Prestige classes can make a build (a lot) stronger. You could consider focussing on 1 prestige class that advances 1 aspect of your wizard you want to specialize in, like the war weaver (buffing) or malconvocer (summoning).
Then again, a wizard is powerful enough on it's own, isn't it? So wizard 20 should be perfectly fine.
If you go for conjuration specialization, I'd consider the alternative class feature abrupt jaunt (instead of familiar), since you start at level 1. At the high levels, a familiair is more powerful, but at the low levels abrupt jaunt increases survivalability enormously.
Prestige classes can make a build (a lot) stronger. You could consider focussing on 1 prestige class that advances 1 aspect of your wizard you want to specialize in, like the war weaver (buffing) or malconvocer (summoning).
Then again, a wizard is powerful enough on it's own, isn't it? So wizard 20 should be perfectly fine.
If you go for conjuration specialization, I'd consider the alternative class feature abrupt jaunt (instead of familiar), since you start at level 1. At the high levels, a familiair is more powerful, but at the low levels abrupt jaunt increases survivalability enormously.
Alright. Keep in mind that I don't really have much experience in making characters for games directly (I know the rules, but that's pretty much it). As such, I don't know where all the random things that you might suggest are. Sorry if this sounds condescending, but could you give the book (no abbreviations) and (less importantly) the page number for anything you suggest? This will help me out a LOT.
Uncanny Forethought will let you cast any spell in your spellbook spontaneously. Planar Touchstone (Catalogues of Enlightenment) will let you add any spell from any cleric domain to your spell book. Take both, and your versatility will go through the roof. Get a Boccob's Blessed Book to cut down on scribing costs so you can make the most out of it.
Same as above, and remember that I'm starting at level 1, so money's going to be a bit slim. Suggestions for later are welcome, but I need some help with character creation right now.
Abrupt jaunt is in players handbook 2, under 'immediate magic', page 68-70
Malconvoker is a prestige class from complete scoundrel, page 48, if you would decide to go that route, there's a malconvoker handbook here somewhere
Warweaver is in heroes of battle, page 112. You may be surprised, but, if you go this way... it has it's own handbook!
Good luck
Right now, the options I can think of for each are 1) elf or halfling for race, 2) evocation, conjuration, or transmutation for specialization (evocation has a lot of crowd control AND damage, both of which I'll need), and 3) (from UnArc, again) the diviner's bonus feat list, conjurer's enhanced summoning, evoker's energy affinity, the domain spells (not sure on which, but yeah), maybe bloodlines, and PHB2's immediate magic's abrupt jaunt, counterfire, and sudden shift. Remember, I'm wanting a primary focus on battlefield control/debuffs and a secondary one on damage. Besides POSSIBLY the party sorcerer, I'm probably going to be the one farthest away from the action proper, and also the squishiest.
Evocation does pretty good from crowd control and general buffs, as far as I can see. I mean, almost every wall is in there, as are the Bigby's hand spells, seeking ray (self buff, makes all rays a bunch easier to hit with on top of damage), Howling Chain, and a whole mess of other illicit nuttiness. Damage is just gravy. And considering that I'm expecting to walk in on this team with them having mediocre offensive capacities, well, that's going to help. Besides, what better debuff is there than "dead"? And for future reference, no this doesn't mean I'm going to definitely use this as my chosen school. Conjuration, Transmutation, and now that I think on it Necromancy have more than enough random things for me to drool over to be split between them.
In case you honestly are new... well, read the handbooks. Seriously. They're a terrific resource. Beyond that... Evocation is typically tied with Enchantment for the "Crummiest School" award. A wizard who's worried mostly about dealing damage is doing it wrong, as you'll see when you read the handbooks... monster hit points exponentially outscale spell damage as you level up, and there are better damage options in other schools anyway. Crowd control and debuffing of some sort is far more effective at minimizing risk during a fight than any kind of straight-up blasting, especially for wizards. Now go read, and return filled with understanding of the power of God which is the rightful inheritance of wizards.
I'm aware of the benefits of playing a God-style caster (don't like that term very much, though I will give treant credit for coming up with it), and am probably going to focus on that primarily. However, I'm fully expecting to have minimal capabilities from the other party members on the tank role. If memory serves, my party consists of a kobold sorcerer, a rogue, and a monk (who might be MIA). See the problem? It's kinda hard to use the other party guys to keep from being targeted if most of the other guys on the team are squishy too. Summon Monster can only go so far, especially when you're starting at level 1.
Sorry if I seem like I'm trolling. Yes, I really am this much of a newbie when it comes to actually designing characters. If I say something overly stupid, PLEASE let me know before I cause a party wipe for using it!
EDIT: Also, and as a little side-note, for some reason a couple (read: a lot) of the links people post redirect me to a home page for the wizards forums. Is this because of some sort of glitch, or what? I THINK all the ones I saw came from a gleemax.com or something like that.
)Mmm... yes, the old gleemax links are often worthless. Gleemax was the old WOTC forums, mostly destroyed/lost during the transition to new forums. A lot of the data was salvaged to brilliantgameologists.com, so if you see a link that you think would be tremendously useful that doesn't work any more, you might check there. When browsing these boards, remember that they date back nearly a decade and have contained thousands of threads and probably millions of posts, so some of the material that is referenced in threads that are three and four years old is long gone.
), but weren't there still some hardcore optimizers that defended evocation as a school, like the dude who wrote the consolidated binder handbook? Don't want to redo that discussion, but there's something to say for some of those spells. On terms, I always liked the Batman better as well. GOD is rathter presumptions on the low levels (mhh, maybe not only at the low levels ;)), considering you can cast a few spells/day that will neither change the battlefield (ok, grease and stuff, but not too much) or prevent your buddies from getting hit. Even at higher levels, it's imho largely a question whether the DM is experienced enough to challenge a party.
Some practical stuff:
- Race suggestions: strongheart halfling, whisper gnome, lesser planetouched (the last one is from PGtF, the other I need to look up as well, so I guess you can google them
). The first two are always great, a lesser planetouched is worth it if you want to do polymorph tricks into outsiders. Then again, I'd stay away from the whole polymorph line, since the spells are blatantly broken, unless there's some heavy powergaming going on (and I doubt that with a monk in the party). - you can't mix UA's abilities from different specialization as I recall, I thought they were meant to give a specialist more special abilities.
- Second conjurer.
One practical thing: with this party, you might actually want to go the conjurer/summoner route, since you lack a big stupid fighter. With rapid summoning (UA), you should be able to do some instant battlefieldcontrol and keep the enemy busy.
EDIT: Also, the books we're allowed to pull stuff from are Player’s Handbook, Complete Adventurer,
Complete Arcane, Complete Divine, Complete Warrior, Complete Psionic, Expanded Psionics Handbook, Races of Destiny, Races of Stone, Races of the Wild, Sandstorm, Frostburn, Source Reference Document, Unearthed Arcana, Players Handbook II, Draconomicon, and Spell Compendium. Hope that helps narrow it down.
EDIT 2: Also, can you think of any way for me to add more useful stuff to my skill list at level 1 than what I already got? Sure, Spellcraft, Concentration, and (for my character, whose going to be inventing mundane problem solving items) Craft (alchemy) are given, but I got 2 skill points I still need to work with, and not a whole lot besides Knowledge (which has little benefit that I can see) and Languages I can put them in. Remember, no Complete Scoundrel, so no skill tricks.
EDIT: Alright, I think I found one solution to my skill points problem. Able Learner's allowed for me to take, and there's not much else for races I got access to from this vantage point regardless. Mix that with Heroic Destiny (the link in the original post gives feats I can take) and I'm set for feats AND race. Unless, of course, if you guys can come up with something better.
Thus, Batman can't play with direct dmg...he's got more effective things to do.
The Blaster can deal out an ass whupping...and be Batman when he doesn't want to. Thing is, as he gets better at direct dmg, being Batman becomes less and less useful. A good magic missile build can pretty much kill anything in 2 rds short of Epic monsters, and most creatures in 1 round. That's considerably better then save or die, when your enemies are going to save.
===Aelryinth
==Aerlyinth
Wizard level 1 (Human, Elf, Halfling)
Attributes: Int 16 (+3) Wis 14(+2) Cha 12(+1) Str 7(-) Dex 15 (+2) Con 15 (+2)
16 15 15 14 12 7
School Specialization: Conjuration Banned Schools: Enchantment, Illusion
Starting Package: Spell Component Pouch, Spellbook (34/100 pages taken), Wand of Charm Person (18 charges), 120 gp
5 Skill Points (+1 if human)
Spellcraft, Craft (Alchemy), Concentration, Knowledge (Arcana), Craft (Weaponsmithing)(If Human: Use Magic Device)
Feats
(bonus feats available: Skill Focus (any knowledge), Stealthy, Toughness, Dodge, Silent Spell, Persuasive PICK ONE!)
(If human: Able Learner, Heroic Destiny)
(If not human: Bonded Weapon quarterstaff)
(if using fighter bonus feat variant, Improved Initiative in place of Scribe Scroll)
Scribe Scroll
Variants Wanted: Domain Wizard (Unearthed Arcana page 57) (Transmutation, Evocation), replaces School Specialization
Switch Scribe Scroll and wizard bonus feats for Fighter bonus feats (Unearthed Arcana)
Immediate Magic (PHB2 page 68) (Conjuration) (Replaces Familiar, incompatible with Domain Wizard (removes specialization, which disallows this))
Spells Prepared
0 level (3 + 1 school spell): Light, Mage Hand, Message, Caltrops (Spell Compendium)
1 level (1 + 1 school spell): Grease, Nerveskitter
Spells In Spellbook:
0 level (16 PHB (minus Read Magic) + 8 Spell Compendium): All but Illusion & Enchantment
1 level (3 + 7 from int score): Grease, Mage Armor, Summon Monster 1, Benign Transposition, Nerveskitter, Enlarge Person, Ray of Enfeeblement, Magic Missile, Protection From Evil/Good/Chaos/Law, Persistant Blade
Yes, I know that banning Illusion will be painful. However, I think that I'd suffer more from banning Evocation (especially until I can get the shadow evocation spell and its relatives), so I compromised. Enchantment's the least beneficial for me out of those, seeing as it's almost exclusively what amounts to save-or-lose/suck on will. I got more than enough from other schools, thanks. Everything else is up to suggestion. Remember, the link I posted in the original post is wide open.
Where is that feat? Also, what exactly does it do? A + to hit isn't extremely useful for a crowd control wizard (and even some blaster types, depending on the spell used), unless if it comes with some serious benefits on the side. A full copy of the feat would be best, though unless if that's not the exact name of it, it's probably not allowed in this game. I can ask the DM specifically, but still; they're running by some house rules, and my interpretation of them is that if it isn't in there, it's probably off-bounds.
complete champion is were its found. if you are doing a god that can blast (they can be fun) its a great feat. i like it more for an archivist but a wizard would still do well by it.
and banning illusion isnt that bad. my last wizard banned it. he was a focused specialist in abjuration
i also got rid of enchantment and evocation.
enchantment isnt a good school at all even more so if you think you will make it to upper levels where things are immune and one spell shuts you down.
but my play styles is that if i cant get the save so high it onlt has a 5% chance of being made i dont use a save or die or save or suck. ide rather use things to limit movement or just buff my party until i get to the gems like waves of exhuation among others.
Sorry if this seemed snarky, but it's just how it sounds. I kinda suck at saying things without pissing people off. ^_^;;
If you've a cleric and a sorcerer to handle Dispel Magic, in particular. None of the other abjurations are really worth it. Protection from Evil and Mind Blank come to mind, but Pro Evil is a cleric spell (he'll have a wand of it) and the game may or may not reach Mind Blank levels.
Illusion is a better defensive school than Abjuration anyway. Compare Protection from Arrows with Invisibility. Mirror Image foils even high-powered attackers.
And watch out for Domain Wizard- if you take that variant you're not going to get Abrupt Jaunt.
Was he planning on entering Incantatrix later, though? I don't think you can if you've banned Abjuration, can you?
no you cant you have to ban a school other than abjuration upon entering
Was he planning on entering Incantatrix later, though? I don't think you can if you've banned Abjuration, can you?
I know there is one of those, but I think it's IotSV. Incantatrix is just "Ban another school" and since you've usually banned a couple already, it's a tough choice. (Worth it for the smell of cheddar every morning when you wake up, but still tough.)
Looks like you'll be focusing on Wizard. Go with the free Silent Spell. From the feats... you've got access to Complete Arcane and PHB II, and you have the Orb spells. Go Arcane Thesis, focus on Metamagic. Maybe be a Conjurer.
Apparently, you have to "Ask your Fate" which prestige classes are available in your city, and what things from the books listed in the guide are available in your city. Please Do This!