Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

Hello! I'm new here more or less, and pretty new to wizards in nwn2. I've been reading up on the forums about all the spells etc, and I have what I feel is a basic understanding of how to play my wizard in regards to mechanics vs roleplay. For instance, I know half-elf isn't ideal but it's the race I want so I'll deal with one less feat, or a + to INT from say Sun Elf. However, I still want to be effective!

So, I'm just reaching out to the community for some advice on a build. So far I've hit level 8, and as I understand it I can 100% rebuild right now. As it stands I'd love to somehow make a Wizard/Arcane Scholar/Archmage/Harper Mage work (It didn't appear that you had to apply for a harper mage per the description. If you do that's okay, it can be dropped).

EDIT: The above combo isn't possible as far as I can tell with a half-elf race due to not having enough feats to meet the 3b20 requirement. However, instead of Harper Mage I think Frost Mage may work for RP and for mechanical effectiveness.

So far I have this much worked out:

Level 1: Skill Focus ( Spell Craft )
Level 3: Skill Focus ( Concentration )
Level 5: Empower Spell (Wizard bonus feat)
Level 6: Take Arcane Scholar

I know I miss out on the +1 DC etc from Spellcasting Prodigy at level 1, but this allows me to take Arcane Scholar by level 6, so it's worth it? I don't know. Anyway, I want to be a Transmuter, and for RP I figured Necromancy would be my prohibited school. I realize I lose out on some good spells, least of which isn't the epic spell Vampiric Feast. However, I just don't see my wizard using such a spell anyway. I'll opt for Mass Fowl, provided that works.

Anyway, yes! If there is anymore info I can give just let me know. I'm excited to play a wizard, but I really want to get it right. Thanks in advance for any advice.

PS here is my character currently at level 8,


http://imgur.com/a/pCVJC

id take prodigy. its cheap and effects all schools. you will thank yourself later.

I've taken it atm, but because of it I'm level 8 and still not an Arcane Scholar T_T. Is it better to just get Arcane Scholar later and take the Spellcasting Prodigy feat at level 1, or is it worth losing the benefits to gain Arcane Scholar earlier? Remember, I have to level this character too

Prodigy helps you all the time because it also lets you get bonus spells faster. Always take it as a caster (unless you have a RP reason not to, as usual).

Okay, thanks. I will take it then. Now to flesh out the rest

You'll need to very carefully plan out your build order - there are a lot of feats you need for this build.

Arcane Scholar - 3 feats
Empower Spell
Skill Focus Concentration
Skill Focus Spellcraft

Archmage - 2 feats (as you'll already have Skill Focus Spellcraft)
2x Spell Focus feats

Harper classes - 2 feats
Alertness
Iron Will

That's seven feats- Normally you only have seven pre-epic feats at lvls 1,3,6,9,12,15 and 18. The one at level 18 is too late to use for a qualification feat as you have to have 3 levels in every class before level 20.

Luckily, Wizards get a bonus feat every five levels.

As a half elf you'll need the second bonus feat from Wiz10 in order to get all your qualification feats checked off before reaching lvl 18 otherwise you won't be able to get three levels of the last PrC by lvl20.

Edit: while still taking Spellcasting Prodigy, which you definitely want.

Oh! So, I can do it? I hate to ask, but I'm having a hard time visualizing your explanation. Would it be too much trouble to give me a layout of how I'd get all 4 of those classes by 20?

Like,

Level 1: spellcasting prodigy
Level 3: skill focus ( spellcraft )

etc.

If not ill try to figure it out.

Luckily, I made a spreadsheet so I could make sure I wasn't being stupid. Wizard bonus feats can only be metamagic or spellcasting feats so you have to make sure you plan for that - you can't take skill focus, alertness or iron will on a Wizard bonus feat.

Maybe something like:
1: Spellcasting Prodigy
3: Skill focus Spellcraft (it'll help learning spells! Also, get the gloves from Phylida's shop in CK)
5: Wizard bonus feat 1: Empower Spell
6: Skill focus Concentration
9: Spell focus (Transmutation?)
10: Wizard bonus feat 2: Spell focus (x) (you can take Wiz10 any time between lvl10-17 depending on when you want Archmage. You don't get 7th level spells until caster level 13 so can't take Archmage before then.)
12: Iron Will
15: Alertness
18: your choice! If you're going to shapechange/polymorph a lot, perhaps build for the changes planned and add Greater Spell Focus Transmutation, but Extend Spell might just be better anyway?

Ive left the Harper Mage quals till later as I don't think Harper Mage is open to players yet, though I'm likely to be wrong.

Edit: it isn't available yet, but it will grant Skill focus Spellcraft at lvl2 and a Spell focus feat at lvl5 so that will totally remove all my earlier concerns once it's live.

Oh awesome and thank you! So if it offers skillfocus spellcraft at level 2 of harper mage wont that be wasted since im taking it at level 3 anyway?

You might want to hold off on rebuilding until it is live, thinking about it!

As a wizard you'll have to buy any spells you don't get on level up again each time you RCR, which can be a pricey endeavour

What do you want the build to do? That's the question you should ask before you think too much about build.

Is it a controller? Someone who controls the battlefield with disabling magic or whatever? That's a high DC wizard.

Is it a blaster? Someone who deals a lot of damage? Well, then you need to focus on something else than DCs. Such as going into arcane trickster to make your ranged touch attack spells hit harder.

A summoner, maybe? Thaumaturge is pretty good.

A jack of all trades? Not very easy to do with a wizard, but you can make a mix of some of the above.

Deathgrowl wrote:What do you want the build to do? That's the question you should ask before you think too much about build.

Is it a controller? Someone who controls the battlefield with disabling magic or whatever? That's a high DC wizard.

Is it a blaster? Someone who deals a lot of damage? Well, then you need to focus on something else than DCs. Such as going into arcane trickster to make your ranged touch attack spells hit harder.

A summoner, maybe? Thaumaturge is pretty good.

A jack of all trades? Not very easy to do with a wizard, but you can make a mix of some of the above.

Hello!

I'm thinking a High DC Wizard Transmuter. I love Flesh to Stone, baleful polymorph etc.

Wizard16/asoc10/archmage4.

Full on int all the way. Get two spelll power high arcanas was archmage.

The reason you're picking ASoC is for flexibility. As a transmuter, you don't have a huge amount of DC spells to pick from, so complementing them with a few blast spells is a good idea. ASoC helps with that.

As a human, this should be able to get you 32 intelligence, 32 caster level and greater spell focus. You can also drop down to 30 intelligence, get epic spell focus and an epic spell for the same DCs in one school, though all the rest will drop by 1 point.

This means 30 + spell level DC in transmutation, for instance. Flesh to Stone will then have a 36 DC.

Which can then be Quickened as a level 9 spell slot, thanks to ASoC Improved Quicken Metamagic

And you can empower and maximise your Disintegrate spell, which is transmutation, into level 7 and 8. So I'd say ASoC is quite useful for a transmuter.