Welp, after many years of playing more martial/partial casters that fight martially, I've finally decided to take the plunge and attempt building a full caster for the first time, and naturally I decided to take a whack at the wizard class.
I delved through Treatmonk's guide and the Core Rulebook to get an idea of what to build, and while I have the basic's down, I still feel like I'm not doing enough to optimize my spells, though granted at level 2 I don't exactly have alot of options. That and frankly the lists of wizard spells I can use is well...overwhelming, to say the least, and unfortunately about 3/4 of them are either poor spells to use or are too circumstantial.
Anyways, to get to the meat of the matter, are their better options for spells or is there some sort of document that essentially cuts the "less than ideal spells" and gives a list of the most popular/chosen spells?
Below is the spells I already have set up on the character.
Currently the specialty school is Conjuration, with opposing schools as Divination and Enchantment.
Cantrips: Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Ghost Sound, Light, Message, Open/Close, Read Magic
Lvl 1: Color Spray, Endure Elements, Feather Fall, Grease, Mage Armor, Protection from Evil, Silent Image, Snapdragon Fireworks
Aside from the fireworks, which is essentially thrown in as a spell to help towards social interactions, the rest are focused towards being utilitarian, either to help out of combat or assist in either providing some battlefield control or buff/debuffs.
Those are decent spells. Even snapdragon fireworks can be made into a useful combat spell with the burning amplification feat or (later on) metamagic like dazing spell. There are people who have rated wizard spells and included those lists in their wizard guides, I know Tarondor did at least in his guide to the transmuter wizard. There's a stickied thread which includes links to a page with various guides at the start of this forum.
Still there's the question of which feat or feats are you looking at? It doesn't look like you're taking touch attack or ranged touch spells so you don't need to go for point blank/precise shot or weapon finesse. If your conjuration specialist is going to be summoning much then you may want academae graduate followed by spell focus (conjuration) and augment summoning. Someone who prefers the battlefield control aspect of conjuration may prefer fleeting spell and the ___ amplification feats. If you want generally useful feats then improved initiative is seldom a waste, and spell focus followed by spell specialization lets you be good at whatever spell you've decided you like this level, or varisian tattoo if you want a smaller bonus but to all spells of a particular school.
The feats you take determine which spells will be best for you, to a degree.
Maybe this:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NyTzIGaTINNEMC-rpfyw9pDTuEtxKFiUxka 7STeUZt4/htmlview#But more importantly, what do you actually want to do during combat? Nuke, summon, buff, debuff, etc? For wizards, a lot of the stronger feats/traits push you toward specializing in just a few (one) spells, and that’s going to determine what to look for. And were you indicating that you are building a core Wizard? Or were you just starting with the core rule book.
Say's the URL does not exist when I copy/paste it.
As for what I'd like to do in combat, I'm leaning towards a combination of battlefield control/buffing party members while leaving a spell slot or two open for actual damage dealing attacks.
And I was just starting with the core rulebook, since none of the archetypes really interested me and so I wouldn't be immediately overwhelmed by the spell selection available. Been looking at other materials outside the CR, but been trying to avoid overstretching into looking into every available material source.
For feats I essentially took Treatmonk's recommendation for general feats, and took Improved Initiative and Toughness. For successive levels I was thinking of looking at magic based feats such as Extend Spell and Quicken Spell, Augment Summoning and Combat Casting.
Focussing on summoned creatures is fine, as long as you have all the statblocks printed out in advance, and know your critters' combat options forwards and backwards.
If it was me, I'd take one damaging cantrip like acid splash or ray of frost. With the associated alchemical item in hand, you can do a solid 1d3+1 as a ranged touch attack, which isn't awesome, but it isn't wasted either.
As you progress, try to buy up scrolls to beef up your spell list. A wizard is only as tough as his spell selection!
|
The sheer volume of spells can start to get overwhelming. It is a good idea to keep a cheat sheet with all of your favorite and most useful spells. The good news is you are starting at a lower level, so you have lots of time to learn as you gain levels. Starting at higher levels is brutal if you don't know the class very well. Especially for magic users.
These forums put a space in any visible long string of characters but an imbedded link should work: Lelomenia's spreadsheet. It doesn't look to have permissions set to allow others to see it though.
If you're into battlefield control & a conjurer then the fleeting spell metamagic and the create pit line of spells will help; stinking cloud and wall spells are also worth a look. Persistent spell is another feat you will likely want. Extend spell isn't great, I suggest not getting it. Quicken spell is good but possibly not useful for battlefield control at least.