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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Veep" data-source="post: 6708062" data-attributes="member: 6793297">Arcane Fundamentals: The Class and The Races Your power source is Arcane, your role Controller. You are 4e's first controller, and considered by many to be its finest for a large selection of quality powers, wide range of usable implements and vast amount of support.But from there? Well, firstly you can choose to be one of five sub-builds: The Arcanist (also known as O-Wizard or Classic Wizard, from PHB1 and AP), the Mage (First introduced in HoFL), the Sha'ir (From HoEC) the Witch (From HoFW) or the Bladesinger (From NWCS). Due to its vastly different build- and play-style, I will not be covering the Bladesinger in this handbook. Please refer to this thread(x) instead for that build.Sub-build choices:[sblock]Basic premise: The Arcanist and Mage are very similar, but with different features. The Arcanist leans towards choice of implements, while the Mage to choice of powers. Both are very strong options. The Witch, however, is not. You trade a lot of features for not a lot in return.Arcanist:The class features centre around implement choices, which can be a little confusing to someone building a character for the first time, as their strengths may not be immediately apparent. This build is probably the better if you want to go more for the 'Generalist' or 'Archmage' types - masters of all kinds of magic, not tied to a single school or class of spells. The Orb of Imposition makes it overall a better save-debuffer and 'imposer' than the Mage, and the Arcanist is better suited for building a 'Summoner' archetype as the Mage has no features that benefit those spells. If you regularly use Ritual Casting, or plan to, the Arcanist gets it for free, along with bonus rituals.Mage:The class features centre around your choice of spells, as the features enhance one particular school of magic. The better choice if you want to build an 'Enchanter', 'Illusionist', 'Pyromancer' etc - any build for which the Mage has a school to suit will benefit from it. My personal preference is for the Mage, especially the Enchanter, but that's for its playstyle differences. They're both very good builds. Not proficient in Tomes, and doesn't get Ritual Casting, but these are minor, and can be solved with feats.Sha'ir:Constitution secondary is decent, but the fact of the matter is that the class features aren't very good. The only high point is the ability to swap out dailies and utilities. Getting a Familiar for free is decent, but like with the Witch, the two major builds can take the feat and not lose good class features in the process. The resistance feature is awful, as it is a low amount, scales slowly, encourages clumping of PCs, and does nothing to alleviate the fragility of your familiar while encouraging you to keep it active. Only getting to pick the resistance on extended rests also weakens it overall, due to the reasonable odds of it being wasted. At least this build doesn't lock your first level encounter choise.Witch:To be perfectly frank, this is a bad build. You trade off the good features of the two major builds to get a Familiar (A feat the others can take, and can be of good benefit for them to do anyway), minor skill bonuses (Which the Mage gets more of) and your level 1 encounter spell locked into a mediocre choice. Augury can be useful or completely worthless depending on your DM and can be duplicated by several rituals. This build really doesn't offer anything that can't be achieved by taking that feat and reflavouring the other two. Flavour-wise, it also steps on the toes of the Warlock and Druid, both classes that can also be reflavoured into a decent 'Witch'. I do not recommend you choose this build.[/sblock]Class Traits:[sblock]Hit Points: Standard Controller faire. Not brilliant, but at least Con-secondary builds like the Summoner, Pyromancer, Evoker and Staff of Defense will have a better deal.Surges: Again, standard. See Hit Points.Defense Bonus: Will is one of the nastier NADs to get hit in, especially as a ranged character. A bonus here will serve you well, especially for the Con-builds who won't have as high a score.Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: You'd be bad at this, except you're rarely in melee, Staves can be better than you think, and being Int-primary does good things for your AC. You'll still need to boost it a bit, but it helps.Implement Proficiencies: Now this, you're good at. You have nearly all the good implements, and the rest can easily be picked up through feats (AIP or Multiclassing)[/sblock]Arcanist Class Features:[sblock]Cantrips: As useful as you make them be. Skill substitutions, a light source, convenient distractions, these can do a lot for you. According to the Class Compendium Errata, you aren't locked into the cantrips in PHB1, so pick whatever you feel will be of most use.Spellbook: Knowing multiple spells is useful if you know what's coming and to switch out in advance, otherwise just keep your best spells memorised and improvise.Ritual Casting: Again, as useful as you make it be. Can cause problems with the cost of some rituals (especially in LFR) although some DMs are willing to houserule around this. It is nice getting a feat for free, especially when you also get some rituals thrown into the bargain.Arcane Implement Mastery: The reason you're here. The main and most powerful feature of the Arcanist, with several options, listed below:Implement Mastery Choices:[sblock]Orb of Imposition: The save-debuffer's option. Keys off Wisdom, and requires a fair bit of investment to truely use, but is very powerful. Gets better at higher levels when your selection of nasty save-ends effects gets better. Errataed to only work on the first save since the PHB, but that can be all you need. It can also be used to extend the effect of an at-will, but this is probably not going to see use for that.Orb of Deception: Keys off Charisma and benefits Illusion spells. If you're considering this, I would recommend the Illusionist Mage School instead, as its benefits effect every illusion spell you cast, rather than once per encounter, and being Will-targetting spells, they tend not to miss. It also can't help you in small or single-enemy fights with the targetting restriction.Staff of Defense: A +1 untyped bonus to AC is always a good thing. A reasonable Con modifier will save you getting hit once per encounter or so, and Staves have good feat support. A solid choice, although does little for your offensive power besides keeping you alive long enough to use it (Not that that's a bad thing, mind you...).Tome of Binding: Your summons do more damage. Probably the premier choice for a Summoner, but as summons are dailies, this does require you to be a bit higher level to see regular use. Keying off Con does increase your personal toughness though, and that of your summons, so not a bad choice.Tome of Readiness: Extra versatility and not tying yourself to a particular stat really make this choice shine. Pretty much the idea of having a trick up your sleeve. A Con and Wis score of 13 to get the Improved version in Paragon is a good idea.Wand of Accuracy: While it is an accuracy bonus, this choice has issues: Wands generally aren't as good as the other implements, Wizards tend to be fairly accurate anyway, and it keys off Dex, which is redundant with your high Int for AC and Reflex, and thus will hurt your other NADs, and you can get Initiative elsewhere too. Better for the Eladrin, who can use a Sword as a Wand and have the stat boosts for it, but generally speaking, stay away.[/sblock][/sblock]Mage Class Features[sblock]Cantrips: As useful as you make them be. Skill substitutions, a light source, convenient distractions, these can do a lot for you. Pick whichever you feel will be of most use to you, and be creative.Magic Missile: Not a brilliant power, but it doesn't cost you a better at-will, and sometimes you do just need to pop a minion. Gift horse, mouth, you know the saying.Spellbook: Like with the Arcanist, useful if you know what's coming, otherwise just stick to specific powers. A lot more useful if you take the Enigmatic Mage PP.Master of Lore: +3 to all of the Knowledge skills. Very useful, especially for a freebie, and even better for those taking the Sage of Ages ED.Master of Spells: Being able to change your powers pretty much 'on the fly' is very, very useful. Improves the usability of your spellbook and helps you be prepared for anything.School of Magic: The reason to play a Mage. A series of useful benefits that apply to all spells of certain Schools. Remember that you get two Apprentice and Expert features, and the Master benefit will also dictate the features of the Enigmatic Mage PP. Illusion and Enchantment combo well together, as does Evocation/Pyromancy and Nethermancy/Illusion.Enchantment:[sblock]Keys off Charisma, but only really if you go for Enigmatic Mage or the excellent Entrancing Mystic PP. A good stat to invest in for Will defense and the skill boosts. My personal favourite out of all the Wizard's builds, because it's fun to make ogres club themselves in the head.Apprentice: A stacking +2 to your forced movement, which this school features a lot of. Simple and effective.Expert: Both useful skills that key off the same stat. Probably the best of the Mage's skill boosts for that reason.Master: Extra accuracy on your forced attacks. Extremely useful.[/sblock]Evocation:[sblock]Relatively stat-less, but the Enigmatic Mage benefits key off Con, which is a worthwhile investment for your durability and the synergy with the Pyromancy school's Master feature if you chose that as your primary.Apprentice: Not quite like a weapon's Brutal property, but still a damage boost. Gets better later with powers that roll more dice, or have multiple damage instances like Chain Lightning. tiornys outlined the amount of damage increase this works out to in this post(x).Expert: Both are useful skills, Endurance especially so on a more fragile class. You probably won't have a good score in Intimidate without some investment though.Master: This will save you a huge amount of heartache throughout your career. Doesn't save you from immunity, but when you start seeing Resist 20 or higher in Epic, you'll be glad it's here.[/sblock]Illusion:[sblock]The Enigmatic Mage benefit keys off Wisdom, but Illusionist feats key off Charisma, as does one of the two skill boosts, and synergises better with Enchantment, so you're better of with that as your secondary.Apprentice: A defense boost in disguise, and stacks with Psychic Lock in Paragon. Together these can make you very hard to hit.Expert: Bluff is good, Stealth, while thematic, is less so. It's not a class skill and you're unlikely to have the Dex to really benefit from it.Master: Free CA, hit or miss? Yes please. Doesn't help you in the first round, but there are other options for that.[/sblock]Necromancy:[sblock]Uses Wisdom for the Enigmatic Mage features - but that path isn't very good for a Necromancer. I'd probably recommend Con for the skill boosts, and added durability, especially if you're using and reflavouring summoning spells.Apprentice: Useful in the lower end of heroic, but the lack of scaling hurts, especially if your DM is using MM3 monsters or their damage expressions. Fairly forgettable and near useless in later levels.Expert: Neither of these are class skills, and you're very unlikely to have the stats to take advantage of both.Master: Very, very useful. Necrotic resistance is fairly common. Pity it isn't the Apprentice feature, but can't have everything.[/sblock]Nethermancy:[sblock]Statless, even in the PP. Choose what you want, although one of the skills does use Charisma.Apprentice: Effectively a defense boost, but doesn't stack with anyother concealment you might already have. Does work for any other ranged characters in your party though, which is good for the sneaky types out there. Doesn't help your melee.Expert: Like with the Illusionist, Stealth is thematic, but you're not that good at it. Intimidate's a bit better for you.Master: Warlocks give up their armour slot for this effect, and consider it gold-rated. You don't even have to move to trigger it thanks to your apprentice feature. How's that for a sweet deal?[/sblock]Pyromancy:[sblock]Keys off Constitution, although the skills run off Charisma. The former is probably the better to invest in, for the Master benefit.Apprentice: A stacking damage bonus and ignore fire resistance? Hold up, I didn't put up the 'Striker' sign over the door by mistake, did I? You'll love this feature. Doesn't help with immunity, but there are ways around that.Expert: Good skills from the same stat, but being at odds with your Master feature's requirement lowers the value. Besides, wouldn't you rather set things on fire than talk to them?Master: Soft area denial and extra damage make this a very useful feature. Just be aware that it can hurt your party members too.[/sblock][/sblock]Sha'ir Class Features:[sblock]Gen Servant: Arcane Familiar for free, and the ability to swap out dailies and utilities is decent. In addition to all the other familiars available, there are four unqiue to you. Of the four, I like the Efreetkin the best for its passive effect, and the Djinnling's can see some use. All four have minor effects on daily use and the ability to change the origin square of an attack, but these require it to be active, which isn't so hot.Sha'ir Cantrips: A rose by any other name... same deal, as useful as you make them be.Elemental Resistance: And here comes the crux of the problem. Your familiar being active, plus your allies clumping, equals a low a mount of one element resistance, chosen only on extended rests. Using bad tactics to get a minor benefit that might go completely to waste is a very poor feature.[/sblock]Witch Class Features:[sblock]As I have stated before, I do not recommend choosing this build. Many of its features can be duplicated elsewhere and reflavoured. However, for the sake of completeness, I will discuss its features here.Cantrips: As useful here as on the other builds, that is, as much as your imagination allows.Augury: This feature can vary from eminently useful to utterly worthless depending on how much your DM plays along with it, but overall, it can be duplicated by several of the Divination-type rituals.Witch's Familiar: It's a free feat, but one of good benefit to the other builds anyway, should they take it. The only good thing about this feature is the spell replacement, but the Spellbook of the Mage and the Arcanist's Tome of Readiness can be made to do the same thing in a better way. The epic feature is weaker than it sounds, since you have to use the power first, which means delaying the benefit of your AP til round 2, and the Arcane Mastery feat does the same thing for dailies.Covens: You get a choice of two covens, which give you training in a skill, a couple of skill bonuses and lock in your first level encounter power.Covens:[sblock]Dark Moon Coven: This coven has issues. Its power keys off Wis, but gives you training in a Cha skill (redundant for Will defense) and a bonus in a Dex skill (redundant with Int, remember?) While Dread Presence is a large blast, it's unfriendly, and the amount of resistance it ignores is minor, as many undead have Resist 10 or better to Necrotic, which will still nullify the zone damage.Full Moon Coven: At least the trained skill keys off Wis like the power. Problem is, you don't need training in Heal to hit most DCs for that skill, and it doesn't have any 'Trained-Only' uses. The other skill bonus is to a class skill, but again, Cha is redundant with Wis. Glorious Presence is at least a better power than the Dark Moon's offering, but is more a Cleric thing. Still, Radiant is a good damage type, it's forced movement and the THP might save your party some damage. There are much better encounter powers you're missing out on though.[/sblock][/sblock]Class Stats:[sblock]Intelligence is your primary. Other than this, though, the Wizard is not very dependant on its secondary stats for its powers, so your choice of secondaries will depend on your choice of class features and meeting feat prerequisites.Strength: The dumpstat. You simply do not need it, unless you're a Genasi taking the Elemental Empowerment feat, in which case you need a good score here. Probably where you put the 8 in your array.Constitution: Needed by Staff of Defense, Tome of Binding, Pyromancers and to a lesser extent Evokers. However, no wizard can really afford to ignore this stat, as it determines your HP and Surges. Probably either your second or third highest stat.Dexterity: Redundant with Int for your AC and Reflex, but not quite a dumpstat, as you need a 13 for the Dual Implement Spellcaster feat. Does determine your initiative, but there are enough items and feats to boost that, or key it off a different stat that you don't really need a high score here for that. I wouldn't put a negative modifier here though.Intelligence: Your primary stat, plain and simple. You want this at at least 18 after racial adjustments, if not 20. Wizard is one of the classes that can easily afford the 20 given its lack of reliance on the other stats, and it will give you an extra point of AC, Ref, To-Hit, and Damage. An 18 is acceptable if you need to spread out a bit for requirements, of course.Wisdom: You probably want a 13 here for the feat Enlarge Spell, and Orb of Imposition users will obviously want a high score here. If you're an Enchanter, however, you can't really use Enlarge, and can happily dump it. It does power some useful skills though, and can used for initiative, so again, I wouldn't put the 8 here.Charisma: A 12 here will get you the Spell Focus feat once you reach Paragon, and the Orb of Deception keys off it. Enchanters will probably want a high-ish score here to go with their skills, more so if you MC Warlock for Entrancing Mystic and want to use that PP's powers.[/sblock]Races:[sblock]Sorted by source. Races from HoFL and HoFK will be under their original PHB1 and 2 listings.PHB1:[sblock]Dragonborn: A bonus to two secondaries, a minor action blast power and some decent feat support make this a workable choice, but not a brilliant one. Dwarf: Again, bonuses to two secondaries and decent feat support for keeping you on your feat and in place, but there are better options.Eladrin: An iconic race, with great stats, especially if you pick Cha. Bonus to Arcana, an extra trained skill, Fey Step and some good racial support make this a top-tier choice.Elf: Having to take Dex with the Int bonus isn't the greatest, but it's easily made up for by Elven Accuracy and a couple of great feats.Half-Elf: Bonus to Con and a choice of another secondary make this a serviceable choice, and Knack for Success is a useful power. Dilletante is of little use to you though, given the usefulness of your in-class at-wills.Halfling: Some good defensive features, but overall not a good choice. Far better at being a Sorcerer.Human: The extra skill, feat and good NAD bonus are the drawcards here. Be careful with your stat array due to only getting one boost and you'll be fine. The extra at-will is useful in heroic where your at-wills matter more, but Heroic Effort is the better of the two options (And a good power at that).Tiefling: Good stats and amazing feat support, especially for Enchanters and Fire-based Blasters. One of the best races for a Wizard, it's hard to go wrong with this choice.[/sblock]PHB2:[sblock]Deva: Perfect stats for imposers, good features, some good feats and an amazingly good racial ED make this another top-tier pick.Gnome: Good stats and some support geared towards an Illusionist build, but not a lot of it, and you are a touch slower. Not a huge penalty to a ranged character, but it's there.Goliath: You won't benefit from the Strength bonus, but a choice of secondaries is okay. Could make a semi-decent (and very hard to kill) staff user, but that's about it.Half-Orc: Pretty bad stats overall, and heavily geared towards smashing things with weapons. Not the right line of work.Longtooth/Razorclaw Shifter: Neither of these races are really suited to a wizard, although the Razorclaw is the better of the two.[/sblock]PHB3:[sblock]Githzerai: The stats for the imposer and some good defensive features, but the skill bonuses are a bit wasted and the feat support goes in a different direction from what you'd really like. Still decent.Minotaur: Poor stat choices and heavy gearing towards charging in melee render this a pretty bad choice.Shardmind: Great stats, some useful features and a smattering of good support make this race a good choice, even if they're thematically meant to be Psions.Wilden: Two secondaries, and the Ancients and Hunter aspects could be useful. The Destroyer aspect is a waste on a Wizard though.[/sblock]Eberron, Dark Sun, Forgotten Realms, Dragon Mag and Heroes Of Series:[sblock]Changeling: Good stats and nice features, but a lack of support holds it back.Drow: As much as Drow Wizards might feature heavily in some FR lore, they're just not really that good a choice. Okay stats and Darkfire can key off Int, but the race really is geared more towards a Sorcerer or Warlock.Genasi: They make amazing blasters thanks to Elemental Empowerment, or choosing Con can make them a fairly good choice for other builds. The best choice for a blaster, although Tieflings have a slight edge for using Fire.Gnoll: Poor stats and melee-centric features make this a poor choice.Hamadryad: Int/Wis and either of the racial power's effects are useful to you. Pity you can't also get Int/Cha out of them, and they lack feat support. Still a good choice.Hengeyokai: Some of the forms give decent mobility, and you can sustain powers in them, but that's about it. Somewhat thematic for wuxia- or Oriental Adventures-themed casters, but not really a good choice mechanically.Kalashtar: Another Int/Cha option with some okay, but not ideal feat support. Their ability to deal with Will-targeting attacks and dazing effects will come in handy though.Mul: A better Dwarf. Same stats, very durable and the option of Human feat support, plus their own options. Only lacking an Int bonus keeps them from a blue, almost a sky blue rating.Pixie: Int/Cha and very thematic for an Enchanter. Being able to fly will help you get around the battlefield, and Pixie Dust is a useful power.Revenant: While the feat support is good at keeping them up (I won't say alive) and the ability to take other race's support is useful, the stats and features are less than ideal.Satyr: Two secondaries and a useful racial power, but that's all.Shadar-Kai: Like the Elf, having to take Dex/Int hurts a little, but the racial power is nice and they have some interesting feats. Shade: They have Int/Cha, and an Arcana bonus, but the stealth training is kind of a waste, the racial power is fairly useless and the healing surge penalty is very noticable on a Controller. Not recommended.Thri-Kreen: A bit better than their stats would have you think. They're good at juggling implements, and speed 7 combined with the possiblity of using their racial attack will help keep them out of melee. Or you could use it with some blast powers if push came to shove.Vryloka: Poor stats and a racial penalty do not help this race's cause. Necrotic resistance is nice, but there's good odds you'll go a couple of encounters or more without triggering the racial power. A pretty bad choice.Warforged: Con/Int and their racial features will make for a very tough-to-kill wizard, but the racial support is meant for melee. Maybe if the old Repair spells were still around...[/sblock]Monster Races:[sblock]Bladeling: A wis bonus and a racial power you can't hit with. No.Bugbear: Bad stats and melee-centric.Bullywug: If I had a rating worse than red, I'd use it here. Bad stats and a racial feature that will never trigger.Duergar: A worse dwarf. Although at least you get to shoot your beard at people.Githyanki: Good stats and useful features. The best of the Monster races, by quite a margin.Goblin: Goblin Tactics will at least help keep you out of melee, but there's nothing else here for you.Hobgoblin: A worse half-elf. Good racial power though.Kenku: Not much on offer here either.Kobold: I actually kinda like kobolds. Eberron dragon-related lore helps. But mechanically, they're just not a good choice here.Orc: There are jokes about Big Dumb Orcs for a reason.[/sblock][/sblock]</blockquote>

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