d20 Goodman Games The Power Gamer's 3.5 Wizard Strategy Guide.pdf

The Power Gamer ’ s 3 . 5

WIZARD

Strategy Guide

The 00% Official Guide to Kicking Monster Butt

and Winning the Game _ Mage S t yle!

Credits

Concept

Joseph Goodman

Cover & Interior Diagrams

Andy Hopp

Project Lead

Jason Little

Editing & Proofing

Jason Little

Writers

Glyn Dewey, Jason Little,

Anthony Pryor

Editor-in-Chief

Joseph Goodman

he Power Gamer’s 3.5 Wizard Strategy Guide

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Graphic Design

Duncan Fielden

www.goodman-games.com

Table of Contents

Introduction: Welcome to the

Chapter Six:

Wizard Strategy Guide

What Kind of Mage are You?

Spell Selection by Archetype

Blasters

Comparing Spell Damage

Chapter One: Ability Scores

Abilities and What They Do

Controllers

The Uses of Enchantment

Putting It All Together

Saboteurs

Chapter Two: Races

Humans

Support Specialist

Defensive Buffs

Offensive Buffs

Dwarves

Mobility Buffs

Elves

Summoning

Gnomes

Cross-Archetype Spells

Half-Elves

Chapter Seven: Equipment

Consumables

Half-Orcs

Half lings

Other Races

Permanent Magic Items

Chapter Three: Skills

Skills to Avoid

Miscellaneous

Sample Mage Kits

Level 5

One Point Wonders

Level 10

Knowledge is Power

Level 15

The More, the Better

Chapter Eight: Combat

Qualifying the Battlefield

Chapter Four: Feats

Feat Chains

Qualifying Opponents

Metamagic Feats

Critters

Crafting Feats

Giant Ants

Spellcasting Improvements

Fiends

Other Feats of Note

Blue Dragon

Fool©s Gold

Terrors

Sample Feat Progressions

Shadow Mastiffs

Backup Strategies

Toughs

Chapter Five:

Ogre Mage

Classes & Archetypes

Mage Metric: CasterLevel

Undead

Spectres

vs. Spell Potency

Enemy Spellcasters

Action Plan

Wizard vs. Sorcerer

Familiars

Appendices

I: Core Spells by Archetype 90

II: Spell Saves vs. Target DCs 92

III: Caster Check vs. Target’s Spell Resistance 93

IV: Average Spell Damage by Die Type

Mage Archetypes

Blaster

Controller

Saboteur

Support Specialist

Introduction

Welcome to the

Wizard Strategy Guide

or Using Arcane Magic to Dominate the Game

W hen Joseph Goodman approached me about

→ More Than Just a Weapon: Spells and spell-

like abilities (such as those conferred by created

magical items) vary far more than weapons. To

min/max a warrior, there are fewer characteristics

or effects to consider when selecting your primary

means of dealing damage. A weapon is defined by

its base damage, size, reach, critical range and

critical multiplier. Spells have far more factors

impacting their effectiveness. Mages also have

a variety of spell schools to choose from, save

DCs to worry about, spell resistance to overcome,

and numerous damage options (direct damage,

damage over time, indirect damage, buffs that

enhance another’s damage, etc).

the development of a Wizard Strategy Guide

to complement the popular Power Gamer’s 3·5

Warrior Strategy Guide, I was immediately interested in

tackling the topic. I far prefer mages and arcane types

to simple beat sticks — if you can survive the perils of

low levels and really grow into your role. The problems,

of course, are surviving long enough to get to that stage

in your arcane career and then making the most out of

your newfound powers.

I knew this book would be an invaluable tool to players

yearning to master the secrets of arcane magic. But

while brainstorming the structure and content of the

Wizard Strategy Guide, it soon became clear that the

rules and restrictions for optimizing mages are quite

different than the rules for warriors — more so than we

thought at first glance.

→ More Combat Options: Each archetype from the

warrior guide, eventually, deals with how a war-

rior can deal damage to an enemy via ranged or

melee combat. Even with feats and maneuvering,

it comes down to this fundamental interaction.

Mages, due to the sheer volume of spells available,

have a variety of combat options in addition

to their formidable damage potential (such as

summoning creatures, spells that buff or debuff

targets, holding targets for others to attack).

Warriors, Stand Aside

Warriors, despite the numerous weapons and feat

combinations, are far easier to develop if you apply

pure mathematics and statistical probabilities. In many

instances, you can base nearly any warrior optimization

around the “hit it harder” principle. You know, the

principle that states the harder you hit it (the bad guy),

the better you are as a warrior. Well, things aren’t quite

so simple for mages, since arcane magic can not only

“hit it harder” but perform a wide variety of other useful

functions… such as “don’t let it hit us,” or one of my

personal favorites “keep it still while the warriors hit

it harder.”

→ Metamagic Feats: There is no comparable game

mechanic for warriors like the metamagic feats

for mages. While several of them are “f lavor”

feats (as pointed out in this guide), many have a

pronounced impact on spell effectiveness. The

balance between a metamagic feat’s additional

casting level modifier and the impact on the spell

effect are important considerations.

These are just a few of the distinctions particular to

practitioners of arcane magic:

→ Size Really Does Matter : Ahem — party size, that

is. The larger the party, the more “damage” a mage

can inf lict through party optimization spells or

indirect means, such as buffing ( bull’s strength ),

impairing ( ray of enfeeblement ) or simply locking

down foes for the warriors ( hold monster ). The

smaller the party is, the more pivotal a mage’s

role may be in damage output. As such, party

size is a factor to consider when discussing spell

selection.

→ Base Attack Bonus: There is no linear benchmark

of increasing mage power like there is for the

warrior’s Base Attack Bonus. BAB “stacks” and

works the same way whether you’re a single classed

fighter or a multiclassed barbarian/ranger. This

meant devising a new means of comparing power

and utility between spell casters of various levels.

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