Good / Neutral DC Wizard

[HauteCarl]

A friend is joining the server shortly and has asked me to help him build a DC wizard good or neutral aligned that is DC / Strategy based. I really have no experience with wizards so help is needed. I know Drow is out and BM too due to spells pushing alignment to the dark side. He is open to any race and the only other thing he has mentioned is that he wants to incorporate the Weird spell into his Rp if possible.

Open to any build idea's.

[Valefort]

Wizard 26/ Archmage 4 on a sun elf or tiefling with as much INT as you can and 2 spell power feats for archmage high arcana feats is the best you can do to my knowledge :

http://nwn2db.com/build/?251242

33+ spell level in illusion

[chad878262]

Illusionist makes for a good DC Wizard and has Synergy if he wants to build for a HiPS mage, which makes it a little easier to play if he is not an experienced wizard player. W26/SD4 is a strong DC Wizard which can work with any race, though Tiefling works best since they get +2 DEX and INT. You want 19 DEX and max INT, aiming for at least 28 (32 w/ +4 helm or foxes cunning). Feats would be:

1. Spell Casting Prodigy
3. Spell Focus: Illusion
5. Extend Spell
6. Greater Spell Focus: Illusion
9. Silent Spell
10. Quicken Spell
12. Dodge
15. Mobility / Empower Spell
18. Practiced Spell Caster - Wizard (due to hide/ms/tumble requirements you can only take SD from level 18-20 so you must take it for those levels to meet 3b20 requirement).
21(Wiz18). INT +1
23(Wiz20). INT +2 / Epic Spell Focus: Illusion
25(Wiz22). Epic Spell (your choice)
27(Wiz24). INT +3
28(Wiz25). INT +4
29(Wiz26). INT +5
30(SD4).

Note that if you start with 19 starting DEX and 20 starting INT you are going to have no points for other abilities. Assuming your friend is not min/maxing starting with 18 DEX/ 19 INT is more realistic for a Tiefling. You then increase INT at 4, 8, and 12. Increase DEX to 19 at 16 to qualify for Shadow Dancer and INT at 20, 24 and 28. Assuming a starting INT of 19 that is a final attribute of 19 + 6 (attribute increases) + 5 (Epic feats) = 30, 34 after Fox's Cunning. This will make Weird DC 10 + 9 (spell level) + 1 (prodigy) + 3 (Epic caster) + 12 (INT) + 3 (Epic Spell Focus) = 38.

You can get higher DC's than this, but not with such an easy build. HiPS really helps when you are not the best at playing caster wizards in game. You could grab Archmage for +1 DC from a couple spell powers, but you would have to drop a couple metamagics to get the qualification feats. Shadow Adept could grant a +2 bonus on illusion spells DCs (as well as Necromancy and Enchantment), but has a penalty to other schools and requires evil (and worshiping Shar). In any case for PvE I think you will find 38 DC is adequate, if not you can always use HiPS and try again. Finally if you min/max you can squeeze another +1 DC via INT 32 (36), but requires starting with 19 DEX/20 INT which will make your other stats really poor.

Valeforts build is what I would do for a more traditional DC caster, I only recommend this because HiPS really helped me play a mage when solo.

[HauteCarl]

Wizard 26/ Archmage 4 on a sun elf or tiefling with as much INT as you can and 2 spell power feats for archmage high arcana feats is the best you can do to my knowledge :

http://nwn2db.com/build/?251242

33+ spell level in illusion

Is the spell casting prodigy feat in this build to effectively increase DC by 1 or is it to cover for the 4 levels or Frost Mage? We don't know how to calculate spell dc / caster level here.

Are maximize and quicken needed on a Dc based caster? Would it make sense to drop those for another Spell Focus line or spell penetration. Same with combat expertise, think this one will be using a staff.

[Valefort]

Spell penetration feats are not needed, SR is almost non-existing. Comabt expertise feats are there to give you more AC which is never a bad thing

As noted in the build the frost mage levels represent Archmage levels so there's no CL loss to cover, spellcasting prodigy is there to give you the equivalent of +2 INT, which means +1 DC for all your spells.

Maximize and empower metamagics are not really needed and you can go for another spell focus/ greater spell focus line, quicken can be useful even on a DC caster on the other hand so I'd keep it.

[Hawke]

As Chad mentioned above with the addition of Shadowdancer to a pure mage build, it is far more feasible.

You start adding classes, your power starts to diminish a bit, and things get a bit tougher to fit in. Is it possible? Sure is. But things get tight.

The 19 Dex makes things tough to fit in, but that does get you HIPS (which might not be enough for players, but works against most mobs at your skill level) and evasion. Your reflex save won't be as high as a rogues, but with all your buffs, it will be up there so you have a chance of taking no damage on a successful save.

To make the CL thing not hit as bad, you can do 3 levels of Palemaster at level 6, this opens up hide/ms which allows for shadowdancer much much sooner. Take 3 levels of SD and you still have a CL30 with practiced. Of course, you cannot be good anymore.

Also, I would also consider able learner if you were going to take 3 cross class skills up to 30. You are looking at burning up 90 (well probably more like 70) extra skill points to achieve that number... you can put those to good use elsewhere. More if you want Hide/Move Silently/Spot/Tumble.

[HauteCarl]

Spell penetration feats are not needed, SR is almost non-existing. Comabt expertise feats are there to give you more AC which is never a bad thing

As noted in the build the frost mage levels represent Archmage levels so there's no CL loss to cover, spellcasting prodigy is there to give you the equivalent of +2 INT, which means +1 DC for all your spells.

Maximize and empower metamagics are not really needed and you can go for another spell focus/ greater spell focus line, quicken can be useful even on a DC caster on the other hand so I'd keep it.

Thanks I only sent him a link to the build. Now that we have read it completely it makes more sense using AM. Got a lot of advice pushing towards HIPS but he says that is a no go. I think he is going to throw in another line of SF and drop Empower and maximize. Since SP is not needed I will tell him to consider keeping at least CE.

[HauteCarl]

Wizard 26/ Archmage 4 on a sun elf or tiefling with as much INT as you can and 2 spell power feats for archmage high arcana feats is the best you can do to my knowledge :

http://nwn2db.com/build/?251242

33+ spell level in illusion

Is the spell casting prodigy feat in this build to effectively increase DC by 1 or is it to cover for the 4 levels or Frost Mage? We don't know how to calculate spell dc / caster level here.

Are maximize and quicken needed on a Dc based caster? Would it make sense to drop those for another Spell Focus line or spell penetration. Same with combat expertise, think this one will be using a staff.

The description for Archmage says you need Skill Focus Spellcraft. Is that still true? Did not see it in the build you linked.

[Valefort]

Oh it is, mistake by me.

[HauteCarl]

Thanks for the help!