D&D 3E/3.5 Asking for Tips for newbie 3.5 Wizard

[Empirate]

Actually, Fireball is a terrible way to spend your precious 3rd level spell slots. How about Slow, or Haste, or Stinking Cloud, or Sleet Storm, or Dispel Magic instead, that'll do your party a lot more good.

Also, forget about Magic Missile. At low levels, it does so little damage that Sleep or Color Spray are just lightyears better - and at higher levels, you'll have better stuff to do with your actions anyway. If you want some simple, reliable damage, take a Reserve Feat, don't waste your spell slots.

Damage can be done by anyone. Battlefield control, debuffing, and buffing? Your job. Damage is always better done by your teammates, not only at low levels. Especially so if you buff the living bejeezus out of them!

Oh, and MM against casters: you don't want to waste your action just waiting for the other guy to do his thing. You're the caster, you want to wrap up the battle on your action.

 

[IronWolf]

How would grease be useful, just making an area briefly very slippery?

Grease can be quite useful as others have noted. Dandu's usage as he described pretty much sums up the tactics of the wizard in the group in the game I GM for. With grease or color spray he has quite often altered the battle quite significantly. Grease on weapons, grease on a bridge to keep some golems from making it through the area easily. It has definitely helped the party through more than one difficult encounter turning them into relative cake walks.

 

[Nifft]

Spells like grease and sleep are pretty good at lvl 1 or other low levels

I personally hate the new sleep spell. 4 HD total? That means it's only useful in fights where you probably don't need it. I much prefer color spray in 3.5e.

Actually, Fireball is a terrible way to spend your precious 3rd level spell slots. How about Slow, or Haste, or Stinking Cloud, or Sleet Storm, or Dispel Magic instead, that'll do your party a lot more good.

Also, forget about Magic Missile. At low levels, it does so little damage that Sleep or Color Spray are just lightyears better - and at higher levels, you'll have better stuff to do with your actions anyway. If you want some simple, reliable damage, take a Reserve Feat, don't waste your spell slots.

Mmm. This is both right and wrong, and very DM-dependent.

First off, area damage is something only a Wizard can do well. If you need to clear a room of kobolds, fireball is your best option. Direct damage -- especially area damage -- is very useful from level 5 through 12. Below that you're about as useful using a crossbow or Reserve feat, above that you're better off just ending the fight with a big nasty control spell (either a save-or-die, or a denial spell like solid fog).

Secondly, slow is excellent against multi-attackers, but irrelevant against a bunch of low-level foes in close quarters (e.g.: a room full of kobolds).

Third, some Wizards will never need dispel magic. Its utility totally depends on the DM throwing buffed antagonists against you, or enemy spellcasters. At 5th level I'd scribe a scroll of dispel magic, and then don't prepare the spell until you have used the scroll.

Fourth, magic missile can automatically hurt things which are otherwise quite difficult to hurt, like insubstantial monsters in shadowy illumination (e.g. Shadows). Some of these insubstantial things drain ability scores or impose negative levels, so a long fight may indeed kill someone, even if you've got two healers. It counters and dispels mirror image, it ignores displacement, and it shoots through schools of energy resistances. It's honestly kind of broken, since it's the only 1st level attack spell which improves after 5th level... at 5th level it's pretty balanced against lesser acid orb, but by 9th level it outclasses the alternatives.

Grease can be quite useful as others have noted. Dandu's usage as he described pretty much sums up the tactics of the wizard in the group in the game I GM for. With grease or color spray he has quite often altered the battle quite significantly. Grease on weapons, grease on a bridge to keep some golems from making it through the area easily. It has definitely helped the party through more than one difficult encounter turning them into relative cake walks.

Yeah, grease on a choke-point is incredibly effective at low levels (before everything learns how to fly). If you manage to cover a staircase, you've hosed any number of melee opponents.

Cheers, -- N

 

[TanisFrey]

Fourth, magic missile can automatically hurt things which are otherwise quite difficult to hurt, like insubstantial monsters in shadowy illumination (e.g. Shadows). Some of these insubstantial things drain ability scores or impose negative levels, so a long fight may indeed kill someone, even if you've got two healers. It counters and dispels mirror image, it ignores displacement, and it shoots through schools of energy resistances. It's honestly kind of broken, since it's the only 1st level attack spell which improves after 5th level... at 5th level it's pretty balanced against lesser acid orb, but by 9th level it outclasses the alternatives.

Magic Missile does not dispel Mirror Image. It destroys 1 image per missile with the standard possibility of hitting the protected person for each missile. IE a missile that misses the Mirror Image wizards strikes one of the Image and destroys that image.

Under the 3.x rules this is very different from dispelling the mirror image.

 

[Allegro]

Another thing to consider is does the party have magic weapons. Without a magic weapon incorporeal creatures are almost impossible to beat. If the party does not have magic weapons consider scribing a scroll of the lowly magic weapon spell.

 

[orion90000]

the single most used spell my sorcerers/wizards use is glitterdust. If the enemy fails his Will save, then the rogue will destroy it with sneak attacks. I used it on a pair of Hellcats and quickly turned the tables on them.

 

[MortonStromgal]

I'm not sure that this will apply to your spell point system but for years I didnt realize I could leave spell slots open for utility spells as long as I took an hour before I needed them to memorize them.

 

[Nifft]

Magic Missile does not dispel Mirror Image. It destroys 1 image per missile with the standard possibility of hitting the protected person for each missile. IE a missile that misses the Mirror Image wizards strikes one of the Image and destroys that image.

Under the 3.x rules this is very different from dispelling the mirror image.

You are technically correct in your criticism, but your conclusion is wrong.

At 7th level, you fire 4 magic missiles, and your opponent gets 1d4+(level/3) mirror images, which generally means 4-8 targets (of which one is real). You can blow through his expensive higher-level defense with one or two uses of your cheap, low-level spell.

Magic missile is awesome.

Cheers, -- N

 

[TanisFrey]

You are technically correct in your criticism, but your conclusion is wrong.

At 7th level, you fire 4 magic missiles, and your opponent gets 1d4+(level/3) mirror images, which generally means 4-8 targets (of which one is real). You can blow through his expensive higher-level defense with one or two uses of your cheap, low-level spell.

Magic missile is awesome.

Cheers, -- N

Not if the wizard is using Greater Mirror Image, where they gain an image each round until they have 8 images or the spell run out. The wizard and bard in the game I am playing are using it lots. We are running 13th level characters. Not my characters, I think that it is a 5th level wizard spell.

Beside you are talking about the most powerful 1st level spell taking out a 2nd level spell that has no materiel component, I have no problem with that.

Back in 1 & 2 ed Magic Missile was used to take out Stone Skin. Back then Stone Skin caused the wizard to take no damage for 1d4+1 per 2 level of attacks. Each missile of Magic Missile was considered a separate attack. Mirror Image worked the same as is does in 3.x. So Magic Missile was a common spell to take out Mirror Image and/or Stone Skin.

 

[Nifft]

Not if the wizard is using Greater Mirror Image

That's a different spell than the one we were talking about, so I'm not really sure what your issue is regarding mirror image -- but even if we're talking about the other spell, you can use magic missile to clear away greater mirror images and give your allies a clear shot at the enemy.

Cheers, -- N