I'm rolling an Halfling Wizard Evocation Admixture with Divination/Abjuration as opposed schools.
Hafling
Sure-footed > Fleet of Foot I move 30 ft instead of 20
Fearless > Fey Thoughts I get Perception and something else as Class Skills for giving up +2 to fear.
STR 7 -2
DEX 16 +2
CON 14
INT 17
WIS 10
CHA 7 +2
1- Spell Focus Evocation
3- Spell Specialization
5- Greater Spell Focus - Empower Spell
7- Selective Spell
9- Intensified Spell
10- Dazing Spell
11- Spell Penetration
13-
15- Spell Perfection
What I'm undecided about is whether or not I should need AC items. I'm getting a +2 to INT which is a no brainer, but then I'm not sure what else to get.
I could get +2 CON or DEX but that's highly debatable.
My first idea was to get:
+2 INT 4k
Lesser Metamagic Rod of Empower 9k > if the 25% rule is real, I couldn't get this.
Cloak of Resistance +1 1k or +2
Ring of Deflection +1 2k
Amulet of Natural Armor +1 2k
Mithral Bucker +1 1100
Cap, Buffering 2k > Negates 1 Crit per day but it does so as Immediate Action and as a Wizard those might not be available always. I'm not even sure how much worth is the time as a Wizard.
I'm confused whether I should get the standard AC items and Cloak of Resistance or not. If I don't I can get things like Boots of Striding or Teleportation boots.
Also not sure whether I should go Mage Armor or Hamaraki with special properties. I can't find a way to justify the extremely high prices of Bracers of Armor. It all goes back to opportunity cost, what am I losing to get something that could potentially never be used.
Also if I'm following the rules I think I can only spend up to 25% on 1 single item? I couldn't find this rule, though I read about it on the forums.
Besides that if anyone knows some cool items that would be awesome. We have a dedicate healer in our party, so Aegis of Recovery though cool at level 7 it doesn't seem that important, unless there's something else that works similar but doesn't destroy itself.
I'm also undecided whether I should get Selective as a feat or Rod. Right now I'd be throwing up to 3 Selective Empowered Fireballs x day as 3rd level slots, or I could be throwing Empowered Selective Fireballs as 4 level slots with Rod of selective, but the good thing is that the rod will be useful up to level 6, so I can keep using it a bit more, and even for other Crowd Control Spells with instantaneous duration.
AC items- its a long term investment. See Proffessor Q's guide to wizards for how much ac you need to keep any of it relevant. Short story you need to sink a large % of your WBL to keep yourself from being auto hit. If your willing to do so go for it. If not focus on % miss chance spells like mirror image, greater invisibility, etc. Another idea is to grab resistances to damage(IE:ablative barrier) and negate attack effects(IE:bracers of deflection)
Cloak of Res is definitely a must have, every character, every build. The game assumes you will have one -__- and saving throws scale appropriately. You will be subject to alot of saving throws. Many of which are basically make the save or be out of the fight
Physical stat boosters are very nice(dex/con anyway). A +2 to dex is worth about 2x a +1 to ac as it adds to skill checks, cmd, initiative, ray attacks, etc. A +2 to con gives +1hp per level and +1 to fort saves. In other words its worth a feat and a half both of which are decent feat
Selective spell is a situational metamagic. As such it is better on a rod for a wizard. Note intensified, empower, and quicken are not making them excellent metamagic for a wizard to take. I would take quicken spell at 13 and replace the 7th level feat with improved familiar. If you don't have ranks in UMD already grab them with the headband. Craft Rod is another feat to consider depending on your dm. It basically lets you trade money for feats. Dazing Spell. This is abitrarily really really good. However don't abuse it to the point of funkill
Other Shopping to consider
Wand of Infernal Healing*
Misc other wands
+1 training gauntlet
Blazing Robes
Gloves of Elvenkind
Staff of Minor Arcana
Staff of Radiance
*We at Hell Inc. bear no responsibility for any paladin attacks that may occur due to the using of our products
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This likely isn't terribly helpful to you, but I never have a character without a Traveler's Any-Tool and some Sleeves of Many Garments.
People often overlook the non combat applications of having any simple tool or set of clothes (many of which come with bonuses).
AC items- its a long term investment. See Proffessor Q's guide to wizards for how much ac you need to keep any of it relevant.
Damn. If I were to pour money into AC, it's 5.5k out of my 23.5k to reach a 23 AC, what would put me at 45% miss chance. 10% base out of 16 AC + 7 extra AC *5% for another 35. And I need to keep it up all the time. Otherwise I would be at 19 and I could cast Shield for +4, and be at 23 for "free".
It's indeed a hard choice. I care more about touch AC, and special abilities, but that means investing only in Deflection and Braces of Armor, which are expensive.RODS
Since I'm going full blaster I'm taking all the relevant feats. Mostly Empower, Maximize and Intensified. Selective is there to help me while I get enough gold for a Normal Selective Rod. I will probably be buying some Maximize Rods along the way. So far on the AP (Runelords) we've always been fighting close doors, so Selective is kinda necessary.
I know Blaster is not optimal, but that's a party thing, and I don't want to optimize the character.Familiar
I don't have one. I'm going Scrollmaster Archetype. I don't want to get 10 crafting feats, so I'm gonna be crafting Scrolls for utility (as usual), back up buffs (Resist Energy) and many other things. Of course Blasting is going to be included.
Other Shopping to consider
Wand of Infernal Healing > DM won't allow this, I'll become evil!
Misc other wands > I'm letting wands be managed by the Oracle. He's full support, so I'm gonna propose party buys wand of Haste, Heroism and other stuff.
+1 training gauntlet > I have NO idea what use I could give to this.
Blazing Robes > Nice, I could use that when I have the gold!
Gloves of Elvenkind > Oh. CL 7 + 5 INT + 5 Gloves = Instant almost. I thought they were kinda useless, this combined with Robes of Careful casting means I can never fail a Concentration check.
Staff of Minor Arcana > For MY case in particular it's not needed. The only disadvantage with scrolls is the draw action, but DM is allowing to have several Spells on 1 Scroll. So I can basically have a Defensive Scroll with Shield/Invisibility.
Staff of Radiance > This I guess will come up, but Undead... I could have it, it's situational but could change things up.
This likely isn't terribly helpful to you, but I never have a character without a Traveler's Any-Tool and some Sleeves of Many Garments.
People often overlook the non combat applications of having any simple tool or set of clothes (many of which come with bonuses).
Traveler's Any Tool is good, though in my case not as useful.
Sleeves of Many Garments I like it as a RP thing, and I might take them. I was kinda annoyed that they ruled it as an Illusion instead of Transmutation. I liked the idea of actually changing my clothes a bit more. This way I might end up just being fancy clothes instead!
No judgement for playing a blaster. Its dam fun
Never played runelords just my observation that selective is situational for most campaigns. If its not then I would keep empower OR maximize on a rod and just default use the extra damage when no modifiers are needed
I would recomend everyone in the party have at least 1 clw potion/other heal item in case the oracle gets dropped then
Training gauntlet(quickdraw(for rods), Defensive Combat Training, Improved Initiative) just for my favorites
Probably better off with scrolls over staffs then
Since Selective Spell requires 10 ranks in Spellcraft you cannot take it anyway. :). Rod is better hands down.
I read the Selective thing twice and forgot about it! I will be buying a Rod for it then. I will be taking this feat at level 10, because a Normal Rod of Selective is 11k.
I'm not sure how Runelords runs, but so far we had very little open combat, so Selective has been a necessity.
Uh, blasting wizards are very very effective when optimized.See how your GM handles item crafting. If he follows standard rules, then Create Wondrous can double your effective wealth if you start with your items being self crafted.
Crafting is a personal choice. No crafting because I don't want to break the game, I'm already a Wizard. Also I will be crafting Scrolls only because Scrollmaster Archetype.
Is your heart set on halfling? Pyro Gnome sub race gets +1 CL with fire, and darkvision.
Personal choice. It's not optimal and I went for it. Also I dumped STR and CHA, but with CHA from Halfling I end up with a 9, and it's not so bad.
My starting INT is also 17. I could've just gone with the classic Elf with 20 INT but didn't feel like it.
Traits: Wayang Spellhunter and Magical Lineage. -2 for Metamagic, ie. Free Empower. With your Fireballs of course. Or if you prefer Maximize, it now uses 4th level slots and you throw your Rod of Empower on top
Wayang Spellhunter is a Regional feat from Minata Isles. That's a reason why I don't take it. Besides I'm pretty sure that Trait bonuses don't stack and if you get 2 metamagic reduction from Traits I don't think they should stack. It's an awesome feat, won't deny it though.
I like Preferred Spell, but I'm short on feats honestly. Also I will be crafting lots of scrolls. If I need extra damage I can have endless Magic Missile Scrolls that will be cast at my CL.
I'd LOVE to get Wayang Spellhunter, I mean 3rd level slot for an Empowered Fireball? What's not to like, but I think it might be too much cheese imo.
Also even though I'm building for a Blaster, I still want my party to not feel bad when I start throwing Fireballs!
Another note for crafting is that its not greedy. You can make good stuff for your companions as well. So long as the party members wealth stays within 10% of one another everything is fine and the dm can run things normally
Also your party will never feel bad when you do fireballs. Unless you optimize really hard blasting is the least of what a well built caster can do. Everyone else can deal damage as well pr probably better for single targets. Only you can break the laws of physics. I can't play muggles anymore because I miss my Dimension door, Plane shift, Fly, resist energy, etc. to much. Those are all things only casters can do that require almost no investment on their part. Besides it takes a TON of damage to make those 4 attack per round 2d6+15 martial jealous. There is a reason the highest damage builds are all martial types. Literally your only advantage on damage output is that you can hit more than 1 person at a time.
You should really grab preferred spell. Or at least Greater Spell Specialization later. Without either of those, you'll have to fill at least half of your spell slots with blasts which extremely limits your versatility. You're way better off memorizing all kinds of spells (buffs, defensive, battlefield control, crowd contorl, utility etc.) and swap them for your fireballs whenever you need/want a blast.
Also gets rid of the situational meta magic problem (like selective) since you can apply those on the fly.
For an evoker, my level 5 feats would almost ALWAYS be Highten and Preferred Spell. Unlike Greater Spell Specializaion, Preferred doesn't increase your meta magic casting time. I'd also usually go human because the build is feat-starved, no doubt, but halfling should work, too.
As for equipment, after the headband and the cloak, a belt with +dex and con is probably your best option. A bonus to HP, Initiative, AC and 2 saves is great. In the long run, consider a +1 dueling spiked gauntlet and the +1 CL Ioun stone.
AC items are wasted unless you REALLY invest your money to get a noticeable bonus. Just go with defensive spells - mage armor, shield, false life, mirror image, greater invisibility, etc. Grab any spare amulet of Natural Armor or Ring of Protection your party finds, but don't waste gold on those.
I don't have enough traits to get Wayang Spellhunter, but I will check with my DM what he thinks about it.
I'm not trying to optimize, but in all honestly I'm afraid my party won't do enough damage.
Oracle > only heals and summons sometimes, but no feats for it. It's Oracle of Life, extremely newbie to role. Zero direct damage. He has issue healing+buffing at the same time.
Forgets his spells, what they do. I mean during out entire career he never used Prot from Evil or Bless, even Shield of Faith
Ninja > not unchained, 2WF of course. Only damage comes from SA, he has 10 STR, probaly 18-20 DEX.
Slayer > again 2WF with Shield Bash.
As you can see we do not have a IMABARBARIAN type of character, and damage is limited.
I see the utility, I'm kinda afraid about the Feat Tax Cost. Do you think the lack in damage from the party should justify getting it?
Blave and Rerednaw kinda sold me on Preferred Spell, but I'm getting short on feats:
1- Spell Focus Evocation
3- Spell Specialization
5- Greater Spell Focus - Empower Spell (instead I get Heighten Spell)
7- Preferred Spell
9- Intensified Spell
11- Spell Penetration
13- Quicken Spell
15- Spell Perfection
I can't get Wayang Spellhunter unless I grab Additional Traits. Also I'm missing Selective and Empower. Maximize should go on a Rod.
I have 2 choices, either get Craft Rod or CWI. CWI in the long run is better, but I will eventually need to get a rod of maximize or empower and quicken.
Since this is an AP I'm not sure whether I will have the time or not to craft that many things.
On the other hand, Arcane casters are supposed to super OP, so having a little less gold shouldn't be a huge issue.
Mostly I don't wanna deal with all the Crafting while adventuring thing, which means mostly hiding myself in a Rope Trick for 4 hours every day, but I will also check it.
To be perfectly honest, I'd even drop Spell Specialization and/or Greater Spell Focus before not taking Preferred Spell. Maybe something like
1- Spell Focus Evocation
3- Spell Specialization
5- Heighten - Preferred Spell
7- Empower Spell
9- Intensified Spell
10- Selective Spell
11- Spell Penetration
13- Quicken Spell
15- Spell Perfection, Dazing Spell
Delaying Dazing to level 15 because
- You're playing a blaster, so you probably want to blast, not cotrol.
- It's very powerful and borderline broken so I'd keep it as a end-game option.
To be perfectly honest, I'd even drop Spell Specialization and/or Greater Spell Focus before not taking Preferred Spell. Maybe something like
1- Spell Focus Evocation
3- Spell Specialization
5- Heighten - Preferred Spell (instead I get Heighten Spell)
7- Empower Spell
9- Intensified Spell
10- Selective Spell
11- Spell Penetration
13- Quicken Spell
15- Spell Perfection, Dazing SpellDelaying Dazing to level 15 because
- You're playing a blaster, so you probably want to blast, not cotrol.
- It's very powerful and borderline broken so I'd keep it as a end-game option.
I think I will have to keep Selective Spell on Rods. I'm using the Scrollmaster Archetype:
At 10th level, the scrollmaster can cast a Wizard spell from a scroll and use his own Intelligence score and relevant feats to set the DC for the spell, and can use his own caster level if it is higher than that of the scroll (similar to a caster using a staff ). The scrollmaster must have already deciphered the writing on the scroll to use this ability.
This ability replaces the 10th-level Wizard bonus feat.
I think I'm just gonna ignore Selective Spell and just use a Rod when it's extremely necessary. Since I can only get at level 11 minimum from 7 to 11 most of my level 4-5 will come from rods.
Choosing Empower is the best option. At level 15 I'm gonna retrain Spell Specialization and get Maximize Spell if DM allows (I don't think he will have any issues). By that point Spell Specialization is useless already.
That way I get Quickened 4 Empowered 2 Intensified 1 Magical Lineage -1 Maximized Rod Fireball and then cast something else. But that time my party should I know I like to set things on fire.
Dazing Spell > I asked him what he thought about it, still waiting reply. Personally I think it's a bit way to good comparing it to Maximize for example, so I'm leaning towards not getting it.
I usually censor myself when making characters. I'm just going full nova here with Evocation because my previous Wizard was a God Wizard and party hated that I used Haste instead of Fireball during combats.
You could also drop dazing spell for ascendant spell, throw around mythic fireballs with spell perfection. Mythic Fireball, 1d10 per Cl max 10d10, enemies who fail their Ref save catch on fire.
Intensified and Selective Mythic Fireball = 82.5 average damage
With Rod of Maximize = 150Intensified, Selective, Empowered, Maximized Fireball = 116 damage
Intensified, Selective, Empowered, Quickened Fireball = 116 damage
With Rod of Maximize = 116
I think, well, it's not a bad feat if I can afford the Rod of Maximize! I'm putting selective there because so far campaign has been in small places