Building my first 3rd-edition wizard. What are the essentials?

[Mistwell]

I know opinions vary widely on which schools to keep, but in my opinion illusion and necromancy are both fairly essential schools.

Necromancy has False Life - and that is a spell I just can't praise enough. It's the single best cure for a wizards low hit points. Necromancy has some other great spells, like Ray of Enfeeblement, and Enervation.

Illusion has so many important spells I find it very essebtial. Mirror Image, Invisibility, and frankly I find the figment spells (silent image, minor image, and major image) to be some of the most powerful spells in the game. What other school has a first level spell that can create total cover that YOU can see through (silent image of a wall of stone)?

I'd personally ditch Enchantment. It has some very good spells, like Heroism and Charm Monster, but when it comes down to it there is nothing in Enchantment that cannot mostly be accomplished with the spells from another school.

Also, don't forget Eternal Wands from Magic Item Compendium.

 

[stonegod]

As you OP can see, there are a lot of different ways to go with schools. So, in the end, it depends on what type of caster you want to play.

 

[Alpha Polaris]

"Especially arcane ones," nothing. Only arcane ones. Only wizards, in fact. Clerics and druids get one chance per day to prepare their spells and that's it. They can't go back and fill in empty slots later in the day.

Objection !

Sorry to sidetrack the thread here, Your Honor, but this is simply not true. Divine casters get one chance per day to refresh their slots, after that they can come back and fill in empty slots the exact same way their wizard buddies can.

A divine spellcaster does not have to prepare all his spells at once. However, the character’s mind is considered fresh only during his or her first daily spell preparation, so a divine spellcaster cannot fill a slot that is empty because he or she has cast a spell or abandoned a previously prepared spell.

The first bold sentence means you can leave empty slots. The second, which is often read sideways, means that if a slot is empty because the spell has been used or abandonned, you cannot fill it. But if it is empty because you left it that way, you can, just like a wizard.

 

[Felon]

Ok, lots of evoking but you want other spells as well.

I would suggest warmage. I know it has been suggested before but it is pretty much the way to go for what you want.

Here's what the warmage has going for it:

1) Armored Mage--With the Battlecaster feat, I wouldn't even need need mithral.
2) Warmage Edge--Lots and lots of ways to make that little bit of damage go a long way.
3) Improved Spell Access--Gains a few spells not on the sor/wiz list (ring of blades, flamestrike, blade barrier, fire seeds), and gains some spells at a lower level than sor/wiz (fire shield, ice stomr).
4) Flexible Casting--Only a warmage can exploit all of the options of the Energy Gestalt tactical feat at will. Screw Energy Substitution. Don't need it.

That's all great, but I find playing one very frustrating nonetheless. The spell list doesn't have all the blasting I could want. For me, blasting is largely an AoE affair. Here's how the spell list really pans out for me:

1st level
Various orb spells with aggrivatingly short range
Magic Missile (the only long range zap)
Hail of Stones (the only AoE, with annoying 1 round casting time)
Bunch of other crap I don't care much about

2nd level
Scorching Ray (everyone loves it, but again the range can be an issue)
Melf's Acid Arrow (low damage, long range, no SR)
Bunch of other crap I don't care much about.
No AoE worth mentioning.

3rd level
Fireball (the linchpin of the entire class)
Lightning Bolt (for when your allies get in the way of your linchpin)
Who cares about the rest?

4th level
Blast of Flame (big, broken conjuration AoE spell)
Evard's Black Tentacles (root spell that gets old with DM's and other players real fast)
Various orbs for single-target blasting
Wall of Fire
A few others I don't care about.

From a distance, the class appears to be an AoE nuker steeped in evocation. But when I got close (by playing it) I realized it packs mostly point-blank spells that zap single targets or small clusters, and is at least as much of a conjurer as it is an evoker. I'd get a lot of that functionality out of a duskblade. Fireball is actually the exception, not the rule. All of that would be forgivable, but the idea that I really don't get to choose what kind of warmage I am is not.

The problem here is that the warmage was the first class of its kind. Take a look at the dread necromancer and the beguiler. They both get more spells than the warmage, and they get a more generous aportionment of Advanced Learning. I really hope we'll eventually see some alternate class feature for the warmage that lets them trade off some of their other features for spell list customization. I don't want to have to choose between Channeled Pyroburst and Energy Spheres and Firebrand.

Playing an evoker will also allow me to get some essentials that will facliitate blasting indirectly, such as True Casting and Assay Resistance for bypassing SR, and stuff like Fly, Regroup, and Dimension Jumper for positioning.

 

[Felon]

I know opinions vary widely on which schools to keep, but in my opinion illusion and necromancy are both fairly essential schools.

Necromancy has False Life - and that is a spell I just can't praise enough. It's the single best cure for a wizards low hit points.

At one time, I shook my head whenever I saw a wizard not putting false life on his list of must-haves. These days though, I will see your false life, and raise you a heart of earth. It's two levels higher than false life, but it compensates for it darn well.

OTOH, the prospect of giving up hope on ever getting horrid wilting...uggh. Then again, isn't there some feat that can restore access to a prohibited school?

Illusion has so many important spells I find it very essebtial. Mirror Image, Invisibility, and frankly I find the figment spells (silent image, minor image, and major image) to be some of the most powerful spells in the game. What other school has a first level spell that can create total cover that YOU can see through (silent image of a wall of stone)?

Illusion is great for defense, even in world filled with undead and golems. Thing is, I want to try a mage that spends minimal time in combat erecting defenses, and relies on tanks for tanking. You know, that whole class interdepency thing that seems to have gone the way of the flumph. If that doesn't work, well, then the grand experiment is over.

Also, don't forget Eternal Wands from Magic Item Compendium.

Sounds cool. What do they do?

 

[stonegod]

Sounds cool. What do they do?

They're from Eberron originally, and give you access to a 0-3rd level spell 2/day (even one that is from a prohibited school). They are at a fixed CL, of course.

 

[Slaved]

That's all great, but I find playing one very frustrating nonetheless. The spell list doesn't have all the blasting I could want. For me, blasting is largely an AoE affair.

What low level, long range, area of effect spells are you going to pick up with the wizard that arent on the warmage list?

 

[Felon]

What low level, long range, area of effect spells are you going to pick up with the wizard that arent on the warmage list?

Well, I can think of one off the top of my head: snowball swarm (which I will convert with Energy Substitution into something that won't get me laughed at--acidballs maybe?).

But more to the point, first and second level spells are good for indirect AoE support I mentioned. True Casting, Benign and Baleful Transposition, Nerveskitter, See Invisibility, and Swift Fly are all good examples of handy tools for tactical blasting.

 

[Felon]

I recall some feat that allows a wizard to learn more than the alloted two spells per level. Anoyone know where I can find it? I've combed Complete Arcane for it, and I can't think of where the heck else to look.

Since this campaign is Red Hand of Doom, I don't think I'll have the time to do a lot of studying, so even material cost aside, such a feat would be handy.

 

[Testament]

Giving up THREE schools? Sounds dangerous to me. I personally couldn't bear to ever give up three. As I see it, you never EVER give up Abjuration, losing Dispel Magic and its cousins is a one-way trip to Suicideville, population: YOU. I'd rather cut my own damn arm off than give up Invisibility, so Illusion stays. And if I was ever to give up Conjuration or Transmutation, my fellow players would lynch me, since that means losing teleportation magic and Haste.

Honestly, in post Complete Conjuror (sorry, Complete Arcane) D&D, Evocation and Enchantment are the schools I'd give up. I'll reiterate what's been said, if you want to nuke, Warmage is the way to go.