Warforged Battlemage: My version

[Aspenor]

Much bigger fan of this idea than i am of the wf sorc melee. Taking -4 to your core stat at creation is ouchy times. On the topic of taking one level of a melee class to hit BAB 9 at current end game, taking a level of paladin would result in +2 to hit from the bab increase and Lord of blades enhancement for only 1 AP if that's the weapon you see yourself swinging around come level 16 (SOS of course )

I actually prefer fighter for this build. He is highly feat-dependant, and the wizard and fighter levels give me enough feats to come up with combat feats, metamagics, AND spell foci

[Daemonis]

Hey Aspenor,
I’m surprised you don’t have power attack in there! Your attack bonus will be more than adequate to hit most foes. You will do MORE melee DPS with Power Attack on than with a few non-maxed glancing blows. Activate a few Divine power clickies if you are fighting in boss encounters.

Frankly, I’m not sure the extra fighter level is necessary in a build like this. The advantage of going with a 15/1 WF Wizard/Fighter, a.k.a. MOD6 update of the popular, tried and true Arcane Psychoe template (as previously posted by build guru Nick), is that you will have near top end arcane power, good HP, nice NO SAVE 8th level spells, all the important metamagics, and basic ThF melee feats covered. You end up being able to choose IC: Slashing 1 level later than your latest build. Not a build breaker.

E.g.: Starting stats: S18, C18, I11, W11.
Consume +1STR, +1CON, +1INT, +1WIS tomes as acquired. +2STR favor tome.

Feats:
1) Toughness
1) Wizard bonus: Extend
2) Fighter bonus: Power attack, all simple & martial weapon proficiencies, shield proficiency.
3) Toughness
6) Wizard bonus: Maximize
9) Toughness
11) Wizard bonus: Quicken
12) Toughness
15) IC: Slashing
16) Wizard bonus: Empower

=====================================
I had considered making a melee caster such as this instead of my Diehard! Compared to Diehard!, assuming you make a WF 15Wiz/1Ftr with above feats, here’s how I appreciate the differences:

15Wiz/1Ftr (vs. Diehard!)
PROS:
1) Can cast all known spells and hence, is a MUCH more versatile spell caster than Diehard! You will be able to cast 8th level spells. Several which are no save.

You CAN be a melee-focused caster (which is what Diehard! was specifically designed to be) or drop back and fulfill the expected Wizard buff-bot/CC/selected nuking (so long as your more limited SP can support, anyway). Although, notably, the above posted build will have low DC's owing to low primary casting stat and no Heighten meta. You could make a better melee-capable wizard if you drop the starting STR to 16, bump up INT and WIS up to 15 and 12 respectively, and work in the Heighten metamagic feat. Having said that, the more you move away from the aforementioned feats selections, the more you move away from a melee-focused caster and complete off-tank to that of a melee-CAPABLE caster who can perform a variety of roles. Decide what you want to do.
2) Spell level 5 (and greater) nukes will do much more damage.

Negligible Differences:
1) Comparable SP. Depends on which feats you take I suppose.
2) HP's will be comparable or less HP than Diehard! if you swap in the SF/GSF: Enchantment line and Heighten to bolster your CC ability and MT/MTII to pump up spell points.
3) Both can self-cast, and if you so choose, party- buffs including blur, displacement, haste, resist, protection from energy, and stoneskin. Both can offer GH via spell or scrolls. Arguably, the wizard with the Extend meta will be a better self-party buffer, but that also means less SP for hot WoFires, self-heals, etc. decreasing damage output over the long haul.
4) Both have fast casting and uninterruptible Reconstructions to promote survivability.
5) Comparable fire based nuking aptitude with Scorching Rays, Fireball (if chosen), and Wall of fire.
6) Both can cast dimension door for PUG play in certain quests were the spell is beneficial or even necessary. I like to be self-sufficient and often take on the party leader role.

CONS:
1) Weaker saves. It hurts to fail a greater command or feeblemind! And you will!
2) No evasion for enemy breath weapons or AoE spells such as BB, flamestrikes, or comet falls. The Diehard! will walk through traps, BB, AoE nukes etc. with near immunity.
3) (much) Lower UMD. Probably won’t be able to use UMD to semi-reliably use Rez or other Divine scrolls as well as Diehard! Can. May be harder to equip those nice RR items as well. The Diehard!’s UMD offers increased flexibility – offsetting (somewhat) the clear advantage in (at least) arcane based spell flexibility that the Wizard battlemage has.
4) The Diehard! can wand whip your fleshie or WF teammates when they are in-capped or after battles.
5) While I personally have had good success opening locked doors with Knock on my pure caster arcanes (with max casting stats), this build may not fair as well with lower DCs. In contrast, the Diehard! build will be able to hit all current locks in the game.

=====================================
So it comes down to the type of build you want to make. It's not about which one is better as they both have thier merits. I already have several capped pure class arcane casters and a ThFighting big DPS battlebard. After planning out Diehard! and my own adaptation of Nick’s Arcane Psychoe on paper, I opted to give the Diehard! a try.

At the end of the day, Aspenor you will make a build, test it, and have some fun. That’s what this is all about. Enjoy your WF Battlemage!

Cheers, -Daemonis.

[Aspenor]

At the end of the day, Aspenor you will make a build, test it, and have some fun. That’s what this is all about. Enjoy your WF Battlemage!

Cheers, -Daemonis.

Ah, yes....I hadn't quite considered the build that way...IC at 15...after all I won't get around to building this guy till after mod 6 when I can use Master's Touch.

I like it. I like it a lot.

Now to see if I can squeeze the dual enchantment foci in that build. I like the enchantment foci, it gives this guy some versatility with charms and holds. Imagine mass hold person and running in swinging a big honkin two-hander....mmmmm

You have a whole lot of toughness feats. I view those hit points as replaceable

[Aeneas]

It is hard to argue with an extra feat . Also, i don't know if you play on risia at all but the mobs (in the vale anyway) aren't too too hard to charm and walking around with a devil army behind you is great fun. It seems they save or resist about half the time with a well specced 32 charisma bard throwing mass suggestion, so on a wiz with high int and the SF's for enchantment a mass suggest followed immediately by a mass hold = hilarity as half the mob snuggles up to you and the other half is frozen in place getting ripped apart by their brethren. Also, specializing a bit in enchantments means you can have your army be the initial focus for mob aggro and avoid many of the situations where having lower saves than a sorc based melee would be vital (flame strikes, greater commands, holds).

[Aspenor]

It is hard to argue with an extra feat . Also, i don't know if you play on risia at all but the mobs (in the vale anyway) aren't too too hard to charm and walking around with a devil army behind you is great fun.

/CHEER

UBERNESS!!!

rofl

I might drop one of my level up points into intelligence....hmmmm :/ not sure yet.

[Twerpp]

If you were to go with divine power clickies, you could afford to drop some con and either raise your int, or not completely dump stat your other stuff. By not using Tensors you have hotkey self heals so Con is less important. The ability to cast and fight simutaneously is what will make you shine IMO. Jump right into the middle of a small army drop a mass hold centered on yourself and then cleave baby.A high plus bursting greataxe is your buddy. Any damage you take is negligible youre a hotkey away from full health. Your AC is gonna suck no matter how you do it at least you have 14 minute shields though. Tensors kind of gimps the whole thing. I would only carry tensors for when you are out of sp

[Daemonis]

Taking the extra fighter level for the extra feat (weapon focus: slashing? LOL), a +1bump to STR, and maybe +5HP from fighter toughness, IMHO, is definitely not worth it.

By going, 15Wiz/1Fighter:
1) You gain more SP
2) More spells/day including the several nice no save 8th level ones (e.g., Otto’s irresistible dance; PW: Stun).
3) And +1DC on enchantment spells (at least if Aspenor can fit in Heighten) - so you can be even more effective developing your Charmy!

Regards, -Daemonis

[Aspenor]

Speaking of Nick...I group with him regularly and he's a very good buddy and guildie of mine. In fact, he owes me his soul.

[Aspenor]

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 2.75
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Frank 
Level 14 Lawful Good Warforged Male
(14 Wizard) 
Hit Points: 134
Spell Points: 898 
BAB: 7\7\12
Fortitude: 8
Reflex: 3
Will: 7

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 14)
Strength             18                    21
Dexterity             8                     8
Constitution         13                    16
Intelligence         17                    22
Wisdom                6                     6
Charisma              6                     6

Tomes Used
+1 Tome of Strength used at level 1
+1 Tome of Constitution used at level 1
+1 Tome of Intelligence used at level 1

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 14)
Balance               1                     9.5
Bluff                -2                    -2
Concentration         6                    20
Diplomacy            -2                    -2
Disable Device        n/a                   n/a
Haggle               -2                     6.5
Heal                 -2                    -2
Hide                 -1                    -1
Intimidate            0                     4.5
Jump                  4                     5
Listen               -2                    -2
Move Silently        -1                    -1
Open Lock            n/a                   n/a
Perform              n/a                   n/a
Repair                8                    23
Search                4                     6
Spot                 -2                    -2
Swim                  4                     5
Tumble                1                     7
Use Magic Device     n/a                   n/a

Level 1 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Extend Spell
Feat: (Selected) Toughness

Level 2 (Wizard)

Level 3 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Focus: Enchantment

Level 4 (Wizard)

Level 5 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Maximize Spell

Level 6 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment

Level 7 (Wizard)

Level 8 (Wizard)

Level 9 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Power Attack

Level 10 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Quicken Spell

Level 11 (Wizard)

Level 12 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Heighten Spell

Level 13 (Wizard)

Level 14 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Wizard Improved Heightening I
Enhancement: Wizard Improved Quickening I
Enhancement: Wizard Lineage of Elements I
Enhancement: Wizard Lineage of Deadly Elements I
Enhancement: Wizard Elemental Manipulation I
Enhancement: Wizard Elemental Manipulation II
Enhancement: Wizard Elemental Manipulation III
Enhancement: Wizard Force Manipulation I
Enhancement: Wizard Force Manipulation II
Enhancement: Wizard Spell Penetration I
Enhancement: Wizard Spell Penetration II
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar I
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar II
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar III
Enhancement: Wizard Intelligence I
Enhancement: Wizard Intelligence II
Enhancement: Wizard Intelligence III
Enhancement: Wizard Wand Mastery I
Enhancement: Wizard Wand Mastery II
Enhancement: Warforged Combat Training I
Enhancement: Warforged Combat Training II
Enhancement: Warforged Constitution I
Enhancement: Warforged Constitution II
Enhancement: Warforged Hardiness I
Enhancement: Warforged Inscribed Armor I
Enhancement: Warforged Power Attack I

Level 15: Fighter
All skill points in intimidate
Feat: Improved Critical: Slashing
Bonus Feat: Toughness or Two Handed Fighting
Ability Increase: Strength

Level 16: Wizard
Concentration, Repair, Haggle, Tumble, random skills....
Bonus Feat: Empower Spell

[Valiance]

You don't have to take fighter at later levels. If you take it at any point your BAB will be high enough to get improved crit with your level 15 feat.

On my barb/wiz I don't have quicken and honestly guys I don't miss it. I have it on my cleric and I know how nice it is but with a maxed concentration/high con/displacement and jump spell I get off my reconstruct 99% of the time....jump...hit reconstruct...land...go back to swinging away.

Finally I urge people to try barbarian instead of the 1 level of fighter. You lose one feat yes but you gain what i consider to be the best feat in the game...barbarian speed. A self hasted/jumped toon with the barbarian speed can do things NO other toon can do. I.e. make the jump in Wiz king when the floor falls out....haste boost bam...jump right over it. It also allows you to quickly disengage from a fight heal/buff up and get right back in...quickly. You also gain 2 hp (which slightly offsets the fighter feat if you chose to make toughness the feat you drop), and you get access to barbarian power attack. Finally, you do get rages...and as a WF you're immune to the fatigue....boom rage on....ooops need to heal...rage off..reconstruct.

My feats are max/empower/extend/mt/imt/toughness/power attack/toughness.

279 hp with no falselife item and 1196 sp with wiz 6 item....I find it to be plenty of both. Get a torc and it's literally ridiculous.

Full powered nuking...near full powered charms with a 26 int and a dreamspitter.

[Aspenor]

You don't have to take fighter at later levels. If you take it at any point your BAB will be high enough to get improved crit with your level 15 feat.

Well if that's the case I'll take the fighter feat at level 2 so I can boost intimidate while leveling. But I'd have to crank the numbers I guess.

I want to be fighter, not barbarian. I want that feat Fast movement is not very important to me at all. That's what haste is for.

PS...number cranking....Wizard, as a .5 BAB progression character gets 6.5 BAB for 13 wizard levels, and 1 for a fighter level to total 7.5 at level 14. At level 15 taking wizard I have 8, thus can take improved critical. Thanks again Val

[Aeneas]

Taking the fighter level at 15 means you can use a combat only feat for a combat feat choice (imp crit) and save the general feat selection for anything you might like (like that ridiculous poison save feat, you know you want it ). Spending the fighter feat early on limits your choices to low bab combat feats and will always be tagged as a level 2 or whatever feat if you decide to go visit fred for a respec. Taking that combat feat at a level where you're already bab 8 means you could switch it out for any other combat feat (like imp crit piercing if spears get implemented someday perhaps) at any time. Most general feats don't have requirements like high BAB and are probably better spent early on in the BAB lifetime of the character if you can afford it.

[Aspenor]

I am reposting this for mod 6 changes to the character builder. Not much to see here...

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 2.80
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Bucket 
Level 16 Neutral Good Warforged Male
(1 Fighter \ 15 Wizard) 
Hit Points: 122
Spell Points: 851 
BAB: 8\8\13
Fortitude: 9
Reflex: 4
Will: 7

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 16)
Strength             18                    24
Dexterity             8                     8
Constitution         13                    15
Intelligence         17                    19
Wisdom                6                     6
Charisma              6                     6

Tomes Used
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 1
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 1
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 1

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 16)
Balance              -1                     8
Bluff                -2                    -2
Concentration         6                    21
Diplomacy            -2                    -2
Disable Device        n/a                   n/a
Haggle                0                     2
Heal                 -2                    -2
Hide                 -1                    -1
Intimidate            0                    17
Jump                  5                     8.5
Listen               -2                    -2
Move Silently        -1                    -1
Open Lock            n/a                   n/a
Perform              n/a                   n/a
Repair                8                    23
Search                4                     4
Spot                 -2                    -2
Swim                  5                     7
Tumble               n/a                   n/a
Use Magic Device      0                     1.5

Level 1 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Extend Spell
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment

Level 2 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Power Attack

Level 3 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Cleave

Level 4 (Wizard)

Level 5 (Wizard)

Level 6 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Empower Spell
Feat: (Selected) Spell Focus: Enchantment

Level 7 (Wizard)

Level 8 (Wizard)

Level 9 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Great Cleave

Level 10 (Wizard)

Level 11 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Maximize Spell

Level 12 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Penetration

Level 13 (Wizard)

Level 14 (Wizard)

Level 15 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons

Level 16 (Wizard)

*note to self* take quicken spell at level 16 for bonus metamagic feat.

[wolfy42]

Wow fellow battle wizard fans!! How cool!!

I'm playing a pure Battle Wizard with no fighter levels at all (At least so far).

I have not decided yet if I am going to mix in fighter and or paladin lvls (perhaps both) at the top end.

I love the build although my starting int was only 12 so I only use non-save spells, buffs and of course self heals.

Fireshield, displacement, heroism, haste etc the build is just a blast to play. I have no trouble hitting enemies even without Tensors or Divine power (still no divine power clickes for me), and he tanks quite well.

Went with Balance,Concentration and UMD as my skills (with bonus points tossed into move silently to help my invisibilities work better...I switch to boots that boost it as well when using it).

Awesomely fun character to play even as a pure wizard with no fighter/pally levels at all. The advantage of not taking any at least at the lower lvls is you get all the good spells 1 level faster.

I also went with adamantium armor (using an arcane docent and enhancements to drop my spell failure rate to 13% right now...just switch to the arcane docent before casting spells) and improved DR feat and enhancements to boost defense a bit more (saves tons of SP on stone skins not to mention no materials needed either).

Anyway I didn't see this thread before, thanks for bringing it back up!! I didn't know other people played pure wizard warriors