| kingadee |
I've seen it shot down alot for obvious reasons on here in the past, but I think I recently I finally stumbled on a way to reliably make a full armored wizard! My DM has OK'd the concept, and and I'm looking for advice/recommendations on what to do with him in later levels, as I'm still relatively new at the game. Any advice would be appreciated!
Quick Information
-My DM allows pretty much any pathfinder material, core rulebook/advanced player guide/etc.
- My DM allows third party material as long as it is present on the d20pfrsd wiki, which is the main reason I found a way for this to work.
How I get the wizard into armor:
Wyvaarans Favored Class bonus for wizard: "The wizard can reduce the number of level increase required to use a metamagic feat by 1/4 (to a minimum of +0). You must select this ability 4 times to reduce the level increase required by 1."
My plan for this is to grab the still spell meta-magic feat, and use the favored class bonus to reduce the level increase to +0 by level 4. As a result, I'll simply have my wizard prepare every single spell of his with the still spell meta-magic without increasing the spells level. With no somatic components, his spells would no longer be subject to Arcane failure chance.
The Cons (That I know of):
-2 int for wyvaarans. I know that taking an int hit is something that hurts a ton, and sets the wyvaaran 4 int points behind races like elves when it comes to casting. It means less spells and lower dc's, and just a bad time.
- higher AC or no, the wizard still has low health, which makes them nice and squishy like a rogue, plus they're a wizard, so no matter what they're a big target. Not putting the favored bonus towards HP gain means lost health as well, and I know wizards really can't spare health.
-I need the strength to even carry the armor, and his movement speed will be hurting
-Losing a feat for the tactic to work
-Since I want to go eldritch knight, according to everything I've read about magical Knack as much as it helps me cast spells at the right power level, I'm still going to miss out on 9th level spells and will be behind a level in spellcasting.
The Pros (That I know of):
- The armor, obviously
- Dragon immunities, meaning I have a wizard toting paralysis/sleep immunities.
- +2 dex and wis makes dumping wisdom a bit less painful?
- My wizard doesn't need attack rolls, so I can strap on full plate and a tower shield without worrying about proficiency if I want. He wont be a great swimmer for sure though.
The solution I have so far:
A dip into fighter means he can become an eldritch knight by level 6 (thanks to magical Knack). This gives me a few big benefits from what I can see.
- d10 health die eventually
- Proficiency in all armor, shields, While I don't think he needed these for the fact he wasn't making attack swings anyway, it makes skill checks a bit easier?
- grabbing the trait magical knack offsets the caster level loss, and I've even thought of grabbing the "extra traits" feat so I can get "defender of the society" for +1 dodge ac and whatever other trait picks my fancy.
- An extra combat feat from fighter, probably either Shield focus or dodge for an additional +1 AC, later when I get free combat feats I might as well grab the alternate as well.
Since he's going to be joining into a campaign late, he'll be starting off at level 5, here's what I have so far, as stated, any advice for future additions to him/recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
The main thing I'm still wondering, is even with the hp buff, if going into eldritch knight is even worth it, as the benefits of going into it do not seem to outweigh the costs of being behind two levels of spell progression? My DM recommended it, but I'm still unsure!
Thankyou in advance for any help!
Also, just to tally up the AC I've been able to figure out for him at level 5 with his first level in fighter
10(base)+9(armor)+4(tower shield)+1(familiar nat bump)+1(amulet of nat armor w/craft wondrous item)+1(ring of protection w/craft wondrous item)+1(dodge feat)+1(fighter trait thanks to extra traits feat)
Which I believe tallies up to an awesome 29!
| My Self |
Be an Empyreal-blooded wildblooded Sorcerer instead of a Wizard. It'll save you some heartache in terms of stats, even if you lose out on the still spell thing. Unless you're planning on going all the way (20 levels) with your armored wizard, you might be better off with a Magus. Magus gets to be an armored caster, even if it isn't a heavy armor wizard. Consider that a Wizard 5/Fighter 1/Eldritch Knight 1 has BAB 4 and is CL 5 with two spell levels and heavy armor. A Magus 7 is CL 7 and has three spell levels, with spellstrike, spell combat, medium armor, and BAB 5. If you're going the distance, Wizard/Fighter/Eldritch Knight will eventually pay out, but you'll need a lot of levels to do so. If you're doing this only for the AC and ability to cast in armor, why not play a Psychic?
Magical Knack only increases your caster level. You still need 5 levels in Wizard to get 3rd level spells.
| kingadee |
Be an Empyreal-blooded wildblooded Sorcerer instead of a Wizard. It'll save you some heartache in terms of stats, even if you lose out on the still spell thing. Unless you're planning on going all the way (20 levels) with your armored wizard, you might be better off with a Magus. Magus gets to be an armored caster, even if it isn't a heavy armor wizard. Consider that a Wizard 5/Fighter 1/Eldritch Knight 1 has BAB 4 and is CL 5 with two spell levels and heavy armor. A Magus 7 is CL 7 and has three spell levels, with spellstrike, spell combat, medium armor, and BAB 5. If you're going the distance, Wizard/Fighter/Eldritch Knight will eventually pay out, but you'll need a lot of levels to do so. If you're doing this only for the AC and ability to cast in armor, why not play a Psychic?
Magical Knack only increases your caster level. You still need 5 levels in Wizard to get 3rd level spells.
Ah you're probably right. I might roll with that instead, it definatley gives me a tough wyvaaran caster, thanks!
| BadBird |
That Wizard metamagic ability is crazy powerful. Forget Still Spell and heavy armor; take 8 levels of Wizard to shave 2 levels off of Dazing Spell. Then specialize in Dazing Fiery Shuriken at a stupidly low level, so you can toss daze all over the place while wielding a weapon.
Admixture Wizard; Fiery Shuriken + Wayang Spell Hunter, +Dazing Spell +Spell Focus +Spell Specialization + Persistent Spell.