What race is the Wizard in your group? (take II)

[Crothian]

People seem to be embracing the dwarven wizards, nice to see that the stigma of earlier editions is gone.....

 

[Epametheus]

You kidding? People started making dwarven wizards as soon as the option was available.

Anyways..

The pure wizard in my current campaign is my own human wizard, a specialist conjurer. The other wizard (specialist abjurer) in the party is a tengu (we modified the race heavily), but he's actually a spellblade, not a proper wizard.

The only elf wizard my group's ever had was an arcane archer.

Human vs. Elf for wizards is really a no contest. Bonus feat vs. -2 con?

Edit: Would someone please link the thread about Andy Collins talking about the elf wizard, for those of us who don't have the search function?

 

[Gez]

https://www.enworld.org/index.php?threads/121737/

There you go!

And for the discussion about Elf Generalist Wizard Substitution Level:
https://www.enworld.org/index.php?threads/120500/

 

[Epametheus]

Thanks.

Interesting to see how much people downplay the -2 Con that elves get.

 

[S'mon]

Looks like the poll definitely gives the lie to Andy's claim that no one plays elf wizards!! Not many half-elves though; there seems a definite feeling that half-elves in 3e are underpowered compared to other races.

 

[beaver1024]

What's interesting in this poll is the high % of campaigns with no wizards. Shows how nerfed they are in 3.5e.

 

[beaver1024]

Looks like the poll definitely gives the lie to Andy's claim that no one plays elf wizards!! Not many half-elves though; there seems a definite feeling that half-elves in 3e are underpowered compared to other races.

How come we don't see Half-Elf wizard substitution levels in Races of Destiny that are comparable? Also the polls shows that people don't consider Halflings better wizards than Elves.

 

[Li Shenron]

What's interesting in this poll is the high % of campaigns with no wizards. Shows how nerfed they are in 3.5e.

Come on! I was actually expecting a slightly higher percentage of no-wiz groups, since the role can be nowadays somewhat covered by Sorcerers, Warlocks, Warmages, Hexblades, oriental casters and even Druids. Wizards still have their own edge in versatility, but all these classes are easier to play compared to the Wizard.

 

[CM]

I was pretty shocked when I saw the elf generalist substitution levels. Giving up specialization isn't really a penalty at all, when deciding whether to specialize or not is already a tough choice. In the three campaigns I'm currently involved in there are two wizards--one stock elf generalist (no substitution levels, but still an ungodly mix of incantatrix and spellguard of silverymoon) and one human diviner.

 

[Rawhide]

When just looking at the core rules, gnomes are the best choice for wizards. They can have an effective build despite a low Str, gain the benefits of a small size (increased AC and a bonus to all attacks, especially effective with touch-attack spells), gain extra hit points, and can use magic to overcome any limitations from speed or weakness. They have a few innate magic abilities (bolstering their arcane options), and even without a human bonus feat get enough wizard fats to keep competitive. In fact, a gnome wizard able to make wondrous itesm is the best possible wizard build, since they can build whatever items they need (bag of holding, heward's haversack, boots of speed, etc).

Depending on the campaign, a gnome specialist may be a stronger choice, but in actual play I've never seen any racial option be better for wizards than gnome.