How worried should I be about getting new spells via scrolls and enemy spellbooks? Should I start getting really careful with my level up spells?
I'm currently in Jade Regent, we're about to head to Brinewall. No spoilers please, I'd just like to know how carefully I should plan my spells.
My current list is as follows
1st level: Alarm, Burning Disarm, Floating Disk, Grease, Interrogation, Keep Watch, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Ray of Enfeeblement, Shield, Stone Shield, Windy Escape
2nd level: Book Ward, Communal Protection from Evil, Knock, Make Whole, Rope Trick
If I may offer my 2 coppers...
--Rope Trick will provide your team with a safe area to rest if you're in the middle of a dungeon, so that could be a good pick for a spell.
--At low levels, area-effect status inflicting spells and buffs are going to be more useful to the party than Magic Missiles and the like. Ray of Enfeeblement will be a good pick for going up against tough melee combatants, and it'll give your fighter an easier time going toe-to-toe. Grease is also good, since you can use it to knock baddies prone or disarm them by making their weapons fly out of their hands.
Just my 2 coppers. Your mileage will likely vary. :)
Hope it helps.
Yeah magic missile I took as one of my starting spells just to have that guaranteed 2 damage should it ever be needed. Plus I'll be getting a wand of magic missile once I grab craft wand to have a stand-by weapon.
No spoilers for Jade Regent, but good advice anytime, never hesitate to buy scrolls to flesh out your spellbook.
I'm a little worried that might be cheesing in a non-mechanics sort of way
My DM is new and this is her first time running a campaign. I've told her that Wizards can get very silly very quickly so I'm also leaving myself at her mercy as to what spells I can get outside leveling and such.
For example, I showed her that wizards can get new spells via copying them from another wizards spellbook, so she decided that I was only able to find 1 2nd level spell and 3 1st level ones to copy down in Sandpoint.
If I suddenly also tell her I can copy them from scrolls and also want to buy scrolls, she might feel like I'm trying to cheat.
So as it stands, I can't rely on buying scrolls for new spells at the moment.
No matter how many spells are in your book, you still only have so many slots per day. Your GM can still limit the number of scrolls you can buy, if she thinks is becoming a problem, but don't forget how expensive it is to put a new spell in your book. And even after you learn spells, you can only scribe your own scrolls if you have the time and money for them. At low levels especially a wizard often doesn't have enough spells to last a single combat much less an entire day. In order to keep your party alive, you need scrolls and wands. And you need to learn spells so you can scribe them. There's no cheating involved, the associated costs make sure of that.
Edit: Feel free to invite her to the forums. A new GM can learn a lot here to help your game and she can see first hand the kind of advice your getting and why it wouldn't be cheating.
For anyone here who may have read a thread I made a week or so ago titled "So how do you handle someone with 'The Guy' Syndrome?", that same character fell into the stock 'OMG YOU PRACTICE NECROMANCY SO YOU'RE AUTOMATICALLY EVIL!' response upon seeing me using ray of enfeeblement on a sinspawn, and later interrogation on a goblin ((He proceeded to much more 'humanely' beat the information out the goblin instead.)).
Long story short, blood transcription is very much out of the question.
Also, are there any standard must have wizard spells? The only one I can think of off the top of my head is Overland Flight
How worried should I be about getting new spells via scrolls and enemy spellbooks? Should I start getting really careful with my level up spells?Always be very careful with your level up spells. Choose them under the assumption that you very well may not acquire any additional spells at all.
That way when you do get additional spells, they're a nice bonus. When you don't, you're doing swell just the way you are.
*Cough* Savage Tide Adventure Path *Cough*
I went 5 levels, from 6-10, without having access to a source of spells other than level up spells. Fun stuff.
Scrying and Teleport. If nothing else, teleport guarantees you can have all the spells you want afford. How? Scry on the city of Absalom, the largest city on Golarion where almost anything is available. Then teleport to Absalom.
You have an 88% chance of getting close. And you can always cast the teleport again and again until you get there. And then you purchase all the spells you want.
Alternatively, remember when you get the spell you can teleport to anywhere within 900 miles. There's got to be a city of some repute within 900 miles, and someone there is going to know some spells and have a spell book that they will share for the right price.
To be as unspoilery as I can wile still answering your question...
Yeah, in the jade regent ap, be very careful picking your spells on level up, and set aside a budget to purchase new ones.
Source: Level 11 wizard in the AP in question.
Just be aware that anything considered so good it is a must have is something that will throw a new GM for a loop.
Take the infamous bubble - Emergency Force Sphere is a really good spell. Like on par with Dimension Door, which is arguably the best spell of it's level for defense. This spell makes you immune to almost everything, with the catch that you need a floor. It was written as a counter to "rocks fall you die" literally. Like some player got upset enough at a GM that they wrote and got published a spell to specifically prevent that. What it does on a meta level is makes it a nightmare to exercise narrative control as a GM.
Grab all the crazy stuff you want. Grab Simulacrum and Blood Money if you want. Talk it out with the GM so they know exactly how powerful your exploits are, and be willing to listen to their concerns.
Alright, so the spells listed above are the ones I've gotten up until level 4 where I am at the moment. Here's a list of what I think I should learn over the next six levels
Level 5: Fly, Shrink Item
Level 6: Clairaudience-Voyance, Spiked Pit
Level 7: Black Tentacles, Dimension Door
Level 8: Secure Shelter, Confusion
Level 9: Overland Flight, Wall of Force
Level 10: Telepathic Bond, Fickle Winds
Not AP specific, but in my experience you want at least one good blast for things like swarms and minions.
I have never seen a situation that needed a spiked pit instead of create pit. I have seen plenty of situations that neither pit spell can handle but a Fireball or Lightning Bolt can.
Party's got a newbie magus, so I'm leaving blasting stuff to him (same guy as from the thread I mentioned earlier)
Spiked pit I couldn't think of anything better, but I also liked the idea of just making a hole in the ground and letting the party shoot a fish in a barrel.