Wizard Build Suggestions (PHB ONLY!)

[sfedi]

I would add an Offensive Defender to that party.

 

[KarinsDad]

What do you think the party needs? Obviously not another striker (or "off-striker"). A control focused wizard seemed like a good fit.

Your idea is fine. Play what you want.

 

[Turtlejay]

It certainly looks like a control focused wizard could fit in with your party. Has anyone noticed that you have an otherwise all melee party? Play up your Arcane nature. You can be the go-to guy for Arcana, Religion, History, and other checks. Ritual Caster is a boon. Really, you will be useful just by *showing up*, and the rest is just the creamy whipped topping.

I'm tempted to suggest Thunderwave, Scorching Burst, and Cloud of Daggers as your at-wills, but your love for Magic Missile means you should probably replace one of those with your favorite spell. There are a lot of good area spells. With your party overflowing with melee strikers, spells that are enemy only will probably be easier to use. Okay, overflowing is mean, but you do have 2 or 3 melee characters, so if you do go for multi-target attacks (which you should) go for enemy only ones.

Not optimized at all, really, but something I would play and enjoy:
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Wizard, level 3
Human, Wizard
Build: Control Wizard
Arcane Implement Mastery: Orb of Imposition
Background: Occupation - Scholar (+2 to Arcana)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 10, Con 12, Dex 8, Int 18, Wis 16, Cha 12.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 10, Con 12, Dex 8, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 12.


AC: 18 Fort: 14 Reflex: 17 Will: 18
HP: 30 Surges: 7 Surge Value: 7

TRAINED SKILLS
Dungeoneering +9, Arcana +12, Nature +9, History +10, Religion +10

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics, Bluff +2, Diplomacy +2, Endurance +2, Heal +4, Insight +4, Intimidate +2, Perception +4, Stealth, Streetwise +2, Thievery, Athletics +1

FEATS
Wizard: Ritual Caster
Human: Armor Proficiency (Leather)
Level 1: Action Surge
Level 2: Human Perseverance

POWERS
Bonus At-Will Power: Thunderwave
Wizard at-will 1: Magic Missile
Wizard at-will 1: Scorching Burst
Wizard encounter 1: Force Orb
Wizard daily 1: Flaming Sphere
Wizard daily 1 Spellbook: Sleep
Wizard utility 2: Shield
Wizard utility 2 Spellbook: Expeditious Retreat
Wizard encounter 3: Fire Shroud

ITEMS
Spellbook, Orb of Inevitable Continuance +1, Amulet of Health +1, Magic Leather Armor +1, Adventurer's Kit, Potion of Healing (heroic tier)
RITUALS
Tenser's Floating Disk, Make Whole, Gentle Repose, Eye of Alarm
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======


Jay

 

[Nifft]

What do you think the party needs? Obviously not another striker (or "off-striker"). A control focused wizard seemed like a good fit.

Leader: check.
Striker: check, check, check.
Defender: one Fighter (check, useful for the Rogue).

Looks to me like they don't need anyone in particular. So play a Wizard if that's what you want... but just don't play a Wizard because the party needs a Controller.

There's no such thing as too many Strikers or Leaders. Warlords in particular have an ironic need for another Leader to set up their Daily attack powers, since they have so many powers which do nothing at all on a miss.

That said, Wizards are great. I'm playing one and he kicks ass. If you're playing one because you want to play one, do it and have fun.

Cheers, -- N

 

[MadLordOfMilk]

Honestly, just start off with an 18 int, make sure you take Thunderwave if your WIS isn't completely pitiful, and *absolutely* take Flaming Sphere, and you'll be golden (Especially if you have a special mini for flaming sphere, hehe)

If you want the full PHB-style orb wizard build, I'll throw a post together... it's not hard, just it doesn't completely guarantee a sleep-lock until epic tier.

If you want a fun build, go for a Battlemage! Pick Eladrin, Human, or Tiefling. For your implement, choose Staff of Defense. For your first feat, pick up Armor Proficiency (Leather). Second one is up to you.

For a stat spread, pre-racial try something like this, if you want to pick up hide armor later for another ac point: STR 13, CON 13, DEX 10, INT 16, WIS 14, CHA 10

Grab Thunderwave and w/e other at-will you'd like. Grab Burning Hands for your lv1 encounter (close power), and Flaming Sphere as the obvious daily choice. For your lv2 utility, take Shield. For your lv3 encounter, pick up Color Spray or Fire Shroud (also close powers).

Here's an in-depth analysis, if you're looking to build something on your own:

Stats: 18 int is a must, honestly; you roll more attack rolls due to all the area attacks you make. 20 might or might not be overkill, but it depends on your choices. If you want to pick up a shield, you'll need 13str. For hide armor, you need 13str/13con.

At-will powers: Thunderwave is just pure win... blast damage + push is lovely. Cloud of Daggers is awesome if your group does a lot of push/pull/slide stuff, but if not, pretty meh. Magic missile is always a classic, and is incredibly long range, but not terribly powerful for obvious reasons. Ray of Frost is nice for keeping big guys near the defender if you're ranged-heavy, but it's a bit more situational. Scorching Burst is fun for ranged burst at-will action.

Encounter lv1: Icy Terrain is nice for controlling an area and knocking stuff down, opening things up for your party. Chill Strike's daze is always a welcome feature.

Daily lv1: Flaming Sphere. Period. No, I'm serious, it's amazing. Other options: Freezing Cloud will wipe out a nice, large area of minions, and deal decent damage. Acid Arrow = damage. Sleep only has 25% chance of even noticeably affecting a target for one round. For a daily? Blech. Sure, it's got broken applications, but you can just retrain for it later or keep it in your spellbook.

Utility lv2: Expeditious Retreat can give you a lot of room to maneuver when you'd otherwise be doomed. Shield comes up often enough where it'll always get used in an encounter. Jump lets you grant someone else movement in combat, and enables jumping over obstacles easily. Feather Fall is a bit too situational for my tastes, but it depends on your DM.

Encounter lv3: Color Spray provides an excellent effect. Fire Shroud reliably targets almost any enemy, and deals fire damage. Icy Rays is nice for keeping enemies from leaving the defender or running around/away (skirmishers/artillery killer), Shock Sphere blows things up (but also targets allies unlike Fire Shroud)


Long-term concerns
In paragon tier, you need 15 Con for hide armor specialization (if you go that route). You need 15 Dex for arcane reach, an amazing feat. You need 13 Cha for Spell Focus, which is nice if you're using a few save ends effects (or are going for orb wizard).

 

[GakToid]

Ray of Frost never looks good.

Really? Slow at will seems useful.

Thanks for the info. Here's something I'm considering. Let me know if I'm gimping myself.

I don't have access to the character builder, so this is by hand. Let me know if there are errors.

Race: Human
Class: Wizard
Implement Mastery: Orb of Imposition

Ability Scores, with racial adjustments:
Str 8 (-1)
Con 12 (+1)
Dex 10 (+0)
Int 18 (+4)
Wis 16 (+3)
Cha 12 (+1)

Basic Melee
Longsword: +2 vs. AC (1d8-1 damage)

Basic Ranged
Magic Missile: +4 vs. Ref (2d4+4)

Default Save Penalty: -0

Modifiers:
Orb of Imposition (Encounter): -3

Maximum Save Penalty: -3

HP: 22; Bloodied: 11; Surges: 7 (5 HP)
AC/Fort/Ref/Will: 16/12/15/16
Initiative: +0; Speed: 6

Cantrips: ghost sound, light, mage hand, prestidigitation
At-will Powers: cloud of daggers (or ray of frost), magic missile, thunderwave
Encounter Powers: icy terrain (or chillstrike)
Daily Powers: flaming sphere, sleep
Daily Spell Slots:
Level 1 or lower - 1

Skills: Arcana (+9), Dungeoneering (+8), Insight (+8), Nature (+9), Religion (+9)
Feats: Armor Proficiency (leather), Weapon Proficiency (longsword)
Rituals: animal messenger, comprehend language, Tenser's floating disk

Gear: longsword, leather armor, orb, spellbook, standard adventurer's kit, 30gp

Basic character concept:
Looks likes a ranger, acts like a ranger, isn't a ranger.
I'm thinking about Wizard of the Spiral Tower Path. Not sure if I want to start staff and pick up orb at 11 or start orb and pick up staff at 11. My reasoning is that I'm going to want to wield an orb for the powers, why not put the staff in the sword and get both.

Future Feats: Improved Initiative, Human Perseverance, Action Surge, ??, ??, Spell Focus, Danger Sense, Second Implement, ??, ??

Future Powers: expeditious retreat, shield, color spray, stinking cloud, web, dimension door, wall of fog (levitate?), winter's wrath, ice storm, wall of fire

-Gak Toid

 

[MadLordOfMilk]

Solid character build, overall.

Feat-wise, I'd hold off on the longsword proficiency until the last minute for your PP, but flavor-wise you probably wouldn't want to wait that long.

Skills: Assuming your DM is going with the errata'd skill DC by level table, I'd swap out one of the over-abundant knowledge skills for Diplomacy, if only because it comes up so often. It's a personal choice, but it does make RP under many DMs easier/more engaging, in my experience. Yes, it's not a primary stat that you're boosting, but that +5 is huge enough to make it somewhat reliable.

Powers:

• I'd go with Cloud of Daggers for your party makeup, as they should be able to push/pull/slide things through it frequently.
• Icy Terrain vs Chill Strike is a tough call with your party. I'd pick chill strike, if only because it might be tough to easily place icy terrain in a useful spot with such a melee-heavy party without smacking your allies with it.
• As you're focusing on battlefield control, for your lv2 utility, keep in mind that Jump lets you move an ally mid-combat instead of yourself. All of the utilities are pretty solid choices, though.

 

[Nifft]

Really? Slow at will seems useful.

With a range of 20, it would be. Remember that even a slowed dude can move 4 squares and still attack.

Looks likes a ranger, acts like a ranger, isn't a ranger.
I'm thinking about Wizard of the Spiral Tower Path. Not sure if I want to start staff and pick up orb at 11 or start orb and pick up staff at 11. My reasoning is that I'm going to want to wield an orb for the powers, why not put the staff in the sword and get both.

IMHO the main reason to go for Spiral Tower is to:
1/ Give you something to do in melee, which you already have (Thunderwave); and
2/ Allow you to both wield a staff and use a shield, which you can't do anyway, because of your Str.

I'm a fan of Blood Mage, but none of the Wizard paragon paths in the PHB are actually bad.

Future Feats: Improved Initiative, Human Perseverance, Action Surge, ??, ??, Spell Focus, Danger Sense, Second Implement, ??, ??

I'd advise Action Surge be one of your 1st level feats. It's so awesome for an area-attacker it might as well be the human's racial bonus.

If you're in trouble and you need to spend an action point to Thunderwave some jerks out of your face, you will appreciate the feat just as much as if you use it on Flaming Shroud to ensure you have someone to Orb.

Leather proficiency is a great feat, so keep that. Drop the long sword.

Future Powers: expeditious retreat, shield, color spray, stinking cloud, web, dimension door, wall of fog (levitate?), winter's wrath, ice storm, wall of fire

Shield is the best thing ever.

I like Color Spray a lot, but I suspect your party won't have a solid front line, so you'll have to choose between Dazing allies vs. not getting many enemies in the area of effect. For your Orb feature, too, I'd look at Flaming Shroud -- it's the earliest Encounter power with (save ends).

Levitate is situational, but it can save your butt in combat, and it's useful outside of combat.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Obryn]

Really? Slow at will seems useful.

It can be in some cases, but its basic problem is (IMO) its range, combined with how situational Slow is. It's great with a lot of difficult terrain, or if you're targeting a melee combatant more than 6 squares away from your front line, but in practice, it can be tough to get it working.

Remember that most melee foes without reach can attack someone up to 4 squares away with a Move 2 + Charge 2, unless you've done something else to them, like dazing them or knocking them prone. IME, they could reach someone every single round after combat starts. Since your range is 10, you don't have much of a buffer to spare unless you're standing in front of your tanks. It could help if you stack up zones, or a swordmage marks them, but that's about it.

So yeah. It's situationally useful, but generally you're better off with the vanilla magic missile for the extra range and damage boost.

-O

 

[DracoSuave]

It can be in some cases, but its basic problem is (IMO) its range, combined with how situational Slow is. It's great with a lot of difficult terrain, or if you're targeting a melee combatant more than 6 squares away from your front line, but in practice, it can be tough to get it working.

Remember that most melee foes without reach can attack someone up to 4 squares away with a Move 2 + Charge 2, unless you've done something else to them, like dazing them or knocking them prone. IME, they could reach someone every single round after combat starts. Since your range is 10, you don't have much of a buffer to spare unless you're standing in front of your tanks. It could help if you stack up zones, or a swordmage marks them, but that's about it.

So yeah. It's situationally useful, but generally you're better off with the vanilla magic missile for the extra range and damage boost.

-O

For a battle mage, I'd suggest Thunderwave, Scorching Burst, and Cloud of Daggers myself. Your -real- advantage with Scorching Burst isn't -just- that it's area and can hit multiple minions... it's that it doesn't care about cover/concealment. Yes, you -can- use it to fox out a goblin in a trench shooting death at you.