a stupid-great spell but not if you can only cast it once per day.

Fireball is good - counterspell is amazing if fighting casters (and useless if not).

Haste is okay but not always as good as you want it to be. If you haste a gwm or ss who can actually land those -5 +10 hits, it's great. It's great if a paladin or sorcadin going nova can add one more hit which he can smite on. If it means another 1d8 + 5 that might only be six extra points of damage - that's not so great.

[Drache64]

how many times can you cast your spells? I don't understand the class you're asking about (is it UA?).

Shield is a stupid-great spell but not if you can only cast it once per day.

Fireball is good - counterspell is amazing if fighting casters (and useless if not).

Haste is okay but not always as good as you want it to be. If you haste a gwm or ss who can actually land those -5 +10 hits, it's great. It's great if a paladin or sorcadin going nova can add one more hit which he can smite on. If it means another 1d8 + 5 that might only be six extra points of damage - that's not so great.

Thank you for the recommendations, checking them out now. Mystic is a UA class based on Psionics.

Mystics don't use spells or spell slots, they use power points to cast spell like abilities. But at level 6 my subclass gets to spend power points to create spell slots and learns 3 wizard spells. I'll have 32 power points and I can spend some to create spell slots and cast those spells as long as I have points to spend.

Spell Slot Level/Psi Cost
1st/2
2nd/3
3rd/5
4th/6
5th/7

[Dork_Forge]

The restriction is surprising, so you still have the bonus disciplines but only have the Wu Jen list to choose from?

From the look of it upcasting is what you should look at, you can create up to 5th level slots but you can't learn higher than 3rd. Shield is great but you can already boost your defenses with your disciplines, you said your character is an investigator so how about things suiting to that theme?

Find Familiar would be a great addition for scouting but you can grab that from magic initiate or ritual caster, I'd probably steer clear of 1st level spells to learn altogether. Misty Step is great and you're locked out of the Psionic teleportation, Invisibility is fantastic for stealth investigating (and scales with slots) and for damage Shadow Blade can be upcast (and combined with things like the animated weapon attack from Mastery of Wood and Earth for high amounts of damage).

Edit: how high is this game exected to go by the way? There's only 8 Wu Jen disciplines and you'll have them all by 12th level, with a further two disciplines known as you progress but with nothing to choose from.

[Drache64]

The restriction is surprising, so you still have the bonus disciplines but only have the Wu Jen list to choose from?

From the look of it upcasting is what you should look at, you can create up to 5th level slots but you can't learn higher than 3rd. Shield is great but you can already boost your defenses with your disciplines, you said your character is an investigator so how about things suiting to that theme?

Find Familiar would be a great addition for scouting but you can grab that from magic initiate or ritual caster, I'd probably steer clear of 1st level spells to learn altogether. Misty Step is great and you're locked out of the Psionic teleportation, Invisibility is fantastic for stealth investigating (and scales with slots) and for damage Shadow Blade can be upcast (and combined with things like the animated weapon attack from Mastery of Wood and Earth for high amounts of damage).

Edit: how high is this game exected to go by the way? There's only 8 Wu Jen disciplines and you'll have them all by 12th level, with a further two disciplines known as you progress but with nothing to choose from.

Great advice and questions! The DM ruled that once I run out of all 8 Disciplines, I can dip into any others as at that high of a level it won't be so game breaking. But I suspect this will be a pretty low level adventure. I'm currently level 3 (just planning ahead) and the last campaign he was in lasted about 2 years and I think only went up to level 7, but he wasn't the DM so I'm not really sure what to expect.

My go to combat so far has been: have Frozen sanctuary active for +20 temp hp, summon 2 shadows with shadow beasts (concentration for 1 minute), then blast things will elemental spells.

I like the idea of Mysty Step since I am blocked from nomadic step. Our party lacks casters so I was thinking of looking for a damage spell and what's your opinion on counter spell?

[Dork_Forge]

Great advice and questions! The DM ruled that once I run out of all 8 Disciplines, I can dip into any others as at that high of a level it won't be so game breaking. But I suspect this will be a pretty low level adventure. I'm currently level 3 (just planning ahead) and the last campaign he was in lasted about 2 years and I think only went up to level 7, but he wasn't the DM so I'm not really sure what to expect.

My go to combat so far has been: have Frozen sanctuary active for +20 temp hp, summon 2 shadows with shadow beasts (concentration for 1 minute), then blast things will elemental spells.

I like the idea of Mysty Step since I am blocked from nomadic step. Our party lacks casters so I was thinking of looking for a damage spell and what's your opinion on counter spell?

Unless it was Magic Missile I wouldn't go for a damage spell really, I've played an Immortal Mystic and never had an issue with putting out damage (the Wu Jen disciplines made up most of my list actually), where damage spells would be useful would be in tier 3/4 due to how differently the Mystic scales compared to casters, but you cna't choose spells from those tiers anyway. Counter Spell I'd be very hesistant on unless you had confirmation from the DM that enemy casters would be a somewhat regular thing, otherwise you can end up with a dead spell. You can't go wrong with Misty Step for sure, the biggest issue with blasting spells I can see (besides redundancy) is that your Wu Jen abilities specifiy psionics so wouldn't boost elemental spells.

You've used Shadows (never got the opportunity to learn that discipline sadly, but it sounded awesome), so how about some undead minions that you can dress up in D&D versions of trench coats and hats for some stooges (Animate Dead)? Haste is a pretty great spell, even if you don't have a good martial to boost as you can just crank up your own AC, disengage and stay away from enemies or just pitch in with a shortbow. Tiny Servants and Vampiric Touch are also wonderful spells at that 3rd level.

Feel free if you have any questions about Mystics (or anything else), happy to help!