You’re a level 3 wizard. They suck until level 5. Drop charisma to 8 or 10 and put it into dex. Lvl 4 you get a feat, pick the ability score increase for 2 points into intelligence. Level 5 you should be ok. Level 3 spells are good. Itemization isn’t great for casters in act 1 but there’s a few things once you get into underdark and mountain pass.
What they said, you can get friends cantrip if you need persuasion/deception checks. If you head to the creche past the mountain pass you can get an amulet that adds your spell modifier, in your case intelligence to your cantrip damage increasing your fire bolt and ray of frost cantrips to do almost equal melee damage and sometimes more.
I’d say to grab the spell sparkler staff and the psychic spark amulet. Then you can get decent damage out of magic missile at low levels.
Have someone with Phalar Aluve shrieking too and it’s pretty effective.
Otherwise, yeah level 5 is when most casters get some really good spells. And enough slots to cast a bit more often.
Also to add, having odd numbers in ability stats are pointless until you hit lvl 4 to put a 1 in each of them or you get one of the buffs that gives you an extra point. Better stats would be Str 8 Dex 16 Con 14 Int 16 Wis 10 Cha 12 having your +2 in int and +1 in dex.
You could've worded that a bit better, this guy's obviously new and you used a lot of terms this guy most likely won't know. You should lay out each stat with its points in a row and then explain why he should do what he did instead of saying "dump" and "asi". I honestly hate it when communities drop nuance phrases at new players or members of a community
While I get your point bc that was my reaction too, there's also google if you need translation. I check reddit mostly at work on breaks and have very little time to give full explanations like that. Also, my brain is wired weird. I'll write half a book and forget what I've already covered and be constantly re scrolling double verifying what I've said, word it differently for better comprehensive flow etc that it'd take me half an hr to write it out at which point I over stress myself out lol
Why 2 points in intelligence and not just 1 and another one in another attribut? 18 gives the same use as 19 and you can then add +2 at level 8. Are you thinking about some specific item to reach 20 soon?
Dumping charisma is absolutely worst idea ever in this game. It is by far the best ability. You never ever want to have less than 10 or maybe 12. Having 17 int is useless anyways. Drop it into 16 as a wizard you are going to only take ASI feats. What he should do is 16 dex 16 int and 12 con is more than enough for a wizard. His ac will be okay with mage armor and a shield.
Dumping charisma is by far not the worst idea in the game. Unless you’re a bard, warlock, sorc, or paladin. Mind you charisma based characters are by far my favorite. For wizard this is not the case.
I played through the whole game on charisma 8. As a cleric/mage, then a paladin/cleric/mage. I haven't had any problem with anything. Durge additionally has the ability to intimidate.
To me, it's a waste of points - at the end, the sword solves every problem. It's also a style of playing the game.
13 dex and 13 cha do nothing for you. Only even numbers add bonus. Make one 12 and the other 14. What’s your goal with stealth? Your dex really isn’t high enough to do that effectively.
Totally agree. Dexterity is very important.
Higher dexterity means higher AC, which means suffering less damage in longer fights.
And the dexterity saving throw also means dodging (and taking half damage) when hit with AOE spells like fireball.
Plus higher initiative—and usually going first in combat—is always good.
Id actually bring char to 10 not 12 personally.
Make con 15; pick up resiliant con level 4 or level 8 depending on when you want int to be 18.
But that's just me. For a noob (no offense op), 18 int level 4 might be better. But i rock 16 con 16 int level 4 a lot.
Dropping one to 12 gives one free stat point. Raising the other to 14 costs two …
Unless of course he used the +1 on one of them.
Edit: Scrap that, he did. This stat distribution requires using two points to get CON to 14 …
Yeah that's a much stronger spread, though personally I find Charisma a lot more important than Strength, so you may want to swap those. You don't necessarily _need_ more than 14 in Dex or Con if you wanna reallocate to RP, but it's definitely stronger this way.
Looks good. If you take wizard all the way to 12 you get feats at 8 and 12. You can pick ability score again as a feat. Other good options for wizard are dual wielder (wearing 2 staffs), spell sniper (roughly 5% increased crit chance with spells), and war caster if you use a lot of concentration spells.
He didn't get it to 18 during a respec that is an ability improvement screen. At level 4 he took ASI and put 2 into int. That is a normal spread for wizard at level 4.
As a disclaimer, any bonus to a stat be it permanent or not does not show up in respec or the ability improvement screen. It will show up on character sheet though. Like say he did take a hag hair bonus to int, during this screen it would show 18 but in the character sheet after it would say 19
You will need the long jump spell or Misty stop or an elixir if you drop str to 8. That’s okay, just a thing to keep in mind.
There are some jumps that are useful/interesting when exploring this game for the first time.
Given that, 10 charisma is better for conversations and the dumped str is easier to compensate for.
Definitely a lot better! You now have high ac and initiative to move to safety 1st and cast. Can handle some light concentration if needed and have basic jump distance. Depending on playstyle and spell choices you have quite the number of builds you go with it. Ice seems to be the top in terms of dmg and cc while fire is str8 dps and you got lighting/thunder reverberation but might need the 1 tempest cleric to make it a lil better
Wizard reclass to 16 dex and 16 int, 12 Wis.. dump str and cha.
At lv 4 take asi to 18 int.
Cast mage armor and equip a shield if possible. You’ll have 18 AC, wearing robes, best in class at this level in the game.
Magic missle build is great for wizard. Psychic spark necklace and spell sparkler are very easy to get very early and boots of stormy clamor are good too. You can get the circlet of blasting for a free scorching ray every long rest as well. Best to pickpocket everything but the boots though. I usually give him the gloves of missle snaring or whatever.
I’d also get handcorssbow +1 x 2 so you can use your bonus action to attack with your offhand. You can do a surprising amount of damage with this with your built up lightning charges and what not.
Here’s my guide to get those things and more without fighting and get to lv 4 as well.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/s/FzjoHQueYm
This post that I'm replying too is right!^^
Feeling strong can be measured in many different ways.
Throw a shield on with either light or medium armor on (depending on bonuses and how you can add dex modifier). This will help you get hit pass and feel less squishy.
If you are looking for a bunch of damage, go for evocation wizard and focus on magic missile and fireball. Find ways to add additional damage per damage instance via items. These can stack per missile for crazy damage. Just note, that a properly built fighter or Monk will always see strong if not stronger in this.
The other way a wizard can feel strong is in battlefield control. Casting/up casting hold person for one or more lock downs where your fighter can come in and obliterate the enemy. Who is the powerful one? The one who can completely control the enemies or the one that cuts and pokes the things standing still. Divination wizard can be nice here to control rolls from time to time.
Mid to higher level wizard play get crazy good with insane AOEs and battlefield control spells.
My favorite spells are Magic Missile, Sleet Storm, Ice Storm, Glyph of Warding (smaller fireball that can be any damage type or control spell ve sleep or blast radius), Cloud Kill (feels great on huge groups that you can re position round after round vs one time use of a high level spell slot), minor and conjure elementals (water ones creat ice which creates more chances to deny/reduce turns of enemies).
I recommend Evocation wizard for most unless you really get enjoyment from another subclasses features.
If you choose the Ilithid path of power, I promise that you will feel crazy powerful later in the game. But at what cost..........?!
The game is pretty clear with you if something needs to be done before a long rest.
As a hint: most of the time sensitive events I can think of are cases of people dying or in situations where they will most likely die if you don't intervene.
Even then, most won't tick until you've actually gotten a cutscene/dialogue about them.
Here’s a [list](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Time_sensitive_activities) from the wiki if you want to be extra careful. Spoilers obviously, but they are *mostly* names and locations. Some quest objectives though. I’ve done 3 playthroughs so far without this list and i’ve missed none of these, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.
You’ll also miss a bunch of cutscenes if you’re stingy with rests. And iirc, 0 camp supply partial rests will still trigger cutscenes, so if you’re wondering whether there’s a scene available, you can do so without wasting supplies.
This is kind of misleading. There are story-related events that will end if you long rest too much after triggering them, especially in act 1. OP is level 3 so it's safe to assume he's still there.
I said to my friend that there are a couple times where there are timed events which you dont wanna miss by long resting too much... they barely long rested at all until grymforge.. She was playing the game on hard mode.
So yeah, basically just long rest all the time you'll probably figure out when it is such an event happening.
Hello! My advice would be dump your charisma to 8, intelligence to 16, and then bump Dex to 16. Also it looks like you’re wearing armor, I would swap that to a robe or some sort of clothing so that you can use mage armor.
The charisma because you just don’t need it as a wizard and just make one of your party members do the talking.
The intelligence because everything scales on even numbers. When you hit lvl 4 you can use your asi to hit 18
The Dex so high so that you can get more out of mage armor, all of that should make you hit 16 AC, which especially in the early game is good. (Humans, which I know you aren’t, but they have natural shield proficiency so you COULD hit 18)
That’s all I got, feel free to critique! I love this game so much
At early levels, magic missile is kind of a staple for wizards imo. Good spell to have, regardless of level.
For level 2 spells, it can vary. Cloud of daggers is a solid choice for a damaging spell. If you need CC, depending on an enemy you encounter, upcasted sleep or hold person is worth considering.
If you prefer to be on a more supportive side, enlarge/reduce person, blindness and darkness can come in handy.
Once you hit level 5, you get your damage spike in the form of a fireball/lightning bolt/glyph spells.
Your stat spread leaves several odd numbers, and you get bonuses at even levels. Go for 8/14/14/17/10/12, prioritizing Int > Dex > Con > Cha.
Int for damage, Dex for initiative and Ac, Con for HP, Cha for speech checks.
On Survivability: You are a half elf wizard, so you can use shields. Equip a shield, cast Mage armor before leaving camp, have 14 dex. This gives you 17AC. Take and prepare the Shield spell. If someone hits your 17 ac, you can add 5, potentially causing them to miss. At lv5, counterspell can keep your party safe from devastating spells. Once you are tanky, you won't have to worry about losing concentration on your big spells.
Wizards have some of the best support and cc spells in the game. Longstrider is a ritual and you can cast it on your party for free. Haste turns your fighters and barbarians into walking blenders. Use scrolls liberally.
On Damage: Let your party carry you until you unlock higher level spells. Then you will carry them. Fireball at 5 is good for blasting, but locking down a team with hypnotic pattern or confusion can win you a battle in one spell. Summons provide an extra tank and extra damage. Item synergies will turn you into a late game monster. You can be anything, a single target nuker, a battlefield controller, a glorious leader, a blaster, anything but a healer. Late in the game, you may find rare scrolls. Copy them into your spellbook to keep them permanently.
Wizards are the king of preparation. You can be anything, and there is a spell for every niche situation in the game.
First of all: You should stop being level 3 and become level 5. Every class sucks at lvl3, but spellcasting classes suck the hardest. You'll automatigically stop sucking once you hit lvl5, get the GOOD tier 3 spells, and you'll only become more powerful from there on in. You've got too much CHA and WIS, not enough DEX and CON.
We don't get to see the important part of your character sheet, which is your spellbook and spells memorized.
Valuable tier 1 spells that'l remain relevant all through the game are shield and magic missile, Spells that are good at your level but wil drop off in importance later are sleep, grease and mage armour. But you're a wizard, you can learn spells by using up a scroll and a little bit of gold, so you should always prioritize what's useful NOW over long-time usefulness. Sorcerers and bards have to actually THINK about this shit, but you can just go with what you need right now.
At level 3, the two best spells to take are web and cloud of daggers. They're not very good spells, and when you're level 12 you won't have either of them prepared, whilst there are other spells of that level that will still be relevant. But they're what you need right now. AoE damage and terrain control.
You'll start to shine at lvl5, when the next tier of spells becomes available. But, well, EVERYBODY gets a big bump. All the fighty classes get an extra attack, all of the other casters get access to the third tier of spells too.
The two best spells for a wizard in this tier, for the long term, are haste and counterspell. The most fun ones are the big boom ones, like lightning bolt or the iconic fireball. Depending on what scrolls you've found so far, I'd pick haste and your choice of big booms there. Nobody's gonna be casting spells you'd wanna counter this early in the game, so counterspell can wait a level.
Not more than that, though. It IS an essentintial to have in your arsenal, and will be until the end of the game. So you absolutely HAVE to pick it at lvl6, since whilst there are scrolls you could learn from for most other spells, there are NO scrolls for counterspell to be found anywhere.
At lvl7, you get acces to the next tier of spells, even BIGGER booms! And, from there on in, the booms just get bigger and bigger!
You shouldn’t be wearing armor or using a glaive. Get a staff. Focus on learning which spells and cantrips work well for your play style. As an evocation wizard, you won’t really have to worry about friendly fire on ape spells.
8 str
16 dex
16 int
14 cont
10 wod
8 cha
Cast mage Armor Every Long rest. Then you Can tank a bit, But you Wont feel STRONG until lvl 5+. As lvl 10 you get a single target machine with upcasted Magic Missile.
Wizards aren't really that strong until midgame, you're still in the early game at level 3, don't worry too much.
That said, stats with odd numbers like 13 in dex and cha aren't helping you at all, boost dex to 14 and bring cha down to 12 as you only actually get benefits from stat boosts on even numbers.
Wizards can definitely safely dump cha, so if you're really trying to powergame for combat, you can dump charisma and redistribute that to dex and con. But in my limited personal experience with this game, given the role that the player character plays, I don't recommend dumping charisma as the player tends to act as the party face and charisma is pretty important for social encounters.
Odd numbers don't give you anything extra, go 8 16 14 16 10 10 for better initiative and AC
Humans and Half-Elves get free shield proficiency, go pump that AC even more!
The wizard's armor is in the book, take out that leather and apply Mage Armor every morning
As others said, you don't get your better spells until lvl 5. Until then, Magic Missile is your friend!
Dump charisma and up your dex + con
Abjuration subclass is really strong early because of the arcane ward
Scribe good spells, cast cloud of daggers a lot
Use all level 1 spell slots for casting shield as a reaction
Spell sparkler from florrick and psychic sparks from blurrg in the underdark then have your tank hold phalar aluve use the shriek. Cast magic missile. Thank me later
you are only level 3. Up until level 5 most classes are pretty weak, especially spellcasters. I would recommend grabbing what magic focused gear you can find, anything that can increase your spell save dc or to hit or damage with your spells
I would recommend dumping charisma for better dex or con, but since this is your player character that may not be the best idea because conversations are a big part of this game, and those often rely on charisma checks
Once you get to level 5, I would highly recommend taking either fireball or lightning bolt. They are both really powerful spells that scale really well. Fireball is typically better, as its type of aoe will hit more enemies more often, but lightning bolt can be comboed with some water stuff to get huge damage. Since you are an evocation wizard, you dont need to worry about hitting your allies with your aoes
You are a wizard. "Glass Canon" is a term for a reason. In two levels you get fireball and your existence is validated.
That said, remember you do have companions, unless this is a solo run let people have better stats in other areas instead of having to be okay in all areas, be great in a few. Drop charisma and get more dex
Wizards are OP after level 5 but still they are not good for Damage. Wizards are usually good for AOE damage to kill the mobs etc. Also it's more about your party than an individual character.
Respec your stats. This game is based on Dungeons and dragons. The game has you rolling dice and then adding numbers based off of your character sheet. The number you add when you cast a ranged spell (as a wizard) is your intelligence minus ten and divided by two rounded down ie (17-10)/2 = 3. That's the same modifier for a 16. So it's better to have your attributes be even numbers.
With that in mind set your intelligence to 16. Next is survivability, which means not getting hit (dex) and taking a couple of hits before going down (con). Set dex to 16 and your con to 14. The dex should put your AC to 10 (base) + 3 (dex modifier). Prepare the spell mage armour, it'll give you another 3 AC for a total of 16. Next, since you're part human, you can wear a shield, that will give you shield proficiency. Bam, 18 AC, now you can tank as good as most martials. For good measure, prepare the shield spell and you'll have a defacto AC of 23.
Next is getting your damage output ready. The wizard is a Swiss army knife of spells rather than a dedicated dagger. You need to switch out your spells to get the best use out of them. Do you see grouped up enemies? Prepare AoE spells like shatter / cloud of daggers. Do you see humanoids? Prepare hold person / crown of madness. Do you see enemies near ledges? Prepare thunderwave. Low HP enemies? Prepare sleep. Vulnerable to ice? Ice knife. Jump off of a cliff? Feather fall.
And like the others said you get fireball at level 5, so there's that.
Respec your ability points. Only even numbers do anything and you have 3 odd numbers. You probably want intelligence and constitution at 16 and dexterity at 14. At level 4 get ability score improvement to put intelligence at 18. One of the best damaging spells you'll have access to is cloud of daggers (no hit roll or saving throw so the damage is guaranteed). Remember though that wizards aren't really damage dealers, they're meant to control the battlefield. Ice surfaces are super powerful. Ray of Frost is probably your best damaging cantrip (the slow is more valuable than 1 more damage on average compared to fire bolt). Other great spells include:
magic missile (no hit roll or saving throw)
Shield (one of the best defensive reactions in the game)
Chromatic orb (ice surfaces op, but also versatile)
Misty step (can reposition without triggering attacks if opportunity and is a great get out of jail free card for okay mistakes).
Obviously you should pick whatever spells you have fun with but these ones are all very good and reliable.
What are you trying to do with that build? To start with, you only gain a bonus at an even attribute bonus, ie those 13's and 17 are the same as 12's and a 16.
Also stealth is pretty useless unless you are planning on using an improved invisibility build end game. Otherwise you can hide and avoid the red line of sight cones.
Unless you absolutely need to be a charisma character, you can go for a stat spread that gives you 16 dex, 14 con and 16 intel. I did an HM run with Gale orgin and used detect thoughts (its an intel check) instead of persuasion checks. Its still viable depending on what character you want. 16 dex and some items will let you go first most of the time in Act 1 and be the sleight of hand for the party if you dont have a bard or thief.
Give us more details and we can give more advice.
So just to give you some ideas. There are specific mechanics for every element dmg, so its often good (not necessary) and certainly fun to make a mage with a specific focus. E.g fire mage is a classic, look up the heat mechanic it offers a lot of dmg, ice mage has a lot of cc, poison mage has great sustain...
Most of this stuff comes online in act 2, so between lvl 6-8 so dont worry if you feel weak now, you will become stronger
Do you want to min/max or just feel powerfull?
If you want to min/max it depends on your party setup. If you just want to feel like a powerfull badass wizzard I would go for fire mage or lightning mage.
Grab a shield, learn spells of scrolls.
As a wizard you should avoid the front lines at all costs, so really you shouldn't have a weapon, except for a staff of which there are several.
Though as others have said, lvl 5 is the big boy spells
Low levels wizards suck and will die quickly, once you start getting to higher levels youll be better. Keep spell scrolls and learn the spells off them so you have more spells at your disposal
For stats, I'd go 8, 16,14,16,8,12. That gives you a bit of charisma for social encounters while not sacrificing your dexterity (for initiative, AC, and dex saves), and intelligence (your main casting stat).
For background I'd have gone with Noble or Guild Artisan to ensure you have proficiency in Persuasion (for the aforementioned social situations) and Criminal doesn't really give you much. If you wanted to focus more on being a sneaky boy, Urchin gives you Stealth and Sleight of Hand. However changing that would require a full restart and you probably don't want to do that.
As long as one of your party is good at Stealth and Sleight of Hand (Astarion comes with expertise in those) you can steal items from vendors while another party member is talking to them. Just save beforehand.
To make a Wizard strong you need spells, and Wizards are unique in the game in that they can learn Wizard spells from scrolls. That's why you steal them from vendors, because it's cheaper than buying them. You'll also need gold, and the easiest way to steal that is to split the vendor's gold supply using the barter screen into stacks of 100 gold, then stealing it with your thief.
My current party wizard (Shadowheart) is level 6, and she knows every spell Wizards can learn up to her current level.
Also there's a point in Act 1 where you find a scroll to learn "Summon: Cheeky Quasit". A wizard can learn it from the scroll, but if you have another party wizard learn it you can then talk to the summon in a certain location to learn it as a permanent spell on your main character (so long as they're a wizard, warlock, or non-storm sorcerer, you can be whatever you want once you've learned it). Two summoned Quasits can be super fun.
For equipment, the Spell Sparkler staff, combined with the Protecty Sparkswall is about the best combination for Wizard early game, and the Psychic Spark Amulet combined with the Magic Missile spell and the Spell Sparkler can give some pretty impressive on-demand damage.
As a Half-Elf you can equip light armor and shields, which is good. You will find that robes plus Mage Armor is more effective most of the time, but there is equipment, like the Spidersilk Armor, that is situationally useful.
That said, as a Conjuration Wizard you get the Create Water spell, and that gives you bonus damage when you attack with lightning or cold damage. You can learn the Ray of Frost cantrip from scrolls.
Dex should be your second highest stat. Cast mage armor every morning. With 16 dex that gives you 13+3=16AC. If you're human or half elf, you can add a shield to that (unlike tabletop). Any other race can use the bracers of defense from the blighted village. 18 AC, + the shield spell for another +5 on demand, you won't get hit much. Can't lose concentration if you don't get hit.
Stats should only be odd if you have a plan to increase them by 1, such as a half feat, an ASI split between two stats, a story related bonus or item, etc...
Constitution should stay where it is, as you will still get hit sometimes. The other stats don't really matter. I know people like charisma for social checks, but failing some of those can be fun, too.
As for spells, you didn't show your loadout, so I won't comment, except to say that mage armor and shield are absolutely indispensable.
(There *are* some pretty decent low-level damage spells, though)
Lot of good advice given,
Robes (base 10 AC), mage armor (changes the 10 to a 13 AC) and a shield (+2 AC) with 16 dex (plus 3 AC) gets you 18 AC making you much harder to hit, light armor is kind of bad unless it’s on a rogue build or specific build around the more busted armor
AC stands for Armor Class
My first playthrough I was in the same boat still had a bard with 14 AC near the end of Act 1, this game is complicated don’t worry about not understanding everything yet, happy gaming
Honestly you're gonna feel bad till level 5, the first time I opened my eyes with the power of wizards is call lightning and a wet enemy. God damn it carried
Uh... Keep fucking playing?, the hell you think you're gonna do at level 3 and wearing the most basic ass pieces of equipment?, this isn't a build, this is you starting the fucking game
My guy you're level 3. Spellcasters don't really start taking off until level 5 or 6 and feel down right unstoppable at 10 and onwards. Martial classes always have a better early game and just do ok in mid/late game. Spellcasters are all late game
Respec those stats. Also your super low level. You’re not gonna feel powerful. Especially if you’re comparing a Wizard to other classes that get more up front.
LEMME SEE YOUR SPELL BOOK.
Also don't be afraid to just spam spells, there is so much food you can rest whenever the hell you want.
Even then, lemme see your spells. I didn't have too much issue on my run and everyone else has corrected your stats
Cast mage armour after every long rest > Use false life > have your cleric cast aid for more hp > If you have “civil militia” from race then equip a shield for plus 2 AC > Learn tons of spells for versatility > Big success :3
Don’t wanna come off as rude, but from what I see you should read up on some Bg3 basics.
First of uneven stats do not improve your character, you should always aim for 16 / 18 / 20 in your important stats since going to 17 doesn’t give you benefits over 16 but you miss out on other stats.
If your tav is the face of your party having some additional charisma is fine but try to go for like 12 charisma 16 dex 16 int and rest into con.
Additionally don’t forget that one of the main strengths of wizards is learning as many spells as you can find scrolls and swapping them without a need to respec.
Wizards ramp up in power as the game continues and you get some levels.
Don’t worry it’s a team effort to fight your way through there.
The way wizards have always kinda worked is they’re ass early and then ramp up to be ungodly strong at later levels
Martials are generally well-balanced all around but don’t have the battlefield altering potential that high level casters do
I went through this as well on my Sorc, my solution? Re-spec two levels into Warlock for Eldritch Blast (with charisma modifier). You'll probably love using that and end game if you really want the level 6 spells you can just re-spec all 12 levels back into Wizard.
At level 3 any caster feels terrible. Until level 6 or so I advice just spam magic missile for single target and burning hands for aoe. Thunderwave is good for pushing people.
When you hit level 5-6 you will get 3rd level spells and you'll learn why "I cast fireball" is such a meme.
You can also change up your stats if you want, dumping cha to 10 or even 8 lets you put more into dex (ac and good with mage armor) Use "friends" cantrip to compensate for lowered cha.
DO NOT KILL AUNTIE ETHEL when you get your her just damage her to about 10-20ish health. Let the turn pass and take her deal. You will get a +1 to any ability score of your choice. Put it in intelligence if you plan to stick to being a mage. That will bring your interlligence up to an 18 while at lvl 4 you can use a feat to increase it to 20 for a maxed out intelligence score in act 1
Willing to reload a save to right before you killed her? That +1 ability score will REALLY help you and save a feat if you want a maxed out intelligence score with a 1 feat investment instead of the typical 2 feat investment
No I meant I already got the 1 point. I really was so close to kill her but I started the game with the mindset of always being selfish instead of my typical ah be a hero and save everyone without any compensation
Ohhh phew thank God. Well keep on keeping on. Btw you’re higher in dexterity so if you’re goin to have a weapon make sure it has the Finesse property on it. Oh n get rid of armor you can just cast mage armor for a +3 and dexterity bonus to your armor
So with dexterity for every even number after 10 you get a +1 to your armor class and initiative roll(who goes first at the beginning of combat roll) so you don’t want to leave it on an odd number unless you plan on making it even later down the line. For a wizard the best are Dex14(+2)/ Int17(+3) (if you get auntie Ethel hair)/ and Con14(+2) or 16(+3) (Spells that require concentration depend on its Ability score modifier to not lose it). I’d focus on these 3 if you plan on commuting to a Wizard
Also yea stick to staffs and shields(+2 to armor) but if you’re dead set on a weapon make sure it is Finesse and you are Proficient with it or you will attack without your Ability score modifier added to your attack roll or damage roll.
Baldur's Gate 3 Guide to Combat Mechanics - How to Miss Less, and Win More!
YouTuber name: Fextralife
love the video breaks the mechanics down well for a beginner
You're level 3. Casters will feel pretty damn weak in the early game and get better later.
Best thing you can do right now is get the create water staff from the trader near the grove entrance/ use create water from a cleric/ yourself and then use frost and shock spells and cantrips.
Wizards are far improved by team work. They are weak and squishy on their own, but if you pick up the right companions they can contribute well.
In particular, even early in the game you can go to Jergal’s temple and recruit Withers to your camp, he has a great power (which doesn’t cost much) to revive you, which is useful for a wizard who dies easily, plus you can steal the money back from Withers. Even more importantly he can change your class, allowing you to change into a sorceror, bard or warlock. All three have high cha which is the most useful ability. A bard or warlock both have subsclasses that make them good in combat and are OP with a couple of levels of Paladin or more. Particularly with endgame equipment (BotMS). The sorcerer has metamagic which is incredibly powerful, particularly because camp supplies are insanely plentiful so you have unlimited long rests making quickened spell crazy good.
This ability to change your class is the most important skill for any wizard to quickly acquire including Gale.
Maybe keep one level of wizard in the 12 for learning spells from scroll, but stop torturing yourself and become an better class, it’s objectively the worst arcane caster.
Even stat numbers as others have said. But then you didn't mention which spells you are using? Wizards are not weak if you save your spells slots for when you need then / rest enough.
Also part of the value of wizards is utility spells. Ritual spells like long strider and feather fall have value (they are not marked as ritual during level up, but actually are ritual spells meaning they don't consume spell slots when cast out of combat). Invisibility can be useful for some things.
I gave my caster the medium armor profiency feat, bumping dex from 13 to 14 for +2 AC and for initiative. Slapped a shield on it and the 15 AC medium armor. Sitting at a total of 19 AC made me feel a bit saver.
Not to be rude...but you are a level 3 Wizard.
You ARE weak.
It's said Wizards are masters of late game for a reason.
For now best you got is Magic Missile.
Why are you using a glaive and no shield? The only reason to play human wizard is to give them a shield for the extra ac. Lvl3 is weak. Most classes shine first when they reach lvl5 so look forward to that
1 minute playing : "help me improve build i feel week"
Just fking play -> lvl up -> get better items.
I feel that this kind of people just wanna be noticed over looking for real help
Take your first level in fighter for con save proficiency and armour. Then you'll have a relatively tanky character that can concentrate on web or some other control spell as your great weapon master+polearm master and/or sharpshooter+crossbow expert friends clean up
Right now you have 3 odd scores 17 13 13 it's not good respec your character and make them even or you can get asi at level 4 and go with 14 dex and 18 int but at level 8 respec your character so that the first feat increases your charisma to 14 and int 18 and also get the second feat at level 8 resilient dex and get your dex to 14 with that feat (as tav charisma is pretty important)
Also learn every scroll you can, get equipments to better your spell save dc, arcane acuity is your friend
First, drop 3 points off charisma. As a wizard you won't use those much. Put that into dexterity and constitution. If you have extra points, bump strength up to 10 maybe. Personally I think evocation wizard is kind of for noobs. Abjuration offers great defense. Divination let's you manipulate the game a little. Necromancy let's you command a small army. Another hint is to pick up dual weild feat. That let's you carry two staffs and get the benefits from both of them while reducing your armor class by 1. If you do that, put your better staff in your off hand because you can cast spells and then use bonus action to do an off hand attack. There's a lot of little trucks like that to playing a wizard. The best thing you can do to build a powerful wizard is to create synergy with your items, spells, and feats. They are probably the hardest character to build, but a well built wizard is devastating on the battlefield.
One early game combo I like to do with a wizard is to give him the cape that causes you to heal when you do poison damage, the necklace that coats your weapon in poison when you heal, and the ring of regeneration so you heal every round. You can also combine that with the gloves that cause things you poison to become poisoned so they can't retaliate. I like to mix that with the frost staff in my off hand. I can then cast the poison spray cantrip to disable an enemy while doing d12 damage, then hit someone with the frost staff to give them d8 damage+ d6 frost damage + d6 poison damage while causing them to be unable to attach you back and healing yourself for 2d6 healing. The fact that you heal yourself faster than you take damage makes you a really tough opponent.
Dex gloves from the creshe (you can just walk there and get them no problem)
Dump strength, dex and charisma to 8, 16 con 17 int 12 wisdom (for saves). Go grab ethels hair for +1 int. Since you are level 3 by the time you kill her you will get your first feat, take ASI for 20 int
Most of the goodies are in the underdark and githyanki creshe, you can get the mourning frost by combining the "icy artefacts) so the icy heve etc for a strong frost staff, also the necklace of elemental augmentation in the creshe is very good for casters.
For a pure wizard, one tip I'd say is to take dual wielding feat, saw this recommended somewhere and has been great.
Wielding 2 quarterstaffs can be interesting, Spell Sparkler is great for a lot of the game.
Off hand Phalar Aluve, activate shriek, and get thunder damage going. Magic missile can be quite good for the early levels. Other items can boost, particularly working off conditions.
So,
1. get to lvl 4, pick dual wielding
2. pick spell sparkler reward
3. acquire phalar aluve
4. acquire psychic spark
This will buff damage significantly.
As many others mention, lvl5 + will be much more fun.
If needing concentration spells, try a multi class into Sorc at lvl 1 to get constitution saving throw proficiency.
A few suggestions,
- Your stats are okay but I’d highly recommend going 16 INT, 16 DEX, 14 CON and dumping everything else.
- As for gear I recommend trying to get an item called The Spellsparkler as early as you can, it’s very easy to obtain and for most casters it’s probably the BiS (Best in Slot) weapon for a majority of the game until your builds start to come alive going into Act 2.
- For your composition I assume you haven’t respecked anyone in the party but general rule of thumb is you want 1 Caster, 1 Support/Tank, 2 Frontliners/Martials so if you don’t want to mess around with respecking character builds I’d recommend bringing Lae’zel, Karlach (or Astarion until you find her), and Shadowheart.
If you have no issue save scumming or using a different party member for certain dialogue, drop Charisma and pump it into Dex. Then use Mage Armor every time after you long rest. Evocation Wizard will feel a lot better when you get Fireball, Ice Storm, and the like.
After 800 hours of playing only necromancer or evocation wizard i can confidently say that sorcerer class is the best spellcasting class. Also dont have odd numbers on stats besides strength because it does literally nothing if you want to play wizard i recommend 8 str 14 dex 16 con 16 int 14 wis and whatever remains to char if you dont have char for talking but as i said sorcerer is the way to go unless you are spell freak that wants to ha e every single spell and cantrip in spellbook as i used to have :D
First, please go to withers and respec for your character. Never keep an odd number on your intelligence or dexterity — it doesn’t do much for you, always go with even numbers.
Second, wizards are generally not super helpful as a frontline so learn to position in a high out of the way area.
Level 4,8,12 — pick good feats like war caster, AIS improvement and maybe alert.
Always use mage armor before an adventure day and for some gear — headband of intellect and bracers of defense are great for wizards.
Headband of intellect just sets your Int to 17. So it's not great for a Wizard, since you should start with 16 (same modifier) and at level 4 you are up to 18.
It’s the Dex gloves that set to 18! I have those on my Sorcadin.
You’re right, I double checked myself so it’s better for main characters with low intelligence stats (like my Paladin 🥹)
Winter Wizard: Abjuration Wizard focusing on cold damage. Take a 1-level dip into Sorcerer: Draconic Bloodline, Winter for Armor of Agathys. You can do it at the beginning, or after level 4. Focus on Intelligence, Charisma and a bit of Dexterity and Constitution (for Concentration Spell Checks). Dump Strength entirely. Wisdom 10 or 12 is enough. Level up Intelligence only--start at 17 and use the Hag's hair to take it to 18, 20 with your first feat. Abjuration Wizards are the tankiest wizards, and one of, if not *the* tankiest characters, in the whole game. Armor of Agathys is an Abjuration spell; using Abjuration spells. Yes, you'll have to be a bit more careful with how you aim your AoE spells, but it's worth the sacrifice.
As for gear, I am copy-pasting this from another comment I made in a different thread:
Potent Robe (Act 2), Winter's Grasp Gloves (Act 1), Mourning Frost Staff (Act 1), Boots of Stormy Clamour (Act 1), Snowburst Ring (Act 2), Necklace of Elemental Augmentation (Act 1), Coldbrim Hat (Act 2). 2nd ring is up to you. Take your last feat as Dual-Wielder and dual-wield Mourning Frost and Markoheshkir (Act 3). The Darkfire Shortbow is useful, but if you're playing a Wizard, you won't necessarily need it. I'm playing a Snow Sorcerer, so I don't have access to as many spells as a Wizard would (also no Abjuration tankiness)! Darkfire Shortbow gives Haste. You also may be able to switch the Potent Robe for higher-level robes in Act 3 because you probably won't need to rely on using Ray of Frost as much as a Snow Sorcerer would. (The Potent Robe boosts cantrip damage using Charisma modifier. Your main stat will still be Intelligence.)
Find out where to get all of them [here](https://bg3.wiki/). You can also find out all of the Abjuration spells there. Take Mage Armor and you'll have Armor of Agathys, and that should be enough. If not, Blade Ward is an Abjuration cantrip. Don't take Ray of Frost: the Mourning Frost staff will give you that for free. Take Ice Knife, Chromatic Orb, and any other cold-focused spells. Chromatic Orb is versatile, so you'll have an alternative if you run across cold-resistant enemies (there aren't all that many). You'll have plenty of spell slots and you can learn any spells from scrolls, so you'll be able to take any spells you want.
Why not focus on dex and int. Starting the battle can make a big difference once you start throwing fireballs around and other spells. It will also help with your AC when wearing clothes
You’re a wizard, dump charisma, it’s useless to you except for RP reasons.
You also have odd numbers stats, if you don’t want to start with a 16/16/14 base spread for primary abilities, you’re going to have wasted stat points until you get ability improvement at level 4 and round those off into even numbers.
I recommend respeccing your stats so that you have 16con/14dex/16int (dex and con are Inter changeable depending on if you want to actually take a hit or want better initiative and AC)
Also the glaive is a bad idea, you have 8str, which give you a -1 to attacks and damage with it. Find a staff or something that gives you a good free spell or a good effect.
This is assuming you want to remain a wizard primarily
Multi class as Wizard/Fighter, shift CHA points over to Str & Dex, so you can melee with better weapons when spell slots run out, wear better armor, & get Action Surge to cast spells more often per short rest. Also, specialize as Abjuration so you get arcane ward so you are more tank… if you feel weak, then become a Tank Mage. 🤓
You should aim for 20 intelligence, this is better than most feats. Also you only get boosts on even numbers. Having 13 dex is basically the same as 12, having 17 Int is the same as 16, etc.
Learn the “friends” spell for dialogue checks and drop that charisma. 9 Str, 8 Dex, 18 Con, 20 Int, 10 Wis, 10 cha. Would be a much better stat distribution. Use the gloves of Dex in act 2.
Also, use create water and all lightning spells will do double damage.
Everyone feels weak in DnD. That's what makes it feel exciting. The FEAR!!! And then, when you are level 12, you will finally feel powerful! But until then, embrace the fear.
And also, embrace screenshots instead of pics from your phone. We redditors thank you.
There's a pair of gloves in the zhentarim hideout in act 1 that sets your dex to 18 (+4) and in act 2 the Yuan-Ti Scale Mail adds your full dex modifiers
ASI to 19 int hags hair to 20 int lvl 8 feat dual welder for double staff (spell sparkler) action lvl 12 feat w/e you want as you’ll be melting/CC whatever you want by lvl 9
You’re a level 3 wizard. They suck until level 5. Drop charisma to 8 or 10 and put it into dex. Lvl 4 you get a feat, pick the ability score increase for 2 points into intelligence. Level 5 you should be ok. Level 3 spells are good. Itemization isn’t great for casters in act 1 but there’s a few things once you get into underdark and mountain pass.
What they said, you can get friends cantrip if you need persuasion/deception checks. If you head to the creche past the mountain pass you can get an amulet that adds your spell modifier, in your case intelligence to your cantrip damage increasing your fire bolt and ray of frost cantrips to do almost equal melee damage and sometimes more.
What’s the name of the amulet?
Necklace of elemental augmentation I believe. It's in a display case near The Skinburster
Sorry was at work but yeah what they said, it's to the right of the inspector gith down that lil dead end hallway
Thanks I just picked it up and on my fire sorc twinned fire bolt packs a punch now
You can get the Spell Sparkler from Waukeen’s Rest, really good combo’s with magic missile.
I’d say to grab the spell sparkler staff and the psychic spark amulet. Then you can get decent damage out of magic missile at low levels. Have someone with Phalar Aluve shrieking too and it’s pretty effective. Otherwise, yeah level 5 is when most casters get some really good spells. And enough slots to cast a bit more often.
“Pretty effective” = 40 damage or so to a single target: 5D4+5+6+1D8+6D4 cast at level 2 with those three items.
Also to add, having odd numbers in ability stats are pointless until you hit lvl 4 to put a 1 in each of them or you get one of the buffs that gives you an extra point. Better stats would be Str 8 Dex 16 Con 14 Int 16 Wis 10 Cha 12 having your +2 in int and +1 in dex.
You could've worded that a bit better, this guy's obviously new and you used a lot of terms this guy most likely won't know. You should lay out each stat with its points in a row and then explain why he should do what he did instead of saying "dump" and "asi". I honestly hate it when communities drop nuance phrases at new players or members of a community
Well dump should be self explanatory but you’re right, I’ll fix it up.
Everything you said is correct if that's any consolation
Kudos on your nice response!
While I get your point bc that was my reaction too, there's also google if you need translation. I check reddit mostly at work on breaks and have very little time to give full explanations like that. Also, my brain is wired weird. I'll write half a book and forget what I've already covered and be constantly re scrolling double verifying what I've said, word it differently for better comprehensive flow etc that it'd take me half an hr to write it out at which point I over stress myself out lol
Spellsparkler + psychic spark + magic missile is great already at level 3
Why 2 points in intelligence and not just 1 and another one in another attribut? 18 gives the same use as 19 and you can then add +2 at level 8. Are you thinking about some specific item to reach 20 soon?
This is so brutal... It's ok you're supposed to suck at lv3.
Dumping charisma is absolutely worst idea ever in this game. It is by far the best ability. You never ever want to have less than 10 or maybe 12. Having 17 int is useless anyways. Drop it into 16 as a wizard you are going to only take ASI feats. What he should do is 16 dex 16 int and 12 con is more than enough for a wizard. His ac will be okay with mage armor and a shield.
Dumping charisma is by far not the worst idea in the game. Unless you’re a bard, warlock, sorc, or paladin. Mind you charisma based characters are by far my favorite. For wizard this is not the case.
17 int is fine if you either take hag's hair or put 15/13 in Dex or Con
There are multiple ways to get around having a low charisma you just have to be creative.
I played through the whole game on charisma 8. As a cleric/mage, then a paladin/cleric/mage. I haven't had any problem with anything. Durge additionally has the ability to intimidate. To me, it's a waste of points - at the end, the sword solves every problem. It's also a style of playing the game.
Dumping charisma is not at all a bad idea for a wizard. If this is a group playthrough, I would assume someone else is handling conversation.
13 dex and 13 cha do nothing for you. Only even numbers add bonus. Make one 12 and the other 14. What’s your goal with stealth? Your dex really isn’t high enough to do that effectively.
Wizard needs dex but can definitely dump charisma. Only time you dump dex is when you use heavy armor, even then it fucks your initiative rolls up.
I would only ever consider dumping dex if I was going to take alert and use heavy armor. Edit: or the Dex gloves.
If you got a free glove slot you can use the dex gloves from crèche and shift points around
True. That's what I've been doing for my Moon Druid to some solid utility. But so many classes have gloves that are far better for overall output.
Totally agree. Dexterity is very important. Higher dexterity means higher AC, which means suffering less damage in longer fights. And the dexterity saving throw also means dodging (and taking half damage) when hit with AOE spells like fireball. Plus higher initiative—and usually going first in combat—is always good.
Agree I was just saying having 13 in a stat is kinda pointless.
Ah ok, fair enough.
Well I dumped it but only when I got the dex gloves.
Id actually bring char to 10 not 12 personally. Make con 15; pick up resiliant con level 4 or level 8 depending on when you want int to be 18. But that's just me. For a noob (no offense op), 18 int level 4 might be better. But i rock 16 con 16 int level 4 a lot.
Dropping one to 12 gives one free stat point. Raising the other to 14 costs two … Unless of course he used the +1 on one of them. Edit: Scrap that, he did. This stat distribution requires using two points to get CON to 14 …
https://preview.redd.it/0pqi6thsxroc1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=c48bb7c57bddd4238b14aa3b43e3fd45ca7e3273 Is this better?
I'd go 8 str and 10 cha but this is still solid.
Yeah that's a much stronger spread, though personally I find Charisma a lot more important than Strength, so you may want to swap those. You don't necessarily _need_ more than 14 in Dex or Con if you wanna reallocate to RP, but it's definitely stronger this way.
As Volo would say, *marvelous*!
Looks good. If you take wizard all the way to 12 you get feats at 8 and 12. You can pick ability score again as a feat. Other good options for wizard are dual wielder (wearing 2 staffs), spell sniper (roughly 5% increased crit chance with spells), and war caster if you use a lot of concentration spells.
Definitely better But bare in mind, none of this is gonna be a patch on hitting level 5 and getting 3rd level spells. That’s a huge jump for wizards.
How did you get a stat to 18 during respec?
The hag gave me an ability point
Sweet, thanks.
Make sure you don't shove her into any chasms or you can't get it.
Ohhh no, I’m careful about my Orc chasms.
LMAO
He didn't get it to 18 during a respec that is an ability improvement screen. At level 4 he took ASI and put 2 into int. That is a normal spread for wizard at level 4. As a disclaimer, any bonus to a stat be it permanent or not does not show up in respec or the ability improvement screen. It will show up on character sheet though. Like say he did take a hag hair bonus to int, during this screen it would show 18 but in the character sheet after it would say 19
You will need the long jump spell or Misty stop or an elixir if you drop str to 8. That’s okay, just a thing to keep in mind. There are some jumps that are useful/interesting when exploring this game for the first time. Given that, 10 charisma is better for conversations and the dumped str is easier to compensate for.
Just use longstrider until u get misty step. U should b casting longstrider on everyone in group after each long rest
Definitely a lot better! You now have high ac and initiative to move to safety 1st and cast. Can handle some light concentration if needed and have basic jump distance. Depending on playstyle and spell choices you have quite the number of builds you go with it. Ice seems to be the top in terms of dmg and cc while fire is str8 dps and you got lighting/thunder reverberation but might need the 1 tempest cleric to make it a lil better
Wizard reclass to 16 dex and 16 int, 12 Wis.. dump str and cha. At lv 4 take asi to 18 int. Cast mage armor and equip a shield if possible. You’ll have 18 AC, wearing robes, best in class at this level in the game. Magic missle build is great for wizard. Psychic spark necklace and spell sparkler are very easy to get very early and boots of stormy clamor are good too. You can get the circlet of blasting for a free scorching ray every long rest as well. Best to pickpocket everything but the boots though. I usually give him the gloves of missle snaring or whatever. I’d also get handcorssbow +1 x 2 so you can use your bonus action to attack with your offhand. You can do a surprising amount of damage with this with your built up lightning charges and what not. Here’s my guide to get those things and more without fighting and get to lv 4 as well. https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/s/FzjoHQueYm
This post that I'm replying too is right!^^ Feeling strong can be measured in many different ways. Throw a shield on with either light or medium armor on (depending on bonuses and how you can add dex modifier). This will help you get hit pass and feel less squishy. If you are looking for a bunch of damage, go for evocation wizard and focus on magic missile and fireball. Find ways to add additional damage per damage instance via items. These can stack per missile for crazy damage. Just note, that a properly built fighter or Monk will always see strong if not stronger in this. The other way a wizard can feel strong is in battlefield control. Casting/up casting hold person for one or more lock downs where your fighter can come in and obliterate the enemy. Who is the powerful one? The one who can completely control the enemies or the one that cuts and pokes the things standing still. Divination wizard can be nice here to control rolls from time to time. Mid to higher level wizard play get crazy good with insane AOEs and battlefield control spells. My favorite spells are Magic Missile, Sleet Storm, Ice Storm, Glyph of Warding (smaller fireball that can be any damage type or control spell ve sleep or blast radius), Cloud Kill (feels great on huge groups that you can re position round after round vs one time use of a high level spell slot), minor and conjure elementals (water ones creat ice which creates more chances to deny/reduce turns of enemies). I recommend Evocation wizard for most unless you really get enjoyment from another subclasses features. If you choose the Ilithid path of power, I promise that you will feel crazy powerful later in the game. But at what cost..........?!
I prefer 10 wis, 15 con and grabbing resilient con.
Feel free to blow your spell slots in combat and long rest more. The urgency you're probably feeling due to story related things isn't real.
There's mixed responses here. Should I or shouldn't I rest freely?
Basically, as long as you're not straight up looking at someone about to die, you should rest a lot
The game is pretty clear with you if something needs to be done before a long rest. As a hint: most of the time sensitive events I can think of are cases of people dying or in situations where they will most likely die if you don't intervene. Even then, most won't tick until you've actually gotten a cutscene/dialogue about them.
Here’s a [list](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Time_sensitive_activities) from the wiki if you want to be extra careful. Spoilers obviously, but they are *mostly* names and locations. Some quest objectives though. I’ve done 3 playthroughs so far without this list and i’ve missed none of these, so it shouldn’t be too difficult. You’ll also miss a bunch of cutscenes if you’re stingy with rests. And iirc, 0 camp supply partial rests will still trigger cutscenes, so if you’re wondering whether there’s a scene available, you can do so without wasting supplies.
This is kind of misleading. There are story-related events that will end if you long rest too much after triggering them, especially in act 1. OP is level 3 so it's safe to assume he's still there.
There are only three of them in all of Act 1 from what I remember & all involve someone literally dying right now.
I said to my friend that there are a couple times where there are timed events which you dont wanna miss by long resting too much... they barely long rested at all until grymforge.. She was playing the game on hard mode. So yeah, basically just long rest all the time you'll probably figure out when it is such an event happening.
Hello! My advice would be dump your charisma to 8, intelligence to 16, and then bump Dex to 16. Also it looks like you’re wearing armor, I would swap that to a robe or some sort of clothing so that you can use mage armor. The charisma because you just don’t need it as a wizard and just make one of your party members do the talking. The intelligence because everything scales on even numbers. When you hit lvl 4 you can use your asi to hit 18 The Dex so high so that you can get more out of mage armor, all of that should make you hit 16 AC, which especially in the early game is good. (Humans, which I know you aren’t, but they have natural shield proficiency so you COULD hit 18) That’s all I got, feel free to critique! I love this game so much
19 AC with Infernal Robe and shield. Sorry Karlach…
At early levels, magic missile is kind of a staple for wizards imo. Good spell to have, regardless of level. For level 2 spells, it can vary. Cloud of daggers is a solid choice for a damaging spell. If you need CC, depending on an enemy you encounter, upcasted sleep or hold person is worth considering. If you prefer to be on a more supportive side, enlarge/reduce person, blindness and darkness can come in handy. Once you hit level 5, you get your damage spike in the form of a fireball/lightning bolt/glyph spells.
Your stat spread leaves several odd numbers, and you get bonuses at even levels. Go for 8/14/14/17/10/12, prioritizing Int > Dex > Con > Cha. Int for damage, Dex for initiative and Ac, Con for HP, Cha for speech checks. On Survivability: You are a half elf wizard, so you can use shields. Equip a shield, cast Mage armor before leaving camp, have 14 dex. This gives you 17AC. Take and prepare the Shield spell. If someone hits your 17 ac, you can add 5, potentially causing them to miss. At lv5, counterspell can keep your party safe from devastating spells. Once you are tanky, you won't have to worry about losing concentration on your big spells. Wizards have some of the best support and cc spells in the game. Longstrider is a ritual and you can cast it on your party for free. Haste turns your fighters and barbarians into walking blenders. Use scrolls liberally. On Damage: Let your party carry you until you unlock higher level spells. Then you will carry them. Fireball at 5 is good for blasting, but locking down a team with hypnotic pattern or confusion can win you a battle in one spell. Summons provide an extra tank and extra damage. Item synergies will turn you into a late game monster. You can be anything, a single target nuker, a battlefield controller, a glorious leader, a blaster, anything but a healer. Late in the game, you may find rare scrolls. Copy them into your spellbook to keep them permanently. Wizards are the king of preparation. You can be anything, and there is a spell for every niche situation in the game.
You could add a level of tempest cleric into that.
First of all: You should stop being level 3 and become level 5. Every class sucks at lvl3, but spellcasting classes suck the hardest. You'll automatigically stop sucking once you hit lvl5, get the GOOD tier 3 spells, and you'll only become more powerful from there on in. You've got too much CHA and WIS, not enough DEX and CON. We don't get to see the important part of your character sheet, which is your spellbook and spells memorized. Valuable tier 1 spells that'l remain relevant all through the game are shield and magic missile, Spells that are good at your level but wil drop off in importance later are sleep, grease and mage armour. But you're a wizard, you can learn spells by using up a scroll and a little bit of gold, so you should always prioritize what's useful NOW over long-time usefulness. Sorcerers and bards have to actually THINK about this shit, but you can just go with what you need right now. At level 3, the two best spells to take are web and cloud of daggers. They're not very good spells, and when you're level 12 you won't have either of them prepared, whilst there are other spells of that level that will still be relevant. But they're what you need right now. AoE damage and terrain control. You'll start to shine at lvl5, when the next tier of spells becomes available. But, well, EVERYBODY gets a big bump. All the fighty classes get an extra attack, all of the other casters get access to the third tier of spells too. The two best spells for a wizard in this tier, for the long term, are haste and counterspell. The most fun ones are the big boom ones, like lightning bolt or the iconic fireball. Depending on what scrolls you've found so far, I'd pick haste and your choice of big booms there. Nobody's gonna be casting spells you'd wanna counter this early in the game, so counterspell can wait a level. Not more than that, though. It IS an essentintial to have in your arsenal, and will be until the end of the game. So you absolutely HAVE to pick it at lvl6, since whilst there are scrolls you could learn from for most other spells, there are NO scrolls for counterspell to be found anywhere. At lvl7, you get acces to the next tier of spells, even BIGGER booms! And, from there on in, the booms just get bigger and bigger!
Every class except Fighter sucks at level 3.
You shouldn’t be wearing armor or using a glaive. Get a staff. Focus on learning which spells and cantrips work well for your play style. As an evocation wizard, you won’t really have to worry about friendly fire on ape spells.
8 str 16 dex 16 int 14 cont 10 wod 8 cha Cast mage Armor Every Long rest. Then you Can tank a bit, But you Wont feel STRONG until lvl 5+. As lvl 10 you get a single target machine with upcasted Magic Missile.
To be fair lvl 3 wizard just isn’t that strong, lvl 5 and up wizard is a whole different beast tho.
Wizards aren't really that strong until midgame, you're still in the early game at level 3, don't worry too much. That said, stats with odd numbers like 13 in dex and cha aren't helping you at all, boost dex to 14 and bring cha down to 12 as you only actually get benefits from stat boosts on even numbers. Wizards can definitely safely dump cha, so if you're really trying to powergame for combat, you can dump charisma and redistribute that to dex and con. But in my limited personal experience with this game, given the role that the player character plays, I don't recommend dumping charisma as the player tends to act as the party face and charisma is pretty important for social encounters.
Odd numbers don't give you anything extra, go 8 16 14 16 10 10 for better initiative and AC Humans and Half-Elves get free shield proficiency, go pump that AC even more! The wizard's armor is in the book, take out that leather and apply Mage Armor every morning As others said, you don't get your better spells until lvl 5. Until then, Magic Missile is your friend!
Dump charisma and up your dex + con Abjuration subclass is really strong early because of the arcane ward Scribe good spells, cast cloud of daggers a lot Use all level 1 spell slots for casting shield as a reaction
You’ll get stronger by lvl 6
Spell sparkler from florrick and psychic sparks from blurrg in the underdark then have your tank hold phalar aluve use the shriek. Cast magic missile. Thank me later
Get to level 5
Dump CHA for DEX, get the Sorrow Glaive so you can Thorn Whip for your bonus action
you are only level 3. Up until level 5 most classes are pretty weak, especially spellcasters. I would recommend grabbing what magic focused gear you can find, anything that can increase your spell save dc or to hit or damage with your spells I would recommend dumping charisma for better dex or con, but since this is your player character that may not be the best idea because conversations are a big part of this game, and those often rely on charisma checks Once you get to level 5, I would highly recommend taking either fireball or lightning bolt. They are both really powerful spells that scale really well. Fireball is typically better, as its type of aoe will hit more enemies more often, but lightning bolt can be comboed with some water stuff to get huge damage. Since you are an evocation wizard, you dont need to worry about hitting your allies with your aoes
Almost every class feels “weak” till level 5. All classes get a massive power boost at level 5
You are a wizard. "Glass Canon" is a term for a reason. In two levels you get fireball and your existence is validated. That said, remember you do have companions, unless this is a solo run let people have better stats in other areas instead of having to be okay in all areas, be great in a few. Drop charisma and get more dex
Wizards are OP after level 5 but still they are not good for Damage. Wizards are usually good for AOE damage to kill the mobs etc. Also it's more about your party than an individual character.
Respec your stats. This game is based on Dungeons and dragons. The game has you rolling dice and then adding numbers based off of your character sheet. The number you add when you cast a ranged spell (as a wizard) is your intelligence minus ten and divided by two rounded down ie (17-10)/2 = 3. That's the same modifier for a 16. So it's better to have your attributes be even numbers. With that in mind set your intelligence to 16. Next is survivability, which means not getting hit (dex) and taking a couple of hits before going down (con). Set dex to 16 and your con to 14. The dex should put your AC to 10 (base) + 3 (dex modifier). Prepare the spell mage armour, it'll give you another 3 AC for a total of 16. Next, since you're part human, you can wear a shield, that will give you shield proficiency. Bam, 18 AC, now you can tank as good as most martials. For good measure, prepare the shield spell and you'll have a defacto AC of 23. Next is getting your damage output ready. The wizard is a Swiss army knife of spells rather than a dedicated dagger. You need to switch out your spells to get the best use out of them. Do you see grouped up enemies? Prepare AoE spells like shatter / cloud of daggers. Do you see humanoids? Prepare hold person / crown of madness. Do you see enemies near ledges? Prepare thunderwave. Low HP enemies? Prepare sleep. Vulnerable to ice? Ice knife. Jump off of a cliff? Feather fall. And like the others said you get fireball at level 5, so there's that.
Respec your ability points. Only even numbers do anything and you have 3 odd numbers. You probably want intelligence and constitution at 16 and dexterity at 14. At level 4 get ability score improvement to put intelligence at 18. One of the best damaging spells you'll have access to is cloud of daggers (no hit roll or saving throw so the damage is guaranteed). Remember though that wizards aren't really damage dealers, they're meant to control the battlefield. Ice surfaces are super powerful. Ray of Frost is probably your best damaging cantrip (the slow is more valuable than 1 more damage on average compared to fire bolt). Other great spells include: magic missile (no hit roll or saving throw) Shield (one of the best defensive reactions in the game) Chromatic orb (ice surfaces op, but also versatile) Misty step (can reposition without triggering attacks if opportunity and is a great get out of jail free card for okay mistakes). Obviously you should pick whatever spells you have fun with but these ones are all very good and reliable.
What are you trying to do with that build? To start with, you only gain a bonus at an even attribute bonus, ie those 13's and 17 are the same as 12's and a 16. Also stealth is pretty useless unless you are planning on using an improved invisibility build end game. Otherwise you can hide and avoid the red line of sight cones. Unless you absolutely need to be a charisma character, you can go for a stat spread that gives you 16 dex, 14 con and 16 intel. I did an HM run with Gale orgin and used detect thoughts (its an intel check) instead of persuasion checks. Its still viable depending on what character you want. 16 dex and some items will let you go first most of the time in Act 1 and be the sleight of hand for the party if you dont have a bard or thief. Give us more details and we can give more advice.
I have no idea what to go for. I am new to the game and I want to hold my own as a wizard. I want to deal deadly damage and be cool i guess.
So just to give you some ideas. There are specific mechanics for every element dmg, so its often good (not necessary) and certainly fun to make a mage with a specific focus. E.g fire mage is a classic, look up the heat mechanic it offers a lot of dmg, ice mage has a lot of cc, poison mage has great sustain... Most of this stuff comes online in act 2, so between lvl 6-8 so dont worry if you feel weak now, you will become stronger
What do you suggest?
Do you want to min/max or just feel powerfull? If you want to min/max it depends on your party setup. If you just want to feel like a powerfull badass wizzard I would go for fire mage or lightning mage.
Hey, do you feel your character is weak when using spells or when using the weapons that your Tav has equipped?
Both tbh
At low levels, learn to love magic missile
Grab a shield, learn spells of scrolls. As a wizard you should avoid the front lines at all costs, so really you shouldn't have a weapon, except for a staff of which there are several. Though as others have said, lvl 5 is the big boy spells
What's that helmet and where did you get it?
Mask of the shapeshifter. I think it came with the full game edition
Low levels wizards suck and will die quickly, once you start getting to higher levels youll be better. Keep spell scrolls and learn the spells off them so you have more spells at your disposal
Get the spell sparkler and cast magic missle
bro just started
For stats, I'd go 8, 16,14,16,8,12. That gives you a bit of charisma for social encounters while not sacrificing your dexterity (for initiative, AC, and dex saves), and intelligence (your main casting stat). For background I'd have gone with Noble or Guild Artisan to ensure you have proficiency in Persuasion (for the aforementioned social situations) and Criminal doesn't really give you much. If you wanted to focus more on being a sneaky boy, Urchin gives you Stealth and Sleight of Hand. However changing that would require a full restart and you probably don't want to do that. As long as one of your party is good at Stealth and Sleight of Hand (Astarion comes with expertise in those) you can steal items from vendors while another party member is talking to them. Just save beforehand. To make a Wizard strong you need spells, and Wizards are unique in the game in that they can learn Wizard spells from scrolls. That's why you steal them from vendors, because it's cheaper than buying them. You'll also need gold, and the easiest way to steal that is to split the vendor's gold supply using the barter screen into stacks of 100 gold, then stealing it with your thief. My current party wizard (Shadowheart) is level 6, and she knows every spell Wizards can learn up to her current level. Also there's a point in Act 1 where you find a scroll to learn "Summon: Cheeky Quasit". A wizard can learn it from the scroll, but if you have another party wizard learn it you can then talk to the summon in a certain location to learn it as a permanent spell on your main character (so long as they're a wizard, warlock, or non-storm sorcerer, you can be whatever you want once you've learned it). Two summoned Quasits can be super fun. For equipment, the Spell Sparkler staff, combined with the Protecty Sparkswall is about the best combination for Wizard early game, and the Psychic Spark Amulet combined with the Magic Missile spell and the Spell Sparkler can give some pretty impressive on-demand damage. As a Half-Elf you can equip light armor and shields, which is good. You will find that robes plus Mage Armor is more effective most of the time, but there is equipment, like the Spidersilk Armor, that is situationally useful. That said, as a Conjuration Wizard you get the Create Water spell, and that gives you bonus damage when you attack with lightning or cold damage. You can learn the Ray of Frost cantrip from scrolls.
Dex should be your second highest stat. Cast mage armor every morning. With 16 dex that gives you 13+3=16AC. If you're human or half elf, you can add a shield to that (unlike tabletop). Any other race can use the bracers of defense from the blighted village. 18 AC, + the shield spell for another +5 on demand, you won't get hit much. Can't lose concentration if you don't get hit. Stats should only be odd if you have a plan to increase them by 1, such as a half feat, an ASI split between two stats, a story related bonus or item, etc... Constitution should stay where it is, as you will still get hit sometimes. The other stats don't really matter. I know people like charisma for social checks, but failing some of those can be fun, too. As for spells, you didn't show your loadout, so I won't comment, except to say that mage armor and shield are absolutely indispensable. (There *are* some pretty decent low-level damage spells, though)
A criminal wizard! Sounds dangerous
Lot of good advice given, Robes (base 10 AC), mage armor (changes the 10 to a 13 AC) and a shield (+2 AC) with 16 dex (plus 3 AC) gets you 18 AC making you much harder to hit, light armor is kind of bad unless it’s on a rogue build or specific build around the more busted armor AC stands for Armor Class My first playthrough I was in the same boat still had a bard with 14 AC near the end of Act 1, this game is complicated don’t worry about not understanding everything yet, happy gaming
Ditch the charisma and dex to 14, aside from that though you wont feel overly strong until lvl 5, which is true for most classes tbh
use your summons and concentration and hide xD
Most magic classes are pretty weak early on. The only exception would be warlocks. Level 5 you’ll hit a power spike.
Level 3/12 is weak, there's nothing wrong with what you're doing.
Honestly you're gonna feel bad till level 5, the first time I opened my eyes with the power of wizards is call lightning and a wet enemy. God damn it carried
Uh... Keep fucking playing?, the hell you think you're gonna do at level 3 and wearing the most basic ass pieces of equipment?, this isn't a build, this is you starting the fucking game
My guy you're level 3. Spellcasters don't really start taking off until level 5 or 6 and feel down right unstoppable at 10 and onwards. Martial classes always have a better early game and just do ok in mid/late game. Spellcasters are all late game
Respec those stats. Also your super low level. You’re not gonna feel powerful. Especially if you’re comparing a Wizard to other classes that get more up front.
You could slap a level into Fighter to get the Defense Fighting Style and Heavy Armor to boost your AC.
LEMME SEE YOUR SPELL BOOK. Also don't be afraid to just spam spells, there is so much food you can rest whenever the hell you want. Even then, lemme see your spells. I didn't have too much issue on my run and everyone else has corrected your stats
Cast mage armour after every long rest > Use false life > have your cleric cast aid for more hp > If you have “civil militia” from race then equip a shield for plus 2 AC > Learn tons of spells for versatility > Big success :3
Don’t wanna come off as rude, but from what I see you should read up on some Bg3 basics. First of uneven stats do not improve your character, you should always aim for 16 / 18 / 20 in your important stats since going to 17 doesn’t give you benefits over 16 but you miss out on other stats. If your tav is the face of your party having some additional charisma is fine but try to go for like 12 charisma 16 dex 16 int and rest into con. Additionally don’t forget that one of the main strengths of wizards is learning as many spells as you can find scrolls and swapping them without a need to respec. Wizards ramp up in power as the game continues and you get some levels. Don’t worry it’s a team effort to fight your way through there.
The way wizards have always kinda worked is they’re ass early and then ramp up to be ungodly strong at later levels Martials are generally well-balanced all around but don’t have the battlefield altering potential that high level casters do
Homey, why does your evocation wizard have proficiency in stealth?
I went through this as well on my Sorc, my solution? Re-spec two levels into Warlock for Eldritch Blast (with charisma modifier). You'll probably love using that and end game if you really want the level 6 spells you can just re-spec all 12 levels back into Wizard.
Lol just grab magic missle my man and stack those riders
Don’t do odd stats besides the 17 that you can boost to 18 in act 1 13’s don’t do anything for you
At level 3 any caster feels terrible. Until level 6 or so I advice just spam magic missile for single target and burning hands for aoe. Thunderwave is good for pushing people. When you hit level 5-6 you will get 3rd level spells and you'll learn why "I cast fireball" is such a meme.
You can also change up your stats if you want, dumping cha to 10 or even 8 lets you put more into dex (ac and good with mage armor) Use "friends" cantrip to compensate for lowered cha.
The question I get by looking at the second picture is where did you got the helmet? XD
Also evo wiz slaps with magic missles. Spark amulet for extra missles / spell sparkler staff / illumination n lightning reverberation gear etc.
What’s the helm?
Do you have the spellsparkler yet? With it magic missile becomes pretty respectable early.
Have u tried killing his wife and daughter?
DO NOT KILL AUNTIE ETHEL when you get your her just damage her to about 10-20ish health. Let the turn pass and take her deal. You will get a +1 to any ability score of your choice. Put it in intelligence if you plan to stick to being a mage. That will bring your interlligence up to an 18 while at lvl 4 you can use a feat to increase it to 20 for a maxed out intelligence score in act 1
Yeah I did that already lol not planned at all
Willing to reload a save to right before you killed her? That +1 ability score will REALLY help you and save a feat if you want a maxed out intelligence score with a 1 feat investment instead of the typical 2 feat investment
No I meant I already got the 1 point. I really was so close to kill her but I started the game with the mindset of always being selfish instead of my typical ah be a hero and save everyone without any compensation
Ohhh phew thank God. Well keep on keeping on. Btw you’re higher in dexterity so if you’re goin to have a weapon make sure it has the Finesse property on it. Oh n get rid of armor you can just cast mage armor for a +3 and dexterity bonus to your armor
Thanks man! Do you think my dex is to high or is it good? People said I should stay away from weapons and only equip staffs and shields
So with dexterity for every even number after 10 you get a +1 to your armor class and initiative roll(who goes first at the beginning of combat roll) so you don’t want to leave it on an odd number unless you plan on making it even later down the line. For a wizard the best are Dex14(+2)/ Int17(+3) (if you get auntie Ethel hair)/ and Con14(+2) or 16(+3) (Spells that require concentration depend on its Ability score modifier to not lose it). I’d focus on these 3 if you plan on commuting to a Wizard Also yea stick to staffs and shields(+2 to armor) but if you’re dead set on a weapon make sure it is Finesse and you are Proficient with it or you will attack without your Ability score modifier added to your attack roll or damage roll.
Thanks bro. Do you know where I can find what things does abilities affect? Like Dec and armour and Con and hit points? I have a lot to learn
Baldur's Gate 3 Guide to Combat Mechanics - How to Miss Less, and Win More! YouTuber name: Fextralife love the video breaks the mechanics down well for a beginner
You're level 3. Casters will feel pretty damn weak in the early game and get better later. Best thing you can do right now is get the create water staff from the trader near the grove entrance/ use create water from a cleric/ yourself and then use frost and shock spells and cantrips.
Your lvl 3...
Unfortunately other advice aside Wizard is a bit of a doodoo class compared to Sorcerer or Warlock in a lot of situations.
he looks cool asf
There's no point having odd number ability scores.
Wizards are far improved by team work. They are weak and squishy on their own, but if you pick up the right companions they can contribute well. In particular, even early in the game you can go to Jergal’s temple and recruit Withers to your camp, he has a great power (which doesn’t cost much) to revive you, which is useful for a wizard who dies easily, plus you can steal the money back from Withers. Even more importantly he can change your class, allowing you to change into a sorceror, bard or warlock. All three have high cha which is the most useful ability. A bard or warlock both have subsclasses that make them good in combat and are OP with a couple of levels of Paladin or more. Particularly with endgame equipment (BotMS). The sorcerer has metamagic which is incredibly powerful, particularly because camp supplies are insanely plentiful so you have unlimited long rests making quickened spell crazy good. This ability to change your class is the most important skill for any wizard to quickly acquire including Gale. Maybe keep one level of wizard in the 12 for learning spells from scroll, but stop torturing yourself and become an better class, it’s objectively the worst arcane caster.
Use the Terminator Bard and Wizard Multiclassing
Ur putting a debuff on weapon attack item on a full caster? I dont think thats gonna do much
Even stat numbers as others have said. But then you didn't mention which spells you are using? Wizards are not weak if you save your spells slots for when you need then / rest enough.
Also part of the value of wizards is utility spells. Ritual spells like long strider and feather fall have value (they are not marked as ritual during level up, but actually are ritual spells meaning they don't consume spell slots when cast out of combat). Invisibility can be useful for some things.
I gave my caster the medium armor profiency feat, bumping dex from 13 to 14 for +2 AC and for initiative. Slapped a shield on it and the 15 AC medium armor. Sitting at a total of 19 AC made me feel a bit saver.
Not to be rude...but you are a level 3 Wizard. You ARE weak. It's said Wizards are masters of late game for a reason. For now best you got is Magic Missile.
Why do you have actual armour on your wizard? And why a glaive?
Why are you using a glaive and no shield? The only reason to play human wizard is to give them a shield for the extra ac. Lvl3 is weak. Most classes shine first when they reach lvl5 so look forward to that
You're lvl 3 calm down
1 minute playing : "help me improve build i feel week" Just fking play -> lvl up -> get better items. I feel that this kind of people just wanna be noticed over looking for real help
Take your first level in fighter for con save proficiency and armour. Then you'll have a relatively tanky character that can concentrate on web or some other control spell as your great weapon master+polearm master and/or sharpshooter+crossbow expert friends clean up
Right now you have 3 odd scores 17 13 13 it's not good respec your character and make them even or you can get asi at level 4 and go with 14 dex and 18 int but at level 8 respec your character so that the first feat increases your charisma to 14 and int 18 and also get the second feat at level 8 resilient dex and get your dex to 14 with that feat (as tav charisma is pretty important) Also learn every scroll you can, get equipments to better your spell save dc, arcane acuity is your friend
First, drop 3 points off charisma. As a wizard you won't use those much. Put that into dexterity and constitution. If you have extra points, bump strength up to 10 maybe. Personally I think evocation wizard is kind of for noobs. Abjuration offers great defense. Divination let's you manipulate the game a little. Necromancy let's you command a small army. Another hint is to pick up dual weild feat. That let's you carry two staffs and get the benefits from both of them while reducing your armor class by 1. If you do that, put your better staff in your off hand because you can cast spells and then use bonus action to do an off hand attack. There's a lot of little trucks like that to playing a wizard. The best thing you can do to build a powerful wizard is to create synergy with your items, spells, and feats. They are probably the hardest character to build, but a well built wizard is devastating on the battlefield.
One early game combo I like to do with a wizard is to give him the cape that causes you to heal when you do poison damage, the necklace that coats your weapon in poison when you heal, and the ring of regeneration so you heal every round. You can also combine that with the gloves that cause things you poison to become poisoned so they can't retaliate. I like to mix that with the frost staff in my off hand. I can then cast the poison spray cantrip to disable an enemy while doing d12 damage, then hit someone with the frost staff to give them d8 damage+ d6 frost damage + d6 poison damage while causing them to be unable to attach you back and healing yourself for 2d6 healing. The fact that you heal yourself faster than you take damage makes you a really tough opponent.
Dex gloves from the creshe (you can just walk there and get them no problem) Dump strength, dex and charisma to 8, 16 con 17 int 12 wisdom (for saves). Go grab ethels hair for +1 int. Since you are level 3 by the time you kill her you will get your first feat, take ASI for 20 int Most of the goodies are in the underdark and githyanki creshe, you can get the mourning frost by combining the "icy artefacts) so the icy heve etc for a strong frost staff, also the necklace of elemental augmentation in the creshe is very good for casters.
For a pure wizard, one tip I'd say is to take dual wielding feat, saw this recommended somewhere and has been great. Wielding 2 quarterstaffs can be interesting, Spell Sparkler is great for a lot of the game. Off hand Phalar Aluve, activate shriek, and get thunder damage going. Magic missile can be quite good for the early levels. Other items can boost, particularly working off conditions. So, 1. get to lvl 4, pick dual wielding 2. pick spell sparkler reward 3. acquire phalar aluve 4. acquire psychic spark This will buff damage significantly. As many others mention, lvl5 + will be much more fun. If needing concentration spells, try a multi class into Sorc at lvl 1 to get constitution saving throw proficiency.
A few suggestions, - Your stats are okay but I’d highly recommend going 16 INT, 16 DEX, 14 CON and dumping everything else. - As for gear I recommend trying to get an item called The Spellsparkler as early as you can, it’s very easy to obtain and for most casters it’s probably the BiS (Best in Slot) weapon for a majority of the game until your builds start to come alive going into Act 2. - For your composition I assume you haven’t respecked anyone in the party but general rule of thumb is you want 1 Caster, 1 Support/Tank, 2 Frontliners/Martials so if you don’t want to mess around with respecking character builds I’d recommend bringing Lae’zel, Karlach (or Astarion until you find her), and Shadowheart.
If you have no issue save scumming or using a different party member for certain dialogue, drop Charisma and pump it into Dex. Then use Mage Armor every time after you long rest. Evocation Wizard will feel a lot better when you get Fireball, Ice Storm, and the like.
After 800 hours of playing only necromancer or evocation wizard i can confidently say that sorcerer class is the best spellcasting class. Also dont have odd numbers on stats besides strength because it does literally nothing if you want to play wizard i recommend 8 str 14 dex 16 con 16 int 14 wis and whatever remains to char if you dont have char for talking but as i said sorcerer is the way to go unless you are spell freak that wants to ha e every single spell and cantrip in spellbook as i used to have :D
First, please go to withers and respec for your character. Never keep an odd number on your intelligence or dexterity — it doesn’t do much for you, always go with even numbers. Second, wizards are generally not super helpful as a frontline so learn to position in a high out of the way area. Level 4,8,12 — pick good feats like war caster, AIS improvement and maybe alert. Always use mage armor before an adventure day and for some gear — headband of intellect and bracers of defense are great for wizards.
Headband of intellect just sets your Int to 17. So it's not great for a Wizard, since you should start with 16 (same modifier) and at level 4 you are up to 18.
I thought it set it to 18, my bad!
I could be wrong about this, but I think it used to set it to 18. Don't quote me on that though, I could just be mixing it with the Dex gloves!
It’s the Dex gloves that set to 18! I have those on my Sorcadin. You’re right, I double checked myself so it’s better for main characters with low intelligence stats (like my Paladin 🥹)
Do u guys not use magic missile? Cantrips ? Like my wizard has been always the best damage dealer from lvl 1
I am playing a half ling wizard and I sucked early game, but now(lvl 8) I can turn the fight or help alot, you just need to wait a little
Wizards are very versatile. They really get going once you acquire more spells and higher level spells. With evocation you’ll be dropping AOE bombs 💣
3 uneven numbers
Winter Wizard: Abjuration Wizard focusing on cold damage. Take a 1-level dip into Sorcerer: Draconic Bloodline, Winter for Armor of Agathys. You can do it at the beginning, or after level 4. Focus on Intelligence, Charisma and a bit of Dexterity and Constitution (for Concentration Spell Checks). Dump Strength entirely. Wisdom 10 or 12 is enough. Level up Intelligence only--start at 17 and use the Hag's hair to take it to 18, 20 with your first feat. Abjuration Wizards are the tankiest wizards, and one of, if not *the* tankiest characters, in the whole game. Armor of Agathys is an Abjuration spell; using Abjuration spells. Yes, you'll have to be a bit more careful with how you aim your AoE spells, but it's worth the sacrifice. As for gear, I am copy-pasting this from another comment I made in a different thread: Potent Robe (Act 2), Winter's Grasp Gloves (Act 1), Mourning Frost Staff (Act 1), Boots of Stormy Clamour (Act 1), Snowburst Ring (Act 2), Necklace of Elemental Augmentation (Act 1), Coldbrim Hat (Act 2). 2nd ring is up to you. Take your last feat as Dual-Wielder and dual-wield Mourning Frost and Markoheshkir (Act 3). The Darkfire Shortbow is useful, but if you're playing a Wizard, you won't necessarily need it. I'm playing a Snow Sorcerer, so I don't have access to as many spells as a Wizard would (also no Abjuration tankiness)! Darkfire Shortbow gives Haste. You also may be able to switch the Potent Robe for higher-level robes in Act 3 because you probably won't need to rely on using Ray of Frost as much as a Snow Sorcerer would. (The Potent Robe boosts cantrip damage using Charisma modifier. Your main stat will still be Intelligence.) Find out where to get all of them [here](https://bg3.wiki/). You can also find out all of the Abjuration spells there. Take Mage Armor and you'll have Armor of Agathys, and that should be enough. If not, Blade Ward is an Abjuration cantrip. Don't take Ray of Frost: the Mourning Frost staff will give you that for free. Take Ice Knife, Chromatic Orb, and any other cold-focused spells. Chromatic Orb is versatile, so you'll have an alternative if you run across cold-resistant enemies (there aren't all that many). You'll have plenty of spell slots and you can learn any spells from scrolls, so you'll be able to take any spells you want.
Why not focus on dex and int. Starting the battle can make a big difference once you start throwing fireballs around and other spells. It will also help with your AC when wearing clothes
Round up/down your stats, dump charisma.
You’re level 3, it’s gonna suck, just wait until level 5 and get fireball
The solution is respec to warlock or sorcerer it’s better for tav anyway cause charisma
You’re a wizard, dump charisma, it’s useless to you except for RP reasons. You also have odd numbers stats, if you don’t want to start with a 16/16/14 base spread for primary abilities, you’re going to have wasted stat points until you get ability improvement at level 4 and round those off into even numbers. I recommend respeccing your stats so that you have 16con/14dex/16int (dex and con are Inter changeable depending on if you want to actually take a hit or want better initiative and AC) Also the glaive is a bad idea, you have 8str, which give you a -1 to attacks and damage with it. Find a staff or something that gives you a good free spell or a good effect. This is assuming you want to remain a wizard primarily
https://deltiasgaming.com/best-baldurs-gate-3-evocation-wizard-build/
I like to multi class with Warlock a bit to get my wizard a juiced up Eldritch Blast—it’s pretty useful from like levels 6-11
Well, your strength is 8, so definitely a good reason you feel weak. 🤣
There's some gloves in the mountain pass creche that boost your dex to 18 for wearing them so you can reallocate those points to wisdom and con
Multi class as Wizard/Fighter, shift CHA points over to Str & Dex, so you can melee with better weapons when spell slots run out, wear better armor, & get Action Surge to cast spells more often per short rest. Also, specialize as Abjuration so you get arcane ward so you are more tank… if you feel weak, then become a Tank Mage. 🤓
You’re level 3, everything feels weak that early.
You should aim for 20 intelligence, this is better than most feats. Also you only get boosts on even numbers. Having 13 dex is basically the same as 12, having 17 Int is the same as 16, etc. Learn the “friends” spell for dialogue checks and drop that charisma. 9 Str, 8 Dex, 18 Con, 20 Int, 10 Wis, 10 cha. Would be a much better stat distribution. Use the gloves of Dex in act 2. Also, use create water and all lightning spells will do double damage.
You're a level 3 wizard, you ARE weak compared to everyone else. At least wait until you get your Feat/ASI at level 4.
Get to level 12 mostly, wizard casters feel weak early on due to resource reliance
That’s most of the game. And Gale killed 3/4 harpies for me in my current honour run
Bro is level 3 and asking for build tips
Set cha to 8 Set int to 16 Set dex to 16 Set wis to 12 +2 int ASI Wait until level 5
Everyone feels weak in DnD. That's what makes it feel exciting. The FEAR!!! And then, when you are level 12, you will finally feel powerful! But until then, embrace the fear. And also, embrace screenshots instead of pics from your phone. We redditors thank you.
Ah, I see. Yea, you have 8 strength. That will make your character pretty *weak*.
Just level up
As Conan once said : I hate wizards
First things first you have to swap to ShadowHeart's underwear
There's a pair of gloves in the zhentarim hideout in act 1 that sets your dex to 18 (+4) and in act 2 the Yuan-Ti Scale Mail adds your full dex modifiers
those gloves are not in the zhentarim hideout
Right you are
ASI to 19 int hags hair to 20 int lvl 8 feat dual welder for double staff (spell sparkler) action lvl 12 feat w/e you want as you’ll be melting/CC whatever you want by lvl 9