best spell / metamagic combos for wizard?

[gniht]

I just hit level 5 in PFS on my wizard and I feel it's time to pick up some metamagic feats.

It's my intent to focus the majority of my wealth on metamagic rods (besides the obvious +int headband)

currently it looks like persistent spell is one of the best overall meta, but I've also played with the idea of picking up elemental spell.

bear in mind i'll eventually have a variety of rods, which will include a minor dazing rod (as soon as I can afford one).

persistent + a dazing rod on:

flaming sphere?
magic missile?
eventually maybe aqueous orb? (not sure how many creatures resist nonlethal damage)

I've also considered snapdragon fireworks, but damage is awful low and daze could get shut down from meager amounts of fire resistance.

Can somebody who has played wizard/sorcerer types to a fairly high level in PFS provide any insight?

[Finlanderboy]

what type of wizard are you?

[gniht]

Finlanderboy wrote:

what type of wizard are you?

lol... that was a terrible oversight on my part.

elf (spellbinder archetype)
Divination (foresight) school
opposition: necromancy and enchantment

feats: spell focus (evocation), toughness, improved initiative
(I still have to select two for hitting level 5)

[Finlanderboy]

Ok, your spell focus evocation suggests you are doign damaging spells.

What are your bonded spells?

Lingering spell might be usefull if you have blast spells. Forcing the enemy to come through the spell or split them up if very nice.

Intensified spell is great if you abuse caster level, but looking at your feats no so much.

Persistent is great for Save or suck spells. With dazing it does nto really combo so well since dazing you just need to damage them.

toppling with magic missile is alright. It is not great, but a good roll on the trip attempt can wreck a monsters day.

Empower is awesome for extra damage.

Extend is alright, at later levels not so, because the fight will be over by then. A 10 turn fireball chasing them dazing them would be hilarious.

Quicken spell is awesome, but at your level will not serve much use.

[BigNorseWolf]

eventually maybe aqueous orb? (not sure how many creatures resist nonlethal damage)

All the undead ones, which is a lot.

[Finlanderboy]

They can still gret wrapped up in the katamari inducing ball and sent off somewhere nto fun for them.

[gniht]

Finlanderboy wrote:

Ok, your spell focus evocation suggests you are doign damaging spells.

What are your bonded spells?

1st vanish

2nd flaming sphere
3rd (not selected yet)

Finlanderboy wrote:

Persistent is great for Save or suck spells. With dazing it does nto really combo so well since dazing you just need to damage them.

I thought if they saved then it negated the daze effect, but don't remember for certain. I'll look at intensified and lingering again, hadn't really considered taking them before.

[gniht]

persistent also seems pretty good with flaming sphere because the save negates damage as well. originally I thought this would be my go-to spell but now i'm a bit concerned about the damage type being resisted.

maybe elemental spell (acid)?
maybe elemental spell (cold)? (to open up the option of using rime spell?)

[gniht]

BigNorseWolf wrote:

eventually maybe aqueous orb? (not sure how many creatures resist nonlethal damage)

All the undead ones, which is a lot.

I haven't really looked at the pathfinder bestiary yet, but is it safe to say that those creatures would also often be immune to daze?

[Samish Lakefinder]

I took Heightened for my 5th level wizard feat. Now I have two of my 4th level slots filled with heightened continual flame to make darkness encounters less threatening in my area. Just today one of my other characters benefited from my wizard's spell choice. Also Heightened is not available in rod form.

[Katie Sommer]

I also like Heightened, not just in and of itself, but also as a pre-req for preferred spell. There's something to be said for preferred spell (Fireball) or preferred spell (Magic missile) or even both! Then spend money on rods for other metamagic effects...

[gniht]

think i'm avoiding heighten. still need to think on it some more since the new FAQ on it suggests it would work with magical lineage and actually boost a spell's effective level higher than it's slot level... which is weird to me but still... it seems a weak feat overall.

but yeah, preferred seems pretty awesome.

[DesolateHarmony]

Watch out for Elemental Spell. It doesn't change the spell descriptor, as the admixture evoker power does, so it doesn't open up Rime Spell for other spells.

Selective Spell. If you are using area effect spells, it cannot be beat. And, as a 1-level metamagic, the rod is cheap. You can get the rod long before level 10 as well.

[Alexander_Damocles]

Walking around with a quicken metamagic rod in hand is incredibly handy. Fun little combo? Quickened Fireball as a swift, move action pull your Maximize Rod, standard action maximized fireball. Result? A really nasty amount of fire damage on just about anyone.

For added fun and profit, ready a maximized fireball to disrupt spellcasting. Sure, they could make the save, but they'll still take 30 points of damage to the face, quickly making them lose their spell.

Also, if you want to be silly, grab a rod of toppling. Load up a magic missile or two, and fire it off as needed. Dirt cheap, and comes in handy!

[Dhjika]

gniht wrote:

I just hit level 5 in PFS on my wizard and I feel it's time to pick up some metamagic feats.

It's my intent to focus the majority of my wealth on metamagic rods (besides the obvious +int headband)

I would look at meta-magic feats that are different in rods than in having the feat itself.

For example - Ectoplasmic Spell in a rod only affects incorporeal creatures, but in a feat affects both Ethereal and Incorporeal creatures. Quite a difference if you have a Night Hag to Black Tentacle (see invisible lets you locate the ethereal critters so where to target is not an issue.

There might be other meta-magic feats that are also limited in rod form.

I hope your character has a lot of strength, meta-magic rods are very heavy.

[ZomB]

I have a conjuration specialist PFS wizard 11. The 9K lesser persistent rod works out really well on its own, persistent slow is a favorite. Other MM feats are OK, but not as good as having the rod. I can see that going with a lesser dazing or quicken rod would be excellent too.

[gniht]

DesolateHarmony wrote:

Watch out for Elemental Spell. It doesn't change the spell descriptor, as the admixture evoker power does, so it doesn't open up Rime Spell for other spells.

Selective Spell. If you are using area effect spells, it cannot be beat. And, as a 1-level metamagic, the rod is cheap. You can get the rod long before level 10 as well.

I definitely plan on picking up a rod for selective, but it probably is not my top priority. originally I had planned on it being my first meta, but had forgotten about the 10 spellcraft limitation :(

thanks for the heads up on elemental spell. I noticed the lack of the descriptor change but had sort of thought that not including a descriptor change in the feat was just an oversight, and rime would probably work as long as the spell does cold damage. but according to how rime is worded, you're right. it doesn't work unless the spell contains the cold descriptor, and elemental spell doesn't say that it will change the descriptor :(

maybe still worth taking for acid? (got to be able to damage things or dazing isn't going to land)

Dhjika wrote:

I would look at meta-magic feats that are different in rods than in having the feat itself.

For example - Ectoplasmic Spell in a rod only affects incorporeal creatures, but in a feat affects both Ethereal and Incorporeal creatures. Quite a difference if you have a Night Hag to Black Tentacle (see invisible lets you locate the ethereal critters so where to target is not an issue.

Thanks, I wasn't aware that any of the rods functioned differently from the feat descriptions... I'll have to look through them more carefully.

There might be other meta-magic feats that are also limited in rod form.

Dhjika wrote:

I hope your character has a lot of strength, meta-magic rods are very heavy.

my character has a low strength. since I had planned on using a lot of meta rods I have already purchased a handy haversack.

ZomB wrote:

I have a conjuration specialist PFS wizard 11. The 9K lesser persistent rod works out really well on its own, persistent slow is a favorite. Other MM feats are OK, but not as good as having the rod. I can see that going with a lesser dazing or quicken rod would be excellent too.

yeah, it seems that the rods are just better in most cases. I plan on focusing the majority of my gold on meta rods. I plan to eventually pick up additional traits to get wayfang spellhunter and magical lineage... so I thought I would pick up 1 or 2 meta as feats so I could prepare spells with a meta and then further augment with a rod.

I'll probably also end up getting another spell focus, probably conjuration... I think persistent glitterdust would be good, and that would also open up spell specialization for evards... but not sure on doing this yet.

... actually persistent spell looks so good that it may be worth having both as a feat and as a rod.