Wizard build for small group

[Nifft]

I wouldn't oppose too fiercely a human one if it's that much better.

Human is generally much better for a Wizard, because Wizards have many excellent at-will powers to choose from.

he modified his monsters to have less hp and defenses for higher damage output (thus shortening the encounters considerably).

Okay, so not getting hit is the key to survival here. Staff Wizard.

- Battle mage seemed a good Paragon path to me, maybe for the "auto heal from unconscious" special power, but bloodmage was also tempting for "helping out".

Battle Mage is not very good. Blood Mage is awesome, but only if you have a source of healing or temporary hit points.

For your situation, I'd consider Spellstorm Mage.

- The ranger is well built for very high ranged damage and quite a lot of survivability.

Hmm, a ranged Ranger. That means you'll be doubly rewarded for having Push powers and mobility lockdown.

Focus on Con (for Staff power, HP, surges, and Fort defense), Int (for everything), and Wis (for Thunderwave push and your Will defense). You can easily start with 14/18/14 (post-racial bonus) in these three stats. If you put your remaining 13 into Dexterity, you'll be qualified for many important feats later on.

Your three starting powers should include Thunderwave (the OH GOD GET THEM OFF ME power) and Winged Horde (the friendliest fire). Those target Fort and Will, so you might want to pick a power which targets Reflex for your third. Scorching Burst is boring but fine.

If you have Essentials, you might want Beguiling Strands instead of Thunderwave, and Arc Lightning instead of Scorching Blast. You do want Winged Horde either way.


For feats, you could start with Unarmored Agility and then take Hafted Defense. You can eek out another +1 AC with Staff Fighting, but I dunno if that's a good trade-off yet. See how often you get hit.

You can also discourage people from hitting you. White Lotus Riposte turns your Thunderwave into a disincentive to rejoin melee.

If you have Essentials, then strongly consider Staff Expertise. It allows you to ignore opportunity attacks for ranged & area powers when you use a staff, which is always. If you can take this feat, you can regard Thunderwave as optional -- otherwise, it is 100% required.


Your Encounter powers should be about action denial or area lock-down: Grasping Shadows or Chill Strike look good to me for 1st level.

At 3rd level, look at single-target shutdown like Pinioning Vortex (instant archery target), Maze of Mirrors (no hitting this round), or go for an inferior effect (but on multiple targets) with Color Spray or Icy Rays.


You need defensive utilities like Shield and (at 10th) Repelling Shield. Along with your Staff power, you'll have several ways to say "no" to your DM every encounter.


For Daily powers, you want encounter-long awesomeness. Don't settle for single attacks, no matter how high the damage looks. When you throw down a Daily power, it should change the game. Flaming Sphere is a great example, as are Stinking Cloud and Mordenkainen's Guardian Hound.

- - -

If you did want to hybridize, I'd suggest Wizard|Swordmage, because the Swordmage Warding feature is awesome, and because you could give yourself a 16/18 split on Con/Int and be an excellent secondary Defender for almost no effort.

Cheers, -- N

 

[ourchair]

I understand where you are coming from, but with an archer also I feel there's really too much room for a lone defender to cover as the entire front line by himself unless they can fight often in narrow areas.

Still, I think a 'lone defender' problem can be remedied by a DM who is willing to contrive smaller encounter areas to accomodate for the fact that encounter scale WILL be smaller (not just because of fewer players but fewer monsters). (somewhat OT, I know)