Mate of mine wants to Join server, Wants to be a wizard...

[Kiran]

Hi Guys

Been speaking to my mate about this roleplay server, he has good experience roleplaying in ultima online for 10 years as a mage of sorts and now he's trying to read up on wizard lore etc over here.

He asked me if there was a straightforward wizard build, nothing too crazy but solid and good both in pve and pvp.

Now with my not so good building skills I had a snoop around and saw this build.

http://nwn2db.com/builder.php?id=1053&clone

His Roleplay approach is that of a normal mage on the outside, but he as many secretly researches power and goes places he shouldnt go (Thus the deity, sneak, stealth as well etc) And thus he was also banished from the academy he attended.

But overall the build I think seems very spot on mage wise, what are your thoughts?

[Steve]

The build you posted is a Drow...does your friend want to play a Drow?

There are also some Feats in that build that do not exist on BGTSCC, like Persistent Spell. Check here.

Also, worship of Ao in these times is somewhat frowned upon. Check here.

If any PC is going to sneak around, you need to Max and invest in Sneak Gear. I'd suggest adding 3 levels of Shadowdancer or Rogue to the build.

[chad878262]

toughness on a mage? Spell penetration and greater spell penetration shouldn't really be necessary since you can cast assay resistance and/or Mords. Agree with Steve that 3 levels of rogue or (preferably) SD will grant you ability to max Hide/MS. You can replace Toughness and Persistent with Dodge and Mobility, but you need 19 DEX to qualify for Shadowdancer on BG (almost makes Drow or Tiefling a must if you also want to maximize INT). You could also take SF: Hide / MS instead of SP / GSP or Spell Focus / GSF Illusion if you want better DCs.

[Flasmix]

Vas Ort Flam
Corp Por

[Darradarljod]

I hear Red Wizards are in fashion this year...

[Invoker]

Vas Ort Flam
Corp Por

Rel Sanct Ylem
In Mani Por

No, seriously...Red Wizards have a wonderful lore behind them, and are certainly worth investigating for your friend. They might be a bit challenging RP-wise, though, for that very reason. I would suggest him to take a look and see them for himself.

http://dnd.rem.uz/Advanced%20D%26D%20(u ... %20FR6.pdf

[Hawke]

I am no expert on "gaining power" on this server... 7-8 years or so it takes me to get to level 20 (damn RCR... STAY AWAY FROM THE RCR DEVIL!)

Looking at the build posted, and if your friend is wanting to play a mage bent on power..... You can get a bit more creative.

I understand the build is a placeholder as it is all kinds of wrong for the server. Try this one

http://nwn2db.com/build/?200700

Keep in mind, I was planning on something similar for an orc rebuild, but hey, share the love right? He wants power? Archmage, RP? Thaumaturge, etc.

But if he is REALLY wanting a challenge and good potential of RP... hehe I have a couple of builds in that area. But fair warning,,, IRC knows my stuff to be....soulsucking anti-powerbuilds.

http://nwn2db.com/build/?204746

or

http://nwn2db.com/build/?74139

But with the incoming dispel fix... I wouldn't recommend that last one.


Lastly, I know a thing or two about low level wizards on this server... as I have RCRd at least 60 or more times and have all but one of my many characters being a wizard.... it is tough love on the server. If he goes it alone in the beginning, even with all the gear he can get, until he gets to around level 5, he will have a challenging time.

Do not get discouraged. Things get a lot easier. Especially with groups, most of whom understand the ridiculous amount of missed bolts being fired... they get that wizards get more and more powerful and are late bloomers.

One last build.. for the morally ambiguous...

http://nwn2db.com/build/?171953

It can be either palemaster or blood magus... if you want palemaster, drop the toughness and move shadowdancer up to like level 9 I think.

Fair warning, if he goes palemaster, it may make leveling harder as it is a 6/10 casting progression, on top of the 3 shadowdancer levels, he will be looking at a 7 level delay to cast level 9 spells (i.e. level 24).... Up to him.

What is a blood magus you ask? http://bgtscc.wikia.com/wiki/Blood_Magus

Alright, well with whatever he decides, good luck. And if there are more questions... lots of people here to help out.

[Rhifox]

If your friend wants to be a sneaky mage, why not go Arcane Trickster?

[Karond]

Given that you wanted a DC sorcerer, I would recommend this. Worshipping Shar works a bit with the secretive nature. You need to send in a quick application for the shadow adept class to the DMs, so do that as soon as possible.

Dread Sorceress

Aasimar.

STR: 10
DEX: 12
CON: 14
INT: 12
WIS: 8
CHA: 20+7

Veteran background feat. Worships Shar.

Build: 3 Ranger, 10 Bloodmage, 10 Shadow Adept, 7 Sorcerer

Feats: Spellcasting Prodigy, True Believer, Steadfast Determination, Practiced Spellcaster (Sorcerer), Extend spell, Spell focus: Necromancy, Greater Spell focus: Necromancy, Great Charisma 1-5.

Skills: Concentration 33, Spellcraft 30, 60 extra skillpoints to spend on whatever (listen, use magic device, 10 tumble, a few point on survival etc.)

Suggested Spellbook:

Level 1: prot.from alignment, ray of enfeeblement, expeditious retreat, charm person, color spray
Level 2: Mirror image, see invisibility, blindness/deafness, cat's grace, eagle's splendour
Level 3: Displacement, Haste, Spiderskin, Improved Mage armor
Level 4: Elemental shield, wrack, Phantasmal killer, fear
Level 5: Cloudkill, Lesser mantle, Dominate person, dismissal
Level 6: bigby's forceful hand, greater heroism, undeath to death
Level 7: hiss of sleep, ethereal jaunt, finger of death
Level 8: Premonition, mass blindness, horrid wilting
Level 9: Mordekainen, Wail of the Banshee, dominate monster

Strongpoints DCs are 33+level in necromancy, and 31+level in illusion and enchantment. There is a cheap helmet that grants -1 intelligence and spell focus illusion, which is a good idea to get to help illusion to DC 32+level.

Even your level 1 spell color spray is fairly good here, as DC 33 with that helmet isn't that easy to resist by monsters. The DC42 wail is an area clearer. Besides this, you've the bloodmage scars, awaken blood and bloodwalk abilities, plus just for fun track.

The build is very centered on DC spells. It works really well in a party and so-so solo, since you've no so summons except the ones you make with dominate person/monster. Undead is the toughest foe, since you've pretty much only undeath to death/wilting to help you out there, but it's one of the sacrifices one makes for not wanting to be a wizard.

Many of the spells are area of effects, so make sure you get as many enemies as possible. Cloudkill is nice since it lowers the fortitude save of targets automatically, and with your good DCs it should lower them a fair bit. This helps setup other spells like wail, finger or wrack, but you might not even need it.

[Invoker]

The build is super cool Karond, really nice. A small note: Horrid Wilting doesn't hit the Undead.

I would suggest a couple of changes in the spell selection, though, to minimize the problems with Undead and Constructs, and generally with anything immune to death:

4th Circle -> Wall of Fire for Fear. Even with the reduced CL, you will destroy Undead by the dozens with this.

5th Circle -> Dominate Person or Dismissal for Bigby's Interposing Hand (staple spell)

8th Circle -> Sunburst for Horrid Wilting (your slight DC penalty will be compensated by the fact you can clear Undead with this, aside from blinding everything permanently).

Incidentally, this build soloes pretty easily with scrolls of Summon Creature: it has plenty of CC to allow the creatures to safely deal the dmg needed to farm.

Personally, I would also forego Steadfast for another metamagic of your choosing. Too strong to pass up, imho.

[Karond]

Ah yes, those are good alternatives if you prefer them. Sunburst for horrid wilting especially.

Personally, I would also forego Steadfast for another metamagic of your choosing. Too strong to pass up, imho.

What metamagic? Since the build has almost no damage spells, it would be quicken? One can skip steadfast for something like spell focus: enchantment, which with that helmet makes it 33+level necromancy, 32+level in illusion and enchantment.

[mrm3ntalist]

Level 6: bigby's forceful hand, greater heroism, undeath to death

What??? No IGMS??? You mean a caster can exist without that spell? [sarcasm]

Karonds suggestion is an excellent one. However, he has a plan in mind, knowing what to do with the available spells. Assuming that your mate is new to nwn2 and casters, I would suggest playing a wizard instead of a sorcerer and familiarising with the spells.

A wrong spell selection on a wizard is only bad until you rest again and change it. A wrong spell selection on a sorcerer, means having to chat with the RCR bot. Also Sorcerers can be costly to maintain. For example, Karonds spell selection, has no spell immunity, no invisibility. While veteran caster players can do without those, new players might find it frustating and costly to have to use an immunity scroll or an invisibility wand.

[Invoker]

What metamagic?

You absolutely have to try stuff like Empowered Ray of Enfeeblement, Wall of Fire and (especially) Undeath to Death. It'll be funny when your EMP UtoD kills the key guardian in the Vault instantly.

@mrm3ntalist: you're right. It's a pretty professional build to play, and if you don't know how to play, you'll likely die a lot. This is one of those builds that are amazing in the hands of a competent player, but can be frustrating for an initiate, unless he has the patience to master it.

[Kiran]

I think since he will be new he is looking more for a simpler approach, though the build looks very interesting, this is something perhaps he can learn as he learns the basics and more advanced mechanics.. He has only ever played baldurs gate before, so his knowledge is perhaps, dare I say, less than mine.

But regardless he wants to be the caster type with big explosions, bit of summoning if he should ever solo, and defenses too.

Maybe in the line of http://nwn2db.com/build/?166068

The reason for Sorc was mainly more spells over selection. So essentially quantity over quality.

Furthermore to be a wizard he would need to learn a lot of lore/background before playing where as sorcs seem more friendly to the new people roleplay wise so he can start cracking on now and learn as he goes along rather than having tons of homework on wizards.

[mrm3ntalist]

A more balanced sorcerer and in my view more forgiving for new players is this - http://nwn2db.com/build/?115291

Having a 38CL there is no SR he cannot bypass, no AC that bigby9 cannot overcome. It has a good mixture of controlling, save or die and blasting spells. There are bosses that you will need to blast. There are spells that will allow you to clear the undead in the gullykin crypt easily ( boss included

More importantly it has all the buffs and high enough AC that will help a new player without having to use UMD and/or wands. Archmage helps not only to increase the CL and DCs but also use SLAs for the spell levels were you get limited spells. For example on level7 one can choose Shadow Shield as SLA and get avasculate Energy immunity and Finger of death covering the whole Save or die, buff and blasting availability of spells on that level. Mastery of elements means that changing the element for your damaging spells you can have ice darts dealing 80-100 fire damage.

Unfortunately, the 38CL will be good, till the next update. After that the CL drops to 35

Maybe in the line of http://nwn2db.com/build/?166068

CAreful with the epic spells and sorcerers. You need to take the epic spells only on sorcerer levels, otherwise INT will be used to calculate the DC of the epic spell instead of CHA resulting into much lower DCs