To keep going with my recent Harper posts, this is my attempt at a harper wizard. There are a lot of different choices in this build, and I will, as usual, try to suggest the ones that I find that stick to the theme of the build.
Race- Dwarf Alignment- Any non-evil School (optional)- Evocation (if the loss of conjuration is acceptable) Stats: starting-ending Str. 8-8 Dex. 14-14 Con. 16-16 Int. 18-38 Wis. 10-10 Cha. 6-6
Feats Non-epic: Toughness Spell Focus x2 Greater Spell Focus x2 Alertness Iron Will Maximize Spell Empower Spell Extend Spell Favored Enemy (Your choice, I recommend Outsider/Construct)
Epic: (Take in this exact order) Armor Skin Epic Spell Focus x2 Great Intelligence x10 Epic Skill Focus/Great Dexterity
Skills: Note-It is to the player's advantage to save pre-epic skill points up to level 16. As a wizard, only put points in concentration and spellcraft. At level 16 put the skills into the harper requirements. After that, saving skill points is still beneficial as it helps with the ugly math of distributing extra skill points as you increase intelligence. It is possible to max all these skills.
Stats: Base-Buffed AC 22-39 HP 330-490 Fortitude Save- 19-23 Reflex Save- 21-28 Will Save- 26-28
Spell DCs: Base-Buffed (with int. +12) (If spell being cast is from either spell focused schools)
10+14+6+spell level - 10+20+6+spell level +2 if spell from specialized spell school
(If spell isn't from either spell focused schools)
10+14+spell level - 10+20+spell level
Explanations: This is a very capable build. It can be very diverse in situations, or very focused. The spell focused areas could be anything (except for maybe conjuration). My choices were evocation and illusion, but anything is possible. If a school of magic is chosen, my suggestion would be evocation as the build won't loose a lot from it (conjuration spells). Note that this would lose the wonderful spell Mestil's Acid Sheath though. By the way, it is very easy to get +12 to intelligence, even in a low magic world. A maximized Fox's Cunning gives +5, so all one needs is +7 from items, which can be like rings of int. +3 and +4. If creatures in a player's mod have high spell resistance, empower spell and extend spell can be substituted for spell penetration and greater spell penetration. As for epic feats, take them in that exact order.
Benefits- Very Good Spell DCs (the best possible really) Good skill range Decent AC Good playability from level 1 to 40
Disadvantages- Low hitpoints (not bad for a mage though) Mediocre saves
Its a fun build, with great versitility, and a great deal of bang for its buck.
Edited By griphook on 04/09/05 20:07
You might see even stronger DCs on spells if you went sorcerer isntead of wiz and took your harper levels post epic. That will let you take great charisma feats. Just a thought for you. _________________ Come visit the Epic Builders Guild for all the character info you could ever want or need: Click Here
Actually, the DC's would be the same, as one can only take 10 of the attribute increasing feats and this build won't have any natural increases in DC besides the normal +10.
So technically, the highest DC's possible on spells would be a sorceror/RDD and probably some HS for the extra feats. This would give 18 (start) + 10 (natural attribute increase) +10 (Great Charisma X) +2 (RDD increase in charisma), for a grand total of 40 base charisma. *disclaimer* This works in theory, but I have never actually tried this.
Of course, that isn't this build. The sorceror/RDD would loose out on skill points, and would be very pinched for feats. Plus, as a sorceror it wouldn't be very diversified, which is another good plus for the Harper Wizard. Of course, if you prefer the brute force method, by all means go sorceror/rdd/HS. Me, I prefer diversity.
A good example of a sorceror/HS is the Elusive Scout build by someone who I forget. It is a quality build.
There is a solution to the sorc/HS/rdd lack of skill points problem though, well at least a way to get excellent DCs on spells. Wizard 29 Bard 2 RDD 9 can get an inteligence stat of 40 and by taking the second bard level at level 40 a very good skill set.
While that may work, actually the highest spell DC of that build will be less then the highest spell DC of my build. All of you epic feats (7 normal, 3 epic wizard) will be devoted to Great Intelligence, so you won't be able to take any Epic Spell Focus feats. All your spells would be 10+15+spell level (with +12 items 10+21+spell level), with an additional +4 from any Greater Spell Focus feats. This would give a max (with +12 items) of 44 (10+21+9+4). My build should give, with +12 items, on an evocation or illusion spell 10+20+9+6 which equals 45.
the 29wiz/2bard/9rdd does NOT lack the feats for the highest DC.
I would much rather take 29Wiz/1bard/10rdd because it gives you this: 9wizlvls/1bard/10rdd pre-epic. This means you have tons of feats and enough to max an entire school of magic.
why not just wizard 38 rogue 2.. jeez
-DaMouse
Amen Mouse!
thats the best skills on a wizard you can get fact! you get the most if you stock pile up to the 38th point of INT lvl 40 me thinks then you get atleast 400 yes 400 skill points YAY!
Wizard 37 rogue 3 might be better even, just for uncanny dodge.
