build help: help a guy decide what to do

[pinkie]

sooo ive been playing 3.5 dnd for years and have been a fan of the barbarian and wizard but ive recently started playing in a new game where we are 5th lvl and i have gone thru 2 characters, a totemist which i decide i didnt like, and a dread necromancer that died in a wave of orcs. so i am looking to start a new character im thinking sumthing along the line of caster but i have a problem with choosing i ve been doing my research on playing an artificer but im not really sold. so the great news is that its as qouted by the dm "power gamers paradise" however i also want to have fun. my scores are:
12 14 14
16 15 14
14 or 13 or 18
12 19 11
20 12 15
12 18 18

so any help would be awsome.

 

[Magesmiley]

I'm assuming that you're picking one of the columns of stats and that you're not taking into account your stat boost for 4th level. If this assumption holds true, I'd probably opt for the middle column.

5th level leaves things kind of open too. Too low for (most) prestige classes, but close enough that you want to plan now if you're going to enter one.

Caster is kind of general too. But I'll throw some ideas out:

1. Conjuration specialist. Go all out for summoning stuff. Take the option from Unearthed Arcana to speed up your summoning times, Conjurer, focused specialist (from Complete Mage), Augment Summoning feat, and there is a feat from Frostburn that makes your critters cold for +1d6 damage too. A twist on this is to multiclass Conjurer/Cleric, take a couple of domains that complement the theme (there are some good ones in the Spell Compendium, just can't think of them while at work), and go mystic theurge at level 7. Lower level spells yes, but you'll have tons of spells to summon stuff. There are tons of uses for summoned minions.

2. Archivist. Sometimes overlooked from Heroes of Horror, it has some nice abilities and potentially a very flexible list of spells.

3. Cleric/wizard and aim for True Necromancer (Libris Mortis). Lots of good things to do here.

4. If you don't mind dwarves, what about the Runesmith (Race of Stone)? How does fully armored spellcaster with nio arcane spell failure chance for a 1 level dip sound?

5. Cleric of a war deity. Sometimes overlooked, clerics following war deities can be quite nasty in combat, especially if they aren't wasting their spells on healing and picking ones to aid themselves in combat instead.

 

[pinkie]

ya sorry i guess that was a lil misleading i get to choose one of the columnes from aboveand i did not add in my ability point from 4th yet. umm i had started to look at the archivist but im very indecisive when making a character.

 

[Magesmiley]

im very indecisive when making a character.

No worries. The big thing is to have a character that is fun to play. Some sort of theme can help with that.

What sort of caster do you see yourself playing? One chucking explosions left and right? Someone summoning minions to do your bidding? The strategist always trying to find the optimal use of your spells? A melee caster, wading into the thick of things to cast up close and personal? A couple of sentences indicating how you see yourself slinging spells can give folks on the board a lot of direction on how to provide advice on building a powerful character that does what you want.

 

[pinkie]

ya very true been a very long time since ive posted anything on a nonprivate forum. i was in such a rush to put this on here i forgot half of what i wanted to say. i like the idea of playing from as many books as possible i enjoy the idea of archivist and artificer but dislike the artificer because of the long casting infusions. we currently are in the forgotten realms but the dm is working on changing the realm also the idea of being in planescape has been tossed around as well as a player pushing to play in spelljammer cause he wants to play an elf FROM SPACE. im typically the guy helping with tatics and i dont like minions nor am i the buff guy, in other games i like filling the healer role but always find myself lacking on paper in dnd. i love playing the weird creature and break stero type im prone to playing a goblin barbarian. evocation spells have been my primary focus b4 on other wizards but not in any optimized fashion.

 

[HoboGod]

If evocation is where you have the most fun, I'd suggest the Metamagic Sorcerer variant and build toward Academic Sorcerer prestige class. While you wont have the variety of wizard, you'll be the better boomstick. With feats like practical metamagic, metamagic school focus, and arcane thesis, the empowered, maximized fireball you cast many times per day can be casted without adjusting the spell's level.