Well that didn't take long, wizard has been shelved.

[Nifft]

Hi I am a card carrying brute and I wear a badge, see look its big and shiny and everybody can read it. Meet my friend here he is a card carrying skirmisher and over there he is M I N I O N. Shush, don't talk too loud he might die.

Are you seriously telling me you personally can't figure out the difference between these two critter types in play?

-- N

 

[Anthony Jackson]

In practice, "big hulking monster" -> High Fort save, regardless of its actual template (usually a brute, but not always).

 

[Rechan]

If movement is its sport, hit its fort!
If its attack has heft, hit its ref!
If its tough to kill, hit its will!

 

[Stalker0]

Heck, I personally believe wizards have a BETTER time hitting than most defenders.

As others have mentioned, most monsters have a defense or two 2-3 points lower than AC, and in many cases its much much lower than that. Feel free to check out the MM statistics thread that actually compiles all of the monsters and their stats, it will verify this claim.

 

[Jhaelen]

Darkdolphia - I am not convinced that AC is always 2-3 points higher than the other defenses.

Sadrik, you're simply wrong. You may want to have a look at the MM statistics thread. Then again, you seem to show a tendency to ignore any evidence that doesn't support your premature judgement. I wonder why?

 

[Shabe]

I must say that our wizard seems to have been missing a lot, flaming sphere seems to make up for this, once a day.
One thing that may help is to train stealth as a skill, its not very sexy but, all you need to do is use your move action (which you say you aren't using) to get to cover make your stealth check likely to be (+5) vs monsters perception probably (+2) then you get combat advantage for a +2 to hit.
You do get combat advantage on close and area effects yes?

 

[Prestidigitalis]

AC isn't always 2-3 points higher than Fortitude, and it isn't always 2-3 points higher than Reflex, but it's almost always 2-3 points higher than at least one of them. (Leaving Will aside for the moment since wizards need a Dragon article to target Will without expending an encounter or daily.)

While true, this leaves our Wizard with a dilemma.

I face a brute across a gap of 8 squares. I want to slow him down, so I, as a 1st level Wizard, want to cast Ray of Frost. But Ray of Frost targets the brute's best defense, Fortitude.

I know! I'll attack his nice, low Reflex defense instead. I cast Scorching Blast, and if I'm lucky I hit another opponent at the same time. Oh no! Scorching Blast didn't slow him down even a little, and the 9 damage barely scratched his paint! He closes the gap with a charge, hits me, crits me, eats me, spits out my boots.

So sad. It appears that sometimes the best attack, tactically, is the one with the least chance of hitting.

But I still can't wait to play a Wizard.

 

[Cadfan]

Prestidigitalis- don't worry. Once you get past level 1 with your cold wizard, you won't notice or care about this because you'll be turning half the battlefield to difficult terrain with every other attack, regardless of hit or miss.

 

[DracoSuave]

While true, this leaves our Wizard with a dilemma.

I face a brute across a gap of 8 squares. I want to slow him down, so I, as a 1st level Wizard, want to cast

...Icy Terrain.

Brutes have lots of hit points and so cracking an encounter power on one (or two) is certainly not a waste of your time. Situated nicely, your party can then take advantage of his suddenly vulnerable nature, as he's lost more movement to being knocked on his buttocks in difficult terrain than Ray of Frost ever did. Then your party will take it on it -its- terms, and may do enough to kill it before it moves... or cripple it so that it doesn't get many attacks in.

Also, Brutes are why Paladins can have Enfeebling Strike.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

Prestidigitalis- don't worry. Once you get past level 1 with your cold wizard, you won't notice or care about this because you'll be turning half the battlefield to difficult terrain with every other attack, regardless of hit or miss.

To you, and to DracoSuave, I say the same thing: your point is valid, but the overarching moral of my little tale was that the Wizard must choose between two (often) mutually-exclusive options:

1. Use an attack that hits the monster's weakest defense, or

2. Use an attack that adds an appropriate status effect.

This is a problem that the weapon-based classes do not share. The fighter never has to sacrifice his weapon proficiency bonus in order to stun, knock prone or push a creature.

I stress again that I really want to play a Wizard (Must. Find. Game.) This isn't about <fill-in-the-blank> <sucks/doesn't suck/teh br0ken/wears army boots>. Just an observation.