Wizard Feats Question

I’m thinking of playing a wizard for my next character and would like some opinions on feats to take.

I have never played a wizard before and I was thinking of making him either a ½ Orc (because it sounds cool) or a Dwarf (my favorite non human race). This leaves the option of what feat to take at first level. The two obvious paths are to take either the Item Creation Feat track or the Metamagic Feat track. I’m not sure the metamagic feats work for the wizard as well as they would for a Sorcerer. And I’m not sure I want to devote all my feats the Item Creation. So my question is what other feats have people used. I’m not looking for a power gaming type track, just some cool ideas.

My first idea is to take Martail Weapon Prof. It would be cool to have a ½ orc wizard running around with a great club or a halberd. Image a dwarf wizard wielding a great axe.

Thanks for any help.

Spell prodigy is hard to pass up at first level. You get a +1 to all spell DCs and +2 to INT for figuring bonus spells (basically an extra spell per day at some point in your career).

On the other hand, if you plan on playing an in your face melee wizard with touch attack spells then you may need to consider Toughness (to survive early levels), Combat Casting (to survive early levels), or other martial feats to compensate for the drawbacks to having a melee wizard.

Maybe you should clarify your image of what you want this 1/2 orc wizard to be like.

Don't take Combat Casting, Skill Focus(concentration) is better...

Ok, Speaks with Stones I have thought about what this ½ Orc would be like. I would like to be able to use weapons other then what the wizard is proficient with, but I could work with the club and light or heavy crossbow if necessary. Our current DM’s like to use a 90 point one for one system for PC’s. In their opinion it creates for more heroic type characters and keeps everyone even ability wise, so having a high Int and Str will not be a problem. I can also get a decent Dex and Con score.

I like the idea of taking a specialization in conjurer and not having access to Evocation spells. Yes I know that means no lighting bolts and fireballs, but I want something different anyway so I’m not worried about that. If figure I could use monster summoning spells and use them as flank bonuses to make up for my lack of BAB. This would also allow me to cast an extra mage armor spell each day.

Another option that would fit would be to take a level of Barbarian to solve some of the combat problems (we start characters at level 2 incase you want to multiclass) but I really don’t want to hurt my spell casting progression by taking a level of something else. If I do this though I could wear some light armor to increase my survivability and would also give me some extra hit points to play with. But i wanted to be lawful so when i became a wizard I would lose my ability to Rage, something I can live with. A fighter would not fit my background ideas so thats out.

I like the idea of a barbarian/wizard. You'd get your fast movement and rage if you need to. You may consider transmutation to buff yourself, or abjuration for the defensive spells it offers, over conjuration.

I like the barb/wiz, too. Why waste a feat for a little military ability, when losing one level of wiz allows you to gain lots of hps, combat abilities, movement and rage. You can then keep your feats focused on spell casting. One loss in wiz level still keeps your casting equivalent to a sorceror and makes your early survival a lot more likely.

Ok so my first level is barbarian and my second wizard. That means my level one feat can't be a spell casting feat. Any recommendations then?

Improved Init, Toughness, Dodge, Weapon Focus are ones I can think of without looking at a book.

mikep18103 said:

Ok so my first level is barbarian and my second wizard. That means my level one feat can't be a spell casting feat.

Click to expand...

False, take a closer look at the Metamagic feats..... thats right most of them do not have a prerequisite.

I recommend Extend Spell and only 1 level of Barbarian.

Improved Init is always good.

Dwarf wizards rock! That +1 hp per level is huge when you only roll d4s. You could take level one as fighter to grab 10 hps, weapons and a feat. Personally, I'd go for a reach weapon and combat reflexes (as the fighter feat) to help keep the scrubs off of you and you could fight behind the fighter line if you were out of spells. Spellcasting prodigy has no pre-requisite other than being 1st level, so you could take it at level one.

A 90 point direct buy is an average of 15 in your stats. Ooof!

The 1/2 orc barbarian/wizard would be rough -- raging would mean no spellcasting. You still get the +10 movement, which would be nice if the PCs are overmatched...

OfficeRonin

Just an alternate, if you wanted to take a class for extras, and not lose bonuses when going lawful, take a level in monk. Better saves, wis bonus to AC, unarmed damage (why touch with shokcing graps when you can punch them and do more damage), and access to quite a few weapons.