Finally got the chance to play this character! We’re starting at level 1, so I still a bit of ways to before fireball and such, but even now it’s a pretty fun character. …partly thanks to a few homebrew rules.
Wizards may take Spell Focus or metamagic feat in place of Scribe Scroll.
Feat Eliminations
Preferred Spell – Eliminated due to redundancy and prereq complications
Heighten Spell – If you prepare a spell in a higher level slot, it is treated as a higher level spell.
Feat Revisions
Greater Spell Specialization – Prerequisites: Int 13, Spell Focus, Spell Specialization, Spellcraft 5 ranks
Benefit: By sacrificing a prepared spell or spell slot of the same or higher level than your specialized spell, you may spontaneously cast your specialized spell. You can apply any metamagic feats you possess to this spell when you cast it. This increases the minimum level of the prepared spell or spell slot you must sacrifice in order to cast it but does not affect the casting time.
So, given these rules, I revised my build a bit:
Wizard: Spell Focus (Evocation) (and Alertness)
Level 1: Spell Specialization
(Burning Hands levels 1 through 3; Scorching Ray 4-5; Fireball 6+)
Level 3: Greater Spell Focus (Evocation)
Level 5: Greater Spell Specialization
Bonus 5: Rime Spell
Level 7: Spell Penetration
Level 9: Dazing Spell
Bonus 10: Selective Spell
Level 11: Quicken Spell
Level 13: Intensified Spell
Level 15: Spell Perfection (Fireball)
Bonus 15: Focused Spell
Level 17: Greater Spell Penetration
Level 19: Empower Spell
Bonus 20: Lingering Spell
May vary slightly as the campaign progresses, but there you have it.
So at level 1, I was able to burning hands for 3d4+1 damage; not bad.(+2d4 from spell specialization, +1 for being an evoker) We had another fight where our enemies were 100ft+ away, so I pulled out my longbow and somehow managed to crit, dealing 15 damage.
Not exactly great for heading down the path of “God” wizard-ness, but eh, you take what you can get at first level. ~.~
AFAIK, I wrote up the original dazing wizard build as its something I've played in multiple cheese grinder competitions.
To my knowledge, It has been ruled that wayang and magical lineage do not stack; I am not aware of anyone ruling on the heighten question.
There are a few builds that can use the same principles effectively.
Spellslinger, with the +5 to DC can make an impossibly good dazing wizard.
Druids not so much, but I do enjoy a dazing flameblade.
Dazing fire arrows (or rime icearrows.. also very effective.
AFAIK, I wrote up the original dazing wizard build as its something I've played in multiple cheese grinder competitions.
To my knowledge, It has been ruled that wayang and magical lineage do not stack; I am not aware of anyone ruling on the heighten question.
There are a few builds that can use the same principles effectively.
Spellslinger, with the +5 to DC can make an impossibly good dazing wizard.
Druids not so much, but I do enjoy a dazing flameblade.
Dazing fire arrows (or rime icearrows.. also very effective.
Thanks for the info; I know I'm not the first to recognize the power of dazing, but I wanted a build that applied dazing (and rime) effectively, consistently, and perhaps even stylishly with sweet balls of fire. (or ice, or...)
My GM shut down wayang and magical lineage stacking. I agreed happily. Magical lineage on its own is pretty cool; but combined with wayang? Just cheesy in a way that would make me sad as an optimizer; I want my builds to have solid, reliable power, not ridiculous unparalleled power.
Well, I'm very confident on the RAI on heighten spell, (a heightened dazing fireball in a 7th level slot should be treated as a 4th level spell) but RAW is iffy. Our group as a whole decided to just skip heighten entirely and eliminate the feat; if you use a higher level slot, it's treated as a higher level spell. Metamagic doesn't count towards raising spell level. :P
Very interesting note on the spellslinger, if your goal is to without fail get your target dazed, but not exactly my cup of tea, since you'd skip all the evoker/admixture powers, (no Rime fireball) lose your bonus spell slots, 4 opposition schools instead of 2, lose scribe scroll, (or in my homebrew case, spell focus) and lose cantrips.
I contest that there are more ways to achieve what you want, and better.
For instance, take the Exploiter. Also, there is an Elf variant in Inner Sea Races that gets spell focus for free, at the cost of Elven Magic and Weapon Familiarity though. Scribe Scroll is too good to pass up, for real there is a lot of nonsense that a wizard can manage with this feat alone that can destroy the plans of any DM as it gives you the flexibility to prepare what you want, and the ability to have more spells per day than normal.
Stats: Swap STR and CHA
Favored Class: buy in more uses of Admixture
Wizard: Scribe Scroll
Elf: Spell Focus (Evocation)
Level 1: Spell Specialization
(Burning Hands levels 1 through 3; Scorching Ray 4-5; Fireball 6+)
Exploit: School Understanding (Admixture)
Level 3: Extra Arcanist Exploit (Dimensional Slide)
Level 5: Greater Spell Specialization
Bonus 5: Rime Spell
Exploit 5: Familiar
Level 7: Spell Penetration
Level 9: Dazing Spell
Exploit 9: Metamagic Knowledge (Intensified Spell)
Bonus 10: Selective Spell
Level 11: Quicken Spell
Level 13: Greater Spell Focus (Evocation)
Exploit 13: Counterspell
Level 15: Spell Perfection (Fireball)
Bonus 15: Focused Spell
Level 17: Greater Spell Penetration
Exploit 17: Quick Study?
Level 19: Empower Spell
Bonus 20: Lingering Spell
There are also a lot of really good Arcane Discoveries to look at. Plus other great feats. Cypher Script helps with spellbook costs. Fast Study turns prep time into a non issue. Split Slot can give you more spells.