3rd level changing my character. Maybe to wizard?

[Goumindong]

Personally I think it is good to go for more well-rounded characters, rather than sacrificing all to get the highest possible primary attribute. I'd be inclined to go for increased Wis and Con and an 18 Int. This will improve your Fort and Will defences, which is pretty useful too.

Thunderwave is a great at-will regardless of your wisdom, because you can cast it without invoking an OA (unlike all your other at-wills). There will be times when that is really useful. Mind you, with a wisdom of 14+ it becomes really great for moving people into suitable arrangements for follow up attacks too.

This is especially true of Wizards. Since wizards have many of their best abilities essentially removed from their intelligence stat.

Flaming Sphere? Continual damage without an attack roll AND it blocks off a square for the enemy AND it does encounter power type damage as an attack which you can repeat every round AND you can move it where it needs to go.

Stinking Cloud? Continual damage without an attack roll AND it blocks Line of Sight(I.E. totally screws artillery, and can provide a friend all the benefits of invisibility at the cost of some damage) AND you can move it.

Wall of Fire? Continual damage without an attack roll AND it blocks Line of Sight AND it takes 4 squares of movement to move through. And did I mention it does encounter+ level damage to enemies that attempt to move through it AND still allows you to use burst and blast powers through it with no penalty(attacks that enemies rarely have)

I can go on, but you ought to get the point. What makes the wizard strong is what he can do with the battlefield, and attack rolls do not figure much into that. Worry less about what your attack rolls are and worry more about what special abilities your race brings to the table.

Dwarves bring durability, they can second wind without eating a standard action. If you are getting high, that is like a free action point per encounter. They also increase the strength of orb and staff specialization. Dwarven Durability is a huge feat for a high con wizard.

Elves bring re-rolls, 7 movement, and the ability to shift in difficult terrain(which can be a big deal when say, you make difficult terrain every other encounter), they also have an easy time getting arcane reach which has some very cool applications regarding gaining combat advantage(basically you use a close blast from around a corner, so you have full cover against them, and they are completely open against your blast)[Elves are rightly typically considered the strongest Wizard]

Humans bring an extra at will[Edit: Do not underestimate this, most wizards are unable to take both Ray of Frost and Thunderwave since they both attack fort and that leaves the wizard with a fundamental deficiency against brutes/soldiers/controllers both early in the game and later, especially if they don't take exclusively encounter powers that attack will or ref. Ray of Frost and Thunderwave are easily the best at will control powers. But a human can take both of them and still have room for Scorching Burst(vs Ref), Magic Missile(vs ref, long range, good with a warlord), or Cloak of Daggers(vs ref, good damage, autokills most minions, minor area denial)] and a bit better attack.

Tieflings bring a LOT of attack bonus with fire attacks[+1 for int bonus, +1 for fire/fear powers, +1 against bloodied, +1 if they take damage from that enemy on their last turn!] and can add some minor push onto that.

Eladrin bring even more maneuverability via teleporting and some attack, and get arcane reach easier.

Halflings and Dragonborn don't get much.

 

[Mengu]

Halflings and Dragonborn don't get much.

Not entirely true.

Halflings almost auto qualify for Astral Fire, can make good use of wands thanks to their Dex bonus, have good initiative, again thanks to their Dex bonus, and have a number of defensive feats available for them, which are helpful for any wizard. (sample layout: Str 8, Con 12, Dex 15, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 13, Astral Fire, Magic Missile, Scorching Burst, Burning Hands, Flaming Sphere, Sleep)

Dragonborns almost auto qualify for Hide armor. High Con will benefit their Staff of Defense, as well as Healing Surge value and Breath Weapon damage. With Acid or Cold Breath, they get an extra benefit from Burning Blizzard. Even if they lack a close at will power, their Breath weapon can give them a way out. Wizards get bloodied easily, and as such Dragonborn Fury (and later Frenzy) gets triggered more often. (sample layout: Str 13, Con 16, Dex 10, Int 16, Wis 13, Cha 10, Leather Armor, Ray of Frost, Scorching Burst, Icy Terrain, Acid Arrow, Sleep)

 

[Atlatl Jones]

If you plan on taking any save-ends spells in Paragon and Epic levels, you should start with at least a 12 Charisma, so you can qualify for Spell Focus.

I don't know if it's neccessary to take a 20 Int. If playing a human wizard, I would start with:
Str 8
Con 12
Dex 10
Int 18
Wis 16
Cha 12

This works really well with the orb power.

If you must have an 20 Int, I would start with the following, and pump every stat bonus into Int and Wis.
Str 8
Con 12
Dex 10
Int 20
Wis 12
Cha 12

 

[Fedifensor]

Not sure exactly what you want to focus on as a wizard, but here's an example of one that focuses on survivability.

The Iron Mage

 

[Ahglock]

If you plan on taking any save-ends spells in Paragon and Epic levels, you should start with at least a 12 Charisma, so you can qualify for Spell Focus.

I don't know if it's neccessary to take a 20 Int. If playing a human wizard, I would start with:
Str 8
Con 12
Dex 10
Int 18
Wis 16
Cha 12

This works really well with the orb power.

If you must have an 20 Int, I would start with the following, and pump every stat bonus into Int and Wis.
Str 8
Con 12
Dex 10
Int 20
Wis 12
Cha 12

Personally Id go with the 2nd option. The 12,12,12 is really sweet IMO. But if you want to be orb focused, yeah the 1st option is a good build. Personally I'd be just as happy with a orb focused wizard with 4 points less in wisdom. All that means is once per encounter one target is penalized 2 points less on there saves vs a spell. While that is kind of big, especially when fighting a solo, overall I think I'd get more utility out of the constant +1 boost in int. Getting more bang for your buck out of thunderwave at low levels is cool though.

 

[KarinsDad]

Wizards are really the only class that can afford a 20 in 4E without seriously hampering their other abilities.

And the difference between +5 and +4 is an average of nearly 25% more damage per round for most attacks. This is just huge.

Example:

+4: (0.45 * 3.5+4) + (0.05 * 6+4) = 3.875
+5: (0.5 * 3.5+5) + (0.05 * 6+5) = 4.8

No doubt about it. If you want to min max, 20 Int is devastating.


For my Human Staff Wizard, I went with:

Str 8
Con 10
Dex 12
Int 20
Wis 12
Cha 12

since I wanted Astra Fire early and Arcane Reach eventually and really did not care about the once per encounter staff defense.

However, I do think that:

Str 8
Con 12
Dex 10
Int 20
Wis 12
Cha 12

is probably better for a Staff Wizard.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

Wizards are really the only class that can afford a 20 in 4E without seriously hampering their other abilities.

Oh, I'd say the premier example of a perfect 20 build is the Elf Archer.

Str 10
Con 13
Dex 20
Int 10
Wis 15
Cha 8

Higher Int and Cha are basically worthless to an Archer.

Higher Str buys better OAs and higher carrying capacity, neither a high priority for an Archer.

Higher Con and Wis carry big gains, but both are in the range where 2 of your 22 points are needed for an increase, so the actual return on investment isn't that great.

You probably do want to bump Con to 14 at level 8, so that the bump at level 11 puts you at Con 15, enabling Armor Specialization (Hide) -- but that's cheaper then trying to start Con at 14.


As for the Wizard, I'm torn between the focus build and the spread build. I guess I'll find out for sure which way I lean if I ever get a chance to play one.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Oh, I'd say the premier example of a perfect 20 build is the Elf Archer.

Str 10
Con 13
Dex 20
Int 10
Wis 15
Cha 8

You probably do want to bump Con to 14 at level 8, so that the bump at level 11 puts you at Con 15, enabling Armor Specialization (Hide) -- but that's cheaper then trying to start Con at 14.

Note, though, that Armor Proficiency (Hide) requires Str 13.

Otherwise, that's an interesting build.

Edit: Duh, they get Hide proficiency already to start. My bad, can't read.

Brad

 

[Ahglock]

Wizards are really the only class that can afford a 20 in 4E without seriously hampering their other abilities.

And the difference between +5 and +4 is an average of nearly 25% more damage per round for most attacks. This is just huge.

Example:

+4: (0.45 * 3.5+4) + (0.05 * 6+4) = 3.875
+5: (0.5 * 3.5+5) + (0.05 * 6+5) = 4.8

No doubt about it. If you want to min max, 20 Int is devastating.


For my Human Staff Wizard, I went with:

Str 8
Con 10
Dex 12
Int 20
Wis 12
Cha 12

since I wanted Astra Fire early and Arcane Reach eventually and really did not care about the once per encounter staff defense.

However, I do think that:

Str 8
Con 12
Dex 10
Int 20
Wis 12
Cha 12

is probably better for a Staff Wizard.

I really like your character build. If I got to play, I might steal this. The more I think about it, the more I like it. I really like arcane reach, but I also really like spell focus, and a good wisdom helps with some powers.

I had mainly thought about a orb wizard. And even though I was going to go with a 12 starting wis, all my level up attribute points were going to go into int and wis. As a staff wizard or just not caring about a couple extra points in wis for the once per encounter save hit I would only need to put 2 points into dex with your build in order to get a reach by the heroic tier, and that is really cool.

Thank you for the idea.

 

[KarinsDad]

I really like your character build. If I got to play, I might steal this. The more I think about it, the more I like it. I really like arcane reach, but I also really like spell focus, and a good wisdom helps with some powers.

I had mainly thought about a orb wizard. And even though I was going to go with a 12 starting wis, all my level up attribute points were going to go into int and wis. As a staff wizard or just not caring about a couple extra points in wis for the once per encounter save hit I would only need to put 2 points into dex with your build in order to get a reach by the heroic tier, and that is really cool.

Thank you for the idea.

You're welcome.

It's a tough call. I have recently been considering not bumping Dex at all and not taking Arcane Reach at all.

With a human Demi-god, I can eventually bump Wis to 16, bump Con to 16, bump Int to 30, and still have a 2 bump somewhere (e.g. in Dex for Arcane Reach, or in Con for better Fort/surges/hit points, etc.). One of the issues (that has shown up in our game at low level) is that the first build above has a low Fort and gets Fort tagged in combat quite a bit at lower levels. By bumping Con and Wis as the other two stats (and not Dex), it helps Fort and Will defense which are not high to begin with because the character has the starting 20 Int (at the cost of some feats and initiative).

Of course, Iron Will and Great Fortitude are needed as well. They are practically required for this build, or the Wizard will get toasted with those types of attacks just too often.

It's a bit of a balancing act with this build.

Another thing I have noticed is that monster initiatives are large in 4E.

Yesterday, we had a combat where all 5 PCs rolled inits in the range of 18 to 23 and only the 23 init PC beat any of the monsters (and then, not all of them).

A lot of monsters get huge initiative mods due to getting either +2 or +4 added to an already large Dex.

So, Improved Initiative is required for this (and many PC) builds as well to stay competitive.