I'm sure this has been hashed out in the past, but I haven't seen it lately and it might be a different discussion in light of new material. (For example, the landscape with all sources in play looks pretty different than when Treantmonk wrote his guide.)
Mechanically, I think there are basically two considerations in picking a wizard specialization:
1) Does it have good/useful school powers?
2) Does it have good school spells? Specifically, do I think, as I move up through the levels, that I can almost always find a spell of this school of each level that I want to have prepared? (Since there's no reason you couldn't be an Enchanter and memorize Necromancy spells for every other slot and be solid, as long as you still could make good use of your bonus slots.)
I personally think Divination (especially Foresight) and Conjuration (especially Teleportation) are some of the best picks as far as #1 is concerned; I tend to think Conjuration and Transmutation are some of the best picks as far as #2 is concerned.
Does anyone disagree? I'm curious to see what, if anything, I've missed.
Some ground rules / caveats, if you please:
1) Argue in terms of mechanics rather than flavor; I think necromancers and illusionists are cool and would play either based on how cool they are, but I can't justify it based on how strong they are. I'm interested in learning what I'm missing, not that you think necromancers are cool, too.
2) Round in favor of assuming your prototypical utility/control minded wizard in general; that being said, if there's some odd angle that makes abjuration the king for a blaster or gish-minded wizard that I'm not seeing I'd be interested in hearing that, too.
3) If your ideas require that X book be in play, please qualify it as such; I tend to play in a lot of games that are just Core book or Core + APG.
Sorry, I know what you're gettin' at but I just can't play that way. I play whatever fits the concept that I'm looking for at the time ... optimal or not.
I honestly think ANY school can be powerful, vying for number one, if you build it right.
I certainly have preferences, and some schools edge others out at certain levels, but overall they are balanced against each other.
My personal favorites are Enchantment and Illusion, and the most common school for me to pick as an opposing school is Divination... but I have tried all of them.
Transmutation (Enhancement) caught my eye for its ability to give quick boosts to Int on critcal rounds. Means you stand a better chance on those save-or-die DCs.
Yeah, I can agree with the concept of picking whatever seems to fit. The game is supposed to be made to keep everything relatively balanced. And it pretty much is. I made a transmuter (enhancement focus) and he was pretty awesome... Try to keep the power gamer within sated.
I'm sure this has been hashed out in the past, but I haven't seen it lately and it might be a different discussion in light of new material. (For example, the landscape with all sources in play looks pretty different than when Treantmonk wrote his guide.)
Mechanically, I think there are basically two considerations in picking a wizard specialization:
1) Does it have good/useful school powers?
2) Does it have good school spells? Specifically, do I think, as I move up through the levels, that I can almost always find a spell of this school of each level that I want to have prepared? (Since there's no reason you couldn't be an Enchanter and memorize Necromancy spells for every other slot and be solid, as long as you still could make good use of your bonus slots.)
I personally think Divination (especially Foresight) and Conjuration (especially Teleportation) are some of the best picks as far as #1 is concerned; I tend to think Conjuration and Transmutation are some of the best picks as far as #2 is concerned.
Does anyone disagree? I'm curious to see what, if anything, I've missed.
Some ground rules / caveats, if you please:
1) Argue in terms of mechanics rather than flavor; I think necromancers and illusionists are cool and would play either based on how cool they are, but I can't justify it based on how strong they are. I'm interested in learning what I'm missing, not that you think necromancers are cool, too.
2) Round in favor of assuming your prototypical utility/control minded wizard in general; that being said, if there's some odd angle that makes abjuration the king for a blaster or gish-minded wizard that I'm not seeing I'd be interested in hearing that, too.
3) If your ideas require that X book be in play, please qualify it as such; I tend to play in a lot of games that are just Core book or Core + APG.
I don't think there is really a best school, but for my personal taste I like conjuration. You get summons, and you can call outsiders. It also has spells that ignore SR, probably more than any other school. It is also not generally shutdown by a high save. That fact that it is not SoD focused means you don't have high level bosses with resistances to it, and GM worrying that you will one-shot the final the boss and countering with blanket immunity or a high save just for one spell.
I am sure there are other points also.
From a raw mechanical point of view, Divination has the top slot, sheerly for the purposes of initiative. A wizard who goes first can completely change the course of the battle.
Conjuration is a decent one, particularly the Teleportation subschool, as it gives you an extremely useful "get out of jail free" card, which is much more useful than the Acid Dart, which is only useful at low levels.
Transmutation isn't impressive, as once you have magic items, the enhancement bonuses to stats are worthless.
Necromancy isn't terrible, though the fact that Command Undead is based on Charisma, the favored wizard dump stat, is painful. If you're going for Undead, then the Undead subschool is a good option (and really, what necromancer wouldn't take necromancy?)
Evocation is pretty dull, but it does it's job if a blaster is what you're looking for, though that's not where most wizards should focus. The Admixture subschool is better than the base school, IMO, as flexibility is important for a blaster.
Illusion is pretty solid, particularly for a gnome with the Effortless Trickery feat, as it can allow you to have multiple 'concentration' duration illusions running at once. Neither of the subschools particularly impress me.
The Enchantment one is decent enough, considering that enhancement bonuses to skills are uncommon, though I'm not a fan of any of the melee touch abilities. The Controller and Manipulator subschools are definitely pretty solid, though.
Abjuration doesn't impress me in the slightest, given that none of the abilities stack with other, easily obtainable abilities. The Banishment and Counterspell subschools are more effective.
And the Universalist is, well, universal. And not very good.
Just my two cents on wizard schools.
I agree with your assessment.
Personally, I would go with either Divination (#1 choice) or Conjuration (#2 choice). However if I was thinking of focusing on Conjuration, I'd seriously consider taking the Summoner, from the APG, instead.
From a raw mechanical point of view, Divination has the top slot, sheerly for the purposes of initiative. A wizard who goes first can completely change the course of the battle.
Conjuration is a decent one, particularly the Teleportation subschool, as it gives you an extremely useful "get out of jail free" card, which is much more useful than the Acid Dart, which is only useful at low levels.
Transmutation isn't impressive, as once you have magic items, the enhancement bonuses to stats are worthless.
Necromancy isn't terrible, though the fact that Command Undead is based on Charisma, the favored wizard dump stat, is painful. If you're going for Undead, then the Undead subschool is a good option (and really, what necromancer wouldn't take necromancy?)
Evocation is pretty dull, but it does it's job if a blaster is what you're looking for, though that's not where most wizards should focus. The Admixture subschool is better than the base school, IMO, as flexibility is important for a blaster.
Illusion is pretty solid, particularly for a gnome with the Effortless Trickery feat, as it can allow you to have multiple 'concentration' duration illusions running at once. Neither of the subschools particularly impress me.
The Enchantment one is decent enough, considering that enhancement bonuses to skills are uncommon, though I'm not a fan of any of the melee touch abilities. The Controller and Manipulator subschools are definitely pretty solid, though.
Abjuration doesn't impress me in the slightest, given that none of the abilities stack with other, easily obtainable abilities. The Banishment and Counterspell subschools are more effective.
And the Universalist is, well, universal. And not very good.
Just my two cents on wizard schools.
Init is important, but going first is not enough on its own to take the top spot, and while I also like divination it is too dependent on GM Fiat with regard to the information you would get. Now if the GM is not stingy with the info then I have to go with divination also.
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I think it is pretty campaign-dependant, actually. Mechanically divination is very strong, but chuck the magister into a situation where his mastery of the immediate is subverted by enemies with just as much initiative to throw around or have a relatively inexperienced player play the class("Uh, I won initiative, what should I do now? Oh yeah...Fireball!") and the mechanical benefits seem far less strong.
That said, there's very little that can hinder a conjuration specialist, at least nothing that doesn't mess up with all wizards(lack of spells or components, etc). They are fairly versatile and "resistance: no"-clause gives them untold amounts of power in a game system that relies on very few power limiters. Getting past SR without fail is darn powerful.
Now, I really like transmuters, but their power comes from campaign-dependancy as well. Without a magic mart to go around or with a low-level campaign in action, those physical boosters look really tasty. And now with Tenacious Transmutation and other polyform-boosting stuff in play, a wizard making everyone croak(hoh, a pune) does have it's benefits.
I'm not so sure about Necromancers, personally. I find that everything they can do and much of their flavor is better served by an Oracle of Bones or a Undead Lord or any of the other undead-themed class variants. Necromancy is a pretty strong school, in theory, but level draining(via Energy Drain, fer instance) gets old after a while, it doesn't work on just anyone and divine casters and half-divine casters like the Gravewalker witch get benefits(class abilities, certain spells like desecrate over wizards in the other necromancy gameplay options, such as summoning. That said, it too is relatively campaign-dependant. Urban adventurers limit your options, lack of corpses(I can think of several situation) is fairly devastating, your goody two-shoes party members might cry havoc and some gms just love to torment Necromancers because of some supposed "gothiness" or melodramatic egotism. Beats me.
As for enhacement and the new element schools, I haven't looked into them much, but a Metal Wizard(hell yeah) has a darn good spell list for party play. Not exactly God-Wizard material, but everyone will thank your for picking the class, since those buffs and evocation will even the playing field for everyone else. The Metal Wizard is gonna be everyone's bro.
Diviner, either straight or the foresight school in APG depending on campaign style. Conjurer (teleportation school from the APG) is also amazing. That swift action "blink" can get you out of a lot of tight spots. Like every grapple ever.
Diviner, either straight or the foresight school in APG depending on campaign style. Conjurer (teleportation school from the APG) is also amazing. That swift action "blink" can get you out of a lot of tight spots. Like every grapple ever.
Yeah, that's about the same conclusion I came to.
What really got me thinking along these lines was wanting to make a necromancer-ish wizard and realizing: "Even if this guy prepares mostly necromancy spells and has a whole necromancer theme, mechanically, it's smarter if he's actually a diviner or conjurer that doesn't bar necromancy."
And that's a little sad to me, and I was hoping for counter-proofs to some of those situations, such as "Look, here's a necromancy spell of each level that you genuinely want all the time, so having that as your bonus slot isn't terrible" or "Look, here's a reason why the necromancy school powers are better than you think." Fill in similar things for, say, evocation/illusion/enchantment/abjuration.
I'm the kind of player that, stylewise, (and, actually, the same mindset holds when I'm building NPCs as a GM), I'm going to play the kind of character I want to play, but I'm then going to try to crunch out a fairly effective character that fits that concept. I don't have a problem playing a character that loves necromancy and trucks around with undead and such and wants to be a vampire that happens to also be a conjurer and not a necromancer, mechanically, even though I though I know that would give some people fits.
From the perspective of a party, they're the most useful because their facility with creating magic items is one of the only surefire ways to always have what you need as an object(our GM doesn't allow for shopping lists in even the most major of settlements, but rather rolls up random items available).
I'm not following why a specialist wizard can't do the same thing.
I really like the unilateralist. I have less spells, but I am not the person that feels the need to cast a spell every round either, which is what a lot of people like to do.
(the GM uses a house rule where taking 10 on the creation roll upgrades the time to 1 week of work per 1,000 GP, and taking 20 upgrades it to 1 month of work per 1,000 GP)
Oh, I see.
With that (IMHO odd) house rule I can definitely see the angle for it. Normally, I don't think it's that hard for a wizard's typically titanic INT to overpower the crafting DCs, even eating a +5 DC.
I think craft wondrous items is better. Everyone benefits from that one because it covers so many things.
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I agree, but I find Craft Wondrous to be almost always covered, since it is so powerful. With that in mind it is the wizard in party who is the most likely, with their bonus feats and aforementioned high int, candidate to have taken other crafting feat. Craft Arms and Armor is a pretty obvious one if there is a wizard in the party.
For instance, our current party has two members with Craft Wondrous. And we're not even sure if there'll be any proper time to craft.
Looking up to level 5 -the point where the most important crafting feat in the point of view of a party is available (aka Arms and Armor)- an arcanarium crafter will possess:
Scribe Scroll (Free Wizard feat, 1st level)
3 Feats of their choice (1st, 3rd, and 5th) +1 if they're human
2 Item Creation or Metamagic feats (Wizard 3rd from the subschool, and standard wizard 5 bonus).
What the crap is an arcanarium crafter?
Also, arguing the relative power of wizard schools based on some pretty out there houserules is not the most sound idea.
All but the universalist schools are fine as they are. It's not a question of whether or not one school is strictly better than any other, but more of a question of relevance. Yes, the divination (foresight) school will always be useful in a large number of situations. However, every other school is extremely useful in their given areas.
The only exception is the universalist. The 'school' is weaker because of its lack of the extra spell. There are a number of ways that the school could be expanded or 'fixed'. Perhaps the ability to learn a spell for free every level without having to reading/study/create it. Maybe a 3 + Int modifier ability to change a prepared spell (level 2 or lower). I'm sure there are a number of suitable ways.
All but the universalist schools are fine as they are. It's not a question of whether or not one school is strictly better than any other, but more of a question of relevance. Yes, the divination (foresight) school will always be useful in a large number of situations. However, every other school is extremely useful in their given areas.
Well, not necessarily.
It's not a given that an actual enchanter, even in a situation that calls for lots of enchantment, beats, say, a conjurer who doesn't have enchantment as an opposition school and who is loaded for bear with enchantment spells -- because even in that situation his school powers may be that much superior.
I'd like this to not be the case but as I'm looking at it myself I'm not convinced that it isn't.
It'd be more interesting if there was a more concrete benefit for choosing a school, in the form of something like +1 DC or +1 caster level for spells of your chosen school, with maybe a -1 DC or -1 caster level for opposition schools. That would put a bit more focus on actually using the spells of your school.
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In Pathfinder society I play an elf wizard (Conjuration) Teleportation Subschool
Being able to design a combat around your specific school is pretty hilarious, tacticly speaking with greater spell focus and well say a 22 intelligence or so by level 8 I sling out an Auqeous Orb which requires dc 21 reflex saves or owns like the entire fight in one or maybe two rounds.
Other spells this school sports are the pit spells, their funny, the key to them is environment change, though not my favorite.
Of coarse, Teleportation of all kinds especially that awesome school ability set.
some awesome spell choices...
Cloudkill-
Web-
Glitterdust-
Solid Fog-
MVP goes to Auqeous Orb though.
Believe it or not I actually choose to sacrifice invocation and also Divination in favor of being the super controller, it seems far more powerful than some sort of nuke machine, and divination while of coarse useful requires a few things the most glaring is preperation, think about it, you kind of need to know you want to be able to cast it, perhaps its just my playstyle but anytime theres anything more than a simple det magic involved I always want to go away and scry it later or some such thing, never on the spot. But Ill let you decide.
Not listing anything from ultimate magic but there may be more spells there as well.
Put down my vote for Conjuration or Divination. Though I should point out that everyone and their mother plays the "Shift" teleportation focused school power incorrectly. It's a swift action, but yer turn's over immediately if you use it. It's still good for emergencies and for maneuvering at the end of your turn, but it's not as great as "get out of a grapple instantly, then cast whatever you want."
Transmutation is the best school for any style of gish, even the archer (who is much better off being an Eldritch Knight and not bothering with Arcane Archer at all), in my opinion. 5 levels gets you a +2 stat bump to a physical score, which will save you a bunch of money, cover some of the weakness of a MAD style of build, and make the character more effective at their shtick. Plus, many of the best buff spells are Transmutation (look at the metal wizard list...too many holes, the school powers aren't good, and the "metal" spells you're going to take are almost all transmutation anyhow). I've also found that many of the levels that lack great Transmutation buffs are the same levels where one of the few great Gish spells from Evocation and Necromancy (good schools to ditch as a Gish) are available, making it easier to eat the two slot penalty (I'm looking at you specifically Mr. Greater False Life at 4th level).
Put down my vote for Conjuration or Divination. Though I should point out that everyone and their mother plays the "Shift" teleportation focused school power incorrectly. It's a swift action, but yer turn's over immediately if you use it. It's still good for emergencies and for maneuvering at the end of your turn, but it's not as great as "get out of a grapple instantly, then cast whatever you want."
No, you're correct. It is limiting but it's still a phenomenal ability. You can, for example, run up and color spray and not risk reprisal from those who make the save. It's also free movement, so you can cast a full round action spell like a summon or dominate and still shift away.
I read it wrong when I first read it as well, but after playing a teleportation wizard for several months, even playing it the right way is a game changer.
Again, as is the Foresight Diviner. Really, knowing you have that pocket 18 you can use makes you that much more bold when it comes to, say, SR checks.
Actually, Evocation (generation) looks viable. There's actually a lot of battlefield control evocations and most of them have durations worth boosting.
Hmm. Can you make the case for that in a little more detail?
Specifically, I think you only really care about Lingering Evocations for spells with 1 round / level duration -- anything 1 minute / level of longer and stacking half your level in rounds on isn't that significant. I can't think of any especially valuable 1 round / level evocations until about 4th level spells when you start to see some of the short Wall spells, but even then, probably 7 rounds is good enough for most fights.
I'm not saying the Generation abilities are terrible; I'm just not seeing the angle that would make me feel like pleying a wall and hand (or whatever) happy Generation Evoker would be better at walling and handing than, say, a wall and hand happy Foresight Diviner or Teleportation Conjurer who didn't pick evocation as opposition. The Hand spells especially seem like they could really benefit from Prescience.
Specifically, I think you only really care about Lingering Evocations for spells with 1 round / level duration -- anything 1 minute / level of longer and stacking half your level in rounds on isn't that significant. I can't think of any especially valuable 1 round / level evocations until about 4th level spells when you start to see some of the short Wall spells, but even then, probably 7 rounds is good enough for most fights.
I'm not saying the Generation abilities are terrible; I'm just not seeing the angle that would make me feel like pleying a wall and hand (or whatever) happy Generation Evoker would be better at walling and handing than, say, a wall and hand happy Foresight Diviner or Teleportation Conjurer who didn't pick evocation as opposition. The Hand spells especially seem like they could really benefit from Prescience.
It does however make for an extremely powerful first lvl spell. Ear-piercing scream has a daze effect that last 1 round (not instantaneous) and therefor can be extended by lingering effect for 1/2 your level. Makes a 1 round control spell into a a nice little spamable SoD.
All but the universalist schools are fine as they are. It's not a question of whether or not one school is strictly better than any other, but more of a question of relevance. Yes, the divination (foresight) school will always be useful in a large number of situations. However, every other school is extremely useful in their given areas.
Well, not necessarily.
It's not a given that an actual enchanter, even in a situation that calls for lots of enchantment, beats, say, a conjurer who doesn't have enchantment as an opposition school and who is loaded for bear with enchantment spells -- because even in that situation his school powers may be that much superior.
I'd like this to not be the case but as I'm looking at it myself I'm not convinced that it isn't.
On the point of Enchanters. They actually have some synergy with abilities and spells once they get Aura of Despair. As pretty much the entire enchantment school gives you a will save, the -2 to saves from the aura can help you land your spells easier. Now a diviner casting the same spell might get it off faster, but the true enchanter will have more luck having the spell land.
I'm a big fan of the Conjuration (teleportation) specialist. because the best way for a wizard to avoid damage is to be somewhere else. Plus they get the conjurers extra rounds of summoned monsters.
For necromancy there is versatile channeler which means you can have a wizard with healing abilities too (without killing himself). As for spells necromancers actually make great blasters, and can provide cannon fodder in the form of undead easily too (and can control more undead as well than other wizards). There's spells of all levels that you'll like to have on a daily basis, and not just one spell per spell level... generally there are at least two or three good necromancy spells on each level. I would generally go with the undead specialty instead of regular necromancy however -- giving your undead a +1~5 to hit and saves (and some temporary hp) isn't hardcore but it is better than grave touch. Lifesight at level 8 isn't horrible either -- maybe a bit limited until higher level but not horrible.
The only thing I have against the necromancer is the fact he's more MAD than some other wizard types.
I'm a big fan of the Conjuration (teleportation) specialist. because the best way for a wizard to avoid damage is to be somewhere else. Plus they get the conjurers extra rounds of summoned monsters.
I would have to counter that with a more realistic truth. The best way for a wizard to avoid damage is to go first. The teleport options are pretty good but you can only use them on your turn. You loose initiative to a spell caster and your toast. Comparing the specialist school powers, the forsight school wins. PERIOD. Huge init bonus (+1/2 lvl, and at lvl 20 you always roll a 20 on init), always act in suprise round, a pre-roll re-roll, and a 30ft mass heroism that stacks with heroism. On top of this, have your party grab the feat Lookout. Now your whole party acts on the suprise round. If one of those allies was not suprised you get a freaking full round action in the suprise round. Its all win.
Downside: Divination spells do not excite me. Yes they have utility, but I would usually store that utility in scroll form. I am hoping some more interesting divination spells (useful in combat or 1hr/lvl buffs) make their way out of the Paizo woodworks.
As for spells necromancers actually make great blasters
There's spells of all levels that you'll like to have on a daily basis, and not just one spell per spell level... generally there are at least two or three good necromancy spells on each level.
Would you mind elaborating a bit on those two points?
I'm trying to talk myself into believing that (mechanically) the necromancer (for example) is pretty competitive with diviner or conjurer but so far I'm not seeing it, so I'd be very interested in the details.
I'm a big fan of the Conjuration (teleportation) specialist. because the best way for a wizard to avoid damage is to be somewhere else. Plus they get the conjurers extra rounds of summoned monsters.I would have to counter that with a more realistic truth. The best way for a wizard to avoid damage is to go first. The teleport options are pretty good but you can only use them on your turn. You loose initiative to a spell caster and your toast. Comparing the specialist school powers, the forsight school wins. PERIOD. Huge init bonus (+1/2 lvl, and at lvl 20 you always roll a 20 on init), always act in suprise round, a pre-roll re-roll, and a 30ft mass heroism that stacks with heroism. On top of this, have your party grab the feat Lookout. Now your whole party acts on the suprise round. If one of those allies was not suprised you get a freaking full round action in the suprise round. Its all win.
Downside: Divination spells do not excite me. Yes they have utility, but I would usually store that utility in scroll form. I am hoping some more interesting divination spells (useful in combat or 1hr/lvl buffs) make their way out of the Paizo woodworks.
I stand by my opinion. additionally, saying "its better to go first" is like saying "its better to do more damage." Both quoted statements fall firmly into the "no S#!t" category, but by no means should going first or doing more damage guarantee victory. Both are certainly helpful, but not the end-all-be-all of wizadry. So play nice and try to avoid the words "realistic" or "truth" when discussing fantasy gaming.
As for spells necromancers actually make great blasters
There's spells of all levels that you'll like to have on a daily basis, and not just one spell per spell level... generally there are at least two or three good necromancy spells on each level.
Would you mind elaborating a bit on those two points?
I'm trying to talk myself into believing that (mechanically) the necromancer (for example) is pretty competitive with diviner or conjurer but so far I'm not seeing it, so I'd be very interested in the details.
Well I would say 'competitive' is perhaps unlikely -- but a strong second place (after divine and conjuration tie)? Sure.
For spells we have several debuff, 'control' and 'meat shield making' spells as well as damage dealers and even some defensive buffs:
Debuff
Touch of fatigue
Ray of enfeeblement
Ray of Sickening
Blindness/deafness
Scare
Steal Voice
Ray of Exhaustion
Eldritch Fever
Sands of Time
Howling Agony
Bestow Curse
Enervation
Fear
Waves of Fatigue
Symbol of Pain
Waves of Exhaustion
Symbol of weakness
Orb of the Void
Energy Drain
Damage
Ray of disruption (undead only of course)
chill touch
Vampiric Touch
Boneshatter
Finger of Death
Horrid Wilting
Wail of the Banshee
Control/SoS/SoD
Cause Fear
Chill Touch (undead only)
Ghoul Touch
Control Undead
Marinette possession
Magic Jar
Suffocation
Possess Object
Circle of Death
Command Undead
Soul Bind
Mass Suffocation
Buffing
Defending Bone
False Life
Greater False life
Meat Shields
Create undead
Animate dead
Animate dead lesser
Create greater undead
Oddities
Shadow Projection
Sendskin
Temporary Resurrection
Clone
Astral Projection
Basically it has a lot of versatility in spells to choose from, with its higher level blasting being *much* better than anything the evoker has (10 per level beats 1d6 per level hands down and the damage is untyped meaning energy resistances aren't an issue).
As I said before being able to control undead and heal with versatile channeler is going to give him flexibility in class options and since he can create undead he will have a steady supply of minions all the time instead of only for a few rounds per day after spending a full round action to get them. His minions won't be hedged out by magic circles either or anti-magic fields (unless he's using incorporeal undead).
Lifesight is generally of good use in situations you'll want it in (though this isn't perfect of course since it doesn't detect constructs for example), if situational.
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Wizards don't have to go first. They just have to cast when their time comes.
I find all the initiative stuff out there to be a big trap. Everyone's desperately trying to be first to win... but if you're properly prepared, you essentially win initiative because you made it hours/days/months/years ago.
Ultimately, that's why I choose schools other than Divination. A Transmutation/Necromancy specialist makes a great gish. In the proper campaign, Enchanters win--no one ever opposes them. With the proper GM, Illusion is Universalist Plus, and gets to eat everyone's lunch while they think they're eating something else.
Right now, I'm playing a Banisher. Loads of fun. Not nearly as offensive as some of my other characters, but always carrying various get-out-of-jail-free cards.
Wizards don't have to go first. They just have to cast when their time comes.
I find all the initiative stuff out there to be a big trap. Everyone's desperately trying to be first to win... but if you're properly prepared, you essentially win initiative because you made it hours/days/months/years ago.
Ultimately, that's why I choose schools other than Divination. A Transmutation/Necromancy specialist makes a great gish. In the proper campaign, Enchanters win--no one ever opposes them. With the proper GM, Illusion is Universalist Plus, and gets to eat everyone's lunch while they think they're eating something else.
Right now, I'm playing a Banisher. Loads of fun. Not nearly as offensive as some of my other characters, but always carrying various get-out-of-jail-free cards.
I'm not disagreeing with you here - I think Illusion is wonderful in the right circumstances - but as a player, I want abilities that I can use without having to worry about what my GM does or doesn't react to properly.
This leads me to pick something like Divination, because it lets me make the choices. To be fair, however, I usually am a Diviner in name only - I load up on other spells every morning instead (as the actual Diviner spells also tend to fall into the trap of "the GM is the ultimate arbiter of usefulness.") The abilities are just too neat to pass up.
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I'm not disagreeing with you here - I think Illusion is wonderful in the right circumstances - but as a player, I want abilities that I can use without having to worry about what my GM does or doesn't react to properly.
I think that as a player, I always have to think about what my GM reacts to properly. I can't take fiat out of his hands, so I have to work with him to build an interesting story.
Now, in the case of PFS, where the GM may be different in every game, it makes more sense to be powerful in ways independent of GM interpretation. But in virtually every other campaign, when the GM has a distinct personality, it's important to respect his wishes and understand how best to insert your character into his world.
I just created a lvl 5 Wizard that I have not played yet. So I don't know how good it will be.
I selected Transmutation(Enhancement) for the school.
The replacement powers for "enhancement" are more useful in my opinion.
Being able to give me (or partymember) +2 to an ability or AC is great
Also at 8th level you can give yourself an ability boost of half your level.
Great for increasing DC as someone above noted.