Wizard

by Shayalyn and Ralsu

As the fighters struggle at the front lines of a battle, a solitary robed figure hangs back in the shadows. Her lips move as she mutters unintelligible words, reciting incantations gleaned from dusty tomes and years of intense study. Her hands rise, and suddenly bolts fly from her fingertips as she unleashes her deadly spell on the unsuspecting enemy, turning the tide of the battle in her party's favor.

Wizards are the most versatile spell casters in DDO. They have a variety of options at their disposal for damaging and neutralizing foes. While you generally won't see a robed wizard fighting head-to-head with martial weapons, his spell casting abilities can mean the difference between life and death for his adventuring party.

Wizards learn new spells as they grow in knowledge and experience. A wizard's skills are not innate, but rather learned through intense and challenging study of the arcane arts. Over time, a wizard can learn to manipulate spells so that they work better, do more damage, or last longer. Unlike sorcerers, who can select spells at any time, wizards must prepare their spells while in a tavern or at a rest shrine.

Motivation
The most common motivation for wizards is the acquisition of new magical powers. Aside from the normal factors that can spur anyone to act--revenge, a worthy cause, or war--wizards love to find and learn new spells. With enough study there is no arcane spell a wizard can't learn.

Class Features
Inscribe Scroll: Wizard can inscribe unknown arcane spells from a scroll into their spell books. This requires spell inscription materials that must be purchased.

Metamagic Feats: Wizards gain extra Metamagic Feats at Levels 1, 5, and 10.

Weapon and armor proficiency: Wizards can wield a club, dagger, light crossbow, heavy crossbow, quarterstaff. They are not trained in combat using any armor or shields, which tend to interfere with spell casting.

Spells
Wizards can cast spells from the arcane spells list. Wizard spell points and difficulty checks are based on the Intelligence score.

Suggested Races

• Drow (+2 bonuses to DEX, INT and CHA give the wizard a nice set of base Ability scores)
• Elf  (the bonus to DEX and resistances to sleep effects are nice, and elves get access to some racial enhancements that fit the wizard well)
• Human (a solid race choice for wizards with 1 bonus feat and 4 extra skill points at level one, plus 1 extra skill point for each additional level)

Key Abilities: Each class begins with 28 points to spend over 6 abilities (Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity, Strength, and Charisma). Intelligence is a crucial ability for wizards as it affects the wizard's spell power and the number of spell points he has available. Dexterity is also a good choice when spending ability points, since good dexterity raises the wizard's AC to help protect the frail spell caster from damage. Some points to Constitution would not be misspent since extra hit points will keep a wizard alive longer.

Class Skills: Wizard class Skills are Concentration and Repair. Concentration is an important skill for a wizard—it helps increase the wizard's chance of continuing to cast while taking damage. Repair is a handy skill for wizards as it heals their warforged party members.

Suggested Feats: Mental Toughness is a no-brainer when it comes to selecting Feats—it increases the wizard's maximum spell points by 10 the first level and 5 each additional level. Combat Casting adds +4 to Concentration checks for defensive casting. Toughness adds extra hit points while Dodge helps improve AC.

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More on Wizards
Essentials A Guide to Alignments Wizard Tactics Guide Pimping Your Mage: A Guide to Wizard Enhancements Wizard Spells Apprentice's Companion I Apprentice's Companion II Apprentice's Companion III Apprentice's Companion IV Apprentice's Companion V Apprentice's Companion VI	Spell Casting Guides Spell Casting Basics Advanced Spell Casting Expert Spell Casting Metamagic Feats Guide Guide to AoE Spells Enchantments Guide Spell Combinations Guide The Art of Boom Control Freak: Control Spells in DDO
DDO Builds for Wizards Arcane Ally The Dominator The Mastermind The Raging Witchdoctor