Help With PFS Wizard: The Value of a +1, Wizard Feats And Combat Advice


Advice


So I have a level 2 PFS transmutation (enhancement) wizard. I have only played a mid-high level home game before, and the change to low levels and PFS have left me with some questions.

First of all, I am debating the effectiveness of my Augment school ability. In practice, it means I give an ally a +1 to attack rolls and damage rolls for 1 round as a standard action. Is it worth it, or should I only use it once I ran out of spells?

Secondly, I was always a bit underwhelmed with the wizard feat choices, and now that I can't take crafting feats, I find myself struggling to chose enough of them. Which would you recommend?
On a related note, what do you guys think of Combat Advice? I was thinking that giving me something to do with my move actions would be great, and I have the book, but I don't have a lot of in play experience and I'm not sure how it measures to some more standard feats, like spell penetration etc.


If a battle isn't too dangerous, using those abilities (especially in combination) allows you to contribute and save your best spells for later. Note that Augment doesn't stack with Bull's Strength or a belt of strength, so it's likely to only be useful for limited period.


Combat Advice doesn't seem to bad, but I find that move actions are often used for moving or grabbing items in a lot of fights. There are spells that can give you move-action-economy if you want it without a feat though (Flaming sphere, ball lightning, aggressive thundercloud).

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

The augment ability is really weak; you should be casting cantrips instead of using that. A cantrip is pretty much always going to be stronger than augment.

Combat Advice is decent precisely because it takes a move action. Sure, you won't be using it all the time, but you should often have a spare move action for it (except if you like casting Flaming Sphere a lot, but I'm guessing that as a transmuter, that's not your goal).

Other feats? Well, there's always imp initiative and metamagic. Augment summoning is good, if you're into that. Toughness and dodge are at least decent. And the wizard has a number of "discoveries" it can take instead of feats, there's good choices there. HTH!


I second the vote for using ray of frost or acid splash as your contribution when you don't want to use spells.

Feats depends on what kind of spells you're casting most of the time. But often you'll either be grabbing feats that boost your DCs, CL, spell pen, improved init, or metamagic feats.


Thats my problem with wizard feats. They're all "add +x to y". They're all boring. The only intresting things are high level, augment+superior summoning (that aren't really my thing), and preferred spell (which is useless for most builds).


Fast Study is a great discovery, lets you prep a spell in one minute instead of fifteen. You are leaving a few slots open at the start of the day, aren't you?

Edit- actually, maybe not at lvl 2. But later!


Academae Graduate if you like summoning and can still get it.

You could build toward Preferred Spell or Greater Spell Specialization if you have a single spell you like. As a transmuter, Slow is a great spell, especially with persistent spell.

Grand Lodge

As someone who plays a lot of 3/4 BAB characters, I'd say that if a wizard threw the Augment ability in the direction of my character, it'd be greatly appreciated, a successful hit would likely mean a 1d12+9 instead of say, a magic missile's 1d4+1, and you're keeping spells saved up for emergencies.

Combat Advice seems too minimal for a feat, Improved Initiative or Great Fortitude to bump up a really important weak save may be good investments. If you use a familiar, Improved Familiar will let you get a familiar that can use some wands for greater action economy.


Thanks for all the advice. I think I'll let my wizard progress to level 2 as is (was considering changing one of my feats to combat advice), and reconsider when I level up to three, and I have another three sessions under my belt.
As for using acid splash or ray of frost, I get a -4 to hit for firing into combat, don't I? Doesn't it pretty much make them useless?


Not if your wizard takes The Precise Shot feat (which has Point Blank Shot as a prerequisite, so it's not normally available until 3rd level).


-4 if in combat, -8 if they have cover too. But thing to remember is your going against touch AC. That big bear with 4 natural armor, that guard with chain shirt or a breastplate, you "negate" the in combat penalty by removing lots of their AC. now against somethings, like kobolds, it's not as much of a boost, but it's not that bad if you can avoid cover.

Daze is another cantrip that can be quite useful. Use your turn to make them skip theirs.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

Acid splash and ray of frost are not very effective either; it's better to carry a wand of Magic Missile (slightly more damage and it autohits).

Daze is a good cantrip. Depending on your GM you may be able to do nice stunts with Ghost Sound and Mage Hand. Otherwise, carry a bunch of scrolls for in case you run out of spells.

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