Wizard with a theme

[Evilhalfling]

I had a lot of fun making a mage who had inherited magic from Djinn's Wish
He was primarily trained as street entertainer, with flashy spells, but not mass damage ones, for true power he called on Djinni like servants - elementals, memphits (in arabic dress) If it didnt have a djinni connection he would'nt summon it. He even picked up improved familliar - a small human-shaped air elemental. since you already have a callisham sorcercer this may not work -
How bout a undead hunter who talks to his dead realtives all the time, a selection of nercromatic spells and a distain for spells that dont effect the undead (charms, mind effecting illusions) ie a necromancer who hates undead.

 

[Li Shenron]

Well, there are two ways of making a themed spellcaster, whatever the theme

The way of the rules is just to choose existing spells appropriately from the PHB and other books, choose feats which enhance those spells, and possibly look for prestige classes to either expand the abilities around the theme or empower the existing ones. Tome & Blood already has quite many themes incorporated in its PrCls.

The way of the flavor is just to customise the description of your spells to suit your theme (you don't necessarily need Spell Thematics if you don't change the mechanics).

A good point is that you can combine the two, for example once you have your theme (fire) you first look for fire spells, eventually choose energy substitution and fire-themed feats, and so on. If you ONLY choose fire spells, you'll end up being far from a versatile Wizard, so you'll have to eventually choose other spells as well, but you can still customise the look of the latter to appear more fireish...

As for specific themes suggestion, I don't know where to start since they are endless

 

[Thanee]

I have always wanted to play a specialist diviner. The problem is that the GameMaster will either hate you or limit you, and neither is fun.

Not necessarily. There are plenty completely normal divination spells and the occasional peak into the future, etc, is ok, as long as this is not being overused.

Bye
Thaene

 

[mirivor]

Check out Unearthed Arcana... lots of goodies in there. The variants for spellcasters, such as the domain wizards, are really cool.

As for a theme wizard, there are a billion. I am currently playing a wizard based on storms. He is very cool... In fact, every time he is subjected to a storm, my DM has me roll percentage to see if I am struck by lightning.... first time ever I smacked a 100%! I simply bargained with my DM, dropped a few powers, picked up T&B's Energy Substitution (Sonic and Lightning) and decided that I have to use them, without exception.

The Summoner that someone mentioned earlier is a potentially ultra-powerful spellcaster. The fact that your little beasties can do almost everything that you can, such as opening doors, is awesome.

The Enchantment school is really good for someone looking for a subtle, mysterious flavor. Back it up with Illusion and base your spell selection on your wizards theme.

Later!

 

[Shallown]

HAve you considered Mystic Thuerge?

You have the stats to pull it off and sounds like a big enough party that you can do it. Go for the support character who can do a little of everything magical and divine and support the heck out of characters. MAke them the all knowing watcher character. Get sense motive maxed once you become a become the kind of person who evaluates others all the time.

I created a cohort like this in my last campaign. He was highly effective, becuase the party already had a cleric and wizard who where dedicated in thier classes. so he could use all the spells no one else took.

I am getting ready to start a Mystic Thuerge destined character in a new campaign. But am going the Spirit Shaman / Wizard route. He's a bit odd and tends to talk to spirits inhabiting items and places all the time. The Gm agreed with me and traded the animal empathy for a spirit empathy ability that lets me communicate with less developed spirits in objects and places. Basically I can use my social skills with talking to things versus people.

I also opted for Spontaneous Summoner and Spontaneous Healer paths to allow me some versatility.

Later

 

[Oscar carramiñana]

Another vote for the summoner alienist.
Normally all wiz are hard fireball and lighting users, Try to play a summoner and enjoy it

 

[atra2]

Actually, the best Summoner is a Cleric (wear full plate while you Summon Monster!) though a Druid is very close because their creatures are, overall, very tough, and all of their spell slots can be Summon Nature's Ally.

Consider a Cleric of a Magic deity so you have Magic domain and something else...

Or, a Cleric with both Law and Good or Chaos and Good gains +2 rounds on all Summon Monsters of the appropriate alignment, and +1 round on the NG monsters.

Conj. Focus + Augment Summoning go without saying as requirements, though you may want to delay A.S. until level 3, when your summons last 3 rounds as a wizard. A Cleric would want A.S. right away if doing the Law and Good or Chaos and Good Domains trick. I have a level 1 Cleric of Heironeous in Living Greyhawk who has Law and Good Domains, the feats, and is doing the summoning thing. Works pretty well so far. I prepare all Summon Monster spells except for my Domain Spells. I at least have cure light wounds if summoning a monster isn't useful. I expect at later levels to only carry 4-6 Summons spells at a time, with the rest being more traditional Cleric spells like Bless, Prayer, etc.

Oh, other advantage of Cleric Summoner: With a high WIS, your DC for Sanctuary is quite high If you later take Heighten Spell, then you can keep the DC high, and laugh off all the low-will monsters who can't choose to attack you while you summon and heal!

 

[GentleGiant]

Thanks for all the input so far!
I finally got a chance to peruse the Underdark book, but found the Shadowcrafter therein to be rather... lackluster.

So I have (almost) decided to go the Summoner route.
Probably with the Alienist PrC once I get to that point.

But I'm still open to suggetions.
I was also thinking of doing a Cleric "Summoner" - but if he had to take the Alienist PrC too, which is a viable option for a Cleric, then the -2 Wisdom would be a much harder blow.

Anyone have suggestions for how to put such a character together?
Maybe write up a 10 level progression with feats etc.?

And I'm still interested in themes, which can easily be used even though I might go the Summoner/Alienist way.

A young lad of about 18 from Shadowdale...
Suggestions for personality (remember, he's not an Alienist yet), appearance, mannerisms etc.

 

[Pax]

Ruleset: I assume 3.5
Race: Human
Class: Wizard Specialist Illusionist (bared schools: conjuration&one of your choice, except for divination which you can't choose)
PrC:
-Shadowcrafter (Underdark)
-Shadow Adept (PGtF)

The only problem here is, you're pretty much required to be an evil S.O.B. if you go with Shadow Adept - using the Shadow Weave is not a nice thing to do. Shadowcrafter, OTOH,is a very cool class to take.

Feats:
-Spell Thematics (PGtF)

Oh, yes. definitely. Outside of Arena games (and even sometimes there), I almost always try and allow for Spell Thematics in my listof feats-to-get for spellcasters.

-Shadow Weave Magic (PGtF)

Required to either lose 2 wisdom (forever), or worship Shar (the evilFR deity of darkness and secrets). Caveat Emptor.

What I would suggest, for this sort of concept, is to aim forShadowcratfer - and convince your GM to permit use of the Variant Specialist rules in Unearthed Arcana.

Specifically, you want the Shadow Shaper variant ability (youlose the bonus feats for being a Wizard in return - scribe scroll at 1st, and the spell mastery or metamagic at 5th, 10th, etc). Shadow Shaper gives you:

• At 1st level, hide becomes a class skill.
• At 5th level, you may add your Intelligence modifier to Hide checks, in additionto your Dexterity modifier.
• *** At 10th level, allof your Illusions become infused with matter from the Plane of Shadow, increasing the save DC of those spells by +1 - which stacks with spell focus (etc) ***
• at 15th level, you gain Hide in Plain Sight
• at 20th level, you can blend intothe shadows, gaining total concealment (effective invisibility) in any conditions of illumination that woudl give you any concealment whatsoever (i.e., in the confines of a Darkness spell)

Now, the trick is ... you only want Illusionist (10), and then launch into Shadowcrafter. This is because the Shadowcrafter gets benefits with any spell with a Shadow component ... and for a Shadow Shaper illusionist, that's any spell in the schoolof Illusion!

And, if you want to bite the (comparatively high) Level Adjustment, the Shade template (originally from FRCS) would be extremely thematically apt.

Regardless, though - picture the Illusionist(10)/Shadowcrafter(10) with Spell Thematics ("Black shadowy tendrils or flames") throwing Shadow Evocations/Conjurations around ... at which point, between both classes and Greater Spell Focus, their DCs are boosted by +3, spell penetration is boosted by +4 (without any feats at all), and (e.g.) his shadow evocations are 40% (normal) or 80% (grater) real, even if the target is resistant to illusions!

^_^

 

[JackS]

Tough job

In my opinion a 'smart type' spellcaster is more depending on 'when' you cast your spells and on 'wich spells you cast' than anything else so the best choice is the sorcerer, mainly focused on illusions and enchantments THAT would be a guy who would outsmart his enemies more than beating their asses.

You could also get some rogue levels since 'smarts' go hand in hand with 'stealth' and 'killing only when necessary' So the PrC for you would be arcane trickster... A good dex mod and maybe a few cursed items made by your character wich he plants on his victims with his sleight of hand...

But then this type is just too hard to play if the DM is the type who likes screwing you, I suggest you use your impossible luck powers like I did when I came up with such a type.