TGDB.net - Game news, cheats, solutions, walkthroughs, trainers, saved games and much more!

you'll normally always take 20 with this skill, so with 5 skill points you'll heal 25+ damage on each use. Cost of a medical kit is very cheap.

- LORE [INT]: Two words... MAX it. This skill allows you to freely identify magical items, with mage's INT bonus and skill maxed, if an item lasts unidentified when you examine it this can only mean two things... the item is cursed OR the item is so damn powerful you'd go at once to one shop to have it identified (well... you to could help yourself with a lore potion - usually +5 lore - or an Identify spell - 25 + character level lore -)

- SPELLCRAFT [INT]: This is your friend. Wizards are veeery counter-spell oriented, so better know which spells you'd counter at all costs, or whose should only be an annoyance.
This skills allows you to know which spell is being cast by an enemy mage AND, per every 5 skill points in this skill, you get a +1 to ALL spell saving throws ... sweet

All right... the skills up here were all class specific skills, and Wiz obtain
4+INT bonus skill points per level... so with a +3 INT bonus you'd have another 3 free skill points (one more point if your wiz is human) even if you MAXED the skills before.
Where to put extra skill points? obviously, on NON-Class specific skills, some of them very nice to have (remember that NON-CLASS specific cost twice as much skill points to increase the skill in one point):

- SEARCH [INT]: Yep... very nice skill to place extra points. You'll be able to look for traps - not as well as a thief, though... but you'll have an INT bonus on yer searching... :) - You can leave this to your familiar (if it's a Panther, Fairy...) so you can concentrate on disarming.

- DISARM TRAPS [INT]: Yesssss!! disabling traps for mages... only half the bonus of a thief (and you'll not be able to disarm Difficulty level 35+ traps) BUT... you can (and you should) always EXAMINE a trap before atempting to disarm it so you gain a bonus to this take 20 action (so let's say at level 1, you have a +3 INT bonus, 2 skill points here and you always Take 20 on disarming... that's at least a 25 skill check... cool!!).

It's almost sure you'll be able to disarm any ground traps you find; the only ones that can oppose some resistance are the big treasure chest ones, wich usually have a DC of
32+... but well... you can always trigger them with your familiar or usually bash the chest with ranged attacks (those big chests have about 15hp, and a damage reduction of 5, so find a heavy x-bow - which makes 1-10 damage -; about half the conecting hits will make some damage to the chest, opening it and destroying the trap at the same time)

- OPEN LOCK [DEX]: Useful for lock-picking if there's no thief in party. You'll have some decent DEX bonus for pumping this up too. Remember that you can always try to bash the chest open, but some of these have a damage resistence of 10, 15 and even more. If you don't wanna open chests with Sorc mode (usually casting a firewall or somewhat damaging spell) and have not knock spells learned (you shouldn't, just always have one or two knock spells on stock and it's OK) this is the skill you want.

- PERSUADE [CHA]: IF there's a rogue in your party and you have excess skill points, THIS is the place to put them. This skill allows you to have NPC's give you optional quests (xp) and better rewards for quests completed (money and items); handy.


          --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D) FEATS
          --------

Feats are way important for a Wizard. Many feats allow Wizard to cast their spells at full power, and some non-magical feats work pretty well on a wizard. Most useful feats are:

- COMBAT CASTING: This feat enables you to cast a spell at close range (when engaged in melee combat with an enemy). Without this feat you'd obtain a -4 to all concentration skill checks AND enemy should obtain an Opportunity Attack against you. Don't leave home without this feat.

- SPELL FOCUS: Start with Illusion (for countering) or Evocation (for direct damage).
Not only you get +2 bonus against spell saving throws (add the bonus from the spellcraft skill for more fun) from the chosen schools BUT enemies also get -2 penalty to save against spells from these schools you cast!. At later levels, when enemies have very high saving throws, these points can make a big difference. Just look at the schools you'll be using more and keep them in mind.

- MAXIMIZE SPELL: Gosh this feat can pack really a punch!!. You must learn the spell empowered with this fest as if it was two (2!!) level higher BUT... this allows your spell to be cast at maximum power, damage, duration... nice to maximice the direct damage spells you'll use during your journeys.

- SILENT SPELL: When you get this feat, always - I say ALWAYS - keep a Dispel Magic with this feat learned. Against clerics and so on you'll never know when they'll cast Silence,
Deafness, etc... so better be ready. You can always use the Dispel Magic for normal dispelling if you don't battle clerics, though.

- STILL SPELL: Naarly as same as SILENT SPELL, but this not only helps on casting with armor on, but helps on casting spells WHILE HELD/PARALIZED/SLOWED and the like. This feat cancels Somatic Components (waving hands,...) required to cast the spell.

- EMPOWER SPELL: Very useful at mid levels for doubling the duration of protective - enhancing spells you will use. a simple Enhanced Fox Cunning thrown at caster's lv9 will last 18 hours... enough for the next rest.

- GREATER FORTITUDE: Nice feat because Wiz's are not very fond against Fortitude saves, an extra +2 is always welcome.

- THOUGHNESS: Just gives extra hit points (1 per character level) which are always welcome. You don't need to take this feat at 1st level, but is a good one to choose when enemies start packing quite a bit...

          --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
F) FAMILIAR
          -----------

Now this is a most important choice to make. You'd chose a familiar who compliment your abilities and your hireling's, so the familiar you'd chose depends heavily on what members your party will consist of. For me, the better choices are these:

- RAVEN: This one will allow you to scout ahead for danger (possess familiar comes to mind). Can find traps (cannot remove them, though, but you could let your familiar find the traps so you can disarm them; this'd make a good combination). Let the familiar away from danger or you'll find yourself recasting him a looot of times.

- SPRITE: In many ways better than the raven. Not only can find traps, but also can disarm them! Yep, a pretty nice little rogue we have here. Don't take this little thing near combat or you'll start recasting her lotsa times; between... the fuck*** noise this thing makes while flying can get annoying... better let the familiar keep distance from you. She has very low life, so almost any lost hit will kill her automatically. Her high level abilities are good though, so you'd take a look at her. Taking this as your familiar should allow you to forget about traps and lockpicking, allowing you to concentrate on
PERSUADE skill, and having a combat-type henchman.

- PANTHER: THIS is the one for me, and the one I use most. Not only this overgrown kittie is fast and has pretty good stats (+3 STR bonus, +4 DEX bonus...) but also has decent life so he makes a decent minion and trap-triggerer. He's like the RAVEN on the way that has good search and spot abilities, but cannot disarm traps (well, leave your familiar spot the traps so you can concentrate on the disarm skill)... ah, something more I forgot to tell about this one... It's a ROGUE type!!!!!.

So... what does rogue type mean? well... this kittie's so damn good at hiding in shadows that you can explore (possess familiar) nearly full zones ahead and see what you may encounter, so you can prepare against wathever is waiting for ya; you can also (and you should) use the panther as a minion. Yep, you thing panther only hits per 1-3 +3 damage isn't it? Wrooong!!, You'll shortly find this kittie hits SO DAMN HARD because
HE/SHE CAN FLANK enemies thus making sneak attacks. This familiar is always 1 level AHEAD of you, so if you are lv7 the panther will probably be lv8, will have two hits per round (at +10/+5) and a sneack attack of 1-3 +3 +4d6 damage.... that's 8-30 damage PER
HIT while flanking.

OK, now you think... "well... rogues only sneak attack WHILE opponent is attacking or being attacked by ANOTHER char, minion, etc at the same time... and Wiz's don't engage melee combat so... what's the point in flanking?". And reply is... your familiar shouldn't be alone on attacking. You should always have an hireling (usually a combat type one) AND a summoned helper all times (or you could just play in a multiplayer party), so now you have 3 fighters (familiar, minion and henchman) against one enemy; on most times sneak attacking is a sure thing.

Ops I forgot... look at panther's rogue feats (uncanny dodge, improved evasion... maybe even *ouch* defensive roll...) and the reflex save bonus this kittie has. This familiar is the PERFECT trap triggerer if none on your party can disarm traps. And, with the decent ammount of life this familiar has, there's 9/10 chances that will survive if the familiar fails his reflex throw. And if this familiar gets injured just talk to him, choose the
"Feed familiar" option and... voila!! full life again!!

Be nice... think of cats; even on big ones.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     ===============
III-. HIRELINGS
     ===============

Here we must find a henchman that compliments our skills. The best idea is to find a decent combat-type one... but there are other posibilities:

- COMBAT TYPE (BARBARIAN, WARRIOR...) This could be probably the most used one. With very high hit points and damn powerful critical hits (have seen 50+ damage on criticals) these are tanks you must beware of. Take one combat type, any minion and your pretty panther familiar and you'll shred enemies onto pieces in no time. Find one with knockdown and cleave and enjoy tons of damage per round.

* PROS:

- Heavy damage per round obtained. A Combat Fighter is a tank.
- Any enemy attacking your tank will be really open for unlimited sneak attacks from your familiar unless decides to change target. Combat type have soooo much life so they can take quite a buch of hits

* CONS:

- No more special abilities than the combat-oriented ones.
- Be warned of Will saves... combat types are not very good at they. Any mind control spell can turn relatively easy your henchman against you.


- ROGUE TYPE (ROGUE): Yep... another rogue in the party. This one finds traps, removes them, open locks,... and sneak attacks too. Having this one allows you to concentrate in
PERSUASION and other skills than the rogue-type ones. Remember this rogue will always be helped by your minion and your familiar, so if a BOSS enemy is so damn stupid that he/she/it attacks your minion instead one of yer rogue-type helpers... well... it's flanking party, man.

* PROS:

- Thi's a Jack of all Trades... I'm sorry he/she can't make the laundry for me... :) you can forget about traps and closed doors.
- Two flankers if you take the panther familiar. Enemy will have to choose which one wants to leave flanking him.

* CONS:

- Not very much life. You can aid by having minions attacking at the same time, but if an oponent choses to make him target he'll not last long alone


- CASTER TYPE (CLERIC, SORCERER): Not as useful as the other two hireling types but you'd take a look onto. A cleric will be useful as half-warrior, but this one usually keeps casting bless an heals on you and your minion/familiar instead of hitting the enemy. Well, a bless helps somewhat... but I'd prefer just ONE bless (and maybe a hold person) and then start hitting so my familiar can flank. You could pray for the cleric to cast a summon spell too... XDDDD

On the other side I'd take a sorc (not other wiz) and hope he has most direct damage spells he can. This will weaken enemies a lot while the minion and familiar do the rest.

* PROS

- You have a secondary spellcaster either offensive or defensive. If you don't mind resting a lot both of you can unleash a whole barrack of fuck*** spells against all who opose yourselves.

* CONS

- Again, you'll have to deal by yourself with traps and the like.
- Low HP. Two affortunate hits from a lucky enemy and you'll have to find another henchman/resurrect the dead one...


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     ===========
IV-. SPELLS
     ===========

All right, now let's see the most useful spells a Wizard can use to annoy enemies and to help allies:

==============
LEVEL 0 SPELLS
==============

* LIGHT: If you don't want to keep carrying a torch, or waste a ring slot with a light ring, you'd use this spell. There aren't more interesting spells here, though.

* RESISTANCE: A +1 to all saving throws is always welcome.


==============
LEVEL 1 SPELLS
==============

* CHARM PERSON: Pretty useful on the first levels, warriors an fighter-type enemies always have a low will save throws so this spell connects damn well. Can turn the tides of early