Just idle curiosity at this point, but whatever, would a player be happy with a wizard in this campaign? Are there any schools that are particularly valuable? Conversely, what schools can a specialist can do without? It is always a drag to play a wizard and then find no scrolls the entire campaign, discover only one spellbook (formerly the property of a necromancer and necromancy is one of your barred schools), and now that you think about it the campaign would have been just as much fun with no arcane caster in the party at all.
Not that I've ever had a bad experience. The only thing I can think of more irritating than the useless wizard is the ranger who took favored enemy undead and finds himself in a campaign where he never comes across a single zombie.
Just idle curiosity at this point, but whatever, would a player be happy with a wizard in this campaign? Are there any schools that are particularly valuable? Conversely, what schools can a specialist can do without? It is always a drag to play a wizard and then find no scrolls the entire campaign, discover only one spellbook (formerly the property of a necromancer and necromancy is one of your barred schools), and now that you think about it the campaign would have been just as much fun with no arcane caster in the party at all.
Not that I've ever had a bad experience. The only thing I can think of more irritating than the useless wizard is the ranger who took favored enemy undead and finds himself in a campaign where he never comes across a single zombie.
You could do what I do and hint to the Ranger as to what types of creatures hes more likely to encounter, unless he has a specific build in mind based on his background story.
As to the original question, Arcane casters are always useful. Not to sure about fire-happy spellslingers in the City of Brass though. There should be enough enemy casters/treasure hoards around the campaign to give up a few spellbooks, scrolls, wizardly items, etc.
Our sorcerer must have had some precognitive powers (or just got a hint from the name of the AP). She's a water-focused sorc dipping into water shugenja. May not be totally relevant at these early stages but if she lasts till the end of the AP, she'll be quite useful.
Just idle curiosity at this point, but whatever, would a player be happy with a wizard in this campaign? Are there any schools that are particularly valuable? Conversely, what schools can a specialist can do without? It is always a drag to play a wizard and then find no scrolls the entire campaign, discover only one spellbook (formerly the property of a necromancer and necromancy is one of your barred schools), and now that you think about it the campaign would have been just as much fun with no arcane caster in the party at all.
Not that I've ever had a bad experience. The only thing I can think of more irritating than the useless wizard is the ranger who took favored enemy undead and finds himself in a campaign where he never comes across a single zombie.
Well, I think its the responsibility of the GM to do some character prep work. Like they said, suggest certain favored enemy types.
For Wizards, well, you have to alter some of the treasure hoards. That's part of being a GM. If one of your players is a gnome using a Starknife, then at some point, a villain should be using a small, magic starknife so that the character gets a chance to get a neat magic item.
In other words, swap out some treasure and include some scrolls and spellbooks. Add the wizard template to one of the NPC villains. Etc.
It doesn;t take much and makes the game more fun for everyone. That being said, I think a buffing wizard is welcome in any party.
Our wizard player is very happy with the AP so far (we just finished Part 2). As a Conjurer he is a very useful caster, and most of the important encounters were much easier thanks to his spell repertoire. This is especially the case if it comes to the big hitters. They tend to have very low Ref and/or Will saves, and with such spells as Grease, Slow and Glitterdust (and even a well placed Color Spray) he was able to efficiently decide the battles at an early stage. Enlarge Person is also an all-time favorite to even the sides.
Are there any schools that are particularly valuable? Conversely, what schools can a specialist can do without?
Taking into account the main theme of the AP, a specialist wizard should consider skipping the Evocation school with its multitude of fire spells. Personally, I highly recommend the Conjuration and Transmutation schools instead, and to focus more on buffing/hindering spells than damage dealing.
It is always a drag to play a wizard and then find no scrolls the entire campaign, discover only one spellbook (formerly the property of a necromancer and necromancy is one of your barred schools), and now that you think about it the campaign would have been just as much fun with no arcane caster in the party at all.
As for the loot, there is enough good stuff for the wizard, I believe. Especially when you play certain Set Pieces... There are also a lot of fluff items such as tomes and books that wizards of a scholarly type should enjoy.
I play a universal wizard, and it's been gloriously entertaining so far. All spells to obtain and use without limits, and I don't mind not using the more dazzling specialist abilities at 1st and 8th level.
He's also a devotee of Nethys, which turned out to be interesting as far as storyline.
As far as individual games go, a good DM could make any specialist feel "special" in any AP. I don't detect any one specialist school prevailing here.