Is a solo wizard or sorcerer run possible?

If I wanted to solo run the game as a wizard or sorcerer, would it be possible?

I can imagine it's doable by cross classing but I'm talking straight classes here. I think that even if I somehow made it to Zuggtomy, I wouldn't have the means to damage her. I'd probably have to banish her for 66 years by destroying the Orb of Golden Death and waiting four days.

Unless anyone happens to know something I don't?

 

A solo Wizard is far more possible than a Sorcerer due to the variety of spells you can know as a solo Wizard.

-Just start with all 18s.

-Use a sling and glaive (martial weapon). The glaive is worth a feat.

-Be a Human for the bonus feat. Take Improved Initiative, Combat Reflexes, Craft Wondrous, Craft Magic Arms & Armor, Martial Weapon Proficiency (Glaive), Power Attack, Cleave, and Great Cleave - in that order. You have to be self-sufficient since you need better gear than the game provides at-level, and you need to be a warrior in addition to casting since you don't have the spell slots to cast something every turn.

-If you're level 15ish when facing Zuggy and you're fully buffed, she ain't that much of a threat.

-Get and use the +1 Holy Glaive from near the Air Temple ASAP for enchanting purposes! It's the best melee weapon for anyone who can't craft Holy weapons.

-Most your spells will be buffs and crowd control. Enlarge person is the most important general buff!

-Grind, grind, grind. Get your EXP and money from Hommlet, Deklo Grove, and Emridy meadows before even touching that Moathouse! Be at least level 5 - preferably at least level 7 - before even entering the map. You need enough fireballs to clear the entry fight area, even if you plan to invisibility your way through, just in case invisibility runs out or you want to get on with life.

-Make your familiar a Toad. It's 3 extra HP.

 

Why would I pick a sling over a bow or heavy crossbow? Bullets are very hard to come by in this game compared to arrows and bolts. Also like we told you in the feats thread, crafting skills are best saved until last since we won't be able to use them until end game anyway.

 

I chose a sling because I found plenty of bullets. Find someone who sells bullets, then wait a day or few (maybe a week) for the vendor to restock. I use slings for STR bonus to damage.

The intro area does not restock supply.

 

Solo wizard is one of the best, maybe the best, option for a solo run. I usually take an elf for the extra dexterity, and begin with one to three levels of Rogue, to give me skill points which the Wizard class lacks. It helps right away with Hommlet quests (as an elf, the +1 Holy Long sword is my first goal - nice weapon to build further enchantments on for a Wiz later on). I use scrolls, and later wands, to increase spell slots. I take very few combat feats, and focus on feats to improve spell casting, crafting, and protection (iron will etc), and of course improved initiative .

 

I make use of the crafting feats early on. As a solo character, you need as many enhancements to survive as possible. Even lowly +2 stat enhancements can make a difference early on. Gold and XP are also easily gained, so efficiency is not an issue.

 

If you're taking human for the extra feat to sink into martial weapon proficiency, you're better off going with elf (which gets free proficiency with bows and long sword). As far as strength bonuses, you can get composite bows built to take advantage of anything up to 18.

 

Human also gets you an extra skill point per level and favored class: any and no stat penalties.

 

The favored class for elves is wizard, and while elves have a CON penalty, they have a DEX bonus (useful for ray spells in addition to ranged combat in general). The extra skill point can be useful, but on balance a solo wizard is probably better off being an elf.

 

Far more important than starting with all 18s is acting like a wizard: be intelligent, prepare (lots of scrolls), withdraw at the first sign of a threat to you.
As for fighting Zuggtmoy, even with a party of 5 or 6 you would be 9-10th level by this stage, and a solo wizard would be a few levels higher, giving access to protective spells, the ability to dominate others to fight for you, and so on. A wizard can also make use of any auto-hitting magic weapons they find, even if not quite as effectively as a fighter.

 

I think the spell "dominate person" turns the game in favour of a wizard. Creature is added as a controllable NPC and since the duration is ridiculously long you can take him along and raise his levels. I charmed a greater temple bug bear that lasted till the end even through demon and demigods.

 

The Holy weapon in the Air Temple is a Ransuir not a Glaive. Good plan though.

 

Should my wizard be able to wield the holy longsword +1 that you get from Filiken? Because to my surprise he is proficient with it.

 

If he is an elf he is proficient with both a longsword and a longbow.

 

Hello! First time poster here. I discovered the game only a few months ago and I love the modpack. I completed everything with a couple of full parties, but after reading this thread I ditched my current game and started a solo wizard. I created a human so I could start with Greater Spell Focus in Enchantment. Charms are extremely useful, although it stretches the definition of a solo.

It's been a whole new experience to clear Welkwood bog with my Kobold sergeant sidekick (with a cool 500XP just for giving him a coup de grace when he was dying). Or smashing the Meadow skeletons with my new friend the hill giant.

I realized low level Wizards are a lot more powerful than I thought. I never made much use of scribe scrolls before, and I never realized we can scribe scrolls long before we can actually memorize the spells. I never had such an easy battle against Lareth, with a handful of Charm Monster and Fireball scrolls.