Help my 12 hp wizard (lvl 4)

[Darmanicus]

Some other things: Don't be surprised. Don't skimp on the scouting/Divinations.

Resist Energy can help you survive AE effects-- if you know what's coming.

Try to talk a friendly cleric into thinking that it's in the best interest of her god to cast Shield Other on you.

Read a bit more now, (obviously).

Great ideas, especially the divinations.......

We have a player in our group who plays a specialist diviner, (and I'm now inclined to believe this is the best specialist wizard type ever), and he totally rocks. He regularly scrys, sends floating eyeball things to scout, (extended obviously) and all this other divination stuff I can't quite remember.

Check it out.

 

[welby]

Why not take at least 3 levels in cleric and then go the mystic theurge route?

Tempting, but at the point I would be willing to give up arcane casting levels, I think I'd rather just go true necromancer or pale master.

My last character was a fatespinner (very fun to roleplay) and I missed ever getting to cast higher level arcane spells. Since I've never (in many, many years of playing) cast spells over 5th, I really wanted to make that a priority.

 

[Pax]

Tempting, but at the point I would be willing to give up arcane casting levels, I think I'd rather just go true necromancer or pale master.

True Necromancer requires you to go Cleric/Wizard ... and costs MORE caster elvels than Mystic theurge. At 20th level, you could be Cleric(3)/Wizard(7)/Mystic Theurge(10), have 13 cleric caster levels, and 17 wizard caster levels ... compared to Cleric(5)/Wizard(5)/True Necromancer(10), and be (at best) the equivalent of Cleric(5)/Wizard(15) for most spells, and Cleric(20)/Wizard(20) for necromancy spells.

Which means giving up a large chunk of spells (9thlevel wizard spells and 4th through 7th level cleric spells), in return for only a few extra caster levels with necromantic spells. *shrug*

Pale Master does involve a loss of caster levels and spell levels too, yes - but if you went Wizard(13)/Pale Master(7), you would cast as a Wizard(17) as far as spells-per-day, and would only give up the final, end-stage Pale Master class abilities.

My last character was a fatespinner (very fun to roleplay) and I missed ever getting to cast higher level arcane spells. Since I've never (in many, many years of playing) cast spells over 5th, I really wanted to make that a priority.

Then simply never give up more than 3 caster levels. That, sadly, means forgoing beign a Lich (LA +4), unless your GM is willing to let things stretch into Epic levels - you'd get 9th level spells at ECL21. Which is truly a shame, because Lich is *such* a thematic template to add, as a necromancer!

 

[Scion]

What about Clr 3/Wiz 3/theurge 2/true necromancer 10

it is late so I dont want to go digging around, but I am pretty sure this would work, and gets you there 2 levels earlier!

 

[Pax]

Okay, yeah that'd work. Cleric(3)/Wizard(3)/Theurge(4)/True NEcromancer(10) could give you the spells-per-day of a Cleric(7)/Wizard(17), and ... you shoudl have caster level 20 for necromantic spells (I would never count Theurge levels twice for that, regardless).

 

[Darmanicus]

Tempting, but at the point I would be willing to give up arcane casting levels, I think I'd rather just go true necromancer or pale master.

So you lose a couple of caster levels and so what?

That's where wands/staffs/rods come in handy. Oh yeah, almost forgot scrolls.

 

[Bauglir]

I played an evil necromancer once with a con of 3 (rolled).

Decided to run with it, and made him really old (to justify his rather low physical stats).

He made it all the way to level 20 too. (granted not alive but still!)

In his case spell research helped - he created a 3rd level spell that surrounded the caster with a "buffer" of negative energy (effectively a hit point buffer) - 2hp/level iirc (might have been 3, but the GM in question ran a very high powered game)

Later on a rod of absorbtion came in handy.

And of course, undeath...

 

[Gaiden]

Regarding shield other - be very careful with the 20' range cap on the spell.

I am currenlty playing a cleric of Pelor in RttToEE (which is nearly reaching its conclusion - we just beat Hedrack). I regurlarly used this spell at lower levels on the warriors so that they could survive the beatings. In fact, I typically cast it on both front liners (we had two tanks - one AC, one HP's). My DM joked that my character was a masochist and believe me, those AoE spells really REALLY hurt - well, me anyway .

However, the 20' range cap was extremely limiting. We would have to move, and then ready an action to move when the counterpart moved 20' away again. Also, it sucked for AoE spells because we would always all be caught in them. And all of this I am telling you about was occurring in your classic dungeon setting, i.e. in confined spaces. In an open area the spell would be almost useless being trumped by tactical movement before the first combat was finished (it does have an incredibly long duration).

If you are thinking of this spell, my recommendation is to enlarge it. I know 3.5 nixed the stacking of metamagic feats so perhaps you could instead get a rod of minor enlargement (that sounds ..., well n/m). I'd say to be on the safe side it needs to be enlarged 3x to 80'. That makes the spell much more versatile and works at higher level when aerial combat has been introduced and greater rates of movement.

 

[welby]

Shield Other
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)

just a bit extra range, but still something to be careful with.

Last night I scribed false life into my spellbook, and picked up a pink ioun stone. I had asked for an amulet of health +2 but the DM gave me that instead, probablyl so he can take it away easier later. But for now, it's amazing the difference those two things made. I went from 12 -> 29 hitpoints which will at least allow me to survive a hit or two before going under. Now I'm debating whether shield other is really necessary, since I can keep false life up several times a day.

Which is truly a shame, because Lich is *such* a thematic template to add, as a necromancer!

Totally! Now that would be worth giving up spell levels for

 

[Pax]

Last night I scribed false life into my spellbook, and picked up a pink ioun stone. I had asked for an amulet of health +2 but the DM gave me that instead, probablyl so he can take it away easier later.

Ioun Stones are a PERFECT place to use the "Permanency+Invisibility on an object" application. ^_^ If the enemy can't SEE them, they can't TAKE them. Heh. Of course, that's not going to be possible for you, for another half-dozen-ish levels, but it's something to plan for ...