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Usually I play Martial or Divine classes, giving me the option for armor for defense. I have never played a straight up arcane caster, to be specific this time around, a Wizard. I'm going to be focusing on conjuring with him so he'll have a lot of little beasties running around for flanking, but I'm not sure what, precisely, I should do about his defense. He's got no dex (I rolled for stats so I was really limited with choices) and can't wear any armor. He has Mage Armor in his spell book, but that would use up a rather precious spell slot.
At 1st level do not prepare Mage Armor. It will only last an hour. Just stay out of the way of combat even if all you do is a double move. Also, do not prepare Magic Missile. 1d4+1 means diddlysquat. Magic Missile can wait until 3rd level, 5th level better.
In Pathfinder you have infinite 0 level spell use. Be creative. Prestidigitation is jokingly known as Minor Wish for a reason. Mage Hand and Ghost Sound are also handy.
At this level using a crossbow is fine. Don't worry about your Dex because of it. Don't be too stingy on your 1st level spells, but firing a crossbow for spell conservation works for now. You are a wizard, not a warrior. DO NOT engage in melee combat yourself. You fight from a distance, always.
Sleep and Color Spray are good attack spells. Silent Image could substitute for a Wall effect to misdirect opponents, but there are other creative uses. Summon Monster only lasts 1 round for a full round casting time. It really may not be an efficient option at this time. Perhaps do it for when the rogue really, really needs a flanking buddy.
Your spells allow you to shape combat more than most other classes are able to hope to do.
At level one you mostly rely on not being there to get hit if you're not focused on killing the enemy before they can hit you.
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"Children afraid of the night
Who have never been happy or good." - September 1, 1939. W.H. Auden
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keld Denar
+3 Girlfriend is totally unoptimized. You are better off with a +1 Keen Witty girlfriend and then appling Greater Magic Make-up to increase her enhancement bonus.
if you are going for conjuration (summoning), then I suggest going half-orc so you will have access to the "ferocious summons" feat, which will help your critters to stand up longer.
for traits, you might take master of pentacles and eastern mysteries... they are both once a day things, but they have their uses.
MoP - +2 caster level to a conjuration spell to determine duration 1/day (get a few more rounds out of a summons or battle field control spell)
EM - +2 DC to spell 1/day (harder to resist glitter dust, etc..)
I'm seeing some bekilted half-orc wizard potential here...
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"Children afraid of the night
Who have never been happy or good." - September 1, 1939. W.H. Auden
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keld Denar
+3 Girlfriend is totally unoptimized. You are better off with a +1 Keen Witty girlfriend and then appling Greater Magic Make-up to increase her enhancement bonus.
Some specialist wizards get abilities which help avoid being targeted . Teleportation, Mage of the Veil, Divination, maybe others.
A good Constitution helps with not dying, more than Dexterity does.
Social engineering - making protecting you a priority for other players - is probably the best protection you can get at level 1 though.
Edit - the Necromancy/Life specialty power of Share Essence would be tremendously useful in that last role. It'd knock you out from time to time, but if there's a person or two in the party who could carry you out it might be worth it. You'd have to be OK with playing the swooning damsel, of course.
Where are the stats for those? The links literally just give you the name, and they aren't listed on the "armor and shields" page at all (except kilt, that's listed).
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Emperor Tippy
By level 20 though, you aren't capturing a wizard. A character lives to level 20 by being the most ruthless, lucky, capable, and paranoid bastard around. A wizard is throwing around a 30+ Int score and has, entirely in character, planned contingencies for his contingencies. He may well be running around with flat out total immunity to harm, he does not walk outside without an entire bevy of defensive magics around him and enough magic items to buy himself a nation.
Where are the stats for those? The links literally just give you the name, and they aren't listed on the "armor and shields" page at all (except kilt, that's listed).
Damn you PFSRD, and your inconvenient sub-sections!!!
Seriously, d20pfsrd has like 7 separate pages where the 3.5 SRD would have like one. Because putting all the miscellaneous garbage items on one page would be way too easy to use.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Emperor Tippy
By level 20 though, you aren't capturing a wizard. A character lives to level 20 by being the most ruthless, lucky, capable, and paranoid bastard around. A wizard is throwing around a 30+ Int score and has, entirely in character, planned contingencies for his contingencies. He may well be running around with flat out total immunity to harm, he does not walk outside without an entire bevy of defensive magics around him and enough magic items to buy himself a nation.
Last edited by Slipperychicken : 11-17-2012 at 10:22 PM.
Damn you PFSRD, and your inconvenient sub-sections!!!
Seriously, d20pfsrd has like 7 separate pages where the 3.5 SRD would have like one. Because putting all the miscellaneous garbage items on one page would be way too easy to use.
Eh. Most of the sub-pages in the "basic equipment" section boil down to "same junk, different flavor".
All of it is going to have similar stats, with the main exception of "stone age weapons", which are overall poor (mainly due to the "fragile" property).
In certain cases, a Sub-page is VERY welcome, as in the case of Firearms. LOTS of separate rules that only apply to those types of weapons.
As for "Bronze Age" and "Eastern"...not so much.
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(PF) Advice for a first time lvl 1 Wizard?
