D&D 5E Wizard progression advice

TallIan · Jul 31, 2019

I am looking for some input on my wizard progression.

Specifically at what ASI/feat to take at 8th level (and beyond)

He is a Human Variant, with lucky, conjurer wizard.
STR 8; DEX 14; CON 14; INT 18; WIS 12; CHA 10

I have biased (as much as possible) his conjuration. Now that he is reaching levels where he can summon things (elementals or demons) his high level slots and concentration are usually used for that while he blasts with lower level slots.

an INT ASI is fairly obvious, but I am also looking at some other options, as once INT is at 20 I'm not really sure what else to do with the ASIs.

With focused conjuration on the horizon I don't think that I will get much out of warcaster. So far Lucky has come to the rescue well enough.

I am tempted by resilient CON as poison saves come up often enough and the extra HP will be nice - the whole party are skirmisher types so my wizard has to take his fair share of beatings. This would have to go with +1 CON and +1 something else using another ASI. I'm looking at Linguist - usually this is a terrible feat, but it fits thematically with both the character and the game (our DM does make a lot out of language) and since all the other +1 INT feats are really poor this would be something I would consider of the next three ASIs.

Any other thoughts on this?

Esker · Jul 31, 2019

Alert is never a bad choice, even if it doesn't help a summoner as much as it would a control/buff/debuff specialist. If you favor elementals the initiative doesn't buy you as much since those have to be pre-summoned anyway, but if you use demons, getting them on the battlefield earlier is useful. And becoming immune to surprise is very nice.

Boosting DEX gives you AC and a point of initiative.

Boosting CON makes you less squishy and also boosts your concentration saves a little (which isn't as high a priority for you once you reach 10th, but is still useful; both for 8th and 9th level and for concentration saves you might have to make that aren't the result of damage). Tough would trade that +1 saves for even more HP.

Mobile could be good, so you can get away to safety more easily...

Spell Sniper (Wizard) to be able to stay behind partial cover and still fire bolt...

Magic Initiate to fill a gap in your party, or to just take it in Wizard for an extra prep slot and spell slot...

Kobold Stew · Jul 31, 2019

I think you've identified the issues, and so it's just making a choice.

I suspect this would be the order I would consider things:

1. warcaster. Though you've ruled it out, advantage will be more effective than proficiency with CON saves, and it means you threaten opponents with cantrips, which is cool.

2. Prodigal (from MGTE). gives you a skill, a language, and a tool. For the skill (if you don't have it already) I would take Athletics. That will offset the 8 Strength, and it comes up all the time. You don't want to be a drag on the party. You say there are needs for languages, so that's a bonus. For tool, you can be thematic, or just be ready to show the party thief how it's done (or to offer Help, for advantage). You also get expertise in a skill -- you know what you've been rolling most. Whether it's Arcana or Perception or Athletics, it's a solid bonus all round.

3. Resilient Con. Helps with Concentration, but not as much as 1.

4. Spell Sniper. As described in the previous post, ignore cover with your cantrips and spells.

5. Healer: solid feat for anyone really, to provide backup for the cleric.

I suspect that i would choose Prodigal first, unless I had failed a couple of concentrtion checks. (you have Lucky already, of course, to help with that).

ccs · Aug 1, 2019

I always pick whatever helps me best the character that I'm envisioning, or things based upon how the actual play is going. The math is almost never a serious condidration.
(Ex: my barbarian - increasing Str would have been the math based best choice. BUT, based upon several lvs of struggling to decipher ancient hiroglyphs & constant exposure to an Arabic/Egyptian language spoken by the natives, I chose the Linguistics feat. It fit play & proved very useful {probably more so than another + to hit/damage}).

But only you know what will fit your character best.

TallIan · Aug 1, 2019

Thanks everyone, seeing some thoughts - and the reasoning behind them is really helpful.

Alert is certainly tempting, I find that I don’t have too much trouble if not going first though. As I mentioned it is a group of skirmishers, so almost everyone is either doing hit and run melee or moving to stay at range. The rest of the feat is certainly the sort of thing that is great when it comes up.

A DEX boost is also tempting but I think CON would be more useful. Poison (and other CON saves effects) come up quite often so overall I think I will be better off with a CON boost rather than DEX.

Mobile would save on spell slots, but the misty step and benign transposition I am already the most maneuverable character and BT helps position other party members as well.

Spell sniper would be wasted as I have no to-hit spells, they are all save. Acid splash all the way

Warcaster was on my wish list from the start, but I think combined with Lucky both feats are seriously reduced in effectiveness an even more so with Focused Concentration coming up. I realise that mathematically warcaster is better than Resilient CON for most of the game.

Prodigal: I had forgotten about this feat and it is VERY tempting. The tool proficiency will likely be wasted as I have Thieves tools from the urchin background. So far my wizard has done all the lock picking, as the thief can’t get himself a set of tools (or keeps forgetting).

Resilient CON I think I will get more out of than Warcaster because of the high number of other CON saves that come up in the game.

Healer could certainly be a good choice too.
[MENTION=6803664]ccs[/MENTION] the reason that I am looking at something other than +2INT is because the story of the game is making a number of other choices much more interesting.

So after the advice I’m leaning towards Prodigal. Linguist’s 3 languages would be a little over the top (one or two would do), but the +1 INT does fit well with resilient (CON) +1 INT +1 Con at 16. Expertise would certainly be a good addition.

So I’ll be looking at

8 – Prodigal
12 – Resilient (CON)
16 - +INT
19 - ??