half-orc wizard suggestions

[Gnome]

First of all, I am well aware that half-orcs make suboptimal wizards, so no need to state the obvious. It doesn't really bother me that much; just felt like doing something different.

Anyway, my question is: what can I do to optimize this character a bit within the confines of my race selection? I also have a quirk in that I want to find some advantage in my race selection, even if it's minor by comparison. For example, if I were to do a halfling fighter, I'd probably want to specialize in thrown daggers or the sling to take advantage of size, DEX and thrown weapon bonuses. That's a tall order for a half-orc wizard, unless there are any orc or half-orc specific feats somewhere that could be interesting?

Characters start at 4th-level, 28-point buy, with all non-campaign specific sources allowed subject to DM approval. Here's what I have so far:

Dankamar: Barbarian 1 / Wizard (Evoker) 3

STR: 16 (+2 for race)
DEX: 14
CON: 14
INT: 15 (-2 for race, +1 at 4th-level)
WIS: 8
CHA: 6

Feats: Improved Toughness, Practiced Spellcaster

I wanted to find a use for the +2 STR somehow, so I made him a bit hardier than the average wizard by adding a level of barbarian. He won't ever be a front-liner of course, but perhaps he'll have a bit of an easier time with grappels (perhaps the only use for the rage ability). 1 level of barbarian gains him 8 more HPs, all martial weapons, +2 FORT, and +10' to his base speed, which is nice for a wizard. Practiced Spellcaster is to compensate for the lost wizard level, and Improved Toughness is going along with the "slightly less squishy" theme.

Any alternate or complementary suggestions on this build? I'm especially interested in feats, particularly orc or half-orc specific ones, if they exist!

 

[Nifft]

Look for spells you can use in armor. From the PHB, there's feather fall and true strike.

Power Attack + wraithstrike (Spell Compendium) is terribly potent. I don't allow that spell in my games, but it seems suitable for your PC.

Other Swift or Immediate action spells will be good, too.

Cheers, -- N

 

[notjer]

I think it would be cool if you took 1 level of monk and 4 level of wizard and thereafter took the prestige class Enlightened Fist from Complete arcane. It is a monk-like wizard which I think would suite a half-orc mage. However, you need to take the feat combat casting (or skill focus concentration if your DM allows that).

Also a variant from unearthed arcane might come in handy for you:

Wizard
Some wizards trade their knowledge of magic and craft to improve
their combat prowess.
Gain: Bonus feat list (as fighter; bonus feats gained at 1st level
and every five levels as wizard).
Lose: Scribe Scroll, wizard bonus feat list.

 

[szilard]

Half-Orc Paragon 1/Wizard 1/Human Paragon 2

next level, take Human Paragon 3 - this will net you another spellcasting level and +2 to Int.

Compared to your build, this will give you:

one less spell-progression level
no rage and barbarian stuff
more HP
more skills
a bonus feat
an intimidation bonus

Worth it? I don't know - the spell-progression would hurt. A lot. It could be interesting, though.

-Stuart

 

[udalrich]

Practiced Spellcaster is probably suboptimal with only one lost level. At this level, SR probably isn't a concern, so your getting +33% damage or duration, which will only go down as you gain levels.

With your stats, being a front-liner seem possible. You're low on hit points, but not as bad as many wizards. Assuming average HP rolls, you've got about 32 hit points, so you can take several hits. With a precast Mage Armor and Shield or Mirror Image, it'll take a while for the opponents to hit you often enough to drop you.

If you're on the front line, specializing in touch spells seems like a good niche. With your strength, you won't have to worry about hitting, and touch spells should be a bit more powerful than ranged spells, since most wizards are quite unhappy whenever they're in melee.

Ghoul's Touch will paralyze the target. Touch of idiocy will make any spell caster unhappy, and doesn't even have a save. When you get third level spells, Vampiric Touch will heal you while injuring them. I suspect that there's even better spells in the various expansion books. I found those just looking in the SRD.

Since you've got a decent strength, you might also want to consider sometimes delivering your spells as regular unarmed attacks, rather than touch attacks. You'll need to get through armor, but you'll also be able to add in unarmed plus strength damage. There's a spell (Fist of Stone?) in one of the complete books that is first level and gives you +6 strength and a slam attack.

You might want to consider replacing Barbarian with Warblade from Book of Nine Swords. I don't have the book here, but I think it has Concentration as a class skill, which will be important if you're a touch specialist. (That assumes that there are no multi-class penalties in your game or you can persuade your GM that Warblade should be your favored class.) It also has a d12 hit die and has the ability to do some useful tricks once per encounter. They're customizable, so there's probably some that are either swift actions or would work well with casting a spell when the enemy is at range and delivering the spell with the strike in the next round.

If you go with this advice, I'd replace Practiced Spellcaster with Skill Focus(Concentration), Combat Casting, or Spell Focus (Touch). I think the last one is in Complete Arcane and gives +1 to the DC of any touch spell. Or it might be a great feat that I though up because there's a similar feat, which your DM might let you use.

 

[blargney the second]

You might want to consider replacing Barbarian with Warblade from Book of Nine Swords.

You beat me to it. Warblade & wizard have great synergy.
-blarg

 

[Gnome]

Look for spells you can use in armor. From the PHB, there's feather fall and true strike.

Power Attack + wraithstrike (Spell Compendium) is terribly potent. I don't allow that spell in my games, but it seems suitable for your PC.

Other Swift or Immediate action spells will be good, too.

Cheers, -- N

Well Wraithstrike is broken enough that I'd feel too guilty even asking if it is allowed. Swift and immediate action spells are good, though; I'll check some of the duskblade ones, since I think most are also on the Sor/Wiz list.

 

[Gnome]

I think it would be cool if you took 1 level of monk and 4 level of wizard and thereafter took the prestige class Enlightened Fist from Complete arcane. It is a monk-like wizard which I think would suite a half-orc mage. However, you need to take the feat combat casting (or skill focus concentration if your DM allows that).

Also a variant from unearthed arcane might come in handy for you:

Wizard
Some wizards trade their knowledge of magic and craft to improve
their combat prowess.
Gain: Bonus feat list (as fighter; bonus feats gained at 1st level
and every five levels as wizard).
Lose: Scribe Scroll, wizard bonus feat list.

Well, I've done a half-orc monk once before, so I'll probably not go with that option. I forgot about the variant wizard, though, and may do that instead.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Well, your familiar is certainly going to have more HPs than most; have you considered picking up the Improve Familiar feat and, potentially, some familiar-boosting spells?

 

[Gnome]

Half-Orc Paragon 1/Wizard 1/Human Paragon 2

next level, take Human Paragon 3 - this will net you another spellcasting level and +2 to Int.

I think half-orcs and half-elves have to take all 3 of their paragon levels before taking any levels in human, orc, or elf paragon classes, if I'm not mistaken.