Replacing Constitution With Dexterity

[Abyss]

With an character wipe coming up in a few weeks, I want to take the time to reconsider my character.

I want a wizard that can (more or less) handle himself physically at lower levels... Just long enough until I can get effective offensive/buff spells - but I also want 18 INT. So I was thinking of some sort of Dexterity-based build that would allow me some extra AC and some damage with ranged weapons... But at the cost of less health, and possibly some lower strength.

So, long story short, I'd like a build that has maxed-out INT but can pull off some decent combat in the lower levels. Suggestions?

[Saulus]

Well Wizard/Eldritch Knight might be a nice combo but at lower levels if you really want something half decent that's a caster you don't have a lot of choices.... that's part of the reason why they added warlock.

[undeadsteak]

well.. im not sure, you wizards have it tough, but once you got polymorph troll, theres no complaining. You can easily handle fights. If you do lower some of your stats though, to 8, remember to roleplay it out.

[GodBeastX]

Haste doesn't quick cast anymore, right?

[Euniana]

Haste doesn't quick cast anymore, right?

That's right. Only a quickened spell followed by a non-quickened spell achieves the same effect as in NWN1, I believe.

[Tlantl]

If you start with a 16 int you can save a few ability points to put else where. You don't need an 18 for a long time and you can put points in it as you advance.

[Abyss]

Well, yeah, see... There's the roleplay to consider. I want 18 INT because he's supposed to be super-intelligent (at least by FR standards) but I suppose 16 might be alright. That gives me two more points to put into... Hrmm. Dexterity sounds good.

As to the warlock suggestion... That might be interesting. But, I dunno. A wizard sounds more like a "scholarly" character than a warlock, and I'm trying to go for that wandering scholar thing.

[Tlantl]

Well if you conceder that the average intelligence is likely to be around 10 for those who don't use spells a 16 is very intelligent. I'm sure that those with 10's in their intelligence scores are unlikely to be role playing dummies. (I hope the ones who forgo putting points in intelligence at all are at least making the attempt to seem a little slow.) I always found trying to role play an ability score to be difficult. It seems even more ludicrous when your character avatar looks exactly like nearly everyone else. A character with an 8 strength looks the same as a player with an 18. A character with an 8 charisma is exactly as attractive as one with a 20. sure charisma covers more than physical beauty but it is a factor. so I wouldn't worry about it and there is always room for improvement.

[VFoxcraft]

You might even consider a bard. They are arcane casters, can handle themselves in a fight, are renowned for their knowledge, and wander a lot.

[Abyss]

Yeah, but see, with the bard I'd have to put more points into CHA, and I don't really want a charismatic character. Ugh, balancing roleplaying with overall character effectiveness can be so frustrating. I think I might scrap the wandering scholar idea for now and go with plan B: The intelligent fighter.

[Scarlett]

You could take Toughness at level 1 to counterbalance the lack of HP, and even (though you may want Spellcasting Prodigy instead) Mind Over Matter for some more HP thats INT based and not CON based. With 18 INT, and Practiced Spellcaster Wizard, I don't think you'll need Spellcasting Prodigy if you're going pure wizard.

[Sylvanas_Kathar]

^^ What she said. You really can't have the best of both worlds unless you sacrifice some of your spell casting abilities. But i'd hope that by going wizard you would be taking Mind over Matter anyway. You could always try taking one level of fighter to up the anti----as long as you Roleplay it in that is.

[Ithildur]

A wizard with 8 STR isn't very far fetched at all; that's the stat you could borrow points from especially since you don't want to melee with a wiz.

[Scarlett]

8 STR would cripple him for carrying items though. 10 (0 modifier, non-negative) seems better for RP/overall flexibility to me...

[Ithildur]

Wizards have other people carry their stuff for them.

There is a magical bag available for purchase ingame.

It's amazing how this is such an issue for PWs... so much stuff our PCs pick up and carry around...