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raygungothic
2008-04-03, 10:45 AM
Does anyone know of any powers, classes or prestige classes appropriate for a tough, wilderness-travelling, survival-oriented wizard? The class as it stands seems rather oriented towards a sheltered, stay-at-home type. I don't mind dropping one or two casting levels if it helps me become a little tougher, gain appropriate skills, and acquire at least one appropriate neat ability. This is not a seriously optimised game, though the party are a pretty efficient team.

I contemplated dropping into Ranger, but it seems to me that Ranger - while not a bad class - actually does really quite poorly when it comes to living up to its fluff. Favoured enemies and two-weapon fighting don't *particularly* say wilderness explorer to me.

(Background - I'm a straight Wizard 4 about to level to 5 so I really need to think about prereqs - I'm a homebrew race based on the MMIII Armand but much weaker and only LA+0 - I already have Endurance and the Survival skill)

SamTheCleric
2008-04-03, 10:47 AM
Off the top of my head... there is Wild Soul which is a wizard who becomes more Fey-like... and the Arcane Hierophant which is a mix between druid and wizard (mystic theurge like, turns your animal companion into your familiar... etc)

its_all_ogre
2008-04-03, 11:10 AM
make your first level ranger and ask to swap favoured enemy for alertness/stealthy or similar skill boosting feat.
gain hps, skill points and bolsters your weakest saves.
or add a level or 2 of druid?

Chosen_of_Vecna
2008-04-03, 11:26 AM
Ruathar is probably a good start. 3 level PrC in Races of the Wild. Not sure where you'd go from there.

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-04-03, 12:52 PM
Play a Sorcerer. Wizards require society to function. Spellbooks are hard to find in caves.

raygungothic
2008-04-03, 01:17 PM
SamTheCleric - thanks, I'll look into those. (None of them ring a bell, I don't think I have them, but at least there seems to be some description on the internet and I don't mind buying a supplement if I'll actually use it)

its_all_ogre - you're right that the BaB, HPs, skills and saves of Ranger would be useful, so I may have to ask the GM about swapping out something as you describe. It's nice to have more choices to compare it to, though.

Chosen_of_Vecna - thanks for the suggestion. So what's Ruathar about, then? I don't have that book and am not having much luck finding out what Ruathar's all about.

Sstoopidtallkid - I can't, sorry I didn't make it clearer that I'm already a wizard. This campaign background restricts sorcerers, anyway. Also, I disagree with your premise that a wizard necessarily has to be urban - as long as he can carry his spellbook with him and keep it dry he's fine. In fact, I have a small library and a comfortable tent in Heward's Handy Haversack (which seems to keep things nice and dry), and Prestidigitation and other spells make camping quite a lot less miserable! Just because I'm a species with serious walk-long-distances wanderlust doesn't mean it can't be comfortable. It's working out reasonably well so far as a lifestyle - it's just not particularly well reflected by the wizard class alone.

Anyway, thanks for the advice everyone, it's given me some things to look into.

SamTheCleric
2008-04-03, 01:19 PM
Wild Soul is in Complete Mage and Arcane Hierophant is in Races of the Wild... just to make your search easier. :)

Tempest Fennac
2008-04-03, 01:21 PM
Page 123 of http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/rules/DnD3.5Index-Classes-Base.pdf mentions the Anagakok Wizard variant which is perfect flavour wise.

Egill
2008-04-03, 01:30 PM
I think Wizard 1/Human Paragon 3 would not be a bad choice.

Benefits of human paragon http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/racialParagonClasses.htm#humanParagon
d8 HD
You can choose any ten skills as your class skills and you get 4+int skill points
The ability designate any one of those ten skills as a class skill for the rest of your career (Survival, etc)
Extra feat (Track, etc)
+2 to any one ability
Slightly better BAB

Costs of human paragon vs wizard:
1 lost caster level
Slightly weaker familiar

You could also try to be a domain wizard, and attempt to convince your DM to help you decide upon some sort of nature-y domain
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#wizardVariantDomainWiz ard

Also, you could swap your familiar for an animal companion
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#sorcererWizard
If you want to burn a feat, you could add Improved Animal Companion feat to make your buddy a bit beefier.

If you wanted to focus on some more combat-related training, you can sacrifice scribe scroll and your bonus wizard feats to choose from the fighter's feat list
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#wizard

I wholeheartedly second the Ruathar PrC from Races of the Wild.

If you want to be an elf, you could instead use the Elf Paragon, which would help you get some more skills related to wilderness survival
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/racialParagonClasses.htm#elfParagon

Additionally, the Elf Wizard substitution levels from Races of the Wild could be of value to this concept.

Hope this helps.

raygungothic
2008-04-04, 07:25 AM
Sam - thanks.

Tempest - that does sound intriguing (apart from the illiteracy) - and the name rings a bell from second edition somewhere!

Egill - some interesting suggestions there, thank you very much. I don't think I'll be able to use them as-is but they provide a good basis to work from.

Thanks everyone. I'll be going away soon so won't really be able to reply for a while, but all your help is much appreciated.

Djibriel
2008-04-04, 08:04 AM
If the PrC aren't to your liking, you could pick up Cloistered Cleric with Animal and Travel domain. A one-level dip will get you the benefits from three Domains (talk to animals 1/day, freedom of movement 1/day and all Knowledge skills are class skills) the ability to make Lore checks (any Knowledge skill, basically). d6 HD and 6 skill points. Survival is now a class skill, and you have 4 more every level anyway, increased HD gives durability, etc.

The big drawback here is that you now cast both arcane and divine spells, progressing only one at a time. However, Wizards are not really suited for wilderness fluff, so with 4 levels in it a single level gives plenty of fluff abilities which are pretty handy to boot. In addition, IIRC it lets you take Arcane Hierophant, which is pretty cool as far as fluff goes (though arcane/divine hybrids aren't generally known for great power).

On the CC: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantcharacterclasses.htm

Talya
2008-04-04, 08:20 AM
Human or elf? The Elf Generalist racial wizard-substitution levels in RoW provide some ranger-flavored archery. (Of course, that sub-level sucks. The other two are good...but don't help you be a wild wizard at all.)

Egill
2008-04-04, 06:24 PM
Ray,

Why don't you tell us what you are looking for in a wilderness wizard?

Do you need more wilderness skills?
Do you need more wilderness spells?
Do you need more wilderness feats?
Do you need more wilderness backstory/character development?
etc

I am sure we could all help you come up with something more to your liking if you further explained your goals.

Devils_Advocate
2008-04-05, 09:31 PM
I contemplated dropping into Ranger, but it seems to me that Ranger - while not a bad class - actually does really quite poorly when it comes to living up to its fluff. Favoured enemies and two-weapon fighting don't *particularly* say wilderness explorer to me.
To which I reply: "WTF?" You picked out, like, the only two parts of the class that don't have to do with being a woods-dwelling survivalist. OK, those, Evasion, and maybe the Profession skill (which everybody and his momma has as a class skill), but that's it. With all due respect, have you read the description of the ranger class? Looked at its skill list, other class features... like, everything except the two things you mentioned?

Maybe Ranger is a poor fit for your character, but this criticism of the class sort of boggles my mind.

Dhavaer
2008-04-06, 04:12 AM
There was a barbarian-esque wizard variant class in an issue of Dragon. Unfrtounately, I don't remember which issue, or what the class was called...

Sleet
2008-04-06, 08:29 AM
Sylvan Mage in Towers of High Sorcery, a Dragonlance 3.5 supplement. The PrC is very nice and easily portable outside of the DL setting.