Respending points

[Astor1977]

My wizard is level 5 and dies alot. Is it possible to respend my points to get more into constitution so I don't die so much? Or do I have to make an all new toon for that?

[Impaqt]

My wizard is level 5 and dies alot. Is it possible to respend my points to get more into constitution so I don't die so much? Or do I have to make an all new toon for that?

Although you can put your level up points into Con, its not really a good idea for a wizard. You will get 4 more as the game progresses at l8,12,16, and 20.

There are Tomes that will increase Con

There are Items that can increast Con as well. Comm items are +1 to +6 and there is another +3 exception available in late game raids.

There are also other ways to increase Hit Points.

False Life, Toughness Feats and Enhancements.

All of this is completely moot though if ya dont play your character smart. Characters with low hit points need to be a LOT more careful.... Especially Casters. They arent designed to be in the thick of things swinging a weapon.

[Slash]

First and foremost, understand the role of your character.

As a wizard, you should focus on supporting the melee classes as you do not have the AC or HP to go head to head fights.

Let the melees engage first, cast a web for crowd control or keep the melees buffed with blur, then with haste at higher levels.

At low levels, casters are restricted by how often they can cast offensive spells because of their low mana. So their mana is better used for this CC or melee buffs.

Although more hp is always desired, smarter play and keen observation and better tactics will result in less deaths.

[Astor1977]

Well, I solo a lot, and only just ran first real group last night. So, needless to say, I learned that in a group, I'm not really a dps class. But getting groups isn't very easy most times and good groups are almost impossible, so I resort to soloing for progression, hence the need for more HP.

[dv8maker123]

My main is a 16.4 wiz with a low con high dex. Key to playing that style is making sure you are buffed with all you got, and be ready to crowd control everything (or insta kill), particularly if you are soloing. Keep moving. At level 5 you need to have web, glitterdust, Hypnotics etc. At the end of the day soloing at low level is a bit harder, but wizards in general get much better in the higher levels. When you finally start grouping more just make sure you manage your aggro well, and have quick crowd control ready should you get a bit overwhelmed. It also helps to have a high diplomacy.

I also have a level 8 with lower dex and a High con...he just runs in and starts meleeing things and casts as needed (fully buffed of course). Two very different styles. The con build does seem easier, but hey, who says that's what everyone wants.

At the end of the day, you're only level 5, so if you decide you are unhappy with the build, roll another one. It's better to start over at that point (and be entirely happy with your build) than to level up a toon for weeks only to find out in the end you don't want to play him.

[Astor1977]

at level 5, my stats are:

str 10
dex 12
con 14
int 21
wis 8
cha 8

67 hp
380 mp

hope that helps with insight. I like to stay back and use ranged spells, but frequently go oom using the crowd control spells.

[Entasis]

That's almost the same stats I have. I have 21 ac when fully buffed, and about a +7 to hit, with a +2 weapon (+2 weap, +2 bulls str, +2 heroism, i know thats 6, but the game rolls 7). I melee quite a bit because of it, trying to save mana. If it's not required to kill everything, I'll try to bottleneck them and hypno and then bypass them. I however, did not put points into sneak and hide; my last experience with that and invisibility wasn't a happy one.

Some quests that's quite viable, like the one with the kobold prophets that you arn't allowed to kill or you fail. That's actually the only quest I've ever used sleep in :P But it worked great. Put them to sleep, kill the others, or hypno, pull the switch and keep going. By the time the spell was over, I was long gone and they wouldn't follow.

[Arianrhod]

A soloing wizard needs to be creative (what else is all that intelligence for?). Charm, Hypnotism, Summon Monster, scare....there are a variety of tools to keep your enemies at bay, separate them, turn them against one another. If you're third level, you have access to one of the handiest spells in the game - Web. Web doesn't just stop creatures from moving toward you, it makes them unable to move at all - can't swing a weapon, cast a spell, etc. Even a solo wizard can just walk up to them and club them to death, they won't be able to hit back till they break out of the web - and that can take quite a while.

[Depravity]

Those look like decent stats, and once you start getting paying more than one build point for a stat point, it better be an important stat point (IMO, at any rate).

Look into invisibilty - at low levels most stuff can't see invis, although spiders and oozes will ignore it. Getting a feel for how things decide when to attack will help you avoid spending mana on things that don't really need killing (+% is nice, but finishing the quest is the real goal). Invis scrolls are reasonably cheap, so you can use them instead of taking up SP/spell slot.

Soloing will get much much easier once you pick up symbol of persuasion (or firewall, but everyone loves firewall, I don't need to cheer for it too much )- turning your pursuers into an army of charmies will help immensely, and with the recent change to the AI, most things will have forgotten they're ticked off by the time it wears off. For now, getting the drop on a group and charming one of it's members to act as a distraction while you slip by invisible will not only save you some SP, but provide a few cheap laughs.

Since you like using ranged spells, you may be one of the special few that actually likes the enlarge spell feat - in many cases, you can drop spells on things from outside of their initial sight aggro range. Damaging spells will still tick things off, but some stuff like charm and many of teh debuffs won't actually cause aggro. You can do some nice "softening up" that way. Not for everyone, your mileage may vary, etc etc.

***In order to declare fully for this next section: I'm a stealth junky. Couple of stealth rogues, 2 stealth wizards, a stealth sorc (real pain to play so far, stat points hurt), and I'm even trying to come up with a stealth favored soul***

One thing you might want to look into is the stealth wizard. With the intelligence stat being high, you've got the skill points coming in to keep the sneakiness going. It's a little slower soloing than running in and lighting everything on fire, but you do have the advantage of being able to bypass things and save your SP for important targets. I've got a 28 point halfling wizard I still run around on, who just proved capable of stealthing Bastion of Power (one of the current end game quests) on elite. I'll admit it took a guildy to kill off the end fight (I'm built more for CC/charm/etc, not nuking, current endgame rewards nuking more), but I still could sneak past anything in there without getting spotted.

Ghoste's Shadow Mage build is a good start, if you happen to have WF unlocked.

Otherwise, the general stealth build is maxed int, str 8-10 (halflings hurt here - 3/4 carry limit and lowered strength mean you may have to leave heavier loot like fullplate behind), dex 14 (16 on elf/halfling), and some extra con. Season to taste. For skills, you want concentration, move silently, hide, and spot. Mid game especially, there's tons of stuff that can see invisibility, so you can't rely on it. Extra skill points do well in haggle (even at half ranks it helps your scroll/materials/potions bills), tumble (lets you move at normal speeds while slowed or in shallow water), jump (there's a hard cap of 40 on the skill, and the jump spell adds 30 at higher levels, with another +4 for greater heroism. Don't need to worry about this too much), or pretty much anything else that catches your eye. Repair may be good for a WF character, as it's "free" HP at a shrine.

If you're interested and on Thelanis, drop me a PM and I'll show you some of the finer points of how not to be seen.

Entasis Your BAB gets counted in there too - it should be about a +2 at 5th level, iirc.

[Entasis]

Web doesn't just stop creatures from moving toward you, it makes them unable to move at all - can't swing a weapon, cast a spell, etc. .

Another difference from PnP iirc. Creatures could still act within their 5' radius. Useful difference to know, and now i'll use the spell more often :P

@ Dep - Yes, it is +2 bab, which would bring it up to +8. But the game still rolls 7, so either way it's incorrect :P I'll double check all my gear and buffs when I get on later to see what/if I'm missing something.