I need guidance on how to be a good wizard or a link

[Celfious]

hello I truly appologize as I assume this information is accessible however my search skills are not very good considering my lack of time to be on forums.

I dont see very many feats available when taking Wiz levels as an elf. I know that it is by some opinions wise to take a school in some form of magic. Would it be difficult to try to semi master two schools?

Also in combat I find it benificial as a level 3 wizard (1 rouge) to cast a spell, use wand, then cast another spell, instead of waiting on cool down. This is very "click" oriented however. Do yall find it easier to set up hot keys? Maybe to just hover mouse over particular spells, or something I am missing....


Also any links will be appreciated. I wish to be an AOE wizard in the long run without forcing fighters to chase down the enemies I am running from. I want defenses, evasion, and resistance. Which school should I take?

[Braed]

Welcome to the wizard. Yes you can certainly go with two schools (and even "master" both if you want). For me, going Human makes this a little easier with 13 feats instead of the standard 12. By going rogue and having elf you're looking at 11 feats (7 standard and 4 metamagic). This makes it harder, but still doable IMO.

Two levels of rogue will give you your evasion, you'll have all of the standard energy resist spells for resistance, and for defense, blur/displacement, fireshield, jump, retreat, stoneskin, etc will be your "defense".

You're basically looking at your standard 18 wizard/2 rogue build. It isn't for me, so I'm sorry that I don't have a link to provide you with. I'd check out the Wizard's Handbook by Vienemen, which is usually on the first or second page, for a very nice rundown. Good luck, and I hope you enjoy your character!

[xtchizobr]

hello I truly appologize as I assume this information is accessible however my search skills are not very good considering my lack of time to be on forums.

I dont see very many feats available when taking Wiz levels as an elf. I know that it is by some opinions wise to take a school in some form of magic. Would it be difficult to try to semi master two schools?

Also in combat I find it benificial as a level 3 wizard (1 rouge) to cast a spell, use wand, then cast another spell, instead of waiting on cool down. This is very "click" oriented however. Do yall find it easier to set up hot keys? Maybe to just hover mouse over particular spells, or something I am missing....


Also any links will be appreciated. I wish to be an AOE wizard in the long run without forcing fighters to chase down the enemies I am running from. I want defenses, evasion, and resistance. Which school should I take?

i have six or seven hotbars up, three of them bound with modifier keys, and the rest for easy access to less time-sensitive things like buffs, wands, scrolls, pots and such. you can "undock" a hotbar by clicking the little arrow which makes it pop out as a separate hotbar you can then place anywhere on your screen.

i strongly recommend that you place things you use often on your first couple hotbars. then, bind the slots of those hotbars to numbers 1-0 with successive hotbars accessed by holding a modifier key (i use alt and crtl).

spells-from-items (like wands and scrolls) cease to be useful for offensive purposes around level 8, and thenceforth you will be much more interested in the cheaper-than-pots recovery items (repair wands and reconstruct scrolls, divine wands like lesser resto and neutralize poison). in the mid levels, you will begin to notice that your SP's limit forbids a heavy-nuking style of play for every encounter and that your nukes are less effective than good buffs anyway (GH, blur, haste and resist energy most especially).

although, as a rogue splash, your DCs are a little affected, a well placed crowd control spell is so much more effective than hosing SP through nukes and WoFs. Heighten: get it and take the enhancements around wiz level 13. makes Web and Hypnosis actually useful again, and cheaper than higher level similar spells.

even though you've got rogue splashed in there, don't bother with open lock. you can prepare knock. UMD is your God, and a jealous one! search and disable after UMD, and concentration and balance with whatever spare points. keep the Jump spell prepared. spend two feats on insightful reflexes and skill focus: UMD. they're just not negotiable feats for a rogue splash. they're that good.

with a splash of rogue putting your DCs down a notch, try to prepare spells that don't rely on a failed save. ennervate, waves of exhaustion, solid fog, scorching ray, ray of enfeeblement, touch of idiocy -- these aren't really things you will need to throw in every fight. just get a sense of when the sword arms could use a little help. mostly, your spell selection (as a wizard, and especially as a multi-tool multiclass) should revolve around utility and situational spells. the fighters in your group are more than capable of dealing raw damage with just a light touch of support after your buffs. seek to save the divine's SP on healing, and save your grenades for the boss!

with the ability to swap spells freely, it's important to know what the dungeon will be like, and prepare accordingly. mostly this will just mean that you swap out a handful of the more funkydelic stuff for others more tailored to that creature type. you have enough spell slots that you should be able to crowd control based on any save and keep all your important buffs up (hero and then greater hero, haste, resist energy and blur should NEVER leave your bar). learning to apply crowd control effectively depends on knowing the enemy.

enemy divine casters have very high will saves so don't try to Hold or Hypnotize them, try a fort spell like Ghoul Touch, Flesh to Stone, or Finger of Death instead. reflex is their lowest save, so Web is often the catch-all which works against other monsters too. enemy arcane casters tend to have low saves across the board (because they don't tend to have high wisdom to boost their higher will saves), but definitely have lower fort saves. energy attacks will typically deal lower damage against casters if they put up protection or resistance buffs before you got there, and often disabling a caster is faster and cheaper than trying to nuke him to death anyway. enemy archers have very high dexterity and reflex saves, so Web really isn't likely to do anything. they have lower will saves, though, and are very susceptible to Hold effects. monsters in general have decent fort saves, but melee creatures especially, though you can still sometimes lands a Finger or Disintigrate on them anyway if you have some focus boosts (a feat and a rod, don't take a feat to focus on transmutation, Disintigrate and Slow are the only two in that school, really). melee enemies typically have weak will saves and mediocre reflex, but high strength which allows them to break out of Web very quickly if they are caught in it. Hold Monster is just beautiful against giants, and Mass Suggestion allows you to solo a lot of things (like the horn of endurance in The Crucible... a perfect task for a wiz/rog who has the evasion and reflex to make the swim).

know thyself, and know thine enemy. do this, and you will succeed.

for everything else, there's Reconstruct or UMD'd Heal scrolls!