Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Benny BBQ 01-18-06, 07:25 PM	First of all, I must say that I love the concept of the domain wizard, be it only for the ability to customise the character even further. Now! I understand how narrowing your focus to only 9 spells (instead of specializing in a whole school of magic) could justify removing *some* of the drawback of specialization, but where's the balance between the domain wizard and the generalist wizards then?!? The variant basically allows a wizard an extra spell of each level (in addition to the +1 caster level for casting the spell in question) without any drawback... I might have missed something (quite frankly, I hope I did...), but, to me, this makes no sense at all; generalist wizards simply wouldn't exist anymore. Could someone help me on this, please? Oh, and were this to be an actual error, has anyone thought of a way to balance things out? Thanks in advance. Have a good one! -Ben
Lina_Inverse 01-18-06, 10:13 PM	That would require specilizeing to be balanced. Whens the last time you saw a wizard who WASNT a diviner who dropped evocation?
FriendlyBiscuit 01-19-06, 04:58 AM	That would require specilizeing to be balanced. Whens the last time you saw a wizard who WASNT a diviner who dropped evocation?Not sure I can help the OP, but... I drop Evocation every single time. Fireballs bore me, as do magic missiles. If I wanted that kind of action, I'd play the kind of RPG that involved grenade launchers and flak cannons. The only ones I never drop are Transmutation and Abjuration.
Millennium 01-19-06, 09:48 AM	I might have missed something (quite frankly, I hope I did...), but, to me, this makes no sense at all; generalist wizards simply wouldn't exist anymore. I think that may actually be the point: domain wizards are supposed to replace the "standard" wizard class. What this means for "specialist" wizards isn't really made clear: perhaps they have domains and specializations, or perhaps they don't exist either.
Benny BBQ 01-19-06, 07:57 PM	What I understand from it is that it'd give wizards yet another option for customization: you can either choose to be a generalist, a specialist (thereby choosing prohibited schools), or a domain wizard (which effectively gives you more spells per day than a standard [generalist] wizard, and lets you cast them at +1 caster level). The rules given in Unearthed Arcana don't, however, mention any sort of drawback for these advantages, and that is what I'm talking about precisely... Now, the full specialization penalties just seem like too much of a cost when compared to the benefits of the domain variant... (focusing on a whole school is enough to lose access to two other schools, but specializing in but 9 spells; I ain't sure about that anymore). Some ideas occured to me: An idea might be to choose only one prohibited school, but then, there'd be some messing-up going on regarding certain schools/spells, as some yould abuse the system... Or maybe to choose two schools not as prohibited schools, but as "botched studies" schools... This would impose a -1 penalty to the caster's level when attempting to cast spells from these schools (sort of like the opposite of what the domain grants). It wouldn't be overly restrictive, yet it wouldn't provide domain wizards with a way to get bonus spells freely. Or, we could simply deny the character its familiar; I don't know... Anyone else has ideas on the topic?
Koga:The ninja trick 01-19-06, 10:21 PM	It's not balanced, so make it so number one.. Most of the varaints in unearthed arcana trade something for something, so let the wizard gain his 2 domains in exchange for his scribe-scroll feat, that seems pretty fair..
elven warriorXX 01-20-06, 09:07 PM	I also like the Domain wizard. But if you use the Domain system there will be no general wizard. Just like there is no Generalist cleric.
Seeker of Undeath 01-20-06, 09:15 PM	I also like the Domain wizard. But if you use the Domain system there will be no general wizard. Just like there is no Generalist cleric.This is true. Then again using a domain wizard is a replacement for specialization, not a competitor. It becomes domain wizards or nothing.