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Honestly when I looked at Wizards and how badly nerfed they got in the PFS style of playing, I really didn't give them a second thought. Now I feel like playing them and really giving them a shot and am wondering what would be the best way to play an Elf Wizard in PFS without being a bit underpowered compared to other casters in the party.
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I play a Wizard in PFS. I'm not fully optimized, but so far I'm the only arcane caster to make it past level 7 at my FLGS I believe.
Levels 1-4 kind of really suck. A lot of my damage came from a wand of magic missile. DC 17-18 Glitterdust at 3 can be cool, but outside of color spray Wiz's have it bad. (I actually did successfully color spray all my 1st level boss encounters luckily enough.) Once you hit 5th level you're basically better than every other arcane caster at level. The druid is probably still stronger than you this early in the game, but you've got more power in your hands with a competent party than a magus, sorcerer, or witch has at that level. You have powerful battlefield control, your summons are fantastic for the level, and haste might just be the best spell out there at that moment. At 7 you really start peaking I think, black tentacles, enervation, bestow curse, etc. are obviously strong when you can cast them, but you get them before sorcerers and witches have a limited spell list.
I enjoy playing a wizard a lot, and they have their strengths, but in PFS I agree they are a bit gimped. If you're worried about how powerful a wizard is, you could try the Scarred Witch Doctor Witch archetype, I could be wrong but I think it's legal for PFS play and I think it seems pretty solid.
Also, Teleportation subschool is awesome and pearl of power 1st level is your friend.
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Hmm, thank you all for the suggestions. All of the suggestions were very helpful. Now I got a better idea of what to go for when playing a Wizard. Thank you.
@ Son of Dad: Hmm those do sound like some like interesting spell choices. Also quite funny with the familiar.
@ Kurthnaga: Been waiting here as well for the Scarred Witch Doctor to become legal, but still hasn't come to be. Mostly because Orcs are still not legal for PFS. Wand of Magic Missle sounds like a handy doodad.
@ Sir Thugsalot: I will give the guide a read as explosions are indeed fun.
Honestly when I looked at Wizards and how badly nerfed they got in the PFS style of playing,
Why do you say that?
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One thing to bear in mind is that wands and scrolls are easy to purchase in PFS, with gold or prestige, so you can buff all day long with those. Save your prepared spells for stuff where the caster level or save DC from your stats are important. And really, that goes for any PFS casters, not just wizards.
You don't get Scribe Scroll in PFS, but you get Spell Focus for free to replace it, which is nice. Combine with Greater Spell Focus and/or Varisian Tattoo for extra power.
I keep wanting to make a wizard for PFS, but I haven't gotten around to it. I have two sorcerers, because as a new Pathfinder player I figured spontaneous casting would be easier, and I like some of the bloodlines, but I've realized that casting the same spells over and over does get kinda boring. I think I'll enjoy playing a wizard and changing up the spells prepared every time I play him.
elves make wizards better at low level too. the -Con hurts a bit but they have awesome weapon familiarity. if you're willing to 'settle' for an 18 Int that leaves you 10 points for your other stats; make a stereo-typical haughty elven @$$hole and dump your Cha to 7- now you have 14 points left; 5 each in Dex and Con give you 16 Dex and 12 Con; 2 each in Str and Wis. 7hp isn't great (you can get 8 if you take your favored class bonus there) but Mage Armor will put your AC at 17 (21 if you need to kick of shield) and you're pretty decent with your longbow. you can stand in back and play like an archer at 1st level (with a longsword if anything closes to melee range) and use your spells to protect yourself or toss out sleep/color spray/etc in a pinch.
If you have the Advanced Race Guide, look at the Spellbinder Archetype. The ability to convert spells to a selected spell is AWESOME for a wizard.
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You're an elf with a high intelligence. I'd suggest taking the Breadth of Experience feat. In PFS, Knowledge skills are needed in every scenario.
On the other hand, you have high intelligence and every knowledge skill is a class skill for you. You're already good at them without Breadth of Experience, so it might not be worth the feat.
I'm having a similar debate with myself about whether my gnome bard with 14 int should bother with this feat to boost his bardic knowledge.
that feat is actually less good for bards... part of what makes it great for a wizard is that it lets you make untrained knowledge checks- oh you don't have knowledge[religion]? that's fine you can still roll it at +6 or 7, lol (bards already have that thanks to bardic knowledge)
Why do they say PFS wizards are nerfed?
bards (on average) have more skill points to spread around, and bardic knowledge increases with level... for a wizard the feat lets you put 0 ranks in skills you're not worried about at all (like the ones with no related monsters, for many wizards) and gives you a nice little bonus to the ones you're only ever going to have 1-2 ranks in.
I'm not saying anyone should or shouldn't take the feat- i was just pointing out that its less beneficial for bards than for wizards (though its worth thinking about for anyone who's planning on spreading a bunch of points through their knowledges).
Why do they say PFS wizards are nerfed?
IDK, i was wondering that myself. Sure you can't be the crafter or pure batman wizard, but I think people are just being bad in their optimization thinking that spells list and crafting things is all there is to making a good wizard.
Perhaps the following?
Discoveries: arcane builder arcane discovery, golem constructor arcane discovery, true name arcane discovery, staff-like wand arcane discovery (Not Legal)
Scribe Scroll bonus feat - Replaced with Spell Focus.
Siege Mage, Spellslinger archetypes are Not Legal.
About anything to do with really being able to craft something for a Wizard is off limits, which just leaves them with a choice of School, their spells, an arcane bond, bonus feats/discoveries, possibly a legal archetype depending on the build.
I would say whenever I looked at the wizard's table in terms of what they got per level, its pretty sparse even now since past incarnations of AD&D/3rd/3.5 from what they get now.
1st Level: Arcane Bond, Cantrips, Spell Focus, Arcane School
At 5th/10th/15th/20th levels respectively a wizard may choose to have a bonus feat or replace the bonus feat for an arcane discovery they qualify for.
Partially true in optimization of a spell list to make a good wizard. Wizards are expected to have spells like Haste, Mage Armor, Fly (and mass), hold person, and various other spells that give the wizard more survivability and party relevance.
If I were an Elf Wizard, I would focus on destruction spells, like a Blockbuster Wizard would do. If I wanted to talk to plants and what not I would be a Treesinger Elf.
Part of being a Wizard is Hard Work = Great Reward. I don't recommend Wizard for a starting character because its not as "FLASHY" as some of its other Arcane and Divine caster counterparts, as all a Wizard cares about are his spells. Like a living arcane conduit, he bends and builds his spells to his whim to the point where at higher levels he can amount to the "FLASHYNESS" that begins to exceed what others can do.
The only classes who have equal spell progression like a Wizard are Witch, Druid, and Cleric.
Wizards did get nerfed, but not for the reasons some might be thinking. :P
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To me, the word "nerfed" means "made less powerful". That simply isn't the case here - wizards are still an incredibly powerful class, with tons of great spells to choose from. They're arguably still the most powerful class in the game, at least at mid-high levels. They may have less options in PFS, but they're no weaker, so I don't consider that "nerfed".
hm. well, for an elf i would suggest dex 16, con 10, int 20, cha 7, str 10, wis 10. you may then buy armor for an additional +1 ac (its in ultimate combat, no penalty or spell failure) for AC 14.
int 20 is very important, as this gives you a 4th first-level spell slot, an extra spell known, as well as increasing the DC of your spells and your concentration bonus. increase int at every opportunity.
familiars have been very seriously nerfed (mainly in equipment slots), but the raven may be your best choice as it can speak.
for starting spells, you will want: infernal healing (ISWG), and color spray. only memorize the infernal healing if your party lacks a main healer, and know that its not very useful in combat. its great for healing between combat. color spray is the best offense you will have for several levels as it shuts enemies down long enough for combat to be effectively over.
I personally will not play a PFS character without a Con of at least 12, preferably 14+.
Well you don't really need that 20, its possible to knock that down and adjust some things to get that 12 con, anymore than that on an elf is a bad investment though. Spending 10 points on an attribute that isn't your main deal is just bad, especially bad on a racial dump stat.
Of course I think playing with 10 con is fun for society, my PFS witch had 10 con and due to strong play never took damage till level 4. Heck she had to carry a group as healer, control, dps, and tank one session (good god don't adventure with rogues and unarmed fighters when the only other character that is any good is a clouded vision halfling oracle) and managed to not take damage.
Spellbinder elven racial archetype is pretty good if you can find a good spell to bind - maybe ray of enfeeble, grease, magic missile or burning hands, esp. if combined with magic lineage and metamagic feats like intensify.
Well you don't really need that 20, its possible to knock that down and adjust some things to get that 12 con, anymore than that on an elf is a bad investment though. Spending 10 points on an attribute that isn't your main deal is just bad, especially bad on a racial dump stat.
Of course I think playing with 10 con is fun for society, my PFS witch had 10 con and due to strong play never took damage till level 4. Heck she had to carry a group as healer, control, dps, and tank one session (good god don't adventure with rogues and unarmed fighters when the only other character that is any good is a clouded vision halfling oracle) and managed to not take damage.
I'm a damage magnet. Must be my winning personality. :P
To me, the word "nerfed" means "made less powerful". That simply isn't the case here - wizards are still an incredibly powerful class, with tons of great spells to choose from. They're arguably still the most powerful class in the game, at least at mid-high levels. They may have less options in PFS, but they're no weaker, so I don't consider that "nerfed".
Yeah, I don't get it either. From that list they went to a sometimes broken top level Tier 1, to a more reasonable Tier 1.
But they are still Tier 1. Geez crikies.
As for stats, put only a 12 in Dex, which makes it a 14.
My build:
8, 14, 12, 19,12,10. 4th level 20 int.
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I'd agree with making sure you have at least a 12 con. Also, don't bother with Infernal Healing in your spellbook. Wands are easy to come by in Society play, and wands of IH are the cheapest healing in the game when you have time between combats to use them. Just spend your first 2 prestige to get that wand and move on.