Wizard - How to Win Friends and Influence People?


Advice

Silver Crusade

This is my first time playing a wizard, and I'm having a problem:

What is a good strategy for a first level wizard to act as the "face" of the party? Our current group just started the Carrion Crown AP (we're one session in), and we don't have anyone with good social skills. I'm playing a wizard, and I was hoping to make up the deficiency with magic, but I'm not sure how...

Difficulty: Charisma 10, Enchantment and Illusion opposition schools.

Any ideas?

Thanks


Fast Talker (bluff) and World Traveler (diplomacy) for traits. Human bonus feat: Cosmopolitan (perception and sense motive). Al was face for his party, course he was an enchanter with a +2 CHA mod, so his social skills bested the bard's. Charm Person can stand in for diplomacy in a pinch, but with no modifier in CHA it'll be a bit more difficult to convince your new friend to do things not normally in their nature. Eagle's Splender at level 3 can help make up for the lack of a CHA mod, but that is a touch sacrifice at low levels. Making a Circlet of Persausion at low-mid levels would be a good investment, though you'll likely want another party member to wear it.


Spells: Level 1 Divination - Cultural Adaptation will give you a +2 on Diplomacy on members of a specific culture.

Level 2 Transmutation - Adoration will grant you a +2 morale bonus on Diplomacy checks.

Eagle's Splendor will grant you a +4 on CHA

Most GMs will also take bribery into account on some NPCs.

Cologne may grant you a +1 circumstance bonus on CHA skill checks.


Doombunny wrote:
Most GMs will also take bribery into account on some NPCs.

Handing over a small handful of gold is usually worth a circumstance modifier on diplomacy in most games I've seen, or by handing over enough being able to bypass the need for the check entirely.

Quote:
Cologne may grant you a +1 circumstance bonus on CHA skill checks.

That is an excellent idea for a "masterwork tool" to grant a +2 circumstance bonus on a skill check. I wonder how many GMs would allow it.


Don't forget familiar choice. Thrush is pretty amazing, with a +3 Diplomacy and the ability to speak like a Raven. Viper is there for Bluff, but is generally less useful than a talking bird.

Silver Crusade

Mort the Cleverly Named wrote:
Don't forget familiar choice. Thrush is pretty amazing, with a +3 Diplomacy and the ability to speak like a Raven. Viper is there for Bluff, but is generally less useful than a talking bird.

"Talking bird"?


Base all of your relationships on mutual respect and honesty and deal with others with integrity and fairness.

No really, treat everyone the way you want to be treated and be honest and try to acknowledge everyone and you should do fine.


uriel222 wrote:
"Talking bird"?

I... don't know how to make that clearer. A thrush is a bird. As a familiar, it can talk. That is, speak one language. This makes it an incredibly useful scout, messenger, and spy. That it helps you out with a +3 Diplomacy is an added bonus.


Mort the Cleverly Named wrote:
uriel222 wrote:
"Talking bird"?
I... don't know how to make that clearer. A thrush is a bird. As a familiar, it can talk. That is, speak one language. This makes it an incredibly useful scout, messenger, and spy. That it helps you out with a +3 Diplomacy is an added bonus.

I think he's parroting you, unless I'm seeing a joke that isn't there.


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Most of the games I've played have rarely called for Diplomacy checks. It's understood that the manner in which you speak and the things you say take the place of the check. Not sure how your DM does it though.


A fun way to resolve diplomacy to make the check and then role play the result to the best of your capacity. If you end up with a result of 4 then you get a free pass to be a jerk.


I play a Wizard and he is the party face. Charisma 12, maxed ranks in Diplomacy, no magical tricks. You'll never be great at it, but you'll be decent, since with your high INT you have the skill ranks to throw at it. Getting them as class skills would be nice, but if you've already started in play you probably don't have that option (traits), unless your GM allows you to do a little tweaking - practice your real life convincing skills! :-)


Helic wrote:
I play a Wizard and he is the party face. Charisma 12, maxed ranks in Diplomacy, no magical tricks. You'll never be great at it, but you'll be decent, since with your high INT you have the skill ranks to throw at it. Getting them as class skills would be nice, but if you've already started in play you probably don't have that option (traits), unless your GM allows you to do a little tweaking - practice your real life convincing skills! :-)

Depending on how you set up your traits, if you have traits, you could take the Additional Traits feat as soon as you get the chance and have an open feat slot, it is arguably better than Cosmopolitan, depending on what you want from it.

Sovereign Court

You could always get a 15 year old boy as a cohort and have him pull a magic sword out of a stone... they'll listen to whatever your cohort will say after that... :)


uriel222 wrote:

This is my first time playing a wizard, and I'm having a problem:

What is a good strategy for a first level wizard to act as the "face" of the party? Our current group just started the Carrion Crown AP (we're one session in), and we don't have anyone with good social skills. I'm playing a wizard, and I was hoping to make up the deficiency with magic, but I'm not sure how...

Difficulty: Charisma 10, Enchantment and Illusion opposition schools.

Any ideas?

Thanks

10 cha = 0 bonus soooo

Half elf or Human, Feat goes to Skill Focus (Diplomacy/Bluff) +3
Trait bonus for Diplomacy/Bluff +1, +3 for skill bonus
Thrush Familiar/Viper Familiar +3
Level 1 Rank +1
Persuasive/Deceitful +2
Cologne +1
Some DMs say that a Noble's outfit will provide a bonus (as per 3.5)
[Transmutation School (1), If you swapped out your Enchantment opposition you could get another +2]
[Thrush can "assist" if they roll well enough for another +2].
Total = +14 Diplomacy/Bluff or more!

Silver Crusade

Alphonse Zindelo wrote:
Mort the Cleverly Named wrote:
uriel222 wrote:
"Talking bird"?
I... don't know how to make that clearer. A thrush is a bird. As a familiar, it can talk. That is, speak one language. This makes it an incredibly useful scout, messenger, and spy. That it helps you out with a +3 Diplomacy is an added bonus.
I think he's parroting you, unless I'm seeing a joke that isn't there.

Sorry, I wasn't sitting at a keyboard. In longer form, "I didn't know that thrush familiars could talk!"

What makes it talk? Why it, and not other familiars?

Silver Crusade

Thanks for all your help! I'm going to talk to the GM and see if he'll allow some of these minor modifications (it beats rolling a new character), and I'll try to grab up Cultural Adaptation and Adoration.

And I wish I knew I could get a TALKING BIRD!!! :)

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