Bedrockgames
Legend
At low levels ths can be a killer (especially in earlier versions like 1E). With such a low hp total, i think mages are better off sticking with ranged attacks when spells run out. Always handy if you have wand or scroll.
What's a Caster Without Spells To Do?
Grogg of the North
Adventurer
I nuked the paladin with my warmage. He was surrounded by goblins and was pretty sure he could take my spell. Except for that natural 1 on the save. And the Warmage's Edge. He was at -9 when the druid popped a Cure Minor into him.
RUMBLETiGER
Adventurer
Things don't have the decency to stop trying to kill you. =)
ppaladin123
Adventurer
Pathfinder has unlimited cantrips too...so you can throw globs of acid or rays of frost for 1d3 damage. Still magical and will get you through the first couple of levels until you have enough wands, scrolls, and spell slots to never worry about running out of magic again.
(Psi)SeveredHead
Adventurer
1d3 damage is pretty weaksauce, and at those low levels, your BAB is low enough you'll actually miss a lot of touch attacks.
A big part of the Quadratic Wizard is they start off very weak. IMO, this isn't a good thing, hence threads like this, which boil down to "how to make my 2nd-level wizard not suck".
The Pathfinder wizard specializations usually give you something halfway decent though, which you can usually toss a few times per day, based on your Int score. At least PF tried. That's something missing in 3.x though.
Samloyal23
Adventurer
Try oh, I don't know, how about THINKING. How many times did Gandalf or Merlin actually resort to casting spells? They spent most of their time gathering information and giving advice. Wizards are the nerds of the fantasy world, they have the Big Brains, put them to use! Wizards are advisers, riddle-masters, problem solvers, and lore masters. They KNOW STUFF. Knowledge skills and other intelligence based skills are way under utilized and do a lot to avoid a fight before it even happens.
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him)
The acid splash may not be super powerful, but it's often better than a dagger since it is more likely to hit and only averages .5 hp less damage. But that's not all you can do. If guidance is on your list, you can be a pretty good support for a fellow PC even if you're out of offense.
Hussar
Legend
I gotta admit, I don't understand the whole, "Pull out your crossbow" thing.
It is totally understandable in AD&D when monsters had maybe 30-40 HP at even high levels. When an ogre only has 19 hp, smacking it for a d6 makes sense. Sure, no worries.
But, in 3e? Why bother? That d6 from your bow (as an example) isn't going to do anything. I mean, an average ogre in 3e has 29 HP. You could shoot arrows at it all day long and not really do much. You've gone from being kinda effective to pretty much wasting your time. D3 acid splash damage? Really? That's the solution?
Do people just stick with really low level monsters all the time where doing nickel damage actually matters? Most critters in 3e have about 10 HP/CR, give or take. By CR 4, nothing a wizard can do with a weapon is going to affect that combat in the slightest.
Other than maybe tanglefoot cheese, but, that's because tanglefoot bags are horribly broken.
Do you honestly feel like you are contributing to combat by hitting something for a d3 points of acid damage?
It is totally understandable in AD&D when monsters had maybe 30-40 HP at even high levels. When an ogre only has 19 hp, smacking it for a d6 makes sense. Sure, no worries.
But, in 3e? Why bother? That d6 from your bow (as an example) isn't going to do anything. I mean, an average ogre in 3e has 29 HP. You could shoot arrows at it all day long and not really do much. You've gone from being kinda effective to pretty much wasting your time. D3 acid splash damage? Really? That's the solution?
Do people just stick with really low level monsters all the time where doing nickel damage actually matters? Most critters in 3e have about 10 HP/CR, give or take. By CR 4, nothing a wizard can do with a weapon is going to affect that combat in the slightest.
Other than maybe tanglefoot cheese, but, that's because tanglefoot bags are horribly broken.
Do you honestly feel like you are contributing to combat by hitting something for a d3 points of acid damage?
Every HP matters. Every last one.
My aforementioned buddy killed a dragon with a Ray of Frost- it was the last possible attack that could hit it as it fled. Its next bit of movement would have put it out of range of anyone else in the party.
Going back to my very first game of D&D back in 1977, it was a wizard and my fighter who were the only ones left. After his last spell was used- Magic Missile- he started using his quarterstaff. Damn good thing, too- his dice were hot while mine went stone cold. He whittled away on it with his toothpick while my 2hd sword snicker-snacked on air.
Then it et him, leaving me to fight it alone. With both of us at 4HP, we got simultaneous initiative. He hit, I didn't. (I was hooked.)
Yeah, I lost the fight, but that mage's stick-thwacking out victory within reach.
Also, this:
My aforementioned buddy killed a dragon with a Ray of Frost- it was the last possible attack that could hit it as it fled. Its next bit of movement would have put it out of range of anyone else in the party.
Going back to my very first game of D&D back in 1977, it was a wizard and my fighter who were the only ones left. After his last spell was used- Magic Missile- he started using his quarterstaff. Damn good thing, too- his dice were hot while mine went stone cold. He whittled away on it with his toothpick while my 2hd sword snicker-snacked on air.
Then it et him, leaving me to fight it alone. With both of us at 4HP, we got simultaneous initiative. He hit, I didn't. (I was hooked.)
Yeah, I lost the fight, but that mage's stick-thwacking out victory within reach.
Also, this:
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