Suggestion on Build

[OmniChaos]

I am new to the forum and never got around to making a chracter and playing them. So any help making a 1st lvl build and advice and how they could advance would be welcome. I was thinking of a drow wizard. Also I am on the fence about metamagic specialist.

Thank you in advance for any help

 

[Mark1733]

If you want a magic-user of some sort, I would go with sorcerer. Much less effort, logistically speaking. I would go with a blaster or buffer archetype picking appropriate attack or buff type spells.

There are many a thread out there on the best spell selections depending on the build. Also, the supplements, Complete Mage and Complete Arcane, have several important feats, spells, and prestige/advanced classes that can help you plan your character better.

 

[OmniChaos]

Well the reason I want a wizard and not a sorcerer is because you can have more range with them over the limit that sorcerers have on their abilities. As for complete mage and arcane I have both those books and am looking into them now lol.

As for prestige classes, Initiate of the sevenfold veil looks good making sure anyone that gets to me has a hard time of it and I dont lose any spell progression. Elemental Savant is good too but I dont like the single element part of it to much lol. Archmage is greatness in a can even if you just take a few lvls in it.

As for feats that depends on if and which prestige class I take. But I do like feats like craft wand, craft wondrous item, craft contingent spell (little shaky on this one), energy substitution, invisible needle, silent spell, and still spell. This is just a off the top of my head thing lol. Also thinking of using the immediate magic class feature.

Let me know what you think.

 

[Herzog]

Note that you can't make a first level drow, unless you have access to a variant without Level Adjustment.

A (standard) Drow Wizard 1 would have an effective character level of 3 due to the +2 LA.

Since you're looking at wizards, there are two options for you.
1. Specialize
2. Don't specialize

In case you want to be as allround as possible, option 2 would be the way to go. In that case, take a look at the Generalist Wizard in the Elf racial substitution levels found in Races of the Wild (p.157).
It gives you bonus spells, just as with specialization, without having to specialize. Note, however, that you will not be able to use the Immediate magic option in that case, since you won't have a specialization school.

The Generalist Wizard also gives you one extra spell slot, at the highest level you can cast. You could combine this with the feat Alacritous Cogitation from Complete Mage, to use as a WildCard.

As you said, most feat selections will depend on the Prestige Class you select, if any. What kind of wizard are you looking to build? Complete Mage has a list of Arcane Archetypes, which might help you limit your choices.

My advice is to stay away from Item Creation feats. Unless you feel the need to make a Crafter, the personal gain from item creation feats is very limited, more so because it depends heavily on the campaign you are playing and the way the DM handles item creation and down time in general.

Note that most metamagic feats increase the spell level. At low levels, you might not even have access to high enough spell slots to profit from this.
Reserve Feats in general are a neat way of allowing you to perform magic without having to actually cast your spells. However, most of them have a very limited range.
Note that Energy Substitution allows you to change spell damage to a specific energy types. You need to take it multiple times to gain access to multiple energy types.

Concluding: check your Race Selection, consider racial substitution levels, only select Item Creation if you really want to, and give us an idea what your character build should be like so we can provide more specific answers

 

[OmniChaos]

Well I want to stick to the drow. I dont have races of the wild but I do have drow of the underdark. So I do have a racial class table to help me with a lvl 1 drow. As for Alacritous Cogitation its not bad but will it keeps its effectiveness at later lvls? As far as creation feats I was only interested in them because a wand could free up some space for other spells not to mention certain items can give you a constent effect and again save me room for other spells. But you do make a point about it being time and money expensive.

As for my build I want a good allrounder. I dont want to be pulled to thinly but I do want to carry a handful of spells for most encounters. I like to have a handy escape spell or get out of dodge spell or two lol. Also I think I will go with archmage for my prestige class if I ever get that far lol. But other then archmage I think I will be a pure wizard.

Complete mage has the generalist feats as mostly crafting and chain spell. But I dont think I will get chain spell. Other then skill focus spellcraft, spell focus conjuration, and spell focus evocation which I need for archmage I am still not sure. So any other advice would be welcome on feats alot >.<

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

First, welcome to ENWorld!

According to The Power Gamer's Guide to Wizards, Specializing your wizard makes a lot of sense. If you have access to PHB2, there is an Alternative Class Feature called Focused Specialist. While it didn't exist at the time the PGGtW was written, the same arguments could be made in its favor.

Realizing, of course, that you're sacrificing flexibility for additional spell slots and proficiency within your specialty, of course...

But since you mentioned wanting to play a "good allrounder" that's hard to do unless you specialize in something like Transmutation or Conjuration.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Strategy-Dungeons-Dragons-Fantasy-Roleplaying/dp/0976808501]Amazon.com: The Power Gamer's 3.5 Wizard Strategy Guide (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying): Goodman Games Staff: Books[/ame]

I also echo the love for Energy Substitution (if you're using energy spells), and the Reserve Feats are an excellent mechanic I wish they had expanded before going to 4Ed.

In addition, check out Unearthed Arcana, which has Alternative Class Features for each kind of specialist mage. Some are better than others, so choose wisely.

As for Drow, I love 'em. However, because of their Level Adjustment, you can't make a 1st level Drow PC without DM permission or the alt version pointed out by Herzog.

A Half-Elf of Drowish parentage, OTOH, is still plenty cool and quite playable at 1st level.

And again, check out Unearthed Arcana for Paragon Classes that may give you nifty things for your particular race...

 

[OmniChaos]

Thanks for the warm welcome

Like I said I have the 1st lvl drow thing worked out with the racial table from drow of the underdark. Also what I meant by allrounder was spells. I dont intend to have anything to do with melee. Also I have been looking into it and energy substitution loses its use when you get the archmage mastery of elements right. So I guess I could do without it because of the prestige class. I was interested in a reserve feat so that I can do something thru out all of the encounter. I dont want to cast a few spells to help my party then sit and wait for them to clean up whats left or use a ranged weapon that wont much help and waste ammo. As for drow paragons they dont help me out much seeing as if I took the 3 lvls of it I would end up losing one lvl of my wizards spellcasting power and not getting much in return.

Well thanks to the help you guys have given me so far I got this:

1st lvl Drow (Drow base traits, darkvision 60 ft., spell like abilities, +2 int, +2 cha, feat)
2nd lvl Drow (darkvision 120 ft., immunities, spell resistance)

If a DM has a problem with this set up it would not be hard to spread it over 4 lvls too. Also sense I want my wizard to end up a archmage the must have feats are skill focus (spellcraft), spell focus (conjuration and evocation). I was also looking at Eschew Materials and maybe Silent Spell. Still dont know about the reserve feats so thats what I have so far.

 

[OmniChaos]

My 1st lvl Build
Male Drow Wizard 1
N Medium Humanoid (elf)
Init +2 ; Senses darkvision 60ft.;
Languages Common, Elven, Undercommon,Draconic, Drow Sign Language, Abyssal, Infernal
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AC 12, touch 13, flat-footed 10
(+2 Dex)
hp 5 (1 HD)
Immune magic sleep effects
Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +3 (+5 against spells, spell-like abilities, and other enchantments)
Weakness light blindness
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares)
Melee Rapier (1d6/18-20) or
Melee Dagger (1d4/19-20)
Ranged Hand Crossbow (1d4/19-20)
Base Atk +0 ; Grp +0
Atk Options poison (drow poison, Fort DC 13, unconscious 1 minute/unconscious 2d4 hours)
Combat Gear 2 doses of drow poison
Wizard Spells Prepared
2nd-Summon Monster II
1st-Mage Armor, Magic Missile
0-Acid Splash, Message, Ray of Frost
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abilities Str 8, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 15, Wis 12, Cha 10
Feats Scribe Scroll, Skill Focus (spellcraft)
Skills Concentration +4, Knowledge (arcana) +4, Spellcraft +4, Decipher Script +2, Speak Language +1 (Infernal)
Possessions Combat gear plus Rapier, Dagger, Hand Crossbow with 10 bolts, Backpack, Belt pouch, Spellbook, Spell component pouch,
Money 125 gp
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Light Blindness (Ex) Abrupt exposure to bright light blinds drow for 1 round. In addition, they take -1 circumstance penalty on attack rolls, saves, and checks when in bright light.


This is what I have come up with using the racial class system for the drow. Let me know what you think. Also let me know if I made any mistakes or if I can improve anywhere.

 

[akbearfoot]

I thought that drow varient just broke the drow abilities down into 2 tiers...

Isn't the 1st level Drow version still +1LA?

There aren't any +0 PC races with that many bonuses are there?

As far as build advice goes...I would recommend spell focus before Skill focus. The extra +1 DC on spells you will be using very soon is worth more than the +3 skill bonus at low level IMO. Your stats seem extremely low...is it supposed to be a low power game or are you limited to low point buy?

Spell focus Conjuration is a horrible feat imo...there are almost no conjuration spells that allow saving throws. Go with Transmutation, or enchantment, or illusion depending on your spell tastes. You should choose a prestige class to go into at early levels...Wizard offers very little compared to other prestige classes with full progression. You have to be 14th level before you can qualify for your 1st level of Archmage. That leaves room for 7-9 PrC levels. Iniative of the 7fold is strong, I think Geometer is decent too. War Wizard of Cormyr is extremely powerful for a blaster type. Theres the one that focuses on force based magic, it's decent too. You should have enough feats to qualify for just about any PrC + archmage.

 

[OmniChaos]

Well I broke it into 4 tiers so that I would not get any complaints. At lvl 2 my drow would get his spell like abilities, +2 int, and +2 cha. At 3rd lvl he gets darkvision 120ft. and finally at 4th lvl he gets his spell resistance and has his full drow racial powers. As for bonuses and stuff I could have messed up lol I did this when it was kinda late. The stats I got from random rolls using the PG rules.

Well a wizard 10/ argent savant 5/ archmage 5 would work pretty well I think. As for feats how about spell focus (evocation), spell focus (necromancy), and eschew materials (can that be taken as a bonus feat?) in that order til lvl 5.

(Dont have access to MoF so if anyone has information on War Wizard of Cormyr I would really like to have a look)