How do you build a Muscle Wizard?

[Karina]

Do you have to rely on the int circlet for the rest of the game? Is it viable past early game? Can you do it without multiclassing?

[Lani]

The Int circlet can be used to compensate for low INT, but it'll limit the wizard side of Muscle Wizard compared to the INT you'd see on a Smart Wizard.
I think a build like Muscle Wizard is for if you want to experiment or roleplay rather than optimize so it could be viable that way.

[Karina]

I wanna make a shield dwarf wizard that good with an axe as well as spell.

[Aerohank]

You can buy a ton of elixers of hill giant strenght from Aunty Ethel in act 1. She re-stocks every time you long-rest.

Put your stats in INT. Boost STR with elixers.

[Aerohank]

Alternatively you can get a fighter/pact of the blade warlock and put you stats in con/char. Pact of the blade adds your charisma modifier to hit and damage rolls so you don't need strenght at all order to still do good damage. You'll boost your melee and spell damage with a singe stat.

[NoTouchy]

Maybe fighter and pick Eldritch knight subclass? :)

[Karina]

If i take fighter - shield dwarf armor bonus goes to waste.

[Karina]

Originally posted by Aerohank:

Alternatively you can get a fighter/pact of the blade warlock and put you stats in con/char. Pact of the blade adds your charisma modifier to hit and damage rolls so you don't need strenght at all order to still do good damage. You'll boost your melee and spell damage with a singe stat.

Yes, but it isnt a muscle wizard. Also, you first comment isnt loading somehow.

[Eternal President Uncle Slam]

Better then the circlet would be playing a pure int wizard and drinking an elixir of hill giant strength. Although I don't really see why you would want to go for melee attacks as a wizard, its just not good because you have no extra attack.

[jonnin]

Originally posted by Esteban Failsmore:

Originally posted by Aerohank:

Alternatively you can get a fighter/pact of the blade warlock and put you stats in con/char. Pact of the blade adds your charisma modifier to hit and damage rolls so you don't need strenght at all order to still do good damage. You'll boost your melee and spell damage with a singe stat.

Yes, but it isnt a muscle wizard. Also, you first comment isnt loading somehow.

Dunno why this over POTB/sorc. would be 5/7 split. But its not what you said either -- it works exactly the same (like having a 20 in both str & int, except its all in cha) but its not the same.

You can have 2 stats at 16 when you start out, and the third at 14. So str/int/con is fine, everything else will be low. Str can be boosted later with items & potions very easily, so favor int for any increasing you do. If you take a level of monk, set you str to 15 or 17, you can take the tavern brawler feat and cast melee spells like shocking grasp, punch them twice for fair damage, and then step away to nuke next turn, or whatever. A level 1 monk gets 1 offhand attack if you attack with melee, giving 2 attacks per round, and it gets a couple of double punches per short rest that you can use after a spell. If you are out of double punches, and cast a spell, you can't also melee attack anymore unless dual wielding (in which case monk is nonsense !! )

a dual wield setup that would be fairly effective would be fighter 1, rogue 3, wizard 8. This trades more wiz levels to get a solid 2 offhand attacks per round, with the feat & style, these can be big axes doing full str damage bonus.