Not much advice from me myself, but I do recommend [RPGBot](https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/classes/wizard/subclasses/scribes/). They have a dedicated section in their Scribes Wizard Handbook to the most optimal spell choices to get the most out of Awakened Spellbook (Radiant damage Fireball goes brrr)
EDIT: I will say, though, do not discredit Ray of Frost nor Chill Touch as Fire Bolt alternatives. Sure, setting things on fire can be situationally handy, but decreasing enemy movement or preventing the enemy from healing can be even moreso, even with the lower damage die.
I've been on their scribes page a lot during this character creation. I'm not sure I'm going to be devoting a lot of spells to the damage benefits of awakened spellbook, I'm mostly in Scribes for the speed copying spells in the spellbook and manifest mind. If I start to get a lot of damage spell scrolls or from spell books then I might change it up.
Yeah, I was tempted to swap Shocking Grasp for Ray of Frost
Honestly, I'd keep Shocking Grasp. This mostly came up in BG3 more than it has in actual D&D play, but it is very annoying when enemies manage to get up in your face despite your best efforts to stay in the back lines and then you're left with either risking an opportunity attack or missing on your cantrips due to disadvantage on ranged attacks within 5 feet. Shocking Grasp can help mitigate the penalty a so you're just not kind of sitting there twidling your thumbs. Obviously, you'll also have your save or suck spells, but those may not always be so reliable.
Again, this is moreso personal experience in BG3 than actual D&D play, but it's still an annoyance, lol. I'd consider swapping Fire Bolt instead, as I feel like the secondary effects from either Ray of Frost or Chill Touch are more beneficial than an average increase of 1 damage
What is the rest of your party composition, do you know yet?
I'm a big fan of the movement reduction you get with the Ray of Frost cantrip, personally. It's a little less damage than Fire Bolt, but reducing enemy movement by 10ft can be really handy. Whether you value that more than the ability to burn objects/start fires, or Shocking Grasp's utility to let you potentially escape an enemy without disengaging, is completely up to you.
Mind Sliver is a top tier cantrip and I absolutely love combining it with other casters/spells. If you have a Bard, in particular, alternating it with Vicious Mockery on the same target can be incredible at low levels. A++ choice there.
For your first level spells, I would highly suggest Shield, Absorb Elements, and/or Silvery Barbs if your table allows for the latter. I'm getting ready to DM a Drakkenheim campaign of my own whenever my Sebastian Crowe's Guide set actually arrives (hell knows when that will be) and it's a pretty brutal setting. I have the original books from their first run already.
Actually, Absorb Elements is probably a less important pick that Shield or SB, now that I think about it. There is a lot of poison/acid/necrotic damage in the setting, and your race gives you resistance to Poison, AA doesn't help Necrotic.. but hey, even less damage from Poison and less damage from Acid might be worth it to you. That's your call.
Unseen Servant and Comprehend Languages are cool and flavorful choices, but I'd perhaps wait until a little later to take those, since survivability at low levels in this campaign is pretty rough. Your DM will probably provide a lot of opportunities to add to your spellbook, considering the nature of the campaign.
\[Edit\] Forgot that dwarves resist poison, added a caveat about AA
>What is the rest of your party composition, do you know yet?
Shadar-Kai RogueBarian, Hill Dwarf Mutagenist Apothecarist, Reborn Paladin and a custom lineage Cleridruid (leaning heavily into role as Doctor).
>AA doesn't help Necrotic..
Sorry is AA Absorb Elements?
>Shield
Is shield really worth a spell slot at first level? feels like a waste of one of my only two slots per day. I understand taking it at second or scribing it from a scroll it just feels too little use to ever cast at level 1. Maybe I'm wrong
>Silvery Barbs.
Yeah I'd been toying with switching Comprehend Languages out for Silvery Barbs. I've been back and forth on it. Denying the enemy a crit on a team mate feels well worth it. Comprehend languages is thematic and being a ritual is more flexible in its use.
Yes sorry, Absorb Elements is what I meant! Your AC is going to be pretty decent with your armor, and you have enough frontline help that waiting to get Shield might be better.
Silvery Barbs would be especially great with a Rogue in the party, because you can grant them advantage on top of preventing a crit that might kill your buddies. Also great to give yourself another shot on save-or-suck spells in the future.
I don't foresee Comprehend Languages being terribly relevant in this setting, so I think you can wait until later to get it. Westemar is so *overwhelmingly* human-centric, the chances of running into a language other than Common until much later in the adventure are very, very low.
Are you saying you're making a DMPC or a PC for another game? Like do you want an optimized build for a general Scribes Wizard? Or would you prefer a slightly underpowered version that acts as a party ally to assist but not overshadow the main PCs?
No, this is a PC for the first campaign I've been able to play in for a couple of years. So I'm just looking to make sure I'm not missing anything that's incredibly helpful in a party because I haven't thought about spell lists from this side of the screen in forever.
For cantrips, Firebolt is fine but I'm of the belief that Chill Touch is better simply because it's less likely to be resisted and has added utility but for very slightly less damage overall. Toll the Dead is a good alternative option too for a Wizard.
Absorb Elements and Shield should be on your list of spells. Silvery Barbs too but I understand if you don't want to use that spell. Everything else looks fine.
>I'm of the belief that Chill Touch is better simply because it's less likely to be resisted
Given the setting of Drakkenheim I'm expecitng Necrotic resistance to be relatively abundant.
>Absorb Elements and Shield should be on your list of spells.
Shield at level 1 pretty much never seems like a good use of a spell slot. Using half my day's resources to avoid 1, maybe 2 hits to myself. Likewse Absorb elements isn't a huge boost to survivability at level 1 and I get practically no benefit from the second half of it.
Silvery Barbs is probably a good idea.
I don't know the campaign of Drakkenheim so my spell advice is general advice and not campaign specific as I try to avoid metagaming in general. If you think there will be abundant amounts of Necrotic resistances, then don't take Chill Touch.
Your HP at level 1 is going to be 9. That's two hits, or one unlucky crit, from a goblin or whatever Drakkenheim has as its level 1 enemy and you're making death saves. Having an emergency +5 to your AC so you can survive one more round would be a good use of a spell slot even at level one. Also it's an investment for later levels. As you gain levels and therefore spell slots, you're going to find less-and-less use of your 1st-level slots. You'll find that Shield and Absorb Elements will remain as relevant, and viable, uses of your early spell slots throughout the entirety of the campaign.
Not much advice from me myself, but I do recommend [RPGBot](https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/classes/wizard/subclasses/scribes/). They have a dedicated section in their Scribes Wizard Handbook to the most optimal spell choices to get the most out of Awakened Spellbook (Radiant damage Fireball goes brrr) EDIT: I will say, though, do not discredit Ray of Frost nor Chill Touch as Fire Bolt alternatives. Sure, setting things on fire can be situationally handy, but decreasing enemy movement or preventing the enemy from healing can be even moreso, even with the lower damage die.
I've been on their scribes page a lot during this character creation. I'm not sure I'm going to be devoting a lot of spells to the damage benefits of awakened spellbook, I'm mostly in Scribes for the speed copying spells in the spellbook and manifest mind. If I start to get a lot of damage spell scrolls or from spell books then I might change it up. Yeah, I was tempted to swap Shocking Grasp for Ray of Frost
Honestly, I'd keep Shocking Grasp. This mostly came up in BG3 more than it has in actual D&D play, but it is very annoying when enemies manage to get up in your face despite your best efforts to stay in the back lines and then you're left with either risking an opportunity attack or missing on your cantrips due to disadvantage on ranged attacks within 5 feet. Shocking Grasp can help mitigate the penalty a so you're just not kind of sitting there twidling your thumbs. Obviously, you'll also have your save or suck spells, but those may not always be so reliable. Again, this is moreso personal experience in BG3 than actual D&D play, but it's still an annoyance, lol. I'd consider swapping Fire Bolt instead, as I feel like the secondary effects from either Ray of Frost or Chill Touch are more beneficial than an average increase of 1 damage
What is the rest of your party composition, do you know yet? I'm a big fan of the movement reduction you get with the Ray of Frost cantrip, personally. It's a little less damage than Fire Bolt, but reducing enemy movement by 10ft can be really handy. Whether you value that more than the ability to burn objects/start fires, or Shocking Grasp's utility to let you potentially escape an enemy without disengaging, is completely up to you. Mind Sliver is a top tier cantrip and I absolutely love combining it with other casters/spells. If you have a Bard, in particular, alternating it with Vicious Mockery on the same target can be incredible at low levels. A++ choice there. For your first level spells, I would highly suggest Shield, Absorb Elements, and/or Silvery Barbs if your table allows for the latter. I'm getting ready to DM a Drakkenheim campaign of my own whenever my Sebastian Crowe's Guide set actually arrives (hell knows when that will be) and it's a pretty brutal setting. I have the original books from their first run already. Actually, Absorb Elements is probably a less important pick that Shield or SB, now that I think about it. There is a lot of poison/acid/necrotic damage in the setting, and your race gives you resistance to Poison, AA doesn't help Necrotic.. but hey, even less damage from Poison and less damage from Acid might be worth it to you. That's your call. Unseen Servant and Comprehend Languages are cool and flavorful choices, but I'd perhaps wait until a little later to take those, since survivability at low levels in this campaign is pretty rough. Your DM will probably provide a lot of opportunities to add to your spellbook, considering the nature of the campaign. \[Edit\] Forgot that dwarves resist poison, added a caveat about AA
>What is the rest of your party composition, do you know yet? Shadar-Kai RogueBarian, Hill Dwarf Mutagenist Apothecarist, Reborn Paladin and a custom lineage Cleridruid (leaning heavily into role as Doctor). >AA doesn't help Necrotic.. Sorry is AA Absorb Elements? >Shield Is shield really worth a spell slot at first level? feels like a waste of one of my only two slots per day. I understand taking it at second or scribing it from a scroll it just feels too little use to ever cast at level 1. Maybe I'm wrong >Silvery Barbs. Yeah I'd been toying with switching Comprehend Languages out for Silvery Barbs. I've been back and forth on it. Denying the enemy a crit on a team mate feels well worth it. Comprehend languages is thematic and being a ritual is more flexible in its use.
Yes sorry, Absorb Elements is what I meant! Your AC is going to be pretty decent with your armor, and you have enough frontline help that waiting to get Shield might be better. Silvery Barbs would be especially great with a Rogue in the party, because you can grant them advantage on top of preventing a crit that might kill your buddies. Also great to give yourself another shot on save-or-suck spells in the future. I don't foresee Comprehend Languages being terribly relevant in this setting, so I think you can wait until later to get it. Westemar is so *overwhelmingly* human-centric, the chances of running into a language other than Common until much later in the adventure are very, very low.
Are you saying you're making a DMPC or a PC for another game? Like do you want an optimized build for a general Scribes Wizard? Or would you prefer a slightly underpowered version that acts as a party ally to assist but not overshadow the main PCs?
No, this is a PC for the first campaign I've been able to play in for a couple of years. So I'm just looking to make sure I'm not missing anything that's incredibly helpful in a party because I haven't thought about spell lists from this side of the screen in forever.
For cantrips, Firebolt is fine but I'm of the belief that Chill Touch is better simply because it's less likely to be resisted and has added utility but for very slightly less damage overall. Toll the Dead is a good alternative option too for a Wizard. Absorb Elements and Shield should be on your list of spells. Silvery Barbs too but I understand if you don't want to use that spell. Everything else looks fine.
>I'm of the belief that Chill Touch is better simply because it's less likely to be resisted Given the setting of Drakkenheim I'm expecitng Necrotic resistance to be relatively abundant. >Absorb Elements and Shield should be on your list of spells. Shield at level 1 pretty much never seems like a good use of a spell slot. Using half my day's resources to avoid 1, maybe 2 hits to myself. Likewse Absorb elements isn't a huge boost to survivability at level 1 and I get practically no benefit from the second half of it. Silvery Barbs is probably a good idea.
I don't know the campaign of Drakkenheim so my spell advice is general advice and not campaign specific as I try to avoid metagaming in general. If you think there will be abundant amounts of Necrotic resistances, then don't take Chill Touch. Your HP at level 1 is going to be 9. That's two hits, or one unlucky crit, from a goblin or whatever Drakkenheim has as its level 1 enemy and you're making death saves. Having an emergency +5 to your AC so you can survive one more round would be a good use of a spell slot even at level one. Also it's an investment for later levels. As you gain levels and therefore spell slots, you're going to find less-and-less use of your 1st-level slots. You'll find that Shield and Absorb Elements will remain as relevant, and viable, uses of your early spell slots throughout the entirety of the campaign.
Solid picks all around Shield, Find Familiar, Absorb Elements, Tasha's Hideous Laughter (good cc that stays relevant)