Wizard Shroud?

Grundfos

Grundfos

Member
kk, new direction :)

Gnome, Wizard, lvl 11, first life.

I'm thinking about picking a shroud: Lich, Vampire, Wraith or Mummy.

I'm leaning toward Wraith, mostly because "you float as if affected by featherfall"
Okay, does that mean I would have Featherfall, when in this form?

Thanks!! :)
 
Matuse

Matuse

Join Date: February 2006
Yes, but that is the worst reason to take the form. Feather fall is a common effect on items, is augmentable and as a wizard you can just cast the spell on yourself.

Lich is almost certainly what you want. The +int it provides is hard for anything else to compete with.
 
Psych

Psych

Well-known member
Grundfos said:
kk, new direction :)

Gnome, Wizard, lvl 11, first life.

I'm thinking about picking a shroud: Lich, Vampire, Wraith or Mummy.

I'm leaning toward Wraith, mostly because "you float as if affected by featherfall"
Okay, does that mean I would have Featherfall, when in this form?

Thanks!! :)
Click to expand...
Dont listen, FF FTW!
 
unbongwah

unbongwah

Well-known member
If you're enough of a newbie to need advice on forms, my rule of thumb is: Wraith + Ghost in the Wind + Ascendant Shroud until you have another source of Incorporeality, then switch to Lich with the caster bonuses.

EDIT: you can also take Deathly Versatile so you have both forms and swap between them.
 
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Grundfos

Grundfos

Member
This is my second character, my main is 22.
I have not reincarnated, ever!
The wizard is my fav solo, and he melee's a lot!
Currently I'm in Menechtarun Desert (not sure what I think of this place).
I just made lvl 12

Shrouds:
Lich: +2 con, +2 Int, +10 Neg heal amp, +10 neg spell power, and +15 MRR
Vamp: +2 Cha, +2 Wis, +3 perform, melee might heal 1d3 per lvl
Wraith: +2 Dex, +2 Int, 10% chance to be missed, featherfall and +1 sneak attack
Zombie: +4 Con, +10 Melee, +3 PRR & MRR, attack 10$ slower

kk, Yes! I'm a newb!
My thoughts, here, despite being a caster, I hit things, A LOT, which makes Vamp/Wraith very appealing to me.
But I love (and need) featherfall, and despite it's apparently availability, I'm finding it difficult to find between gear drops.
Which gives Wraith 2 pts on the side of favor...

But I don't know what "negative healing" is or how to get it, so the Vamp thing might be nice.

You see, I don't know :)
(But I agree, Zombie is just out)

I also don't know how to look ahead to find some of these other features that have been mentioned...

Thanks!! :)
 
S

Sarlona Raiding

Well-known member
At end game I prefer lich on a casting wizard, but I've often used wraith while leveling.

The only must for me is getting rid of the double light damage.

Try out the different forms and compare.
 
Varr

Varr

Well-known member
If you melee it Vamp all day. First time you run Sharn and dominate the Iron Golems you will know why. Trading 2 con for 2 wis/cha and +1 ENC DC is a fair trade.

PS there are two level 4 spells you must load. A neg burst and aura pair that provide you all the healing you need thru 20.
 
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H

Hobgoblin

Less Nerfy Nerfy more fixy fixy
Varr said:
If you melee it Vamp all day. First time you run Sharn and dominate the Iron Golems you will know why. Trading 2 con for 2 wis/cha and +1 ENC DC is a fair trade.

PS there are two level 4 spells you must load. A neg burst and aura pair that provide you all the healing you need thru 20.
Click to expand...
as a note all 3 shrouds stack
 
unbongwah

unbongwah

Well-known member
Grundfos said:
I just made lvl 12
Click to expand...
This is when you get access to the tier-5 enhancements and level 12 cores, so it's a good time to reassess what you want your toon to do.

Wizarding 101: you're either a pure caster using a mix of Pale Master, Archmage, and (if you own it) Feydark Illusionist trees; or you're a gish using Eldritch Knight, Harper Agent, and (if you have it) Vistani Knife Fighter for melee. A pure caster puts all of their feats into spellcasting plus maybe some survivability perks (Insightful Reflexes is always a must-have IMO); a gish divides their feats between melee and spellcasting. In either case, PM undead forms add survivability and caster / melee bonuses; so which form is best to use depends on what sort of wizard you are.
Grundfos said:
But I don't know what "negative healing" is or how to get it, so the Vamp thing might be nice.
Click to expand...
Undead forms use negative-energy spells to (un)heal. For a Pale Master wizard, that means Negative Energy Burst (NEB) and the Death Aura spells. Vampire form also grants this effect: "Your melee attacks have a 10% chance to heal you for 1d3 with Negative Energy per Wizard level."

The upside to Death Auras are they're DoTs so they're healing you while damaging nearby enemies, allowing you to melee or cast other spells while they tick off; so you only need NEB for burst healing.

You also have the option of dropping out of undead form, healing through positive energy, then switching back to undead; but ideally you can stay undead 100% of the time.

So for a level 12 wizard who's a pure caster, you'd have something like 38 Pale Master / 10-14 Archmage or Feydark. Whereas if you're a gish, it's more like 12 Harper Agent (INT to hit+dmg+Know the Angles) / 6 Pale Master (unlock undead form) / 30-34 Eldritch Knight.
 
The_Apocalypse

The_Apocalypse

The Chosen One
Lesser Death Aura (lvl 2), Negative Energy Burst (lvl 4), and Death Aura (lvl 4) are the wizard spells to utilize negative healing.
 
Grundfos

Grundfos

Member
Aight!!

With everyones advice, I went "Vampire".
I've loaded: Death Aura & Negative Energy Burst
I'm not sure, but it "feels" like I'm doing things faster! :)

I made the Wizzy to BE a caster, but the mechanics seem to be making me a "gish"?
(hadn't seen the term before </lol>)
I don't seem to have enough mana to push through a dungeon...
Casting on things the entire way (solo, remember)
But if abuse Eldritch Strike and either/or DA & NEB, I'm doing good.

"Character Planner".
User error - I can see what I've done!
But I can't project anything... it's static.

Enhancement trees!
</GAH!> I didn't know I could change those out when the Wizzy was born.
I have "Gnome", "Archmage", "Pale Master" & "Eldritch Knight"
I have 7pts in Gnome (might put two more for Dragonmark uses)
I have 13pts in Archmage (I think I'm done with this tree)
I have 18pts in Eldritch Knight (I think I'm done with this tree)
I have 7pts in Pale Master (I want to boost my shroud and knight)

[ edit: sorry, got interrupted ]

Thanks for everything!
This is moving me forward!!! :)
Thanks!!
 
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unbongwah

unbongwah

Well-known member
Grundfos said:
I made the Wizzy to BE a caster, but the mechanics seem to be making me a "gish"?
(hadn't seen the term before </lol>)
Click to expand...
Old-school DnD term: originally referred to githyanki fighter / mages, eventually became a generic term for this sort of arcane melee/magic hybrid. Eldritch Knight was originally a 3e DnD prestige class, but DDO don't do prestige classes; so it became an Enhancement tree for wizards and sorcerers.
Grundfos said:
I don't seem to have enough mana to push through a dungeon...
Casting on things the entire way (solo, remember)
But if abuse Eldritch Strike and either/or DA & NEB, I'm doing good.
Click to expand...
The trick is to take advantage of the spell-like abilities (SLAs) from the caster trees which can be metamagic'ed without increasing their SP cost. Also learning how to group mobs then kite them thru AoE DoTs like Death Aura and Wall of Fire.

I think you've spread your APs a little thin. Most tier-5 abilities are pretty powerful and should be taken ASAP IMO. Sample configuration for a level 12 build with Skeletal Knight:
Enhancements (Spent: 48 +0r +0u / Max: 48 +0r +0u AP)

Pale Master (35 AP)
  • Dark Reaping, Shroud of the Wraith, Ghost in the Wind, +2 Necromancy DC
    1. Necrotic Touch III, Negative Energy Conduit III, Spell Critical, Skeletal Knight III
    2. Spell Critical, Corpsecrafter III
    3. Necrotic Bolt III, Negative Energy Adept III, Eternal Furor III
    4. Unholy Avatar
    5. Necrotic Blast III, Ascendant Shroud
Eldritch Knight (Wizard) (13 AP)
  • Eldritch Strike, Spellsword, Imbue the Blade
    1. Improved Mage Armor III, Item Defense I
    2. Improved Shield III, Mystic Wards I
    3. Arcane Barrier
Click to expand...
TBH dropping the Skeletal Knight to focus on more spell DPS enhancements - like maxing out the INT and spell critical line - is a more optimal use of APs. But you're a first-lifer, which is a good time to experiment for fun. From EK I picked up the major survivability buffs: Improved Mage Armor + Shield + Arcane Barrier. Also can equip light armor for more PRR and higher MRR cap (though at level 12 it doesn't matter yet). You can also go more glass-cannon by putting those points into Archmage instead; or put points into gnome tree for more INT and Greater Color Spray.

Gishes are fun, but this isn't built for melee because a melee wizard is something which should be planned in advance, not something you just try to shoehorn in later IMO.
 
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