I'm playing a blaster type sorcerer, which I already posted about, but this is a more specific question.
My plan is to at some point, be tossing out Dazing Fireballs, which makes the save more important then usual. I have only 1 feat that I can really change out in this build, and it is currently occupied by Intensify.
With my end goal in mind, would it be better to switch out Intensify for Persistent, and then get a rod of intensify? Or should I get persistent as my rod? Mind you, I'm already planning on getting a metamagic Rod of Elemental (acid).
Relevant information; currently I have Magical Lineage and Outlander (Lore Seeker) for fireball, providing a +1 CL, +1 DC and a reduction of 1 spell level cost on metamagic.
Thoughts?
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The way you want to think about this question is to consider the types of situations you will be casting in.
You are building a shtick. It's a very good shtick because blowing things up is a widely useful ability, but you want to consider the common range of situations you are going to find yourself in so that you can be ready. Also, remember to use your party for this as well.
A fireball is a solution to a problem. If the problem is that you are the party member who is expected to soften up the bad guys so the tank can finish them off, then you want to throw a lot of intensified spells.
If you are wanting to focus on the BBEG, then persistent is your choice.
If you want to stun-lock large groups of mooks, persistent is probably not that great an option. My reasoning here is that mooks go down easy, so intensify is probably just as good, and dead is better than stunned. Also (and frankly more importantly) the number of times per day that you are going to blast large groups of mooks is not that great - so if you don't know the feat, it's not going to hurt you that much to be limited to 3 uses per day.
The other thing to consider is added casting time. For a blaster, you will either want to have your party member pre-buffed with protection from fire/acid spells or you want to get your spell off quick. In the latter case, the metamagic rod is your friend, since it doesn't add to your casting time.
Hope that helps.
I find more than what you are built for it matters what your party is built for. A party built for Rocket Tag has lots of ways to do damage, debuff and save or lose. A party built for Cloak & Dagger has lots of skills, utility magic and defense/buffs. If your party play Rocket Tag you want Intensified Spell, if they play Cloak & Dagger you want Persistent Spell. This is a case of go with the flow, you will fit in to either group and will be more effective helping them specialize than diversify.
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Yeah that's good advice. I'm playing a God wizard who's summons are pretty much limited to casting support - we have 6 characters (including 2 tanks), so I think Augmented Summoning would be a wasted feat for me.
This goes against the optimized "God" wizard build, but we just almost never need any extra muscle on the battlefield - heck our rogue hardly even needs a flanking buddy. So I'm better off focusing on utility for my group.
This is definitely a YMMV kind of thing.
Persistent is better for your build. Not only does 3 rounds of the dazed condition give the whole party an enormous action economy boost but it means your damage is more likely to stick. Intensify only increases damage if it sticks.
Persistent Spell only works on targeted spells, not area effects.
Well, after reading over the advice I think I'll be going with persistent. A big chunk of that is I decided I wanted to add utility to fireball rather then better it's current purpose, which is to do damage.
Thank you all for your input, it is very appreciated!
Nope, "whenever a creature targeted by a spell OR within its area"
Oh, whoops, I misread that.