Wizard ~ Keep or Re-Roll?

[Nyxianne]

Ok, I have a lvl 14 Wizard pale master wizard, and I was wondering if I could get some advice on whether I should keep it or re-roll it. It is a Horc, which I know is one of the worst races for a wizard.
Horc
Stats:
Str 10
Dex 8
Con 25 (base 18, a +1 tome, and +6 item)
Int 30 (base 19, a +2 tome, and a +6 item)
Wis 11 (base 8, +3 item)
Cha 8
SP: 1090 w/out item, 1263 with
HP: 230
Feats:
Extend, Empower, Maximize, Mental Toughness, Spell Focus Necromancy, Greater Spell Focus Necromancy, and Toughness

Again, any help would be appreciated, along with any advice on what kind of feats to take next, or advice on playing a wizard in general. It's my first Arcane, and most of my friends either play multiclass wizards with rogue, or they play Sorcerers. Thanks in advance.

[Niktoo]

Keep it! Wizards are great fun, and easy to level.

If you want to try a different race or a sorcerer then I suggest levelling to 20 and TRing because the wizard past life is amazing.

[Trillea]

Keep it! Wizards are great fun, and easy to level.

If you want to try a different race or a sorcerer then I suggest levelling to 20 and TRing because the wizard past life is amazing.

This. And may I suggest that if you like off-the-beaten-path wizards to go half-elf? They should be getting a nice boost in the next update with the elf enhancements, but without the CON penalty.

[Thuriaz]

I hate telling players to re-roll, and I always have discussions with vets and old timers that go like this "I'd never tell someone to re-roll, maybe LR, but unless they made some kinda radically weird build choice like... oh I dunno a Half Orc Wizard, I'd never tell them to reroll"

Wow it happened though, and honestly I feel your pain. you probably went into this thinking "I'm gonna make this guy survivable" with the con and strength bonuses. In a sense the idea was sound, but flawed none the less.

As I seen a couple people just posted while I was writing this reply, may I make the suggestion that if your not planning a re-roll plan to TR as soon as you can. However with that in mind though the new update is around the corner and when it comes out you'll be able to go Pale Master, take the Shroud of the Vampire and you'll be a fairly capable melee wizard (for as much as wizards melee) between Greater Death Aura Max/Emp and all the half-orc goodies your AP's buy you. Just look for some good +6STR gear and good +5 +Benefits Handwraps. You won't be a half orc barbarian, but you'll be slaming into living creatures in a ball of fire and death that makes them rethink their position and for VERY little SP cost too.

[Kourier]

It looks like a very capable wizard besides the -2 int that Horc brings with it... Honestly, that's the only problem I can see with it and it's in your interest to at least cap it so you can decide to TR or no. The int score is almost as high as it can get, right?

(16 base + 3 levels +2 tome + 3 enh + 6 item)

[donfilibuster]

This. And may I suggest that if you like off-the-beaten-path wizards to go half-elf? They should be getting a nice boost in the next update with the elf enhancements, but without the CON penalty.

Not elven arcanum, apparently helves don't get that line, but i may be wrong.

[Paleus]

What are you planning to do with the wizard? Your feat selection is good for a caster build, its just the race that is a sticking point. Its a minus to your DCs and no real synergistic enhancements. Most half-orc enhancements revolve around melee at this current time. So while there are viable wizard melee builds out there (usually some kind of monk tossed in), this isn't one of them.

If you never plan on TRing then, I'd say re-rolling is your best bet unless leveling a character this high is hard on your game-time. If you do plan on TRing at some point, grind out those last 6 levels. It may be hard to get this guy into a bunch of epics though to get tokens for TRing it. So if you don't plan on using store hearts, or have a character that can farm for him, getting that TR might be hard.

But honestly, other than epics, your hit to DC isn't going to be that horrible on your effectiveness. Heck, even in epics with the new update you can focus on some of those tasty neg leveling spells and non-dc nuking to help you even the odds, mobs at that level will usually save on your bread and butter SLAs anyway. You'll be a flavor build, certainly not the best possible, but if played effectively you can hold your own. If that's fun for you, then keep it and be a sexy looking half-orc. It will turn some heads, but effective playing can override first impressions in all but the most min-maxed over-ego'ed types of players.

[Cardtrick]

The easy answer is to keep it if you have fun playing it, don't keep it if not.

But certainly your feat list looks good, and your stats look about as good as a Horc Wizard could hope for.

Like others have said, one option is to cap this character and then TR. The wizard past life feat is fantastic for any caster, so if you're interested in trying a wiz/rogue or one of the new elemental savant sorcerers -- or even a CC bard or offensive casting divine -- then you should definitely take this character to level 20.

As far as where to go next with feats . . .

You already have most of the core feats you need. You have 2 general feats and 2 class feats left to pick. 2 of them should almost certainly be Spell Penetration and Heighten. Heighten is a Wizard bonus feat, but Spell Pen is not, so that leaves you with 1 general feat and 1 wizard bonus feat.

You could take Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus in another school -- most likely Enchantment, especially if you're planning to TR soon (before Update 9 hits). Alternately, take Spell Focus:Enchantment and Insightful Reflexes, to take advantage of your large intelligence modifier -- probably a great way to go if you plan on soloing much, since failed reflex saves can easily kill you.

If you level more slowly and/or plan to be playing this character after Update 9, you could go a different route and actually take advantage of the fact that you're a Half-Orc by building in some melee capability. Take Power Attack and Insightful Reflexes, use the new Shroud of the Vampire form that you'll be getting w/ Update 9, and invest some of your APs in the half-orc THF damage/power attack enhancements.

I don't actually recommend the melee-ish route, though, unless it appeals to you for flavor reasons. It's definitely not ideal. If it were me, I'd take Spell Pen, Heighten, SF:Enchantment and Insightful Reflexes. I love having a decent reflex save.

For someone way more qualified to give advice on Pale Masters, check out LeLoric's awesome Building an End-Game Pale Master thread. (Just ignore the bit about not playing a half-orc. )