Post/Author/DateTime	Post
JarionSilverblades 12-05-07, 06:13 PM	In an up coming game which I will be playing in (not DMing for once), I want to play a wizard, which is a change for me, I usually play Melee characters, and can't decide on a race. I was thinking of just going with Human, or maybe a Gnome. Anyway I'd like to hear what race you think I should choose. And please no post about how much a Wizard suck or how I should play a Sorcerer instead, Thank You.
ZiggZagg 12-05-07, 06:19 PM	For one, you are going to find people would tell you the other way around about the wizard and sorcerer. As for race, Human is good, Elf isn't bad, especially if you use the elf paragon from unearthed arcana. Free +2 int is nice. I think there is a kind of elf that gets a +2 normally instead of dex. I can't remember. Dwarves make surprisingly good wizards, since they get that +2 con. Always nice. Halflings aren't bad. Most of the core races make decent wizards, minus the half elf and half orc
The_Shaman 12-05-07, 06:36 PM	Apart and beyond what ZZ said... It really depends on what books, /setting you use. Here are some remarks off the top of my head. - Deep Imaskari (Underdark, not DotU): hey, bonus to intelligence never hurts, and a penalty to dexterity is much better than one to, say, constitution. They even have a minor ability that may work a little like a lvl 1 pearl of power. Spending a feat (Otherworldly, PGtF) to be treated like an outsider can make the good old alter self borderline broken. - gnomes: they are great illusionists (shadowcraft mage makes them even better), but their modifiers and size work well for wizards anyway. - elves: good substitution level for generalists, but poor ability modifiers. Grey elves (PHB) and Sun (FR) elves make okay mages due to the intelligence bonus, and iirc snow elves (Frostburn) don't have a penalty to constitution. Ideally you may try a dragonborn grey or sun elf. - Necropolitan (Libris Mortis): tricky, but good. Not having to worry about a constitution score can be a plus if you had poor rolls anyway, and the other undead immunities can be useful. Of course, being undead has its share of problems as well, but overall it's imo worth it if you had poor constitution. - Lesser Tieflings (PGtF): while their abilities are too bad for a proper +1, the lesser version is quite tolerable for a LA +0, if nothing else for its ability modifiers. - More on halflings: if you can, go for the Strongheart Haflings from PGtF. A bonus feat is always nice. - Azurin (MoI): you have most human traits, except the extra skill point - which, as a wizard, you probably won't need. Incarnum can be an interesting way to boost an otherwise typical builds... Whether by using feats to get abiltiies/soulmelds or entering a prestige class. - Kobold, Dragonwrought (RotD): I consider it cheezy, but a dragonwrought kobold gets only the benefits of aging and no penalties... and the dragon type won't hurt, either. - Illumian (RoD): some of their sigils can be quite useful, although I could never quite get used to having the fantasy equivalent of neon signs around my head. Suit yourself. I'm not that familiar with Eberron but I think changeling and warforged wizards had some ok options as well. Good luck! Don't worry about sucking - any halfway-intelligent wizard can blow a sorcerer out of the water, to say nothing about the non-casters.
ScorpiusRisk 12-05-07, 07:26 PM	1. Gray Elf (MM): +2 to Dex and Intelligence, -2 to Strength and Constitution, and all the normal elven benefits. That means, extra skill points, higher AC and to hit with dex weapons/rays, extra weapon proficiencies and resistances. Just make sure you trust the rest of your team. 2. Tallfellow Halfling (MM): +2 Dex, -2 Strength. Less of the Gray Elf's weaknesses and less of their advantages. Your size combines with your dex bonus on both AC and to hit with dex weapons, plus another bonus on thrown weapons. Not to mention a bonus on all saves. But you loose that Intelligence bonus. 3. Human: An extra feat is always nice. Extra skill points helps toward part of that intelligence bonus. No clear downside besides what he just doesn't have.
zook1shoe666 12-05-07, 11:07 PM	The_Shaman missed out on a couple... Lesser Fire Genasi and Lesser Air Genasi ;) also he prob doesnt have one of the older Dragon mags that has the Arcane Gnome... a gnome with +2 Int, -2 Wis in addition to the normal gnome
arjomanes 12-06-07, 12:49 AM	If you can use Races of Stone, the whisper gnome can make a good wizard.
JarionSilverblades 12-06-07, 07:16 AM	2. Tallfellow Halfling (MM): +2 Dex, -2 Strength. Less of the Gray Elf's weaknesses and less of their advantages. Your size combines with your dex bonus on both AC and to hit with dex weapons, plus another bonus on thrown weapons. Not to mention a bonus on all saves. But you loose that Intelligence bonus. It's funny you mentioned halfling. My DM (Who is new to DMing, and has only been playing for about 8 months) has created several Human sub-races (All Un-playtested), and says I have to play one of them. I told him that I was going play a different race and sense the party already has 2 elves I think I'll go with halfling. Also I'm no worried about the human bonus feat, we're allowed to take Flaws.
The_Shaman 12-06-07, 08:00 AM	The_Shaman missed out on a couple... Lesser Fire Genasi and Lesser Air Genasi ;) also he prob doesnt have one of the older Dragon mags that has the Arcane Gnome... a gnome with +2 Int, -2 Wis in addition to the normal gnome Yeah, I didn't really care about the genasi that much. As for the arcane gnome, I don't think the English language has words for that. Le fromage... Le fromage horrible...
docter3578 12-06-07, 10:20 AM	Vanara from oriental adventures -2 str, +2 int, +2 wis and a climb speed of 20ft and a +2 to balance and climb best wizard race ever :D
zook1shoe666 12-06-07, 10:35 AM	Vanara from oriental adventures -2 str, +2 int, +2 wis and a climb speed of 20ft and a +2 to balance and climb best wizard race ever :D errata'd to lose the ability changes, sorry to tell you.
FrostWolf 12-06-07, 04:23 PM	Human, with a few Paragon levels is always nice. The +2 that you get at the last paragon level is great for ether covering a weakness, or enhancing a strength.
AtsuiShoto 12-06-07, 06:25 PM	Doesn't human paragon lose a caster level? Sounds like a less-then-best option, because almost no racial feature is as good as a level of wizard casting.
PhaedrusXY 12-06-07, 06:29 PM	dragonborn (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20060105b&page=1) fire elf (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/elementalRacialVariants.htm#fireElves) +2 Int, -2 Cha, and one of the following: a) a breath weapon, b) flight, or c) blindsight, darkvision, and skill bonuses. Take the Otherworldly feat to make him an Outsider.
Salla 12-06-07, 06:38 PM	Dwarf. Con bonus helps in your most vulnerable areas ... Fort saves and HP.
ObscureInfo 12-06-07, 06:57 PM	I like Humans or Little People -Gnomes and Halflings. Humans because of the extra skill and feat bonus and Halflings and Gnomes because of their size and racial abilities. Being Small, they automatically get a AC, attack, and Hide bonus. Then add in the bonuses to Listen and other skills and you are more aware of your surroundings. So You can easily slip away when others are talking and slip back when you need to. Also enemies tend to ignore you in lieu of bigger and stronger opponents (at least until you cast your first spell :D ) You never are asked to carry anything more than necessary, because you can't and as a wizard you have access to tenser's floating disc and making Heward's handy hapsacks. If the water gets too deep, you are small enough to ride the shoulders of your bigger companions (and light enough that they won't mind too much). You will never be asked to gather firewood or water (too heavy). And most teammates won't be too adverse to you tying on to them and sleeping while travelling. (once again because you're small). True, everyone looks down on you and tends to ignore you, but that isn't all bad. That just means they underestimate you. "Judge me by my size, do you? And where you should not." The other part of being small is being child-like. Halflings tend to be more curious than is good for them. Gnomes like to have fun with people, play jokes on them. Both of these traits are what can make a character fun to play.
The_Shaman 12-06-07, 07:26 PM	dragonborn (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20060105b&page=1) fire elf (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/elementalRacialVariants.htm#fireElves) +2 Int, -2 Cha, and one of the following: a) a breath weapon, b) flight, or c) blindsight, darkvision, and skill bonuses. Take the Otherworldly feat to make him an Outsider. Didn't know the otherworldly feat worked on fire elves... Only on Star elves and Imaskari. Anyway, charisma tends to be a common dump score... but this comes at great cost: we get wizards who look like Mialee. For crying out loud, people, you think WotC artists draw her so bad just because? Wisen up... if you don't, Ember and Vadania will soon follow.
Sinfire Titan 12-06-07, 09:04 PM	It's funny you mentioned halfling. My DM (Who is new to DMing, and has only been playing for about 8 months) has created several Human sub-races (All Un-playtested), and says I have to play one of them. I told him that I was going play a different race and sense the party already has 2 elves I think I'll go with halfling. Also I'm no worried about the human bonus feat, we're allowed to take Flaws. In that case, Human or Azurin. Or Rilkan, for Dex goodness. BTW: Exemplars of Evil has both Proteus and Uncanny Forethought. And try to find a copy of the Mastercraft Anthologies just for the spellcaster section. They have feats in there to make Spell Mastery/Uncanny Forethought worth it. Complete Arcane and Complete Mage have some very useful feats, and Arcane Disciple from Complete Divine is the nuts. Knowledge Devotion from Complete Champion is well worth the feat slot.
zook1shoe666 12-06-07, 10:47 PM	Dwarf. Con bonus helps in your most vulnerable areas ... Fort saves and HP. so do gnomes, but gnomes also give AC and attack bonuses. arcane gnome gives wizards bonus on their main stat ;) even better.
PhaedrusXY 12-06-07, 11:02 PM	Didn't know the otherworldly feat worked on fire elves... Only on Star elves and Imaskari. And any elf from Evermeet.
Jaxgaret 12-06-07, 11:34 PM	Definitely Strongheart Halfling or Human for the bonus feat. A Naenkrau Illumian can be pretty good, too.
CrimsonDeath 12-07-07, 12:29 AM	Xeph (Expanded Psionics Handbook) might be interesting. -2 Str, +2 Dex, Darkvision. Plus, they're naturally psionic, which means they can hold Psionic Focus, which they can expend to take 15 on a Concentration check. Helpful for manifesting defensively at early levels, or for concentrating when you take damage at higher levels. The Elan (EPH) or Synad (CPsi) are both Aberrations, which may open up interesting Alter Self options. Like the Xeph, they're also naturally psionic. I wouldn't necessarily say these are the best races for a Wizard, but they offer interesting options.
JarionSilverblades 12-07-07, 11:03 AM	I've narrowed it down to 4 races. 1) Tallfellow Halfling 2) Lesser Tiefling 3) Hill Dwarf 4) Whisper gnome Human is out, DM is forcing anyone who wants to play a human to play an un-playtested home-brewed human sub-race.
imakuni67 12-07-07, 12:16 PM	i'd go whisper gnome then.
Sinfire Titan 12-07-07, 07:03 PM	I've narrowed it down to 4 races. 1) Tallfellow Halfling 2) Lesser Tiefling 3) Hill Dwarf 4) Whisper gnome Human is out, DM is forcing anyone who wants to play a human to play an un-playtested home-brewed human sub-race. Azurin? Much? It ain't a human, after all!
ObscureInfo 12-07-07, 08:22 PM	Why not a regular gnome? Why does everyone always want to play LA races with uber abilities? Take Elves for example. (I happen to know more about them) The Base Elf has some unique abilities, increase to Dex, penalty to Con, and some cool weapon proficiencies. But NO, that's not good enough, play a WOOD Elf would has bonuses to both Str and Dex, and some penalties I can't think of. Or play a SUN Elf who gets a bonus to Int. Or STAR Elves who get this cool ability..... It seems like most of these sub-races are merely there to provide bonuses to abilities to allow people to create uber-characters at first level? What's next? SUN Orcs who get a bonus to Cha and Int at the expense of Dex and Str?? I have to admit I have Races of Stone, I should probably at least look at the whisper gnome before condemning them in whole cloth. It just seems like another unneccessary sub-race to me. Aw, don't mind me, I just get cranky sometimes. The min/max element of character creation drives me nuts every once and awhile. And WOTC plays into it by constantly adding new products with more races in them. Does any of these guys even read the descriptions to know what kind of personality these races have?? Or is it just an excuse to get a 20 on a initial ability score?? Too many people play these races as just different kinds of humans. I think the splintering of the base races adds to this. I don't know..... Bah! Whatever! Play what you want. You don't need my permission. Have fun. (At least it is a gnome. Or may be a gnome. Get the gnome. They're a lot of fun.)
Jaxgaret 12-08-07, 02:24 PM	I've narrowed it down to 4 races. 1) Tallfellow Halfling 2) Lesser Tiefling 3) Hill Dwarf 4) Whisper gnome Human is out, DM is forcing anyone who wants to play a human to play an un-playtested home-brewed human sub-race. Why not play a Strongheart Halfling?
JarionSilverblades 12-08-07, 02:33 PM	None of the races I listed have an LA.
OpakeDragon 12-08-07, 03:09 PM	.... Human is out, DM is forcing anyone who wants to play a human to play an un-playtested home-brewed human sub-race. You could try this, I brewed it up, but its untested and I still need an opinion on if it is completely balanced, though it looks to be. ERUDITE Originally Erudites were indistinguishable from other humans of the world. A group of dedicated human scholars and magic users built a fortress in a gorge, and closed their borders for a millennia. The group was of considerable size and magical genetic pools, few ventured for long from the safety of the community. Magic is highly regarded as an essential part of life. Those born without the spark or want to learn the arts are not shunned or exiled. So long as no one tries to hinder the learning of another, even their own children, then they are allowed to make their living in anyway they like. It is not uncommon for a cook, farmer, or even a porter to be a magic user. __Personality: Erudites are an ambitious subrace of humans. Erudites' regard for magic is so high that even the average infantryman has at least minor magical abilities. Erudites are constantly in search of new, and old, magicks that will further individual and communal research. __Physical Description: Erudites are slight humans, but Erudites lifespan is slightly longer than human spans. Erudites typically stand from 5 feet to a little over 6 feet tall and weigh 95 to 135 pounds, with men the same height as and only marginally heavier than erudite women. They are intelligent but frail as a result of focusing on intellect. They tend to be pale-skinned and dark-haired, with deep blue, green or brown eyes. Erudites have no facial or body hair. They prefer simple, comfortable clothes, sometimes with a rune embroidery or talisman jewellery. Erudites live long lives compared to other humans, reaching adulthood at about 18 and rarely living longer than a single century, only one has been recorded to have lived past 200. __Relations: Erudites can pass as slim humans, but they give try to give every individual a chance to prove themselves. While they act the good neighbor, Erudites are always looking for ways to forward themselves, making them less than completely trustworthy to outsiders. __Alignment: Since erudites love magic in all its forms most tend toward neutrality and chaos, but not necessarily both. __Erudite Lands: Most erudites live in well protected enclaves on or near centers of magic; ancient places that are inherently magical. When they hunt game, gather food, and grow vegetables, magic is usually involved. Their contact with outsiders is usually limited, though some few erudites make a good living trading minor magic items, armor and weapons as well as magically tailored clothing finery. __Erudites encountered in human lands are commonly wandering adventurers in search of magic, fame or wealth. Most of these wandering Erudites are mistaken for slim humans and most prefer it that way. __Religion: The Matron of the Erudites is Anastrianna Baelumil. She was one of the founders of the first enclaves of the erudites. She was the most powerful of the mage founders. In the pursuit of magical understanding Anastrianna delved into the devine magics that Baccob granted. While Baccob is a powerful god, Anastrianna was always worried that since Baccob was the Uncaring that her people would eventually loose focus and stop aiding the people as a whole. Most erudites were hard pressed to come even close to her power. On her two hundred and eleventh birthday Anastrianna died, but as her last breathe left her, a bright light engulfed her body and she became a divine entity. __Language: The Erudite language, which uses a combination of the draconic, elven, dwarven, and common alphabets, is also combination of draconic, elvish, dwarvish and common. The original group of humans to found the Erudites had lived in diverse lands so in the process of sharing and reading new text the languages started to be used all at once. With some words being in different languages, whole words started to become unrecognisable by the original language as they were combined with the same word in another language. The sounds of each language still rings through depending on the context of the conversation and the attitude of the speaker. __Names: Erudite names range greatly from dwarvish sounding to distictly elvish to something as foreign as a Draconic word. __Adventurers: Due to their racial abilities and cultural predilections, erudites make superb wizards. However, the erudite's deviousness also makes them good rogues and swashbucklers, while their ability to learn makes them good factotums as well, opening a wide array of class options. .... Erudite Traits (Ex) These traits are in addition to the human traits. • +2 Intelligence, -2 Constitution. • Automatic Language: Erudite. • Favored Class: Wizard. .... I got the idea from the grey elf, and the feature points should be balanced but I'm no expert and no one has said anything since I revised it (if your DM is curious about that). You still get the human feat and skill points, and these additions should be well within the bounds of balance. I guess the favored class is a little sketchy so you can exclude that and it will only be 1 FP off from the human. I would really like to know how you do with it (and if you chose to change it) if you choose to use it. Thanks for giving it a chance. :)
YamiShinobi 12-09-07, 08:42 PM	heck you could use my nekogami Race name: Nekogami +2 dex +2 int, -2 str, -2 con nekogami are smarter and more agile than the normal human but physically weaker and frailer Speed 40 feet medium size eternal youth a nekogami is eternally appearing between the appearance of a human female aged 9-16, though they are treated as adult at any independent age, no middle aged old or venerable categories, they can not die of old age, but can from injury or battle, thier bodies never change in appearance after the 10 years of maturing (more like incubation in a sense) though they still gain the ability score boosts every 4 levels type, humanoid, (human, catgirl) +2 racial bonus on the following checks, hide, move silently, gather infiormation, tumble, listen, spot and search darkvision out to 60 feet medium size bonus feat at first level favored classes, rogue, weapon proficiency, a nekogami is proficient with simple weapons, the shortsword, shortbow, rapier, and light armor but not shields childish cuteness, a nekogami retains a sense of childish cuteness (this does not affect more than description) LA+0 they make good wizards, and even better rogues, they gain the human bonus feat, better land speed, if you need distance, a few rogueish proficiencies. they are about on par with elves. if you want the fluff, i can post it, but you can make your own, the intent was rogueish. they are on par with gray elves. i need you to playtest this all female race of lolis for me. see how you like them. though they are forever a cutesy female human child in bodily appearance. it's due to thier divine blood. catlike curiosity, if you have to edit, go ahead and post the edits that succeeded. this race is not meant for insane power. if you roll at least 3 18's put 1 of these 18's in dex, 1 of these 18's in int, and 1 18 in either cha, wis, or con. do you want me to genrate scores?
X0_Lt_0X 12-09-07, 08:59 PM	a pixie isnt bad ether Greater invisibility nice stat mods (minus STR) Fly speed Damage reduction 10/coldiron spell resistence dodge bonus feat And spell-like abilities The only bad thing is the +4LA which is bad for casters But once you get past that it makes for a powerful caster at least in my experiences...............
YamiShinobi 12-09-07, 09:10 PM	here i help you gnerate a wizard Kikishin Nekogami ( can change if you wish) array 4 18s, 1 16, 1 12 Nekogami 1st level wizard strength gets the 12 making ti 10, con gets the 16 making 14, int and dex, 18 +2 for 20 each, wis and cha 18 new stats (after mods) str10 dex20 con14 int20 wis 18, cha18 hp 6 bab/grapple 0/0 spells per day l03 l13 familiar cat (use base cat info) feats scribe scroll from Wizard combat casting from Char eschew materials (from nekogami) spellbook all level 0 spells + the following 8 spells magic missle ray of enfeeblement sleep disguise self magic weapon enlarge person reduce person color spray saves reflex 5 will 7 fort 2 no specialty skill points 28 concentration 4 move silently 2 cc (+3 from cat) spot 2 cc listen 2 cc hide 2 cc spellcraft 4 search 2 cc package (100 gp cost) shortsword x1 10gp (nekogami all use this) 2 lbs leather armor (nekogami can use this, only 10% failure) 10gp 15 lbs 2 spellbooks spellbooks are 30 gp each 3 lbs +3 lbs 6 lbs spell comonent pouch 5 gp 2 lbs backpack 2 gp 2 lbs but holds the folllowing items waterskin 1 gp 4 lbs 2days rations 1 gp 2 lbs flint and steel 1 gp no weight 10 gp left no weight equipment weight 17 other 16 total weight 33 lbs (barely a light load) ac 17 (10 +5 dex +2 leather) arcane failure 10% personal looks brown hair, blue eyes, pale skinned, slim childlike build similar to an 11 year old girl in frailty heigth 4 ft 10 weigth 68 lbs god nekogami ( refers to both the race and the cat god) gender female
zook1shoe666 12-10-07, 12:14 AM	I've narrowed it down to 4 races. 1) Tallfellow Halfling 2) Lesser Tiefling 3) Hill Dwarf 4) Whisper gnome Human is out, DM is forcing anyone who wants to play a human to play an un-playtested home-brewed human sub-race. of those, Whisper Gnome all the way ;)
JarionSilverblades 12-11-07, 08:20 AM	a pixie isnt bad ether Greater invisibility nice stat mods (minus STR) Fly speed Damage reduction 10/coldiron spell resistence dodge bonus feat And spell-like abilities The only bad thing is the +4LA which is bad for casters But once you get past that it makes for a powerful caster at least in my experiences............... I couldn't play a Pixie the +4 LA is to high we're beginning play at level 2.
ObscureInfo 12-11-07, 03:02 PM	You could use the Savage Species book and run a pixie at lvl 1 with a monster class. No wizard class for 5 levels, though. The thing with pixies as fey, they have both good saves and good number of racial skills, so even without any class abilities, they can still rock. At level 4, they have natural invisibility (permanent greater invisibility). Oh, and they fly. At level 2. And that's not even their most powerful ability. Crafting special arrows at level 4. Confusion/Polymorph Self at Level 5. Even at once/day, these special abilities rock. So by starting at level 2, you can already fly 20ft (average), use you lesser pixie powers 1/day and you already have +4 to both Int and Cha with an additional +2 to both on the way. As a matter of fact, if pixies weren't so weak at hp and take 5 levels to clear, everyone would be a pixie wizard/sorcerer. Don't ever mess with Tinkerbell. She'll #$%@ you up.