[3.5] Complete beginner wizard

[Dhom]

Hi min/maxers,

I recently joined a 3.5 campaign (my first foray into D&D).  I am looking for some help with my second character (my first died a quick but painful death).  I want to roll a wizard as my party is missing an arcane caster.  Party consists of cleric, fighter, ranger, and rogue.  All 3.5 books are available to use, I read Treantmonks guide to being god and CantripN's guide to being batman but they left me with more questions than answers.  I don't mind going super cheese but don't want to ruin the campaign for the others.

Here are the rules:
Character starts at level 3
32 point buy OR 72 point buy all stats start at 0 and cost 1
5000 starting gold
1 magic item worth 2000g or less (in addition to the 5k)
Allowed 1 flaw
All rulebooks allowed

I could use help with everything you are willing to provide.  EG. Class(specialist, domain, or w/e), Race, attributes, skills, feats, etc.

BACKSTORY: (My wizards back story for any interested in his motivation.)  As a child from the streets he caught the eye of the nearby royal family's recruiter.  The family often took in youths of promise to serve the realm and unify the nobility and the people.  During the course of his training he showed great aptitude to the arts of wizardry.  He was raised along side the Rulers only son and was expected to one day become an advisor and protector to the young prince. 
     However, an evil necromancer seeing the prosperity the realm hatched a plan to murder the royal family and conquer the kingdom.  The plan succeded but a loyal guard was able to spirit the prince away, though he was presumed dead.
     The young wizard narrowly managed to escape but the fate of his charge is unknown to him.  He spent the next several years traveling and learning whatever he could but with no true direction.
     He will find himself teleported to the top of a mountain near a recently fought battle.  Upon his arrival he will find what appears to be a small group of adventurers and a newly created magical tomb which he will recognize as a protection of his lieges birthright.

tl;dr  Wizard teleported to find his friend entombed.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

[Captnq]

Well. Go to my sig. Check out the EVD. Download a copy. Find oodles of handbooks. Bask in the over flowing font of information. So, I'll try and break down the most useful stuff.

Next I would go HERE and check out the Noob Guide.

HERE is an assortment of highly Min/Maxed 3rd level characters to give you some ideas.

You see, I really recommend against Wizard if your a noob. Here.

(click to show/hide)

The best for last. In effect, if you play with all the rules, wizards can do anything the rest of the classes can do, but better. With time and planning and a few dozen scribed scrolls, wizards quickly can over shadow the rest of the party. There’s a down side. Too many choices.

It’s really easy to screw up a wizard build. It’s easy to get seduced by the spell’s description then discover it’s totally impractical for its intended purpose. It’s also a boat load of paperwork. I’ve seen PCs with no less then 12 different spell lists that they would select, depending on the up coming events they expect to deal with. Being a wizard means keeping track of lists and lists of spells. It’s the reason the player I mentioned before is playing a monk. She just got sick and tired of all the paperwork. She said she wanted to roleplay a wizard, not roleplay being an accountant.

The wizard list is huge. I mean HUGE. And that’s just the official spells, not the third party spells, or the spells you will want to research. Wizard is by far the most time intensive class you can select. Think carefully before wading into the deep end of the pool.

I'd look at the suggested 3rd level blaster. Warlock with Eldritch Claws. Replaced his arms with Mighty Arms for 1,000 gp for the extra slam attack and thus qualifies for multiattack You can eventually buy beast claws which adds your slam to your claws. Trust me, those claws get SICK. And you get to keep blasting things all the time without worrying about silly spellbooks or spell lists or crap.

But, the request was for a wizard, so...

Stats: INT. The rest don't matter too much. Get an Int of a bazillion, if at all possible.
Whatever race your DM will allow with the most int. TAKE IT.

5000 starting gold. Hrm... Well, the EVD's Weapon section includes every mundane weapon ever, including every form of ammunition from every book. Take a look in the mundane weapon section.

Oh, I have a quick summary of the Wizard's Handbook in the EVD Class handbook section. It's got a break down in rather simple language of the basic Wizard book.

Now, you need to figure out what sort of wizard you wish to be... Frankly, your new. Try to avoid making a god right off the bat. I'd go for glass cannon. Now, If your DM is feeling sorry for you and is willing to allow some silly RAW rules lawyering. May I recommend THIS GUY.

He's a fire wizard. Now, basically, I took a one level dip into cloister cleric to pick up Initiate of Amauntor so he can spontaneously cast any fire spell on his spell list. Well, you'd be a wizard/cleric so EVERY firespell on both the wizard and cleric is on your spell list, so now you can spontaneously cast ANY FIRE SPELL. So, you can focus on spells that are useful, then fall back on fire spells as you need it.

Now, here's the kicker. Does your DM see Metamagic feats being applied before, or as you cast them? Because if it's before (which is what I believe), if you pick up energy substitution (fire) metamagic feat, you can change ANY energy based spell into a fire spell. Like... for example... Leomund's Tiny Igloo. Then spontaneously cast it.

The EVD's master spell list will be of use. Simply key word search for [FIRE], COLD, ACID, Blah blah blah and you will find many many spells. Most of which will be on your Cleric/Wizard spell list.

Check with your DM first, because this is QUESTIONABLE RAW, and sure as hell NOT RAI. But maybe he wants you to make a twitchy fire elf. I just like the name Incinerator Pyrus Phlogiston, Official Pyromaniac of the Sun God.

But maybe that's not your style. Well then, Go to the EVD/Spells 4.02/SPELLCASTING CLASSES v1.02.

A wizard really is defined by the PrC he plans on taking. So take a look at the PrCs and figure out which one jumps out at you. That Excell Spreadsheet has every spellcasting class that you could ever hope to take. Pick something that looks fun, but not something that doesn't give you full progression of spells every level. Figure out how to get that PrC, and buy your feats and skills as you need to so that you can qualify.

Finally, since you will have a high int, make sure to take a look at the Skill handbook section of the EVD. At low level, skills are important, so make sure you don't waste your points buying useless skills, or too much of a skill, and accidentally neglect an important one.

Feel free to post any questions or requests about the EVD. I'm currently working on the Feat handbook, so if you have a specific feat grouping you'd like ot see, check out the feat section of the EVD first, then post here a request, if you can't find it.

[Keldar]

Wizards are quite overwhelming for new players, much like Captnq's advice.     So I'm going to go ahead and be more specific than I usually would.

You're new so you should keep your options open till you get a feel for things.  Be a Generalist Wizard, or a Diviner.  Diviners lose access to only one school of magic unlike the other specialists and go well with your background as a vizier in training.  Necromancy makes a good opposition school to loose, both for minimal impact and back story reasons.  Enchantment is the back up choice, for the same reasons.  (Undead are immune to damn near the whole school.)

I'll presume you are human, which is a good race for everything thanks to that bonus feat.  If not, go for something with an Int bonus, but never something with a Con penalty.

With 32 point buy, cost in parenthesis  (72 points is better only if you want 2 very high scores and don't care about the others)
STR 8 (0)
DEX 12 (4)
CON 14 (6)
INT 18 (16)
WIS 12 (4)
CHA 10 (2)
You might feel like shifting points around on Wis, Cha and Dex, but I was trying for useful and in fitting with the advisory role.

Feats, go first or go home.
1- Improved Initiative (PHB)
Wizard- Scribe Scroll (PHB)
Human-  Extend Spell
Flaw- (Noncombatant -2 to melee attacks)-  Get a feat for your Prestige Class.  Alter others as needed.
3- Fiery Burst (Complete Mage, 43)  This gives you a light damage attack to use at will at the cost of keeping one fire spell uncast.  Alternate with Acidic Splatter from the same book.

Equipment:
2000gp Heyward's Handy Haversack.  Everyone wants one eventually anyway, its great.  If not, Ring of Protection +1.
750gp Healing Belt (Magic Item Compendium 110)  Best healing item in the game.
200gp Everfull Mug (MIC 160)
350go Everlasting Rations (MIC 160)
Free Spellbook
Spend the rest filling the haversack with mundane items and buying scrolls and paying scribing costs to fill your spellbook.  (25gp for a 1st level scroll and 200gp and 2 pages to add to book.)

For a familiar, a Raven is my favorite as it talks.  And it fits the limited theme you have so far.

For spells, just use Logic Ninja's Suggestions to start.  Make sure to get Mage Armor and a 2nd level spell to fuel your Fiery Burst. (Combust or Burning Sword, both from Spell Compendium for example.)


Now the big question, what Prestige Class interests you?  Because that can change darn near everything!

[sambojin]

Humans are great for the feat and the skills. It's just that little bit easier to get into whatever Prestige Class you want, and there's some beauties.

Your other super-customizable race is Illumians from Races of Destiny. Essentially humans with glowy letters, which fits into your backstory pretty well.

Why pick them? The Krau sigil. Sure it only comes online when you multi-class, but you will at some point. Into a PrC, or even a basic class. It makes dumping skills into anything that gets you over the line for a PrC so very worthwhile in the long run. At level 2 this gives you +2 Caster Level on all spells from all casting classes your character has, up to your character level. This is as good as, if not better than, any other feat that a human can get early on. Bigger, better, longer lasting spells, with perhaps even more targets for them. As a racial bonus it is amazing,  right up there with +2 Int or +1 save DC. Every good spellcasting PrC becomes an awesome PrC to level into with +1/+2CL attached to it in the first couple of levels of taking it. It makes one or two level "toolkit" dips worth it, even for basic classes. Dumping Practiced Spellcaster from Complete Divine as a feat onto any basic class (or PrC with its own spell slots) gives you a handy +6CL eventually, which removes a lot of the problems with limiting you spell progression as a Wizard. A mini-mystic-theurge combo, but for any spellcasting class. It's slow to come online, but quite frankly amazing when it does. There's plenty of options to mix with it, so check it out.


AeshKrau for a pack-mule wizard (handier than it sounds, carry 50 scrolls/potions if you want without encumberance and have a bit of "touch" attack goodness as well). UurKrau for a bit of extra initiative, AC and ray-attack hittyness. Both of these give you a spell-stat tie-in for all casting classes you end up levelling into (including PrC's with different spell lists), so high point-buy characters can end up with some pretty stupid stat layouts for a wizard. You get your bonus spells and some combat help. But be warned, it makes you vulnerable to things that drop these stats (spells, poisons, exhaustion, etc), and gives you less skill points too. Still not bad for some builds.

NaenKrau is very, very nice for the optional +1 DC to your spells of a particular level. It's costly at first, but once you start having plenty of spell levels and slots, keeping aside one unprepared slot to keep your lower level spells usable for longer is a nice bonus. +2 CL, +1DC (potentially for two entire spell levels of spells) is pretty damn awesome. +2 to Int skill usage is nice to top it off.

The next two are debatable, because they tend to assume a certain amount of multi-classing. And not into PrC's that enhance your spell progression properly. No +2CL either, which is half of the point of the race. Most likely leveling into cleric (or any divine spell class, probably with turning). This is a very evil thing for a wizard to do to himself. Makes it MAD, can make is bad. It can be good for a 1 lvl dip though, either late in a build, or very early on. The flexibility given or un-increased meta slots sort of do make it viable. Sort of, just. Especially early on in a campaign, when it's lack of slots, not spell levels, that kills you.

VaulNaen isn't horrible for some things. No Krau, so no +2CL. But you can get a tremendous amount of flexibility out of a multi-class layout, by just looking at any extra low level slots as your "Sorcerer-with-a-Wizard-spell-list" slots. A level of cleric isn't bad for spontaneous slot swapping. You either get more low level wizard spells, or later on, more cleric buffs/heals/whatevers which tend to keep working at higher levels anyway. Plus a couple of feats or DC/CL raises from domains to some parts of your spell list. Can be worth it when lvl 1 wizard spells stop really doing much to have a spontaneous cleric toolkit as backup. You already know all the cleric spells, so sub-in/memorize a spontaneous toolkit for the few spells on one side or the other of your lists that keep working well as your character progresses into bigger and badder situations. Level 1 spells, only twice a day, but almost worth it. Summoning as a domain can be handy, but there's plenty of others too.

NaenHoon. No +2 DC! No Krau! Again? WTF? But it gives you a couple of free'ish uses of metamagic each day. Is taking +1 to +3 off a slot use each day worth it, especially since you have to grab a cleric level (or anything with good turning included) for it? Hard to say. Might be. You get the normal cleric gubbins along with it (feats or +DC for some spells), so it could be.

Anyway, there's your main options for the Illumian. It's a very cool race. NaenKrau is pretty wicked compared to anything else. +2CL, +2 on Int checks, +1 DC for the loss of a spell slot or two (sort-of metamagic for all your lovely save-or-* spells). Very tasty indeed. Very Wizardy.

Oh, you also get stuck with a candle orbiting your head as an Illumian. Never turn that damn thing off unless absolutely necessary. It makes your spells better.

[beardman]

Wizards aren't the hardest class to play but they require doing your homework when choosing spells and quite often when casting them. The only universal rules are that intelligence is your highest stat and not to ban transmutation. Everything else is a matter of opinion.

My opinion is to play a conjurer and do your homework up front. Have the gamestats of a few creatures per spell level and make a note of what they're good for (scouting, melee, etc.) on notecards. Take the abrupt jaunt class feature so you don't have to keep track of a familiar and suffer the consequences when it dies. It will also get your d4s out of mashing range.

[phaedrusxy]

You'll want to focus on what is known as "battlefield control", as that's one of the things wizards do best, and given your party composition your partymates will love you for it, and you won't wind up stealing the show overtly (as you'll basically be "enabling" them to kill the baddies without dying).

So you'll want to prepare lots of spells that can hinder groups of enemies but not your own allies. Some great examples are Glitterdust, Grease, Web, etc. Wall of Smoke is a favorite of mine.

Charm Person might also be useful for lots of things if you don't ban enchantment (take out an enemy before the fight starts, get information, etc), but it will only work on humanoids and is useless once the fighting starts.

You'll of course also want some defenses. Mirror Image is one of the best, but it takes a standard action to cast and will eat up one of your highest level spell slots. I think Instant Diversion is an awesome alternative, as it is 1st level, and only a swift action to cast (so you can cast it plus another spell in the same round). It only lasts for 1 round, but often that's enough. You could also Extend it if desired.

Finally, wizards also excel at "utility" which is basically "everything outside of combat and buffing". Basically, they have an enormous toolbox with which they can literally solve pretty much any problem in the game, if they have time to prepare the right spell for the job. One of my favorite "scrying" types of spells is Spymaster's Coin. You cast it on a pebble and give it to your familiar to fly around (or fire it in a sling) allowing you to "scout", trick an enemy into taking it in the bandit chief's lair, etc. Silent Image is a spell which can be incredibly useful with some DMs, but almost useless with others. So you might want to look it over, and maybe discuss with your DM how he adjudicates illusions. Just one example of what to do with this is to make a fake wall/boulder/etc which your party can hide inside to escape from/ambush enemies.

One of the most unbelievably strong feats for wizards is Uncanny Forethought, which basically lets you reserve a few spell slots to cast spontaneoulsy from each day. This is crazy awesome if you fill your spellbook with loads and loads of odd spells that you typically won't prepare, but which are completely invaluable given the right circumstances. This will also greatly ease the main burden of playing a wizard which is preparing your spells every day, as it will be a lot less "hit and miss" and more forgiving. Your spellbook will obviously be your most valuable asset, and this feat makes that even more true. So finding ways to cram it as full as possible on the cheapest budget are important. One "trick" I like is paying mages to let you copy from their spellbooks, instead of buying scrolls, for spells over 1st level (its cheaper to buy scrolls for 1st). You'll also want to get a Boccob's Blessed Book (or the cheaper Aureon's Shard if you can use Eberron material) to get rid of that "pesky" scribing cost. Both of those are quite expensive, though.

If you consider taking a crafting feat, I think Craft Wonderous Items is the most useful. However, Mercantile Background is a decent alternative to consider to crafting, as it won't cost you XP to get your discounts, and it will let you sell "useless" items that your party finds for more money as well. Feats are precious though, so neither of these is a "must have" by any means.

Finally, don't overlook cantrips! Some of them are amazing! Message is like having "walkie talkies" for your whole party. Dancing Lights can serve as a distraction or light source, and Detect Magic is as good as a mine detector against magical traps. If you have some downtime, once you can cast third level spells you can Shrink Item a bunch of nasty mundane things to toss at people with Launch Item (boiling water/fires/etc).

Here is a link to a lot more information on a wizard build of mine, including his spellbook, if you're interested.