Starting a Spellcaster

Introduction

Spellcasters in DDO spend spellpoints to cast spells as their primary method of interacting with (and usually destroying) their enemies. Spellcasters tend to keep distance between themselves and the enemies due to their weaker defenses, but they excel at dealing tons of damage, controlling (stunning, charming, or otherwise immobilizing) enemies, or even using powerful spells which instantly kill their targets.

Building a Spellcaster

Getting through the character creation process for a spellcaster is generally straightforward. You can set yourself up for success by following these steps, once you've decided on which class to play:

1. Choose any race. Generally, any race will do. You will be able to be extremely successful regardless of your choice; to casters, the differences between races are mostly minor.
   • If you really want to optimize here, look for a race that boosts your spellcasting ability modifier, or gives you other relevant goodies (such as Human which gives an extra Feat). If you want to pick a race that is "sub-optimal" for any reason (perhaps to emulate your PnP Dwarf Sorcerer, for example), feel free to do it – it won't make a huge difference, especially long-term. (It will make a difference, but new players already have enough to worry about learning, so only worry about choosing an "optimal" race if you want to.)
2. Make your spellcasting ability modifier as high as possible, followed by Constitution. Put any remaining points into Intelligence (recommended; grants more skill points per level-up, which cannot be affected by intelligence-boosting items) or Strength (gives more carrying capacity, though carrying capacity can be further improved by strength-boosting items).
3. Take the Feat Maximize. If you are a human, take another Metamagic feat; probably Empower. If you are a wizard, take another Metamagic feat, probably Quicken.
4. Choose your name and appearance, and get playing!

Spellcaster Classes

The classes in DDO which can be successful by focusing primarily on spellcasting are:

• Free to play:
  • Bard^† (See also: Starting a Bard)
  • Cleric (See also: Starting a Cleric)
  • Druid^† (See also: Starting a Druid)
  • Sorcerer (See also: Starting a Sorcerer)
  • Wizard (See also: Starting a Wizard)
  • Warlock (See also: Starting a Warlock)
• Can be purchased or can be eventually unlocked in-game:
  • Artificer^† (See also: Starting an Artificer)
  • Favored Soul (See also: Starting a Favored Soul)
• Cannot be unlocked in-game and not f2p; can be purchased (e.g. through DDO Points):
  • Alchemist (See also: Starting an Alchemist)

† – It is somewhat uncommon for this class to focus on spellcasting, though it can be done with a carefully designed build.

Types of Spells

DDO Spells are usually classified as Arcane or Divine. Sorcerers and Wizards cast Arcane spells, while Favored Souls and Clerics cast Divine spells. There are two main differences between these types of spells. One is the possibility of Arcane Spell Failure when casting an Arcane spell and wearing armor or a shield. The other is the types of things the spells can accomplish; for example, some divine spells can heal allies, while most arcane spells cannot.

Below are lists which categorize the "types" of spells and give some examples. These are split into Arcane and Divine lists to keep examples relevant, but notice that the categories themselves are not so different.

Types of Arcane Spells

Arcane spells all fall under one (or more) of the following categories:

1. Damage-dealing spells like Magic Missiles and Burning Hands. Every arcane caster needs some kind of offensive spell if they plan on doing any damage.
2. Instakill spells like Finger of Death, that instantly kill the target unless it successfully resists the spell's effect.
3. Buffs (spells that aid yourself and your allies) such as Jump, Haste, Stoneskin or Shield.
4. Debuffs (spells that hinder enemies) such a Ray of Enfeeblement or Bestow Curse.
5. Crowd control spells such as Web or Hold Monster. This type of spell immobilizes, stuns, traps, or otherwise restricts enemy movement or attacks for a period of time.
6. Repair spells such as Repair Moderate Damage or Reconstruct. These spells can be cast on Warforged or Bladeforged allies (including yourself, if applicable) to heal them.

Types of Divine Spells

Divine spells all fall under one (or more) of the following categories:

1. Damage-dealing spells like Searing Light and Blade Barrier. Every divine caster needs some kind of offensive spell if they plan on doing any damage.
2. Instakill spells like Slay Living, that instantly kill the target unless it successfully resists the spell's effect.
3. Buffs (spells that aid yourself and your allies) such as Bless, Prayer, Death Ward or Holy Aura.
4. Debuffs (spells that hinder enemies) such a Symbol of Pain or Bestow Curse.
5. Crowd control spells such as Command or Soundburst. This type of spell immobilizes, stuns, traps, or otherwise restricts enemy movement or attacks for a period of time.
6. Healing spells such as Cure Moderate Wounds or Heal. These spells can be cast on any allies to heal them (apart from rare exceptions which are ill-advised under normal circumstances, such as characters with the Improved Fortification feat). Sidenote: the ability to heal allies is especially useful in DDO because: there is no innate healing-over-time like in many other games, and also if you play on the hardest difficulty (see: Reaper Difficulty) self-healing is penalized so everyone benefits when someone else can heal them.

Casting a Spell

When you cast a spell in DDO, here is generally what happens:

1. You press the button which corresponds to a spell you dragged into one of your hotbars.
2. Your character begins to cast the spell.
   • At this point, if you take damage, you must make a Concentration check, or the spell fails.
3. You finish casting the spell, and hopefully hit an enemy. In most cases, the enemy tries to avoid the full effect of your spells:
   • If your spell has a crowd-control effect, you will probably need to make a Spell Penetration check. This could entirely stop the spell’s effect on that creature. (You make a different Spell Penetration check for each affected creature.) New players mostly do not need to worry about Spell Penetration, since it tends to come up much less often in lower-level quests.
   • If your spell has no crowd-control effect, or if you passed the Spell Penetration check, the enemy gets a chance to make a saving throw. They roll a 20-sided die and add it to their relevant modifiers. If they get a number which is higher than your spell’s DC they resist the spell, causing the effect of your spell on that enemy to be mitigated or entirely negated, depending on the spell. Your spell’s DC is based on the spell’s level, your spellcasting ability (Charisma for Sorcerers), and any other boosts to DC you might find from in-game items or effects.
4. If the spell deals damage, roll dice to determine if you got a critical hit (based on your critical hit chance with that type of spell). Deal damage according to the spell’s base damage, modified by your Spellpower, and further increased if you got a critical hit (usually doubled, but it is possible though challenging to increase this later with special items, feats, or enhancements).

(See more details here.)

Spellcasting Terminology

• Base Damage: how much damage the spell does, before any modifiers. For example, Fireball deals 4 to 9 damage per caster level, up to level 10.

• Caster Level (CL): a number which affects the damage of spells and the duration of spells when applicable. This number does not affect your spell’s DC. By default, your caster level equals to the number of levels you have in this class. For example, if you are a level 7 character with 6 levels of wizard and 1 level of rogue, your caster level will be 6 for wizard spells. This number can be increased by some rare effects, and depending on the type of spell; examples include the core enhancements for Fire Savant (boosts CL for fire spells) and Angel of Vengeance (boosts CL for a specific set of divine spells) and the item Robe of Duality (boosts CL for first level arcane spells).

• Spell Level: a number which affects your spell DCs. Also, higher level spells only become available when you level up more times as your spellcasting class. For example, a wizard cannot cast second-level spells until they reach wizard level 3, and cannot cast third-level spells until they have 5 levels of wizard. Note: ``spell level`` does not affect spell damage; damage increase is tied to Caster Level instead (see above). Spell DC is increased by 1 per spell level. The Heighten Metamagic affects this number, raising it to be equal to the level of the highest level spell available to you (based on your level and class).

• DC: a number which determines how high an enemy must roll when they make a saving throw for your spell, in order to resist or negate its effects. DC is based on the spell’s level, your spellcasting ability modifier, and any other boosts to DC you might find from in-game items or effects.

• Saving Throw: the thing enemies make to try to resist your spells. Making a saving throw means rolling a 20-sided die and adding any relevant modifiers, then comparing it to your spell’s DC. If the roll plus the modifiers was lower than your DC, your spell will have full effect, otherwise the enemy has succeeded on their saving throw and your spell will not take full effect. Most spells allow saving throws, but some do not.

• Maximum Caster Level (MCL): a number which is written in the spell description, and limits the damage of a spell. If you cast a spell at a higher caster level than the spell’s max caster level, it will be as if you cast it at its max caster level, meaning it will do less damage than it would have otherwise. For example, casting Fireball at level 20 will deal 40 to 90 base damage, at level 10 will deal 40 to 90 base damage, and at level 6 will deal 24 to 54 base damage. The level 20 and level 10 fireballs have the same base damage because this spell has a max caster level of 10. Max caster level can be increased by a few rare effects, such as various Angel of Vengeance enhancements.

• Casting Time: the time it takes to cast a spell. That is, the time between when your character starts casting the spell, and when your character finishes casting the spell. This is usually not even noticeable for many spells, but some spells (especially persistent area of effect spells) have longer cast times. The Quicken Metamagic reduces this time.

• Spellpower: a number which increases your spell’s damage. Multiply base damage by (100 + spellpower) / 100 to find out how much damage your spell actually does.