So now we've had a look at the finished Wizard, what do you feel your choice will be, Universalist or Specialist?
Which 2 Schools would you have as Prohibited?
And, if, prohibited still meant never, would you change those 2 schools?
I think it's become balanced to the point where power considerations are less prominent, and roleplaying and character concept considerations are more prominent. Universalists have gotten a significant but not overwhelming bump that makes them a reasonable choice.
Illusion, Enchantment, and Necromancy are usually the most dispensable school in our campaigns; necromancy can be weak for PCs, and lots of monsters are immune to the others.
I hope that the spells within each school have been changed enough that the question isn't possible to answer without seeing the spells section. I especially hope they removed a number of spells from Transmutation.
That said, choosing prohibited schools in 3.5 was always the experience of intentionally hobbling your character. It was like volunteering to have two ability scores of 6. It was never about the ideal choice.
Right now, it's about "which school do you want extra spells and powers from" and the prohibited schools are sort of an afterthought. You probably wouldn't want to prepare any highest-level spells of the prohibited school, barring a total emergency, but it will actually eat up those (perhaps) unused lower spell slots. That could actually be considered an advantage of playing a Specialist.
For me the choice will be an evoker with enchantment and necromancy as the prohibited schools. Not a fan of save or bad stuff happens type of spells.
Doug
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Thats a hard question, especially since I don't play the same character in every game. Typically I prefer an Enchanter with Aburation and Illusion prohibited. My old transmuter (evo & conj) had to be retired when Beta came out and polymorph rules were 'fixed.' I'll be waiting for my book to arrive before I make any final calls for new pereferences, though.
Uni
On the rare occasion I play a wizard PC I want maximum versatility. If I'm going to be the utility support guy I want to do as much as possible for the party.
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Usually specialist. The extra spells are too good to pass up. I usually went conjuror. Alternate conjurer abilities were usually too good to pass up, and the fact that I generally liked to make gishes not only made conjuration yummier to specialize in (teleport and mage armor! Yes please!), but also made evocation a great school to drop. I deal damage by smashing a sword into your face, spells were generally utilitarian or defensive in nature. The other school would often be necromancy because like others have mentioned, the squick factor was significant, despite such wonderful spells as ray of enfeeblement.
Transmutation is very useful for a fighter type, Greater Mirror Image is the one of the best defensive spells for a gish ever, and abjuration is also perfect for the type of gishes I prefer.
Now....I'd have to see the powers. the acid in beta was okay, but not too useful for my gish types, despite the always on mage armor lite. transmutation bonuses were pretty awesome for gish types. I'd probably go transmuter for my favorite gish type wizards.
Wow, that's a mixed bag so far! I guess that's good news for Jason and his crew.
I prefer to drop Necro, and usually Enchantment because that school doesn't really "do it" for me. But I guess it kinda depends on your character concept.
I would almost always specialize; extra spells are such a draw for me. Personally, I really haven't ever thought the loss of 2 schools that big of a deal.
Those of you that like the Enchantment school, which spells are the real gems for you?
I've thought about this today, and I really don't know how I would answer it. I don't often decide what I'm going to do with a character until I am making him or her, and then go with what I like for that personality.
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Example:
My sorceress wound up with using mostly her fire based spells during the first chapter of Rise of the Runelords, and received a wand of produce flames as part of her treasure split. When we translated the characters from 3.0/3.5 to 3.5/Beta, it was a no-brainer to choose elemental fire bloodline for her.
So, for me, I would honestly need to know the campaign, the hints and expectations that the GM gives as to what will and won't work in his opinion, and what my fellow gamers want to play before I could create my character. I see things I like in both the specialist and universalist, and can see myself easily playing either :)
I usually pick Specialist for the extra spells and almost always drop Necromancy and Enchantment. Sorcerers really have to make the "specialist" choice by default due to limited spells known. I usually prefer Sorcerer and have only recently played a Druid/Wizard because I required a more diverse selection of spells known.
The reasons I typically drop those schools...
Necromancy - In most of my past games even casting a necromantic spell was setting yourself up to be arrested or smited by another do-gooder who might identify you casting an "evil" spell. Some of the spells seem harmless enough, but then you have the animate undead spells and the spells that make people wither in their own skin.
Enchantment - Traditionally an extremely difficult school which requires a nice DM, tons of "good" roleplay and/or amazingly poor die rolls from opponents. Half or more don't even work in combat or fail when combat begins. I've seen it work with all your feats leaning that direction,(Spell focus, Grt. spell focus, Spell penetration) but I'm still not sold and usually dump it long before I dump necromancy. I also don't care much for playing Bards, which may or may not have something to do with it.
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they are half-sister/cousin half elves -- same elven dad, twin sisters for the two moms ... it's complicated.
Just a little. So much drama, no more Lifetime for you, you're cut-off. lol!
the hints and expectations that the GM gives as to what will and won't work in his opinion, and what my fellow gamers want to play before I could create my character.
Ditto, though being an artist I have about a million concepts for characters shuffling about in my mind and on paper, just need to remember one and start rolling stats.
Those of you that like the Enchantment school, which spells are the real gems for you?
I don't know if there are any spells that particularly stand out. The only one that I can think of is suggestion. I love thinking of creative or odd suggestions for my target to follow.
I had a lot of fun playing a character concept who was completely geared towards enchantment and mind control. Dr. Mindbender was awesome despite the fact that any fighter of his level could easily cut him down with a slice or two of his sword. It may be a weak school but it's one of the most fun IMO.
they are half-sister/cousin half elves -- same elven dad, twin sisters for the two moms ... it's complicated.Just a little. So much drama, no more Lifetime for you, you're cut-off. lol!
::giggle:: I primarily watch Discovery Channel, History Channel when Discovery airs "Haunted" ::brrrrr:: or play DVDs. So these girls just ... sorta appeared that way :)
the hints and expectations that the GM gives as to what will and won't work in his opinion, and what my fellow gamers want to play before I could create my character.Ditto, though being an artist I have about a million concepts for characters shuffling about in my mind and on paper, just need to remember one and start rolling stats.
Oh, they're prolly all in there, but I don't let 'em come out to play until I want to create one. Learned that lesson during Champions, I made far too many just for fun, and then started running out of ideas I found 'unique' :)
Those of you that like the Enchantment school, which spells are the real gems for you?I don't know if there are any spells that particularly stand out. The only one that I can think of is suggestion. I love thinking of creative or odd suggestions for my target to follow.
I had a lot of fun playing a character concept who was completely geared towards enchantment and mind control. Dr. Mindbender was awesome despite the fact that any fighter of his level could easily cut him down with a slice or two of his sword. It may be a weak school but it's one of the most fun IMO.
Too many save or Suck/Die spells requiring very high INT score and Feat commitment to be competitive.
So now we've had a look at the finished Wizard, what do you feel your choice will be, Universalist or Specialist?
Which 2 Schools would you have as Prohibited?
And, if, prohibited still meant never, would you change those 2 schools?
This thread is a bit early considering we have very little concept of what the specialist schools are like in the final version. Seeing as the Generalist was changed so much is it safe to assume the specialist is going to be nearly unchanged from the beta?
The other thing is... which schools got nerfed the most in the final?
Also, are you talking about just with the Pathfinder Core rules or with Spell Compendium which significantly changes the balance of power in favor of specialists by broadening the types of spells available (For example some Transmutation spells in SC do direct damage and tons of conjuration spells that do direct damage are included).
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This thread is a bit early considering we have very little concept of what the specialist schools are like in the final version. Seeing as the Generalist was changed so much is it safe to assume the specialist is going to be nearly unchanged from the beta?
Stop using logic, you know logic has no place on the interweb.
This thread is a bit early considering we have very little concept of what the specialist schools are like in the final version. Seeing as the Generalist was changed so much is it safe to assume the specialist is going to be nearly unchanged from the beta?Stop using logic, you know logic has no place on the interweb.
Oops... my bad, please continue.