Our party just hit level 5 in our Serpents Skull campaign, and I need some advice on what to take for my first Wizard bonus feat.
The 'Extend' metamagic seems to be a popular (and solid) choice, but many of the threads/guides I've read don't have as much info on the newer feats from the APG and UM.
Persistent Spell seems like a good choice for later on, but doesn't help much at the moment (due to the 2 level increase). Also, the Split Slot and Fast Study Arcane Discoveries are tempting, but in practice I don't know how useful they'd actually be.
Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Basic character info:
Elf Wizard - Lvl 5 - Conjuration School
Str 10, Dex 19, Con 13, Int 20, Wis 13, Cha 9
Feats:
Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (Conjuration), Toughness, Augment Summoning
Traits:
Boarded in the Shackles (+1 Fortitude Save), Warrior of Old (+2 init)
Funny, I'm about to start a very similar Wizard myself and have been wondering about the same issue.
Haven't really come to a conclusion, though. At the moment I'm thinking about getting Craft Wondrous Item. At level 5, you can already craft quite useful things like Headbands of Intelligence or Pearls of Power.
Of course, to make use of it, you should have some downtime every now and then or at least get a Ring of Sustenence ASAP. Otherwise you can only get 2 hours per day for crafting and even the most basic items will take like 4 days minimum. Which is pretty bad considering the can-craft-only-one-item-at-a-time rule. So you'd better not need to scribe a scroll while you have a wondrous item in the making.
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Might I suggest Craft Wondrous Item. You get to make your items for half the purchase price, and get whatever you need. This is very useful if you can only get what is in the books and is insanely good if your dm allows you to design your own items.
If you do not like item crafting, Extend Spell is great for summoning and Spell Mastery has alot of flavor and when you need it, nothing else will do.
Thanks.
I will admit, Craft Wondrous Item is tempting (and I already have the Ring of Sustenance), but the time required to craft some of the higher tier items is daunting (and we haven't had much downtime in our campaign at all).
Part of the problem I'm having in planning ahead is that I haven't really played any variation of a d20 game since AD&D (with Neverwinter Nights being the one exception I guess), so I'm not really sure what's going to be critical going forward. I have some idea of what I'll need from reading the forums/guides, but no actual play experience.
A follow-up question would be how crucial do the Spell Penetration and Combat Casting feats become later on? I know I'll run up against SR at some point, but so far the need to cast defensively hasn't come into play...yet.
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Intensified Spell: It is a good metamagic feat to have for spell damage.
Greater Spell Focus Conjuration: This dose not effect meny spells. The main one that it dose effect is Web and that to me is worth the feat to incress the spell DC.
Supperior Summoning: With summoning focus this is a must have.
Are good choices for what you started with.
Spell Penetration and Greater Spell Penetration. Are both feats you want to take starting at level 9.
Combat Casting is a wast for the most part. For the most part when the feat is used it's to late. You are better off with a difrent feat.
BTW. Summoning is not a very effective as you level up. You probly should think about taking spell focus and greater spell focus in transmutation or enchantment. Over all they have a much greater effect on pen and paper.
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Thanks.
I will admit, Craft Wondrous Item is tempting (and I already have the Ring of Sustenance), but the time required to craft some of the higher tier items is daunting (and we haven't had much downtime in our campaign at all).
Crafting doesn't require downtime anymore. You can do it at nights while camping. Check out the new rules.
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Combat Casting is a wast for the most part. For the most part when the feat is used it's to late. You are better off with a difrent feat.
I would disagree, but it depends on you being a build that plans to spend lots of time in melee. For the standard Batman style Wizard, definitely not, and for the hang-in-the-back summoning wizard, I think the same. However, some builds are designed for the caster at the front lines (optimizers hate them, but I don't care one bit), and for them, Combat Casting sees a lot more use.
In your case, Craft Wondrous Item is better if you want to make items, and Extend Spell is better if you focus on the summoning. Most of the APG metamagic feats work with blasting spells. If you're not blasting much, stick to Extend or Craft Wondrous.
Crafting doesn't require downtime anymore. You can do it at nights while camping. Check out the new rules.
Yep, I was just thinking that under the least optimal conditions (where you only get to advance two hours worth of work per day) even a +2 headband would take 16 days to craft. However, as someone else mentioned, I can free up an extra 6 hours a day due to the Ring of Sustenance, so I can theoretically still manage a full eight hours of crafting.
Also, Extend is nice for summoning, but I already get a decent duration bonus from the Summoners Charm ability.
Decisions, decisions...
Thanks to everyone for the input though.