4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons just doesn’t have as many options for spellcasters as previous editions. This isn’t a complaint, just an observation. There will almost certainly be acres of splatbooks available within a year, but for the moment all we’ve got are the core rulebooks, and I think that’s plenty. With the schools of magic gone (no more Fireball-slinging Evokers; that’s a once-per-day spell now), a familiar old character-creation crutch is gone. Let’s limp along on our own and make an themed Wizard, shall we?

Primary goals: This is just a mental exercise — I don’t have 4e game happening in the near future — so we don’t have to cover absolutely everything, this isn’t about making a totally optimized character — sticking to a theme can lead to sub-optimal choices in the name of consistency — so let’s not sweat it if there’s some way to squeeze a little more damage or utility out of every little decision, this is about putting together a reasonably-playable set of abilities so a little optimization is OK.

What theme to go with? Since this is a new edition of an old favorite, we’ll probably want to go with something immediately-recognizable, something easy to explain, and something that the rules already support in some way. From a quick look at the Wizard powers list, the keyword Ice keeps coming up. There are a couple of Ice-themed feats available, one at Heroic tier and one at Paragon. A character concept that heavily leans on an elemental theme is pretty easy to explain to people (“I’m running a Frost Mage in my new game”), so I think we’re on to something here.

Race: I am generally averse to playing elfy characters or furries, so I’d just as soon not make this fella an Eladrin, Elf, Dragonborn, or Tiefling. Humans are plenty effective in 4e, so we’ll assume the character is Human.

Class: Well obviously we’re going with Wizard. There are a few options here, such as whether we’re going with a War Wizard or a Control Wizard. There’s no real mechanical advantage to one or the other, but just two suggestions for some baseline theming. We’ll eschew that for our ice theme instead.

Implement: Very important to 4e Wizards are their choice of implements. We’ve got Orb of Imposition (very impressive on paper, but mostly applies to once-per-day powers), Staff of Defense (bleh), and Wand of Accuracy (better at hitting stuff strikes me as reasonable). Skipping to the back of the book quickly, I see the Staff of Winter and Wand of Icy Rays, two items that an iconic Frost Mage may well want to have in his arsenal. The staff is available as a 4th level magic item, so I’ll start there. Maybe Wand of Accuracy can be a Heroic-tier secondary implement later on.

Ability Scores: So far we’ve got a Human Wizard that is specialized in Staves. To get the most out of a staff, you’ll want a high Constitution score, but we’re not going to be too nutty here. Intelligence is the main attribute of a Wizard, always will be. So we’ll take the normal ability score spread of 16, 14, 13, 12, 11, and 10 and put them in Int, Con, Dex, Cha, Wiz, and Str respectively. Humans get to put +2 into a single ability of their choice, which will bump Intelligence up to 18. This gives our Frost Mage a +4 to hit and damage with most Wizard powers, and a once-per-encounter retroactive +2 to the defense of his choice (due to his implement specialization).

Skills: Arcana is a given, gotta have it per the rules. The only other class skill that strikes me as thematic here is Nature, so we’ll make sure to pick that one up. We get an extra skill from the Wizard skill list by dint of being human, so we may as well top off on the Intelligence-based skills by going with Arcana, History, Nature, and Religion, and fall back on History to reinforce the idea that this character is a smarty-pants.

Powers: I’ll want to approach this in stages, as there are 30 levels of choices that can go into this. The following are all Ice-based spells, so we’ll want to grab them all:

• Ray of Frost: slows the target and hence limits the opposition’s tactical options. Targets Fortitude, which isn’t great. One of three at-will powers we’ll get as a Human.
• Chill Strike: daze the opponent, hurt ’em a bit, targets Fortitude. Reasonable first pick for a per-encounter ability for any Wizard.
• Icy Terrain: Knocks a burst of targets on their keisters, creates a 15′ x 15′ block of difficult terrain, targets Reflex. I’m going to call this one just-plain-better than its alternative. Not as awesome as Sleep for a 1st level daily power, but I’m willing to make sacrifices for my theme here. Targets Fortitude. Gotta choose between this and Chill Strike, though. Only get one 1st level encounter spell, after all.

That’s the first level. On the way to 10th, the following come up:

• Icy Rays: Hey, it’s the ability that the Wand of Icy Rays gives you as a daily ability, but available as a per-encounter spell. Targets reflex against one or two targets, immobilizes on a hit. Good 3rd level attack
• Bigby’s Icy Grasp: Grabs a target for you? You can sustain it as a minor action? 100′ range? Targets Reflex? Sign me up! Good 5th level daily attack.
• Winter’s Wrath: Deals some damage to a 25′ by 25′ area, grants concealment, targets Fortitude. There are better 7th level per-encounter attacks available, frankly.
• Ice Storm: Immobilizes multiple targets in a 35′ by 35′ area, slows them on a miss, creates difficult terrain that lasts through the encounter. Targets Fortitude. Wall of Fire is probably a better choice for a 9th-level daily attack spell, but that would be pretty ironic.

That rounds out the Heroic Tier powers, and I’ll stop there for the moment. Paragon Tier can wait; ten levels at a time is a pretty big chunk to chew on.

Feats: Humans get a bonus feat at 1st level, everybody gets one to start with, and an additional feat every 2 levels. From 1st to 10th level we’ll have seven total.

• Wintertouched: let’s start off with what’s really a ho-hum feat for anybody not going with this theme. You get Combat Advantage against anything that’s vulnerable to cold. Totally fits the theme, so let’s take it.
• Burning Blizzard: bonus damage to cold powers. Who around here has cold-based powers? Hmm…
• Action Surge: A lot of our powers target Fortitude, which tends to be one of the stronger defenses for monsters. We’ll want to get any bonus to hit that we can.
• Human Perseverance: Good 2nd level feat, as there are very few ways to improve your saving throws in 4e. Along with Action Surge, Humans just plain get the best race-specific feats.
• Armor Proficiency (Leather): this is a tough northern Wizard that doesn’t take any shit off of anybody. Let’s give him a +2 to armor, since we don’t have to worry about arcane spell failure in 4e (shock!).
• Armor Proficiency (Hide): even better AC bonus, still get to use Intelligence as an AC modifier. Roaming around wearing bearskin and a furry robe strikes me as thematically-appropriate.
• Tough: Hit points are good. More hit points are better. Being more rugged than your typical Wizard fits the concept, I think.
• Jack of All Trades: Hey, why not get a +2 on untrained skill checks? Might save your life.

For first level, let’s take Action Surge and Burning Blizzard, and fill in the others as we advance.

Equipment: This should be pretty straightforward. Standard adventurer’s kit, some cold-weather adventurer’s clothing, a spell/ritual book, and a staff.

Back-fill: We’ve got a lot of class powers that target Fortitude, which isn’t a terribly great thing. If you want to hit something, you target Reflexes or Will, so we’ll probably want to pepper our non-theme levels (there aren’t many) with effects that give us a little more versatility in that respect. Magic Missile and Scorching Burst make reasonable second and third at-will powers (the third is available due to the Human racial abilities). Shield synergizes nicely with the relatively high-AC Wizard subtheme. Dimension Door is a great utility spell for when you get in trouble, regardless of character theme, though Wall of Fog blends in better for thematic purposes (I associate fog with cold, being from Northern California). Both Blur and Resistance strike me as mildly theme-supporting for the 10th-level utility spell, so flip a coin. If you started at 1st level, you know whether you’re better off with the reduction in damage or improvement to defense (based on your DM and the nature of the campaign).

Overall? I think it’s workable.

*Edit 4.12.2009: Looks like there were several errors in this post. Just noticed it when I was giving the WotC character generator a spin and tried leveling up a bit. Armor Proficiency (Hide) has stat requirements that wouldn’t jive with the standard array used here, Burning Blizzard has a Wisdom requirement, and there are a ton of typos up there. Egads. Anyhow, here’s a snapshot of something similar to what I was shooting for, circa 10th level:

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======
Jack Frost, level 10
Human, Wizard
Arcane Implement Mastery: Staff of Defense

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 13, Con 16, Dex 10, Int 20, Wis 13, Cha 10.

Starting Ability Scores
Str 13, Con 14, Dex 10, Int 16, Wis 13, Cha 10.

AC: 27 Fort: 22 Reflex: 23 Will: 21
HP: 67 Surges: 9 Surge Value: 16

TRAINED SKILLS
Insight, Arcana, Nature, History, Religion.

FEATS
1: Ritual Caster
1: Action Surge
1: Wintertouched
2: Armor Proficiency (Leather)
4: Toughness
6: Armor Proficiency (Hide)
8: Burning Blizzard
10: Coordinated Explosion

POWERS
1, At-Will: Ray of Frost
1, At-Will: Thunderwave
1, Encounter: Icy Terrain
1, Daily: Freezing Cloud
Spellbook: Phantom Chasm
1, At-Will: Scorching Burst
2, Utility: Expeditious Retreat
Spellbook: Jump
3, Encounter: Icy Rays
5, Daily: Bigby’s Icy Grasp
Spellbook: Stinking Cloud
6, Utility: Dimension Door
Spellbook: Wall of Fog
7, Encounter: Winter’s Wrath
9, Daily: Ice Storm
Spellbook: Wall of Fire
10, Utility: Blur
Spellbook: Arcane Gate

ITEMS
Spellbook, Adventurer’s Kit, Architect’s Staff +3, Veteran’s Earthhide Armor +3, Boots of Eagerness (heroic tier), Spell Anchors (heroic tier), Cloak of Distortion +2, Polyglot Gem (heroic tier)

RITUALS
Arcane Mark, Comprehend Language, Make Whole
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======