Halfling Wizard 15/Bard 1...

[Tallyn]

I have been toying with the idea of a Dragon Marked Halfling Wizard 15/Bard 1.... My friends play a Rogue and a Fighter, and we frequently group alone... so it would be nice to be able to fill both an Arcane and Healer role at the same time. A level of Bard for UMD, access to cure wands and just a Cure Light Wound spell that can be modified through metamagics. Read below... I'd appreciate your advice, but I'm pretty set on the configuration of race and class.

6 Strength
10 Dexterity
16 Constitution
18 Intelligence
8 Wisdom
14 Charisma

..to start... thinking at 16 Stats should end up:

10 Strength
16 Dexterity
24 Constitution
32 Intelligence (+2 tome used at level 1, yes I have one in the bank)
14 Wisdom
20 Charisma

Feats:
1 Least Dragon Mark of Healing
3 Empower Healing
6 Lesser Dragon Mark of Healing
9 Greater Dragon Mark of Healing
12 Spell Penetration
15 Greater Spell Penetration
Wiz1 Extend Spell
Wiz5 Empower Spell
Wiz10 Maximize Spell
Wiz15 Quicken Spell

Skills should end up around:

Concentration 30
Use Magic Device 37
Tumble 16 (26 w/tumble spell)
Jump 10 (40 w/jump spell)
Haggle 13
Perform 28
Move Silent 18
Hide 20
Diplomacy 13
Balance 16

With +2 con tome to use for favor I should end up around 272 HP including amount from rage.

With +4 resist item and greater heroism I'm looking at saves approximately 21 Fort, 23 Reflex, 22 Will.


Enhancements:
Halfling Extra Dragonmark Uses IV 10 AP
Bard Song Magic I 1 AP
Wizard Elemental Manipulation IV 10 AP
Wizard Improved Spell Penetration III 12 AP
Wizard Energy of the Scholar III 6 AP
Wizard Wand and Scroll Mastery III 6 AP
Wizard Intelligence II 6 AP
Wizard Lineage of Elements II 3 AP
Wizard Lineage of Deadly Elements II 3 AP


I'll still have approximately 7 AP left to play around with, not sure where to slot them yet.

SP Should end up around 1500 to 1600. Calculated by using:

Bard L1 + Cha Bonus + Wizard 15 + Int Bonus + Magical Training + Wizardry VI Item + 150 (Shroud Item) + 80 Energy of the Scholar



Summary:

Cure Light Wounds 9/rest Modifiable by Empower Healing/Empower/Maximize
Cure Serious Wounds 7/rest Modifiable by Empower Healing/Empower/Maximize
Heal 5/rest Modifiable by Empower Healing
Can UMD most important scrolls such as Raise Dead and Heal (With +30% bonus to Heal)
Can Fascinate in a tight spot (+28 Perform, more with an item)
Can still put up good Wizard DPS.
UMD opens up any item that is RR.
Not too squishy for a caster.
Bard gives access to Cure Light Wounds permanently.


Downsides are mainly against High SR Mobs, my Spell Penetration will be slightly lower. Also, because of the enhancement points put into the extra dragon mark uses I will not be able to pick up Energy Manipulation which would modify Acid/Electricity Spell. My top end damage will be slightly below that of more dedicated Wizards. Not enough enhancement points to take advantage of Improved Empower and Improved Maximize enhancements.

Constructive criticism would be gladly appreciated. But please, leave sarcasm, snide remarks, and flame aside. Thanks

[Vicoden]

I think you are going to find the healing pretty hard to compete with. Unless you plan on spending a ton of cash on heal scrolls you will run out pretty quick. W/O enhancements to the healing power of your cure light wounds it will take a ton of casts to get that fighter back up in level.

Personally if you are going to 3 man things and you already have a tank and a rouge, why not just go pure bard? As long as you learn the quests, with good cc, few traps to deal with, and a decent tank, you should be able to handle most or any quest. I have a guildie that's a dragonmarked healing pure bard and he heals very well.

If anything, and you guys still want an arcane, maybe have to the rog go wizard. It's an easier transition.

[Tallyn]

Just to give you a heads up, I almost always have 200 Heal Scrolls and close to 100 raise dead scrolls on my rogue as well as several other stacks of 100s of scrolls for various uses.

You may be right about the healing. The Dragonmarks may get used quickly... this may not be a good idea for a main healer, but may be something that can do backup healing. With heal scrolls I could probably do normal quests without too much difficulty. Oh and modified by metamagics I can get those CLWs up there pretty good, think I'd be averaging between 30 and 40, but yeah that would still be painful at the higher levels.

Currently I am playing a bard, problem is that I specced this bard for warchanter, since I wanted to build a character up that route anyways.

What I may end up doing is leveling up a character to catch up with them when they release monks, so I can make my long awaited Cleric 12/Monk 2/Paladin 2 :)

[Pellegro]

I have a very similar build at 1bard/7wizard.

I didn't review your feats, but I have Empower Heal, Maximize, and Enhance.

I never use the Lvl 1 spell "Cure light" I get from bard (and will swap it out soon).

I have the DM enhancements I can get, so I've got 6 cure lights, and 4 cure serious.

The cure lights do about 50 points each and the cure serious close to 100 - its about 700 points of healing.

These are fast, fast, fast, and make for great "burst" healing.

I also carry cure serious wands, and use these exclusively for healing between fights.

I have found that I can play main healer on most all quests up to level appropriate, on normal, and depending on group even on hard or elite. But its tight.

I highly recommend the build - its a ton of fun. Use the DMs and your $$$ for healing, and your SPs for really really hot fireballs. :D

[EinarMal]

I have a very similar build at 1bard/7wizard.

I didn't review your feats, but I have Empower Heal, Maximize, and Enhance.

I never use the Lvl 1 spell "Cure light" I get from bard (and will swap it out soon).

I have the DM enhancements I can get, so I've got 6 cure lights, and 4 cure serious.

The cure lights do about 50 points each and the cure serious close to 100 - its about 700 points of healing.

These are fast, fast, fast, and make for great "burst" healing.

I also carry cure serious wands, and use these exclusively for healing between fights.

I have found that I can play main healer on most all quests up to level appropriate, on normal, and depending on group even on hard or elite. But its tight.

I highly recommend the build - its a ton of fun. Use the DMs and your $$$ for healing, and your SPs for really really hot fireballs. :D

I agree I have almost the same build as well, currently Wiz 5/Bard 1. The D-Marks really do give a lot of healing, the biggest problem is managing your metamagics like maximize which you want on for the marks but they can burn through spell points very quickly at lower levels if you leave them on.

I've been the main healer on several quests at that level, and regardless they are great for self healing. It is a fun effective build. It is kind of a bummer they are changing fascinate to work off of the perform skill, those 2 fascinates per shrine are also very nice.

[Vicoden]

I would think that if you have the cash flow to be dumping out some heal scrolls during the quests it would be fine. You still have plenty of CC with the wizard in you as well, which isn't even hurt that bad only down one level. Would be a fun toon.