[3.5] Wizard Character Creation

[Black_Zawisza]

In what order should I prioritize ability scores? What race should I pick to maximize the most important scores? (I'd rather have a PHB class), and should I specialize in a school? I want to be as useful as possible to the team, which I assume means taking care of battle control, right? In that case, which spells should I pick for first level?

I need help with those sorts of questions. If you have any other related tips, those would be helpful as well.

Thanks in advance!

[Reynard]

Int->Con->Dex->whatever.

[Xefas]

Prioritize:
Intelligence
More Intelligence
Good God! More Intelligence, Man!
Dexterity
Everything Else
Strength

Specialization is a good idea. Conjuration and Transmutation are good candidates. Divination can be just as/almost as good if you have access to stuff outside of Core. Evocation tends to be the least useful school to specialize. Enchantment starts out pretty good, but loses luster steadily as levels go up.

Sleep and Grease are good first level spells to pick up for controlling your foes. Remember to tell your teammates to Coup de Grace the sleeping dudes.

[zimmerwald1915]

Prioritize:
Intelligence
More Intelligence
Good God! More Intelligence, Man!
Dexterity
Everything Else
Strength

Specialization is a good idea. Conjuration and Transmutation are good candidates. Divination can be just as/almost as good if you have access to stuff outside of Core. Evocation tends to be the least useful school to specialize. Enchantment starts out pretty good, but loses luster steadily as levels go up.

Sleep and Grease are good first level spells to pick up for controlling your foes. Remember to tell your teammates to Coup de Grace the sleeping dudes.

Illusion can also be a decent choice for specialization. It's a little heavy on spells that allow Will saves, but Enchantment suffers from the same problem only more so. Illusion's real selling point is its relatively small number of extremely versatile spells. This means you can load up your specialist slots with these spells and leave your other slots open for more situational spells, confident that your versatile illusions can carry you through when nothing else seems to fit.

[Black_Zawisza]

What's a good pick for race, though? I'd rather be a PHB race so it doesn't look like I'm min-maxing as much, but if it isn't too obscure or OP I might try it.

[Myth]

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104002

and

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boa...hp?topic=394.0

[gbprime]

Elf is the best. Elf generalist wizard (Races of the Wild) gets bonus spells (per day and in their books) and combines with Domain Wizard (Unearthed Arcana), netting +1 spell per day at every level and an extra +1 at their highest spell level.

Elf also comes with 4 free weapon proficiency feats, which can be turned into other feats by 8th level spells. (or retraining if you have a generous DM)

[zimmerwald1915]

What's a good pick for race, though? I'd rather be a PHB race so it doesn't look like I'm min-maxing as much, but if it isn't too obscure or OP I might try it.

Depends on whether you're planning to multiclass and whether racial favored classes are in your game. If you are and they are, Human is probably your best choice. Grey Elf is good if you want an outside-the-PHB option, and quite flavorful. If you're not multiclassing, then the penalties don't matter, and Gnome or Halfling become good choices. Both get small size bonuses to AC, and provide bonuses to stats you need (CON and DEX respectively), while dumping STR, which you don't care about.

EDIT: Domain Wizard is just a tad OP, IMHO. And does Black Zawisza have Races of the Wild?

[Xefas]

What's a good pick for race, though? I'd rather be a PHB race so it doesn't look like I'm min-maxing as much, but if it isn't too obscure or OP I might try it.

Human or Grey Elf are the best ones. Humans because of the feat, obviously, and Grey Elves because of the +2 Intelligence (remember how I told you to get that, three times?). You just got to weigh whether you, personally, would rather have an extra feat or some more Int for bonus spells, spell DCs, etc.

[Myth]

Actually the best races are Whisper Gnome, Strongheart Halfling or Human. Go Conjurer => Master Conjurer => incantatrix. Give up Familiar for Abrupt Jaunt (PHBII) give up Scrive Scroll for Improved Initiative. Buy Otiguh Hole entry prior to taking Incantatrix for free Iron Will. Win the game.

[BeholderSlayer]

Elves are horrible. Say it again with me, elves are really, really bad.

[Telonius]

Stats have been covered by others. For your race, if you're limited to only PHB races, Human and Gnome are most likely going to be your best options. As a spellcaster, you're going to want extra feats wherever you can get them, and Human definitely helps you out there. For Gnome, if you're a focused illusionist, it bumps up the power of your spells. It also gives you a bonus to Constitution (making you harder to kill), at the cost of Strength (which isn't important to you). There are several "Killer Gnome" builds that focus on illusion magic, particularly with the Shadowcraft mage PrC. The upshot of those builds is that with the right feats, you can get Shadow Evocation/Conjuration spells to be "more real than real" and deal additional damage.

Halfling is also a decent race, especially if you're concerned about saves and defense, but it lacks the oomph of Human and Gnome. On first glance, Elf looks like it could be a good fit. But it's inferior to Halfling in two ways: Con is more important to you than Str, and Elf lacks most of the nifty other stuff that Halfling has. Dwarf looks like it might be good with all the extra stuff you get, but most of its abilities don't mesh well with Wizard. Half-Elf doesn't help you (or anybody else but a silly-maximized Diplomancer) at all, and should go cry in the corner. Half-Orc penalizes your Intelligence - 'nuff said.

[Logalmier]

Human or Grey Elf are the best ones. Humans because of the feat, obviously, and Grey Elves because of the +2 Intelligence (remember how I told you to get that, three times?). You just got to weigh whether you, personally, would rather have an extra feat or some more Int for bonus spells, spell DCs, etc.

Grey elf is actually not the best choice in my opinion. Yes the +2 int is nice, but you also get a -2 to con, which really hurts. Consider strongheart halfling, which gets a bonus feat (huge,) small size, and some nice modifiers and benefits. That or whisper gnome. Grey elf is fine if you're playing a wizard that has a ton of contingencies, planar bound minions, and is using things like abrupt jaunt variants. But when you are fairly new to a wizard and don't have access to all those things, a race without a con penalty is better.

[zimmerwald1915]

Actually the best races are Whisper Gnome, Strongheart Halfling or Human. Go Conjurer => Master Conjurer => incantatrix. Give up Familiar for Abrupt Jaunt (PHBII) give up Scrive Scroll for Improved Initiative. Buy Otiguh Hole entry prior to taking Incantatrix for free Iron Will. Win the game.

Somehow I don't think "win the game" meshes all that well with "I want to be as useful as possible to the team".

P.S. Dragonborn Grey Elf.

[Kurald Galain]

should I specialize in a school?

Absolutely.

See this thread for an explanation why. The in-game power of a wizard is not determined by how many schools he can pick from, but by how many spells he can cast per day.

[Xefas]

Consider strongheart halfling, which gets a bonus feat (huge,) small size, and some nice modifiers and benefits. That or whisper gnome.

Except the OP specifically stated they wanted Core races, of which neither of these are.

[Logalmier]

Except the OP specifically stated they wanted Core races, of which neither of these are.

Ah, my bad. Still, I consider human better then grey elf, especially when specializing. Both races have there benefits though.

[gbprime]

EDIT: Domain Wizard is just a tad OP, IMHO. And does Black Zawisza have Races of the Wild?

I disagree about it being overpowered. You get +1 spell per day, but it is a specific spell like a clerical domain, and the way it's worded you cannot leave the slot open for other things. The selection of domains is limited, and don't contain anything outside of core.

Having the RotW book is a good question, though. Without that, elf is NOT the best choice.

[Myth]

For core only go Human focused Conjurer into Archmage or Red Wizard.

[Tvtyrant]

Your ability score priority depends on what school you specialize in. If it is Necromancer or Evocation it is going to go int-dex-con-other stuff, while if its anything else it gos int-con-dex-everything else. The reason is that Necro and evoke have lots of touch attacks which need to hit, while the others don't.

Races have been covered pretty well: Human or Gnome as best core, etc.

First level spells should include: Color spray or sleep, grease, mage armor, and maybe Magic Missile. Those are priority, the rest are up to the player.

[Tyger]

I disagree about it being overpowered. You get +1 spell per day, but it is a specific spell like a clerical domain, and the way it's worded you cannot leave the slot open for other things. The selection of domains is limited, and don't contain anything outside of core.

Having the RotW book is a good question, though. Without that, elf is NOT the best choice.

I don't know if I would call a Domain Wizard "overpowered" either, but its definitely a top tier choice as far as power goes. You give up... right... nothing, and get a bonus spell per level. Sure, some of the domains are less appetizing, but some are pretty sweet. Conjuration for example gets you

0—acid splash; 1st—mage armor; 2nd—web; 3rd—stinking cloud; 4th—summon monster IV; 5th—wall of stone; 6th—acid fog; 7th—summon monster VII; 8th—maze; 9th—gate

most (all?) of which you'd likely have prepared anyway.

Battle domain sticks you with Tenser's Transformation (yuck) but nets you a free Time Stop once per day amoung other spells.

Transmutation gives you a free haste, polymorph (and baleful) and, oh yeah, Shapechange.

I just changed my mind. Domain wizardry is too good. For NO cost, you get extra spells. Something for nothing is not balanced. Just my two coppers.

[Kylarra]

Domain wizard is a pretty strong choice, but the opportunity cost is fairly significant as well, since specializing usually doesn't have notable drawbacks, even focused specialization, assuming you choose your schools well.

[Duke of URL]

I don't know if I would call a Domain Wizard "overpowered" either, but its definitely a top tier choice as far as power goes. You give up... right... nothing, and get a bonus spell per level. Sure, some of the domains are less appetizing, but some are pretty sweet.
...

I just changed my mind. Domain wizardry is too good. For NO cost, you get extra spells. Something for nothing is not balanced. Just my two coppers.

You're missing the most broken bit. Take a look at the Storm domain. Now see how many of those spells are not on the sorcerer/wizard list. Next see how, in addition to getting the spells as 1/day, they are also now added to your class spells list.

[BeholderSlayer]

You're missing the most broken bit. Take a look at the Storm domain. Now see how many of those spells are not on the sorcerer/wizard list. Next see how, in addition to getting the spells as 1/day, they are also now added to your class spells list.

If, for the most part, the spells weren't so weak....

[Eldariel]

Honestly tho, Gray Elf is a fine race for a Wizard; sure, you have Con-penalty but on higher levels you shouldn't care about that anyways as it's not like you'll ever be damaged, while Dex is still Initiative and Int is actually a good stat (36 Int is an extra 9th level spell at the end of your career and 20 is an extra 1st level on level 1, so the Int bonus hits where it counts). Fire Elf is also reasonable but generally Cha > Str for Wizards thanks to Planar Bindings and the like.

And the Elf Racial Sub on 3 is pretty good; doubling Familiar Bonus to Initiative for example is very convenient, or in general doubling Familiar Bonuses.


If I were to suggest a race, it'd be:
Gray Elf
Fire Elf (some people have also argued that you could combined them for +4 Int)
Lesser Tiefling
Tiefling (if using Alter Self and Polymorph for real, with buyoff it can be worth it)
Neraphim (as above, mediocre without Poly-line stuff)
Strongheart Halfling
Human
Whisper Gnome

Elan also has some uses (Aberration-type) and Warforged has some extremely fringe cases but most of the time an Int-bonus race, an advantageous type, or a bonus feat is what you want. Whisper Gnome is just nice all-around with racial SLA Silence which is very strong early on, and some good hide abilities which make the first levels of play a breeze. Oh, and any of the Int-bonus races makes a decent base for Dragonborn; extra Con, costing Dex. Mostly to buff up your early game at the cost of +1 here and there later on.

[gbprime]

You're missing the most broken bit. Take a look at the Storm domain. Now see how many of those spells are not on the sorcerer/wizard list. Next see how, in addition to getting the spells as 1/day, they are also now added to your class spells list.

2 cleric spells and 2 druid spells, yes. They're not efficient ways to break the game, though, if they even break it at all.

And you do give up SOMETHING for it... the ability to be a specialist wizard.... which gives you a bonus spell per day. So it's a very restricted list of bonus spells, versus a wide field of bonus spells and a lot of forbidden spells (and access to a decent PrC with low entry requirements). Pros and cons to each.

[FMArthur]

My opinion of (normal) wizard races:
Lesser Tiefling > Deep Imaskari = Gray Elf = Fire Elf > Sun Elf > Strongheart Halfling > Human > Venerable Dragonwrought Kobold > others.

I rate +2 Int as being worth more than a feat for a wizard, but maybe some particular specializations do better with a feat. The kobold option starts you with one less feat, which I don't view as a good exchange for an extra point of Int over the +2 races and you're not going to care too much about +3 Wis and Cha.

+2 Int to start at 20 gives you an extra first-level spell (for the levels where you are low on spell slots) and an extra fourth-level spell (which are pretty much where Wizard spells start being ridiculously awesome). At higher levels you won't be starved for spell slots but at the same time you'll be boosting your Int through other means and the advantage will end up giving you an extra high-level slot - and a single high-level spell to use once a day is typically worth much more than one feat. The int also gives you +1 to save DCs, +1 more Abrupt Jaunt use (), and an extra skill point.

Particularly if you're playing with flaws, you're just not going to be feat-starved as a wizard.

[Logalmier]

Particularly if you're playing with flaws, you're just not going to be feat-starved as a wizard.

I agree with all of what you said, including this. I just want to point out though that there can be wizard builds that leave the wizard feeling a little feat starved (archmage I'm looking at you.) In these cases I find strongheart halfling and human better then grey elf. All of those races have their points though.

As for flaws, I never touch em'.