Okay guys and girls i'm looking for some insight towards what spells my Wizard should be casting because I've got this problem of becoming incredibly bored during combat. Currently we are level 4.
To start off he is a Divination specialist with a focus on conjuration spells for battlefield control. I tend to memorize a couple glitterdust, grease, magic missile and enlarge person.. I've got Acid Splash for a little bit of offense when i run out of spells and there can be anywhere from 1 to 6 encounters in a day.
I know that the sustainability tends to increase around level 7. Is there any suggestions people can make for the interim to make the levelling process less mind numbingly boring?
Right now i tend to throw out a glitterdust at the beginning of combat and maybe a grease to trip up more persistent opponents.
Currently the campaign is very frugal when it comes to gold/supplies, nevermind shops (we're playing serpents skull) which are non-existent. Should I perhaps be crafting scrolls to supplement my spell casting?
Do you think a push towards crafting a ring of wizardry makes more sense?
First of all remember that you can also cast grease on a weapon.
After that you must face the fact that at those levels you leave your martially inclined friends to do the job.
Yeah I have no problem with the party members doing the damage. It's more having something to do.
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Make yourself some wands. That way, you no longer have to even prepare magic missile and whatnot, since you can just cast it 50 times, and leave the rest of your spell slots open for battlefield control only. Grease and spark also sounds pretty hilarious, especially since you can coat an enemy in grease.
Fwoosh. Hehehehehe....burning things
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I love the Summon Monster spells, since it allows you to change things up each time you cast it. Summon monsters to flank with the rogue, summon a spider and have it create a web or use it's tremor sense to attack foes in your obscuring mists, the list goes on and on.
Other than that I like to get creative with low level spells like Minor Image and even something as simple as Ghost Sound (or combine the two for a cheap illusion that makes noise) to fool or confuse NPC's.
BFC is really all about being the power in the background. You harass and hamper the enemy while your party does the dirty work. Even though this is fun in its own right, I find that it can leave you feeling like you aren't contributing as much as you like early on (you are, it just feels that way sometimes).
At times, screwing with the enemy feels unnecessary and you just want to finish things off, other times, we all want to mix it up and throw some pain around. Lets face it, doing damage is fun, even for a wizard. As a general rule though, I'd avoid mixing in the generic blasts most of the time. That magic missile is going to be pretty lackluster the vast majority of the time, and certainly isn't going to kill much.
If you're not really optimized for blasting, but want to mix some in for fun, you should focus on more persistent/mufti-purpose spells that mix damage along with something else. Spells like flaming sphere (and aqueous orb next level) are nice spells that can do damage over multiple rounds, while also debilitating the enemy or forcing them to go where you want them. Really the only "one-and-done" level 1-2 blasts I'd bother with are magic missile (for the long range) and scorching ray (for solid direct damage when you've got nothing better to do). Burning hands can be situationally okay (facing large numbers of very weak enemies), although color spray is usually a much better option there. Shocking grasp can also be okay if you've got a little Gish in ya.
Summons can also be nice because they last a while and do more than straight damage (provide flanking, area denial, meatshields, and a bit of action economy) as well. There are some okay options at your level (like the small elementals), but nothing spectacular. Those spells really take off at SM III.
Otherwise, here's a list of my favorite level 1 and 2 spells sorted by function:
Defense/Survival/Mobility --> For targeting denial, Levitate, Vanish, and Invisibility; also Obscuring Mist vs. Ranged. For direct defenses, Mage Armor, Shield, and especially Mirror Image (note that it works best with a decent AC, hence the first 2). Also, False Life from time to time.
Battlefield Control --> Create Pit, Web, Grease (area), and Obscuring Mist are all choice. The first 3 create area denial whether or not they "hit". Create Pit and Web can both ruin someone's day.
Debuff/SoS --> Color Spray, Sleep (for a while), Grease (weapon), Ray of Enfeeblement, Glitterdust, and Pyrotechnics are all pretty nice, and are generally multi-functional to boot.
Blast/Damage --> Flaming Sphere and Summon Monster. Scorching Ray and Magic Missile used sparingly can be okay as well (like when you're pretty sure you can finish someone off with them).
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The lovely part of a wizard is that with a bit of gold investment, you can usually get access to a ton of different spells - you almost never have to cast the same thing twice. (If your DM is keeping you away from all sources of new spells - opposing wizards' spellbooks, scrolls, civilizations where you can copy a few spells from the wizards living there - you might want to have a talk with him about how boring things are for you right now.)
On that note, try figuring out uses for spells you hadn't thought of before. At level 4, you only have level 1 and 2 spells available, but there's still a ton of fun to be had there.
Take Silent Image for example - if you can convince your fighters and rangers to cut it out with the battle cries, you can fill 8 10-ft cubes with fake images of them to confuse enemies. Or use Diguise Self and Disguse Other to make the armored paladin look like a squishy wizard and the squishy wizard look like the fiercest warrior ever seen - many enemies will take the low-hanging fruit.
Try setting up a tripline with Animate Rope and blasting them with Flaming Sphere when they get caught up in it. Try using Hydraulic Push to force your enemy into a Create Pit just when they thought they'd escaped. Try using an Unseen Servant to grab an enemy's sword and run with it when you disarm them with Airblast. Try combining Web with Burning Gaze (especially if you can cast Gaze on your familiar) to put your enemy in a sticky situation. (Combine with Lock Gaze for an "oh shit" factor, lol)
There's so much versatility... your only worry should be running out of spells. :D
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Walk around with a ton of scrolls, and you can cast anything in your spellbook during any given battle. Buy scrolls of stuff not in your spellbook whenever you get the chance.
For interesting stuff to do in battle for multiple rounds, go with illusions that move around distracting the opponents, like Cyrus suggested. Or find combinations of spells that work together. ie Create Pit with Hydraulic Push was one that I was already looking at before Reynard suggested it.
Does that Grease + Spark combo really work? I've never heard of the grease created by the spell being flammable. I just double checked the spell, and the material component is butter, not oil. IMHO, the spell's meant to be slippery, not flammable.
But throwing a flask of oil, then casting Spark is a combo I've tried before. It didn't work so well the first time, due to lousy rolls, but I haven't given up on the idea.
You may want to pick up the Toppling Spell Metamagic feat for your Magic Missile. At level 5, you can send your missiles at 3 different targets, so you'll be trying to trip all 3 of them. It's not about the damage - it's about setting up your allies to clobber the prone targets.
Walk around with a ton of scrolls, and you can cast anything in your spellbook during any given battle. Buy scrolls of stuff not in your spellbook whenever you get the chance.
For interesting stuff to do in battle for multiple rounds, go with illusions that move around distracting the opponents, like Cyrus suggested. Or find combinations of spells that work together. ie Create Pit with Hydraulic Push was one that I was already looking at before Reynard suggested it.
Does that Grease + Spark combo really work? I've never heard of the grease created by the spell being flammable. I just double checked the spell, and the material component is butter, not oil. IMHO, the spell's meant to be slippery, not flammable.
But throwing a flask of oil, then casting Spark is a combo I've tried before. It didn't work so well the first time, due to lousy rolls, but I haven't given up on the idea.
You may want to pick up the Toppling Spell Metamagic feat for your Magic Missile. At level 5, you can send your missiles at 3 different targets, so you'll be trying to trip all 3 of them. It's not about the damage - it's about setting up your allies to clobber the prone targets.
By RAW the spell grease does not light on fire, however some DMs run it that way, a carry-over of older rules I think, or maybe they just like the flavor - so you might want to check.
Are you using your abilty Diviner's Fortune when you have nothing else to do? These types of abilities are supposed to be your 'filler' abilities at lower level. If you want something that does damage then prehaps choose evocation instead of diviner? You won't even need attack roles and the attacks have a very good range, which is more powerful then alot of people give credit for I think.
Another good investment (if you can find them) would be a few level 1 pearls of power.
At this level, it is really great to get a wand with a decent blast on it. A 4500 GP scorching ray wand lets you do 4d6 (av 14) damage per standard action to use it. By the time you're out of charges or it loses its effectiveness as a spell, your casting is really starting to take off.
I second this sentiment. A simple scorching ray wand will give you most of the single target blasting capacity you'll really need, which can free up your spell slots for other things. FWIW, if you happen to also use an arcane bonded item, you could make it a wand and get it for half price. Granted, it's not the most optimal choice (especially if your GM is disarm/sunder happy), but its an option.
Note also that if you chose the foresight divination subschool, things like scorching ray that require attack rolls get a lot better. At the very least, you'll know when you've got a solid roll banked to ensure a hit. At best, you'll have a critical threat waiting in the wings. Not too shabby.
edit: and yes, grease used to be flammable in previous editions. Its no longer the case, but many still run it the old way.
