Advice for this build?

[Bozone]

I want to try a wizard for a new alt. I haven't played a caster yet, and I don't have Warforged. I have 32 point builds. I've been reading Vienemen's Wizards Handbook and Tihocan's Wizard builds in his Revisiting Paths thread, and I came up with this:

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 3.34
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Human Wizard
Level 20 True Neutral Human Male
(20 Wizard) 
Hit Points: 212
Spell Points: 1786 
BAB: 10\10\15\20
Fortitude: 9
Reflex: 15
Will: 12

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             10                    10
Dexterity            10                    10
Constitution         16                    17
Intelligence         18                    29
Wisdom               10                    10
Charisma              8                     8

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 20)
Balance               2                    11
Bluff                -1                    -1
Concentration         7                    26
Diplomacy             0                    10
Disable Device        n/a                   n/a
Haggle               -1                    -1
Heal                  0                     0
Hide                  0                     7
Intimidate           -1                    -1
Jump                  2                    10
Listen                0                     0
Move Silently         2                    11
Open Lock             n/a                   n/a
Perform              n/a                   n/a
Repair                4                     9
Search                4                     9
Spot                  2                     6
Swim                  0                     0
Tumble                1                    11
Use Magic Device      1                    10

Level 1 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Extend Spell
Feat: (Selected) Insightful Reflexes
Feat: (Human Bonus) Toughness
Enhancement: Human Versatility I
Enhancement: Wizard Elemental Manipulation I
Enhancement: Wizard Force Manipulation I
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar I


Level 2 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Wizard Energy Manipulation I
Enhancement: Wizard Intelligence I
Enhancement: Wizard Wand Mastery I


Level 3 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Mental Toughness
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Wizard Lineage of Elements I


Level 4 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Wizard Elemental Manipulation II
Enhancement: Wizard Wand Heightening I


Level 5 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Heighten Spell
Enhancement: Human Adaptability Intelligence I


Level 6 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Empower Spell
Enhancement: Wizard Spell Penetration I
Enhancement: Wizard Intelligence II


Level 7 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar II


Level 8 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Wizard Improved Heightening I


Level 9 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Mental Toughness
Enhancement: Wizard Spell Penetration II


Level 10 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Maximize Spell
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar III


Level 11 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Wizard Intelligence III


Level 12 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Penetration


Level 13 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Wizard Spell Penetration III


Level 14 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar IV


Level 15 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Enlarge Spell
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Penetration
Enhancement: Wizard Improved Heightening II


Level 16 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Human Greater Adaptability Constitution I


Level 17 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Racial Toughness III


Level 18 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Quicken Spell
Enhancement: Wizard Lineage of Elements II
Enhancement: Wizard Lineage of Deadly Elements I
Enhancement: Wizard Lineage of Deadly Elements II


Level 19 (Wizard)


Level 20 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Wizard Master of Magic
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery II
Enhancement: Wizard Improved Maximizing I

I don't have any items included since I'm a new player and I don't have any of the items usually listed. I have not included any tomes since I haven't pulled any yet.

I picked insightful reflexes as a feat - so should I use the 2 build points in dexterity elsewhere? I know AC will not mean much, but Dex helps in some of the skills. I could add 2 to Str, but with the BAB for a wizard I probably won't be doing much melee. I could add to 2 Wis for +1 to will save and a few skills, or add 2 to Cha for UMD.

Should I put more than 1 rank in tumble? Are they better in hide? I'm hoping for enough ranks in spot to see the mobs sneaking up to hit me.

Are 11 ranks in UMD (+10) enough to be useful? I assume I can get enough items to make it useful. I've pulled some RR items that UMD 10 would allow other races to use.

I can take a spell focus at lvl 20 - just not sure which I want. I figure I'll have time to see what spells I like by then. Do you recommend different feats, or a different order?

I'm not too worried about enhancements as they can be reset fairly easily, although I'm happy to get any advice offered.

I'll pick the spells based on which ones can't be bought as a scroll and which ones I have - I started saving them for this toon.

Thanks for any advice.

[Austinb1235]

If all you want is a questing dc wizard its not hard, just keep maxing int, and dont get enlarge, you will never use enlarge, get max,emp,extend,quicken,heighten, rest whatever, necromancy focus if you want finger of death/wail of banshee dc, and spell pen feats, and some mental toughness feats. dont add to str, max int, con 16, rest into wisdom, for will save. insightfull reflexes, so dont put any in dex!

[Bozone]

Thanks Austin.

Do you have to be a Necromancer to get those spells, or are they more effective if you are? It sounds like those are effective spells later in the game from what I've read.

[ArloOne]

drop dex and wis, raise con and str.

[Aganthor]

Thanks Austin.

Do you have to be a Necromancer to get those spells, or are they more effective if you are? It sounds like those are effective spells later in the game from what I've read.

A plain wizard can use those spells! It's arcane, so even a sorcerer can use it. Like suggested, invest in spell penetration and necromancy focus and your DC will be better.

[bashemgud]

Int, Con, Str

Wis and dex are useless, imo. You ac will suck, your will save as well.

With a decent starting Str and WF, you can do some decent melee low-mid lvls. It's fun and useful. On normal quests you can join melees while Fod/Wail mobs.

And Spell focus first, Spell pen after.

[samthedagger]

I see a lot of good decisions for your build. You have good Int and Con which is one of the most important decisions to make and I think you made a good one. I'll make some suggestions below which will help "optimize" your character, but by and large, I think you have done well.

Dex and Wis are of little use to you. Int is most important. Con after that. If you have some leftover points, Str is a solid choice. There is more to Str than meets the eye. It isn't just for melee. It's also for protection against Str-draining effects and carrying capacity. Cha is the only one possibly worth investing points in for the skill bonus, and the only skill that matters for you is UMD. Since UMD can offer you incredible versatility, you can never have too much (unless you're a bard).

Insightful Reflexes is okay, but not great. Here's why. There aren't a lot of save negates effects based on Reflex. Web and a couple low level ray spells are all I can think of. It might be worth taking just for resistance to those, but by the time you are around 7th level you can protect your self from save for half effects in other ways. Resist energy goes a long way early on and protection from elements, fire shield, as well as magic items help in higher levels. If you are thinking about a rogue multiclass however, Insightful Reflexes is a must-have since it improves your odds for handling evasion. But not every wizard wants to do this and that is okay. You're a human, and you're a wizard, so you have feats to spare.

Mental Toughness, Improved Mental Toughness, and Energy of the Scholar enhancements. You don't need these, but they are helpful if you are new to casters and not sure where and how to conserve SP yet. Energy of the Scholar is easy to retrain so just wait until conserving SP is easier and do it then. The feats, not so much. As long as you are okay with getting the expensive siberys shards you need to retrain your feats down the line, it's okay to take MT and IMT.

Enlarge Spell. I think this can be a fun feat, but from what I gathered in a recent thread started on the topic, it seems like more of a gimmick than a reliable strategy. Keep it if you want, but I don't imagine you'll get a lot of use out of it unless you are soloing.

If you want your walls of fire and delayed blast fireballs to be all they can be, max out the elements enhancement line. You can take some APs from Energy of the Scholar for this.

Hide and Move Silently. I don't see the need for these skills unless you are an assassin. I really don't. If you are a wizard, you can cast invisibility anyway, which will probably serve your purposes if you absolutely need it. I would say Spot and Listen are more valuable.

You don't need ranks in Jump. At 9th level the jump spell gives you +30 which is all you need. Given the paucity of useful 1st-level spells at high level you'll end up keeping this perma-prepped.

Tumble. It remains to be seen how useful this will be post-U5. But go ahead and take it. You have skill points to burn.

Spells. If this is your first arcane character learn EVERY spell you come across. Play around with them in solo play on casual or normal just so you can learn what they all do and which ones you like the most. There are the classics: wall of fire, cone of cold, cloudkill, finger of death. But there are lots of other spells that can be useful if you are a little more creative. One of the funnest things about a wizard is being able to learn every arcane spell in the game and toy around with them so do it!

Wand Heightening. This is just worthless past level 10 or so. Wand DCs suck something horrible. But hey, they are only APs and you can reset them when you notice that your wands with DCs are never hitting. I never use wands with save negates effects. There's just no point. The wand ends up being 5% effective with or without the enhancements. Save for half or save partial effects are okay. The best wands have no saving throw. Scorching ray wands are nice. Move those APs towards maxing out Wand and Scroll Mastery. Interestingly, this also helps when you UMD healing scrolls.

That's all the sage wisdom I can offer. You don't need to do all of these things to be effective. I'd say you are most of the way there already. But at least consider them.

[Bozone]

Thanks for the help. I'll do a little re-figuring and find out what it's like to play a caster.

I appreciate the input.