Elder-Basilisk
First Post
7th level is starting to get to the point where the limitations of a generalist wizard (the lack of spell slots) start to become less significant than the limitations of a specialist wizard (lack of particular, paradigmatic spells). So, generalist is a viable and powerful option. Specialists can still be made to work quite well though. Among the specialists, I would say that Diviners stand out for several reasons. First, you can always use a divination spell. True Strike or Detect Secret Doors at level 1. See Inivisibility or Detect Thoughts at level 2. Clairaudience/Clairvoyance or Arcane Sight at level 3. Arcane Eye or Scrying at level 4, etc. Second, you only have to give up one school in order to get that and it's a lot easier to make up for the loss of one school with play style than it is to make up for the loss of two.
My own take on what you give up and how to make up for it:
Evocation as a banned school: You give up Magic Missile, Scorching Ray, Fireball, Wall of Force, Contingency, etc. You can make up for the single target direct damage with the CA Lesser Orb spells, Disintegrate, etc. You can make up for multi-target direct damage like fireball with Evard's Black Tentacles, Acid Fog, Solid Fog, etc. There's not much you can do to make up for Contingency, but spells like Tome and Blood's Energy Buffer and good information gathering can help reduce the need for it.
Conjuration as a banned school. You give up mage armor, web, glitterdust, dimension door, teleport, the various summon monster spells, gate, acid fog, solid fog, and the CA direct damage spells. You can live without mage armor by scrupulously avoiding combat and using potions to buff monks and other characters who benefit from it. You can use blink and Improved Blink for avoiding obstacles and (if stilled) grapple avoidance). You can get the cleric to cast Wind Walk for fast, long-distance travel. You can also use illusions or Evocations (Wall of Force, etc) to cover some of the area effects. Clerics or druids can handle the monster summoning. Glitterdust is hard to replace but loses a fair amount of significance as the game goes on.
Transmutation: you miss out on: Enlarge Person, Alter Self, Polymorph, Blink, Fly, Greater Magic Weapon, Haste, Flesh to Stone, Disintegrate and Shapechange. The cleric can take care of Greater Magic Weapon Spells, evocation direct damages can sub for disintegrate (empowered or maximized scorching ray) as can empowered CA energy orbs. Flesh to Stone is a substitute for Finger of Death anyway. It's hard to replace buffs like Haste and Enlarge Person, but the party can learn to live within its means.
Enchantment. You miss out on Charm Person, Charm Monster, Confusion, Feeblemind, Heroism, and the Power Words. I think this is one of the easier schools to miss. Heroism and the Power Words are nice and hard to replace. Charms can be partially replaced by a PC with a good diplomacy or the entire arena can be handled by a bard. Only illusion can match Enchantment for subtlety, but subtlety is often unnecessary.
Necromancy: You miss out on False Life, Ray of Enfeeblement, Enervation, Finger of Death, etc. Mostly, this is a lesson on learning to live without. Without False Life, be more careful. Without Ray of Enfeeblement, you'll have to rely on spells like Slow and glitterdust or buffs like displacement to help your party live longer. Direct Damage and things like Feeblemind can do some of what Enervation does. Flesh to Stone, etc. can fill in for Finger of Death.
Illusion: You'll miss out on the image spells, Invisibility, Displacement, the shadow spells, etc. There's quite a bit of flexibility here and invisibility adds a new dimension to the party's capabilities, but a lot of this can be done by other means. There aren't many other schools with the same potential for a quick and creative thinker but a wide range of less creatively applied, but having the right tool for the job can make creativity unnecessary. (There's no need to get creative when screwing shelves into your wall--unless you don't have a screwdriver).
Abjuration: You'd be missing out on Shield, Resist Energy, Magic Circle, Dispel Magic, Stoneskin, Dimensional Anchor, Dimensional Lock, Energy Buffer, Greater Dispelling, Mind Blank, and a variety of Complete Arcane spells like Assay Resistance and Reciprocal Gyre. You can let the party cleric handle dispel magic, use other defensive magics instead of Stoneskin, kill enemies with fireballs and scorching rays instead of Reciprocal Gyre (a spell like that does half of its job just by existing; whether or not any specific individual has it, others have to account for it in their strategies), etc. Mind Blank, however, is an extremely important spell at higher levels since it keeps your enemies from making full use of their capabilities against you. (If scry doesn't work, they can't scry+buff+teleport; if Divination doesn't work, they won't know that you're coming, if Foresight doesn't tell them about you, then you can achieve surprise, etc). Missing out on Magic Circle and Dimensional Anchor precludes using the planar binding spells but the loss can generally be covered by a cleric.
As what kind of a wizard to play, I would need to know more about the party to give a comprehensive answer. For instance, a party with a good archer doesn't need single target damage nearly as much as a party without one. If your party cleric likes to buff and wade into melee, you'll need area damage or area control spells far more than if your cleric likes to cast Flame Strike and Greater Command. If you've got some traditional, heavy hitting fighters, Haste and Enlarge Person will work a lot better than if you've a party full of rogue/monks and other more marginally effective light fighter types. If the party has a bard/mindbender, losing enchantment isn't a big deal. If nobody in the party is subtle, you want to be able to do that whenever the situation requires a light touch.
As for staying alive, I have two recommendations:
1. Have a lot of hit points.
2. Kill the enemy first.
3. Stay out of melee range.
4. Have a means to escape a grapple.
Having hit points is the start.
Since you've got good stats available, put one 16 in con and the other in int. The int gives you DCs and bonus spells. The con gives you the average hit points of a 10 con-fighter. (Not that that's a lot--10 con fighters have their own section in the graveyard, but it's more than twice as much as a 10-con wizard). Use False Life regularly to boost your total a bit more. Being 2 levels behind the rest of the group makes this even more of a priority. (I'd probably go gnome or dwarf just for that reason). Get an amulet of Health too. You can't have too many hit points.
Killing the enemy first is a fairly simple principle. It doesn't necessarily mean Improved Initiative, but it does mean that your first action in combat should only rarely be "I cast Shield" or "I cast Invisibility." If you let your enemies spend the first few rounds producing damage without having to heal it, you're playing into their hands. If, on the other hand, you have eliminated several of your enemies in the first round or two or severely injured lots of them, the enemy will have less to injure your party with. Your job is to hurt and manipulate the enemy. Trust the fighters to keep the enemies out of your face and the clerics to keep you on your feet.
3. Stay out of melee range. If the situation is desperate and you have nothing else, you can fight. Otherwise, keep your distance.
4. Sooner or later, you will be grappled. You will not have a good enough grapple check to break free except on a very lucky roll. (By 7th level, everyone but a halfling rogue has a grapple check comparable to yours). So, have a plan. Dimension Door, Stilled Gaseous Form, Stilled Blink, contingent blink, something. If you don't you'll be swallowed whole or squeezed to death by a monster some day or at the very least, grappled and incapacitated by a single minion of your foe's, taking you out of the fight just as surely as a Hold Person takes the fighter out.
And for Arcane Artillery: Wizard or Sorcerer, accept no substitutes. Warlock seems like an archer who makes one touch attack per round rather than three or four normal attacks per round. Warmage is like a sorcerer, but without the important utility and defensive spells. For prestige classes, you might consider Fatespinner (absurdly easy prereqs and if you pick the right enemy and the right spell to give the -10 save, it can be a gamebreaker. (Finger of Death--save at -10...)). Mage of the Arcane Order is also a very good class.
For feats, you'll want Spell Penetration and Greater Spell Penetration (especially so since you're 2 levels behind the rest of the group). That leaves two plus your bonus feat if you're human; one if you're a gnome. Spell Focus would be good if a lot of your spells come from one school. Improved Initiative is good. Empower Spell is also very good (especially with Scorching Ray, etc). If you go the ray spell (Ray of Enfeeblement, Lesser Energy Orbs, Scorching Ray, Ray of Exhaustion, Energy Orbs, empowered ray of enfeeblement, empowered scorching ray, enervation, etc) route, point blank and precise shot are very very good. Sculpt Spell is also extremely useful if you go the area effect specialist route.
My own take on what you give up and how to make up for it:
Evocation as a banned school: You give up Magic Missile, Scorching Ray, Fireball, Wall of Force, Contingency, etc. You can make up for the single target direct damage with the CA Lesser Orb spells, Disintegrate, etc. You can make up for multi-target direct damage like fireball with Evard's Black Tentacles, Acid Fog, Solid Fog, etc. There's not much you can do to make up for Contingency, but spells like Tome and Blood's Energy Buffer and good information gathering can help reduce the need for it.
Conjuration as a banned school. You give up mage armor, web, glitterdust, dimension door, teleport, the various summon monster spells, gate, acid fog, solid fog, and the CA direct damage spells. You can live without mage armor by scrupulously avoiding combat and using potions to buff monks and other characters who benefit from it. You can use blink and Improved Blink for avoiding obstacles and (if stilled) grapple avoidance). You can get the cleric to cast Wind Walk for fast, long-distance travel. You can also use illusions or Evocations (Wall of Force, etc) to cover some of the area effects. Clerics or druids can handle the monster summoning. Glitterdust is hard to replace but loses a fair amount of significance as the game goes on.
Transmutation: you miss out on: Enlarge Person, Alter Self, Polymorph, Blink, Fly, Greater Magic Weapon, Haste, Flesh to Stone, Disintegrate and Shapechange. The cleric can take care of Greater Magic Weapon Spells, evocation direct damages can sub for disintegrate (empowered or maximized scorching ray) as can empowered CA energy orbs. Flesh to Stone is a substitute for Finger of Death anyway. It's hard to replace buffs like Haste and Enlarge Person, but the party can learn to live within its means.
Enchantment. You miss out on Charm Person, Charm Monster, Confusion, Feeblemind, Heroism, and the Power Words. I think this is one of the easier schools to miss. Heroism and the Power Words are nice and hard to replace. Charms can be partially replaced by a PC with a good diplomacy or the entire arena can be handled by a bard. Only illusion can match Enchantment for subtlety, but subtlety is often unnecessary.
Necromancy: You miss out on False Life, Ray of Enfeeblement, Enervation, Finger of Death, etc. Mostly, this is a lesson on learning to live without. Without False Life, be more careful. Without Ray of Enfeeblement, you'll have to rely on spells like Slow and glitterdust or buffs like displacement to help your party live longer. Direct Damage and things like Feeblemind can do some of what Enervation does. Flesh to Stone, etc. can fill in for Finger of Death.
Illusion: You'll miss out on the image spells, Invisibility, Displacement, the shadow spells, etc. There's quite a bit of flexibility here and invisibility adds a new dimension to the party's capabilities, but a lot of this can be done by other means. There aren't many other schools with the same potential for a quick and creative thinker but a wide range of less creatively applied, but having the right tool for the job can make creativity unnecessary. (There's no need to get creative when screwing shelves into your wall--unless you don't have a screwdriver).
Abjuration: You'd be missing out on Shield, Resist Energy, Magic Circle, Dispel Magic, Stoneskin, Dimensional Anchor, Dimensional Lock, Energy Buffer, Greater Dispelling, Mind Blank, and a variety of Complete Arcane spells like Assay Resistance and Reciprocal Gyre. You can let the party cleric handle dispel magic, use other defensive magics instead of Stoneskin, kill enemies with fireballs and scorching rays instead of Reciprocal Gyre (a spell like that does half of its job just by existing; whether or not any specific individual has it, others have to account for it in their strategies), etc. Mind Blank, however, is an extremely important spell at higher levels since it keeps your enemies from making full use of their capabilities against you. (If scry doesn't work, they can't scry+buff+teleport; if Divination doesn't work, they won't know that you're coming, if Foresight doesn't tell them about you, then you can achieve surprise, etc). Missing out on Magic Circle and Dimensional Anchor precludes using the planar binding spells but the loss can generally be covered by a cleric.
As what kind of a wizard to play, I would need to know more about the party to give a comprehensive answer. For instance, a party with a good archer doesn't need single target damage nearly as much as a party without one. If your party cleric likes to buff and wade into melee, you'll need area damage or area control spells far more than if your cleric likes to cast Flame Strike and Greater Command. If you've got some traditional, heavy hitting fighters, Haste and Enlarge Person will work a lot better than if you've a party full of rogue/monks and other more marginally effective light fighter types. If the party has a bard/mindbender, losing enchantment isn't a big deal. If nobody in the party is subtle, you want to be able to do that whenever the situation requires a light touch.
As for staying alive, I have two recommendations:
1. Have a lot of hit points.
2. Kill the enemy first.
3. Stay out of melee range.
4. Have a means to escape a grapple.
Having hit points is the start.
Since you've got good stats available, put one 16 in con and the other in int. The int gives you DCs and bonus spells. The con gives you the average hit points of a 10 con-fighter. (Not that that's a lot--10 con fighters have their own section in the graveyard, but it's more than twice as much as a 10-con wizard). Use False Life regularly to boost your total a bit more. Being 2 levels behind the rest of the group makes this even more of a priority. (I'd probably go gnome or dwarf just for that reason). Get an amulet of Health too. You can't have too many hit points.
Killing the enemy first is a fairly simple principle. It doesn't necessarily mean Improved Initiative, but it does mean that your first action in combat should only rarely be "I cast Shield" or "I cast Invisibility." If you let your enemies spend the first few rounds producing damage without having to heal it, you're playing into their hands. If, on the other hand, you have eliminated several of your enemies in the first round or two or severely injured lots of them, the enemy will have less to injure your party with. Your job is to hurt and manipulate the enemy. Trust the fighters to keep the enemies out of your face and the clerics to keep you on your feet.
3. Stay out of melee range. If the situation is desperate and you have nothing else, you can fight. Otherwise, keep your distance.
4. Sooner or later, you will be grappled. You will not have a good enough grapple check to break free except on a very lucky roll. (By 7th level, everyone but a halfling rogue has a grapple check comparable to yours). So, have a plan. Dimension Door, Stilled Gaseous Form, Stilled Blink, contingent blink, something. If you don't you'll be swallowed whole or squeezed to death by a monster some day or at the very least, grappled and incapacitated by a single minion of your foe's, taking you out of the fight just as surely as a Hold Person takes the fighter out.
And for Arcane Artillery: Wizard or Sorcerer, accept no substitutes. Warlock seems like an archer who makes one touch attack per round rather than three or four normal attacks per round. Warmage is like a sorcerer, but without the important utility and defensive spells. For prestige classes, you might consider Fatespinner (absurdly easy prereqs and if you pick the right enemy and the right spell to give the -10 save, it can be a gamebreaker. (Finger of Death--save at -10...)). Mage of the Arcane Order is also a very good class.
For feats, you'll want Spell Penetration and Greater Spell Penetration (especially so since you're 2 levels behind the rest of the group). That leaves two plus your bonus feat if you're human; one if you're a gnome. Spell Focus would be good if a lot of your spells come from one school. Improved Initiative is good. Empower Spell is also very good (especially with Scorching Ray, etc). If you go the ray spell (Ray of Enfeeblement, Lesser Energy Orbs, Scorching Ray, Ray of Exhaustion, Energy Orbs, empowered ray of enfeeblement, empowered scorching ray, enervation, etc) route, point blank and precise shot are very very good. Sculpt Spell is also extremely useful if you go the area effect specialist route.
That's one reason a spontaneous caster might be worth checking out.
