Friend is starting his campaign this weekend and I am a wizard starting level 3 as order of the scribe (UA). Would any of you have any advice on spells to take? Trying to get things set up.
btw we have my elven wizard, a tortle lore bard, a warforged alchemist, and a fire genasi blood hunter.
Personally I'd go with being the Controller. Wizards are great at that. What type of Wizard is the elf? Bladesinger? if so then he'll be melee and you'll need to focus on control spells. Great spells off the top of my head:
1st Level
Fog Cloud 1st Level equivalent of Darkness, I actually like it better than Darkness, to be honest. Great for limiting line of sight and forcing ranged to re-adjust. Also good as a means of escaping if needed.
Grease Underrated spell. Excellent for causing difficult terrain and providing advantage for Melee characters against prone enemies. Also important to note that this does not require Concentration. I know that isn't as huge early in a campaign, but late in a campaign Concentration becomes a huge resource tax on Wizards.
Web Restrained is a beautiful condition to place on enemies, granting advantage on all attacks and disadvantage to all their attacks and Dexterity Saving Throws. Also important to note that the check to break free from the Web is a Strength check and not saving throw, so they don't add their proficiency bonus. Also, the webs are flammable... so when you get Fireball (level 5) toss a Fireball in there when you no longer wish to concentrate on Web, the restrained enemies have Disadvantage on the save against the Fireball and the Fireball ignites the web for added damage.
Misty Step Wizards always need to escape from melee. And a bonus action teleport is always needed.
At level 3 you will have access to level 2 spells so I would suggest the Find Familiar / Dragon's Breath combo to put some more damage on the field then add Shatter at level up.
Remember you are going to know more spells then you can prepare so having FF, Detect Magic, Identify, etc available as ritual casting will go a long way.
As Grizzlebub mentioned with your lack of tanky types you will need some control spells. Because you are going to have mobs in your face more you will need a good escape/defensive spell. I would go with Misty Step then Mirror Image at level up.
Lastly, remember there are 3 kinds of cantrips. I would suggest one attack roll cantrip like Firebolt. I would suggest one save based attack like Toll the Dead. Then I would suggest one utility cantrip like Minor Illusion/Prestidigitation. With High Elf getting an extra cantrip you could also take a Blade Cantrip or Shocking Grasp if you want to cause some damage as you disengage from someone in your face.
I think there's a little confusion here - the Elven Wizard IS the Order of Scribes one, if I've read things correctly. But that doesn't mitigate anything else that's been said, as those spells are all still good choices.
With the Alchemist there, that might take some of the need for direct damage heat away from the Wizard and remain on the controller side of thing, especially if your Blood Hunter and/or Bard are taking the front lines. At early levels, I might even advise Magic Weapon, though that eventually becomes obsolete.
My personal major point of advice might be to pick up ritual spells - since you don't need them prepared as a Wizard, that frees up your slots throughout the day for things like Misty Step and Fog Cloud, while still having someone who can easily cast Detect Magic, Alarm (depending on the campaign), and even things like Gentle Repose and Skywrite. Rituals can often be the RP spice of a campaign if used properly.
Also! As an Order of Scribes, it's probably worth it to pick up Chromatic Orb. The ability to switch out damage types with something in your spellbook means that you don't even need Chromatic Orb prepared (or the costly component, if that's an issue for you) to be able to use its many damage types to your advantage for any of your attack spells. Imagine acid/fire/cold Magic Missile to take advantage of vulnerabilities at the drop of a hat! (Conversely, Magic Missile means you can turn any attack spell into force damage and get around resistances!)
I would also talk to the Bard to see what he is going to have. Expect him to have ...
Cantrip: Vicious Mockery and another
1st Level Spells: Bane, Charm Person, Dissonant Whispers, something else (Healing Word would be nice)
2nd level Spells: Phantasmal Force is good, Heat Metal can be real good, Invisibility, Silence, Hold Person, Suggestion (but he only gets two of the 2nd level spells at third level)
My usual tactic as a low level Bard was to cast Bane right out of the gate to help the front liners tank and then shoot my crossbow and pass out Bardic Inspiration if it seemed appropriate in the following rounds. If someone went down, I'd cast Healing Word so they didn't die from bad death saves. After combat, we'd have a "Sit-In" and I'd use my Song of Rest (I Will Survive) to help folks heal up.
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Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Ironically our bard is going into a more blasting role spell choice wise, we also recently got an elf druid with us so that will help me quite a bit. Thanks for the spell choice advice! but yeah going order of the scribe as an elf because it just seemed the most fun to me next to conjuration and necromancer as for as wizard schools go. Also by rule, do you need the material component for a scroll? like when I get the 6th level feature to create a special scroll with no cost upon long rest will that specific scroll need the material components? unsure about the ruling on that.
Also btw my stats are 12str, 18dex, 14con, 18int, 13wis, 11cha so without mage armor 14 ac and with 17 ac, then if I can get the ability to have a shield I would have an AC of 19 combining it all. So I am not frontline but I am also not the easiest target to hit thankfully!
Also found out the DM is starting me with deck of illusions and the Eversmoking Bottle just to throw this info out there that I found out last night!
Normally the components for a scroll are required and included in the cost of creating them. Your Order of the Scribes 6th level ability overrides that. Specific beats general here.
Friend is starting his campaign this weekend and I am a wizard starting level 3 as order of the scribe (UA). Would any of you have any advice on spells to take? Trying to get things set up.
btw we have my elven wizard, a tortle lore bard, a warforged alchemist, and a fire genasi blood hunter.
Personally I'd go with being the Controller. Wizards are great at that. What type of Wizard is the elf? Bladesinger? if so then he'll be melee and you'll need to focus on control spells. Great spells off the top of my head:
1st Level
Fog Cloud 1st Level equivalent of Darkness, I actually like it better than Darkness, to be honest. Great for limiting line of sight and forcing ranged to re-adjust. Also good as a means of escaping if needed.
Grease Underrated spell. Excellent for causing difficult terrain and providing advantage for Melee characters against prone enemies. Also important to note that this does not require Concentration. I know that isn't as huge early in a campaign, but late in a campaign Concentration becomes a huge resource tax on Wizards.
Web Restrained is a beautiful condition to place on enemies, granting advantage on all attacks and disadvantage to all their attacks and Dexterity Saving Throws. Also important to note that the check to break free from the Web is a Strength check and not saving throw, so they don't add their proficiency bonus. Also, the webs are flammable... so when you get Fireball (level 5) toss a Fireball in there when you no longer wish to concentrate on Web, the restrained enemies have Disadvantage on the save against the Fireball and the Fireball ignites the web for added damage.
Misty Step Wizards always need to escape from melee. And a bonus action teleport is always needed.
This group seems a little low on firepower.
At level 3 you will have access to level 2 spells so I would suggest the Find Familiar / Dragon's Breath combo to put some more damage on the field then add Shatter at level up.
Remember you are going to know more spells then you can prepare so having FF, Detect Magic, Identify, etc available as ritual casting will go a long way.
As Grizzlebub mentioned with your lack of tanky types you will need some control spells. Because you are going to have mobs in your face more you will need a good escape/defensive spell. I would go with Misty Step then Mirror Image at level up.
Lastly, remember there are 3 kinds of cantrips. I would suggest one attack roll cantrip like Firebolt. I would suggest one save based attack like Toll the Dead. Then I would suggest one utility cantrip like Minor Illusion/Prestidigitation. With High Elf getting an extra cantrip you could also take a Blade Cantrip or Shocking Grasp if you want to cause some damage as you disengage from someone in your face.
I think there's a little confusion here - the Elven Wizard IS the Order of Scribes one, if I've read things correctly. But that doesn't mitigate anything else that's been said, as those spells are all still good choices.
With the Alchemist there, that might take some of the need for direct damage heat away from the Wizard and remain on the controller side of thing, especially if your Blood Hunter and/or Bard are taking the front lines. At early levels, I might even advise Magic Weapon, though that eventually becomes obsolete.
My personal major point of advice might be to pick up ritual spells - since you don't need them prepared as a Wizard, that frees up your slots throughout the day for things like Misty Step and Fog Cloud, while still having someone who can easily cast Detect Magic, Alarm (depending on the campaign), and even things like Gentle Repose and Skywrite. Rituals can often be the RP spice of a campaign if used properly.
Also! As an Order of Scribes, it's probably worth it to pick up Chromatic Orb. The ability to switch out damage types with something in your spellbook means that you don't even need Chromatic Orb prepared (or the costly component, if that's an issue for you) to be able to use its many damage types to your advantage for any of your attack spells. Imagine acid/fire/cold Magic Missile to take advantage of vulnerabilities at the drop of a hat! (Conversely, Magic Missile means you can turn any attack spell into force damage and get around resistances!)
I would also talk to the Bard to see what he is going to have. Expect him to have ...
Cantrip: Vicious Mockery and another
1st Level Spells: Bane, Charm Person, Dissonant Whispers, something else (Healing Word would be nice)
2nd level Spells: Phantasmal Force is good, Heat Metal can be real good, Invisibility, Silence, Hold Person, Suggestion (but he only gets two of the 2nd level spells at third level)
My usual tactic as a low level Bard was to cast Bane right out of the gate to help the front liners tank and then shoot my crossbow and pass out Bardic Inspiration if it seemed appropriate in the following rounds. If someone went down, I'd cast Healing Word so they didn't die from bad death saves. After combat, we'd have a "Sit-In" and I'd use my Song of Rest (I Will Survive) to help folks heal up.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Ironically our bard is going into a more blasting role spell choice wise, we also recently got an elf druid with us so that will help me quite a bit. Thanks for the spell choice advice! but yeah going order of the scribe as an elf because it just seemed the most fun to me next to conjuration and necromancer as for as wizard schools go. Also by rule, do you need the material component for a scroll? like when I get the 6th level feature to create a special scroll with no cost upon long rest will that specific scroll need the material components? unsure about the ruling on that.
Also btw my stats are 12str, 18dex, 14con, 18int, 13wis, 11cha so without mage armor 14 ac and with 17 ac, then if I can get the ability to have a shield I would have an AC of 19 combining it all. So I am not frontline but I am also not the easiest target to hit thankfully!
Also found out the DM is starting me with deck of illusions and the Eversmoking Bottle just to throw this info out there that I found out last night!
Per the details found within the Dungeon Masters Guide, a spell scroll does not require any material components.
Normally the components for a scroll are required and included in the cost of creating them. Your Order of the Scribes 6th level ability overrides that. Specific beats general here.
thank you soooo much that is awesome to know!
Misty Step is by far the most important 2nd level spell. Saves you SO many times. Grabbed and grappled? Misty Step.
Locked in some kind of cage - even a Force Cage? Misty Step.
Being chased? Misty Step.
Chasing someone? Misty Step.
Get Misty Step and some kind of offensive spell.