Okay, so my wizard may need some advice...

[Akkhan]

So at level 5 I think I may have totally screwed this one up...
Base Stats are;
Str:10
Dex:12
Con:14
Int:19
Wis:8
Cha:8

I don't know how bad that may turn out, but I kinda screwed my skills up a bit as well. I have 4 skill points in diplomacy for whatever reason, and a few in search before I discovered how worthless it is for me, but that's not so bad.
My feats may not be a good as possible either.
I have Insightful Reflexes, Magical Training, Mental Toughness, Heighten Spell, Extend Spell, Empower Spell.

I spent quite a bit of my noob money memorizing all the scrolls I could afford, but if it's better in the long run to scrap this guy, I guess I wouldn't mind. My main problem with doing quests is that I seem to run out of spellpoints so early. I try to melee sometimes, but whacking stuff with my club seems lacking.

Should I bite the bullet and hit delete? If I do, is there a way to like...scribe my spells? ...Probably not. This ain't UO.... If it's adequately workable, then I could continue it with some tips on the best ways to manage points. I'm guessing that I should be using hypnosis and web more often for one thing, as I was doing quests with just myself and one melee person. Anyway, thanks for any advice you feel benevolent enough to throw in my pitiful direction.

[blitzschlag]

just a quick reply.

dex is useless on a wizard if you take insightful reflexes (which you should). take the 4 points you put into dex and put em into strength and con.

so
12
8
15
18
8
8

would be ok looking stats for a human wizard.

on approach for early level play is to get masters touch spell and a usable greataxe. masters touch grants you profiency with all martial weapons. with extended blur and bulls strength you can hold your own in the early quests and use your spellpoints exclusively to nuke the bosses.

feats you need early on are
extend for longer duration buffs
maximize for quick burst damage

its important you get a grip on a greater potency I (lvl2) and a greater potency II (lvl4) item and use em when doing damage with niacs, burning hands or magic missile.

[Akkhan]

So, in short, it's best to just restart. Alright. I wish I could return all my spells to scroll form... Oh well. It's a shame any account bound junk I have is going to vanish.

[blitzschlag]

So, in short, it's best to just restart. Alright. I wish I could return all my spells to scroll form... Oh well. It's a shame any account bound junk I have is going to vanish.

rerolling will make you stronger overall. as skills you might wanna go for (in that order)

concentration
balance (only half ranks possible)
umd (only half ranks possible) so you can later use selected divine scrolls/wands on yourself.+
jump (only half ranks possible)
diplomacy (only half ranks possible)
1 point (at least) into tumble (2 points as its crossclass)

[Rowan00]

Looking at your build, you are maximising INT and have a CON of at least 14. Taking Diplomacy is perfectly fine for a wizard, because you need to shake off aggro. Your feat list seems okay too. Just take Maximise, Spell Pen and Improve Spell Pen next.

The min/maxers will advise you to reroll. However, I wouldn't go as far as that as I see nothing wrong with your build.

[dominp]

it seems like your main complaint is that you run out of spell points to fast. In that case I wouldnt reroll since the suggestions given to you don't really address that issue.

if you are having fun with this toon then I would keep him going and just work better at managing your mana.

I see lots of casters that don't use CC spells very well to help out and reduce the need to use damage spells....or will blast the last kobold thrower with scorching ray when he is down to 10% health and surrounded by tanks that are beating him down. Don't do that.

Just play smart...don't use your mana when you don't need to or just use it smarter.

when you target an enemy look at his health meter....is he less then 50% health.
Do you need to hit him with force missile or will magic missile work just the same to kill him off?
Is a melee attacking him? if so do i really need to cast anything on him at all???

other things to do of course is get the best power item you can find.
At level 5 its probably about a +50 or +60 power item that will help you start out with more mana.
And of course also be sure you have the korthos mana clickie from the MP quest....that will give you 2 clicks per rest
of extra spell points (about an extra 35-40 points)

[tihocan]

I agree you could optimize it by rerolling and dropping Dex, but don't expect to actually notice a difference, it's just a small optimization and you could also go on with this character, and still be good. Running out of SP and being weak in melee is not your build's fault, but something any casting-focused wizard needs to learn how to live with ;)

[Kaldaka]

OP max out your INT as a wizzy ... Drow starting INT should be 20. No other stat will be anywhere near as important as INT (CON might be a distant second, with all others much further behind). Spell DCs rolls for mobs are based on your INT and in end game content every single point counts ...

[hecate355]

You brought up common frustration iv had at lower levels. every time i started new char i met many wizards who didnt buff anything, didnt use any crowd control either. They just entered quest, waited for me to buff people, very rarely i got em to hand out blur, maybe some resists.

Therein lies your solution, if you lack mana to kill things at low levels, find other ways to be useful to group. Do not just enter quest, stand still till people go, then blast your mana and run around like headless chicken after :D

For crying out loud, low level population is already filled with all the 'killer' wizards who just wait for a moment to 'vaporize' everything they meet :D

Web is great spell, so is hypno, resist energy. Those may not give you such accomplishment feeling or adrenaline rush, but in long run they help lot more than just nuking your mana.

PS: not saying you are one of those wizards, but all this reminded me those thoughts about low level group play
PSS: nothing catastrophically wrong with your build, all stats are striving withing acceptable range, personally would have gone with less dex and either more strength or con, or both. About insightful reflexes, well again its matter of taste, you can get by with 8 dex and no insightful ref feat just fine. Not like you are going to evade much with or without it(jeee, widely disputed minmaxing! if i cant get top ac, i ignore it, same goes for saves, few more con may benefit you lot more later than few more saves.
Then again! if it fits into build and doesent cut out spellpenetration or 2, nessesary metamagics and possibly spellfocus, go ahead :)

[dominp]

OP max out your INT as a wizzy ... Drow starting INT should be 20. No other stat will be anywhere near as important as INT (CON might be a distant second, with all others much further behind). Spell DCs rolls for mobs are based on your INT and in end game content every single point counts ...

I think he is maxed out...don't think he is drow.
He maxed to 18 then took +1 at level 4 for his current 19 int score.

[Impaqt]

Based ont he Number of feats and stats, Its a 28pt Human Correct?

You have a decent character. Wizards are indeed difficult to play in the low levels.

Skill points are not something Wizards are in short supply of. Having points in Diplo isnt a bad thing.

The only feat issues I see are Lightning reflexes and you took Heighten way too early.

You can get a Free Feat swap from doing the Dragonmark quest in the harbor. Swap out Lightning Reflexes for Toughness.

Learn to manage your spell points better. Only use offensive spells when necessary. at level 5, your most powerful spell is Haste. Let your party mates be your destructive force.

Once you get to level 7 and pick up wall of fire, you start to realize the true power of an arcane. Quitting at 5 is a terreble idea.

[dominp]

Based ont he Number of feats and stats, Its a 28pt Human Correct?

You have a decent character. Wizards are indeed difficult to play in the low levels.

Skill points are not something Wizards are in short supply of. Having points in Diplo isnt a bad thing.

The only feat issues I see are Lightning reflexes and you took Heighten way too early.

You can get a Free Feat swap from doing the Dragonmark quest in the harbor. Swap out Lightning Reflexes for Toughness.

Learn to manage your spell points better. Only use offensive spells when necessary. at level 5, your most powerful spell is Haste. Let your party mates be your destructive force.

Once you get to level 7 and pick up wall of fire, you start to realize the true power of an arcane. Quitting at 5 is a terreble idea.

agree with everything...only suggestion would be to pay for the feat exchange if you can and save your free one for later on when you are higher level. They are alot more expensive then.

[megathon]

agree with everything...only suggestion would be to pay for the feat exchange if you can and save your free one for later on when you are higher level. They are alot more expensive then.
I don't think you get a choice of saving your free feat. When I went to do a feat swap I still had my free one and didn't have an option of whether I wanted to use it or save it.

[blitzschlag]

I don't think you get a choice of saving your free feat. When I went to do a feat swap I still had my free one and didn't have an option of whether I wanted to use it or save it.

yes, but you can choose to do the quest later that grants the free feat exchange...

[dominp]

if you do the quest then you have to take the free one...simply don't do the quest till you are ready to turn the free one in.

[Scalion]

At lower levels melee has all the dps... just blur em, haste em, use resist energy, web, hypnotize and the xp will roll in.

I'd say don't think it's your job to kill everything, but reserve your spells for the tough mobs or situations. Like if you're in elite or hard mode in a kobold dungeon, the shamans are the only real threat to the group, so if you can shut them down you're the most useful member in the group.

Later on you'll get firewall etc, and then you'll turn the tables on the melee and they'll just do their best to keep a little aggro on themselves and off of you while your firewall burns everything in the dungeon.

As long as you have decent constitution, toughness, and maxed out Int, nothing else you can do will screw ya up too bad.

[Rowan00]

[quote = Impaqt; 2983195] The only feat issues I see are Lightning reflexes and you took Heighten way too early. [/quote

If I understand correctly, he took Insightful Reflexes, not lightning.

As it stands, I think it is still fine. He can take Maximise on lvl 8 and Spell Pen at lvl 10.

[Cendaer]

It's a shame any account bound junk I have is going to vanish.

Sell your bound-to-account items to convert them into gold, then mail said gold to an alt character for safekeeping.

If you have the shared bank option, put them there, to be moved to an alt character.

All is not lost.