Exploit Wizard


Advice


Building myself a level 6 Exploit Wizard (APG archetype). I have very little experience building and running a pure caster and have come here for help/advice.

This is what I have so far - and my plans out to 10th level.
Exploit Wizard (APG), Wayang
STR 7
DEX 16
CON 12
INT 21
WIS 12
CHA 8

Skills (42) Knowledge: Arcana 6(14), Knowledge: Dungeon 6(14), Knowledge: Engineering 1(9), Knowledge: Local 2(10), Knowledge: Nature 3(11), Knowledge: Planes 6(14), Knowledge: Religion 6(14), Spellcraft 6(14)
Languages (5) Common, Draconic, Wayang, ?, ?, ?

HP 38

BAB +3
Fort +2(+3), Reflex +2(+5), Will +5(+5)

Spells per Day (Memorized) -
0/4: Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Disrupt Undead, Open/Close
1/5 Burning Hands, Magic Missile x2, Touch of Gracelessness, Wave Shield
2/4 Frigid Touch x2, Burst of Radiance, Striken Heart
3/3 Force Punch, Haste, Slow

Spells Known
(1/10) Burning Hands (Evo), Color spray (ill), Comp Lang (Div), Disguise Self (ill), Endure Elements (Abj), Grease (Conj), Magic Missile (Evo), Touch of Gracelessness (Tran, APG), Vanish (ill), Wave Shield (Abjur, ACG)
(2/4) Burst of Radiance (Evo, Champ), Frigid Touch (Evo, UM), Investigative Mind (ench, ACG), Stricken Heart (Nec, ACG)
(3/4) Force Punch (Evo, UM) Haste, Slow (tran), Vampiric Touch

Arcane Reservoir: 3+1/2 level points
1) Arcane Exploit: Potent Magic (Increase CL or save DC by 2), Spell Focus: Trans, Feat: Weapon Finesse
2) -
3) Feat: Spell Focus Evocation
4) Arcane Exploit: Dim door self 10' per level for 5' of movement, Bump INT +1
5) Meta Magic: Persistent Spell, Feat: Greater Spell Focus: Transmutation
6) -
7) Feat: Improved Initiative
8) Arcane Exploit: Quick Study, Bump INT +1
9) Feat: Toughness
10) Meta Magic: Dazing Spell

Character has access to a magical item that allows him to make touch attacks out to 15'. Allowing me to make use of some of the very nice touch spells that Wizards have and I want try and make use of.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Though being able to make touch spells at range is nice, if you're still within charge range of the enemy (60-feet for most medium creatures), I'm not sure I'd recommend it as the go-to strategy.

Have you heard of the God Wizard? There is a guide on how to make one. It is chock full of useful advice for basic and advanced wizarding that should prove useful to you.

There is also another useful guide for the Blockbuster Wizard, if you prefer something more straightforward and "explody."


Wave shield is a very limited defence. DR 3 a few times a day is not a great deal. I'd think hard about getting a stronger defence like mirror image.

Glitterdust is generally better than burst of radiance - it can reveal invisible creatures too and of course it's SR: no.

Two spell focus feats is probably a mistake. There's so much else you can do - rime spell, or expanded preparation, or chilling amplification, or just getting improved initiative earlier.


I'll give those guides a look.

I'mean hoping to be behind some big beefy fighters and if not, use the arcane exploit to D-door away.


You have a pretty solid build but there a few things I notice right away.

1) Weapon Finesse at 1st Level. My guess is that this is to help you hit with touch spells. I would try as hard as possible to stay out of hand-to-hand. You are going to have an AC under 20 probably and 38 hitpoints. A full BAB character of your same level could kill you with a full round of attacks, pretty easily.

You have a lot of touch spells and I would really re-think that whole idea. If you have your heart set on touch spells, I would consider getting the Reach Meta-Magic feat and just memorizing them with Reach.

As an example: You have Touch of Gracelessness, I would go Ray of Enfeeblement instead. It's a similar kind of debuff, but you get to do it at range.

In general, I think there are better options like Glitterdust, Create Pit, Spiked Pit. Even the old standard Fireball.

2) Your lack of defensive spells. Wave Shield is OK, but DR/3 isn't going to help you a whole lot. you need to not get hit. Mage Armor, Shield, Invisibility, and Mirror Image are pretty staple defensive spells. I even like Fly as both a defensive and movement spell. Unless you have gear to compensate for it. You're going to need some spells to protect you.

3) No Quick Study. This is probably the second best exploit available right behind Potent Magic. It lets you swap out a slot for another spell with a full round action. It makes spells like Investigative Minds and Detect Thoughts that much better because you can use them without having to memorize them. I would take that instead of Weapon Finesse. You can get with the Extra Exploit feat.

4)Persistent Spell is an awesome feat, but what are you using it on? I might move that one a little later on when you are actually using Persistent spells. Persistent Burst of Radiance sounds pretty awesome but you won't be able to cat that until 7th Level. Take Improved Init at 5th.

5) I don't see Perception on your skill list. You should almost always max that skill out it is by far the most used skill in the game. I'd also think about investing in some other skill areas since you have the points. There are some feats that let you use INT for social skills and I also might think about Stealth, you have a good DEX, you get a +2 racial bonus and a +4 size bonus. Even a single point without any feats or traits gives you a +10 Stealth. With a little tweaking you could have an awesome stealth score.

6) Your stats. I plugged them into a Point Buy calculator and came up with 23 points. What point-buy are you using?

Your INT. Max INT is awesome, high spell DCs, extra skills, a whole list of goodies. But it comes at a price. You could drop it a point or two and really boost some other stats. A 14 CON would help you a lot, +1 FORT and another +6 hitpoints. You could raise your CHA pretty cheap too, if you wanted to do social skills.

All in all I think you have a good start, but those are the things I would look at. Looks like a fun character to play!


Thanks for all the advice. I'll tweak the build some more but it'll be a couple of hours.

Planning on using a wand of mage armor and using the arcanist exploit to d-door away from trouble when needed.

Very rarely am I allowed to pre-buff and spending action for casting Shield, Mirror Image, or any other type of defensive spell just seems like a bad idea.

Forgot to subtract the -2 from my wisdom.

Have Quick study at 8th level. Was going grab at 4th but wanted the arcanist move action D-Door.

Debated between Ray of Enfeeblement and Touch of Gracelessness. Decided Gracelessness was better due to lowering the targets AC / Reflex and on the slim chance it fails, might fall prone.


Ravingdork wrote:
There is also another useful guide for the Blockbuster Wizard, if you prefer something more straightforward and "explody."

Alternate link for that, since Dropbox has disabled the original

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