Nope, no mistake. At this level the wizard is just no good for straight hp damage.
At level 1 high strength melee characters one shot pretty much everything. That's kinda standard and evens out a bit after everyone starts having more than 10 hit points. Casters are also really are not a good benchmark for damage; damaging spells are generally considered to be subpar for most casters (though most take Fireball because you never know), though they can make it work if they try.
The Wizard shouldn't be using magic missile. Damage isn't really his job; he's much better at battlefield control. Try replacing Magic Missile with Grease.
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The fighter could be doing more damage if he took Power Attack (+3).
For a wizard, doing damage to a single target isn't a great plan. Try to either kill many smaller monsters with one spell so the fighter's path to the BBEG is clear, or use spells like Color Spray, Grease and so forth to manipulate how well enemies are able to fight back.
Wizards don't do single-target damage all that well (until you really really work for it). Everyone is good at different things.
It will get worse!
Hello,
So recently we finished up the beginner box and we are just doing random some before going to one of the published AP's
So a player rolled a fighter, at level 1 has 18 strength and using a greatsword has 2d6+6 damage....is this correct? seems odd that he could one shot most monsters and even boss monsters whereas our wizard hits with magic missles for 1d4+1 and has a limit number of them
Something smells funny to me but wanted to check the beginner box forum :)
It's right. The wizard can pick Grease, Sleep or Color Spray. Don't know which ones are in the beginners box.
@Tizno
If the fighter has a high strength score, a large two-handed weapon, is doing massive damage, and is being directed to the enemy to put the hurt on, then yes, it is working as intended.
A smart Wizard doesn't try to out damage a fighter, he/she looks for ways to control the battlefield and make the fighters job easier. The more threat the fighter is to the enemy, the less threat the squishy Wizard becomes. Good teamwork, and also working as intended. :)
The Wizard, or spellcasters in general, aren't supposed to do all that much damage. His job is to change the way the fight works.
The Wizard could for example:
Use burning hands to fight a Swarm.
Incapacitate a few weak enemies with a Colour spray.
Use Jump to pass an obstacle.
Turn himself into a Tank with Shield + Mage armor.
Slow down or immobilize a lot of enemies with Grease.
Improve the Fighters weapon with Magic weapon.
Move faster then anyone else with Expeditious retreat.
Prevent the Fighter from becoming Dominated by a Vampire with Protection from Evil.
Summon a Riding dog for one round to take a few hits for the team and possibly deal a little damage too.
Make a Goblin help you pass all the local traps with Charm person.
Negate a bunch of weak enemies with Sleep.
Conjure a fake wall with Silent image.
Weaken a tough opponent with Ray of enfeeblement.
Make the fighter even more dangerous with Enlarge person.
And these are just spells from the Core rulebook, I use all of the Paizo hardback supplements in my game, nearly every 3,5 book and a few 3rd party books. That is a lot of materials and the list of cool spells goes on and on and on.
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The Fighter is a relatively easy class, you can take damage and you can deal damage, the Wizard will rarely manage to keep up with the Fighter in damage, but he can make up for it with versatility and options.
Also, spellcasters generally start out being low powered, as their spells-per day and spell levels start ramping up the fun really begins.
Tizno, I humbly suggest grabbing Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition if you want an AP. It's the cheapest option and should help. You are going to need to buy the Bestiaries though, as not all the encounters are fully listed in the adventure book.
Also, if your Wizard likes direct damage, have it specialize as an Evoker/Evocation. Those force missiles always hit and do damage, even to incorporeal enemies like wraiths and ghosts.
Also being new to Pathfinder (and only having the Beginner Box) is there any reason why a wizard should NOT choose "universalist" as his school? To me it seems they can do everything (they can cast all spells from all schools, don't they?).
So why should I even consider another school?
Where am I wrong? I don't get this.
Thanks in advance!
Universalist is actually considered the weakest school. This is because, early on, wizards are most constrained by the number of spells they get to cast per day, not the number of spells they could theoretically cast (which number in the hundreds!). A specialist wizard gets an extra spell slot at every spell level, which gives them a lot more staying power when those slots are at a premium. Furthermore, they often have extremely useful school powers compared to the rather tame universalist power.
By higher levels when spell slots are no longer so valuable, the specialist wizards can still prepare their restricted schools using two slots and, with the free slot from their specialty, still draw even with the the universalist as long as they only prepare one per spell level. They can also take the opposition research discovery (which totally remove the penalties for one restricted school) and use scrolls/staves etc to cover any weaknesses.
Hello,
So recently we finished up the beginner box and we are just doing random some before going to one of the published AP's
So a player rolled a fighter, at level 1 has 18 strength and using a greatsword has 2d6+6 damage....is this correct? seems odd that he could one shot most monsters and even boss monsters whereas our wizard hits with magic missles for 1d4+1 and has a limit number of them
Something smells funny to me but wanted to check the beginner box forum :)
Damage is only one part of the game. The fighter has a terrible Will save, so any bad guy with Sleep, Hold Person, Fear, etc., can take the fighter completely out of combat in one action.
The wizard should have Knowledge skills, so when a monster pops up, the wizard has a chance to say, "Everyone hide your eyes!" before they get turned to stone. Half the time, knowing what you're fighting is as important as hitting it very hard.
The wizard can Detect Magic, so he has a chance to avoid magical traps and spot hidden magical beasties. The fighter's option is essentially "walk through everything and hope I have enough hit points to survive".
The best answer, really, is for each member of the party to have a primary and secondary role, and make sure they complement each other. Each class excels at some things and sucks at some things.
The fighter's primary role (based on your description) is to walk up and whack things with his great sword. When he can't do that, what should he do instead?
The wizard's role primary is...what? Knowledges? Ranged attacks? Battlefield control? Buff the party? Debuff the bad guys?
And so on for the other members of the party.