advice for specialist wizards [Archive] - Wizards Community

advice for specialist wizards [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
shades of eternity
12-11-04, 12:56 AM a friend of mine was thinking about playing a specialist wizard (probably a conjurer)

What advice do you have for playing one and/or specialist wizards in general?
Zsasz_Diedne
12-11-04, 09:48 AM Not being facetious, but in a word: don't, it's not worth what you lose, unless of course he's a Red Wizard with cohorts:)

If he is still determined, make sure he looks over the schools of magic to understand what it is he is losing out on in the future as far as spellcasting goes.

He might also want to consider taking one level of sorcerer, which will allow him to use spell completion and spell trigger items for spells of his prohibited schools.
kidman
12-11-04, 11:12 AM As I said in a different thred the varient specialist wizards in the unearthed arcanea are really good (you can sack your bonous spells, your bonous feats, and your familiar for stuff that will help your wizard like more somoning stuff)
Thermanshs
12-11-04, 12:41 PM I've also wrote a small article about specializing on my last post in THIS THREAD (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=185835)
Luminous Crayon
12-11-04, 02:23 PM This is the part where Luminous Crayon shameless quotes himself from a few days ago, in another thread, on the subject of which schools for a specialized wizard to drop. (Congratulations on conjuration, by the way; it's one of my top 3 favorites.) There are always a few threads on this subject on the Spells and Magic board; you should check that out for more input.

I am personally not a big fan of evocation; I drop evocation 99% of the time when playing specialized wizards. Since the school is composed of mostly damage-dealing spells, and your party will likely include fighter-types designed to do nothing but stand on the front lines absorbing and dealing damage, I find evocation somewhat redundant, despite its quick and effective ways to kill things. I tend to prefer to be the party's Swiss army knife when I play a spellcaster, using my spells to accomplish things that couldn't be done with nonmagical means, so I drop evocation. Evocation has only four spells I really miss: light, shatter, wall of force, and one other that mysteriously slips my mind right now. I'll figure it out later when I get back to my books.

The other school I drop varies more, because the choice is not as easy. So I'm going to do this by process of elimination.

You can't drop divination, according to the rules. Not that I would anyway. Detect magic has got to be the single most frequently used spell of any spellcaster I've ever played. Not to mention things like identify, detect thoughts, scrying, true seeing... I could go on and on. Divination is gold.

Abjuration is one of those that I consider to have fewer spells that are really useful, but the ones that are useful are absolutely invaluable. Dispel magic by itself is enough to keep me from ever having abjuration as a prohibited school. I really need to play around with abjuration more; I'm certain there are a lot of things there that are really useful, if I wouldn't overlook them.

Conjuration is one of my favorite schools, because it is versatile. There are spells that protect, spells that hurt, spells that get you things, spells that produce instant meatshields in battle... This is one of those schools that takes a bit of research to use effectively, because of the way Summon Monster spells work. There are so many abilities that those spells give you access to (even the fabled arcane healing can be yours, when you summon one of several celestials available to you with a higher level summon monster or planar ally spell.) I once played a sorceror designed entirely around summon monster spells-- the character was nigh unstoppable, because I knew what I had the ability to summon, and when each creature would be most useful. Fire elementals when fighting trolls in the dark, hippogriffs when flying away from huge zombie giants at top speed... there's so much there.

Enchantment I have mixed feeling about. A lot of the spells are quite useful in the proper context, but if you're in a combat-heavy game with little or no social interaction, they lose most of their appeal. In the sort of intrigue-laden, socially-focused games I like to run, enchantment (alongside divination) is about the best thing you can possibly have at your disposal. In any other sort of game, I have no qualms about dropping it like a bad habit.

Illusion is quite possibly my favorite school; like conjuration and transmutation, it's got so much variety. Color spray alone has saved my life on numerous occasions at low levels. Invisibility has a thousand uses. The various _____ image spells are infinitely versatile and amazingly useful in the hands of a creative player, and can confuse and tie up an enemy indefinitely. Not to mention illusion's numerous defensive buffs (displacement, mirror image, etc.), a small smattering of save-or-die spells (including phantasmal killer, the lowest-level save-or-die in the entire PHB), and a good assortment of general utility magic. Illusion also has disguise self, which is definitely my favorite low-level spell in the game, and a contender for my favorite spell of any level. Illusion is one of the spells I would definitely never do without.

Necromancy is one I have mixed feelings about. This one depends on the character, I think, more than anything. I don't tend to play undead-obsessed mages, but that's hardly the only function of this school. Ray of enfeeblement is absolutely gorgeous, and the school's numerous ways to deal with large numbers of enemies (waves of fatigue and an assortment of group save-or-dies) make it rival evocation for pure damage dealing potential, especially when you hit 8th level spells and get horrid wilting, which is just sickeningly effective. Also, necromancy has some very interesting miscellaneous spells, such as magic jar and clone, which would make you reconsider dropping the school. in general terms, while plenty of schools (abjuration, transmutation, illusion) have buffs for your allies, only necromancy specializes in debuffs to take the wind out of your enemies. Still, for a lot of characters, I can drop this one without much of a struggle.

Transmutation is another one of my favorite schools, like conjuration and illusion, for its pure variety. You get a huge number of excellent buffs, a handful of save-or-"die" spells (baleful polymorph comes quickly to mind), and a variety of assorted utility spells, like the versatile telekinesis, and the frequently underestimated rope trick. Transmutation is another one of those incredible super-schools that I find it incredibly difficult to function without. In fact, one of my favorite characters of all time is a transmuter (enchantment and evocation prohibited).

So, to sum up:

Schools to never, ever go without: Conjuration, illusion, transmutation.
Schools you'll probably not want to go without: Abjuration.
Schools you should seriously consider going without: Enchantment, Necromancy.
Schools I almost never miss when they're gone: Evocation.
Mirikon
12-11-04, 06:10 PM Honestly, it depends on how your friend wants to play his wizard. Specializing gives you some advantages, but it also creates some problems. If you choose to specialize, I'd make sure that, if your party doesn't have another caster which can use abjuration and transmutation spells, that you'll want to make sure not to drop those, since abjuration helps keep you alive, and transmutation is nice for item creation. That being said, if your guy wants a challenge, go down the list and pick two schools at random. It is often more rewarding to take a 'sub-optimal' concept and make it work than it is to be teh uberest wizard evar. It just takes a little more work on his part.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
shades of eternity 12-11-04, 12:56 AM	a friend of mine was thinking about playing a specialist wizard (probably a conjurer) What advice do you have for playing one and/or specialist wizards in general?
Zsasz_Diedne 12-11-04, 09:48 AM	Not being facetious, but in a word: don't, it's not worth what you lose, unless of course he's a Red Wizard with cohorts:) If he is still determined, make sure he looks over the schools of magic to understand what it is he is losing out on in the future as far as spellcasting goes. He might also want to consider taking one level of sorcerer, which will allow him to use spell completion and spell trigger items for spells of his prohibited schools.
kidman 12-11-04, 11:12 AM	As I said in a different thred the varient specialist wizards in the unearthed arcanea are really good (you can sack your bonous spells, your bonous feats, and your familiar for stuff that will help your wizard like more somoning stuff)
Thermanshs 12-11-04, 12:41 PM	I've also wrote a small article about specializing on my last post in THIS THREAD (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=185835)
Luminous Crayon 12-11-04, 02:23 PM	This is the part where Luminous Crayon shameless quotes himself from a few days ago, in another thread, on the subject of which schools for a specialized wizard to drop. (Congratulations on conjuration, by the way; it's one of my top 3 favorites.) There are always a few threads on this subject on the Spells and Magic board; you should check that out for more input. I am personally not a big fan of evocation; I drop evocation 99% of the time when playing specialized wizards. Since the school is composed of mostly damage-dealing spells, and your party will likely include fighter-types designed to do nothing but stand on the front lines absorbing and dealing damage, I find evocation somewhat redundant, despite its quick and effective ways to kill things. I tend to prefer to be the party's Swiss army knife when I play a spellcaster, using my spells to accomplish things that couldn't be done with nonmagical means, so I drop evocation. Evocation has only four spells I really miss: light, shatter, wall of force, and one other that mysteriously slips my mind right now. I'll figure it out later when I get back to my books. The other school I drop varies more, because the choice is not as easy. So I'm going to do this by process of elimination. You can't drop divination, according to the rules. Not that I would anyway. Detect magic has got to be the single most frequently used spell of any spellcaster I've ever played. Not to mention things like identify, detect thoughts, scrying, true seeing... I could go on and on. Divination is gold. Abjuration is one of those that I consider to have fewer spells that are really useful, but the ones that are useful are absolutely invaluable. Dispel magic by itself is enough to keep me from ever having abjuration as a prohibited school. I really need to play around with abjuration more; I'm certain there are a lot of things there that are really useful, if I wouldn't overlook them. Conjuration is one of my favorite schools, because it is versatile. There are spells that protect, spells that hurt, spells that get you things, spells that produce instant meatshields in battle... This is one of those schools that takes a bit of research to use effectively, because of the way Summon Monster spells work. There are so many abilities that those spells give you access to (even the fabled arcane healing can be yours, when you summon one of several celestials available to you with a higher level summon monster or planar ally spell.) I once played a sorceror designed entirely around summon monster spells-- the character was nigh unstoppable, because I knew what I had the ability to summon, and when each creature would be most useful. Fire elementals when fighting trolls in the dark, hippogriffs when flying away from huge zombie giants at top speed... there's so much there. Enchantment I have mixed feeling about. A lot of the spells are quite useful in the proper context, but if you're in a combat-heavy game with little or no social interaction, they lose most of their appeal. In the sort of intrigue-laden, socially-focused games I like to run, enchantment (alongside divination) is about the best thing you can possibly have at your disposal. In any other sort of game, I have no qualms about dropping it like a bad habit. Illusion is quite possibly my favorite school; like conjuration and transmutation, it's got so much variety. Color spray alone has saved my life on numerous occasions at low levels. Invisibility has a thousand uses. The various _____ image spells are infinitely versatile and amazingly useful in the hands of a creative player, and can confuse and tie up an enemy indefinitely. Not to mention illusion's numerous defensive buffs (displacement, mirror image, etc.), a small smattering of save-or-die spells (including phantasmal killer, the lowest-level save-or-die in the entire PHB), and a good assortment of general utility magic. Illusion also has disguise self, which is definitely my favorite low-level spell in the game, and a contender for my favorite spell of any level. Illusion is one of the spells I would definitely never do without. Necromancy is one I have mixed feelings about. This one depends on the character, I think, more than anything. I don't tend to play undead-obsessed mages, but that's hardly the only function of this school. Ray of enfeeblement is absolutely gorgeous, and the school's numerous ways to deal with large numbers of enemies (waves of fatigue and an assortment of group save-or-dies) make it rival evocation for pure damage dealing potential, especially when you hit 8th level spells and get horrid wilting, which is just sickeningly effective. Also, necromancy has some very interesting miscellaneous spells, such as magic jar and clone, which would make you reconsider dropping the school. in general terms, while plenty of schools (abjuration, transmutation, illusion) have buffs for your allies, only necromancy specializes in debuffs to take the wind out of your enemies. Still, for a lot of characters, I can drop this one without much of a struggle. Transmutation is another one of my favorite schools, like conjuration and illusion, for its pure variety. You get a huge number of excellent buffs, a handful of save-or-"die" spells (baleful polymorph comes quickly to mind), and a variety of assorted utility spells, like the versatile telekinesis, and the frequently underestimated rope trick. Transmutation is another one of those incredible super-schools that I find it incredibly difficult to function without. In fact, one of my favorite characters of all time is a transmuter (enchantment and evocation prohibited). So, to sum up: Schools to never, ever go without: Conjuration, illusion, transmutation. Schools you'll probably not want to go without: Abjuration. Schools you should seriously consider going without: Enchantment, Necromancy. Schools I almost never miss when they're gone: Evocation.
Mirikon 12-11-04, 06:10 PM	Honestly, it depends on how your friend wants to play his wizard. Specializing gives you some advantages, but it also creates some problems. If you choose to specialize, I'd make sure that, if your party doesn't have another caster which can use abjuration and transmutation spells, that you'll want to make sure not to drop those, since abjuration helps keep you alive, and transmutation is nice for item creation. That being said, if your guy wants a challenge, go down the list and pick two schools at random. It is often more rewarding to take a 'sub-optimal' concept and make it work than it is to be teh uberest wizard evar. It just takes a little more work on his part.