Newbie Build help.

[Garland]

Allo all, I was just wondering if some of the more experienced player’s might be able to give me a bit of help with my Wizard build. It’s my first time playing D&D despite trying to get into the game for several years now. The character I’ve created for the particular campaign I’m involved with is a Wizard build moving to Mage of the Arcane Order and then to Archmage. When I entered the campaign I was brought in at level four (not counting the free level of warrior that was given out due to campaign setting) so at the moment I’m a level three wizard, level one Motao, and level one warrior. My stats, feats, skills, ect. are as follows.

Str: 16
Dex: 17
Con: 18
Int: 20 (Headband of Int +2)
Wis: 16
Cha: 10
HP: 44
AC: 17 (+3 dex, Ring of protect +2, Bracers of armor +2)

Feats: Co. Op Spell
Spell Focus Evocation
Quicken Spell
Dodge
Spell Focus Conjuration
Greater Spell Focus Evocation


Skills (Ranks): Knowledge Arcana: 8
Knowledge Planes: 8
Knowledge Dungeonering: 8
Knowledge Geography: 8
Concentration: 8
Decipher Script: 8
Spellcraft: 8

Special Abilitys: Focused (+1 Concentration, -1 Spot)
Noncombatant (-2 Melee)
Shaky (-2 Ranged)

Money: 37,893 GP

We’re in the middle of a dungeon at the moment so I can’t get to a town just yet, but I’m looking for a more long range plan anyway. If anyone needs any other information just ask and i'll submit it. Thanks for taking the time to read all of this, and any help or advice that anyone can give would be appreciated.

Thanks Much.
Garland Gesthmeni

 

[Darren]

okay... i'll bite...

Starting gold for a new 5th lvl PC is 9,000 gp. Is your DM okay with the kind of equipment and wealth you have listed? If he is, don't carry the gold around. Put some into scrolls, possibly a wand or two, and your spellbook. Wear the rest.

Speaking of spellbooks, it's hard to judge a wizard without seeing it and without knowing the style or role you are going for. (Looks like very high-powered blasting from your stats though...)

Maximum hit points at each level, I assume?

How did you get 6 feats at 5th character level, and none of them are scribe scroll?

If you have a good campaign reason for the skill points in geography, fine, though if I were playing a wizard with emphasis in conjuring and the planes I'd probably use a few skill points to learn some extra planar languages. That's a rather personal style thing though.

Technically, your skill points should reflect the level you received the headband, unless you somehow managed to have it at first level, or unless the DM has house-ruled this, or unless you are human and just acquired it and haven't had the benefits of it when leveling. Also, at your warrior level you could not have acquired all those wizard skills as class skills; they should have been acquired as cross-class with twice the point cost. I think something here should definitely be lower.

The power level is a bit scary, but if that is the campaign you are playing and you enjoy it, then great, have fun.

 

[Nail]

Garland: what game are you playing, again? I looks a little like this game I'm playing called "3.5e D&D".

Have fun!

 

[Garland]

Well heres the answers to a few questions and realize that due to my noobness i can't answer all of them correctly as of yet. Oh and yes Nail I am playing 3.5e

1. My gold and equipment were rolled by my DM so i had no say in what i ended up with, but i do know that most of the gold came from one random art object he rolled, needless to say he was kinda upset at himself for rolling it. The equipment also came form random rolls, due to the campaign setting, (Most members of the party are part of a liberation army.) The equipment we start with refects what branch of the service that we were part of. I ended up taking a special forces assignment, so story wise that explains the high amount of powerful equipment. (I'm also running around with a Rod of Wonder we just picked up and a Robe of many useful things that i started with so go figure)

2. No i didn't have the headband for my previous levels so there would have been no extra skill points from that plus two. Also HP wise it wasn't max per level i just roll very well or very baddly, that night as you could probably tell was a good night for me...except for Cha I have no idea where the ten came from. Skill point distribution wise i'm honestly not sure i'll have to check with someone who really knows what their talking about. But i believe geography was because we were wandering around in the middle of the desert so there was a good reason.

3. I realize the power level is a tad frightening but there is a good reason for that. Our DM has decided that any and all Monsters, or NPC's we encounter will have max HP. No questions asked. So needless to say we've had to make sure that we didn't bite it after the first encounter.

4. You were correct in your assumption that i would be a high end nuker, and we're trying to build towards that. Mostly my spell skills are going towards Evocation more then Conjuration, but realize thats subject to change. Also feat wise i was able to get 6 by taking my two flaws at the start (Shaky and Noncombatant) and the fact that none of them are scribe scroll.....well....we couldn't remember everything.

Spellbook: All 0-levels
1'st level- Alarm, Protect from evil, Shield, Mage Armor, Identify, Sleep, Magic Missile, Color Spray, Ray of Enfeeblement, Jump.
2'nd level- Melf's Acid Arrow, Flaming Sphere, Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace.

This list does not reflect the massive spellbook we found at the end of our last session. I don't have the complete list of everything we found but I know that most of the high end 3'rd level spells are in it. Hope that clears up a few things and thanks for taking the time to reply.

Garland Gesthemeni

 

[Darren]

Ignore the comment about the headband and skill points, since it does not let you gain new extra skill points in 3.5. Use your unenhanced intelligence for that. My bad for grabbing my old 3.0 DMG for a quick reference. But the skill points are still a bit off, and will depend a lot on how the DM is handling the "free level" of warrior. Naturally you will want to get the spells from the spellbook you found into your own spellbook as soon as you have some downtime to study the thing, then nuke away. The abilities and items your character has been given for 5th level are really a bit beyond my experience to suggest anything more helpful though. Have fun with the toys.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Well, it sounds like some wacky stuff is going on in your campaign and standard advice won't help too much. However, one thing should be pointed out:

In a campaign where all bad guys and monsters have max hit points, damage dealing spells are only about half as strong as normal because their averages don't go up with the maxed enemy hit points. Consequently, you should look at focussing on battlefield control and save or die spells. The odd magic missile or scorching ray will be useful. However, spells like Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, Bigby's Grasping Hand, Color Spray, Slow, Glitterdust, Blindness, Finger of Death, Flesh to Stone, etc. all work whether your foe has 55 hit points or 100. However, a 10d6 fireball for an average of 35 hit points is a LOT more effective when your foe has 55 hit points than when he has 100 hit points. (Then it doesn't even drop your foe into cleave range). So, I'd recommend focussing in illusion, necromancy, conjuration, etc. They're a lot more effective in a max-hp environment.

 

[Coredump]

Elder, Excellent advice. I had not thought of that, but it is obvious...once you point it out.

 

[Doug McCrae]

On the whole, your character looks pretty solid. Just a few things:

I hope Shaky doesn't affect your rays and other ranged touch attacks. If it does I don't think it's a good choice for a wizard. Dodge is rubbish. Its only purpose is to qualify for a prestige class or as a precursor to Spring Attack, neither of which you want. Quicken Spell is a good feat... if you're 15th level. I'd hold off for the moment.

Good feats for your situation:
Collegiate Wizard (from Complete Arcane)
Improved Initiative
Improved Toughness (from Complete Warrior)
Craft Wand

Normally I recommend Empower Spell but it's not quite so good when all the bad guys have maximum hit points.

Personally I think you should ditch Dodge and Quicken in favour of Collegiate Wizard and Improved Initiative.

Your first level spells look fine, but for 2nd level I'd go for Web (killa in a dungeon environment), Glitterdust, Invisibility and Rope Trick or Mirror Image. Whatever you do don't take Melf's Acid Arrow. It's a complete pile of waz.

 

[Garland]

Dodge was the extra feat from my warrior level. That feat must be a warrior specific feat and dodge looked like the best out of what i would need any other ideas though would be nice. Also thank you much for the advice for spell choice. Once you point it out it does seem obvious. Also realize that i'm moving from Wizard to Mage of the arcane order now. So I have my spellpool abilitys and i still get my wizard spells. Just out of curiosity when i do get to a town what items should i pick up?