Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Emirikol Sep 01, 2014 12:47:47	I see the PHB suggests dex or con as a higher abil for wizards.  Other than not getting your butt handed to you if you're stupid enough to let yourself into a combat situation, are CON and DEX important at all for your spells?  I notice that WIS is one of the saves.  Is that ever important for wizard spells?     jh
#2 Polaris Sep 01, 2014 12:53:09	Concentration saves are CON saves, and wizards have the worst hit-dice of all the classes, so I'd say that Con is pretty dang important.  Dex depends.  If you are going for your classic armor-less wizard, then Dex is also pretty dang important if you don't want to resemble a pinata.  In fact that's why Mtn Dwarf (or a 1 level cleric dip) for a Wizard is so strong.  It allows you to invest in things other than Dex and stay alive (and not have to spend an early and precious spell slot on mage armor).   -Polaris
#3 ppaladin123 Sep 01, 2014 12:55:38	Emirikol wrote:
#4 AtomicPope Sep 01, 2014 14:29:58	ppaladin123 wrote:
#5 Illithidbix Sep 01, 2014 15:00:37	[quote="Emirikol"] I see the PHB suggests dex or con as a higher abil for wizards.  Other than not getting your butt handed to you if you're stupid enough to let yourself into a combat situation, are CON and DEX important at all for your spells?  I notice that WIS is one of the saves.  Is that ever important for wizard spells? [/quote]   Short Answer: No, not for any spellcasting, all that matters to a Wizard is their INT score. Other classes use other scores (Druids, Rangers and Clerics use WIS whilst Paladins, Sorcerers, Bards and Warlocks use CHA for example)   DEX, CON and WIS are however very useful for surviving.   Now the assumption is the majority of saving throws are Dexterity, Constitution and Wisdom. - I'm not sure how true that actually is any more, Strength, Intelligence and Charisma saving throws maybe more common than I'm assuming.   DEX adds to your AC (unless you manage to end up in heavy armour... a very bad idea unless you become proficient in it, which requires multiclassing and/or feats). And DEX adds to your initiative. Going first helps not dying.   CON adds to your HP.   WIS is used for a lot of skills, noticeably Perception for spotting danger, and Insight for spotting if the nice person in front of you is in fact rather shonky.   As for CHA? convincing people you are in fact, not someone they need to stab goes along way for surviving as well.   And STR? Well sometimes jumping or swimming or climbing is the only way to escape.
#6 ppaladin123 Sep 01, 2014 15:09:58	[quote="Illithidbix"] Emirikol wrote:
#7 Psikerlord Sep 02, 2014 4:57:06	if youre a concentration caster, its quite possible con will give you more value than int.
#8 NN1 Sep 02, 2014 11:49:21	In earlier editions, core elves were considered poor wizards because of their con penalty (which was present at that point).  Con is necessary for concentration (now arguably more of an issue considering that battlefield control spells like web can be dispelled by shooting you) and especially important for hp!  A wizard is squishy, and most wizards like to avoid being squished.  My wizard (who got some interesting rolled ability scores) has an 18 in con and int (rolled 17,17,12,11,10,9 and took human).  Dex also helps AC, which will be low, unless you can get armor proficiency through feats, race, or multiclassing (3.X wizards had to jump through a lot more hoops to cast in armor).  Wis, cha, and str are generally thought to be dump stats, but they all have some utility.  Strength, probably the least useful and most easily replaced by magic and team mates only helps for melee with non-finesse weapons (like an improvise staff attack with your arcane focus), jumping, and encumberance (which can be an issue for some).  Wisdom is necessary for perception (what you don't know can AND WILL hurt you) and certain skills like medicine).  Cha helps with certain enchantments, resisting possession, and let's you get the most value out of disguise spells (unfortunately disguise self is self only, so you can't help the party face infultrate the enemy this way).