New to wizards, help please.

[Angerland]

I know it is very odd but in all my years of playing I have never played a wizard in an ongoing campaign. I have just sort of avoided the whole issue and now I realize that I have benn missing out on things a bit. I would like a bit of help in getting the most out of a wizard character that may appear in upcoming games.

So, I guess elves are a good choice with the favored class ability, and humans get a bonus feat and skill points, what are your thoughts on race?

Also tips on feats and spell selection would be great. I have always thought pick on for offense, one for defense and one for utility and then it's kind of up to the player but this may be flawed. Also, any thoughts on specialization?

I know there are tons of books out there with spells and what not but I have limited resources so here is what I have for books now, with the plan of picking up Complete Arcane at some point.
PHB
Complete Warrior, Adventurer, and Divine
Forgotten Realms Campaign(3.0 ed)
Magic of the Realms (?) also 3.0

I have access to the products by Fantasy Flight Games as well. I have worked for them in the past and have friends who do now.


I know this is not an easy question to answer but I appreciate any help on the matter.

 

[Angerland]

on a side note , since we love to use miniatures in our games i thought this would be an awesome Mage.

http://www.crocodilegames.com/secure/items/WGE-140.jpg

A little too buff but still....maybe this will also help you get your helping juices flowing.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Well, most of my books are out on loan right now, but I'll jump in!

First- If you have access to Forgotten Realms, consider the Spellfire User Feat. It allows a PC to absorb spell energy and redirect it into either healing energy or bolts of pure magical force. There is also a PrCl that improves upon the benefits of the feat... Some consider it a broken feat, so it may not be available for use.

Feats I commonly use for spellcasters: Still Spell, Silent Spell, Energy Substitution, Energy Admixture, Arcane Strike. I like the item creation feats as well, but don't use them too often...but I love rings!

Feats I like for flavor: Spell Thematics, Exotic Weapon Proficiency*

If you go with an Elf, maximize the use you get from those racial weapon proficiencies and take Point Blank Shot* and Precise Shot*...they'll help when you use spells that are rays or orbs and the like, which also benefit from Weapon Focus.*

*The benefits of taking any of these feats are multiplied if you take Fighter or Ranger levels because arcane casters just don't get many feats. Either of those will get you the benefits of those feats without causing you to lose as many metamagic/creation feats.

Dexterity is your friend. A high AC has the most influence on whether a low to mid level PC will survive, and in the case of a Wizard or Sorcerer, that means Dexterity. It should be your next highest stat.

 

[Thanee]

That miniature doesn't scream 'elf' to me, however.

Elves are especially nice, if you get to use the elven wizard racial substitution levels from Races of the Wild.

A few things, that might seem obvious, but still...

Multiclassing:

Your caster level is all important, don't waste a single level of caster level, unless it's really worth it, avoid multiclassing and prestige classes, which do not have full spellcasting progression

Abilities:

Intelligence is, naturally, the one and only really important ability for you, get this as high as possible
Constitution is important to get a decent hit point total and Fort save, so you actually survive
Dexterity is nice to have for a lot of things, initiative, AC, Ref save, ranged touch attacks

Feats:

Depending on what you do, there is a number of feats, which are nice to have.

Spell Focus / Greater Spell Focus
Spell Penetration / Greater Spell Penetration
Extend Spell
Empower Spell
Quicken Spell
Sudden Silent [Complete Arcane]
Sudden Maximize [Complete Arcane]
Extraordinary Spell Aim [Complete Arcane]
Improved Initiative

Skills:

Max out Concentration!
High Spellcraft and decent Knowledge skills are always nice to have.

Spells:

Spells are really too numerous to list, and it depends a lot on what direction you want to go.

Spend some of your gold to aquire new spells all the time. A wizard needs a broad spell selection to make best use of his advantages. Boccob's blessed book is an important item to save on the high costs to scribe spells. Get this as soon as possible.

There is one important concept, which you might not be aware of. In the morning, when preparing spells, a wizard can leave some spell slots open. These cannot be used until later they are used to actually prepare a spell in them, but that can be done within 15 minutes during the day. This offers a great deal of flexibility, if you are not in a hurry.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Angerland]

Thanks for the info...no the mini doesn't scream elf at all . You have given me a lot to think about already, hopefuly more to come! I didn't realise you could keep spell slots open during the day! That is very clever and useful too!

As far as Prestige classes, I really want to keep this one purely Wizard I think. I have been down the road with Prestige classes before. I want to play some one straight through from beggining to end as one player class.

Here is a spell related question. First level: Mage armor or Shield? Both give a +4 AC bonus but shield also stops magic missles. But at first level how useful is one over the other or is it just a matter of taste?


With out rolling anything yet as far as stats here are the 1st level spells I have chosen so far:Unseen Servant, magic missle, mage armor. Any glaring errors there?

 

[zebofzone]

My Advice is....

This is what I do, when I make a Char. Make the same Char at level 20, the skills, spells, feats, everthing. Then work my Char to that. What good about this method is that you have to really pick your spells, skills that you plan to master, and see what feats that you really need in the bigger picture of your Char.

hope this help.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Oh, BTW...

Don't take Combat Casting unless you need it as a prerequisite for another feat. Skill Focus: Concentration applies to ALL concentration checks, not just spellcasting ones.

 

[Thanee]

Here is a spell related question. First level: Mage armor or Shield? Both give a +4 AC bonus but shield also stops magic missles. But at first level how useful is one over the other or is it just a matter of taste?

More like a matter of duration.

With out rolling anything yet as far as stats here are the 1st level spells I have chosen so far:Unseen Servant, magic missle, mage armor. Any glaring errors there?

Yep, you forgot to apply your Int mod to the number of spells you know at 1st level.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

And when you do, there are some nice spells to consider (in no particular order):

Burning Hands
Feather Fall
Grease
Color Spray
Sleep
True Strike
Tenser's Floating Disk
Expeditious Retreat
Enlarge

All have their place in the low-level mage's arsenal.

Do you know the makeup of the rest of your party? You may wish to shift spells around depending on who your PC will be adventuring alongside.

 

[Angerland]

I forgot to mention I have the Races of the Wild source book as well.

So...what is the most effective 1st level offensive spell? I went Magic Missle because everyone seems to but what about burning hands or the various orb spells?