D&D 3E/3.5 [3.5] What's a good wizard feat for level 6?

aboyd · May 15, 2011

My wizard just hit level 6. I had some ideas for the level 6 feat, but they petered out, as I didn't realize some feats had prerequisites that my character is missing. He is a conjuration specialist (Abrupt Jaunt cheese, which I deemed necessary due to my poor stat rolls). His abilities are all 10s except Con @ 14, and Int @ 17. His feats:

Human: Spell Focus (Conjuration)
1st: Collegiate Wizard
Bonus: Scribe Scroll
3rd: Augment Summoning
5th: Fiery Burst (reserve)

What should I do here? I wanted Energy Substitution, but didn't realize it required another metamagic. I don't want any other metamagic, although I'd be open to being sold on something. I'd also entertain going down another path entirely, and giving up on Energy Substitution. What are your ideas?

RUMBLETiGER · May 15, 2011

Leadership is an excellent feat at level 6 for anyone who's allowed to take it!

Scott DeWar · May 15, 2011

I will admit that at the sight of the title I first thought to reccommend a meta magic feat. There are some that will speed up a spell and there are conjuration spells that take a whole round, are you still opposed to meta's?

aboyd · May 15, 2011

Scott, if you can give me a reason or example why it's worth it, I'd consider it. I just usually dislike having to move a spell into a higher slot -- I find I'd rather just cast one of the higher level spells. But if a lower level spell can be augmented so awesomely that the tradeoff is worth it, I'm down with that.

Scott DeWar · May 15, 2011

complete arcane, p 75 lists Meta magic feeats of the sudden ____ types. there are 4 with no pre requisite and does not increase the spells level.

sudden extend, sudden silent, sudden still and sudden widen, all on page83

Pergentile · May 15, 2011

Those are all 1/day. I think the circumstances in which those feats would be worth taking are few and far between.

I personally tend to swap out Scribe Scroll for other alternate class features. Combat Wizard trades Scribe Scroll and the bonus meta-magic feats at every five levels for a fighter feat at 1st and every five levels. Improved Initiative is very nice for a conjuration specialist.

In general though, Shape Spell (is that what it is called?) is very good for conjurers, because it lets you shape some of your best battlefield control spells like Haboob, Black Tentacles, Solid Fog, Cloudkill, etc.

Ranger19k · May 15, 2011

Pergentile said:
In general though, Shape Spell (is that what it is called?) is very good for conjurers, because it lets you shape some of your best battlefield control spells like Haboob, Black Tentacles, Solid Fog, Cloudkill, etc.

Sculpt spell from complete Arcane. I was going to recommend the same, since it is truly awesome with conjuration spells, but it has the pre-req of another metamagic, so it doesn't appear to be useful for Aboyd's wizard as it stands. It's too bad, because combining sculpt spell with metamagic school focus can arguably drop the +1 level modifier down to +0, which makes sculpting not only awesome, but also free 3/day. But that would require three more feats from Aboyd, which doesn't appear to be in the cards with his current build.

Empirate · May 15, 2011

I notice you're taking Fiery Burst at 5th, which is not a legal bonus feat for a 5th level Wizard. You're required to take a metamagic feat, an item creation feat, or Spell Mastery. So you just might have your prerequisite for Energy Substitution forced on you, unless your DM houseruled otherwise.

For metamagic, I'd recommend Sculpt Spell. IMO it's the best metamagic for conjurers, as it lets you lay down all your battlefield control without trapping your allies in it. In some cases, it also functions as a supercharged Widen Spell for much lower cost: very small spell areas are reset at standard sizes. For example, Grease can be converted from one area 10' square into four 10' cubes.
Most of the time, a Sculpted Stinking Cloud or Web will also be worth your time, if only because you can makes sure not to trap your allies (and summons) in there.
Best of all, Sculpt Spell is only a +1 metamagic.

aboyd · May 15, 2011

Thanks! And I found something with potential, too! Imbued Summoning is metamagic, so it'll help to get me to Energy Substitution. Also, I saw the text said that you could confer a spell on "creatures" that you summon. I thought that couldn't be right -- if you summon 3 lower-level critters, would the bonus buff spell really apply to all three? And yet when I looked into the errata, it clarified in favor of that interpretation, deliberately stating that it affects "creature or creatures." With that ruling, the feat is actually worth the level adjustment upward. So I'm considering it.