I'm trying to build a melee wizard on a server that has a Level 22 cap. I followed the rough outline of a post by someone names Scyles. The build he roughly described fit an old, abandoned fighter character of mine very well RP-wise so I remade her for this world as a wizard.

What I need some help with is determining whether there are in fact two equally good paths to follow, or if one of them is doomed to failure as an effective PC. I know I could find out for myself, but levelling is very slow on this server and it would be over two months before I knew whether she was a complete waste of my time.

The server has relatively low magic, very few skill items over +3, extremely few attribute items over +1, no armor over +3, and no melee weapons over +3. There's also no PvP so it will all be PvM combat.

This is what I came up with.

Attr: Initial (Final)

STR 14
DEX 15 (16)
CON 14
INT 16 (20)
WIS 8
CHR 8

Skill: Final (Modified)

Concentration 25 (27)
Discipline 12 (14)
Heal 21 (20)
Lore 21 (26)
Parry 12 (15)
Spellcraft 25 (30)
Tumble 12 (15)

These are the melee feats that I feel she needs.

Level 1: Two-Weapon Fighting, Ambidexterity
Level 3: Weapon Proficiency Exotic
Level 6: Weapon Focus Double-bladed Sword
Level 18: Improved Two-Weapon Fighting

The wizard feats that I feel she needs are as follows.

Level 5: Extend
Level 10: Empower
Level 15: Maximize

Also planned are:

Skill Focus Spellcraft
Combat Casting
Spell Penetration
Greater Spell Penetration
Epic Spell Penetration

The other possible path is to replace three of the "also" feats with Dodge, Mobility, and Spring Attack. Every character I've played has had at least two of these three feats and usually all three if these was room.

I'm also missing Blind-Fighting but I'm thinking she can use True Sight.

Any input? Thanks in advance.
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Slink's Burrow Online This build of mine seems to be close to what you're looking for. You can switch in those wizard feats you prefer with the spell focuses I took. It's also a melee wizard using a two-bladed sword. Be sure to look at the end of the thread for the latest version.

Steve

Edited By Stravinsky00 on 07/26/05 04:00

It's a lovely build, but she's pure wizard and will be capped at level 22. However, I can see a lesson for me in that your build doesn't use Dodge/Mobility/Spring Attack. Does that mean that the added 6 in spell penetration is worth more than the ability to flee without attacks of opportunity?
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Slink's Burrow Online Yup. Spell Penetration is going to always be a problem to a mage; most especially in the early stages.
Not only that; you can cross-class tumble to 13 (I think); which is going to mean almost always rolling a save on AoO. Should I move her Spell Penetration forward to Level 9 or 10, then? I'm thinking I want Extend earliest so her buffs last. I suppose I could move it to Level 6 and take Weapon Focus on 9.
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Slink's Burrow Online
Quote: Posted 07/26/05 14:53:33 (GMT) -- slinkletter

... but she's pure wizard and will be capped at level 22.

If you take 2 lvls of Fighter before lvl 20, you'll get 5 attacks per round (6 with haste) and still have 20 wizard lvls and full spellslot progression. With Epic spell penetration, the loss of 2 caster levels shouldn't be too harsh.

With Fighter, you'll get 2 free combat feats.
You'll also get some free class feats like armor, shield and weapon proficiencies. If you don't want to use these items in combat, they can still be nice for different RPing reasons (eg. crafting).
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I generally avoid temptation, unless I can't resist it...