Arrrgh, splash and race choices

[Aerendil]

You'd think the choice would be obvious. Do I want to be able to disable traps and open locks? If so, Wiz/Rog.
Do I want better solo capability? If so, Wiz/Rog (although Ghoste has proven that a pure Wiz is just as capable - you'd just miss out on some extra xp from disabling traps, and the occasional chest or optional).

But part of me is really liking the pure Wiz build for the capstone. Not to mention I'm still waffling over the race choice as well. Call me sentimental and old-fashioned, but it just doesn't feel like I'm this arcane mysterious spellcaster as a 7 foot high sentient golem running around with a pink docent. Know what I mean?
Warforged have obvious benefits (immunities; self-healing; higher con/hps), but I'd like to have a robe. And a dark-skinned elf has a certain "look" that Warforged can't quite cover (I guess I'd have to liken it to guys playing female characters in MMOs because it's more aesthetically pleasing - well I'm similar in the sense that I want my characters to *look* a certain way).

But having immunity to sleep, paralysis, poison, nausea, fatigue, etc. is a huge, HUGE, bonus...

Arrrgggh. This is nasty.

Any thoughts/ideas?
If any of you were to do it all over again, would you aim for Drow or WF? Pure or Rog splash?
Is a pure build significantly harder than the other?
Is going Drow going to bugger me if/when I come across any traps I can't Jump over?

[M.ham]

I have a capped Drow Sorcerer... I am currently leveling a WF pure Wizard. Playing the Wizard and having the self healing is something I cannot see myself doing without ever again.

If you have the time/ability to grind the items to get your UMD high enough for heal scrolls then a Drow Arcane may be your answer. For those of us who do not have the time or inclination to grind, a WF makes more sense for the self healing.

I am on the fence regarding splashing rogue/monk for evasion. After playing a squishy Drow to cap I have come to envy those characters that have the ability to survive where my Drow could not. Possibly could look at it from a solo or group perspective. If you play solo alot, evasion/rogue abilities could make your quests easier... if you group most of the time then a pure Arcane would most likely add more to the group dynamic.

M.

[Eldun]

WF Wizzy here. Don't like the look but love the perks. Never even going to take him into Titan ... for what the belt? Sure is nice not to have to grind that one out.

I think end game, if Lammania's quests are all we get for a year or more, then about the worst to face, and biggest reason for evasion, will be the endfight in Kobold. I've not encountered anything besides that fight that really taxed my ability to spell cast and self heal more than that. Hardly worth taking 2 levels of rogue for that quest. I'm not going to solo that one anyway.

Just my two cents.

[Aerendil]

I think end game, if Lammania's quests are all we get for a year or more, then about the worst to face, and biggest reason for evasion, will be the endfight in Kobold. I've not encountered anything besides that fight that really taxed my ability to spell cast and self heal more than that. Hardly worth taking 2 levels of rogue for that quest. I'm not going to solo that one anyway.
Just my two cents.

Hmmm. Yeah, that's my other lament. With upcoming dungeon scaling, will Evasion be all that necessary? Nice to have - sure. But necessary? I do wonder. I'm thinking perhaps the disable device thing would probably be the biggest thing I'd miss on a Rogue splash, I think. And a full UMD, I guess.
Open Lock can be ignored in favour of Knock or the upcoming Turbine store open lock 1-shot key purchase, and Search is unnecessary without Disable Devices (wand of Detect Secret Doors works fine for regular stuff).

Regarding race - do you wizards find yourself in need of heals/reconstructs quite often?
Would the inability to cast a reconstruct, and instead having to pull out a heal scroll (hopefully with the ability to use it reliably) if I went Drow pose a serious problem?

[bandyman1]

Evasion isn't necessary now.

My own pure drow wizard has 321 hps standing in front of a beholder. Add staple buffs of false life, rage, and GH, and you're playing with 373 HPs. Sure, a WFed can get higher, but if that's not far more than enough for an arcane, you're doing something horribly wrong.

Grab a 30 reflex with GH ( insightful reflexes is a wonderful thing, and wizards have the feats ), and you're taking half damage ( plus stoneskin DR ) from any trap you can't avoid. Spells? LMAO. That's what protect/resist and fire shield are for. And you're saving for half damage on those from the get-go too.

Evasion's nice. No one's going to deny that. But it's by no means necessary. And to be honest, it's a lot more useful for other classes, rather than casters/clerics who have other means to mitigate that damage.

Self healing is also very useful...but it's not hard to get decent UMD on a wizard. Give me more mana and higher DCs please.

[Vengenance]

For a flavor build, you could always go halfling with dragonmarks for self-healing. I have a capped halfling wizzard with dragonmarks and she holds her own quite well. The dragonmarks are nice as they are enhanced by metamagic feats for free(Empower, Maximize, Enlarge).

[Monkey_Archer]

For a flavor build, you could always go halfling with dragonmarks for self-healing. I have a capped halfling wizzard with dragonmarks and she holds her own quite well. The dragonmarks are nice as they are enhanced by metamagic feats for free(Empower, Maximize, Enlarge).

Top pure wizard solo builds
1) WF
2) Halfling dragon mark
3) Human with UMD, human versitility, scroll mastery and healing amp
4) Dwarf (because they have alot of hp )
5) Elf/Drow

I play a human myself... dont really solo much with him, but is definatly fun to play.

[Maegin]

Top pure wizard solo builds
1) WF
2) Halfling dragon mark
3) Human with UMD, human versitility, scroll mastery and healing amp
4) Dwarf (because they have alot of hp )
5) Elf/Drow

I play a human myself... dont really solo much with him, but is definatly fun to play.

Do you find yourself as efficient as a wf since you have to use all those ap's to compensate for not having self healing? What im trying to say is, was it worth or trading the ap's for other spell enchancements, efficient in your opinon?

I personally like the novalty idea of an elf/drow, then human for versatility, but wf takes the cake :/

Being a wf caster, does having low hp synergise well with heals hitting you with reduction from wf make up for the fact? As in, will it even out? Since heals are expected to hit harder, but since your wf they are reduced, but you have moderatly low hp anyways, kinda thing.

And as far as solo play is concerned. What would you do with a high UMD as a human anyways? For heal scrolls, and what else? For equipment, to cover up what a wf is naturally immune to?

And as far as SP is concerned. Knowing that a wizard ins't the dynamo of sp (compariing it to a sorc obviously), would it be better to go for human ans scrolling, to save the sp used on recontructing for other castings.

[Kalari]

I have 3 types of wizard currently and rerolled my wiz/rogue simply because I do favor pure arcanes over multiclasses. But thats just me.

With my elven (thats right pure elfs 3 wizards so far) I found I enjoy their enhancements and while they are not as uber as a drow who gets to 20 to intel they hold their own and I learned a lot about being a wizard and how to stay alive in any situation solo/ group regular dungeons and raids playing them.

With my human im enjoying the extra feat but really didnt see much difference save the little extras here and there shes also got that nifty dragon mark that helps her heal warforge so shes established herself as my other wizards as a helpful person to non fleshie players.

My warforge has been a lot of fun so far being able to heal myself and cast is great I didnt have to worry about upping umd to use heal items like ive done with my other wizards and the force an repair line which many of my arcanes take anyway just fits this build perfectly.

I think its up to you Ive seen people make wizards from races they prefer to play and do great with them, that includes halflings/dwarfs as well. Its all about what you want out of your wizard and how much your gonna put into it.

[Kalari]

Do you find yourself as efficient as a wf since you have to use all those ap's to compensate for not having self healing? What im trying to say is, was it worth or trading the ap's for other spell enchancements, efficient in your opinon?

I personally like the novalty idea of an elf/drow, then human for versatility, but wf takes the cake :/

Being a wf caster, does having low hp synergise well with heals hitting you with reduction from wf make up for the fact? As in, will it even out? Since heals are expected to hit harder, but since your wf they are reduced, but you have moderatly low hp anyways, kinda thing.

And as far as solo play is concerned. What would you do with a high UMD as a human anyways? For heal scrolls, and what else? For equipment, to cover up what a wf is naturally immune to?

And as far as SP is concerned. Knowing that a wizard ins't the dynamo of sp (compariing it to a sorc obviously), would it be better to go for human ans scrolling, to save the sp used on recontructing for other castings.

No because repair spells dont cost that much and with the enhancement lines you can actually crit heal yourself. Okay so throw in a repair lore item in that mix to. But also there are scrolls, wands and the like so wf wizards should not have any problems with healing period. Its why they are such a viable solo class and why so many are built built right a wf caster can over come just about any dungeon then add their immunities its a surprisingly powerful combination. I did not realize it till I made one and got her to level 16.

[Kalari]

Sorry quoted Magelin when meant to quote Aerendil bah

[Thrudh]

My wizard is pure and a dwarf.... He was built back when dwarves (WF too?) were the only race that got toughness enhancements...

He has a pretty high CON, and lots of hps... which is nice...

Self-healing would be better, but I too didn't like the idea of playing a robot (none of my characters are WF)

Wiz/rogue is a VERY good character... Evasion, UMD, trap skills... all extremely nice.

Pure is good too... Awesome capstone, Good to have all the spell slots, and max Spell Penetration, more SP....

Tough choice... You'll be fine whatever race you take... just max out INT and have a decent CON... Pretty easy to make a good wizard.

[Ghoste]

Top pure wizard solo builds
1) WF
2) Halfling dragon mark and highest potential stealth skills.
3) Human with UMD, human versitility, scroll mastery and healing amp
4) Dwarf (because they have alot of hp )
5) Elf/Drow

I play a human myself... dont really solo much with him, but is definatly fun to play.

just added a little bit about halflings.