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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Puggins" data-source="post: 5489225" data-attributes="member: 12386">Wizards come equipped with the Scribe Scroll feat for free.  By definition they can leverage scrolls better than other characters can leverage potions.  Pulling equal to the wizard means sacrificing a precious feat.Aside from that, I think some posters painted themselves into a big of a corner.  No, the wizard is not ultra-survivable at 5th level.  But at that level, you're unlikely to encounter creatures with SR, serious resistances, or significant ranged spell power, with the exception of NPC spellcasters.  At that level, the wizard relies more on player skill to survive, which is a good thing.But that doesn't last very long.  Likely by 7th level, certainly by 9th level, the wizard's spell selection drastically improves his survival in virtually any setting.  Look at the wizard's 7th level spell load out:4 + 1 (Int) + 1 (School) = 6 1st level spells3 + 1 + 1 = 5 2nd level spells2 + 1 + 1 = 4 3rd level spells1 + 1 + 1 = 3 4th level spellsthat's 18 non-cantrip spells.  The last time I played a wizard, I figured that I would devote about a third of my slots to defense and utility and two-thirds to offense (which, given proper spell selection, also doubles as defense).For defense:Dimensional Portal (2nd level) to get out of grapples and move to better positionsMirror Image (2nd level) for encounters I know are comingGreater Mirror Image (3rd or 4th level) for surprisesArmor (1st level) for persistent defenseShield (1st level) for defense for specific encountersFor offense:Grease (1st level) prevents monsters from moving into advantageous positions and gives me time to get away from those who've penetrated the lineGlitterdust (2nd level) crashes the offensive ability of any monster, making it child's play to get away from it.Hideous Laughter (2nd level) completely shuts a monster downHold Person (3rd level) does the same thingEvard's Black Tentacles (4th level)Confusion (4th level)I left out a couple of good choices from necromancy, which I took as a barred school due to role-playing reasons.You can probably get the general idea- shut the opponents down and let the rest of the party handle the damage-dealing, which in many cases is the only thing they are good at in combat.  By eliminating offense, you inherently make yourself harder to kill.  And who better to shut down than the creatures that have made it past the fighters and are parked right next to you?In this campaign, I played an elf wizard- a horrible choice compared to a dwarf due to a significant difference in hit points.  Up to around 7th level I relied on a couple of well-timed defensive spells and play skill to survive, and I never got knocked unconscious.  After achieving 7th level I became much, much harder to kill, even surviving an ambush by a couple of advanced trolls that managed to sneak up on us and got past our melee characters (Greater Mirror Image is amazing).We stopped the campaign at 10th level.  By that time I simply didn't feel at all fragile.  I had spells that could respond to practically any situation (feather fall becomes an easy take for a 1st level spell at that point, incidentally- no more pit issues).  I could certainly  be taken out by bad luck or a very concerted effort on the part of the monsters, but the melee characters were much more vulnerable- the barbarian and the warblade in the party were both knocked unconscious multiple times, I can't recall every going unconscious during that campaign.</blockquote>

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