Help me make this character

[Dannyalcatraz]

If you're going Wizard and losing familiar, instead of those cruddy* Immediate Magics <snip>*Sorry, but they are.

The value of those Immediate Magics vis a vis the Familiar is very much a DM & campaign specific question. For example, the average lifespan of a Familiar or Animal Companion (though not Paladin Mounts) in many of the campaigns in which I've played over the past decade is about 2.5 adventures.

In a situation like that, the Immediate Magics are like gold- you at least have something you can use more than a couple of times over the lifespan of the PC.

If, OTOH, your DM is more critter-friendly, and familiars actually stand a chance of survival, then no, IMs aren't that useful.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

As for the Spiked chain, its a relatively feat-intensive weapon. You might be better off with just a simple or martial reach weapon, and using something like Short Grip (PHB2) Shorten Haft (DCv1) or IUC to fight adjacent foes. Or even Armor Spikes if you're an Armored Caster of some kind.

If you must go with an Exotic Reach weapon, I'd also consider the Greatspear. Besides its 2d6 base damage, reach and RI 10', it also counts as a longspear for certain feats (as per Complete Adventurer p116). Plus, if you have a Quiver of Ehlonna (one of the better bang-for-the-buck magic items out there), you can carry up to 6 of them (along with javelins, etc), meaning you can play artillery battery if you build your PC with that in mind.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Dwarven Warpike is also good. 2d6, reach, can trip with it, can set vs. charge. Very handy. There's a blurb in Races of Stone near it about altering what racial weapon familiarities you get, with DM's permission, so a Dwarf could possibly even get to count it as a martial weapon, instead of the urgosh.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The one and only downside to the Warpike is that, like the Spiked Chain, it requires at least one extra feat beyond the proficiency feat- Improve Trip- to get the most out of it. If the DM lets you use it as a racial weapon, that pretty much negates that problem.

If you have Oriental Adventures, the Naginata (a martial reach weapon) is 1d10 slashing...which means you could use it with the 2nd level spell, Whirling Blade. If the weapon happens to be magical, so much the better.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Of course, the problem with many of these is that they're all 2 handed weapons.

Something you might consider as a variant is simply carrying a spiked shield as your weapon, taking the Shield Bash proficiency. That way, you get the AC bonus, a minimal ACP, and you still have a real-ish weapon in hand while casting spells with your other.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Oh yeah- if you DO take Fighter levels to round out the HP and fighting side of thinge, also check out the Armored Mage ACF for that class. You give up M and H armor in exchange for not having ASF with Lt armor or Shields as long as the level of the spell you cast is = Ftr class level + 1 or less.

For a Wiz5/Ftr2, that would mean he'd have no ASF with up to 3rd level spells...which is the most he could cast anyway.

 

[Artoomis]

Why not straight wizard or sorcerer? Just make sure one of his spells is Wraithstrike and/or True Strike.

You could be the typical combat-avoiding mage who occasionally uses magical boosting to get in a physical blow or two.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Why? Because of the OP's desire to use a Spiked Chain.

As a 7th level Human Wizard, he'd have his initial feat, his Human bonus feat, his 3rd level feat and 6th level progression feats and his 5th level Wizard bonus feat.

To get the most out of a Spiked Chain, he'd need to devote at least 2 of those feats to that weapon. Since XWP requires a +1 BAB, he'd be unable to take it until 3rd level, and wouldn't be able to take the last feat until 6th.

With 2 levels of Fighter with the Armored Mage ACF, he'd have an additional 2 feats and armored spellcasting at his max spell level at the cost of a couple of spells per day within that max spell level...which he's already making up somewhat with the Focused Specialist ACF.

 

[Darklone]

I'd try to talk my DM into a customtailored prestige class like the daggermage that can use all their specials with a spiked chain instead of daggers. Daggerspell stance included.

 

[Artoomis]

Why? Because of the OP's desire to use a Spiked Chain.

As a 7th level Human Wizard, he'd have his initial feat, his Human bonus feat, his 3rd level feat and 6th level progression feats and his 5th level Wizard bonus feat.

To get the most out of a Spiked Chain, he'd need to devote at least 2 of those feats to that weapon. Since XWP requires a +1 BAB, he'd be unable to take it until 3rd level, and wouldn't be able to take the last feat until 6th.

With 2 levels of Fighter with the Armored Mage ACF, he'd have an additional 2 feats and armored spellcasting at his max spell level at the cost of a couple of spells per day within that max spell level...which he's already making up somewhat with the Focused Specialist ACF.

Why not just suck up the weapon non-proficiency penalty? Under my approach, he'd either always attack with touch attacks (Wraithstrike) or with +20 (True Strike) or maybe even both, so he'll offset any non-proficiency penalties anyway.

After all, it sounds to me like he just want to be able to reach in there sometimes and take a whack at something to feel good about doing some good ol' fashioned physical damage.

I love the RP'ing possibilities here. I can just imagine thr wizard/sorceror dragging around this spiked chain he can barely use and then suddenly castihg a spell and... thwacka! Of course he'd never do a whole lot of damage, most liklely, but what fun!