First time Magic User Advice?

[milo]

I personally like to play a sorcerer if I am going to play an arcane caster. The runestaffs from MIC are great for a sorc. Burn up a slot to cast a spell from the staff. The orb spells from the spell compendium are great. Touch attack, no save, no SR. Halfling is my favorite race to use for a sorcerer because I like to throw a lot of ranged touch spells.At some point you might want to consider taking energy substitution to give you a little more versatility. Spell penetration and greater spell penetration are good feat choices especially if you are going to go to higher levels with this character.

I have also had a lot of fun with a wizard who mainly used reserve feats. I had Acidic Splatter, Fiery Burst, Storm Bolt, Clap of Thunder, and Winter's Blast. From 9th level on I used heighten spell on Energy Spheres because it can be cast as any of the requirements for those reserve spells, so I just heightened it to the highest level I could so I could use any of them at will. The great thing about the reserve feats is that they are supernatural abilities so no SR. Most of my other spells were utility.

 

[Runestar]

As quickly as possible, you want to be able to have a variety of energy attacks (to avoid ER), battlefield control effects, and spells that pound all three saves.

Early on, I don't think you have the spells known to concentrate on all 3 aspects. So you may still want to decide on 1 area to focus on, then slowly dip into the other 2 fields gradually. Damage can be left to the fighters, your main job is simply to make things easier for them by neutering the foes.

I would generally recommend battlefield control, since that seems to offer the most bang for your buck (even for evocation, I daresay that the better evocation spells are actually the non-damage dealing ones).

The idea is to debuff foes with glitterdust (and at lv6+, sculpted glitterdusts) or bewildering cloud (depending on whether the foes you face have poor fort or will saves). Haste is there to buff the party in situations where battlefield control is not as good.

If you have complete mage, go for the focused specialist variant. In a way, it makes wizards easier to play, since you have fewer options (you end up banning 3 schools), so less headache about what to prepare. But with more slots, you can cast your spells more often. It is almost like a sorc (you actually get the same number of slots), just that you get new spells a lv earlier.

 

[rgard]

You may want to check out the Beguiler from the PHB 2. It's a magic using class with good skill points you can put into diplomacy and other social skills.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Flatus Maximus]

I'd suggest wizard over sorcerer. Sorcerers are easier to play, but harder to set up properly. Wizards are much more forgiving since if you totally screw up your spells memorized or spell book, you can always buy/learn more (within gp limits, of course). Also, you'll get to play around with lots of different spells and learn what works/doesn't work. As you level-up, you'll figure out what you like/don't like and then you can focus on your schtick -- with a sorcerer there's a lot less flexibility to switch things up later. With a high Int, a wizard gets lots of skill points to play with. Finally, feats are IMHO much less important for wizards compared to sorcerers, since you'll have a diverse spell book filled with powerful options. With that said, wizards get more feats! You'll probably make poor choices in the beginning, but you can learn and improve; with the sorcerer, those mistakes gimp you pretty hard.

 

[Starbuck_II]

Wizards are often difficult. One of the players in my campaign wanted to copy some spells into his spell book. He was shocked when I told him it would take 16 days and something like 1200 gold pieces (PHB 179).

But at you have the option: Sorcs are stuck with what they chose (baring the levels they switch it out)
Remember though that the free 2 spells/level are automatic, no downtime needed.

Wizards also have to pre-select their spells. You must decide at the start of the day what spells you have, and how many of each. There is no adjusting later. If you pick a spell that is not useful during the course of your adventuring day, tough.

Not as bad. You can leave a spell slot ot two empty and load them later with just 15 minutes (PHB says so).
Many people confuse the sorcerer's "spells known" table with the sorcerer's "spell slots" table. One is how many spells you know, the other is how many times you can cast.

Now, a focus spellcaster class liker a Dread Necromanceer, Warmage, Beguiler, etc are good because they know all spells on list (like Clerics do) and yet still cast spontaneously

 

[Nifft]

I want to go with a more RP effective character than my hack and slash psi warrior was.

If you're already familiar with Psionics, you might want to take a look at a Psion or Erudite.

Both are just as "magical" as a Wizard.

Cheers, -- N

 

[irdeggman]

Any advice on which one is generally easier to catch onto? I will more than likely be focusing on a diplomacy/bluff/sense motive type build but never know...

I want to go with a more RP effective character than my hack and slash psi warrior was.

Try a bard instead.

Not as flashy or damaging spells (no magic missile or fireball). But they are great for role playing and Tasha's Hideous Laughter as a 1st level spell is hard to beat (also they can get the cure spells too - so you can have a pretty interesting character).

Bards, like sorcerers can spontaneously cast so you don't have to worry so much about what spell to memorize. Like sorcerers they know fewer spells but can cast them more frequently than a generic wizard.

Bards also suffer no ASF when in light armor (which also means you qualify for the Battle Caster feat (from Complete Arcane) for no ASF in heavier armors too).

UMD is a class skill and they get a good amount of skill points. Also they are the only core class with Speak Language as a class skill - depending on the setting this can be huge.