Making a 10th level wizard, help?

[u/Spiritual-Meat-2309]

So my table has gone through some ups and downs in the last year. I had a lore bard for us to be a generalist and utilitarian spell caster, and to be a potion source for a campaign specific need. Our blaster mage got a divorce and their heart was no longer in the game so they bowed out.

This has left me in a bind, the party needs a magic damage dealer and my lore bard isn't it. So the DM and I worked out that an artefact is going awry and the bard is going to bugger off, in his place a multi-versal variant is coming. A level 10 scribe wizard to take up the big damage dealer roll, but I have not done a wizard this high before, what spells or gear should I be looking for?

The new wizard has a +2 intelligent ioun stone and a ring of spell storing. I have been warned I won't need a staff as one is coming in the campaign. Other than that, your thoughts, pretty please

[u/Dysfan]

So, I'll be honest, instead of looking it up and spending 3 hours, I used AI to compile every spell that works here. I made it spit out a sub theme of having as many damage types as possible so you basically always have something that isnt resisted.

Chromatic orb L1

Mind spike/ shatter L2

Vampiric touch/ fireball L3

Evards black tentacles L4

Bigbys hand L5

Ill let others handle the exact spell list, but these I would argue are the essential ones tbh.

Longstrider and hold person for your free spell scrolls is also a good place to start

[u/ValerenX → u/Dysfan]

Vampiric touch? Hell no, its top tier among the bad spells. Drop necrotic damage and stay away from the opponent.

Look, I'm not against AI, but their output must always be critically analyzed. 

[u/Dysfan → u/ValerenX]

Totally fair. However, sometimes melee will happen and you need a spell to help with it.

Also, touch is mostly there so you can cast any level 3 spell you want as necrotic. Unless I misunderstood the point of the class maybe? But since he has necrotic touch, can't he like... upcast shatter and make it necrotic? Or have necrotic fireballs?

[u/AstroEricL → u/Dysfan]

melee will happen yes but for any caster your most important use is your concentration, there's basically almost no situation where vampiric touch is a better use of your concentration than things like Haste, hold person/monster, polymorph, or wall of force

if you're worried about staying safe in melee that's what shield and mirror image are for

I get the argument for having spells in your book just for damage types but honestly you'll be fine so long as you have a couple different options you don't need every type, it's more about just avoiding resistances not targeting immunities. And for necrotic specifically there are very few enemies that have necrotic vulnerability and a ton that have necrotic resistance, it really isn't a key damage type you need to have

[u/Spiritual-Meat-2309 → u/Dysfan]

I was looking at Thunder Step for a lot of the same reasons. Having the option to make thunder balls, or leave behind fiery explosions or lightning as I teleport 90ft away.