First of all: This is for Core + APG ONLY!!!! No UM or UC or other content available! Also no traits (unless bought by feat). 20pt buy.
I REALLY need some help on a decision.
As the title says, I'm playing a God Wizard (Teleportation) right now. We just hit level 5 and there's a long (ingame) pause in the campaign.
I really like the Wizard. But someow I feel like not having fun in the long run. As it turns out crowd and battlefield control sucks, if your GM rolls 15+ on most monster saves and the rest of the party is not able to actually kill the controled enemies quickly. Party set up is:
And - until now - my Wizard. But I'm starting to get frustrated for a variety of reasons, so I want to come up with a good alternative that's a decent damage dealer without giving up the wizard's spell list versatility. Oh, and since the loot we were getting so far was a bit disappointing, I'm aiming for getting Craft Wondrous Item at level 5.
The best "fighting wizard" is the Magus, and would fit perfectly. Unfortunately, that class is off-limits unless my GM suddenly has a change of heart. I've thought of the following alternatives (and their flaws) so far:
So yeah, I'm totally at a loss here. Feel free to convince me to pick one of the options or suggest something I've not considered so far. Any help is greatly appreciated!
|
Hmmm. Have you considered just changing your spell loadout somewhat? I mean, summoned monsters, direct damage of various sorts, and all that sort of thing are very available to a Wizard, you'd just need a bit of cash to grab the additional spells.
Almost everything on your sheet that's good for a God Wizard is still good if you, say, dabble in blasting. In many games the character will be a bit less effective, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.
Assuming you really do want to switch characters:
Summoner: You could always go Synthesist. Probably not as flat-out powerful, but you're the one tearing s+@& up in combat.
Inquisitor: If you want utility spells, yeah, this isn't your guy. But you can rock as a skill monkey, which has it's definite uses out-of-combat-wise.
Alchemist: It sounds like the kind of Alchemist you'd enjoy just doesn't synch well with the party, so skipit and try another option.
Bard: You could always go the Dervish Dance road. It's not quite two-handed-Greatsword damage, but it's not bad. On the other hand, your AC really can be decent even as a two-handed specialist as long as you don't neglect Dex completely and work on it a bit (Wand of Shield + UMD is great if you know you're gonna be in a fight).
Druid: Melee Druids are vicious once you can just walk around as a Dire Tiger all day. What makes you think they aren't viable long-term?
Yah, just get scorching ray and Flaming sphere and go to town.
Well, I already switched my spells around. I think the best DD in the last boss battle was my summoned small earth elemental, which is kinda sad. I used 2 magic missiles and a flaming sphere. Unfortunately the boss had high reflex saves and fire resistance 10. So the sphere only did 3 damage over the 4 rounds duration (biss fight was at level 4).
Dealing reliable damage with a pure caster simply takes too many spell slots and you must always deal with Spell Resistance, saving throws, elemental resistance and stuff like that. Wasting spells only to find out they didn't do anything is getting old fast.
As I said, we play core+APG only. So no synthesist or dervish dance.
I like the idea with the Wand of Shield for a bard. Duration is a bit short but it does make my AC at least decent.
As for the druid, I hate relying on items to make use of basic class abilities like spells. So "take Wis 13 and a +6 headband" is not an option. I'd probably end up playing a Dwarf with 16 12 16 10 16 6 at level 1 and never increase str on level up. I'm not sure if a strength of 16 (+ items of course) is enough to stay competitive. On the plus side, my somewhat decent Wisdom should allow me to switch to elemental form + spells if melee doesn't cut it. The druid spell is also quite good with air walk and transport via plants. It's just depressing that the menhir savant is out of reach ^^
Still, I'll take a closer look at the druid. Had been focused on the arcane classes so far.
Thanks for your advice! Keep it coming! :)
|
|
As for the druid, I hate relying on items to make use of basic class abilities like spells. So "take Wis 13 and a +6 headband" is not an option.
Hmmm. What about this, as a Dwarf:
Str 16 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 18 Chr 5?
That way you can slot all your level ups into Strength (along with a Belt) and just buy a Tome to jack Wisdom by the time you need 9th level spells?
That seems like workable physical stats (and enough Wisdom to fall back on being a straight caster at need), and while Charisma sucks that hardly seems inappropriate for a Dwarf who spends more time with animals than people.
Doesn't look too bad. Especially since I doubt we'll actually reach level 17+. And even if we do, since I get CWI anyway, I could just craft the tome myself. The cleric will get Craft arms and armor so a wild iron wood full plate is within reach, too.
Now I really need to take a closer look at the druid!
Thanks again. I'm still open for further suggestions.
I play a wizard in a somewhat equivalent group. Ranger (melee), druid, urban druid and me.
I happen to dislike random effect on my spells, according to me a good spell is one that don't give a chance to the opponent.
Since you have APG, juste try create pit. If the main threat manages to escape, toss him back into it with true strike + hydraulic push. Against most opponent you juste have to avoid getting a "1" on the dice.
Against an armed ennemy, cast grease on the weapon, send you familiar to get it far away.
my personnal favorite : 2 rays of exhaustion.
Summoning is the wizard's best tool (conjuration spec after all). You can do almost every thing with the appropriate summoned creature. Straigth damage, battlefield control, debuffing, etc.
My advice on this case is not to try to solve combat encounters by yourself. Use your companions, make them do the killing by buffing them. Debuff your ennemy, a exhausted nauseated opponent won't do anything good.
That is what a god wizard is for, make the lesser beings think they are good. In the game I play, I am the one deciding how the fight is going (without it being noticed), and I often go searching the room or do some reading by round 3.
Well, that's pretty much what I'm trying, but there's only so much you can do on level 4. Create pit+True Strike+Hydraulic Push is great, but takes 3 rounds. Not worth the investment when create pit only lasts 5 rounds. That said, I have used Create Pit with great effect onc, taking 3 of 5 enemies out of combat for a few rounds. So yeah, it is a great spell.
Ray of exhaustion is on my opposed list (Necromancy and Enchantment).
I will use summoning spells should I keep playing my wizard. In fact, her level 5 feat is Augment Summoning. But than again, a Druid can do that, too. Although with a melee druid, I don't see myself getting Augment Summoning anytime soon.
Enabling the rest of the party to kill the enemies was the idea. Problem is, each and every one of them was outdamaged by my summoned small earth elemental (a CR 1 creature!) in the last fight. If you count its damage as my damage (which it basically is), I was the best damage dealer with a PURE CONRTOLER buid. That's just sad. I'm the closest thing to an optimizer in the group but with a controler wizard, the build hardly matters. That's why I want to switch. I'm tired of most fights lasting 5+ rounds with the party getting pissed with me out for not doing anything half of the time. Kinda hard to do something every round in muliple 5+ round fights every day when you only have like 10 spells.
Take Acid Arrow to dodge spell resistance.
Is your GM rolling all those "15+ saves" in the open? If not, perhaps you have a different issue than an ineffective wizard.
Unless you are truly the victim of astronomically poor fortune, eventually your save or suck spells will take their toll.
In the meantime there are ways to ensure that your spells are effective. You can buff instead of debuff. Assuming your melee PC ends up being the halfling with weapon finesse, throwing a "cat's grace" in him is going to boost both his AC and his attack rolls. Get some metamagic rods to increase your damage, and even successful 1/2 damage saves won't help the enemy that much.
There are quite a few very good wizard spells that allow you to contribute for several rounds on the one spell. Flaming sphere, Chill Touch, summon monster, etc. For touch attack spells like chill touch, you can take Spectral Hand to deliver touch attacks at range and so stay out of combat.
You don't mention whether your wizard has any physical combat capability. Does he use a crossbow? A sling? You can buff yourself up so that your attacks are effective and then contribute that way.
This is a major reason I had my druid become an archer. She can always rely on her bow and she does respectable damage with her bow. If you had a ranged weapon you could use and summoned a monster at the start of the fight, you could pump out some respectable damage just with those two attacks and conserve spells.
Also, if spell conservation is an issue, get some pearls of power.
My GM does often roll very well overall. It's not that he never rolls a number below 10, but those rolls usually happen to be attack rolls or other less important checks.
Buffing is a good idea, but again, I'm not sure it will help with the overall poor performance of the group. That's also why I'm reluctant to play a bard, though with inspire courage, haste and good hope, pretty much any group should be quite good.
Summon Monster and Flaming sphere are already on my list. Chill Touch and Spectral hand are in my opposed school.
My Wizard has only 14 Dex and no ranged combat feats whatsoever. Her ranged attack bonus is just +4. With penalties for shooting into melee and/or cover, my chance to hit is very small. So I don't carry a ranged reapon. Even my occasional acid splashs don't really hit all that often.
The adventure was almost non-stop so far. There was no timeto go shopping of crafting items since level 1. If I keep playing the wizard (or switch to another non-spontaneous caster) I'll be sure to at least craft a couple of 1st level pearls.
The adventure was almost non-stop so far. There was no timeto go shopping of crafting items since level 1.
This can be a large problem with a wizard. Without downtime to expand your spellbook beyond the automatic 2 spells per level gained when advancing and/or scribe scrolls, a wizard loses a large portion of its class benefits; it becomes almost a sorcerer that can't choose which spells to cast on the fly.
For a campaign without downtime, a sorcerer might be a better choice. If you still want to concentrate on battlefield control, Abyssal (to boost summoned creatures), Arcane (for enhanced metamagic), Celestial (for buffs and some direct damage vs. evil), Fey (very good choice for a controller), Protean (good buffer/debuffer), Serpentine (affect animals, magical beasts, and monstrous humanoids with "humanoid only" mind-affecting/language dependent spells), or Undead (can affect undead with mind-affecting spells) bloodlines are all decent choices. The human alternate favored class feature and the Expanded Arcana feat can give you a wider variety of spells, which lets you be effective in more circumstances.
Blave, a 14 dex is awesome for a wizard. That's a +2 attack modifier on ranged attacks. Add "cat's grace" and your wizard not only gains +2 to AC but also gains another +2 to attack, bringing your attacks to +6. There are other buff spells you can use that will boost ranged attacks even further. +6 is nothing to sneeze at for a wizard. Get a masterwork crossbow and you're at +7.
There are ways to make your wizard more effective without abandoning him entirely.
My druid went the full archery feat tree, so she's pretty dang good with a bow. But you can be effective enough to justify shooting a crossbow in combat without that sort of investment.
@Dragonchess Player: Well, we do have a downtime right now. A pretty big one actually. Our GM basically said "you spend the next month in that town. During this time, you can buy anything you want". That's pretty good, considering that a very large chunk of our loot so far was just gold. It just sucks that we couldn't spend it on anything during the first 4 levels. There was also no Wizard loot whatsoever. No scrolls, no wands, no nothing. My Wizard has three magic items, two of them are almost utterly useless and the third one is a cloak of resistance. The cloak is great and all but it doesn't exactly scream "MAGE LOOT!!!".
Also, I definitely won't play a Sorc. My last Character (played up to 6) was a Sorc and I want something different. Come to think of it, Sorc and Wizard might still be too similar. That could be another reason why I'm not too thrilled about continuing my wizard...
@Adamantine Dragon: 14 Dex is decent, yes. And a +7 attack to a crossbow is also quite good. But I don't think casting cat's grace on my wizard is worth the spell slot. I still suffer penalties after the first round of combat when everyone is in melee. And that first round is the best for using crowd control (glitterdust, create pit or whatever) before things get more chaotic. I can't see me wasting that opportunity just so I can - maybe - deal 1d8 damage. Thanks for the suggestion, though :)
With a month of downtime and a lot of gold, I'd recommend the following:
1) Add spells to your spellbook via the rules on pg. 219 of the Core Rulebook. Hopefully, there are some other wizards in the town willing to let you copy from their spellbooks for a fee ("In most cases, wizards charge a fee for the privilege of copying spells from their spellbooks. This fee is usually equal to half the cost to write the spell into a spellbook...").
2) Scribe several scrolls of buff and utility spells (and possibly a few control or direct damage spells) so that you're not as reliant on only the spells you have prepared for that day. You may also want to consider a couple scolls of situational spells (spells that are tremendously useful in certain circumstances, but not one that comes up frequently; i.e., water breathing) and useful spells from your opposition schools (so that you don't have to use two spell slots to prepare them hen adventuring).
3) Take both Craft Wand and Craft Wondrous Item at 5th level (using both your normal 5th level feat and your wizard bonus feat). Craft Wand is the most cost-effective method to increasing your "spellcasting" ability, giving you the ability to do something "useful" every single round while still conserving prepared spells for decisive effect. Craft Wondrous Item is the single most useful item creation feat, especially since you haven't found a lot of magic items useful for a wizard, yet.
Well at the end of last session, I asked my GM how many spells I can get drectly from other other wizards. He said "three", which was depressing. When I told him how and why I consider changing my character, he aknowledged that there was not much to gain for a wizard so far. So I might be able to get more spells.
Ah well, I'm still completely undecided. Part of the problem is that I never actually played Pathfinder above level 6. How important are those Wizard spells anyway? They are power- and useful, for sure. But can a party make do without fly, haste, teleport and the rest of the wizard's list?
A few things can be done by the cleric (air walk instead of fly, blessing of fervor instead of haste). I could help him out with some of them if I decide to play druid.
It's also a shame that Inquisitors don't get domain spells. The travel domain has a great spell list and would solve my problems at an instant.
We play in about 32 hours and I still have no idea what to do. :-/
|
|
We play in about 32 hours and I still have no idea what to do. :-/
Take a deep breath and stop worrying about mechanics for a minute and think, seriously, about this:
Which would be more fun to play?
Both are likely to be fairly mechanically effective, and neither is absoutely necessary, so chill about that, and decide which you'd enjoy more, continuing to cast spells from the back, manipulating the very laws of reality to fry your foes and aid your friends, or taking the form of a huge tiger and eating people's faces, while still casting spells when and if necessary (possibly partnered with a similar Animal Companion).
Which style of play would you enjoy more? And, assuming you have good personalities for these characters in mind, which of them would you enjoy roleplaying more?
Pick based on that.
Well, the thing is, I don't now which I would enjoy more. I mean, I chose Wizard in the first place because I thought the class was awesome and great fun. In fact, I still think so but when I actually play, I get frustrated. So much by now that I seriously consider to change my character. That's something I'd never do lightly - otherwise at least the decision to change would have been made days ago even if I might still not know to which class exactly I'd switch.
I think unless I have some flash of insight, I'll just prepare a druid, an inquisitor and a bard for tomorrow. And take my wizard along. Then I can decide like a real roleplayer. With my d20 ;)
Should also take a Magus along, I guess. Just in case my GM suddenly allows him.
Thanks again to anyone trying to help. There's some great advice here but I fear I'm a hopeless case. Still, I grealy appreciate all your input :)
Sorry if I missed already pointed out things, I'm kind of lazy right now, but for the idea of "keeping the controler wizard":
Create pit + true strike + hydraulic push: It is a combo you can do by yourself indeed, and remember that true strike can be casted before the pit, thus it is a 2 round combo (1 round with quicken).
BUT, you can use it with another participant, a UMD familiar with 2 wands (~1500gp) for the push, an enlarged companions who bull rush the guy in the pit, etc.
Do not try to solve combat encounters by yourself. I can't insist enough on this. Even if you manage to do it, whatever your class is (and a wizard can), it will only lead to frustration for the other players, and your GM may try to mitigate your character raw power and make even more difficult times for the other characters.
The idea behind the god wizard is: "Sure, I can solve every single encounter by myself given enough time, but why bother when I can use the lesser beings to do the job for me?"
The great deal on this are combat encounters (no one will protest when a wizard - utility? - solves a random trap/social/gather info encounter).
If you speak of "god wizard" I think you've read treantmonk's guide already. You may want to read this one as well. I can point out this topic on spell combinaition as well.
A wizard uses his wit, so should you, a single spell might not work, but 2-3 spells with some help from the group will surely.
True Strike only has an effect if the attack roll is made before the end of my next round. So True Strike -> Create Pit -> Hydraulic Push doesn't work unless you have quicken. Which I don't, since I've only just hit level 5. That also means no UMD familiar.
I've read Treantmonk's guide, the core+ wizard guide and pretty much any other guide there is on all classes. I really like being given new ideas.
Not solving the combat by myself was the whole idea of playing that character. It just doesn't work out for a variety of reasons. That's why I want to switch to a more active role in combat without breaking the game. I won't play some characters like the Summoner. I'm pretty sure my GM couldn't handle an optimized Eidolon. Not without cheating, anyway. But I don't want to push it that far. I just want to have fun with everyone. And as things stand now, I don't think that's going to happen if I don't change something drastically.
Forgot that part on true strike ^^
No worries :)
First of all: This is for Core + APG ONLY!!!! No UM or UC or other content available! Also no traits (unless bought by feat). 20pt buy.
How about keeping your wizard but making him more blast-friendly ? Or, if you're annoyed at your GM's luck with dice, just go ray-specced. No saves means you're the one throwing the dice. At level 5, you could have some fun with scorching ray. And at level 7, don't forget to pick enervation ;)
I don't think blasting with a controller works very well. I could however rebuild her as an admixture specialist and still do some serious controlling. That might be not the worst idea. It's still not easy with the limited ruleset. No varisian tattoo or spell specialization for fireball really hurts.
With 15 pt buy - the Control wizard in our group is AMAZINGLY effective.
That being said, at level 5 he has 20 int, and both SF+GSF(Conj). He also uses only CORE spells, so you've got a leg up on him. Do you have those feats?? If not - just get them.
Secondly - make sure you have the right knowledges to know what to use on a monster. You should have spells that all target different saving throws. Fighting undead? Reflex saves! (Grease is the iconic spell for our god wizard). Fighting brute fighter? Will saves! (glitterdust is amazing). Find a low level spell that targets Fort and you're golden. Who cares if your GM rolls a 15 when the DC of a level 2 spell is 19, and the enemy only has +3?
Keep your wizard. It only gets better.
I don't think blasting with a controller works very well. I could however rebuild her as an admixture specialist and still do some serious controlling. That might be not the worst idea. It's still not easy with the limited ruleset. No varisian tattoo or spell specialization for fireball really hurts.
This is what I'd recommend. It sounds to me like you Want to play a Wizard with control spells at your disposal, but your group is making that difficult. Their attitude that the Wizard should be the primary damage dealer is misguided at best, but you can still work with that.
No Spell Specialization and no cross-blooded sorcerer archetype are unfortunate, but you can still get some mileage out of blasting by switching to an admixture evoker and perhaps dipping 1 level as a draconic or primal elemental sorcerer to get a +1 damage per die. Its not as good as it could be, but considering your group's complete ineptitude with dealing damage (a small elemental? really?...jeez, I feel for ya), that's probably actually for the best. If you optimize for damage too much, you'll just take the spotlight from a group like this...even as a blaster, and force the GM to adjust APL and enemy tactics to offset your character.
So considering your group, I think blasting as a controller could be exactly what you need. It'll let you contribute directly to killing the enemy, and let you keep all the tools to shape the battle as you see fit by using BFC, buffs, SoS, etc. as appropriate. Battlefield control, in and of itself, isn't really very useful if you aren't in a party capable of taking advantage (as you've observed). If they can't do damage, unfortunately, you'll need to. Fortunately, using BFC to set yourself up to blast, could still be worthwhile. Its something that BFC is actually pretty good at. Set up a designated blast zone in front of your melee group and funnel the enemy into it, then go to town.
As for specifics, IMO,your first purchase should be a wand of scorching ray. If you can get it for half price via craft wand or arcane bond (wand), all the better. Having a virtual at-will 4d6 ranged direct damage option will go a long way, and allow you to use your spell slots for other things. Sprinkle some blasts in with your memorizations (especially stuff like flaming sphere and later aqueous orb/ball lightning when you get them, that last for multiple rounds). I'd also suggest getting preferred spell asap, and using it for either fireball/blast of choice -or- your debuff/BFC of choice. In the first case, you'd memorize utility and God spells, but always have a good blast ready. In the second, you'd memorize more blasts and be able to sacrifice them for your big buff/debuff (i.e. Haste/Slow?) as needed. Same difference really.
Otherwise, summoning is going to be the most efficient way you can contribute to damage over the course of a combat. Especially when you combine it with Haste (summon before buffing). You should probably continue to pursue that, especially as it sounds like you maybe could use another front liner. (Nothing's better than an expendable front liner, after all.) Then once you've got the summons out, got your buffs up, and gotten the battlefield shaped the way to need it to funnel enemies into the kill zone, you can use your remaining rounds to either finish guys off directly with blasts, use debuffs on particularly dangerous foes, or use more BFC if the situation changes and you need it.
Ultimately, though, your GM is really going to have to give you some more freedom w/r/t spell acquisition. The wizard is ALL ABOUT his toolkit. If they're going to continue to restrict you to a whopping 3 new spells per couple of months / couple of levels, you're just going to be a crappy sorcerer. That's just an unreasonable neutering of the class and IMO you'd be better off not playing a Wizard at all if it keeps up.
@Adamantine Dragon: 14 Dex is decent, yes. And a +7 attack to a crossbow is also quite good. But I don't think casting cat's grace on my wizard is worth the spell slot. I still suffer penalties after the first round of combat when everyone is in melee. And that first round is the best for using crowd control (glitterdust, create pit or whatever) before things get more chaotic. I can't see me wasting that opportunity just so I can - maybe - deal 1d8 damage. Thanks for the suggestion, though :)
Cat's grace is long enough lasting that you can cast it before combat if you have some idea that combat is about to occur. In my parties we rely heavily on reconnaissance specifically to allow our buffers to prepare for combat. Sure, when you are surprised, you are surprised, but your party should actually have some control over when and where you enter combat.
Wow, thanks for the posts, everyone! :)
One thing I want to say: My GM doesn't hate Wizards (yet :P ) or something. We are all relatively new to Pathfinder and I'm by far the one investing the most time. Also, we are playing an AP and he's mostly a by-the-book kind of guy, so the lacking loot so far is not really his fault. I didn't mention the AP before to avoid spoilers. Anyway, I think my GM didn't know how limiting such a small number of spells is for a Wizard. And as I said, he should be aware by now and will hopefully increase the 3 spells to like a dozen or something.
Right now I'm trying to come up with a good way to re-build her as admixture, aiming for preferred spell and spell perfection (fireball). Would work better if I had access to greater spell specialization. The fact that we play without traits hurts, too. If I want Magical Lineage for fireball, I'd have to take additional traits. Might be worth the investment if my GM allows Lore Seeker. +1 DC and caster level to 3 spells seems like a good deal for a blaster.
I'll probably switch my opposed schools. I'll stick with enchantment as those spells are simply not my syle. But taking Divination instead of Necromancy might be a good idea.
How does that look:
Elven Admixture Evoker 5 (stats without equipment)
Scorpion Familiar
Opposed School: Enchantment, Divination
STR 7 DEX 14 CON 12 INT 21 WIS 10 CHA 10 (20 pt buy, GM allowed only one stat below 9)
1 Improved Initiative, [Scribe Scroll]
3 Craft Wondrous Item
5 Highten Spell, Preferred Spell (Fireball)
7 Extra Traits: Magical Lineage and if possible Lore seeker. If not, either Warrior of Old or Resilient
9 Dazing Spell
10 Intensified Spell
11 Spellfocus Evocation
13 Quicken Spell
15 Spell Perfection (Fireball)
Not sure if Spell Focus or Spell Penetration is better. I'd also like to include persistent or maybe reach spell in there somewhere but I'm pretty much out of feats. Any suggestions for improvements?
Anyway, I think my GM didn't know how limiting such a small number of spells is for a Wizard. And as I said, he should be aware by now and will hopefully increase the 3 spells to like a dozen or something.
Hopefully. Sounds like he's at least willing to work with you. If that's the case, it should work out okay.
Right now I'm trying to come up with a good way to re-build her as admixture, aiming for preferred spell and spell perfection (fireball). Would work better if I had access to greater spell specialization. The fact that we play without traits hurts, too. If I want Magical Lineage for fireball, I'd have to take additional traits. Might be worth the investment if my GM allows Lore Seeker. +1 DC and caster level to 3 spells seems like a good deal for a blaster.
I wouldn't worry too much about optimization in a group of non-optimizers. Its actually more harmful to the group dynamic than almost anything else if one character is just "better" than the rest (another reason to avoid a Summoner). As long as you're "reasonably optimized", it should work out well. That said, those two traits (or ML plus one of the alternates you posited below should Lore Seeker not fly) are certainly worth a feat IMO. Magical Lineage would be borderline worth it by itself in many builds.
I'll probably switch my opposed schools. I'll stick with enchantment as those spells are simply not my style. But taking Divination instead of Necromancy might be a good idea.
How does that look:
It probably it a good idea. Divinations is usually a safe bet for an opposition school. Aside from read magic/detect magic, you'll usually have downtime when you need normal divinations, so using the 2 slots is less of a hindrance. IMO, the build itself looks good.
Not sure if Spell Focus or Spell Penetration is better. I'd also like to include persistent or maybe reach spell in there somewhere but I'm pretty much out of feats. Any suggestions for improvements?
SF vs. SP will depend on the types of enemies you tend to face (especially later on), and whether they have SR or not. It is kind nice that with the Elf bonus, plus double the SP bonus (from spell perfection), your signature spell will blow through just about any SR like it wasn't there.
You can always just use rods for the metamagics you don't have room for. They're quite cheap for lesser rods. I'd also suggest getting some empower and/or maximize rods while your at it for your lower level blasts like fireball.
Honestly, given the low wealth, it sounds like playing a god wizard is already the best option you could have chosen, and the issue is mostly the other PCs and thus beyond your control.
I would stick to your character and try other spells, or switch to summoner.
@StreamOfTheSky: It's not low wealth. Overall I think we are WAY beyond WPL. It's just not been useful for me so far. No real Wizard items and no chance to shop. I hope things get better from here on.
@bfobar: Yeah, I might still switch up the Meta magic a bit. But overall I'm quite pleased with the build :)
Now I just need to craft/buy my equipment. I got Craft Wondrous Item, about 10.000 gold and enough spellcraft to craft anything within my price range. The only item I got so far is a cloak of resistance +1. Well, technically I got 2 other items but I'll sell both to reach the 10k. Neither of the items was good.
I'll reserve 2k gp for additional spells. Depending on how many spells my GM allows me to get cheap, I might get a bit out of that, but I'm rather save than sorry.
A +int headband is of course my first pick. Though I'm not sure which skill bonus I should choose. I got maxed Spellcraft and Perception, 2 ranks in Linguistics and the 5 monster identify skills at max (dungeoneering is 2 ranks behind because of linguistics). I think Escape Artist might be a good idea if I'm giving up the teleportation school. Stealth, UMD or Acrobatics might come in handy, too. Suggestions?
Other than the headband, I'm not sure what to pick. One or Two level 1 pearls, most likely. Maybe a lesser selective rod for fireball? A +dex belt? Or a +con belt? Could also upgrade the cloak to +2. Until now I've not been in danger much, so I don't think I'll need AC-items yet.
Which AP?
We are playing Legacy of Fire. Please avoid any spoilers! But from the things our GM has hinted at, admixture seems like pretty much required to do any blasing there. Too many of the useful blast spells are fire based and the AP so far doesn't look like we'll fight an army of ice elementals anytime soon.
I don't like using wands for anything higher than first level spells like CLW. They are simply not cost effective. If I invest the gold for the CL 3 magic missile wand into crafted Pearls of Power, I can already cast 4 additional CL 5 magic missiles per day. The pearls also have more versatility, since I could use them for other spells or even give them to the cleric if the situation calls for it. And they don't run out of charges. Ever.
In general, I'm very stingy when it comes to items with limited charges. Most of the time I'll do anything to make do without using them just in case I need them desperately at a later time. That's probably stupid, but I really have to force myself to use anything beyond the cheapest scrolls and potions. If I were to buy such a wand, I'd probably have charge left when we finish the AP ^^'
I will buy a few alchemist's fire and maybe a tanglefood bag or two. Those are cheap and should come in handy.
The crossbow ranger is the character of our GM's wife. She isn't exactly knowledgeable about the rules. Everyone on the table knows her character better than she does. That's why our GM build her character. He does know the rules overall but his character builds are ... lacking. A ranger dealing 1d10 damage at level 4 is just sad. But I've given up on convincing him to change the build. Hopefully, her level 5 and 6 skills will be Deadly Aim and Crossbow Mastery so she finally starts dealing more damage than her own 2 HD animal companion.
I don't think anyone in the group has stuff like Cold Iron Weapons. Well, actually my wizard has a cold iron and a silver dagger since level 1 "just in case". I'll never use them myself but in an emergency I can hand them to the melee guys. The GM also asked us to do the shopping for his wife and I'll make sure to buy her plenty of Cold Iron and Alchemical Siver bolts.
20 hours to go and I still need to buy equpiment. Oh, and getting a good night's rest would be good too, I guess ^^
|
|
Ah, Legacy of Fire. Good times (at least, my game was for me, but then I was GMing).
Just finished up Chapter 1, right? I'd definitely stick to God-Wizard, then. The next few chapters have a lot more enemies that will respond well to that style of play than the first one did.
You will absolutely want Crafting Feats though, maybe not personally but in the party. A large portion of the AP will continue to follow the pattern you've seen thus far regarding a lack of times or places to shop.
|
eldritch knight > magus. i would just take what you have so far, add in a level of ranger, fighter, or if you're LG, paladin then go eldritch knight for archery gewdness.
by 20th, assuming this isnt PFS you should be able to keep respectable physical damage with your extra combat feats and higher bab, while still having the awesomeness of god wizard spells.
@TheSideKick: I can see the appeal of the EK but it's just not for me. Not in this party and especially not for my cute-yet-fragile little Elaina ;)
@Deadmanwalking: Oh, I'll keep playing a god wizard, but I will still switch to admixture. My conjurer build didn't really have many things screaming "God Wizard!!!". I basically only had Augment Summoning. Yes, and SF Conjuraton of course but the greater version never seemed worth the investment. The higher conjuration spells mostly seem to work without a save (summoning spell, teleportation spells, walls and so on).
In fact, my old build lacked any kind of focus whatsoever. I don't see much use for meta magic, preferred spell or even spell perfection for a conjurer. I could never come up with good spells to apply those things to. I'd have ended up taking "filler" feats like toughness and maybe breadth of experience. I even thought about going loremaster because taking a skill focus doesn't seem so bad if you don't have much better things to do with your feats. It's a bit sad by hindsight...
So yeah, I fully expect to keep playing my character pretty much as planned. With maybe the addition of a few more blasts here and there. As secondary focus, one could say. And I've finally something useful to do with all those feats. Who'd have guessed a blaster build of all things could rekindle my love for the wizard? :)