Wizard Build Help

[Sicarri3118]

Want to run a wizard on this playthrough. I want to role play a traditional Wizard but also don't want to completely gimp myself. I am not super familiar with PF (3.5) gaming system, but trying to learn it. I know people have posted about the OP Vivi/Wiz/AT, but looking to just single class and still do some damage and maybe some summons/control. I know this is probably a little too general but wondering if it's possible?

Ive tried to browse these forums and this is what Ive come up with based on that and watching some YouTube videos (mainly nerd commando).
Again not truong to be completely OP but at least efficient enough and able to fimish the game and deal with wild hunts. Im also plannimg on running another custom mercanary wizard for more support/cc.

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Race: Human
Class: Wizard

School: Conjurer (for extra summoning and teleport for positioning)

Opposition: Diviniation and Enchantment (Ive read Divination is throw away minus Vital Sense, and Enchant is good early game but not as good as Necromancy mid/late game)

Feats:
1: Point Blank Shot/ Precise Shot / SF:Evocation
3: WF: Ray
5: GSF: Evocation / Spell Specialzation
7: Spell Penetration
9: SF: Conjuration
10: Augmented Summoning
11: Greater Spell Penetration
13: Meta: Empower
15: Meta: Maximize / GSF: Conjuration
17: Improved Init
19: ???
*********

Im also curious about the order of feats amd when spell penetration os absolutely required etc.?

[CBAnaesthesia]

You're unlikely to hit level 19 unless you're running with 3 or fewer in your party.
That looks good, though - you'll probably start running in to Spell Resistance around level 5-7 so that's a good time to take Spell Penetration (as you have).
Your build looks perfectly fine to me. Sense Vitals is a big damage boost but if you're focused more on summons and CC it's fine to forgo it.

[conductiv]

it looks viable enough to me, just keep in mind that the game tends to end around lvl 16-17..barring use of mods that boost the XP gain.

for wizards it will all be about what kind of spells you want to use, evocation rays and summoned monsters don't use saves. but having ludicrously high saves and acces to heighten spell is important if you are going to debuff the enemy or use the necromacy/transmutation heavy hitters like finger of death/disintigrate.

[bkgamingacc]

I think you need to prioritize your goal.
You dont want to get AT , that means you can not expect to be a good damage dealer. Not even a medium one. That leaves being a buffer or battlefield controller.

You have precise strike, point blank shot, wf:ray meaning you want to use touch spells which are not subject to saves yet you have spell focus. There is no point of getting touch spells if you wont utilize sneak attacks with them. There are more damaging non touch spells without sneak.

You have spell focus : conjuration , conjuration spells are not subject to spell resistance yet you have spell penetration.

Your meta skills are also acquired a bit late for my taste, i like to organize my spellbook much earlier with the school i have a focus. at lvl 15 you will already have rods to maximize and empower your spells anyway.

i like more specialized wizards, yours is jack of all trades that would only be good at very late game. You only need 3 good spells , 1 to target will saves, 1 fort, 1 reflex. pick your spells first.

[Sicarri3118]

Thanks for the input. I actually had that thought myself.

So do you think specializing in Evocation would make it more effective across more levels/chapters? I wanted Conjuration school as a specialization mainly because of the utility of the teleport at lvl 8 and duration of summons. I felt that this was more value added than + 1/2 Level to damage for the Evocation School and elental wall.

Everything I've read says that a super specialized ray mage is OP but with dip into Vivi or Rogue. So I guess I would like to be as optimized as possible for a pure wizard without the dip / multi.

[bkgamingacc]

Consider Enchantment school for -2 saves at lvl8 if you are going to use save spells.
Conjuration is a great school to have focus only you dont need spell penetration if you choose it.
Evocation has icy prison which might be my favorite spell, grease and stinking cloud close seconds. Elf is also superior to Human if you ask me for a wizard.

Specialized ray mage is an OP damage dealer and a bad battlecontroller and buffer.
The difficulty settings is also important when planning your build, a less specialized build would still be reliable battlefield controller when enemy saves are minimum but would fail at higher settings where an elf enchantress will have +2 spell penetration , +2 DC advantage at lvl 8. If he gets spell focus and greater spell focus at lvl1 thats another +2 at the very start

[Sicarri3118]

Thanks @bkgamingacc. I don't want to use a build like Ray Mage because I feel it's kind of out of character for roleplaying reasons(and also I've read that the reason it's so OP is partly because of the sneak attack bug/exploit). I guess now I've narrowed it down, and I'm wondering if an Evocation focused wizard w/ secondary in Conjuration or a Conjuration focused with secondary focus in Evocation is better. I will have another wizard that takes the Enchanter School. She will be the comtroller/buffer and then my PC will be AOE damage/control.

[Sicarri3118]

Originally posted by CBAnaesthesia:

You're unlikely to hit level 19 unless you're running with 3 or fewer in your party.
That looks good, though - you'll probably start running in to Spell Resistance around level 5-7 so that's a good time to take Spell Penetration (as you have).
Your build looks perfectly fine to me. Sense Vitals is a big damage boost but if you're focused more on summons and CC it's fine to forgo it.

Thanks yeah that's why I did the question marks in 19. First run only got to 17. I'm just trying to find a good pure caster build for RP and didn't want to use the Ray mage w/Vivi that is so commonly referenced. Also difficulty wise I'm trying to do it at Challenging this run, which I understand is closest to the PnP version after this mewest patch.

[Sicarri3118]

Originally posted by bkgamingacc:

Consider Enchantment school for -2 saves at lvl8 if you are going to use save spells.
Conjuration is a great school to have focus only you dont need spell penetration if you choose it.
Evocation has icy prison which might be my favorite spell, grease and stinking cloud close seconds. Elf is also superior to Human if you ask me for a wizard.

Specialized ray mage is an OP damage dealer and a bad battlecontroller and buffer.
The difficulty settings is also important when planning your build, a less specialized build would still be reliable battlefield controller when enemy saves are minimum but would fail at higher settings where an elf enchantress will have +2 spell penetration , +2 DC advantage at lvl 8. If he gets spell focus and greater spell focus at lvl1 thats another +2 at the very start

Thanks @bkgamingacc. Going for Challenging difficulty run as I understand that is closest to PnP with the newest patch. I don't want to use a build like Ray Mage because I feel it's kind of out of character for roleplaying reasons(and also I've read that the reason it's so OP is partly because of the sneak attack bug/exploit). I guess now I've narrowed it down, and I'm wondering if an Evocation focused wizard w/ secondary in Conjuration or a Conjuration focused with secondary focus in Evocation is better. I will have another wizard that takes the Enchanter School. She will be the comtroller/buffer and then my PC will be AOE damage/control.

[=[NK]= Col. Jack O'Neil]

You can use a mod to slightly increase xp to reach level 20 for end game.

But conjuration is good subclass if you want to get into summoning.

I do the conjuration subclass and take precise and point blank as my first feats because with the amount of trash mobs I feel it's needed while just shooting.

With human I use stats of
8/16/10/20/10/10

I'm not sure if you can start at 22 with racial on this, but I like the extra points for more dex.

Also consider maybe improved init earlier as it's more useful getting spells off early that just end game.

But yeah, know what you want to do really

[JonWoo]

Originally posted by =NK= Col. Jack O'Neil:

You can use a mod to slightly increase xp to reach level 20 for end game.

But conjuration is good subclass if you want to get into summoning.

I do the conjuration subclass and take precise and point blank as my first feats because with the amount of trash mobs I feel it's needed while just shooting.

With human I use stats of
8/16/10/20/10/10

I'm not sure if you can start at 22 with racial on this, but I like the extra points for more dex.

Also consider maybe improved init earlier as it's more useful getting spells off early that just end game.

But yeah, know what you want to do really

I'm not sure if any races even in the TT give +4 to int so 20 is the highest you can start with.