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

Hunter99 · May 17, 2011

I think that what feat you take at level 6 depends on what build you are after.

Depending on whether you are allowed flaws, or get a bonus feat due to race, I would usually take a metamagic feat but it seems you are going in a different direction entirely.

Also, your build does not seem to be very optimized so you might want to look at this handbook:
http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=9749.0 and perhaps reevaluate your feat choices more generally

aboyd · May 18, 2011

Pergentile said:
You sure like the Celestial template, or your character is themed that way.
Celestial Bison with +15 grapple, and Celestial Hippogryph ftw.

I'm open to the other monster choices. But I think that, for example, the celestial bison is the only 5 HD option in the Summon Monster 3 list, and being 5 HD gives it DR, which is a boon. Plus its damage output is pretty scary.

If there are better suggestions -- especially for the Summon Monster 2 list, which is weak -- I would love to hear about them. Thanks!

aboyd · May 20, 2011

As promised, attached is the fiendish ape. There are actually three apes listed in these files. The first file is simply a fiendish ape suited for Summon Monster III, but with Augment Summoning stats. I did my best to calculate all the little details, including increasing its climb score and so on.

The second file is for Summon Monster III, but using a level 4 slot because of the Imbued Summoning metamagic. In this file, I worked up the ape two ways. First, imbuing the ape with Girallon's Blessing, giving it 4 arms and a rend attack. Second, imbuing the ape with Heroics (Combat Reflexes). This gives the ape a total of 3 attacks of opportunity per round. Since the ape has 10' reach, any enemy with a normal 5' reach will provoke AOO from the ape when they close in for a melee strike. Lots of free attacks.

As an interesting side note, I discovered the pain of Girallon's Blessing while creating this. The spell text as written is awful and was never errata'd. It does weird things such as omit size modifiers to hit rolls, and forces existing claw attacks to be 1d4 of damage. In this regard, if a DM does not house rule it, the spell can conceivably be an attack spell. For example, following RAW, casting it on a Pit Fiend will give it 2 extra claw attacks, but it will also reduce the Pit Fiend's existing claw damage from 2d8 to 1d4.

A much saner interpretation is to note that the author likely assumed normal humans or medium-size humanoids would be the beneficiaries of the spell, as the claw rules on page 296 of the Monster Manual indicate 1d4 damage for a medium creature. Medium creatures also have no size modifier to hit, which would explain the lack of mention in the spell text. Thus, the damage and to-hit should be logically applied using the size rules, as well as the primary/secondary damage rules (which also get screwed up by the spell). I put both the RAW and RAI attack listings in my attached PDF. Your DM will have to decide which to use. Either way confers an advantage, but RAI actually makes sense.

Eman Resu · May 20, 2011

as to OP you were looking for potential feats to aid a wizard and this has turned into a "buff my summons" I was going to suggest getting the feat
called, (I think) armored mage? Well its the feat that allows a wiz ti wear light and/or medium armor, and I think a light shield is also allowed -or maybe its a buckler? Point being you wont have to waste a spell and the round to cast it on buffing your AC, if somebody gets the drop on you your already armored, not caught unprotected, and armor/shields can always be enchanted with a whole bunch of goodies that will aid/move/protect you...just food for thought. Admitedly I am not one for optimizing anything, and am especially novice with spell caster feats.

aboyd · May 20, 2011

Thanks Eman Resu! Something to consider. Much appreciated.

So... finally, attached is my character sheet for level 6, and spells. The character is of course just as noted in the OP -- I had poor rolls for stats, so the PC took Abrupt Jaunt with immediate teleport to help cover for the lack of Dex & armor. And he has been built organically, so he is not perfectly optimized; rather he has been built to address the needs of the campaign as it played out. The Fiery Burst feat has been incredibly useful. He got into a 2 hour combat session (1200 rounds; we didn't play out every round at the table, though) and having repeatable attacks saved his bacon.

I play him as highly paranoid and aware of his own weaknesses. He will flee from battle if necessary. He has 10 points in trapmaking, and every night takes 10 (for a total of 20) to set this booby trap around the perimeter of camp (it's from the DMG 2):

DMG2 said:
BOOBY TRAP (CR 1/2)

Alarm: CR 1/2; mechanical device; touch trigger; no reset; bells ring when triggered (nearby enemies make a DC –5 Listen check, modified by distance, to hear the bells); Search DC 15; Disable Device DC 15.

Also, this campaign involves almost no magic items from books -- the DM makes them up as he goes along. Thus, my ring of spell storing is essentially worth 1,000,000 gp based upon the way the DM described it (a ring with a diamond set in the middle that can take any spell of any level, and 5 rubies set around the central gem, each able to take a spell with the [fire] descriptor, of any level).

Through 5th level, he used his Collegiate Wizard feat to fill out his spellbook with more than the normal number of spells. At 6th, he managed to find some friendly wizards and collect 3 extra spells. He's a conjurer, so he must select 1 of the yellow conjuration spells for each level.

If you intend to use this character in a standard game, note that your DM will FREAK OUT. His stats are too low, but his wealth is too high (about what a 22nd level character should have, thanks to the ring mostly). To get him back to normal wealth by level guidelines, you'd need to remove the ring, plus also the wand of +2 casting level, sending stone, recall stone, and rings of cold protection.

EDIT: Oh! Almost forgot, lordxavier wanted the backstory for the character. Here it is.

My character is a black haired, green eyed wizard, named Hewett Stringer. I used a naming tool that uses real-world surnames from Europe, and "Stringer" was used by families that made bow strings. So Hewett's family has something to do with archery. However, my character has no bow, and no stats that would confer skill with a bow. Perhaps that is why his path has diverged from his upbringing.

As a wizard, Hewett keeps his nose in the books. He is intelligent and perhaps a little more hardy than most wizards, but otherwise unremarkable. He is neither good looking nor bad; he is neither foolish nor wise; he is neither strong nor weak; he is of average height and average build. In fact, the only way that Hewett has managed to differentiate himself from an utter commoner is in the way he obsessively covers up for his mediocrity.

If he couldn't carry enough gear, he became hells-bent on acquiring a magical haversack to lighten his load. If he didn't excel enough to hold his own in battle, he learned about ways to escape and hide, such as quick teleport jumps, and invisibility. If he couldn't handle the rigors of a martial life, such as becoming proficient with weapons and wearing armor, he found spells to deflect attacks or blast enemies from afar.

He has contingency plans for his contingency plans. He spends his free time learning things such as how to tripwire an area so that he cannot be surprised while sleeping, or figuring out what to do when his spells run out. Even now, he is learning about the various gods that exist, and seeing if swearing fealty to one might aid him in the future.

Here is the description of Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith, from the A-Team: The leader of the A-Team, he is a brilliant tactician and a master of disguise. Hannibal is distinguished by his cigar smoking, black gloves, disguises, and his catch phrase, "I love it when a plan comes together."

Here is how we might modify that description to reflect Hewett accurately: A reluctant leader if at all, he is an obsessive tactician and a master of having multiple exit strategies. Hewett is distinguished by the way he nervously chews the end of his unlit pipe and muses, "Dear gods, let one of these plans come together."

Pergentile · May 21, 2011

Thanks for the nice PDF formatting Aboyd! ^^
I can't give you more exp yet, but when I can...

lordxaviar · May 21, 2011

yes thanx... for all... I have a few questions on your info,
but love it...will give xp when it will let me... hate the waiting nonsense.

Wand of +2 caster level 2x/week 0
Coin of Duplication (10 coins/week
Rornyn's longbow
recall stone
sending stone
Ring of Cold Protection x2

not sure where to find these are they all Dm creations?, mind me I have barely cracked the complete mage...still working on the complete arcane.
the last i think is a pro from energy cold major?

Immediate Magic(Ex): 3 times per day as an Immediate Action, you canuse the following spell-like ability:
× Abrupt Jaunt: You and only you, teleport up to 10 feet."

I really love this but where is it and how do you get it.

Did he write all the scrolls?
Ring of spell storing seems to have 12 levels not that different... Im just going to bring it down to a book standard one.. no biggy

only one dagger and not masterwork ?
and last for the moment
does he have a base? wondering where the rest of his coinage is kept.
opps and the value of his silver pendant..unless thats the amulet..

I know IM a nitpicky bastard... but just curious

oooooooo that reminds me his spell list?

You have some very interesting spells from CM I added them to the sheet i wrote him up on so I dont have to dig them up...
s
pell book just one... a back up somewhere, traveling one? captured ones
no animals, hirelings, guild membership..

I do have some interesting notation for ya.. I use the Living greyhawk method of character gen... point buy (DMG 169) I allow them to roll first if they want and add if lower then 28 (suggested amount for Oerth) Your mage comes in at 24 points... thats not really that low only 4 points extra,, not really much of a dif, he is a great NPC I really thank you... think Im going to put him in my Dyvers write up... been working on that for couple years now. wait...unless he isnt a city type.. what does he prefer. town city or rural- hommlet or such

jeesh feel like a job interview? lol

I am making sure I can run him like you do... he is a very interesting character... please dont take offense at any query...
going to have to post one of my characters that I use as npc, think there is a forum for that..

aboyd · May 21, 2011

lordxaviar said:
Wand of +2 caster level 2x/week 0
Coin of Duplication (10 coins/week
Rornyn's longbow
recall stone
sending stone
Ring of Cold Protection x2

not sure where to find these are they all Dm creations?

Everything magical is custom, though I try to name them close to standard magical items if I can think of one. Here, I'll walk you through them.

Wand of +2 caster level: Works like metamagic wands with a severe downgrade to 2x/week. It confers just what it says. For example, if my 6th level wizard cast a fireball with this, it would do 8d6 damage instead of 6d6, thanks to the level boost.

Coin of Duplication: similar to the Clenched Fist scepter in Icewind Dale 2. Once per week you can hold the coin in your hand and command it to duplicate, at which point 10 real, non-magical gold coins fall out.

Rornyn's longbow: Similar to Devlin's Ring, from Book of Eldritch Might. It always magically has an arrow notched whenever you pull back the bowstring. Otherwise unremarkable. It isn't even +1.

Recall Stone: I call it that because it reminds me of the Word of Recall spell. Activate it to be whisked back to town.

Sending Stone: Similar to the Sending Stone in the Magic Item Compendium & Complete Arcane. However, he had about 200 of them, all interconnected, and fully able to do unlimited messages the moment a user activated it. To activate it, it actually sits in your ear (it's tiny). We referred to them as walkie talkies in the game.

Rings of Cold Protection: Just got them, not sure how they work. I expect it to be like a Minor Ring of Energy Resistance (Cold), but I'm not sure yet.

lordxaviar said:
Immediate Magic(Ex): 3 times per day as an Immediate Action, you canuse the following spell-like ability:
× Abrupt Jaunt: You and only you, teleport up to 10 feet."

I really love this but where is it and how do you get it.

Player's Handbook 2, page 70.

lordxaviar said:
Did he write all the scrolls?

No. He bought most of them. He wrote the Shrink Item scroll though.

lordxaviar said:
Ring of spell storing seems to have 12 levels not that different... Im just going to bring it down to a book standard one..

The ring has at least 54 levels (you can put a 9th level spell into each of the 6 gems). I call it Spell Storing because that's what it's similar to, and yeah, you could just make it into something normal. I assume we could do that with each item he's invented. There's typically a close approximation in some book somewhere.

lordxaviar said:
only one dagger and not masterwork ?

He puts a Fireball on his daily list of spells, never casts it, and instead uses it to power unlimited attacks with his Fiery Burst feat. So he's not had a need to use the dagger or upgrade it. Before he had Fiery Burst, he had a load of Alchemist's Fire flasks, and hurled 'em when he ran out of spells.

lordxaviar said:
and last for the moment
does he have a base? wondering where the rest of his coinage is kept.

The town we're in has a bank. He keeps it there. I suppose it could be loaded into his haversack if your game world doesn't have banks.

lordxaviar said:
opps and the value of his silver pendant..unless thats the amulet..

It's not the amulet, it's just non-magical treasure. No idea of its worth yet.

lordxaviar said:
s
pell book just one... a back up somewhere, traveling one? captured ones
no animals, hirelings, guild membership..

I don't know what "animals, hirelings, guild membership" refers to. Is it a question? If you're asking if the wizard has any of that, no, he doesn't. I guess he might be considered to have a guild membership in the sense that he has the "Collegiate Wizard" feat, which implies that he was schooled in a major wizard's guild. We never delved into the details of that, though.

As for his backup spellbook, he has none. This is because like all magic items in my DM's game, the Heward's Handy Haversack is not normal. It is password commanded via thought, so the spellbook really can't be stolen (or at least not easily) -- anyone with the haversack will be unable to get anything out of it. So I've felt no need to spend cash on a backup.

Of course, even with that password protection, it's possible for someone to cast Detect Thoughts and listen in as I use it. So it's not perfect. For your character, maybe it should be a normal haversack and a spare book should be somewhere.

lordxaviar said:
unless he isnt a city type.. what does he prefer. town city or rural- hommlet or such

Since he has the Collegiate Wizard feat, odds are good that he's going to prefer very large cities.

lordxaviar · May 23, 2011

Everything magical is custom,

Ok thanx
think I can just retire them.

Quote:
Originally Posted by lordxaviar

Immediate Magic(Ex): 3 times per day as an Immediate Action, you canuse the following spell-like ability:
× Abrupt Jaunt: You and only you, teleport up to 10 feet."

I really love this but where is it and how do you get it.

Player's Handbook 2, page 70.

No. He bought most of them. He wrote the Shrink Item scroll though.
ok thanx was price/valuing them

I call it Spell Storing because that's what it's similar to, and yeah, you could just make it into something normal.

done

He puts a Fireball on his daily list of spells, never casts it, and instead uses it to power unlimited attacks with his Fiery Burst feat. So he's not had a need to use the dagger or upgrade it. Before he had Fiery Burst, he had a load of Alchemist's Fire flasks, and hurled 'em when he ran out of spells.

Good to know a reg fire bug... kewl.. can use that.

The town we're in has a bank. He keeps it there. I suppose it could be loaded into his haversack if your game world doesn't have banks.
I use Oerth and they use money changers and such I think some of the larger cites use sort of a bank system.. but it will work.

Quote:
It's not the amulet, it's just non-magical treasure. No idea of its worth yet.

ok no prob.

Quote:
Originally Posted by lordxaviar

s
pell book just one... a back up somewhere, traveling one? captured ones
no animals, hirelings, guild membership..

. I guess he might be considered to have a guild membership in the sense that he has the "Collegiate Wizard" feat, which implies that he was schooled in a major wizard's guild. We never delved into the details of that, though.

Ok that would be no... would he be interested in one,,, I guess from the "
Collegiate Wizard" I should go with that.

So I've felt no need to spend cash on a backup. Ok
Quote: Since he has the Collegiate Wizard feat, odds are good that he's going to prefer very large cities.

Very good... have some more of course

lordxaviar · May 23, 2011

see im going to have to sit down and read that one... dont even know players II love that whole section.. gives specialists a much need boost... and makes them that much more unique from general wizards...