Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 el_shawno Sep 10, 2009 23:02:55	For your consideration and critique: ====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ====== Boreas, level 1 Genasi, Wizard Build: Control Wizard Arcane Implement Mastery: Staff of Defense Elemental Manifestation: Stormsoul Background: Akanûl (Akanûl Benefit) FINAL ABILITY SCORES Str 15, Con 14, Dex 10, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 8. STARTING ABILITY SCORES Str 13, Con 14, Dex 10, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 8. AC: 15 Fort: 13 Reflex: 14 Will: 14 HP: 24 Surges: 8 Surge Value: 6 TRAINED SKILLS Arcana +9, Insight +7, Religion +9, Nature +9 UNTRAINED SKILLS Acrobatics, Bluff -1, Diplomacy -1, Dungeoneering +2, Endurance +4, Heal +2, History +4, Intimidate -1, Perception +2, Stealth, Streetwise -1, Thievery, Athletics +2 FEATS Wizard: Ritual Caster Level 1: Focused Expertise (Quarterstaff) POWERS Wizard at-will 1: Thunderwave Wizard at-will 1: Scorching Burst Wizard encounter 1: Force Orb Wizard daily 1: Rolling Thunder Wizard daily 1 Spellbook: Sleep ITEMS Spellbook, Cloth Armor (Basic Clothing), Adventurer's Kit, Implement, Staff RITUALS Comprehend Language, Tenser's Floating Disk, Make Whole ====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ====== I am looking at Elemental Empowerment at 2nd level.  4th & 6th level feats will likely be Improved Initiative and Versatile Resistance. I know the stats are a little spread out, but I want the Wis for the Will save, the Con for hit points, and bumping my Str to 16 at 4th level gives me another point of damage for spells affected by Elemental Empowerment.  Toughness is always a winner.  Beyond that, I'm not 100% certain where I'd like to go with this character. Whaddya yinz think?
#2 kinevon Sep 11, 2009 13:56:11	Looks pretty good, although I am finding myself preferring Chilling Cloud as a ranged area control spell rather than scorching burst. It only does a small amount of damage, usually more than enough to take out those minions, but it causes a -2 to hit as an effect in the 3x3 area it hits. And both the damage and the -2 only affect enemies, which is sweet, but it should still work with Coordinated Explosion. Any specific reason for Stormsoul? I tend to like Watersoul. As a Defender, it allows him to get into the midst of the enemies quickly, and as a non-Defender, it gives a fairly nice "get out of jail free" card.
#3 Cailte Sep 13, 2009 2:09:31	Force Orb - It's a trap!. That's about the only power I see that I dislike. Astral Wasp, Grasping Shadows, Icy Terrain and Orb Masters Incendary Explosion are all superior encounter powers. Why the Str 15? Str 13 is more than enough for a Wizard unless you are doing some sort of odd multiclass thing that needs Str. Much better to have Dex 13 than high Str. Consider: FINAL ABILITY SCORES: Str 10, Con 14, Dex 13, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 10. STARTING ABILITY SCORES: Str 8, Con 14, Dex 13, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 10. Also in general sleep is one of the less effective Dailies for really putting the control out there.
#4 ferol_debtor_of_torm Sep 15, 2009 12:17:31	My guess is that he is planning to pick up Elemental Empowerment. The biggest problem I see with your build is that you are trying to do too much at once. What is more important to you doing damage or being controllery?
#5 Kurald_Galain Sep 16, 2009 6:23:12	Looks solid. It need not be much of a concern, but note that with your low charisma, you will not qualify for Spell Focus at paragon tier, nor for the crit-on-a-19 feat at Epic tier. Of course, that's quite a long time off anyway, and you can do without. My personal preference is to wait a few levels before taking Focused Expertise, and instead take a more "flashy" feat at first level (e.g. a familiar, or enlarge spell). The expertise feats don't become a necessity until level 15 (although they are good before that, of course). Force Orb is a pretty bad power, actually. I would take any actual area effect instead. Also, you may want to add Enlarge Spell to your feat list, because it's really that awesome. If you're worried about hit points or toughness, then instead of taking the feat or boosting your con, there are various backgrounds that let you use your intelligence mod on hit points.
#6 eudemonist Sep 16, 2009 15:14:55	I have a Stormsoul Wizard that I enjoy quite a bit.  He's built pretty similar to what you have here, and, though not my most powerful character, sees quite a bit of play simply because of the dearth of controllers in my local area.  He leans more toward damage, building primarily off of his Promise of Storm.  I have yet to take Enlarge Spell, because he uses a lot of multi-dice attacks, and with Promise of Storm up, it ends up being like -6 or (now that I'm paragon) -8 to damage, which I just don't want to give up. Elemental Empowerment is good, but I wouldn't put many points into strength just because of it.  The bonus doesn't scale, unlike that of Elemental Echo. I also went with Orb Mastery rather than staff, just to augment my control a little bit, because, like I said, I'm more oriented to damage.  I did wear hide armor around for several levels, but that was before Arcane Power and all came out and I retrained those feats.  It was very useful at low levels, because I relied pretty heavily on my Thunderwave and spent a fair amount of time near the front lines.  The Staff of Defense would help you out in that regard, but I've found that, as I got some levels under me and expanded my repertoire a little, I'm getting attacked less and less. Looks pretty good, though.
#7 eudemonist Sep 16, 2009 15:16:48	Oh yeah--for the level one Encounter, I strongly recommend Icy Terrain.  Just ready it for when the enemy moves.
#8 el_shawno Sep 16, 2009 22:37:00	I'm gonna be chucking Force Orb at 2nd.  I was thinking of Staffstrike Corrosion but Icy Terrain isn't a bad choice, either. And I am going to take Elemental Empowerment at 2nd level.  I'm leaning towards Versatile Resistance for his 4th level feat. After that, there's a spot for Elemental Echo but I'm thinking that an Ooze familiar would help with its 5 reistance to acid.  A familiar in general is never a bad thing I think.
#9 Kurald_Galain Sep 18, 2009 5:57:34	I have yet to take Enlarge Spell, because he uses a lot of multi-dice attacks, and with Promise of Storm up, it ends up being like -6 or (now that I'm paragon) -8 to damage, which I just don't want to give up. That is a good point, although of course you can take Enlarge and not use it all the time. After that, there's a spot for Elemental Echo but I'm thinking that an Ooze familiar would help with its 5 reistance to acid. A familiar in general is never a bad thing I think. Familiars are good. Resistance to acid only rarely comes up, though, so you may want to look into other familiars as well.
#10 eudemonist Sep 18, 2009 11:20:34	Yeah, I'll get Enlarge Spell sooner or later, but it just hasn't been a priority for me.   Froce Orb doesn't get the Elemental Empowerment bonus, does it?
#11 Mind_Flayer_Monk Sep 23, 2009 16:41:30	Change to either Earthsoul or Firesoul Genasi Take one of the feats in Dragon 367 Earthshock Master or Firepulse Master-both make your genasi encounter powers reliable. Key your power to its lowest ability-charisma or dexterity in your case. Take the AP feat Elemental Echo (p. 125), when you use these powers you gain a +1 to attack rolls and +2 to damage rolls until the end of your next turn Use your powers as much as possible! If you miss, you get the bonus and the power recharges, if you hit you get to deal damage to the enemy or knock it prone (great for escaping) any enemy that tries to get too close. Its a win win situation for you.
#12 ferol_debtor_of_torm Sep 23, 2009 16:42:40	Wow, that's an amazing idea.
#13 Mind_Flayer_Monk Sep 23, 2009 16:50:50	Wow, that's an amazing idea. It doesn't take much to imagine even cheesier stuff you can do.
#14 Uthrac Sep 24, 2009 13:44:39	Versitile Resistance & Stomsoul & Deathcut armor & Akanul background . . .
#15 Cailte Sep 29, 2009 23:34:16	My guess is that he is planning to pick up Elemental Empowerment. I've given that some more thought and came up with: STARTING ABILITY SCORES: Str 12, Con 14, Dex 13, Int 16, Wis 13, Cha 8. So final at level 1 is Str 14, Con 14, Dex 13, Int 18, Wis 13, Cha 8. At 11th you can have Str 16, Con 16, Dex 14, Int 21, Wis 14, Cha 9 At 21st you can have Str 18, Con 18, Dex 15, Int 24, Wis 15, Cha 10 (Str 20 Int 26 if you go Demigod) This lets you have the Feat progression: Wizard: Ritual Caster Level 1: Focused Expertise (Quarterstaff) Level 2: Elemental Empowerment Level 4: Staff Fighting or Armor Proficiemcy (Leather) Level 6: Dual Implement Spellcaster Level 8: Destructive Wizardry Level 10: Anything you like (Armor Proficiency (Leather) or Armour Proficiency (Hide)) This maximises your damage and defense over time. +2 (+3 at Paragon + 4 (or 5) at Epic) from Elemental Empowerment - all attacks +1 (up to +6) from Dual Implement Spellcaster - all attacks +2 whenever you hit more than 1 target - most attacks
#16 eudemonist Oct 02, 2009 15:07:28	Heh, my character has almost exactly that distribution, except I started with like a 17 Int to pick up a little more wisdom.  A level or two in, I was wishing I'd taken the 18.  Oh well.  I didn't have any plan for feat progression originally, but it's coming out just about like you're describing. Can't wait to get a set of genasi-soul armor...  Also, not sure how often you would get to use your earth- or fire-soul power as a wizard.
#17 el_shawno Oct 06, 2009 10:09:02	Well, I've levelled and am taking Elemental Empowerment for 2nd level feat.  I'll be training out Force Orb either to Staffstrike Corrosion or to Icy Terrain before his next mod. Looking ahead, while Leather Armor proficiency is a definite possibility, I'm pretty sure I'll be taking Versatile Resistance at 4th level.  My next questions is, then:  Staffstrike Corrosion or Icy Terrain:  Staffstrike has its advantage from the bonus I'd get when using my Staff of Defense feature and can also muck with artillery pretty nicely.  OTOH, Icy Terrain is your classic control spell and could make a difference. Any thoughts?