Hey all,
Im creating a level 1 Elven Wizard that will likely go all the way to 20. Its a 15 point buy, and my bond is with a familiar.
My beginning stats are as follows
STR 7, DEX 15, CON 11, INT 20, WIS 10, CHA 7.
Im Making a specilist (conjuration) with a sub-school in teleportation.
My opposition schools (necromancy, and enchantmant)
My traits are
Deft Dodger ( ini bonus )
Magical Lineage? Not really sure what spell other than fireball, Magic missile, or dispel magic
or focused mind (+2 concentration checks)
Im trying to decide on my feat list for my wizard.
These are some feats I think are awesome or pretty necessary
Augment summoning and the pre-req.
Toughness at some low level (hp = win)
Improved Initiative
Inscribe Magical tattoo<--- slotless items are win. (will take this for sure. role-playing etc...)
I want my focus to be on battle field control. Blast spells can be fun, but i prefer using spells that will using metamagic feats like Rime, Disruptive, Dazing, Persistant, and or Quickening. I know Rods can help with this as well.
Can someone assist by recommending suggested feats that would more or less fit these reqs? or something you found to be highly effective for your own character? ive been reading suggestions but it seems your feat list must be custom tailored to a specific spell, and im nervous of making a decision that i later on will regret :/
Thanks to all who contriubute to this post before hand. :)
Anyone?
Some ideas from me, and I'm sure you'll get lots of them here soon.
feats: augment summoning is great for a conjurer. But, imo summoning doesn't really start to shine(for combat) till you hit the 3rd level ones. That feat could prob wait till L5 or so. Improved initiative is considered by some to be the ONLY necessary feat for wizards. I suggest: spell focus and greater version if you are going to concentrate on conjuration spells, lots of great spells there, and many of them give saves.
spells: consider dropping evocation as an opposition school, conjuration can deal a useful amount of damage while dropping control spells.
traits: the bonus to concentration is pretty difficult to get anywhere else. I also like traits that give access to a new class skill you wouldn't otherwise have. Do you need to take a campaign trait?
Hope this helps.
The other feat a Wizard has to take is (besides Improved Init) Fast Study. You leave spell slots open and spend 1-15 minutes getting what you need.
As an Elf you can drop the weapon fams and pick up a +2 to concentration. I would add this to the Focused Mind trait, and would still consider Combat Casting.
Blope
Awesome suggestions, but im not sure im ready to give up fireball dragons breath and magic missile for double spell slots with meta magic feats like toppling, rime and disruptive. The trait im taking is Scholar of the Ancients. Rise of the runelords campaign.
+1 knowledge to arcana and history and i get to speak, read and write thassilonian to start.
Jodokai
Fast study is a MUST although i didnt think of the not taking up the spell slot to immeadiately learn the spell, thanks for the added idea!
I am also taking the alternate racial trait for dropping weapon fam, for the concentration check already, still a great suggestion.
Melissa
Totally agree, but i cant seem to decide! Ive seen what toppling magic missle can do, it was a sorc gimmick from one of our previous playthroughs. but i have yet to see the fireball gimmick. Id just like to see other practical uses of spell perfection maybe with magical lineage added in for extra metamagic feat goodness, not to mention which feat should i learn and which should i have in a rod.... SO MANY CHOICES AND IM NOT EVEN LEVEL 1!
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I'm not a fan of the stats, I'll say it right away. I know it's a 15 point-buy, so you don't have a lot of leeway, but two dump stats for a +5 is not good business. I'm especially not a fan of the 11 constitution.
My suggestions:
Str 8, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 8
Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 8
Str 9, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 19, Wis 10, Cha 7
Making your first feat Toughness will contribute to your surviving to second level; Augment Summoning is also very good for a conjurer, but it can wait until level 5 (you can pick up both Spell Focus and Augment at that level).
Inscribe Magical Tattoo is not optimal, but if you are going to pick it up, I would recommend level 7 or 9.
I would go as follows:
1 Scribe Scroll, Toughness
2
3 Craft Wondrous Item
4
5 Augment Summoning, Spell Focus (Conjuration)
6
7 Improved Initiative
8
9 Inscribe Magical Tattoo
10 Quicken Spell
Good luck with your wizard!
Melissa thanks again!
Some great suggestions as far as how to apply metamagic feats to fireball or MM, but i was hoping if anyone knew of any other spells besides those two? or even as high as a 6th level spell that i can perfect and possibly get rods for?
Mergy
I can see your concern with my stat points and youve made some good suggestions, I especially like the 3rd option, but all the research ive done, as well as just looking at how to increase DCs of my spells just screams get your int higher than anything else! As far as inscribe Magical tattoo not being optimal, our DM allows all magic items that are listed in the CRB to be available, that doesnt say anything about sleeazy tattoo artists that are also mages... hence im not only giving myself some RP, but also making sure that i can add my tattoos as well.
I also think that the craft skill should come a little later, and fast study isnt there at all. As Jodokai pointed out, it really makes up for those situational tihngs that you come across and werent prepared for. Until you start writing a crap ton of scrolls that is :)
Alrighty so here goes... im thinking this might be more like what my feat list may look like
1- scribe scroll / toughness or acadamae graduate
3- Imp. Initiative or toughness
5- Inscribe tattoo ; Fast Study or spell focus conjuration
7- Imp Familiar because extra turns are awesome
9- Superior conjuration or augment summoning or spell focus conjuration
10-quicken spell or some other meta magic feat?
11- Superior conjuration or augment summoning?
13- Meta Magic Feat
15- Spell Perfection; meta magic feat
17-???
19-???
20-???
I'm really pretty surprised more people aren't all over Fast Study. In my mind this is the only reason to play a Wizard over a Sorcerer. Unless you're a phenomenal guesser a Wizard ends up wasting a lot of spell slots. With this feat you really are much more versatile. It obviously isn't combat useful, but when a combat is over and you realize you don't have anymore Fireballs, I'm sure it will take the party over a minute to loot the bodies while you memorize another one. Need the key high up the cave wall? Give me a minute while I memorize Spider Climb. It's crazy what you can do. Will it help in combat? Nope, but if you know you have to enter a Fire Giant lair, it's a lot easier to take a minute to memorize Cone of Cold, instead of being bummed that all you have is fireball.
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I'm really pretty surprised more people aren't all over Fast Study. In my mind this is the only reason to play a Wizard over a Sorcerer. Unless you're a phenomenal guesser a Wizard ends up wasting a lot of spell slots. With this feat you really are much more versatile. It obviously isn't combat useful, but when a combat is over and you realize you don't have anymore Fireballs, I'm sure it will take the party over a minute to loot the bodies while you memorize another one. Need the key high up the cave wall? Give me a minute while I memorize Spider Climb. It's crazy what you can do. Will it help in combat? Nope, but if you know you have to enter a Fire Giant lair, it's a lot easier to take a minute to memorize Cone of Cold, instead of being bummed that all you have is fireball.
You can do that anyway, it just takes longer. If the party is willing to wait one minute, there are only a few cases where they might object to waiting a little longer, especially if you're going to give them the solution to a problem.
Fast Study doesn't give you the ability, it just makes it... faster.
I don't think I'm going to give up fast study. Its really good and my dm isn't the type to wait for a whole 15 minutes as opposed to 1. Any other advice?
Yea... fleet not so much. Too many other options and not enough points to expend for something like fleet.
Anyone with any other ideas or suggestions for the feat list?
Hey boring thanks
As far as time management for my craft feat I plan on using a ring of sustenance tattood on my finger to make sure I have 6 hours every day for crafting. That way no gm fiat as far as crafting concerned. Plus magical tattoo I don't need a heat source, where as I do believe you need one for craft wondrous item, which I believe my dm wouldn't let me do it as easily.
I noticed the same thing with improved initiative, every wizard says take it, but I can't see why I need it when I'm already starting with a plus 6 to my initiative. Dex mod plus my fam. I have definantely thought of combat casting but with my shift ability that starts at level 1, couldn't I just shift out and then cast my spells after? Idk. I know that I'm going to get cornered at one point or another, but I'm hoping that with my main casting stat being so high from get go it'll help with situations like that.
I'm also noticing that you don't seem to like the schools I choose for opposition. I've also heard of people picking abjuration and others insead. The onlu thing is I plan on probably casting mage armor everyday(although I could just buy a wand), as well as shield, ( could just make tattoos or scrolls.) Any other schools that you think I should replace as my opposition schools? Thanks again!
@Boring: Yeah, you only get one swift action per turn.
@sleeping dragon, Improved Initiative is pretty much a most because it's a feat pretty much every monster has. You say you have a +6, but it's easy to get a +10 or higher depending on class/whatever
you want to start things off so you can cast something in the lines of quickened black tentacles + cloudkill on a room full of bad guys (maybe wall of force next turn to lock them in?)
Also, I agree with boring in the sense that summoning become important with your opposed schools. Additionally, combat maneuver spells (Black Tentacles and Telekinesis mostly, hydraulic push if you're into bullrushing) let you don stuff usually reserved for martial classes rather effectively.
2 wizards can fling spells at each other all day, but grappling one with telekinesis takes care of a lot of issues
PS: as far as damage-dealing, 1d6/level spells are concerned, Intensified spell is probably the best thing you can take.
Magical Lineage Shocking Grasp = 10d6 touch for a level 1 spell slot. Mmmm spell economy.
I'm sorry where were we?
Adriel:
I think we mentioned Dazing spell already. It's probably one of the best metamagic feats...Though it brings forth an interesting choice. I feel one of the feat's big strengths is that it came make the dazing save change on the spell. For Example, a Dazing Magic Missile allows a will save to avoid the effect (So rogues get screwed). Dazing Fireball will keep wizards and fighters at bay, while Dazing...some fort spell will screw up...something with weak fort and will
Point is, One of the benefits of dazing spell is that you can use it to target one of 2 saves, whichever one is your opponent's weak one.
However, because wizards don't get to pick metamagic on the spot (barring some archetype/class ability mumbo jumbo...Metamagic Adept via Improved Eldritch Heritage?), it becomes more of a guessing game, where money is usually on targetting will (which is the bad save for most monsters)
Anyway sleeping dragon, bottom line advice:
- Item Crafting is good, keep track of time spent crafting and make sure your party doesn't start expecting you to be making stuff for them all the time (Nothing more annoying than having a cool trick, then getting delegated to party buffbot because of it)
- Summoning is good. You're already conjuring stuff so go for it.
- Dazing Spell and Spell Perfection are godly for battlefield control.
^+1
If there is a situation where you're like "Oh man, I could REALLY go for X spell right now" chances are it will fall under 2 categories:
1) You're in combat
2) It's a spell you could easily take care of with a wand or scroll.
Scenario 1 doesn't benefit from Fast Study
Scenario 2 shows why you wouldn't need it in the first place
I'm not bashing Fast Study, but it's not so crazy awesome people would be all over it.
If anything, the wizard should leave a couple spell slots open so he can inscribe scrolls of whatever they THINK they might need in the near future for later at the end of the day
And going back to my advice from before, with Arcane Discoveries, you can negate 1 opposition school with Opposition Research. It's not until 9th level but it is a nice option.
With Fast Study, it's basically a "I can have any utility spell anytime I need it" feat.
@Jodokai
Conveniently, That's when you can learn waves of fatigue...and you can also get everyone's favorite debuff: Enervation
Couple of things here
Boring
I really liked where you were going with the benefits and cons to each school, but I will say that I didn't think you thought I made bad choices just maybe not ideal ones. Wizards are pretty hard to make a bad choice. :p I will say that if the necromancy school is one of the best ways of dealing with undead I may want it back, seeing as we will be dealing with undead in our campaign. Rise of the runelords. Although that may be very well taken care of by opposition research necromany after 9th level, but by then. I don't feel undead will be popping in as often as other things might. Plus this is all guesswork, and no spoilers please! :)
Zolthux
I see what you are saying as far as the importance of imp initiative, but I don't see where I really have the room, and I still feel as though toughness is important with my lowly d6 health. Although I'm thinking I'm going to be reworking my stats more to something like str 9 dex 14 con 12 int 19 wis 10 cha 7, so that I benefit from the added fort save and hp earlier on. I will say I didn't catch exactly what you were trying to say about opposition schools and agreeing with boring. Also I see the shocking grasp effectiveness, but it requires me to be in melee range something I'm loathe to do with this very frail character. It may be more beneficial at later levels but at earlier ones I may go lights out.
Adriel
I really don't have the extra trait for hedge magician, especially because I'm already going to be taking magical lineage instead for metamagic purposes. Also I'm not sure if magic missle is a ref save or not, I could have sworn it was instant hit with no save. Also I've very much been considering the flaming sphere in conjuction with pit traps idea. Something about making my enemies fall into a pit, and then just dropping a ball of fire on them with no escape sounds... awesome.
So to accurately display my choices thus far
1- scribe, and academae grad
3-spell focus(conj)
5- inscribe tat, augment summoning
7-imp familiar
9-opposition research (nec?)
10- quicken meta
11-toughness? Imp ini.? Superior summ?
13-meta daze?
15-meta rime? , spell perfection
17-???
19-???
20-???
So many people take toughness for their squishy builds. The logic appears to be "I'm too squishy, so I need to beef up a bit."
I've never understood that logic. You're squishy, taking damage is not your thing. Taking toughness makes you slightly less squishy at the cost of a feat that makes you better at magic stuff, which is your thing. Even the PF version of toughness won't scale with the damage you'll be taking at higher levels, so it eventually becomes a wasted feat, imho.
Leaving a spell slot or two open for flexibility is a fantastic strategic move that far too many spellcasters ignore. However, I'm not a fan of "fast study" because 99% if the time there is no significant difference in 1 minute and 1 hour when not actually in combat. Sure there are times when being able to memorize a spell quickly comes in handy, but those situations have never been common enough in my experience to justify the cost.
I tend to avoid the "OMG you GOTTA HAVE XXXXX" feats since I'd rather rely on my wits than relying on the feats all the power gamers take. But that's just me.
I am one of those who feels that the only really critical feat for a wizard is improved initiative. Boost your initiative up as much as you can. That's why I'd boost dex over con too. Going first for wizards is the single most important thing you can do.
I was giving an example with shocking grasp. Intensified Spell is good for spell economy.
The rule of thumb seems to be that d6/lv damage spells scale up by increasing the cap by 5 for every 2 spell levels
Example: Fireball (Lv3) has a damage cap of 10d6. cone of Cold (Lv5) has a 15d6 damage cap. Dragon's Breath (lv4) has a 12d6, so it's in the middle.
Meanwhile, an Intensified Fireball (Lv4) has a damage cap of 15d6. A Magical Lineage'd Intensified fireball at level 15 hits for 15d6 with a level 3 spell slot (!)
What's I'm saying is, Magical Lineage and Intensified Spells beg to be abused together.
As for toughness. I'd like to encourage you to optimize survivability. After all, you can't rely on your tank to always take the hits, or the healer to always heal you, or the X'er to always X.
Also, what Adamantine Dragon said.
This is where personal choice comes into play. How much do you value the extra hp that you're willing to let it take priority over other aspects of your character?
You said you want to focus on battlefield control...Maybe you should put blasting a bit further back then? No intensified spell.
On that note, for the purpose of fireball (and pretty much every spell up to level 3), Intensified spell is better than Empower Spell. There I said it.
As for opposition research...it opens up some of the best debuffs (OK, Opens up Enervation :P...And False Life, that's good too, right?)
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IMO, when playing a wizard, you want to play up your potential for versatility. That is, after all, 1 of the 2 major advantages wizards have over a sorcerer (the other obviously being earlier spell access). There are a couple different ways to approach this:
1) Fast Study, as detailed above, can be useful, although personally I fall into the camp arguing its just not worth a feat. It doesn't let you do anything you can't already do, you've already got (and should be using) scribe scroll, and generally speaking, if you can spare 1 minute between combats, you can spare 15. Of course YMMV.
2) Preferred Spell though, is quite simply amazing. The advantage of being able to spontaneously cast your favorite spell whenever you want is HUGE. Now you can memorize all the utility/situational spells you want, and the slots are never wasted again. This also completely mitigates the disadvantage of being forced to allocate one of your slots each level to your specialist school, since you can just sacrifice that spell for your preferred spell. (This is obviously not a biggie for a Conjuration specialist, but for say a Diviner? Yes please.)
You can do something similar with Greater Spell Specialization which can be advantageous if your favorite spell is going to be in a school for which you'll want spell focus anyway, but I usually prefer Preferred Spell because (1) you can get it earlier, (2) it doesn't increase metamagic casting time (edit: either gets around having to actually prepare metamagic'ed versions of your favorite spell), and (3) you can get the feat multiple times to add additional spontaneous spells at the cost of a single additional feat per spell desired. Sure, Heighten Spell (the prereq) wouldn't generally be on the short list of metamagic feats to grab, but it actually synergies pretty well with preferred spell (and later spell perfection) by allowing you to get some benefit (higher save DC, ability to bypass of Globes of Invulnerability, etc.) from sacrificing a higher spell slot than required for your favorite spell.
I'm gonna have trouble ever playing a Wizard without either PS or GSS, unless it was a Transmuter (in which case, just buy annihilation spectacles)...but even then...its just that good to have spontaneous casting ability on a Wizard platform.
To be quite honest improved initiative is more likely to save your life than toughness and it'll help your teammates out as well. When picking your familiar make sure it's either good at scouting or it gives good skill bonuses or initiative bonuses. Personally I like Compsognathus: Master gains a +4 bonus on Initiative checks. If you want to take advantage of the topple spell metamagic feat you could always use magical lineage with magical missile. It's amazing at lower levels as a reliable damage source(never reduced and always hits) and you will eventually get multiple trip attempts as well. Make sure you invest in perception(unless you don't want to perceive anything important) as it is the most rolled skill in the game. Also depending on how much you want to invest in summoning Acadamae Graduate is a fantastic option along side augment summoning, superior summons, spell focus conjuration, etc. Personally I think that scribe scroll is very weak at first level considering how much gold you have to use to make use of it. improved initiative at first level and/or spell focus conjuration. Summons at 1st level aren't that fantastic but conjuration spells themselves are good and you'll need spell focus for augmented summoning sooner or later. Going first is more likely to help you survive than having 3 extra hit points so I suggest improved initiative over toughness. Wait for third level to take scribe scroll when you can actually make good use of it. Also if your DM allows craft wondrous item then take it. You'll be able to take advantage of CWI at around lvl 3-5 so probably make it your 5th level feat alongside augmented summoning.
Personally I think that scribe scroll is very weak at first level considering how much gold you have to use to make use of it...Wait for third level to take scribe scroll when you can actually make good use of it.
Wizards start play with Scribe Scroll at level 1, unles you're playing PFS (where all crafting is banned and you can choose a Spell Focus instead).
Not that I disagree that at level 1 its not all that. Scribing an emergency scroll or 2, is however, one of the first things I'd be likely to spend gold on.
I also agree on II vs. Toughness. They're both solid feats, but if I have to choose only one, Its definitely II. Going first allows you to get out of danger and dictate the flow of the battle. That's an enormous tactical advantage, and only gets more powerful. That 1HP/level is nice, but the value decays over time.
Yea, we aren't playing PFS, and thusly I have scribe scroll automatically, although I could potentially talk my DM out of it for that very same reason, it would screw me out of my magical tattoo as well. Id rather keep the craft. The compsognathus is a solid choice and the familiar im probably going to take if not the greensting scorpion. I think the tiny dinosaur will win though ;). Major benefit of the greensting is that it can deliver spells with a range of touch, for touch attacks but ive heard of other work arounds like spectral hand or metamagic feats like reach that can also do that so still not sure on that front. Now the question is becoming more like where would i fit a feat like preferred spell, which totally goes hand in hand with magical lineage and spell perfection i might add. Heres another look of the feat list thus far
1- scribe, and academae grad
3-spell focus(conj)
5- inscribe tat, augment summoning
7-imp familiar
9-opposition research (nec?)
10- quicken meta
11-Imp ini.? Superior summ? Preferred spell?
13-meta daze?
15-meta rime? , spell perfection
17-???
19-???
20-???
or should I swap something else out? thoughts?
The compsognathus is a solid choice and the familiar im probably going to take if not the greensting scorpion. I think the tiny dinosaur will win though ;). Major benefit of the greensting is that it can deliver spells with a range of touch
Why couldn't the compy deliver touch spells as well as the scorpion (or any other familiar) can? The difference between the 2 is largely flavor/appearance as far as I'm aware.
Also, as good as it is, preferred spell is gonna be even harder to fit in since you'll need heighten to qualify for it as well. IMO its worth it though (even more so if you go with the familiar since you'd lose the only spontaneous casting ability a Wizard otherwise comes with in bonded item). As you said, the synergy with magical lineage and spell perfection is quite juicy.
If it were me, I'd lose Inscribe Tattoo altogether and just RP the tattoo thing. If your spell focus wasn't in conjuration I'd advocate Varisian Tattoo instead if ya wanted to keep a mechanical reflection of that particular character element, but Conj. spells in general don't benefit a whole ton from increased caster level, so...I'd likely stay away from that as well.
In general, I'm not a huge fan of crafting feats, so *shrug* (protip: someone in the party using leadership to make a character with the crafting feats you really want can save several feats as well). Also, improved familiar is great and all, but for that "extra action economy" it gets you, leadership does better, and without costing you the benefits of the vanilla familiars. So if its allowed in your game, Leadership is kinda like a crafting feat bundle plus improved familiar rolled into one. Even if its not allowed, later on you can also burn a spell slot to use the anthropomorphic animal spell every day on your familiar to give it hands with which to use wands if you really want to.
Finally, Opposition Research is very nice, but ideally, I'd prefer to choose my opposed schools such that I don't *need* the discovery, and can instead choose it much later on when it fits in easier. I always like to make Divination opposed (on non-diviners) since in my experience, when you've got the opportunity to cast most divinations, you've also generally got ample time, possibly even days, so using 2 slots on one isn't so bad. If you did that, you wouldn't need opposition research as early (if at all).
All that said, I'd go with something like the following:
1- Scribe Scroll, Improved Initiative
3- Spell Focus (Conjuration)
5- Heighten Spell, Augment Summoning
7- Preferred Spell
9- Leadership
10- Quicken Spell
11- Superior Summoning
13- Dazing Spell
15- Spell Perfection, Academae Grad
After that, you can grab additional Preferred Spells, Opposition Research, True Name, Spell Penetration, etc. Salt to taste.
Ideally, Academae Grad and Superior Summoning would come in MUCH earlier, but there are just so many summoning feats. IMO Academae Grad is nice but I can live without it, at least a while, since you can just get behind cover or turn invisible prior to summoning in order to avoid interruption. Being a teleportation sub-specialist already helps tremendously with that due to the Shift ability.
If leadership isn't an option, your crafting feat of choice or improved familiar can go there; otherwise, you can bump up academae grad and/or superior summoning. Also, you know how I feel about Preferred Spell, but if you can live without it until higher level, and would rather those other feats at lower levels, it can be delayed as well. Wouldn't be my choice, since I value versatility so highly, but its still a solid one for a dedicated summoner.
im looking at it and i see stuff that would be great like you said but alot of it has restrictions for us. let me start. Leadership, is not allowed in our campaign. between traits, my familiar, and my dex bonus my initiative will START at +8, do not get me wrong im not devaluing it in any way, but it seems other things take priority at that point. Then Academae grad is Backstory, im ONLY allowed to do it, before the campaign starts not after. DM says it takes "TIME", and im inclined to agree. so that changes the order a bunch for me. So far i see it as
Also i can in fact just RP the tattoo part, but that would make the inscriptions totally unavailable for the rest of the game, as the GM says "there are no other wizard tattoo artists in this general area". Also inclined to understand the GMs logic.
What i definately do see is maybe doing preferred spell before imp, familiar but im not sure what id lose, some say to take it even earlier than 7th level and then just swap when you reach it, but i think i like just taking at 7th level so i dont have to worry about it for awhile.
1-scribe scroll, academae grad
3-spell focus conj
5-Inscribe tattoo , Augment summoning
7-EITHER Imp Fam, or Preferred spell (fireball?)
9-Imp Fam., or preferred spell (fireball?)
10-opposition Research
11-meta magic (quickened)
13-meta magic (dazing)
15-meta magic (rime?) , Spell perfection (Fireball?)
salt to taste after.
I say fireball? Because I'd like to make my wizard cold oriented. I really like the rime metamagic feat, and the control it offers by entangling not only melee creatures but making it more difficult for casters to cast. all for a +1 i think its pro. Im sure magic missle could work as well, or maybe something scorching ray turned cold, but im not certain how to go about it. so far this is what it looks like.
Your build is very solid and I think you'll be happy with it. Also fireball isn't worth it unless it's empowered and/or maximized.
Well, here's the direction I went with my Half-Orc Conjurer.
1 - Improved Initiative - My dex is relatively low, so I still don't find myself going first. But I do find it important.
3 - Craft Wondrous Item - it's allowed, so duh.
5 - Craft Magic Arms and Armor - Helps party, and I'm going for Constructs anyway...
5 - Craft Rod - No, I guess I don't have an issue giving up all my feats for crafting feats. Craft Rod I see as an extension of all the important metamagic feats (like Extend). I can make all the rods cheaply, and even share them with my friends for the really functional ones. A few rods of lesser extend will really help out my all-caster party. (Magus, Inquisitor, Druid, Ranger)
I'm stuck on my 7th level feat, for the moment.
Tomorrow, I'll give reasons I'm not going for some of the really popular things.
If you're thinking of going with Fireball as a specialty spell, I recommend going all in rather than just dabbling in it.
Here's my take on it:
There's also some comments within that thread suggesting a 1 level dip into crossblooded sorcerer for a bunch of extra damage. I don't like the dip personally, but its hard to argue with the results.
As for a Conjurer build, yours looks very solid. They only thing I'd caution you against is Fireball as a preferred spell. ...if only because you don't have that amazingly handy Admixture ability that an Evoker can get, allowing you to match elements to whatever is most effective. (Fire resist and immunity is quite common, so watch out for that.)
Craft Rod is only available at caster level 9. Also, to make the best use out of it, you need access to a few metamagic feats.
Exactly right on having to be level 9.
However, you don't have to have the metamagic feat in order to craft the rod. It just increases the craft DC of the rod if you don't have the feat. So actually craft rod does a very nice job of replacing much of your need for metamagic feats. (Although if you skip them altogether you don't get Spell Perfection...)
I'd probably try to work in Craft Rod, Heighten Spell, Preferred Spell, Dazing Spell, Quicken Spell, and Spell Perfection into most of my wizard builds. But sometimes you just don't have the room. :/
I am not going all in with fireball only because im not trying to be an all out dps caster, im trying more from control standpoint. Also my DM is allowing Freezing Spell ( metamagic feat) that is really tied into my story line, which will probably replace dazing or quickened. I may just get a rod to do it sooner and still take the other feats, but essentially at no increase to spell level i change an spell with damage and a save to a descriptor of ice, follow that with rime, and you have an instant rime freezing fireball, that entangles, burns, and gives casters harder concentration checks without increasing even the spell slot level due to magical lineage trait + rime. Add the fact that you can make it either quickened or dazing for free... and now you have some serious CC at really high effeciency. On top of that add in thats a level 3 spell. Here comes the rods of intensify for some extra juice. all in all I can't really find another spell like fireball that puts out that much overall for the cost. its highly efficient and scales with level. Althought i have thought of doing the same thing with magic missle... Any other real contenders?
Not really. The crafting rules are pretty explicit that you can bypass basically any requirement in itemcrafting by tacking five onto the spellcraft DC except for the itemcrafting feat itself. Spellcraft DCs aren't usually a problem for a wizard. :)
Good call on the level nine thing, though. Back to the drawing board.
Here are feats I didn't take.
Toughness - My DM does play with a house rule that gives everybody more hit points. Also, I'm not of the opinion that 160 hit points are ultimately that much more than 140 hit points and the hit points can be augmented with spells. I certainly won't criticize you for wanting it, though - life is tough.
Augment Summoning and Academae Graduate - both stellar. I know, because I play a Master Summoner. Because I play a Master Summoner, I was looking for a different trick for this guy
I won't be taking Fast Study - out of combat, 1 minute is no different than 15 for us, for sure.
I probably won't take Improved Familiar - it's amazing, but the familiar I have has really good roleplay value. I might get better roleplay value by gruesomely turning it into an Improved Familiar, though...
I don't know what I'm doing with the rest of my feats, though. I'll almost certainly take Dazing Spell, Quicken Spell, and Spell Perfection, because... you gotta, right? I have no idea what spell to perfect, though. No interest in Fireball or the typical blasting-type spells. I am interested in Rime Spell, but that might just make a better rod. I just need a direction, outside of my desire to craft. Opposition Study is likely, though.
Largely, I guess I agree with the opinion that the only thing you *need* is Improved Initiative. I'm having fun with the suggestions here, though.
Oh, yeah. In addition to constructs, my other desire is binding. So there's a good chance I'll be taking that True Name discovery.
I am not going all in with fireball only because im not trying to be an all out dps caster, im trying more from control standpoint. Also my DM is allowing Freezing Spell ( metamagic feat) that is really tied into my story line, which will probably replace dazing or quickened. I may just get a rod to do it sooner and still take the other feats, but essentially at no increase to spell level i change an spell with damage and a save to a descriptor of ice, follow that with rime, and you have an instant rime freezing fireball, that entangles, burns, and gives casters harder concentration checks without increasing even the spell slot level due to magical lineage trait + rime. Add the fact that you can make it either quickened or dazing for free... and now you have some serious CC at really high effeciency. On top of that add in thats a level 3 spell. Here comes the rods of intensify for some extra juice. all in all I can't really find another spell like fireball that puts out that much overall for the cost. its highly efficient and scales with level. Althought i have thought of doing the same thing with magic missle... Any other real contenders?
My build is not dps oriented either. (Which is why I dislike the sorcerer dip) It's focusing on getting Rime and Dazing on my enemies.
...but it would seem that you can indeed switch types without Admixture. I say go for it then. Preferred Spell fireball is a fine choice with this homebrew Freezing Spell. Rime is great on top of that. Heighten (the prereq) can come in handy. And of course Dazing and Quicked are very nice with Spell Perfection