Help with my Drow Wizard (first time caster)

[sephiroth1084]

Hey everyone. I've played DDO a bit, but never as a caster and I've got a few questions on where to go with my Drow Wizard:

-What should my stat array be? Is there any need for Dex? Wis? Cha? Should my Int be 18, 19 or 20, starting?
-What spells are most worthwhile to take starting? Which are never really worth learning off a scroll?
-If I were to take a single level of sorcerer, does that grant be a significant boost to spellpoints? And, if so, is it worth setting myself back 1 Wizard for that?

-What the heck is efficacy? I keep trying to find a definition for this in DDO and continue to fail in that task.
-What are the best spells to use for the early solo missions?

-What sort of equipment should I be gunning for?

[MrWizard]

I would stay straight wizard all the way to keep my DC rolls as high as possible and get the wiz as high level as possible.

I would say max your intel so your DC rolls are high as possible.

Other than that, everything else is water under the bridge.

Your enhancements and feats can be changed, your stats will eventually have +5 or 6 items.

Play with it a bit. Have fun. You can change spells whenver.

skills, I would put a lot into concentration. Other than that, up to you. Jump is nice as well as balance.

[Hadrian]

Hey everyone. I've played DDO a bit, but never as a caster and I've got a few questions on where to go with my Drow Wizard:

-What should my stat array be? Is there any need for Dex? Wis? Cha? Should my Int be 18, 19 or 20, starting?
-What spells are most worthwhile to take starting? Which are never really worth learning off a scroll?
-If I were to take a single level of sorcerer, does that grant be a significant boost to spellpoints? And, if so, is it worth setting myself back 1 Wizard for that?

-What the heck is efficacy? I keep trying to find a definition for this in DDO and continue to fail in that task.
-What are the best spells to use for the early solo missions?

-What sort of equipment should I be gunning for?

What sort of items do you have access to? Do you have 32-point builds open? Can you expect to be able to get +6 items and at least +1 tomes? Will you be getting 1750 favor, or is this a very casual build?

Right now it looks like a 32-point human might be the way to go.

18 starting inteligence +1 human adaptability +4 levels +2 1750 tome +6 item is 34 intelligence. A drow would have one more intelligence, so he could get 36 with a +3 tome. Without the +3 tome, the human has the same intelligence modifier but an extra feat. On top of that, the human can max out his constitution at 18 while the drow can only get to 14 con.

[sephiroth1084]

Yeah, this is a casual build and will not have access to that stuff. Also, I did say that I'm making a drow wizard.

[Aaeko]

Drow wizards the way to go , anyway, you want to max intel, so 20intel, atleast 14 con so you arent soooo squishy,
Char isnt really needed and dex can be useful for ac, So intel,con, and dex. Str is a bust so dont use it at all for a wizard

[Aesop]

Well this is the one I made. I like the Bard level for the UMD Cure Wand use at early levels with no chance of failure and the 2 uses of Bardic music are pretty useful at times. Also the bump to will and reflex saves are nice since I have a fairly low wisdom.

You could easily replace the bard level with a rogue level to pick up Disable Device and Search for a back up trapsmith

You could easily focus your spells towards Enchantment instead of Necromancy

Max (or near Max) Intel is important for SP and DCs

I went the Spell Pen route but you could apply those feats to more Metamagic Feats to get Heighten earlier or add in Quicken Spell.

You could also take Mental Toughness Earlier than I did... I was boycotting that feat for a while because SP was too low and they were requiring that feat to actually make it through a full diungeon without recalling... at least it felt that way at the time... that's neither here nor there... So here is the character I threw together... she is effective

Aesop

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 2.85
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Yvaine 
Level 16 True Neutral Drow Female
(15 Wizard \ 1 Bard) 
Hit Points: 102
Spell Points: 1236 
BAB: 7\7\12
Fortitude: 6
Reflex: 7
Will: 11

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Stats          Modified Stats
Abilities        (Level 1)             (Level 16)
Strength             10                    10
Dexterity            10                    10
Constitution         11                    12
Intelligence         20                    29
Wisdom               10                    10
Charisma             13                    14

Tomes Used
+1 Tome of Intelligence used at level 3
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 13
+1 Tome of Constitution used at level 14
+1 Tome of Charisma used at level 14
+5 Tome of Constitution used at level 20
+4 Tome of Intelligence used at level 20
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 20
+3 Tome of Charisma used at level 20

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 16)
Balance               4                     4
Bluff                 1                     2
Concentration         4                    19
Diplomacy             5                    20
Disable Device        n/a                   n/a
Haggle                5                    17
Heal                  0                     0
Hide                  4                     4
Intimidate            1                     2
Jump                  4                     4
Listen                0                     2
Move Silently         4                     4
Open Lock             n/a                   n/a
Perform               5                    21
Repair                5                     9
Search                5                    11
Spot                  0                     2
Swim                  4                     4
Tumble                4                     4
Use Magic Device      5                    24

Level 1 (Bard)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Penetration

Level 2 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Maximize Spell

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

Level 4 (Wizard)

Level 5 (Wizard)

Level 6 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Extend Spell
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy

Level 7 (Wizard)

Level 8 (Wizard)

Level 9 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Penetration

Level 10 (Wizard)

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

Level 12 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Skill Focus: Use Magic Device

Level 13 (Wizard)

Level 14 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Bard Extra Song I
Enhancement: Wizard Improved Empowering I
Enhancement: Wizard Improved Empowering II
Enhancement: Wizard Improved Maximizing I
Enhancement: Wizard Improved Maximizing II
Enhancement: Wizard Energy Manipulation I
Enhancement: Wizard Energy Manipulation II
Enhancement: Wizard Elemental Manipulation I
Enhancement: Wizard Elemental Manipulation II
Enhancement: Wizard Elemental Manipulation III
Enhancement: Wizard Spell Penetration I
Enhancement: Wizard Spell Penetration II
Enhancement: Wizard Spell Penetration III
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar I
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar II
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar III
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar IV
Enhancement: Wizard Intelligence I
Enhancement: Wizard Intelligence II
Enhancement: Wizard Intelligence III

Level 15 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Mental Toughness

Level 16 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Heighten Spell
Enhancement: Wizard Lineage of Elements I
Enhancement: Wizard Energy Manipulation III
Enhancement: Wizard Elemental Manipulation IV

[Hadrian]

Yeah, this is a casual build and will not have access to that stuff. Also, I did say that I'm making a drow wizard.

You did say that you were making a drow wizard. I was asking those questions so I knew where to go with my advice. Drow is the superior choice if you do not have access to 32-point builds, but not if you do.

I would recommend staying pure classed, maxing intelligence and taking as much constitution as possible. If you do not have enough constitution, you may find yourself frustrated by low hit points once you reach level 12+.

8
10
14
20
8
10

This leaves you with 2 remaining points to place wherever you'd like.

Wisdom makes sense for better will saves.

You can go with charisma and maybe get a little more UMD out of the character. With all of those extra wizard feats, Force of Personality isn't out of the question. That could give you very respectable will saves and negate the need for any wisdom at all.

Dexterity is nice for reflex saves and AC, but wizards do not tend to be able to reach useful levels of either of these. Dex may be wasted points.

Strength is fine at the base of 8. You can use a +4 or +5 item to keep it high enough to avoid being disabled by str damage.

You'll need to take cloud kill, otto's sphere, firewall, dimension door when you level up. These are important spells that cannot be purchased in a shop. All spells are worth learning off of a scroll, except for possibly the low level repair spells. Once you're high enough in level you'll only use reconstruct.

Early on you might use things like shocking grasp, burning hands and niac's cold ray, but as you level up your early spell slots will go toward support and utility in favor of higher level damage options. Jump and Tumble are two important spells that you'll want to have once you no longer need those lower level damage spells. Jump is espeically helpful with firewall, so train skill points into the skill as well. It makes you much more able to avoid damage while keeping things inside the fire when you can leap over their heads.

Haste and fireball make life a bit easier at level 5, but it helps to find a potency or combustion item to increase fireball's damage as soon as possible. You may have to wait a level or two before you can use something like this.

Efficacy is like Potency, only it's a temporary clicky effect. For example, superior potency items increase your spell damage by 50% while you hold them. Superior efficacy items have charges of a temporary buff that does the same thing, but it only lasts 60 seconds (or possibly 30 seconds - I can't remember).

Items that you need to look for early on:

Combustion III/IV items to improve fireball and firewall.
The best potency item you can use at the time to increase the damage of other offensive spells.
Lore items for various elements to give you better critical hit chance and damage.
Intelligence items (Shan-To-Kor has a nice +2 int cap)
additional mana on items (Tangle Root has a +50 SP trinket for level 5 and above)
TR also drops goggles with one charge of death ward on them. Select these if you do not see the trinket because they will remain useful even at level 16.

Later on:

Look for spell penetration items that help you land your higher level spells through spell resistance.
You'll want at least greater potency 6.
Heavy Fortification prevents you from dying suddenly to critical hits.
The Stormreaver's Napkin from The Reaver's Fate raid is an excellent +6 int item that boosts all of your spell DCs by one.

[sephiroth1084]

Thanks Hadrian, that's exactly the kind of response I was hoping for, and thanks to everyone else for their help as well.

[Mourn]

Drow can be great wizards, mine

WIz 16
AC 32 + displacement
HP 178 + stoneskin
SP 1540

Str-15 (+1 tome, +4 item)
Dex 22 (+1 tome, +6 item)
Con 18 (+1 tome, +4 item)
Int 34 (+3 tome, +6 item)
Wis 15 (+1 tome, +4 item)
Chr 15 (+1 tome, +4 item)

Saves I think with GH and boots of innocent are about 19/32/20

with 9% crit item plus 9% trained feat I crit quite often for some really nice dam cirts at 2.75x plus .5 from items. I see scorching ray at 90, 90, 290 quite a bit. But dont just spec for fire/ice also go acid/lightning cause its also nice to see 800 crit chain lightning going through devils.

Plus I have every spell so I can adapt to whatever is need. Charm, Mass hold, CC, Nuke, insta death, buff you name it. With the right items and spells I can do some cool things.

[Hadrian]

I know there are some spells that I left out that can not be found on scroll. I think some of the "Symbol of" spells and maybe something else. The 4 that I listed are just the ones that I find myself using most.

I also forgot to mention that, for a heavy fort item, try to keep your helmet slot open. There is a tapestry reward helmet from the Necropolis that gives heavy fort and a bonus toughness feat.