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I just purchased Lost Kingdoms in preparation for playing/running Shattered Star with some online friends, and I found myself asking the title question.
I know that Thassilon's runelords divided themselves along the lines of their schools of magic, each specializing in a different kind except Divination, because its spells were considered to basically be ones no wizard should be without regardless of specialization, almost like lumping them in with Universal spells, but I digress.
I know we'll be seeing Xin, or rather, what's left of him, in the final adventure of Shattered Star, but all I've read seems to be hinting that this isn't the same Xin at the height of his power, or during the founding of the empire described in Lost Kingdoms, that he's changed somehow in the intervening millenia. Something about clockwork creatures or something, I don't know.
The question is, since Xin developed the concept of school specialization in the first place, just what did HE specialize in? Was he a diviner, specializing in what he considered fundamentals while his apprentices picked their paths according to their virtues and later sins? Was he a universalist?
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My favorite incarnation of Xin in AP #66 listed him as a universalist, but I designed him with a unique configuration that reflected his mastery over rune magic -essentially giving him the bonus slots of a specialist runelord, but with the ability to shift chosen speciality schools daily. I mean, he WAS the master of the Seven Runes of Virtue, right?
I thought that was a good way to go, but ultimately we ended up handling the First King much differently in the final design -he was just too much awesome for a mere statblock to contain. I'll be able to discuss a little more at length once the AP chapter actually comes out, and maybe James will let me post that incarnation here so you guys can check it out. But we ended up going a much different route with Xin, as you'll soon see! *rubs hands maniacally*
So if I wanted to play a wizard who modeled himself or herself after Xin, Generalist would be the way to go?
That would be my recommendation. Although Divination Specialist might also work well.
So if I wanted to play a wizard who modeled himself or herself after Xin, Generalist would be the way to go?
That's what I'd do. The only other stuff you need is pure Azlanti heritage, the bottomless coffers of a noble house, a virgin continent all your own, savage tribes bent to your will, and an empire at your beck and call. Ask your GM. =-)
Seriously, universalist is the way to go...can't master all the runic arts if you specialize in one. Also, Xin was a master artificer, so you'll want to be an ambitious magic item crafter, with a mindset of sort of being the one writing the first rules to unknown arts. Any hints beyond that will have to wait until AP #66.