Hi all,
I've been DM'ing a homegrown Greyhawk campaign for several years w/ a consistent group. We are wrapping up and will likely be starting the STAP soon, only this time I will join as a player and one of our current players is going to DM.
Okay, big adjustment for me, so I need help. Also, after @ 20 years of playing off and on, I have really never played a straight wizard - ever. However, since our party shapes up as follows, at least from early inclincations, I will likely have a Wizard to fill the gaps (I think we're gonna need an arcane spellcaster, at least at some point), here's the party:
-Swashbuckler - probably human
- Cleric - race unknown
- Rogue/Assassin type - race unknown
- My character.
My goal, and why I need help, I don't really want to go any variants from books other than the PHB, and I don't want a sorcerer, although I may multi-class as rogue or something at some point, mostly for survivability, and if she gets whacked at some point, I may move towards Blood Magus. Concept-wise, I'm thinking female Evoker, inspired by the cover of the Dungeon # 144, from Sasserine, sponsored by whichever family is listed as being generous to a fault in the Player's Guide to the Academy, with a serious dislike for highborn, elitist mages, especially Necromancers and Enchanters (her prohibited schools). Since I think we are starting at 1st level, I need HELP w/ build, advice etc.
Thanks in advance.
Just some number-crunching ideas (roleplaying is another topic)
I would probably go for human as a race, taking improved Initiative as a feat - have those Evocation spells out early helps a lot.
The other feat might be toughness - those three extra hp can save your day at first level.
Metamagic and Item Creation can wait, you get bonus feats for those anyway. They are virtually useless at first level.
High CON and DEX are important, to improve your AC, HP and those saves that are weak. High INT goes without saying.
Skills: Concentration and Knowledge skills are obvious choices - casting that spell even if distracted and just knowing what that critter is(and with wich spell to hit it) can be very valuable.
Keep an eye to boosting spells - in some cases, some spells that do direct damage don´t help you all that much.
Just some rough ideas.
Stefan
Hi all,
I've been DM'ing a homegrown Greyhawk campaign for several years w/ a consistent group. We are wrapping up and will likely be starting the STAP soon, only this time I will join as a player and one of our current players is going to DM.
Okay, big adjustment for me, so I need help. Also, after @ 20 years of playing off and on, I have really never played a straight wizard - ever. However, since our party shapes up as follows, at least from early inclincations, I will likely have a Wizard to fill the gaps (I think we're gonna need an arcane spellcaster, at least at some point), here's the party:
-Swashbuckler - probably human
- Cleric - race unknown
- Rogue/Assassin type - race unknown
- My character.My goal, and why I need help, I don't really want to go any variants from books other than the PHB, and I don't want a sorcerer, although I may multi-class as rogue or something at some point, mostly for survivability, and if she gets whacked at some point, I may move towards Blood Magus. Concept-wise, I'm thinking female Evoker, inspired by the cover of the Dungeon # 144, from Sasserine, sponsored by whichever family is listed as being generous to a fault in the Player's Guide to the Academy, with a serious dislike for highborn, elitist mages, especially Necromancers and Enchanters (her prohibited schools). Since I think we are starting at 1st level, I need HELP w/ build, advice etc.
Thanks in advance.
Well from a pure mechanics point of view, Int and Dex will be key abilities. The Int gives you bonus spells, the higher DC for your spells and the extra skill points. The Dex is key for getting intiative, AC and ranged touch attacks. Feat wise Improved Initiative will do you well. There is nothing more frustrating to have the fighter types run in a ruin your chance for a Fireball or other area effect spell. The sudden feats from Complete Arcane like Sudden Empower or Sudden Widen are very nice for an Envoker. The complete Mage has a nice explaination for blaster type mages that should help you a bunch. I have always had a hard time with familars so you may want to look at some variants that don't use a familar from say Unearthed Arcana. Or if you want a familar, Stormwrack has a few that may fit the theme of STAP a little better. I usually put the infrequently used utility spells like comprehend laguages or knock on scrolls so you can leave your spell slots open for more frequently used spells. I'm also very fond of leaving spell slots open for utility spells then when you come to something you need a particular spell for you take 15 or so minutes to study the needed spell and are ready to go. I hope this helps.
I would recommend spell focus and greater spell focus since a lot of evocation spells allow a save.
I'm not into prestige classes for every character, but if you plan to multiclass as a rogue, I would strongly suggest to go for arcane trickster or the like, since multiclass character is really not the best option for spellcaster.
Also there is a very good Greyhawk regional feat (in some Dragon 315 if I remember correctly) for wizard, which allow them to choose 4 spells instead of 2 at each level.
For a sneaky wizard use e.g. this build:
Rogue1/Wizard5/Unseen Seer1/Arcane Trickster8/Abjurant Champion5
Alignment: nonlawful (for Arcane Trickster)
necessary feats:
1) Able learner (Races of Destiny; allows you to buy cross-class skills at 1:1 ratio and as you multiclass, you'll effectively gain the Rogue skills as your class skills and you can qualify for Unseen Seer which then allows easy entry to Arcane Trickster)
x) Combat casting (for Abjurant champion)
At level 20 you'll have CL 19 (20 with Practiced Spellcaster feat) and spells as Wiz19, BAB +11 and sneak attack +6d6.
----
Variants:
If your DM allows, you could replace the rogue level with Ninja1 and take Kungfu Genius (Dragon Compendium) that allows you to use Int modifier instead of Wis modifier for AC bonus and Ki Power. The change: gain sudden strike instead of sneak attack, but gain Int modifier to AC (yay!).
Also, you can drop the Abjurant Champion levels and take more Arcane Trickster (10) and Unseen Seer (4) for more sneak attack damage. The change: sneak attack +8d6, BAB +10. Less hitpoints.
With that much sneak attack damage, even the low level ray spells can be useful sometimes.
Human Evoker is probably your best choice for the extra feat and skill points. Ability scores should be Int 16+, Dex 14+, Con 14+ if you can manage it. You may or may not find the Evoker variants (UA 62) worth a look.
You definitely should think about prestige classes right now, during the initial build. Some possibilities for an Evoker include Arcane Trickster, Archmage, Argent Savant (CAr), Blood Magus, Daggerspell Mage (CAd), Effigy Master (CAr), Eldritch Knight, Elemental Savant (CAr), Fatespinner (CAr), Loremaster, Mage of the Arcane Order (CAr), and Spellsword (CW). Some will be more worthwhile than others, but you should plan your advancement to give up no more than two or three levels of spellcasting progression. Also, look at the requirements to qualify for the PrC. You don't want to "waste" feats or spellcasing progression; every selection you make should build your ability or potential as an arcane caster or develop your character concept.
Spell selection is determined by character concept, combat utility (note that battlefield control can be more powerful than direct damage), and progression plans.
Some viable progressions (depending on what you want out of the character) are:
Evoker 10/Argent Savant 5/Archmage 5
Evoker 10/Blood Magus 10
Evoker 5/Rogue 1/Daggerspell Mage 10/Arcane Trickster 4
Evoker 6/Fighter 1/Spellsword 1/Eldritch Knight 8/Archmage 4
Evoker 6/Elemental Savant 10/Loremaster 4
Evoker 5/Mage of the Arcane Order 10/Fatespinner 5
I would recommend spell focus and greater spell focus since a lot of evocation spells allow a save.
I'm not into prestige classes for every character, but if you plan to multiclass as a rogue, I would strongly suggest to go for arcane trickster or the like, since multiclass character is really not the best option for spellcaster.
Also there is a very good Greyhawk regional feat (in some Dragon 315 if I remember correctly) for wizard, which allow them to choose 4 spells instead of 2 at each level.
I like the feat idea and have this one back ordered, so I'll check this out - really want the options in the spellbook (why I took a mage, even a specialist mage) so this would help.
As it stands, I took toughness and spell focus, along w/ Int 18, and Con 14, so Htps at early levels look good.
Well from a pure mechanics point of view, Int and Dex will be key abilities. The Int gives you bonus spells, the higher DC for your spells and the extra skill points. The Dex is key for getting intiative, AC and ranged touch attacks. Feat wise Improved Initiative will do you well. There is nothing more frustrating to have the fighter types run in a ruin your chance for a Fireball or other area effect spell. The sudden feats from Complete Arcane like Sudden Empower or Sudden Widen are very nice for an Envoker. The complete Mage has a nice explaination...
Thanks!
I've got Complete Arcane and just got word that we will start, I don't really know how this will be done, at 3rd level. RE: the open spell slot, this is a cool idea and one I hadn't considered. I will have to adapt, as the last arcane spellcaster I even had, and this was a one shot, mutli-class a looooong time ago, was 2ed, not scribe scroll feat, which I will need to use a good bit also. I selected high INT 1st, w/ decent Dex and Con as well, so htps aren't too bad and I didn't add a rogue level if we are starting at level 3, didn't want to sacrifice the cool 2nd level spells. Is Point Blank Shot at all worthwhile as a feat for a mage that uses RTA's a good bit?
I play a sorcerer a good bit and point blank shot is super useful. It works with the orb spells, the scorching ray and the 0 level cantrip frost spell I can't semt to remeber the name of and whn things get bad a ranged weapon does a wee bit mor damage if you can hit with it. I'm not quite sixth so I haven't used it for higher level stuff in an arcane fashion.
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Another thing I will add is that once you get aboard ship, and I think everyone knows that's where the campaign is heading even if you're not a DM or anything, skills will be important, so a level or two of rogue along the line will be really nice in that regard. In fact, I'd really suggest you consider taking Rogue as your first level, because of the x4 skill points. You can then take several levels of Wizard before revisiting the Rogue for another level or two if you'd like. (Feel free to switch in ninja or scout for rogue if you feel it fits your style better)
You'll want balance and swim for certain, but skills like tumble, jump, climb and so on will have more use than in most ordinary campaigns as well. You might even try to fit in at least a few ranks in profession:sailor. I recommended it highly for my group of PCs for this AP.
Another thing I will add is that once you get aboard ship, and I think everyone knows that's where the campaign is heading even if you're not a DM or anything, skills will be important, so a level or two of rogue along the line will be really nice in that regard. In fact, I'd really suggest you consider taking Rogue as your first level, because of the x4 skill points. You can then take several levels of Wizard before revisiting the Rogue for another level or two if you'd like. (Feel free to switch in ninja or scout for rogue if you feel it fits your style better)
You'll want balance and swim for certain, but skills like tumble, jump, climb and so on will have more use than in most ordinary campaigns as well. You might even try to fit in at least a few ranks in profession:sailor. I recommended it highly for my group of PCs for this AP.
Ugggh. You are right, and I almost always want a level in something other than just wizard, but those 2nd level spells are soooooo tempting. I really like the idea of busting off a scorching ray spell w/ a true strike spell in effect to drop 4d6 dam. on somebody at 3rd level.....Ahhhhh, dreams of glory (or gorey).
One of my player is running a warforges rogue wizard, and it has worked out very well. He's broke most of the time but has more scrolls than you can shake a stick at, and more HP than a straight wizard, and the one time he dropped a scorching ray was in a sneak attack. Mithral body has worked out well he has only "lost" two spells in about 5-6 sessions. just throwing that out there. He did take Point blank shot at third level.