Uh-Oh

[Shinton]

(Sorry very new... if this has been posted... couldn't find it with search... >.<

This is actually serious, I'm thinking on starting a wizard (or sorcerer)....
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Uh-oh!

I've run out of spell points and I can't find a shrine.... now what?

What do you players do?

Run in circles (A lil exercise works the brain, gets you points...!)
Chant, in hopes that you'll get points back (~no comment... I do this..~)
Go on anyway (I'm sure I'll find one right around this- AGH!)
Melee (Oh yeah, I'll own them up with mah Staff of DOOOM...)

Also whats the pnemonic enhancer potion? Allows you to re-prepare a spell?

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~Thanks for answering~

[Nevthial]

Whip out a wand or missile weapon and hide behind the others! Mnemonic enhancer potions restore some of your lost spell points. Each one is a different size. e.g: lesser,minor,major,ect. They are dropped in chests and offered as end items generally. Useful to store them up for "emergencies".
Side note: When running a quest on normal, the shrines reset every 15 minutes. So if you're in no hurry.....

[captain1z]

As said above, wands are very useful in a pinch.


Scrolls also are very handy.

In both cases try to keep a few of each on you that dont require saving throws.


wands of:

detect doors
scorching ray
fireball (at low levels only, even half damage is something... at higher levels with evasion, its a waste of time)
any buffs
ice storm
dispel wands (carry at least 1...trust me, when u need it you'll be glad u had it)

scrolls

any summons
stoneskin
ray of exhaustion
group buffs



phantom killer or web on wand or scroll is a waste of space. I challenge you to take a wand of pk with 30 charges and get 2 kills.

just remember if it has a save dont bother.

you can still contribute and clear your inventory of all the scrolls your party looted but noone wanted.
enervation

[sigtrent]

Until higher levels 10+ I use wands a lot. People will usualy offer them to you as they don't sell for a lot and not everyone can use them. They arn't especialy effective but they are better than nothing and they are kind of fun. I never buy them, just save the ones I get untill I have 4 or 5 sitting around.

You can build wizards that fight. My drow wizard 14 Fighter 1 is quite deadly in melee combat, but it does take a while to figure out how to make characters like that.

If all else fails you can get a returning dagger and thow it. It won't help a lot but its kind of fun. And you can break barrels, they don't put up much of a fight after all.

[ShadesofGreen]

Ranged and wands are a good way to go as others have said...

Friend of mine went with the Iron Companion feat, when he's all out of SP he summons up his little iron pup. Makes for a little fun and helps if you are soloing. Most groups don't like it as AI of summoned creatures is iffy.

Mostly a lower level view, not too sure what to do higher up, probably more wands!

[wolfy42]

Playing as a wizard you'll probably have WAY to many wands in no time. Great ones to collect and keep as backup are wands of magic missile which are very cheap and can't be saved against. They come in different level varieties allowing you to do semi decent damage especially if you boost your wand damage with enhancements.

Hold onto wands that give invisibility (usually don't need it to last THAT long which makes it a great spell to use from a wand), shield isn't a bad spell to wand either for short term fights to boost your AC, some buffs are ok, but only if your really trying to save sp since the duration blows.

Offensive wands should not have a chance to save based on DC or they are pretty worthless after the first few lvls. Enfeeble though is useful along with a few others. In most cases wands of detect secret door are ok, but you can usually just use an item with charges instead.

My main wizard right now is a battle wizard, started with 18 strength and 12 int....doesn't cast any DC based offensive spells (But packs a mighty strong Magic Missile in a pinch). Super high AC with Adamantium body, plenty of DR, Displacement, can heal itself and high offensive ability with two handed weapons along with extend allows my character to keep himself well buffed and have a very large mana pool left over for main fights vs bosses etc (allowing for quick spamage of maximized magic missile etc). Great for high AC bosses that you and everyone else can barely hit on elite.

Normal wizards can also charm enemies to fight for them once you start getting low on spell points. Also you can use ranged weapons if you boosted your dex (even a normal heavy crossbow can add damage and later on effects) and most importantly as a wizard you have plenty of skill points so boost your UMD and wand heal everyone else (even if only with cure light wound wands) when out of mana. You can boost ALL wand usage with an enhancement including healing wands, so there is no reason not to kick back and heal people in a pinch when low on mana (or even when not).

While it takes awhile to get a decent UMD especially as a warforged or dwarven wizard, it does get up there even when you start with a 6 cha.

It only takes a 19 UMD skill to use cure light wounds wands 95% of the time. They are cheap to buy and will make you a much more popular wizard in a party.

Course if you take 1 rogue level with your wizard you can keep UMD maxed which makes you much more useful in a pinch

[Xyfiel]

"It only takes a 19 UMD skill to use cure light wounds wands 100% of the time."

You will roll at least a 1.

[Ghoste]

Invis scrolls plus stealth build. Just slink back into the shadows until the party comes to a shrine.

[Lithic]

Running out of magic isnt much of a problem once you get the hang of your wizard. Just remember, not EVERY monster needs to be blasted. Thats what fighters are for, to clear the path to important stuff that actually requires your attention.

I dont use wands or missile weapons on my casters. Never melee a non-held monster. Worst case if you run out, just follow along and try not to take up healing spell points or wands.

[WeaselKing]

(Sorry very new... if this has been posted... couldn't find it with search... >.<

This is actually serious, I'm thinking on starting a wizard (or sorcerer)....
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Uh-oh!

I've run out of spell points and I can't find a shrine.... now what?

What do you players do?

Run in circles (A lil exercise works the brain, gets you points...!)
Chant, in hopes that you'll get points back (~no comment... I do this..~)
Go on anyway (I'm sure I'll find one right around this- AGH!)
Melee (Oh yeah, I'll own them up with mah Staff of DOOOM...)

Also whats the pnemonic enhancer potion? Allows you to re-prepare a spell?

------------------------------------------------------------------------

~Thanks for answering~

Wands and scrolls are great or if you have decent dex, pull out a crossbow.

[llevenbaxx]

I built a little ranged capability into my Elven Wizard. With a standing 28 dex and a Divine power clicky(=hack arcane archer), you can add a little something in just about any case. Have +1para/righteous and a +1holy/detruction LBs I use 99&#37; of the time I need to watch my sp. Its not much but its something.

[Karranor]

Wands and scrolls are your best bet for backup. I save potions for raids/very long/flagging quests. The ones you really need to make sure you complete. Other then that I would suggest really working on SP management. With some experimenting you should be able to keep SP up and running through most quests. If you can't then that means you are over casting.

Managing SP is vital to any caster and a skill to learn as soon as you can. Experiment with trimming spells here. Let the party fight the random mobs without your spells or just a Haste. Save your SP for the big fights with lots of mobs. That is where you shine! You do not want to over nuke to start as the party will get used to that. Then when you run out of spells suddenly the party is struggling. That is a no good and can make for a frustrating quest.

Unfortunately there are no hard fast rules for management but here are a few that I use.
-Haste at the start of fights. This will cut your hasting in half. IMO striders are fine running around a quest. You do not need to keep people hasted if they are just wondering about.
-Manage Metamagics. Learn to be keenly aware of what ones you are using, when and why. Most of the time you do not need to have extend, maximize, and enlarge on. These will drain away SP needlessly if you forget about them, though all are good to use. Just use them when they are needed.
-Hand out buffs to those that ask for them. Yes we can buff a bunch but I generally just give out the ones that people ask for. I hate dropping stuff on people only to see they have something that overwrites or doesn't stack with it.
-Hold back and the nukes. I see many casters drop 2 or 3 WoF when 1 is fine. Or drop a Fireball and then toss another as a finisher. Let the tanks and others finish off the severely injured mobs, no reason to waste juice on them.
-Learn your spells well. This goes for all casters but especially for Wizards. We get to cast them all, so learn all of them well and learn how and when to apply the appropriate one. I still find it amusing that a simple Web, Grease or Glitterdusk can make the difference in a 12th level dungeon.

That is about it for now, some general guidelines to managing your SP. I have gotten pretty good at this and rarely if ever have to rely on wands/potions/scrolls and usually will have just a little left when I get to the shrine to top off the fighters with some buffs before resting.

GL and have fun! This game is by FAR the best one for casting and casters. There are just so many possibilities. Go experiment and get creative!

[Vienemen]

At higher levels with my char I use summon VII scrolls and help heal with wands of stoneskin when out of spell points. I also have a few no save wands to whip. If I can avoid dmg and the mobs arent to hard to hit, will use the dreamspitter.

[MrWizard]

(Sorry very new... if this has been posted... couldn't find it with search... >.<

This is actually serious, I'm thinking on starting a wizard (or sorcerer)....
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Uh-oh!

I've run out of spell points and I can't find a shrine.... now what?
I stop running ahead and hit hide. I slowly back up until such time as the party catches up.
I also use my backup scrolls like summone monster, invisibility, and anything else cool to protect me til they catch up.
Then I apologize to the cleric cause the barbarian is now gonna use up her wands.

What do you players do?

Run in circles (A lil exercise works the brain, gets you points...!)
Chant, in hopes that you'll get points back (~no comment... I do this..~)
Go on anyway (I'm sure I'll find one right around this- AGH!)
Melee (Oh yeah, I'll own them up with mah Staff of DOOOM...)

Just cast some scrolls, maybe uselessly shoot a crossbow at something and pray for a 20 and no aggro. Or just recall and get mana if the party is really really bad or it is a loot run that requires me.

Also whats the pnemonic enhancer potion? Allows you to re-prepare a spell?

this item will give you a certain amount of spell points back.
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~Thanks for answering~

Also, as I am running out I might charm the ppop out of some fighters and just keep zerging for a while until party catches up.

[Shinton]

Wow thanks for all the quick replies.

I gave my wiz an x-bow and yeah, it works... I didn't think of the wand idea, b/c infact, i havn't found any wands yet.

Scrolls are also another fav idea.

~Thanks again

[wolfy42]

You can buy wands at the Rusty Nail in the marketplace for almost no cost at all.

Even lvl 1 magic missile wands can add a decent amount of dmg (think they are like 800 gold a pop for 50 shots).

50 shots of magic missile with your wand damage enhancement even at lvl 1 is quite a decent amount of damage to add when your out of mana. MM's always hit so it's instant damage and very useful to take out specific enemies (casters etc) quickly in a pinch.

Higher lvls of MM wands do more dmg and are even more useful. Same is true with higher non-save wands but they are more expensive.

Again I want to mention that if you bump UMD as a wizard you can quickly get to a point where CLW wands work 95% of the time (100% effective basically) and just healing other players as they fight with a CLW wand is a big help in many cases. It saves the clerics spell points for emergencies, especially if the cleric is wand healing to conserve sp as well.

2 wands are better then one!!

Most wizzies have plenty of skill points to spend so pumping UMD isn't that big of a deal and even WF/Dwarf wizzies can get 20+ UMD easily fairly early in the game. Just being lvl 5 and having heroism makes up for the cha penalty in most cases right there