I got to talking about the wizard I'll be playing soon in another thread, and decided it might be a good idea to get some advice on fine tuning it. The character is 4th level and uses free archetype. The general goal of the build is to be as effective in out of combat utility as possible, with the exception of charisma since I have two cha-based party members, without completely abandoning combat effectiveness. The build is as follows, willing to listen to advice on changing anything but the ancestry and background. I've already asked my GM about any uncommon or rare options that are listed.
Ancestry: Human
Heritage: Skilled (Stealth, to aid with the Silent Spell feat)
Background: Cursed
Ability Scores: Str 8, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 8
Skills: Arcana (Expert), Crafting, Deception, Intimidation, Nature, Occultism (from Background), Religion, Society, Stealth (from Skilled), Curse Lore, Loremaster Lore
Arcane School: Universalist
Arcane Thesis: Spell Substitution
Ancestry Feat: General Training for Incredible Initiative
1st Level feat from Universalist: Reach Spell
2nd Level Class Feat: Conceal Spell
2nd Level Free Archetype: Loremaster Dedication
2nd Level Skill Feat: Quick Identification
3rd Level General Feat: Toughness
4th Level Class Feat: Silent Spell
4th Level Free Archetype: Quick Study
4th Level Skill Feat: Magical Shorthand
Cantrips: Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Electric Arc, Mage Hand, Message, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost, Shield, Sigil, Telekinetic Projectile
1st: Animate Dead, Alarm*, Fear, Grease*, Illusory Disguise, Invisible Item, Magic Missile, Share Lore, Thoughtful Gift, Unseen Servant
2nd: Blood Vendetta, Comprehend Languages, Dispel Magic*, Illusory Creature*, Knock*, Spider Climb*, Sudden Bolt, Web
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So what is it you have in mind as far as “out of combat utility?”
I think of a wizard being the one who knows tons of stuff, so having training in Nature, Arcana, Occultism and Religion would be good.
People get smashed up a bunch, so training in Medicine and a kit helps you patch up team mates and treat poisons and diseases.
Equipment can get buggered. A repair kit and training in Craft helps you to keep the fighter's shield in fighting trim.
A thieve's kit and Thievery skill makes you capable of bypassing traps of all sorts... you even have Detect Magic to help locate magical traps.
What I’m driving at is that Skills are super useful. You don’t need spells only. I like a wizard to have good INT and WIS so I can cover the Recall Knowledge skills, and if I have points left over I’ll invest in DEX to round out Thievery. Between a high INT score and background choices you can cover quite a lot of ground and have a wide range of trained skills.
That's how I’d go about it at any rate.
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I think Dex 16, Con 12, is better for that character than 14 in each in several ways. Most notably, it aids your Concealed Spell and other Skill uses, but it's also better for survivability due to AC.
Other than that I think your setup is good, though I agree that Streetwise is excellent for this character, I think with multiple Cha characters in the party, Quick Identification is probably better.
I'd scrap Intimidation for Acrobatics or Thievery, though. Either are more useful inasmuch as you'll be vastly better at them, and unlike Deception I see no thematic need for it. Not being terrible in Deception can also be legitimately useful to not give away a lie your friends are telling, but Intimidation has fewer secondary uses like that.
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I think conceal/silent are mostly social relevant feats (especially concealed), allowing you to cast your spells in occasions it would be akward, or even downright prohibited, to cast your spells.
I think that Conceal by itself is enough for those occasions though.
Instead I would pick up Familiar with Natural ambition (instead of picking up Incredible Initiative, and if you value your initiative that much, pick Incredible initiative over Toughness at 3)
And with the 4th level feat grab Enhanced Familiar instead of Silent spell.
A 4 ability familiar can be amazing OOC utility, as a simple example: flying, shared senses, speech, skilled allows you to have it fly to places and you can see through it to scout, speech allows it to perfectly communicate what it has seen, and skilled with speech can make it actually better than you in using stuff like intimidation and diplomacy or anything else you care, or you can simply have it grab two Lores that are relevant for the day (you can pick and choose every day, so if you are in a swamp, pick up swamp lore, and etc)
Alternatively, instead of skilled you could pick up something like Indipendent and simply have it above the party to scout and have it, by itself, just descent and report if it spots anything weird and etc.
Skillwise, i think you can get greater OOC utility out of Streetwise compared to Quick Identification.
Using society instead of Diplomacy for Gather information should be great for a 18 Int 8 Cha character, and it even has the upside that there are chances for you to know something without even wasting the long time that it takes to Gather and instead know it immediately
Thanks for the advice! I'll go through it bit by bit.
Conceal/Silent is definitely primarily for social situations, yes, but it is going to be a homebrew campaign that is going to have a lot of social encounters. And dumping Cha is the reason that I'm not sure if Conceal on its own is that I'd have to succeed on Deception checks in addition to Stealth to use it. Also, there's the niche situation of being able to cast without having to open my mouth to breathe (I once held a caster underwater while punching them to death on another character, suffice to say not being able to cast without drowning ruined their day).
As for the familiar, the character originally has Witch multiclass as her free archetype so she had a familiar, but I dropped it because
And without picking up a familiar, I'm not sure what other low-level feats would really be worthwhile aside from Conceal/Silent.
But I will absolutely swap of Quick Identification for Streetwise, that seems like a much better pick, thanks!
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I think Dex 16, Con 12, is better for that character than 14 in each in several ways. Most notably, it aids your Concealed Spell and other Skill uses, but it's also better for survivability due to AC.
Other than that I think your setup is good, though I agree that Streetwise is excellent for this character, I think with multiple Cha characters in the party, Quick Identification is probably better.
I'd scrap Intimidation for Acrobatics or Thievery, though. Either are more useful inasmuch as you'll be vastly better at them, and unlike Deception I see no thematic need for it. Not being terrible in Deception can also be legitimately useful to not give away a lie your friends are telling, but Intimidation has fewer secondary uses like that.
Good ideas all around, thanks! I think I do want her to be somewhat intimidating, but that can probably wait until higher level when my Intelligence increases or I pick up another dedication that gives skills.
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You can take the versatile heritage instead of skilled for your general feat and then take natural skill as your human feat. This gives you an extra skill at trained.
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You can take the versatile heritage instead of skilled for your general feat and then take natural skill as your human feat. This gives you an extra skill at trained.
It also loses you out on the free upgrade to Expert, though. And you'll never be able to take Skilled Heritage after 1st, while you would be able to grab Natural Skill at 5th or whatever.