Some Advice on Building a Wizard

[Corwin of Amber]

AFAIK, no, you can be an Elf Generalist and a Domain wizard. In fact, even with a +Int elf race like Grey Elf, it's probably the only way an Elf Wizard is mechanically worth playing... It's definitely not overly powerful. That would be Abrupt Jaunt.

Another thing I noticed that was rather painful when playing my one Focused Specialist: Any level you gain a new spell level, your ONLY non-speciality school spell of that level comes from your bonus spells for a high intelligence (if any). That may sound like nothing, but having to wait another level just to use a sexy new spell from some school other than your specialty school feels like...being a sorcerer.

Bleh!

Good point about new spell levels, I didn't even consider that.

As for the powe level, I just thought that getting 2 additional spells per level, beyond those for high Int might be unbalancing. Also, where can I find Grey Elves, I didn't notice it in races of the wild?

 

[Dandu]

It's in the Monster Manual.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Elf :: d20srd.org

 

[Corwin of Amber]

I think I'm going to try a beguiler 1/wizard 4/ ultimate magus 10/ archmage 5 (i'll probobly alternate levels of UM and AM) and I was wondering is anyone know of a comprehensive beguiler spell list. I usually like to have a quick reference that hass all of the spells ansd their complete effects, and usually make it myself, but the beguiler has over 100 spells.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Well, most of the ones from the PHB2 suck, so you could mostly just ignore the existence of those, use the online SRD, and be fairly set.

I thought you wanted a list of good advanced learning ideas, Beguiler handbooks are good for that. Shadow Evocation/Conjuration in general is nice for both the normal versatility and the fact that many of the spells they replicate aren't normally on your list.

 

[radmod]

I believe this is the complete list from the PHB: Begulier spell list.

Unfortunately, I don't know of any other list that Stream's talking about. That is, I haven't seen a different one online (then again, my group wouldn't allow it anyway).

BTW, if you chose to take the Minor Shapeshift feat consider using the Trollshape spell as your 4th level Transmutation spell. If by chance you do take damage, IIRC, that spell allows you to regenerate as a troll would while Polymorph wouldn't.

Oh, and, unfortunately, you won't be able to interleave AM and UM since AM requires the ability to cast 7th level spells (e.g. essentially 13th level caster). Because of the way UM works, IIRC, the best you can do is take all 10 levels of UM just to get to 13th level Wiz and cast 7th level spells. (Even with Practiced Spellcaster, you'll have to use one UM level as Beg not Wiz). Also you might have a bit of trouble of assigning feats to meet the other prereqs (unless you have flaws).

 

[Corwin of Amber]

Oh, and, unfortunately, you won't be able to interleave AM and UM since AM requires the ability to cast 7th level spells (e.g. essentially 13th level caster). Because of the way UM works, IIRC, the best you can do is take all 10 levels of UM just to get to 13th level Wiz and cast 7th level spells. (Even with Practiced Spellcaster, you'll have to use one UM level as Beg not Wiz). Also you might have a bit of trouble of assigning feats to meet the other prereqs (unless you have flaws).

If I take 2 instances of Practiced Spellcaster I could end up with this progression:
At level 5: Beguiler 1/Wizard 4 with a Beguiler CL 4
At level 6: Beguiler 1/Wizard 5 with a Beguiler CL 5 (UM level 1 and take Practiced Spellcaster a 2nd time now)
At level 8: Beguiler 3/Wizard 7 with a Beguiler CL 7 (since they're tied it's my choice which spells to advance) (UM level 3)
At level 9: Beguiler 3/Wizard 8 with a Beguiler CL 8 (UM level 4)
At level 11: Beguiler 5/Wizard 10 with a Beguiler CL 10 (both CL are equal again) (UM level 6)
At level 12: Beguiler 5/Wizard 11 with a Beguiler CL 11 (UM level 7)
At level 15: Beguiler 8/Wizard 14 with a beguiler CL 14 (UM level 10)

So, provided this is correct, I guess I could take AM at level 14. Thanks for pointing this out, I didn't even realize the steep spell level req for AM. Also, this doesn't count the Arcane Spell Power. And now that this is on paper, I realize that I only need to go to 4th level beguiler spells as I'm focusing on Wizard.

My feat progression is going to be something like this:
Flaw Dark Premonition (RP reasons)
Flaw: Practiced Spellcaster
Level 1: Spell Focus (Conjration, Transmutation, or Enchant)
Level 3: Sculpt Spell
Level 6: Practiced Spellcaster
Level 9: Chain Spell
Level 12: Spell Focus (Conjration, Transmutation, or Enchant)
Level 15: Quicken Spell

Or I might just get Quicken at 12 and take AM at 15 or 16.

 

[Corwin of Amber]

Dragon mag also had a very nice familiar trade-off called Focus Caster, where you get an arcane focus (needed to cast all your spells) based on the school chosen.

Are you sure that this is dragon magic? I'm looking over the book but don't see it.

Also, if I have a CL above my spell progression, can I still cast spells that I get from High ability scores? For example, can a 4th level caster with an effective CL of 6 (due to Practiced Spellcaster) cast bonus 3rd level spells for a high Int score?

 

[Dandu]

No.

 

[Persiflage]

If I take 2 instances of Practiced Spellcaster I could end up with this progression:

[snipped, For Great Justice]

Sorry, no dice.

Special: You may select this feat multiple times. Each time you choose it, you must apply it to a different spellcasting class.

For instance, a 4th level cleric/5th level wizard who had selected this feat twice would cast cleric spells as an 8th level caster and wizard spells as a 9th level caster.

As such, you can't take the feat twice for the same spellcasting class to keep the CL up.

Are you sure that this is dragon magic? I'm looking over the book but don't see it.

He meant Dragon Magazine. #348, pg. 88.

Also, if I have a CL above my spell progression, can I still cast spells that I get from High ability scores? For example, can a 4th level caster with an effective CL of 6 (due to Practiced Spellcaster) cast bonus 3rd level spells for a high Int score?

No. More specifically, "No, because..."

The ability that governs bonus spells depends on what type of spellcaster your character is: Intelligence for wizards; Wisdom for clerics, druids, paladins, and rangers; or Charisma for sorcerers and bards. In addition to having a high ability score, a spellcaster must be of high enough class level to be able to cast spells of a given spell level. (See the class descriptions for details.)

Caster level doesn't cut it. I wish it did