Tenser’s Wizard Handbook

    The following advice is my own personal opinion of how a wizard should be created. There are many different opinions on this subject and I’m not saying that mine is the best advice, but it’s pretty darn good. I’ve put together advice from Dartaghan,
Dmitri, and a few other wizards and put that together with my own experiences to create this guide. Good luck in creating your new wizard and I hope this guide serves you well.

The first obstacle to creating a character is the character generator. Here is where you roll up your abilities and determine the future of what you character is going to be like. There are 10 random rolls to consider. The first three rolls on the list have a maximum of 90, then next three have a maximum of 60, the next three max out at 50, and the last roll can be a full 100. When rolling up a character, you should try for at least an 80 in the first three slots and a 90 or more in the last slot. When you finally get three 80+’s and one 90+, then add up the total of all 10 rolls. This total should be over 620 if you want an outstanding character, and I wouldn’t settle for anything less than 600 ever.

Once you get these roll requirements you can pick where you want to put those scores.      There’s lots of things to consider when creating a character, but wizards seem to be the most complicated. Almost all of the basic stats seem to be important to a wizard and depending on who you talk to, you’ll get a different answer from almost everyone. The three most important stats of a wizard seem to have consensus though. These are: 1) Discipline, 2) Aura, and 3) Dexterity. These stats should be the highest three and should be placed in that order. The rest of the stats depend on what kind of wizard you want to have. I will describe three different types: the pure spell caster, the balanced wizard, and the warrior mage. In the following discussion of creating a wizard I didn’t mention the dark elf or the sylvan elf as a choice for the race of a wizard. The dark elf regenerates
spirit points very slowly, and so I don’t suggest playing a dark elf as a wizard. Dark elves are a perfect fit to be sorcerers, but not wizards. The sylvankind is an ok choice for a balanced wizard, but I felt the elf and half-elf are even better choices.

    Pure spell caster: A pure spell caster will put all of his or her highest stats in the mental area in order to get lots and lots of mental training points. This route will be very difficult at first, but pure spell casters become the most powerful way down the road. The abilities of a pure spell caster should be put in this order: Discipline, Aura, Dexterity, Intelligence, Logic, Wisdom, Reflexes, Strength, Charisma, and Constitution. The race of a pure spell caster should be either a halfling or an elf. The halfling will give you the best attack power(+15) and very good defensive skills(+10), but will have the drawback of being very weak(-15) and so will not allow you to carry very much. The elf gives you the best defensive capabilities(+15) and a good attack power(+5), but are also a little weak (-5). Overall, I’d pick the elf as the best pure spell caster just because the halflings are so weak and I like being able to carry around at least a little bit of loot.

    Balanced Wizard: The balance wizard is a good mix of sword swinging and spell casting. This gives you the advantage of being able to advance at the lower levels much easier than the pure spell caster. The abilities of a balance wizard should be put in this order: Discipline, Aura, Dexterity, Reflexes, Intelligence, Logic, Wisdom, Strength, Charisma, and Constitution. Good races for the balanced wizard include the elf and the half-elf. The elf is good for the same reasons as under the pure spell caster. The half-elf is a good choice here because they are not weak(0 modifier), which helps for sword swinging, and still give a good defensive capability(+10), and a fair attack power(+5) for spells.

    Warrior Mage: The warrior mage is still mainly a spellcaster, but is also good at swinging a weapon. The warrior mage will never be as good a sword swinger as a warrior, but he or she will not be that far behind in the long run. The abilities of a warrior mage should be put in this order: Discipline, Aura, Dexterity, Strength, Reflexes, Intelligence, Logic, Wisdom, Charisma, and Constitution. Good races for this route are a human, a dwarf, or a giantman. The human is fairly strong(+5) and has no negatives on spell attack power(0 modifier) or defensive ability(0 modifier). The dwarf is a little stronger(+10) but has a small negative on defensive capability(-5) and average spell attack power(0 modifier). The giantman is the strongest(+15) and will be the best sword swinger, but get a negative on defensive power(-5) and another negative on spell attack power(-5). I like the human as the best overall choice for the warrior mage, but the more you’d like to swing a sword well, the stronger race you should pick.
   
    Ok, now you’ve got your character and it’s time for training. Training differs slightly depending on what kind of wizard you decided to play. But most of the training is the same. I put priorities on the skills from 1 to 3, 1 being the highest. Here is the
different training skills and how you should train:

One handed Edged   
    Pure spell casters will not train in this. Balanced spell casters should train in this once per level till level 20. And
    warrior mages will train once per level in this forever.      (priority 2)
Armor Use   
    Train in this every level till you’ve trained four times. Then stop. (priority 2)
Shield Use
    Always train in this once per level forever.(priority 1)
Perception   
    Train in this once per level if you can afford it.(priority 2)
Spell Research
    Train twice per level in this every time. Pure spell casters will train in this three times every four to eight levels.(priority 1) What spells you pick is entirely up to your discretion. All three spell lists are very good. I’d suggest spreading out through all three lists. Even balanced wizards and warrior mages will probably want to train three times in this every once in awhile at higher levels.
Spell Aiming   
    Train twice in this each level. (priority 1)
Magic Item Use
    Train once per level in this.(priority 1)
Scroll Use
    Train once per level in this.(priority 1)
Mana Share   
    Train every other level in this.(priority 2) Warrior mages may not be able to afford this skill, and even the balanced
    wizard and a pure spell caster may not be able to afford this while they still are training in armor use. But after 4th level
    try for one training every level or at least every other level.
Climbing
    Train every once in a while in this. Try for five trainings by 25th level. (priority 3)
Swimming
    Training every once in a while in this. Try for five trainings by 25th level.(priority 3).
Physical Training
    Train once each level in this till you reach you maximum health points.(priority 2). If you have to skip this every
    once in awhile for other training, then don’t worry about it. Critical hits tend to kill you most of the time anyway, your
    total health points are not that important.

    Don’t forget, if you run out of mental training points, you convert your physical training points to mental ones on a 2 for 1 basis. Every successful wizard ends up doing this a lot. Good luck.

                    Tenser the Wizard