I'll get to try out 4e this weekend, advice?

[Henrix]

Good point by Avin, there.

What you do as a wizard isn't blow stuff up.
You're the guy who tells the enemies where they go and what they do.

Think about how to mess up their plans.

 

[Voadam]

If you have good friends who enjoy the game, they will make sure you get it figured out

We'll see. Right now everyone but my brother in that group is a stranger to me. One of the guys in his group moved from his state up to mine and they are having a getaway gaming weekend up here. Being an out of state trip for most of the group is also why one of them couldn't make it up for the game.

 

[Voadam]

It will be tough, it is close enough to 3.5e in terminology to be confusing. And wizards are one of the more complicated classes - especially if they have the expanded spellbook feat.

They get a class feature of having a choice of dailies and utilities each day for each level you get a daily, right? So I do need to decide which ones to prepare.

 

[Voadam]

First rule, always kill everything you can. Second rule, act completely innocent after commiting atrocities. You're playing Richard after all right?

"Fwoosh!" I've never had a liver hat before. Yay me!

Yeah, my brother corrected me on the kobold story when I talked to him today, it was an already dead one he was fireballing, just to be sure. Apparently my brother doesn't adjust the encounters upwards at all even though the Richard character is a sixth member, since he usually ends up doing as much area of effect damage to the party as to the opposition. He says there is a feat that does extra damage if the power affects more than one target so he uses friendly fire as a damage enhancer. The PC also spent the last combat doing no attacks whatsoever because he was trying to impress a pretty zombie opponent with his fancy dance steps.

 

[Voadam]

My top ten stumbling blocks for 3e players are here:

3E to 4E: Stumbling Blocks « Claw/Claw/Peck

Thanks, 5, 7, and 8 were not things I was not thinking about that might have tripped me up.

 

[Voadam]

Voadam, I'm sure you're fine from an RP POV and tactical POV (after all you took on a dragon atop a bridge drawing it away from your allies) so it's just the rules that will be a bit of a stumbling block.

One thing wizards have is a lot of sustainable powers (usually their dailies), so make sure you can sustain them with a minor, else they go *poof*. Try and use all your actions each turn (minor/move/standard), oh and as a wizard, try and kill the minions. Might be metagaming, but if the DM puts 4-5 of the same looking mini (or same named token) on the board, he's probably a minion.

Oh yeah, open mind, it is much, much different than prior editions. I think if you don't compare it, but rather try and play it with a blank slate, it'll be better.

A few things (one mentioned before):
1: look for keyword "sustain" and make sure you have a minor for it if you need it.
2: Always look to burn Encounter (red) Powers because you get them back next encounter and they're usually a bit better than just burning straight At-Wills.
3: Don't be afraid to burn Daily Powers if needed. If everyone saves them, they may not get a good chance to use them or have too few resources left to make best use of them.

Minor action sustain, that's in things like flaming sphere. Good point. Thanks.

 

[Nifft]

As a Wizard, your Daily powers are game-changers. Be prepared to whip one out early in an encounter -- when you have reason to think it may be a tough encounter -- because the more rounds you get to Sustain your Daily, the bigger an impact it will have on the fight.

Flaming Sphere is probably the best Daily you'll get for a while (if the opponents don't resist fire).

It's tricky to play a Wizard because you need to know when to bust out your Daily powers. Barbarians face a similar quandary... and I like playing both.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Voadam]

One more thing: 4E Wizards aren't the massive area damage dealers they used to be. Now they are the guys who mess up with all tactics the DM has planned

Good point by Avin, there.

What you do as a wizard isn't blow stuff up.
You're the guy who tells the enemies where they go and what they do.

Think about how to mess up their plans.

While I do have summon abyssal maw, summon flame warrior, and some beetle swarm thing that might be good battlefield control powers, I think this character is focused more on being wacky and blowing up lots of minions with hellfire. Until I saw the character sheet I thought he was going to be a warlock.

 

[vagabundo]

They get a class feature of having a choice of dailies and utilities each day for each level you get a daily, right? So I do need to decide which ones to prepare.

Correct or three if you have the expanded spellbook feat, and you get to decide what spells you learn after and extended rest - similar to previous editions.

 

[malraux]

Flaming Sphere is probably the best Daily you'll get for a while (if the opponents don't resist fire).

5th level Grasp of the Grave should be available, assuming the DM allows it. Hands down, that's the best. It also fits for a shadar kai evil wizard.


As far as tactics go, as other have mentioned, you won't do the most single target damage, though you can rack up the damage per round on multi-target spells. For dailies, anything with a sustain option or that sticks around is really your best bet. After that, anything that forces a condition onto creatures is better than straight damage. After that, anything that moves creatures around is better than just damage.