After having finished the game with a fighter and a cleric, I'm currently considering giving it another shot with a wizard, since I think the greater dependancy on spells will provide a greater challenge. I am, however, somewhat intimidated by the large amount of spell-enhancing feats that are available. Any suggestions on which to pick?

[ 02-26-2006, 01:18 PM: Message edited by: Dreamer128 ]

Spell Penetration feats are a must in most cases. Other than that, Evocation and Necromancy are most worth focussing in. Illusion, Transmutation and Enchantment focusses can be useful in specific cases, the other schools are generally not interesting enough.
The Potion, Scroll and Wand enhancement feats are usually not worth it.
As for Metamagic, it depends on circumstance. Silent Spell is usually not that great. Still Spell works wonders if you are a bard or otherwise intend to use armor. Empower Spell is a must, and Extend and Maximize Spell are also quite valuable. Quicken Spell is most useful if you intend to take the Automatic Quicken feats in the epic levels.

Hm.. looks like I'll be sorely lacking for quick-keys. ;) Thanks Legolas.

Yeah, there are no where near enough quickslots for a dedicated spell caster. The bright side is that in single player, you can pause to find the spells you want.

Quicken Spell is fairly useless:
- does not stack with Haste,
- does not work as advised, spells can be interrupted.
For a wizard, who gets a lot of feats, Weapon Proficiency: Martial at the beginning of his wizardly career is very useful. Low level spellcasters are better off meleeing then fireballing anyway.

[ 02-27-2006, 04:22 PM: Message edited by: chimaera ]

As to the (Improved) Combat Casting feats, they may or may not be useful depending on your style.
Most consider the feats to be essential, however.

Most of the metamagic feats never get used by my spellcasters, but that's as stated above, my style tends towards melee, although I tend to use staffs with wizard types. Might as well get as much damage as possible out of melee attacks.

If you're going the OC, don't forget to get the Rod of Frost at the beginning (unlimited Ray of Frost castings per day. And might I recommend the panther familiar?

Metamagic feats aren't that great, considering the cost. Quickenspell is useful only in that you can then take Autoquicken in epic levels. That only matters in HotU though.

Thanks for the advice guys. That Rod of Frost is indeed very handy in the beginning, but instead of the panther I've taken the mini-beholder as familiar. I use normal summons and Dealan red-tiger as Tanks, which also eliminates the need for my wizard to get into melee. I'm also considering taking some levels in pale-master. A good idea?

It can be a powerful addition to a mage. I'll leave the rest of the commentary to the more knowledeable about Arcane classes, but immunity to crits can never be a bad thing...