I've already got the stats, background story and name down for my character. However I was wondering what's the best way to design a wizard?
I've read that wizards can either specialize in one school of magic or generally use all magic. If anything I really like the idea of evocation but I'm not sure if only specializing in one school is a good idea (I see the use of illusions, divination and conjuring).
For our group my design is to be an aristocratic wizard of a noble family who is adept at evoking and is going to be the group's supplementary aid. I'm also going to give my character a barn owl familiar.
Any tips on how to best design my character? Again I'm pretty new but I learn fast
Which version?
3e. He mentioned specializing and an automatic familiar.
Specialization doesn't limit you to one school, but it does bar you from two (and you can't ban divination). The best two schools to ban are illusion and enchantment, as there are huge swaths of creatures against whom they simply do not work.
Evocation is a terrible school. If all a spell slot does is deal damage, you wasted that spell. Conjuration does everything it does, only better.
I recommend *not* getting a familiar. It's too fragile for what it does, and costs you XP when (not if, when) it dies.
Those are just my recommendations; by all means, do what you want, it's your character.
I'd also second not focusing in evocation, thats always my "no brainer" school to ban. Think of it like this. Do you want to magic missile for 1d4+1 damage without an attack roll 3ish times a day, or do you want to carry the crossbow and do 1d8 +0 damage 70% of the time if you have a decent (14) dex. Evocation just sort of makes you a crappy, flashy, archer.
What level would you be at? That might determine the impact of some skill bonuses. An owl would probably give you a bonus on some spot checks which can be very handy. If your PC is an aristocrat would they be a diplomatic sort (in 3.5 I think half elves get a bonus on diplomacy) and either take ranks in diplomacy or Knowledge Nobility for a synergy bonus? Spellcraft, knowledge arcana and concentration are probably good skills to take. Otherwise it may depend a bit on what else is in the party.
Grease, feather fall (when you need it, you really need it), expeditious retreat and magic missile are all 1st level spells that I would consider very valuable to have.
Against the things it is good at, it is as good as scorching ray when you are still level 1. Conjuration's best damage low to mid levels is the orb spells, which simply don't measure up to the Light of X spells. At super low levels, magic missile is also nice for its guaranteed damage. Light of Lunia is ranged touch, but it hits sooo much harder. 1d4+1 vs. 2d6. Against a light-sensitive creature or evil outsider, its damage doubles. 4d6 at first level, with sudden maximize. Bam. 24 damage at level one, on one single spell, one single turn. Now, if you crit with that spell, and you can because it is a ranged touch attack roll, that damage doubles and becomes 48. At level one. Save that nuke for when you are sure you are at the big nasty. Understand that most creatures you will be fighting at 1st level, will have somewhere around 4 hp. A "boss' type character, maybe around 12. Those numbers will probably double at level 2. You probably won't start regularly encountering creatures with hp of 45+ until around level 5-6.
At first level, you want to be able to get the most out of each spell slot because you have so little of them. Get a decent dex score and pick up a couple alchemist's fires to tide you over until about level 3ish. This is a better option than the crossbow because they are ranged touch, and are therefore much more likely to connect with targets at low levels. Also, when they do connect, there is a solid chance they will set the target on fire, at a dc 15 reflex save. They also do minor splash damage. Later, you will eventually try to get your hand on a wand instead of alchemist fires. If you specialize in evocation, you can do that three times per rest so long as your intelligence is 12 or higher. 2d6 three times a day on ranged touch, potentially 4d6 against the right target, is pretty awesome. So is three color sprays.
For fun and profit look at the complete arcane and complete mage books, along with the ultimate arcane spellbook. Also, the spell compendium is awesome. All of this is of course entirely contingent on what all your DM is allowing. If its all strict phb, always have one color spray prepared. You will actually knock targets unconscious with it at level 1, and will likely keep doing it at level 2 and 3. Specializing is a good idea, but you shouldn't ban both illusion and enchantment, only ban one of them and pick something else to do away with.
IIRC The big advantage of Specialization is that you get an additional spell per day for that school per spell level (and of course the character’s flavor). If you are just starting out playing a wizard and especially if this is lower level it might be better to go with being a generalist wizard for this PC so that you can get a feel for what the different schools and spells do. You could certainly focus in an area but not Specializing will allow you to use scrolls and wands whatever the school is.
Fun trick, by taking one level of sorcerer, you totally get around that whole forbidden item thing with school specialization. Not something I always do, but it is a competitive option depending on the build.
Also, Salla had a good recommendation about the familiar and the feat, but you could also consider taking a specialist variant class feature from Unearthed Arcana that replaces your familiar, depending on what you are specializing in. I remember necromancy got this scaling skeletal minion that you could re-summon/re-create if it ever got destroyed. Let me look up evo an conj real fast. In exchange for dropping your familiar, you can go with the rapid summoning class feature, which turns summon monster spells into a standard action cast time instead of a full round cast time. That is actually a huge deal. The summon monster can only take a standard action on the turn it appears in, rather than a full round action though. That was conjuration. For evo, you can drop your familiar in exchange for 1 higher caster level when you cast a spell with an energy type of your choice. The energy type is chosen at character creation and cannot be changed, ever. Caster level scales things like range, duration, and damage of a spell.
The main thing that evocation does is damage. And with the right spells, you can do a lot of damage quickly and/or to a large number of targets. Other schools overlap with the role of doing damage. Conjuration, for example, has plenty of damage spells, especially once you start looking outside of the Player's Handbook. Additionally, damage is not something unique to the wizard. Everyone can do damage, and often as much or more. Especially once you consider that many of evocation's damage spells allow a save for half damage. Additionally, Wizards have spells that can control the battlefield or incapacitate enemies by completely bypassing HP, either by rending them effectively helpless or simply killing them out right. And those options are usually more efficient and effective than dealing straight damage.
That said, evocation sure is fun. Dealing damage will still contribute to ending an encounter faster, and few things are as satisfying as the chaos caused by destroying a guard tower with a catastrophic explosion and setting it aflame from 800ft away. Also, there's a few neat, non-damaging tricks evocation can do as well. Just referring to the Player's Handbook, Shatter, Resilient Sphere, Wall of Force, Contingency, and Tiny Hut are all pretty fun to play with.
Personally, I would suggest going with a generalist for your first wizard. You won't get as many spell slots, but you keep all your spell options open to experiment with later. While Illusion and Enchantments may not interest you right now, you find yourself later liking the idea of being able to go invisible for ten or fifteen minutes at a time or effortlessly convince the guards that these aren't the droids they're looking for. And if you have access to supplements like The Complete Arcane, The Complete Mage, or the Spell Compendium, your available options increase by magnitudes. Just something to consider.
Familiars can be a fun roleplaying tools. But as someone who is a big fan of familiars and similar pet options, the rules aren't very kind to them. They're not very durable and you suffer some significant penalties if they die. If you still decide to take a familiar, keep it out of combat if at all possible. They're best used as scouts, spies, for creating distractions, or for standing watch. And the previously mentioned Obtain Familiar feat is a big boon if you want to take a familiar but have any plans for taking a prestige class. The default class features scales by your class level, while Obtain Familiar scales by your caster level, which wizard-oriented prestige classes usually increase. In which case, swapping out the default feature for something useful and then taking Obtain Familiar is a net win.
Other people have mentioned things like grease for battlefield control. Now, for combat purposes, there are four major things and one minor thing to consider as an arcanist. The four major things are touch armor class, reflex save, will save, and fortitude save. The minor thing is secondary types like evil and cold. These factors will determine which spell is best used to neutralize which target. When you have no other option to fall back on, the missile spells are good, like magic missile and force missiles, but these are all stopped by a single application of a first level spell, so check things with arcane sight and a spellcraft check, always, before attacking.
Some examples: NPCs with high fort saves, but low will saves, generally include things like fighters and barbarians, They also generally have low touch ac. They both also have low reflex saves. So you have a lot of viable options there, mental attacks like charm and hold person, AoE like burning hands or fireball, and ray spells like scorching ray and light of lunia. The missile spells are what you use when you have no other strong option, really. I should also point out that if something has spell resistance, find a way to bypass it if you can. This is actually where conjuration really shines, as that school has most of the acid effects and for some reason it always bypasses spell resistance. See, lots of constructs are a lot like fighters and barbarians. They are big, strong heavy, slow, and have the same strengths and weaknesses. The only difference is that several constructs are flat-out immune to any spell that doesn't bypass spell resistance.
You won't get this little gem until level 7, but if you have the spell compendium, there is something called ray of deanimation. It does more damage than normal for its level because it only targets constructs, and it bypasses spell resistance. It is ranged touch attack and most constricts have touch ac of garbage. Those are just examples. Study up on what monsters are vulnerable to which effects, and pick your spells accordingly.
Now, about those familiars. Fire is 100% right, and interestingly for all my optimization I had never considered doing that. As a final word of advice, whenever using a ray effect, damage or otherwise, put true strike on yourself beforehand if you get the chance. True strike+ranged touch+no save+no spell resistane=your effect is going through and not a damn thing in the whole world can stop it.
I'm new to D&D. A friend of mine introduced my housemates and myself to D&D and we're starting out by creating our very first characters (my friend being the DM since he has more experience with the game).
I've already got the stats, background story and name down for my character. However I was wondering what's the best way to design a wizard?
I've read that wizards can either specialize in one school of magic or generally use all magic. If anything I really like the idea of evocation but I'm not sure if only specializing in one school is a good idea (I see the use of illusions, divination and conjuring).
For our group my design is to be an aristocratic wizard of a noble family who is adept at evoking and is going to be the group's supplementary aid. I'm also going to give my character a barn owl familiar.
Any tips on how to best design my character? Again I'm pretty new but I learn fast
I try to design my characters with their personality in mind.
Yours is described as aristocratic and from a noble family. And an evoker. With a barn owl.
The barn owl, like several of the familiar choices, has been traditionally associated with death and the supernatural. It's a noble-looking bird, though. Is the owl the symbol of your noble house?
I'd make sure, as an aristocrat to have a rank in know nobility, diplomacy or some such 'noble' sounding things. Are all the nobles known for their knowledge of the arcane? Did they earn the throne by deception (illusion), supernatural knowledge (divination) or force (evocation/conjuration)? A generalist wizard is usually the way to go unless you have a specific idea of a wizard that specializes (such as a fire wizard, an ice wizard, a summoner, a necromancer, etc.). The reason being, you can scribe scrolls if you ever need to cast the same spell over and over. You can learn new spells through them and no schools are forbidden. Versatility is generally a good thing.
If he is going to be the supplementary aid, I wouldn't suggest being purely evoker, though. Illusions are cool because of the variety of things you can do with them. In-and-of themselves they don't do much, but an illusion of a rope swing over a spike pit can be pretty dangerous. Divinations are useful to a party... where's the secret door, wizard? Oh great seer, do the dead walk these halls? Do you feel the pull of arcane power here? Detect Secret Doors, Detect Undead, Detect Magic. And conjurations are always useful... not just for simple attacks either. Some of the monsters you can summon as you get more powerful are smart enough to do more complex tasks.
I'm just throwing stuff out there. Sounds like you have the character mostly made anyway. Good luck!
As soon as possible start discussing with the DM the possibility of making your own unique spells!
Remember that spell research can be expensive, so make sure the spell you want to make isn't already in the book. Most DMs will let you customize the spell a little as long as the spell does pretty much the same thing. For instance, an just a note on role-playing the wizard... One of my wizards can pull small stars from the sky that unerringly strike an opponent for 2-5 hp of damage each. Another one of my wizards shoots a beam of force out his eyes that strikes unerringly for 2-5 hp of damage. Another one of my wizards creates a ghostly set of teeth that fly at the target, striking unnerringly for 2-5 hp of damage. They're all casting the same spell (magic missile), but I always call them by the wizard's name.. Astrid the Sky-Tamer's Magic Meteor Missiles, Ocularian Dumai's Magic Missiles, Shoth of the Hidden Waters' Magic Ghostly Piranha Missiles.... Just make sure the DM knows what spell that is. Always make the other players think they might possibly be dealing with the awesomest character ever. That's how he becomes the awesomest character ever. At low levels, the character is pretty puny. A good bluff goes a long way, though.
just some ideas. your wizard. do what you want! Rick James!