D&D 3E/3.5 3.5E wizard build for old newbie

I restricted myself to core material for suggestions, based on the OP's comments, though in hindsight I should've mentioned a few other things in the SRD and such.

Take a look at the Hypertext d20 SRD's Variant Rules section for wizard and specialist wizard options, and see if any of those interest you.

Also, it somehow slipped my mind by the time I wrote up the spells suggestion to recommend the 4th-level Conjuration spell Black Tentacles. It can be very useful, but since you'll already have some battlefield control otherwise, it may or may not be so good. Solid Fog, Stinking Cloud, and Cloudkill are also handy, but only in the right situations; you don't want to catch you and your allies in those spells' area within a dungeon, cave, castle, or whatever.


For ability scores, I just suggested what would be a good choice for survivability/effectiveness. Of course it's fine to go with choices that better fit the character concept; but the OP didn't suggest a specific concept beyond specialist evoker who's a typical elven wizard. Thus likely to be aloof and rather uninterested in what lesser folk think, so low Charisma is just fine. A bookish wizard is going to have low Strength, though an elven wizard might start out with average Strength if he practiced swordsmanship more often.

Sure, it'll hurt if he gets grappled, but the whole point is to avoid getting grappled in the first place; wizards are as good as dead if they're caught, regardless. If he's lucky, he might pull off a Dimension Door while grappled, if he's of sufficient level to cast it in the first place, but if he's doing his job of battlefield control that shouldn't even come up. Even a fighter or barbarian has trouble escaping the grip of most things that would want to grapple an adventurer, because most such things are freakin' big and freakin' strong and far outclass the warrior's unarmed/dagger-wielding damage in a grapple.

BTW, what lv is the OP starting at anyways?

Thanks for all the input. I did neglect to mention that we're starting at 1st level. More info: I'm leaning towards a weasel familiar (mostly for style, but the Reflex boost certainly isn't bad); and we actually rolled stats and I got an incredible set, so Int 18, Dex 19, and Con 16 after racial mods.

To those who suggested *not* playing an elven wizard, I hear you. In fact, I arrived at my character choice via the Costanza philosophy of doing the exact opposite of my instincts. I've always avoided playing elves and wizards, so I'm going to play an elven wizard.

That said, the philosophy only extends to the initial selection; I'm certainly not going to do apply the same logic to, e.g., feat selection.

If you are doing elf wizard, do at least consider the generalist wizard variant from races of the wild. It's a level 1 racial substitution level for elf wizards if they don't specialize and really the only perk to being an elven wizard.*

If you can't look at races of the wild, it is also detailed here on page 145: http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/rules/DnD3.5Index-Classes-Base.pdf

Crystalkeep is good in general for looking up stuff from splat books, though it's best to look in the actual book for the full picture most of the time.

*And if you do this, to further cheese generalist wizardry for all it's worth, also use the domain wizard variant from Unearthed Arcana, or online on the SRD: Variant Character Classes :: d20srd.org
You gain an extra spell per level just for not specializing! Arguably, you couldn't do this AND take the elven substitution level, but it's worth a shot.

I still don't like the idea of the elven wizard sub, because it requires that you do not specialize, and I think it is generally better to specialize whenever you can. Being able to learn any spell in the game isn't much help when you have only so many slots to fill them with. Ban 2-3 schools, and you should still have no trouble filling your extra slots with spells you want/need.

Are you using Spell Compendium? If you are, here's some low level spells to consider:

* Amanuensis (0): easily and quickly copy nonmagical text. The academic's friend.
* Benign Transposition (1): A spell without antecedent in the core, which is cool. Even better, it's fun, fun, fun! You get to switch two allies position on the board. In melee combat? Switch yourself with the party cleric! Or the rogue leaps in to do a sneak attack on round one, then you get the rogue out of harm's way by switching him with the fighter.
* The orb spells: scaling damage.
* Sonic blast: damage plus deafness.
* Thunderhead: not the best mechanically, but, come on, who doesn't want to be able to conjure a thundercloud over someone's head and have little lightning bolts strike them?
* Ray of Clumsiness: To the extent that you believe that Dex is a god-stat is to the precise extent that you believe that this spell is better than the core's Ray of Enfeeblement.
* Malevolent Miasma (2): area of effect nonlethal damage.
* Baleful Transposition (2): switch any two creatures on the board.
* Bonefiddle (2): One of the grossest direct damage spells out there.
* Ray of Sickness (2): Hit target with ranged touch attack and there's no save against being sickened for 1 rd/level.
* Greater Slide (2): Move creature 20 feet.
* Servant Horde (3): 2d6+1/level unseen servants. Use Polish mine detectors to set off traps without that pesky moral pang.

Dingleberry said:

a straight-up iconic elven wizard - an academic, fresh out of the wizard college, now itching to do some field work.

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Then the Collegiate Wizard feat is your friend:

Collegiate Wizard

You have undergone extensive training in a formal school for wizards.

Prerequisites: Int 13, wizard level 1

Benefit: You begin play with knowledge of six 1st-level spells, plus 1 per point of Intelligence bonus. Each time you gain a wizard level, you may add four spells to your spellbook. You gain a +2 bonus on all Knowledge (arcana) checks.

Normal: 1st-level wizards begin play with knowledge of three 1st-level spells, and add two spells per level to their spellbook.

Special: You can take this feat only as a 1st-level character

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It's from Complete Arcane, but it's actually in the back of the book (p. 181) in a sidebar. The feat is designed for "mages who have trained in a dedicated college or academy" because they have, apparently, learned "different approaches to spellcasting" from the more traditional apprentice-master learning relationship.

Runestar said:

Stats have nothing to do with it. Just run one and see for yourself.

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1) Statistical analysis has everything to do with it if you're claiming:

It has been more or less proven that a wizard's forte is not blasting, but rather, battlefield control (specialization in conjuration).

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as a fact not an opinion.

Statistics would be exactly how you evaluate the veracity of such a statement.

2) I have run wizards. Remember this?:

Said as one who prefers to run Transmuters and Diviners.

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My reasons for running those builds are personal- those do what I like.

The guy in our group who runs wizards 85% of the time over the last 20 years?

Primary shtick: Blaster, 100% of the time.

StreamOfTheSky said:

*And if you do this, to further cheese generalist wizardry for all it's worth, also use the domain wizard variant from Unearthed Arcana, or online on the SRD: Variant Character Classes :: d20srd.org
You gain an extra spell per level just for not specializing! Arguably, you couldn't do this AND take the elven substitution level, but it's worth a shot.

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Ooo, I do like the domain wizard variant!

Barendd Nobeard said:

Then the Collegiate Wizard feat is your friend:

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That's spot on, thanks.