Choosing Between Two Wizards

[Mistwell]

I am playing a Wizard tonight in our first 4e game, and I would appreciate opinions on these two builds (both of which I like - but I remain open minded).

Blaster:

Tiefling Blast Mage
Racial: Fire Res 5, +1 attack v. bloodied opponents, +2 bluff/stealth
Skills: Arcana, Diplomacy, Religion, History
Class: Cantrips, Spellbook, Wand Focus
At-Will: Scorching Burst, Thunderwave

Level 1
Str 8 Con 13 Dex 14 Int 18 Wis 10 Cha 16
Encounter: Burning Hands, Infernal Wrath, Wand of Accuracy
Daily: Flaming Sphere*, Freezing Cloud
Feats: Ritual Casting (b), Hellfire Blood
Rituals: ?, ?, ? (Yet to be selected)
To Hit: ? (not yet calculated)
Defenses: AC ?, Ref ?, Will ?, Fort ?(not yet calculated)
Initiative: ? (not yet calculated)
HP: ?, healing surge ?, ? healing surges/day (not yet calculated)

*typically prepared

Controller:
Human Controller Mage
Racial: +1 Ref, +1 Fort, +1 Will
Skills: Arcana, Religion, Dungeoneering, Nature, Insight (Human Bonus)
Class: Cantrips, Spellbook, Orb Focus
At-Will: Cloud of Daggers, Ray of Frost, Thunderwave (Human Bonus)

Level 1
Str 8, Con 12, Dex 10, Int 16, Wis 18, Cha 12
Encounter: Icy Terrain, Orb of Imposition
Daily: Sleep*, Flaming Sphere
Feats: Ritual Casting (b), Improved Initiative, Action Surge (Human Bonus)
Rituals: ?, ?, ? (Yet to be selected)
To Hit: d20+3 (+6 with action surge)
Defenses: AC – 13, Ref-14, Will-17, Fort-12 (including human bonus)
Initiative: +4
HP: 22, healing surge 5, 7 healing surges/day

*typically prepared

Obviously some of these choices reflect future plans rather than first level ones (like the desire to take spell focus for the controller, or arcane reach for the blaster).

Advice for either or both builds?

Think one is clearly better than the other?

 

[mach1.9pants]

I like the controller mage, my current 4E fave! But why oh why have you got 16 INT and 18 WIS, swap em IMO. INT is your attack roll skill, WIS is a secondary one.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Personally, I think Wand Wizards are a bit inferior. DEX and INT are polar stats (both add to AC/REF), and doing big damage can be left to the strikers. The Wizard is the game's only Controller so far, so the Controller Wizard is where it's at. Plus, as you obviously realize (from the 18 WIS), the Orb of Imposition can be just sick.

 

[Mistwell]

I like the controller mage, my current 4E fave! But why oh why have you got 16 INT and 18 WIS, swap em IMO. INT is your attack roll skill, WIS is a secondary one.

Every single person who has crunched the numbers came to the conclusion that, despite the fact that it's not initially intuitive on reading the class, Wis is the better score for the controller mage. I might switch them, but right now it seems like Wis is pretty darn useful for the controller mage (particularly with things like Action Surge to hit with Sleep, using the orb to give a -4 to the save vs. unconsciousness).

Plus, I think for that character Divine Oracle is the most likely Paragon Path.

 

[Rith the Wanderer]

Every single person who has crunched the numbers came to the conclusion that, despite the fact that it's not initially intuitive on reading the class, Wis is the better score for the controller mage.

Plus, I think for that character Divine Oracle is the most likely Paragon Path.

I've not heard this, I mean I understand the awesomeness of the whole orb ability, but to actually be better than your main damage and to hit ability? Can I see the number crunching your refering to?

 

[Rashak Mani]

I'm playing a Human Blaster right now... its fun... but long term I think controller might be better off.

 

[Mistwell]

I've not heard this, I mean I understand the awesomeness of the whole orb ability, but to actually be better than your main damage and to hit ability? Can I see the number crunching your refering to?

Here is one thread.

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=494.msg12536#msg12536

And I think I exaggerated a bit. Not "every single person" who has crunched the numbers, but the majority. Again, I might switch Int and Wis, but I remain on the fence.

 

[Nifft]

For your Tiefling, I'd swap Cha and Wis. You'll lose one point of Will save, but you'll gain 2 squares of Push on your Thunderwaves. Nothing says you can't blast AND control. Since you're a Tiefling, and you have cleverly taken Hellfire Blood (one of the few truly awesome feats in the game), you're already one point ahead in terms of many attack rolls: there's no need to pump your Dexterity, or take wand focus. Infernal Wrath makes up the rest of the difference. It's not that wand focus won't buy you anything, I just think it's not necessary for your guy, since he's already got two racial abilities that do mostly the same thing.

It's great to have a 12 Charisma, because at 11th level you WILL want to take Spell Focus, but that's really all you need. The extra damage from your Infernal Wrath is nice, but not as nice as the attack bonus... IMHO the extra damage is not something you should be paying for with a 14. At most, pay for a 13 (-> 15 after racial bonus), but even that's a lot.

- - -

You're correct about Wisdom being an uber-stat for controllers (and orb controllers in particular), but the PC has to have some way to make up the difference in attack bonus, since you can't use your Orb power if the initial attack doesn't hit. One popular way to make up the difference is to be an Elf, so you can re-roll when your Encounter or Daily power misses (and too often it will, because you're one point below par). The other way is to focus on guaranteed damage (like Cloud of Daggers).

Action Surge may be enough to mitigate this for initial-burst effects (like Sleep), but be aware that you're optimizing for the use of a Daily, and even when you don't blow your Daily, you'll just get this action-point benefit every other encounter (if that).

Ray of Frost in particular I wouldn't take -- it's single-target, and it's short-range. At that range it's better to throw a Cloud of Daggers at a single foe. I'd take Scorching Burst (more attack rolls -> more likely to hit someone) or Magic Missile (no side-effect, but long range).

Cheers, -- N

 

[Mistwell]

Both good points Nfft.

I think the dex was for a future Arcane Reach feat choice.

I do not think the controller is optimizing for sleep-only. It's a strong character just with Cloud of Daggers and Thunderwave. I agree I am torn on the Ray of Frost vs. Scorching Burst. Ray has a slow effect that will be useful to high levels, while Burst kills minions even into high levels.

 

[Mistwell]

Hmm anyone know why the Will save on the controller is listed as 17? I count 15 (+4 wis, +1 human). Am I missing +2, or is it in error?