Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Kahai 07-11-07, 01:27 PM	I am relatively new to the whole Dungeons and Dragons scene, but one of my main problems is actually keeping alive (I play a wizard) Determined to increase my survivability, I carefully read through the players handbook and I think I have just the idea. Looking at some of the heavier armor and shields, would it be a viable option to take the feat 'Still Spell', load myself up on the biggest, bulkiest armor I can find and wiggle my way past the arcane spell failure by using metamagic?
Salla 07-11-07, 01:32 PM	It's possible, but I'm not sure I'd call it viable ... effectively losing all those spell slots would be painful. You can offset this somewhat with a +1 Mithral Chain Shirt of Twilight ... no spell failure, no Armor Check Penalty, no Arcane Spell Failure.
Bruid 07-11-07, 01:55 PM	It's a tough move trying to have a wizard tough out hits by increasing his AC - with d4 Hit Dice, he just can't take that much abuse. Your best options for avoiding damage are simply that - avoiding the hits entirely. Two easy ways are: 1) Haste - your movement speed jumps by a ton (an extra 30 ft/round!). Use this to your advantage with your spells that all have decent range - even "close" range spells have range 25ft + 5ft/2 levels, so for a level 10 caster, that's range 50 feet. Stay away and lob your awful in the enemy's general direction. 2) Fly - when haste doesn't work, just go vertical, and you'll potentially avoid oh so much terribleness. But if you really want to stay in formation with your group, I can understand that. You have options here too. 1) Displacement - third level spell, 50% miss chance on incoming attacks. It's a great buff until your DM gets annoyed and starts countering your attempts with true sight. 2) Stoneskin - Almost self-explanatory. Damage reduction 10, especially when combined with displacement, is all the survivability from physical attacks you'll ever need. 3) Summon Monster VII - Summon an avoral beside you. He has 66 HP, (80 with augment summoning), and a lay on hands ability that lets him heal as much damage as he has maximum hit points - that's potentially an 80 point heal, distributed however you want it. This could help make up for your HP deficiency. This also goes for Summon Monster IX, to summon a Leonal (114 HP, 138 with Augment Summoning). Same lay on hands ability, but he also can cast cure critical 3 times, and heal once. Oh, and he also casts fireball and hold monster at will. I'd shy away from the bulky armor - as a wizard, I imagine that you have some dex for some extra AC, and plate mail mitigates that benefit. Also, if your strength is too low, you might not be able to walk around with the heaviest of armor. I'd instead look for lighter armor with enhancement bonuses, as well as rings/bracers of protection. Although, if you want to be a wizard in plate mail, you could always throw caution to the wind, cast tensers transformation, and run into the fray - if anything, it'd be interesting to watch.
Nephlite 07-11-07, 02:24 PM	I am relatively new to the whole Dungeons and Dragons scene, but one of my main problems is actually keeping alive (I play a wizard) Determined to increase my survivability, I carefully read through the players handbook and I think I have just the idea. Looking at some of the heavier armor and shields, would it be a viable option to take the feat 'Still Spell', load myself up on the biggest, bulkiest armor I can find and wiggle my way past the arcane spell failure by using metamagic? I perfer good Dex + Mithral Twilight Chain Shirt +1 (AC 5) + Mithral Buckler +1 (+2)=+5 armor and +2 shield bonuses. Add some ring, some Natural armor, and some insight (if can afford ioun stone). You'll have AC equivalent to heavy armor dudes (cheaper if craft these magic items). You need to take 3 levels of Spellsword to use Mithral Twilight Full Plate with no arcane spell failure. The problem with Still spell is you can only use lower level spells (as the higher spells slots are used up by the still spell).
zzo38 07-11-07, 03:05 PM	I would recomend not using armor, but shields can be used, just remove them when you are trying to cast a spell with a somatic component, you can put on and remove the shield pretty easily and quickly.
MCage 07-11-07, 04:09 PM	I dont know what books you can use but there are alot of PrC that aid in beefy wizard types, the Green Star Adept (complete arcane or mage, i can never remember which) basicaly slowly turns you into a construct, the Flux Adept (dragon compendium i think) gives you all kinds of nifty tricks that can be melee oriented, or the clasic dip into lvl 1 fighter.
AaronDireBear 07-11-07, 04:15 PM	For a second there I thought you were going to talk about a Transmutation specialist with Leadership, who takes a warforged Transmutation Specialist as a Cohort, and additionally has had one of his arms and one of his legs replaced by those of a Kolyarut Inevitable, who travel around looking for the 2nd Edition Philosopher's stone, after having encountered so many 3.5 ones.......
Mock26 07-11-07, 05:24 PM	You should just accept fate. For, as everyone knows (or should know), wizards are "always the first to die." If you know not of what I speak, follow this link: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1yXAEzp6W-U
Psikerlord 07-11-07, 06:15 PM	hehehe that youtube clip is awesome. I'd go with +1 mithral twilight displacement shirt, and make yourself a bunch of shield scrolls (25gp each). Also mirror image is the best miss chance you'll get, albeit only for a couple of rounds. the idea of a full plate mage with all still spells is kinda cool though...
Abyssal_Eye 07-11-07, 06:45 PM	I've been thinking of creating a 'spellcasting arcane tincan' (:D ) for a while now, too, and here's what I came up with: Runesmith PrC from Races of Stone coupled with Eschew Materials feat.(Full Spell Progression) You have to be a dwarf for this and need to take Heavy Armor Proficiency (or deal with a level of Cleric, Fighter, whatever...) but in the end you are able to cast most combat spells without any failure chance. The spells with the expensive material components are mostly the ones cast outsides of battles, anyway (a 'Ring of Arming' from the MIC is really useful here!). Allthough I have not actually tested this on higher levels the 'Shieldbearer' spell from SC could come in quite handy. The duration is long enough to normally last for the whole fight and with a good magical shield at hand it should outstrip the 'Shield' spell by some points. I am not quite sure if it is possible to take total cover behind a tower shield under this conditions, though. Another point is that on higher levels you usually have other opening spells for combat, but hey - I like it! :D On a side note these two combined could make for some great confusion in the enemy ranks, who would have thought that sturdy and heavy armored dwarf with a towershield to start throwing fireballs left and right, anyway? :cool: Otherweise there's pretty much the standard advice: - Dex as high as possible while not cutting back on Int - Mage armor and Shield spells come in very handy when trying to survive the lower levels (they kept my wizard alive, at least ;)) - A small character might seem unwise because of the reduced movement rate, but once you got fly it doesn't really matter - if they get you in the air, chances are they'd get a medium character on the ground, too. So if you like playing gnomes or halflings or other small races this could be a minor factor to further your AC. - As it was said before, some illusion spells are just the thing you need for staying alive: (Greater) Mirror Image, Displacement and the various forms of Invisibility are all beneficial factors to your health in the long run (plus it really gets on your DM's nerves sometimes ^^)
nightside_samurai 07-11-07, 06:49 PM	If you could afford it, there's a "tank" you could buy. It's listed in the SRD but I can't remember the name. Just hide inside it and snipe away through the eye-holes.
Mock26 07-11-07, 07:09 PM	You could also carry around a very big tower shield with a bar that can be used to prop it up. Be sure to also put a small vision slit with movable cover in the shield. While you cannot use the shield as a traditional shield, there is nothing in the rules that says you cannot hid behind it!
Holy_Beholder 07-11-07, 08:53 PM	If you could afford it, there's a "tank" you could buy. It's listed in the SRD but I can't remember the name. Just hide inside it and snipe away through the eye-holes. Its the Apparatus of Kwalish. It is really expensive though, but if you can afford it, buy it.
maharai23 07-11-07, 09:11 PM	Hmm. Runecaster may be up your alley. All their spells are treated as still spells. I believe it's in Races of Stone.
The_Third_Karsus 07-11-07, 09:58 PM	I think this all depends on what kind of money your party has. When I play a wizard/Sorcerer I go for the magical items to increase my armor class. I know at a low level you might not be able to achieve this but while at a low level your spells and party should be able to carry you until you can afford the good stuff. And hey if your really low on cash, you can always become a pick-pocketing wizard. I promise you no on will ever see that one coming!:D (well except the higher memebers of the wizards guild who can scry...)
Dial_Up_Dragon 07-11-07, 11:34 PM	You could always use wands. Wands don't provoke attacks of opportunity, the don't suffer from arcane spell failure due to armor, don't require concentration to use (so your 'spell' can't be disrupted), and they can be used while grappling (also helpful to stay alive). Another interesting option is the double wand wielder feat from Complete Arcane (though that does take up a practically useless feat slot with two-weapon fighting as a prereq; a level of fighter would provide that extra feat slot and the heavy armor proficiency, though). Would you loose your shield bonus with a buckler using a wand in that hand? I'd say you probably should. Now, how about if you had improved buckler defense from Complete Warrior(there now I've sold my quota of books for WotC for the year :) )? The biggest drawback is that wands are limited to 4th-lvl and lower spells (though being able to cast two spells in one round while encased in full-plate and suffering no arcane spell failure is still tempting, no? ;) ).
RedTopHat 07-12-07, 12:09 AM	I suggest Mage Armor over Shield because of the time per level on it (1 hour/lvl for armor where Shield is about 2 min/lvl.