Wizards out there

[sirjohn45]

I gave up on a drow FS and was wondering about a 19wiz/1 sorc.
As for stats what would be good for survivalbility and spells? I am a little fuzzy on
enhancements.
Hard to believe just 9 months away and I forgot alot about how to make a great wizard.
Please anyhelp or ideas or even a setup would be great...
As always DDO I think has the best help anywhere from all you great people.

[Stuttrboy]

I gave up on a drow FS and was wondering about a 19wiz/1 sorc.
As for stats what would be good for survivalbility and spells? I am a little fuzzy on
enhancements.
Hard to believe just 9 months away and I forgot alot about how to make a great wizard.
Please anyhelp or ideas or even a setup would be great...
As always DDO I think has the best help anywhere from all you great people.

Why ruin a perfectly good wizard with a level of Sorc?

I'm a fan of the 18/2 warforged wiz/rog for evasion and trap skills and the int to do them easily.

Wizards are easy to level early with masters touch and a two handed weapon. You'll want decent str. Once you can cast firewall it's pretty much smooth sailing. Max int I suggest at least a 16 con and the rest str.

[The_Brave2]

19/1... no.

pure wiz is baisicly the only endgame viable wizard.

max int and do con maxed secondary

your choices are:

WF: High survivability
Drow: +1 DC's (low survivability) +1 DC's Palemaster High Survivability, no healing from clerics, higher necro DC

are you planning on going palemaster or archmage?

[Grenada]

Wizards are easy to level early with masters touch and a two handed weapon. You'll want decent str. Once you can cast firewall it's pretty much smooth sailing. Max int I suggest at least a 16 con and the rest str.

First life Drow, you can only get 14 con. Just warning you. (break down: 10 str, 14 con, 10 dex, 20 int, 8 wis, 10 cha)

Human(obviously 32 pt):
14, 16, 8, 18, 8, 8
or
8, 18, 8, 18, 8, 8

[Aashrym]

19/1... no.

pure wiz is baisicly the only endgame viable wizard.

This is incorrect.

Wiz 18 / rog 2 and wiz 18 / monk 2 are both viable. Evasion isn't everything but it is worth considering and both classes do offer a bit more than just evasion.

[The_Brave2]

This is incorrect.

Wiz 18 / rog 2 and wiz 18 / monk 2 are both viable. Evasion isn't everything but it is worth considering and both classes do offer a bit more than just evasion.

the extra 1 DC and discount on metamagics are the only min/max way to go if u plan on doing epics.

[Entelech]

The additional survivability and utility can compensate for the 1 save DC. There's a difference between "full-on-****** minimaxed" and "perfectly acceptable." Just getting a decent jump skill can save your bacon far more often than the difference between a 40 and a 41 Mass Hold.

Also, not to insult your intelligence, but not everyone builds for grinding epics.

[The_Brave2]

The additional survivability and utility can compensate for the 1 save DC. There's a difference between "full-on-****** minimaxed" and "perfectly acceptable." Just getting a decent jump skill can save your bacon far more often than the difference between a 40 and a 41 Mass Hold.

Also, not to insult your intelligence, but not everyone builds for grinding epics.

well, being able to recon yourself being WF adds enough survivabilty to take on anything, and that is a justifiable -1 so im not completly min/maxing here. having a decent jump skill is irrelevant, wizards have plenty of int to put into jump and you have the jump spell. since it maxes out at 40 all you need is a 10 jump.

thats why I said if you are planning on doing epics.

Loosing the wiz capstone and 2 levels of SP seems silly to me.

also, 1 DC makes more of a diffrence than you think, otherwise we woulndt see any Drow Wizards.

[Indoran]

the extra 1 DC and discount on metamagics are the only min/max way to go if u plan on doing epics.

I think that you can splash... but its a bad idea if you plan on running epics and that overall this ^ is solid advice... evasion is pffff

[Entelech]

Do not underestimate the strange power Drizz't's emo haircut holds over his legions of fanboys.

From a pure optimization standpoint, you've got a point about the capstone. But I've run epics on an 18 / 2 Wiz/Rogue and you're by no means useless. Just plan on drinking an extra potion from time to time.

Also, evasion is far better when combined with Insightful Reflexes. A 30+ Reflex save with Evasion is by no means pfff.

[The_Brave2]

Do not underestimate the strange power Drizz't's emo haircut holds over his legions of fanboys.

From a pure optimization standpoint, you've got a point about the capstone. But I've run epics on an 18 / 2 Wiz/Rogue and you're by no means useless. Just plan on drinking an extra potion from time to time.

Also, evasion is far better when combined with Insightful Reflexes. A 30+ Reflex save with Evasion is by no means pfff.

Yea, but then your wasting a feat on Insightful reflexes, lol.

[Phidius]

Yea, but then your wasting a feat on Insightful reflexes, lol.

It's not a waste if it provides value. I fail to see how a +1 to DCs makes a gimp caster magically turn uber.

Clearly you value the wizards capstone over evasion - there's no one way to enjoy this game.

Not even "yours".

[Aashrym]

the extra 1 DC and discount on metamagics are the only min/max way to go if u plan on doing epics.

the extra 1 DC and discount on metamagics are the only min/max way to go if u plan on doing epics.

This isn't true. Other casters can build successful DC builds without that +1 DC. The wizard PrE's still provide more DC's than other casters have access. A 43 DC instead of a 44 DC is perfectly viable.

The discount on meta's doesn't mean much when most of the SP conservation comes from SLA's and it's actually a small discount to start with.

I would be more concerned about the lost feat than anything else going rogue but that is a build for spells and to cover traps at the same time, plus full UMD ranks. Going monk means evasion, a stance, and 2 bonus feats to replace the one lost feat.

The 2 points of spell penetration might have more impact than the 1 DC. The difference in evasion plus insightful reflexes makes for a pretty nice nice trade off compared to just insightful reflexes.

The previous comment was the only viable wizard is pure, which is not true. Those splashes are completely viable. Min/max might be more correct but it's hard to measure against the other benefits provided by the splash and still possible to debate.

I won't say the wizard capstone isn't useful (because it's good) but saving 1 SP on a quickened wail or 4 SP on a heightened quickened enlarged finger of death is pushing the limits of it's real effectiveness. We're talking a small percent bonus to efficiency and 1 DC compared to the splash benefit. The splash is viable and I would take one into epics with no concerns.

[Viisari]

Yea, but then your wasting a feat on Insightful reflexes, lol.

You speak about epics but do not see how valuable insightful reflex is? You should always have it if you're running epics on a wizard, enemy spells are your biggest threat and the feat cuts their damage in half. You can do well without it, but I'd say it adds more to your survivability than toughness does.

[Aashrym]

Yea, but then your wasting a feat on Insightful reflexes, lol.

I'm failing to see how insightful reflexes is a waste with or without evasion. It's worth quite a bit of damage mitigation at low cost on a class with bonus feats who will max INT regardless and take good advantage of it.

[jaegarnel]

I don't know anything about epics, but personally I'd say added utility with trapsmithing and 95% chance of ignoring most offensive spells cast by mobs can be worth the loss of the capstone, a feat and 2 spell pen, especially for someone who likes to solo.

I personally probably wouldn't do it because I dislike multiclassing offensive spellcasters, but it seems viable to me. It would certainly make soloing much easier, because when I soloed hard or elite lower lvl quest at level, the traps were my main cause of death.

Insightful reflex is also in no way a waste. It's improved my survivability a lot since I took it, and you have the spare feats on a wizard.


To the OP, don't take a lvl of sorc, it'll grant you nothing except 5% more sp from sp items. I'm guessing you took that lvl assuming you would get double sp from sp items, but that's not the way it works. Instead, you get 5% more for every sorc level you have.
Go for a pure wizard, or possibly take two levels of rogue if you want added survivability, trapsmithing and good enough UMD to use heal scrolls.

What kind of wizard you should build depends a lot on what you want to do with it. Is it crowd control, insta-killing or straight damage (sorc would be better for that) you want to do best? On a wizard you can do all three, but you'll have to choose one to be really good at and build for it.

Until you tell us, we can't really suggest specific builds. I'll mention that atm, pale master with great insta-kills and self healing seems most effective at end game. But ultimately it boils down to what you enjoy.

[Aashrym]

I personally probably wouldn't do it because I dislike multiclassing offensive spellcasters, but it seems viable to me.

I'm not a fan of splashing casters either. There is also lost damage in direct damage spells, but using enchantments and death spells like most wizzies use means the impact is small.

I agree on not taking a level of sorc. That is a bad idea. Normally we're looking at pure or an evasion splash. There are exceptions with some builds on the forums.

[Thrudh]

the extra 1 DC and discount on metamagics are the only min/max way to go if u plan on doing epics.

This is incorrect. 1 DC from the capstone does not keep a character from being effective in epics.

[Thrudh]

I gave up on a drow FS and was wondering about a 19wiz/1 sorc.

The one level of sorc gets you nothing...

A pure wizard is extremely simple to build... Max out INT, put almost everything else into CON, maybe save a few points for STR (to make it easier to carry a full inventory full of loot)

That's it... you're done...

Wizards have tons of feats. Very easy to build.

[Missing_Minds]

The one level of sorc gets you nothing...

Gets you 5% more sp out of spell point items.
+2 will saves.
-1 BAB
no wizard capstone (and with a 19W/1S )
bluff as a primary/class skill.

In short, OP don't do it. This is one of the few times I will tell a player NOT to do something even if it sounds fun to them.