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Flasks of Acid and Alchemist's Fire.
Tanglefoot Bags.
A Crossbow.
A Guard Dog.
First level Wizards are weak, feeble and impotent creatures. It's the price to pay for being on the road to godhood.
In addition, don't forget that your 0-levels are able to be used an unlimited number of times, all day long, so you can always do something useful and magical even if it's just casting Resistance or Acid Splash.
My first plan is to not run out of spells. It might be boring at times, but not casting just for the sake of casting will make sure the spells are available when you need them.
After that spells such as Acid Splash and daze will be useful.
PS:If you have a GM that lets you rest whenever you want without monsters harrasing you then you probably don't have to worry about resource monitoring as much.
You just have to make your peace with the fact that you have to let your more martially inclined friends to take care of combat.
From my experience this problem goes away around 5th level.
Flasks of Acid and Alchemist's Fire.
Tanglefoot Bags.
You do realize these things are bloody expensive for low-level adventurers, don't you? My 1st level wizard with only a few adventures under his belt has a hard time justifying the expense of a one-shot weapon costing 50 gp. Much better to save up the cash for a wand.
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Crossbows are decent as a way to live through the lower levels.
Many schools also give some sort of energy attacks usable 3+INT times per day; not a lot of damage, but it's something.
Point Blank Shot + Evoker extra damage + Ray of Frost; 1d3+2 Touch isn't much but it's something at least. Only interesting if you're gonna be taking more archery feats (they apply to rays too), particularly Precise Shot. There's some synergy working towards Focused Shot for crossbows, although by the time you can put that many feats into it, you shouldn't be running out of spells anymore.
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Anyway, it's perfectly legitimate not to cast more than a few spells per combat; just enough to give the fighters the edge they need to win the fight without taking a lot of damage themselves. The rest of the time you can play around with bows.
If you're an elf, bows have much better reload times than crossbows, although you may have dumped STR so the damage won't be as good.
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Also consider picking a few cantrips to really annoy enemies with; Ghost Sound makes a LOT of noise, you could use that to improve a rogue's Stealth by making it hard to hear him over the noise you're making. Mage Hand with a knife can't actually attack, but monsters might not know that, and a knife levitating towards your eyes is kinda distracting.
In general with cantrips you can try trading some of your (not too valuable, if you're out of spells) actions for monster actions, though distraction and trickery. The result is that you take some of the pressure off the fighters.
dont forget your 0 level spells dont run out
Daze stays good for a few levels
acid splash should hit 50% of time
you will always be the knowledge and appraise monkey
all schools have something cool you can do 4-8 times per day
your fellow pcs may love you if:
on occasion you can bravely leap in to help flank with an aid another
stand there on full defence and hopefully dont get hit
Daze is an amazing spell for the first two or three levels, by which point you shouldn't be running out very often. A lot of combats at early levels you can just cast daze and the party will be thankful you were there.
So, does anyone have any suggestions / thoughts / ideas on what to do to make sure a wizard has plenty to do at all times?
Thanks :-).
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It doesn't seem to be a huge problem even a 1st lvl wizard can get along in combat, many wizards manage to squeeze out a dex 14, if you have mage armor and fight defensively you have better than average AC for 1st lvl characters. Just use your actions to aid another.
Daze is a great cantrip to have, acid splash, mage hand, detect magic will all have their uses even if not all of those uses are in combat.
School powers help as well but ary widely between schools.
Skills, you got alot of these even if they are just knowledge skills, consider some languages. Depending on the campaign putting some ranks in a craft might not be a bad idea to make some extra money in between adventures.
Scribe scroll allows you to create some extra resources early on once you manage to get a little gold.
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USE SCROLLS!
Can't believe no one thought of this. Basic Wizards get Scribe Scroll as a bonus feat. I know they're expensive but see if your GM will let you spend some of your starting gold on that. Also there's traits that let you start w/A LOT of money. If you can pick one of those AND your GM is willing you might be able to start the game with a wand.
Now I have a guy playing a 1st level wizard in my current campaign, and he's new as well. He's made good use of the following resources, IN and OUT of combat:
1. an owl familiar: he uses said familiar to scout ahead (yes, the owl only sends back emotions but whatever - I'm lenient as a GM, sue me), with mage armor on it it's made one attack and he's got a single flask of alchemist's fire that it might drop on a foe.
2. skills: Free Action knowledge checks, plus Free Action to tell the other PC's about the strengths and weaknesses of the villains/antagonists.
3. scrolls: see above
4. Acid Splash + a flask of acid: all day, every day, 3-5 damage short range magical attack when combined with his point blank shot. Not enough to auto kill on average but enough to lend a hand.
5. use a crossbow: nuff said.
6. toss alchemical items: one of their recent hoards had 3 smokesticks and a sunrod. Instead of selling them as I thought they would the party kept them. The wizard has used the smokesticks and sunrod to great effect to keep mites and ratkin at bay (at least for a round or 2).
Get creative, use ALL resources, and think of your spells more like encounter or daily powers from the OTHER version of this game; your 1st levels are what you hold in the tank until you need to nova on a big elite monster or main villain. The minions get your b-game...
Also, a lot of wizards will take point blank shot at 1st level, and human wizards might even take point blank shot and precise shot (all for use with rays). With a decent Dex, which most wizards should have, firing a crossbow isn't that bad of an idea. You might be attacking at a +3 or so, which isn't great, but it's also not bad against a lot of 1st level enemies.
EDIT: Huh. Imagine that.
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Crossbow/bow depending on race. Otherwise stay out of the way.
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One spell per day and then you could throw 3 darts per round. ;)
Honestly the best way to make your magic work at low levels is to make sure your taking spells that will have some kind of effect over longer times or end combats quickly. Spells like Colour Spray and Enlarge Person rather then say Mage Armour or Magic Missile.
Most of the guides go over this kind of thing but buffs and battlefield control spells make you far more useful of a caster even if you've only for 2-3 real spells per day.
LazarX - lol I remember back in 2nd edition days, one player would cast his only magic missle, then climb the nearest tree and hide till the fight was over. good times
The 1d3 for level 0 Spells is just the base.
Add a alchemical power component for +1 (the power component isn't used up).
And remember that ray spells are buffed like weapons, so if you have a bard singing that's another damage buff.
Point blank shot works as well with the ray spells.
The evocation school power Intense Spells works, too.
In the end the damage cantrips (especially the rays) do a similar damage as a crossbow, as they hit more often.
Lots of good advice, but if you roll up a "standard" wizard, or much worse, a min-maxed one, you will find that your crossbow or even your acid splash is not hitting very frequently.
Most of my wizards have dex as their secondary stat for that reason, and they invest in a masterwork crossbow (or, if they have racial or other ways to gain proficiency, a shortbow).
A dex of 14 and a masterwork bow will give you a +3 on your ranged attacks, meaning you'll hit (and/or confirm criticals) 15% more frequently. A dex of 16 will make that a +4, and with clever use of "guidance" you can make your first attack a +5.
Shooting or throwing into melee though is a major problem since you will be penalized both for shooting into melee and for your opponents having cover, so once the party enters melee, it's nice to have other ways to contribute to the attack without being too much at risk yourself. One way to do that is to carry a longspear and attempt to "aid another" from behind the lines to give your fighter a +2 boost to their attack or AC. For most wizards this will be an iffy proposition since you won't have spear proficiency, but it's still something and will gain the respect of your melee buddies. Plus, when it DOES make a difference, it makes a BIG difference since that fighter is going to do a lot more damage with their 2H greatsword than your little spear would do.
Of course if you want to boost your fighter's chance to hit, you probably get a better damage boost over time if you just hit your fighter with "guidance" every round. But that could be boring.
Stack ranks in "Use Magic Device" and have the party purchase you a "cure light wounds" wand that you can use on wounded party members too.
I've been playing a slow-to-advance game. (been playing for 8 months, got to second level 2 months ago)
My go-to routine has been Daze, and using the Intimidate skill (Shaken is nasty in the early game).
I pull out the real spells when things are particularly bad.
If you are an elf you can use a sword and a bow.
Have you considered playing a witch?
Personally, they may not have as much damage spells, nor specialization, but they ALWAYS have something to do. Evil Eye is a nice debuff, even if they fail their save. Everyone loves Fortune, Misfortune, and Cackle.
Cantrips.
You also get your school bonus. For example a Invoker gets 6 or 7 force missle a day.
I suggest against a Crossbow. Just doesn't seem wizard to me.
And remember, soon you will rule the board.
By the way, a wizard with 20 intelligence should have 5 spells: 1 base, 1 for primary school, 2 for intelligence bonus, and one from the bonded item.
As an aside: It's kind of funny how people just assume you'll be playing a minmaxed character. What if the OP wanted a wizard with, oh, I dunno, average strength? Decent CON? Or wanted a familiar, and not the bonded item? Or worse yet, wanted to play a universalist?
I have been playing Pathfinder for a while now (and D&D for many years before that), but I've never played an arcane caster (and strangely, other players in my gaming group haven't played one either, so I have no reference). However, I'm thinking that I may play one in the future, as I'd never read the class description before now and didn't realise they now get some interesting extra abilities, eg from school specialisation etc. But I'm a bit concerned about what to do when they run out of spells. For example, assuming a 1st level wizard, with 20 int and a bonded item, you'll have 4 level 1 spells and three level 0 spells (I think). But I guess that in a typical day of game time, you'd be very likely to run our of resources quite quickly.
My question is, what does a wizard typically do to make sure that they have things to contribute to the party at all times? I don't want to play a character that's going to spend large amounts of time in each encounter doing nothing because I've either used up all my daily spells, or not doing anything because I want to save spells for later. And entering melee clearly isn't an option ;-). And things like the acid dart from the conjuration school is also limited.
So, does anyone have any suggestions / thoughts / ideas on what to do to make sure a wizard has plenty to do at all times?
Thanks :-).
Edit: wanted to add, I've had a quick look at the excellent wizard guides, but they don't appear to address this particular issue...?
Scrolls. There fairly cheap 12.5g for you to scribe lv 1. Just keep a stash of scrolls after you complete your first outing and pull in some gold.
Sleep.
It is why the 5/15 minute workday was invented, you are a wizard not William Tell. If you can't sling spells around the battle field then you are forced into a bad choice between being useless with a crossbow or having to spend your own gold on expensive expendable resources like wands, scrolls, alchemical items, ect....
Now there are builds that help with this a fun npc I ran once was a human transmuter that was all about using a crossbow had two castinings of gravity bow a day and point blank shot/precise shot. It worked out well at lower levels and he used a lot of rays later on.
0 level spells should really do something like 2d4 damage instead of 1d3.
At lower levels you could have more armor than a martial character, with a dex of 14, mage armor and shield, you can have an armor class of 20! I don't think many monsters have that much hit at lower levels, so the squishy spellcaster is a myth, at least until monsters start getting more hit bonuses.
Rich Parents + Scribe Scroll + Wand of Magic Missile = 50 "magical feeling" attacks that always hit for a little damage and 20 extra 1st level spells. Take a club and the clothes on your back, plus your spellbook. You are now equipped for at least 20 combats, maybe more depending on CR. 20 combats on an "average" advancement track should either equal or get close to advancing from level 1 to level 2. Congrats; you have earned enough gold to replace all that you've used plus MAYBE a little extra mundane gear.
Rinse and repeat for level 2 to level 3. Congrats; now you can start crafting wonderous items, replace your used consumables, and p/up some interesting mundane gear or possibly a cool minor magic item.
Oh, and you can now whip off spells like flaming sphere, web and invisibility.
There are SO many ways now for 1st level wizards to make it to 3rd level its nuts. No one who mentioned using combat feats even mentioned Arcane Strike. In AD's example above you could walk in on your first round of combat w/a crossbow attack w/a +5 to hit, +2 to damage (if you're a human) and considered magic for purpose of overcoming DR. Not too shabby.
For the guy w/the spear what about Opening Volley and the trait Reactionary? He's walking up with a ranged touch attack w/a cantrip to deal 1d3, possibly more; if he hits he can longspear w/a +4 to the initial melee attack OR choose to Aid Another.
Finally, if your GM is a pushover like I am then you can lobby (like the wizard in my game did) for the familiar to use your or its own feats, just like it does w/skills. If this becomes houseruled go get yourself a goat (Small sized familiar) and start picking up teamwork feats. Get yourself a Mage Armor, a Shield, and get yourself and the familiar into combat using Feint Partner or Shake It Off. I'm WAYYYY too nice to wizards...
If my memory serves a level 1 Wizard can choose a wand to be their bonded object and get one for free... I could be wrong though...
Hmm getting the Rich Parents trait can be very excellent... very excellent indeed...
Personally I feel a Wizard should have more starting gold to represent them... well being g Wizards...
Universalist Wizards aren't bad. They work well if you are learning to play a caster.
You can take a wand as a bonded object, but it doesn't get any charges for free. Once you hit the right level, you can charge it without the Craft Wand feat though.
Your crossbow likely has only a 20% (at worst) lower chance of hitting than the halfling's.
Aid Another.
Creative use of non-combat 0th level spells. Like using Prestidigitation to increase the barbarian's intimidate check.
can't aid another on ranged.
You can take a wand as a bonded object, but it doesn't get any charges for free. Once you hit the right level, you can charge it without the Craft Wand feat though.
It depends on the GM's interpretation of where it mentions the wand and using its last charge. I have yet to see any GM who would argue against giving their wizard a wand, as long as the wand was within reason. Most make it limited in value.
You have to remember that a Wizard who chooses a weapon does get a free masterwork weapon at level 1
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can't aid another on ranged.Your crossbow likely has only a 20% (at worst) lower chance of hitting than the halfling's.
Aid Another.
Creative use of non-combat 0th level spells. Like using Prestidigitation to increase the barbarian's intimidate check.
While it's RAW you can't other, you can certainty make a case for that should work. For example you can say your shots provide a distraction forcing the defendant to raise their shield to block bolts, to dodge out the way of your bolts, being forced to look in your general direction occasionally rather then just his opponent.
You can take a wand as a bonded object, but it doesn't get any charges for free. Once you hit the right level, you can charge it without the Craft Wand feat though.It depends on the GM's interpretation of where it mentions the wand and using its last charge. I have yet to see any GM who would argue against giving their wizard a wand, as long as the wand was within reason. Most make it limited in value.
You have to remember that a Wizard who chooses a weapon does get a free masterwork weapon at level 1
The wizard gets a wand, just a wand with no charges.
I'm basing that on the fact that no other bonded object is magical when you first take it. I suppose no other bonded object could fit in a 350 gp budget either though, but that feels like the kind of exception that would be pointed out in the text. So RAW, I'd have to say they don't get free wand charges, but it makes a reasonable houserule.
You can take a wand as a bonded object, but it doesn't get any charges for free. Once you hit the right level, you can charge it without the Craft Wand feat though.It depends on the GM's interpretation of where it mentions the wand and using its last charge. I have yet to see any GM who would argue against giving their wizard a wand, as long as the wand was within reason. Most make it limited in value.
You have to remember that a Wizard who chooses a weapon does get a free masterwork weapon at level 1
I was one of those GM's. He go a wand, not a magically charged wand. Just the stick, though it was of masterwork quality.
Greg