First Wizard Character

[SoD]

Just one or two points, I was originally going to take one to the Q&A, but it seemed too vague.

Basically, I've got a new campaign coming up, and, for the first time, I've felt myself wanting to play a Wizard. Specifically, a Conjuror. Even more specifically, a CN Skarn Conjuror called Imshyle Nook, Esh.

We're starting in a large city which is forever in the dark, being covered by a huge dome (think Truman-show-esque dome). Basic Backstory: he's a minor aristocrat, and showed promise (strong and smart), but due to some personality quirks (reckless, happy to charge in without thinking, and more headstrong than normal) his parents sent him off to study under the drow at Dome Central (not actual name). He beleives he was sent off because, well, he's too smart for the local professors of magic.

Personality: Very smart, and happy to show it. Very strong, and happy to show it. Never considers himself 'showing off', as it implies he's trying to proove something. He beleives that conjuration is the best school of magic, and looks down on specialists of other schools of magic and generalists. He especially looks down on the Illusionists, and considers Gnomes in general to be nothing more than mere dabblers. Looks down ever more so on spontaneous casters of all sorts, from Warlocks and Favoured Souls to Sorcerers and Bards. All these opinions, although he's happy to share them, once he gets to know someone who falls into one of those categories, doesn't apply to them anymore, if he likes them. Mind you, due to those opinions, most don't tolerate him.

His basic view on Conjuration vs. Other Schools is thus: "An expert with a dagger may defeat a novice with a sword. However, if the dagger expert meets a sword expert he's dead."

Stats: Str 17, Dex 10, Con 15, Int 18, Wis 8, Cha 9 (Including Racial +2 str, -2 dex).

I'm using one or two class variants: Rapid Summoning (UA), and Focused Specialist (CMage). I'm also considering the Enhanced Summoning variant (UA) although I think I might prefur the more choices bonus feats would offer.

For barred schools, Illusion is a must (for RP "Why bother magicing something that looks like it exists when you could summon the real thing?") and I'm considering enchantment and necromacy (Focused Specialist) as well.

Just to make sure I understand Focused Specialist correctly: For me, 1st level spells: normally I can cast one 1st level spell, plus 1 from high int. Due to Specialist and Focused Specialist I can cast 3 extra conjuration spells per day, but I loose my one 1st level slot I normally have. The same will apply to all other spell levels (including cantrips). Am I right?

I'm going to be taking the ten levels of Master Specialist (CMage) prestige class, and potentially one or two levels in Wild Mage (CArc).

For character traits/flaws: Spellgifted (Conjuration), Quick, Relentles, Abrasive (haven't decided which two). Flaws: Inattentive, Pathetic Wisdom (if I can't find decent feats, I'll scrap the flaws).

How's he sound? What changes should I make, good feat choice(s), etc. Advice enjoyed! I think I covered everything...

[Tempest Fennac]

What are Skarns like exactly? I know you wanted to bar Illusion while having high Str for RP reasons, but swapping Str and Con round and barring Evocation rather then Illusion would be better from a pure optimisation standpoint (Evocation is regarded as a poor choice due to how it's only really useful for blasting, and Conjuration can handle that to a degree as well). I'll need to look up the PrCs later, but it looks good to me (apart from the points I made about barred schools, but I tend to go over the top when optimising anyway, so you may want to ignore me due to having good RP reaons for those choices).

Featwise, Cloudy Conjuration, and Spell Focus (Conjuration)/Augment Summoning are good if you want to use Summon Monster spells a lot.

[SoD]

What are Skarns like exactly?

Typically arrogant, with a lawful bent. They could be said to live to work, and in their little quote describing their race they say: "Nothing is perfect. But a Skarn is close." They're in Magic of Incarnum.

Tea time now, I'll comment on the rest later tonight (give me a half hour, or an hour max).

[Eldariel]

If you have PHBII, you'll want to look at Abrupt Jaunt-variant. It conflicts with Rapid Summoning, so if you'll focus on Summons, there's a slight possibility that you may not 100% want it, but if you're anything but a focused summoner, it's a nigh' must; you get to teleport as an IMMEDIATE action! That means, some mean big troll tries to rip you apart and you teleport 10' away while the dumb thing roars in frustration without being even as much as able to touch you.

Master Specialist requires Spell Focus: Conjuration, so that feat is set for you. While at it, you may as well pick up Augment Summoning (I suggest just picking it up as a feat - Scribe Scroll can be quite handy). Extend Spell is also something you'll want to pick up in near future. Also, you'll want to look at Archmage as Master Specialist seamlessly leads into it (you get the Skill Focus: Spellcraft as a bonus, and you'll already have one Spell Focus, so all you need is another Spell Focus to enter). For other feats, Tempest's suggestions are good. Pick up more metamagic as you go, consider some more summon-stuff and you're good to go. One number is feat called "Precocious Apprentice" from Complete Arcane. That allows you to cast one level 2 spell on level 1. Something to consider.


For schools you'd want to give up, Evocation is the consensus worst school. The primary reason why it's so easy a choice is that it just doesn't offer much you couldn't replicate with other schools. Necromancy is quite powerful for few spells (Enervation, Avasculate, False Life, that line of things), but beyond the peak it offers little, so it's a possibility to give up. Illusion is rarely a something you can afford to give up simply because most of the effective defensive magic (Invisibility, Mirror Image, Displacement, Blur, etc.) comes from Illusion, and it gives you Shadow Evocation to replicate the Evocation-spells you gave up.

You could make do without Illusion, but that'll make your life considerably more difficult. The more popular choice for third school is Abjuration (besides Dispel Magic-line and Maw of Chaos, the whole school is pretty forgettable - as long as you've got another caster Dispelling Magic for you, Abjuration is doable) or Enchantment (but if your character is something of a manipulator, keeping enchantment is a must - it has lots of goodies, just nothing must have which is why it's relatively easy to give up in the end). So yea, Evocation/Necromancy/Illusion is a fully possible line if you want to go for it, but you'll feel the sting of giving up Illusion (doubly hard without Abrupt Jaunt - you've probably achieved a shorter lifespan by that combination of choices). One option would be not giving up Illusion, but instead RPing it by only learning those spells that aren't actually illusions, but rather protection (such as Invisibility and company) - the RP limitation you placed seems to only apply to the "Image"-line and overall offensive Illusions.


As for your stats, Wizards don't wear armor, so I suggest you switch Strength and Dex around unless you actually intend on fighting in melee. Being Dexterous would run a smaller risk of having a spear stuck in your chest.


And yes, you understood Focused Specialist correctly. You'll have 1 level 1 spell by default. Then you'll have 2 because of high Int. Then Focused Specialist costs you 1 of them and gives you 3 Conjurations instead. So you end up with 1 any slot and 3 Conjuration-slots.

[Swooper]

Hmm, avoid Precocious Apprentice. It's only useful for cheating your way into some PrCs if you go with that interpretation of it (and really, that's a pretty silly interpretation).

A better feat to take at 1st level is Collegiate Wizard, which not only fits your concept, but is pretty awesome. You get 3 extra spells in your spellbook at 1st level and when you level up, you get 4 free spells instead of only 2. If your DM is the kind who doesn't give out full WBL, this feat rocks. If he does... there might be better choices, but this is still pretty solid. As a bonus, you get +2 to Knowledge Arcana.

Other than this, I don't really have much to add. The rest of the advice here is mostly good.

[Red Machine D]

With that build I'd go for Transmuter instead of Conjurer, but that's just me. Love the backstory and fluff though.

[Eldariel]

Hmm, avoid Precocious Apprentice. It's only useful for cheating your way into some PrCs if you go with that interpretation of it (and really, that's a pretty silly interpretation).

Meh, Precocious Apprentice doesn't scale well, but on level 1-~5-6, it's going to be very solid as first a spell of a level normally unavailable to you and later as an extra level 2 slot. Past level 6, you'll have "enough" level 2s anyways, so it kinda loses its value, but for a lowlevel game, it's great.

[Red Machine D]

Meh, Precocious Apprentice doesn't scale well, but on level 1-~5-6, it's going to be very solid as first a spell of a level normally unavailable to you and later as an extra level 2 slot. Past level 6, you'll have "enough" level 2s anyways, so it kinda loses its value, but for a lowlevel game, it's great.
You can NEVER have enough Melf's acid arrows!

...

...

I'll shut up now.

[Eldariel]

Luckily Melf's Acid Arrow is in my banned school. Else I may accidentially mark it on my list instead of a spell that's actually more useful than a Crossbow. Can't have that, can we?

Now that I think about it though, the extra 2nd level slot could be valuable for quite long since we're talking about a Focused Specialist, so even a level 6 Wizard only has 3 open slots and he'll only ever have 5-6 (depending on how high his Int is). Seeing that level 2 is the dumpslot for all the utility, the extra slot can go a long way (although lack of Illusion would again make it far less important, go figure).

[SoD]

With that build I'd go for Transmuter instead of Conjurer, but that's just me. Love the backstory and fluff though.

Thanks for that, although I think I'll stick with Conjurer.

In general: I don't need a hugely optimised character, which is why I've put the stats in places where they're not hugely useful (e.g. 15 into str, and 12 into dex), and the flaws (pathetic wisdom, as opposed to charisma). One of the reasons that he doesn't need to be hugely uber-tough is: we've got a large group (DM+6 players, and quite a few more who are willing to play...we keep them as reserves), a lot of combat encounters we manage easily. Also, one of our lot is an insane power-gamer (he makes good characters, flavour and RPwise, they're just always a lot tougher than they should be. He shouldn't be able to deal 1d10+4d6+4 damage at first level...but he did). Also, where can I find Precocious Apprentice and Collegiate Wizard? Collegiate sounds good, both from optimisation and backstorywise, but I'm not hugely sure what book to crawl through.

And on Abrupt Jaunt, yeah, the 10 foot teleport sounds great, but I still like the idea about the summoning spells having their casting time bumped down to a standard action. I may still change it if convinced otherwise though. What do we think about the Enhanced Summoning variant? Worth it? I'm undecided on that.

And on stats: no, he's not designed to be melee, as most wizards are, however, the high str is partially RP as well, although I may swap the con and dex (but not if I take the quick trait [+10 movement speed, -1 hp per level]).

What traits do we think? I've picked them with RP in mind more than anything else (except spellgifted, that's partially power as well). Spellgifted: a bonus to the CL for conjuration...is it worth the lower CL for all other school (keeping in mind that there's 3 barred schools)? Quick: even though he's a wizard, he spends a lot of time improving his physical fitness, including running marathons, and sprinting, as well as weight-lifting, etc. Relentles: I can see this guy going until he collapses. Reckless: fits him like a glove, as does Abrasive fit his personality.

Also, when people suggest things, if they could cite a book please? Thanks to people so far.

[Eldariel]

All I'm worried about is your survivability. Low Dex means that even with Mage Armor, you'll have AC of around 14, and you're dead in one arrow. Since enemies tend to focus casters (as they're the most damaging opponents), your life expectancy just doesn't look terribly good with low Dex (with your Con though, a few levels in you'll be fine). Abrupt Jaunt would go a long way to keeping you alive, as would increasing your Dex.

That's all I'm worried about - I always strive to not see characters come to a sudden end in the hands of a lucky arrow from a Goblin. In general, crunch doesn't get in the way of RPing; you can make the crunch fit. But the other way around has the dangerous side effect of shortening your life expectancy.

As for the feats, it's Complete Arcane pg. 181 - they're training/background feats for arcane casters.

[SoD]

Ooh, Collegiate Wizard sounds perfect! Taking that one.

Edit: How's this for a spell list: Sheild, Mage Armour, Summon Monster I, Identify, Magic Missle, Enlarge Person, Fist of Stone, Lesser Orb of Fire, Master's Touch, Kelgore's Fire Bolt.

All first level.

[CASTLEMIKE]

The enhanced summoning variant http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/specialistWizardVariants.htm#enhancedSummoning

Enhanced Summoning (Ex)
At 1st level, a conjurer using this variant gains the Augmented Summoning feat for free instead of the Scribe Scroll feat.

Prereq for Augmented Summoning is Spell Focus Conjuration so basically trading one feat for two that work well with the Master Specialist PRC

Here's an interesting feat for your PC if you can swing it once your conjurer has a few levels and they can stay around awhile: The Nexus Method allows spontaneous Summon Monster many with useful spell-like abilities for more utility just look up some of the Summoning threads and make a few 3" by 5" summoning notecards.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080818a

Think hard about the Malconvoker PRC in the future barring that an Arcane Disciple feat for the Summoning domain could qualify your PC for Thaumaturgist.

[SoD]

About Enhanced Summoning: yes, you loose Scribe Scroll, and gain Augment Summoning, and your summoned creatures get better bits and bobs as they level up, but you loose the bonus wizard feats, which I was thinking might be useful, providing more possibilities being able to choose from feats instead of having to have these bits. Also, although I'm a Conjuror, I'm wanting to do more than just summonsummonsummon.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

About Enhanced Summoning: yes, you loose Scribe Scroll, and gain Augment Summoning, and your summoned creatures get better bits and bobs as they level up, but you loose the bonus wizard feats, which I was thinking might be useful, providing more possibilities being able to choose from feats instead of having to have these bits. Also, although I'm a Conjuror, I'm wanting to do more than just summonsummonsummon.You enter MS at 4th level, so losing the feats isn't bad. You wouldn't get them anyways. Look at Spell Compendium for good spells.

[Eldariel]

You need Grease if you're a focused Conjurer. It's by far the best level 1 Conjuration-spell for combat. Grease the Fighter's weapon! Grease the land under the opposing army (makes them not only slip, it also makes 'em flat-footed unless they have 5 ranks in Balance [and nobody does] - have the Rogue go to town)! Grease the grappled ally's clothes (something like +10 to escaping grapple)!

And since you're forced to prepare 3 1st level Conjuration-spells, you'll really want something usable in combat in those slots (you shouldn't spend your time with Lesser Orbs and Fire Bolts on level 1 yet - those don't come with a save attached, and on level 1, the damage is really around the same you could deal with a Crossbow, and as you'll only have so many slots, you better make 'em count). So add Grease. Over anything. Oh yeah, one more spell you absolutely want: Benign Transposition. It's a level 1 Conjuration that switches the place of you and one willing subject. So switch place with your familiar to get outta trouble (you picked Obtain Familiar, right?). Or switch place with the party fighter to give the Ogre something to think about. Or switch places with the guy with a bad Jump-check to get over the chasm, then Jump again. The uses are endless. I'd prepare one daily, even on level 1 (when the slots are the most valuable).


Also, what did you end up banning? Finally, note that Augment Summoning requires the same feat as Master Specialist, so it's really a 1-for-1 trade as you'll have to pick up Spell Focus: Conjuration anyways.

[SoD]

Right, Grease is on the list. And where is Benign Transposition from? Sounds brilliant! I'll replace Orb of X and Kelgore's Fire Bolt with those two, I think.

And barred schools: Illusion, Necromancy, Enchantment.

Illusion is out, no matter what. I'm not budging on that one. I know I'm missing out on some brilliant spells, but there's no way it'll fit this character. I'd like evocation but don't hugely need it. Necromancy and Enchantment might be changeable though.

Question: When I take the variant which gives whatever, but I "forever give the ability to obtain a familiar" (I think that's exact wording), does that bar me from the Obtain Familiar feat?

[Glimbur]

It's a minor point, but if you're going to take Wild Mage in the future and don't mind a bit of cheese take Practiced Spellcaster from Complete Arcane. The way I've heard it described is that Wild Mage reduces your Caster Level by 2 or 3 [I forget which] and then you roll 1d6 every time you cast a spell and add that to your caster level. So, on average you're at about your normal CL. Add in Practiced Spellcaster and you just got 1d6 bonus Caster Level because the feat counteracts the penalty and the bonus is applied later. Your DM might disagree though.

[SoD]

It's a minor point, but if you're going to take Wild Mage in the future and don't mind a bit of cheese take Practiced Spellcaster from Complete Arcane. The way I've heard it described is that Wild Mage reduces your Caster Level by 2 or 3 [I forget which] and then you roll 1d6 every time you cast a spell and add that to your caster level. So, on average you're at about your normal CL. Add in Practiced Spellcaster and you just got 1d6 bonus Caster Level because the feat counteracts the penalty and the bonus is applied later. Your DM might disagree though.

Thanks for that, and it's an interesting, if not cheesy, way to heighten the CL. I'll mention that to him, although I think that it's a bit cheesy for my taste. And Wild Mage drops your CL by 3. Hmm. *thinks*

[Eldariel]

Right, Grease is on the list. And where is Benign Transposition from? Sounds brilliant! I'll replace Orb of X and Kelgore's Fire Bolt with those two, I think.

It's most recently in Spell Compendium. It's probably been in another source before - perhaps Complete Arcane or some Dragons-book.


Illusion is out, no matter what. I'm not budging on that one. I know I'm missing out on some brilliant spells, but there's no way it'll fit this character. I'd like evocation but don't hugely need it. Necromancy and Enchantment might be changeable though.

Evocation actually gets better when you ban Illusion, since you'll miss out on Shadow Evocations. Here's basically what both bring to the table:

Evocation: Contingency, Wall of Force, Force Cage
Necromancy: False Life, Enervation, Stinking Cloud, Avasculate, etc.


So, Necromancy has the more powerful offensive stuff while the higher level defensive stuff is in Evocation. Either is a good choice - I'm personally so drawn to Contingency that I'd take Evocation just for it, but early on, False Life is (literally) a Life-saver - gets that crappy HP of yours up a bit.


Question: When I take the variant which gives whatever, but I "forever give the ability to obtain a familiar" (I think that's exact wording), does that bar me from the Obtain Familiar feat?

Well, you can interpret it in many ways, but to me it just means "you trade familiar for benefit". Obtain Familiar getting you one should be no problem.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

No, it just takes away automatically gaining a Familiar as a class feature. I would ask the DM if you can start with Abrupt Jaunt, and take Obtain Familiar at 3rd level in order to gain Rapid Summoning in place of it. There are better uses of your actions in combat than casting Summon Monster 1 anyway, and if you want to cast it to clear a trap the casting time won't matter.

Magic Missile isn't worth casting or even having until 5th level, don't bother getting it until then. A Lesser Orb or Ray of Flame (SC) would be much better in the low levels. You should definitely consider switching your Str and Dex, and maybe even Point-Blank Shot and Precise Shot if you plan on taking a lot of ranged touch spells.

I'd ban Evocation instead of either Necromancy or Enchantment. The only things you'd end up missing would be Contingency, Wall of Force, and Forcecage, since Conjuration can do everything else Evocation can but without allowing for SR.

You should consider taking Thaumaturgist (DMG), which you can qualify for with the feat Arcane Disciple (CD) for a domain that gets Lesser Planar Ally, such as Summoner (SC). Start out Conjurer 3/ Master Specialist 4/ Thaumaturgist 5, and you can get an overpowered Ghaele Eladrin as your Planar Cohort at level 12. After that maybe take more Master Specialist or some Wild Mage and take something like Archmage or Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil, maybe grab one level of Mindbender if you switch out Evocation for Enchantment like I suggested, which will qualify you for the broken feat Mindsight (LoM p126).

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

It's a minor point, but if you're going to take Wild Mage in the future and don't mind a bit of cheese take Practiced Spellcaster from Complete Arcane. The way I've heard it described is that Wild Mage reduces your Caster Level by 2 or 3 [I forget which] and then you roll 1d6 every time you cast a spell and add that to your caster level. So, on average you're at about your normal CL. Add in Practiced Spellcaster and you just got 1d6 bonus Caster Level because the feat counteracts the penalty and the bonus is applied later. Your DM might disagree though.

No, they answered that in the FAQ. Wild Mage applies a -3 to your caster level, but +1d6 for each spell, both as part of the same effect. You can apply Practiced Spellcaster either before or after this effect, but not in the middle of it. So if you apply it afterward, your caster level will never be below your character level if you roll low on the 1d6, but if you roll 3 or higher on that then Practiced Spellcaster does nothing.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

No, they answered that in the FAQ. Wild Mage applies a -3 to your caster level, but +1d6 for each spell, both as part of the same effect. You can apply Practiced Spellcaster either before or after this effect, but not in the middle of it. So if you apply it afterward, your caster level will never be below your character level if you roll low on the 1d6, but if you roll 3 or higher on that then Practiced Spellcaster does nothing.FAQ is not RAW! Modifiers are applied in whatever order the PC wants them to be.

[CASTLEMIKE]

About Enhanced Summoning: yes, you loose Scribe Scroll, and gain Augment Summoning, and your summoned creatures get better bits and bobs as they level up, but you loose the bonus wizard feats, which I was thinking might be useful, providing more possibilities being able to choose from feats instead of having to have these bits. Also, although I'm a Conjuror, I'm wanting to do more than just summonsummonsummon.

It's a good choice for a Conjurer who will be PRCing in the future.

Another good conjuration spell is the level one Sticky Floor from Races of Dragon for slowing down pursuit and battle field control with a duration at 1 hour a level although not as well known as Grease. Sculpt Spell feat works well with it.

[Eldariel]

It isn't really mentioned that much since Grease tends to be better - few spells are quite as versatile. Heck, you could do all basic Wizard's jobs by just preparing 4 Greases for the first level.

[CASTLEMIKE]

Maybe but the primary reason is probably that Grease is a Core spell and Sticky Floor comes from a more obscure source book so is much less well known.

Original spell research for the L2 Greased Sticky Floor needing to save against both effects.

[Chronos]

Just a word of warning, you do realize that with that backstory, you're just begging the DM to put you up against a Killer Gnome build, right? Let's see where that contempt for gnomes and for illusions goes when a gnome starts throwing illusions at you that are more real than reality itself.

For later levels, some spells you really absolutely want to pick up:

Web simultaneously takes you out of danger and stops everything in its tracks. Some things can manage to move when webbed, but not very much, and even that only if they make their saves.

Glitterdust is an area-effect Will save-or-suck that isn't mind-affecting and doesn't offer SR, so it works on pretty much everything. As a bonus, it also makes it almost impossible to hide, without a save.

Stinking Cloud is an area-effect Fort save-or-suck-even-worse. For extra style points, lead off by Webbing things, then put a Stinking Cloud on top of them where they can't escape from it thanks to the Web, and follow up by sending in summoned monsters immune to the Cloud (lemures from SM II or elementals from SM III). Note that Web does not do anything to creatures entering the area after it's cast.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

FAQ is not RAW! Modifiers are applied in whatever order the PC wants them to be.

Normally I would agree, but both the -3 and the +1d6 come from the same class feature, and when choosing what order to apply bonuses and penalties you must apply that class feature as a whole. Note that it's only in the FAQ that says you get to choose what order to apply your bonuses and penalties, so unless you pick and choose what parts of the FAQ to ignore and which ones to follow, the trick doesn't work anyway.

[xelliea]

go for it, however i like echantment more

[Leon]

Latching onto the Topic - Im a 1st time Wizard player with a fairly rock solid concept


On the topic of Wizards and schools, what would be a good second school for a Abjurer to lose. Necromancy is the first
All of the others have elements that i really like/find useful

I normally play Sorcerers but this is a change of pace and style.
I guess many will suggest Evocation but im leery of that as it has a few [Light] spells and they fit well with the concept among the various other good blaster spells.

Conjuration is what ive been weighing up on the most, due to the Teleportation and Summoning Subschools but aside from those there are some useful tools in it (like mage armour)


A Bit of background.
This is a NG Human Wizard of the Order of Illumination*
I'd probably take Arcane Disciple and a Domain that suits the God/Ascendant
Not sure what Feats are 100% yet
Contemplating the variant in UA (swapping a familiar for a Animal companion)
Or just dropping the familiar for the Flaw: Loner as Familiars don't suit the concept i have of a OoI mage


* Iron Kingdoms Infernal/Undead Hunting organization
(Hence why Necromancy is banned and Conjuration is iffy)

[CASTLEMIKE]

On the topic of Wizards and schools, what would be a good second school for a Abjurer to lose. Necromancy is the first
All of the others have elements that i really like/find useful

What level wizard and will he be PRCing into something like Anima Mage or Beguiler or Sorcerer with the Ultimate Magus PRC which could plug a few holes?

[Leon]

Starting level 6, Anima mage looks good but no for this PC

Sacred Exorcist is a good bet on a PrC in later levels

[CASTLEMIKE]

Couple of options:

Go Binder Anima Mage using the page 15 Tome of Magic Binder Adaptation with Celestials instead of Vestiges

Abjurer -1 using PAFT, Binder-1, Anima Mage -4. Takes two feats Precocious Apprentice Feat Trick from Complete Arcane and Improved Binding feat so taking Two flaws probably the best way to go.

Go Abjurer -1 with Precocious Apprentice to go Master Specialist -4, X-1 and take the Greyhawk Nexus Method feat if you really want to lose Conjuration. Take the Craft Wondrous Items feat so you can prorate Boots of Teleportation (Usable 1/day instead of 3/day is 1/3 the standard market cost) if NPC crafters are not a option in your campaign.

http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Nexus_Method,Dragon

One of the Abjurer variants is Resistance to Energy instead of a familiar.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/specialistWizardVariants.htm#evokerVariants


What about Beguiler -1 with Abjurer -3 to take Ultimate Magus -2 if you like skills and skill points?

Then you can drop Enchantment or Illusion since Beguiler will cover most holes in your Abjurer spellcasting. With Practiced caster you can cast as a Beguiler - 2 +1CL for Arcane Power, Abjurer - 5 +1CL for Arcane Power.