The current best first life solo Wizard build?

[Endarire]

Greetings, all!

I played DDO about 3 years ago when the Druid class was mere speculation and the Artificer had just come out. I played as a Human Sorcerer, eventually subscribing, and reaching level 16 or thereabouts. I quit because:

1: I chose the wrong race. Warforged just won due to their plentiful immunities. Even though they had -2 WIS/CHA, I saw plenty of people playing Warforged Sorcerers, Clerics, Monks, and other WIS- and CHA-dependent classes. And as a Sor/Wiz, I can heal myself. Yay!

2: I chose the wrong class. I like using the variety of effects available to arcane casters - damage, summons, crowd control, buffs, and utility. Yes, Sorcerers got more spell points than Wizards by a fair margin, and tossing around more spells was fun, but as a Sorcerer I had to wait an entire extra character level to learn the first spell of a given spell level (boo!) and couldn't swap spells at taverns (double boo), and, seemingly, had a similar amount of spell points to a Wizard (Archmage) (triple boo!). I really like my Wizards in P&P, and I chose a Wizard at the inspiration of some friends, including the author of The Sorcerer Handbook.

3: DDO is an MMORPG with a D&D theme. (I didn't understand that initially.) The then-level cap of 20 and my desire for the best gear had me farming the Necropolis for Skiver (technically the pages for the Tome of Untold Legends to trade for Skiver). Cholthuluzz the Incorporeal Beholder made me quit, due to being inevitably level drained into uselessness or death because I wanted something specific from the the game and I wasn't a Warforged.

Now, on my account, I still have Veteran Status and perhaps 32 point buy characters unlocked. I am hesitant to farm my way up to level 20+ for a True Reincarnation, though Epic Reincarnation looks appealing. I was a subscriber, so I have access to the residual benefits of having paid real money for something.

This time, for a character, I was considering, feat- and class-wise:

Male TN Warforged Rogue1/Wizard2/Rogue1/Wizard+16.
1: Mental Toughness (I like spell points.)
3: Insightful Reflexes (My Reflex saves were low last time.)
6: Spell Focus: ? (Needed for Archmage - taking suggestions!)
7: [Extend Spell] (Useful for buffs, especially haste)
9: Empower Spell (Burn, baby, burn!)
12: [BONUS FEAT], FEAT (After this point, I'm not sure.)
15: FEAT
17: [BONUS FEAT]
18: FEAT
21: EPIC FEAT
24: EPIC FEAT
26: =EPIC DESTINY ABILITY=
27: EPIC FEAT
28: =EPIC DESTINY ABILITY=

I'm also taking suggestions on the rest of this build in terms of enhancements, skills, and so on. I've not played in 3 years. My, how things have changed!

[EllisDee37]

Well, drow is preferred for the extra +2 intelligence via racial enhancements. Human and half-elf get you +1 int, so they're okay but drow is really preferred. Morninglord works as well as drow but you have to buy a +1 lesser heart from the store to get rid of the first cleric level.

Warforged for immunities and self-healing is nice, for sure, but a fleshie wizard can just as easily go pale master for immunities, self-healing and additional DCs. (Lich form grants up to +4 extra intelligence.)

Andoris' comprehensive Pale Master Guide is the premiere resource for pale masters in today's game.

For an example of a specific first-life pure wizard build, see the "Epic Challenge Farmer" link in my signature. The only way it differs from a normal wizard is that it maxes the pet line. The pet is worthless in epic elite, but it's pretty strong in heroic level questing and very strong in epic challenges. If you follow the build exactly it will give you a solid wizard. If you don't want the pet, just spend the AP on whatever else you like. The feats, skills and stats are "correct" for a standard wizard.

EDIT: If you want a rogue splash, see the "Pale Trapper" link in my signature.

[EllisDee37]

6: Spell Focus: ? (Needed for Archmage - taking suggestions!)

Archmage SLAs no longer have any feat preqrequisites.

Also, to clarify on immunities, pale masters in undead form are immune to:

- Level drain
- Death spells
- Negative energy spells
- Hold person / monster
- Dancing ball / irresistible dance
- Command / Greater command
- Sleep
- Fear (pretty sure; they should be if they aren't)

In other words, they get all the immunities of warforged plus more. Note: Warforged in undead form cannot heal themselves with repair spells, but instead must use negative energy spells (death aura, plus the occasional negative energy burst) to heal just like fleshies.

The end result is that if you decide to use undead forms, which I would recommend, warforged brings nothing to the table while costing you a loss of int from not going drow/sun elf/human/half-elf. However, being warforged lets you drop out of undead form and still self-heal thanks to repair spells. This can be quite nice for Running with the Devils.

The pale trapper build linked in signature works fine with any race.

[Endarire]

How does a Pale Master in Undead form interact with healing spells cast by party members?

[Cardtrick]

How does a Pale Master in Undead form interact with healing spells cast by party members?

They neither help nor hurt you. Once in a very great while you'll run into a cleric who carries the Harm spell, which not only heals you but also cures stat damage, etc. But it's so rare as to not be worth considering. Most of the time as a Pale Master, you're responsible for your own healing.

[unbongwah]

Archmage SLAs no longer have any feat preqrequisites.

Although you'll want at least one Spell Focus feat to unlock the DC bonuses in Magister and Draconic (Evo/Conj).

How does a Pale Master in Undead form interact with healing spells cast by party members?

One of the drawbacks to undead forms is you're immune to all Pos Energy healing from the party; though if you're lucky, you can talk the clerics into slotting Harm so they can un-heal you if you ever need it.

[EllisDee37]

As others have said, you're immune to positive energy healing. However, if you're in a party with other pale masters, you can all stand next to each other to get massive healing from aura, since everyone's aura procs independently. This is a strategy I rather enjoyed in some raids. (ADQ2, for example.)

[unbongwah]

Also look for gear w/Boon of Undeath on it.

[Endarire]

Can these Undead forms be nullified via Antimagic abilities, like from Beholders?

[blerkington]

Can these Undead forms be nullified via Antimagic abilities, like from Beholders?

Hi,

No, but watch out for light damage.

Thanks.

[DirkTyrant]

a pale master is not the best option for a noob.... they require specialty gear, knowledge, and $$

a better option is a conjurer - web spells for cheap cc.... and acid spells for dmg.... until you get to the one-shot-kill spells (you will need to get your Necromancy DC up as high as you can for those)

[cru121]

1) You used to be a subscriber. Now that you're no longer a subscriber, you probably no longer have access to Warforged race.

2) Pure human sorcerers are great. Yeah, perhaps not against undead beholders, but in general they are nice. Perhaps try the character again, experiment with different savant trees.

3) Good news. Skiver is no longer considered awesome.

4) Warforged arcanes are still okay I guess, but they are no longer as popular as they used to be. I wonder why. In the past, a WF caster with wings around his/her name and more HP than the rest of the party combined joined your group, you knew that mobs will be dead before your squishy pally "tank" manages to call a hireling. Not today.

5) You were worried before that you get spells later as a sorc. Here's the thing. When you splash 2 rogue on your wizard, you get them even later.

6) Personally (and others might have different opinion on this subject), I love caster classes with strong and cheap offensive SLAs. As you might know, you can apply all your metamagic feats to your SLAs without increasing spell point cost. This is huge. From arcane casters, Sorcerer and Bard have great offensive SLAs. Wizard evocation SLAs are... not so hot, imho. (Note: I hated my wizard life, maybe they are not so bad)

7) Because of my love for SLAs, I frontload metamagic feats like maximize, empower, and heighten.

8) With the introduction of PRR and particularly MRR, evasion is no longer as necessary as before.

That said, if you want to explore the game at your own pace, a rogue splashed warforged wizard is a solid versatile option, if a bit old school. People often used to postpone second rogue level to level 9 (after you learn Wall of Fire).

[slarden]

A bladeforged or warforged shiradi caster with FVS levels is definitely the best choice for a first life caster. PM is more difficult to play and you tie alot of enhancement points up in the PM tree for self healing. If you want to get alot of past lifes and eventually build a high DC PM it is still a good choice so you can learn how to play a PM effectively - it takes a little more practice to play it well compared to a WF caster.

Here is one build that I use:

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...r-First-Lifers

During heroic levels you benefit from the low cost SLAs and spell point regeneration. In epic levels you become quite epic once you have your trees filled out.

I like this build because it has no need for heroic past lifes, DC or Spell Penetration and doesn't have alot of mandatory feats. You don't need top-end gear. Reconstruct is very easy self-healing and if you are willing to buy a +1 heart to get rid of the Paladin level - bladeforged get a reconstruct SLA plus the reconstruct spell as a backup.

If you have bladeforged, but not the +1 stone 15 wizard / 3 pal / 2 fvs is also a really great Shiradi option for higher defenses and HP.

[Wipey]

Just ditch Enchant foci and Extend for spell pen line. Will be maybe 72 Necro / 62 Enchant at cap.

Learn how to play a caster from Korthos to EE Mod instead of arcadey Magic Missile farting robot.

[slarden]

Just ditch Enchant foci and Extend for spell pen line. Will be maybe 72 Necro / 62 Enchant at cap.

Learn how to play a caster from Korthos to EE Mod instead of arcadey Magic Missile farting robot.

He had 2 key requirements in his OP:

1) First life
2) Solo

The biggest problem he will face is spell point limitations esp when he reaches bosses and esp when he gets to epic levels. The other real possibility is that when the level cap goes to 30 DC and spell penetration requirements could change drastically. I went through this with my PM who was shelved 2 weeks after eGH came out until the enhancement pass made it viable again.

Still if the OP wants to go PM he/she should take 2 fvs levels for just reward to manage SP effectively. Between the archmage evocation SLAs and the PM SLAs it helps alot when soloing. Those compensate for a PMs huge weakness - boss fights.

Still, I prefer WF over PM for this build, although learning how to play PM so you can eventually play a high DC PM is a strong consideration there.

[Ancient]

A bladeforged or warforged shiradi caster with FVS levels is definitely the best choice for a first life caster. PM is more difficult to play and you tie alot of enhancement points up in the PM tree for self healing. If you want to get alot of past lifes and eventually build a high DC PM it is still a good choice so you can learn how to play a PM effectively - it takes a little more practice to play it well compared to a WF caster.

Still, I prefer WF over PM for this build, although learning how to play PM so you can eventually play a high DC PM is a strong consideration there.

There are PM builds other than HIGH DC... A palemaster shiradi is a very viable build. A heavy armor wearing PM shiradi is able to solo EE quests even on a first life. There are enough enhancement points to do it. Tight, yes... but easily enough to get do it.

[SirValentine]

Once in a very great while you'll run into a cleric who carries the Harm spell, which not only heals you but also cures stat damage, etc. But it's so rare as to not be worth considering.

The problem is that Harm is at a spell level with too many better options for a divine to slot in.

Personally, I do carry Inflict spells to help out PMs, but Harm itself, no way.

[slarden]

There are PM builds other than HIGH DC... A palemaster shiradi is a very viable build. A heavy armor wearing PM shiradi is able to solo EE quests even on a first life. There are enough enhancement points to do it. Tight, yes... but easily enough to get do it.

They are definitely viable. What is more important than race is the 2 favored soul levels for spell point regeneration.

Based on the OP's original post I would still choose bladeforged/warforged over a fleshy PM which would be a distant second choice for me.

The reason I mentioned PM and DC casting was because once you get into high-end DC casting PM is just so much better. It's too much time investment for most people though.