hey guys..
brand new to the game and have been reading up on the wizard class.
what are the pros and cons for the to versions... im just not seeing it???
all the best
Specializing gives you an extra spell slot per spell level that you can cast in your chosen school or element. The school powers available to you also change depending on what you choose, and a lot of them are a lot more powerful than the universal ones. As a spellcaster, extra spells and more usable powers make specializing a very good choice.
aaah cheers, i missed the extra spell slot.
thanks mm
The downside of specializing is that you must choose two "opposition" schools of magic. You can still memorize and cast "opposition" spells, but they take up two spell slots instead of one. You also take a penalty on craft checks to make magic items using opposition spells.
MM is right. In general the pros of going specialist outweigh the cons.
Of course if you prepared one opposition spell per spell level you would come out with as many spell slots as a universal wizard. Opposition research at level 10 removes an opposition school.
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The schools I typically give up are Necromancy and Divination.
A few weeks ago I would have told you going Wizard was a waste of time, Sorcerer was better all around. I have since learned some tricks, that have changed that opinion. Sorcerers are a great class and they are just as versatile as a Wizard... at lower levels. A Human sorcerer can get just as many spells known per level and can cast them in any quantity they want. A sorcerer can pick the mental stat they want to use to cast (CHA, INT or WIS) and can add metamagic on the fly. That is H U G E and had me convinced that it made the sorcerer more versatile.
I made a high level Wizard and found the feat Greater Spell Specialization. Basically it allows you to pull a cleric and trade out spells for 1 special spell. Make that special spell fireball, take a trait to lower Metamagic and you have a versatile blaster.
Using that knowledge I started looking and found the Elven Archetype Spellbinder. This allows you to pick a spell to spontaneously swap out every other level. So 1st level pick Magic Missile (or other favored blasting spell), then use your first level slots for all utility spells. Need to blast? Change out Comprehend Languages for a Magic Missile and blast. On top of all that you get your School power (personal favorite is Teleport, extended summoning and swift action teleports, yes please!).
Now I don't even remember what your initial question was, but I hope this helps :)
A 'Dip" should be Universalist unless you can come up a good reason for a Specialist, and they do exist.
Personally, I stink as a Wizard these days, but from my POV, Full casters need to stay single class to maximize their power level. The Sorcerer I play with has 6 levels, plus 4 in single dips. She fears a wet paper bag. My Cleric is a straight 8 levels of mean.
It's worth looking at the Elementalist specialists.
You get bonus spells, just like the other specialists. You get bonus abilities just like them.
However, you don't lose access to schools of magic. You lose access to spells of your opposing element. This means that you don't have to worry about messing up and hindering your own access to a particularly cool spell of an opposition school.
Seeing our party wizard work, he seems like a universalist wizard, with a cool fire spell extra at each spell level. Sure, he loses out on some water/ice/cold spells, but hey, it's better than losing out on Necromancy and Divination!
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1) If, on the other hand, you are just dipping into wizard from some other class to gain access to low-level spells, universalist is probably your best option, since that allows you to exploit any spellbooks you plunder to the fullest.
But the benefits of the Divination (Foresight) or Conjuration (Teleportation) vastly outweigh the disadvantages of specialization.
2) When specializing, be very careful about which schools you give up. Do not give up abjuration: and unless you see no other option, it's not a good idea to give up transmutation. The third-least-indispensable school is either evocation or illusion - give up one or the other if you must, but not both. (Other opinions will differ.)
That's crazy talk. Evocation is, no contest, the worst school. When you're making a wizard, you write down "Opposition Schools: Evocation, " before making any other decisions.
It's worth looking at the Elementalist specialists.
You get bonus spells, just like the other specialists. You get bonus abilities just like them.
However, you don't lose access to schools of magic. You lose access to spells of your opposing element. This means that you don't have to worry about messing up and hindering your own access to a particularly cool spell of an opposition school.
Seeing our party wizard work, he seems like a universalist wizard, with a cool fire spell extra at each spell level. Sure, he loses out on some water/ice/cold spells, but hey, it's better than losing out on Necromancy and Divination!
Best part is that Opposition Research lets you completely bypass the weakness of an opposed school.
1) If, on the other hand, you are just dipping into wizard from some other class to gain access to low-level spells, universalist is probably your best option, since that allows you to exploit any spellbooks you plunder to the fullest.But the benefits of the Divination (Foresight) or Conjuration (Teleportation) vastly outweigh the disadvantages of specialization.
That's crazy talk. Evocation is, no contest, the worst school. When you're making a wizard, you write down "Opposition Schools: Evocation, " before making any other decisions.
2) When specializing, be very careful about which schools you give up. Do not give up abjuration: and unless you see no other option, it's not a good idea to give up transmutation. The third-least-indispensable school is either evocation or illusion - give up one or the other if you must, but not both. (Other opinions will differ.)
Still reading Trentmonk's guide I see. It was a great guide for its time but it is old and out dated. The idea that a Wizard can't out DPR a fighter or barbarian has been disproven. When you can memorize all utility spells, and then convert all those utility spells into blasting spells, it is no contest. Mix a level of crossblooded sorcerer with Dragon and Orc bloodlines, Magical Lineage Fireball, and at 10th level (9 Wiz / 1 Sorc) you're casting 12d6+24 fireball than can hit multiple targets,cast it 11 times per day and still have access to spell completion items from opposition schools.
Immune to fire? No worries convert it with Elemental Acid feat for zero level increase. Damage goes down to 10d6+12, still not bad.
Barbarian won the init and charges? Fine, convert it with selective, again no increase in level and damage only decreases to 10d6+24.
A Blaster Wizard is perfectly viable, with the right build.
thanks again guys:)
I really like the idea of the illusion specialist. However, unless your GM is pretty consistent and you are confident you know how your GM will rule on odd uses...
Well, you can easily find yourself hindering rather than helping when the GM suddenly says something like, "Every can tell it isn't the real X. Now everyone knows you tried to cheat them. Unless you are surrendering, roll initiative."
1) If, on the other hand, you are just dipping into wizard from some other class to gain access to low-level spells, universalist is probably your best option, since that allows you to exploit any spellbooks you plunder to the fullest.But the benefits of the Divination (Foresight) or Conjuration (Teleportation) vastly outweigh the disadvantages of specialization.
That's crazy talk. Evocation is, no contest, the worst school. When you're making a wizard, you write down "Opposition Schools: Evocation, " before making any other decisions.
2) When specializing, be very careful about which schools you give up. Do not give up abjuration: and unless you see no other option, it's not a good idea to give up transmutation. The third-least-indispensable school is either evocation or illusion - give up one or the other if you must, but not both. (Other opinions will differ.)Still reading Trentmonk's guide I see. It was a great guide for its time but it is old and out dated. The idea that a Wizard can't out DPR a fighter or barbarian has been disproven. When you can memorize all utility spells, and then convert all those utility spells into blasting spells, it is no contest. Mix a level of crossblooded sorcerer with Dragon and Orc bloodlines, Magical Lineage Fireball, and at 10th level (9 Wiz / 1 Sorc) you're casting 12d6+24 fireball than can hit multiple targets,cast it 11 times per day and still have access to spell completion items from opposition schools.
Immune to fire? No worries convert it with Elemental Acid feat for zero level increase. Damage goes down to 10d6+12, still not bad.
Barbarian won the init and charges? Fine, convert it with selective, again no increase in level and damage only decreases to 10d6+24.
A Blaster Wizard is perfectly viable, with the right build.
Level dip, schmevel dip! My evoker wizards take the admixture subschool and can change their energy descriptors on the fly and accomplish this at full CL.
But in all reality, there is still some truth to the Treantmonk guides, but evocation has gotten a lot better with the books post CRB. The subschools, and new metamagic feats allow you to utilize evocation spells that target reflex (the best save to target), do a crapton of damage, and get your battlefield controlling all at the same time.
My personal build atm focuses on using fireball (with magical lineage) and also has a metamagic rod of Rime Spell, letting me throw frozen Flaming Spheres across the battlefield, freezing enemies in place for 2 turns, then next turn moving it to hit and freeze something else for 2 turns, while being able to spend a standard action casting another spell, most likely a buff for my comrades.
Doing battlefield control, and doing damage at the same time is a great feeling. I also took Spell Focus (Evocation) and Elemental Focus (Cold) and have some insane DCs for my character.
1) If, on the other hand, you are just dipping into wizard from some other class to gain access to low-level spells, universalist is probably your best option, since that allows you to exploit any spellbooks you plunder to the fullest.But the benefits of the Divination (Foresight) or Conjuration (Teleportation) vastly outweigh the disadvantages of specialization.
That's crazy talk. Evocation is, no contest, the worst school. When you're making a wizard, you write down "Opposition Schools: Evocation, " before making any other decisions.
2) When specializing, be very careful about which schools you give up. Do not give up abjuration: and unless you see no other option, it's not a good idea to give up transmutation. The third-least-indispensable school is either evocation or illusion - give up one or the other if you must, but not both. (Other opinions will differ.)
taking opposition school evocation is in my opinion an incredibly bad idea. There are other spells than blasts in that school, Spells such as
"resilient sphere" "telekinetic charge" and "icy prison" are great.Forgot "emergency force sphere" that spell is awesome.
.......just don't expect to contribute to every encounter.
I find this statement confusing, as a wizard, I've never had an encounter I couldn't contribute to. Whether it be buffing, crowd control, or damage. There is always something you can do.
The intention is to make the point that you have a finite number of spell options and in some encounters you may well have a completely minor role to play........just don't expect to contribute to every encounter.I find this statement confusing, as a wizard, I've never had an encounter I couldn't contribute to. Whether it be buffing, crowd control, or damage. There is always something you can do.
True, but that could be said about any class. In fact, good GM's know how to tailor encounters so that on one encounter, the wizard will shine, another the rogue, or fighter or cleric.
Even the most blaster-built evoker will sometimes have to take a back seat and focus on support roles while the fighter carves up the energy resistant creature. Other times, a high DR mob gets turned to mush by you before the fighter can even get there.
It's the nature of the game.
So, I guess I now understand what you were saying (about sometimes having to assume a minor role), and I agree. It's good advice to ensure your wizards keep a few support spells around for the times your normal shtick isn't effective.
Always prepare "Knock."
ALWAYS!!!
Specialists also have much better school powers. The subschools are even better with Conjuration/Teleportation's teleport ability
How you know name of me axe?Always prepare "Knock."
ALWAYS!!!
Sounds like a name better suited for a Bow or club really.
Opposition Research kind of ends the debate. One wizard feat slot at 9 to remove one opposition school.
So a specialist picks 1 school to give up. Since I don't really like necromancy until mid-high levels I ban it and pick it up at 9. Normally I ban enchantment and leave it banned.
I've never found enchantment to be particularly useful. I always use it as an opposition school.
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See I never understood how a sorcerer would start as one and than go wizard. Dont you generally study to be a wizard? How'd you find time to study in between goblin raid 1 and kobold dungeon 2. Correspondence courses via message spells?
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Heh. I usually pick necromancy as an opposition school because I'm usually creating good wizards (sue me, I like playing goody-goodies), and I figure it's what they'd not like.
I almost never pick divination as an opposition school, because what kind of Wizard has to work extra hard to do Read Magic and Detect Magic? I'm with the Ancient Thessalonians (as described in Shards of Sin) on this one: Divination is such a fundamental school that all wizards ought to be able to use it.
Mostly, I pick opposition schools based on the nature of the character I'm creating. But, then that's all roleplaying, and not optimization. To be honest, I've never been terribly interested in whether or not one class can out-DPR another class at level X. As long as they can contribute, that's enough; then I like to create characters based on who they are, rather than on how they're going to be the most effective on the battlefield. (I create "most effective on the battlefield" if that's the nature of the guy I'm after.)
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See I never understood how a sorcerer would start as one and than go wizard. Dont you generally study to be a wizard? How'd you find time to study in between goblin raid 1 and kobold dungeon 2. Correspondence courses via message spells?
In games I've run, I've rationalized this sort of thing-- including levelling up in classes you already have, where you gain new abilities all of a sudden-- as ongoing research and practice that characters are always doing during their down time (including such time as evenings at camp). The levelling up doesn't represent a whole bunch of study all at once (as was explicitly spelled out in the AD&D/1e rules, where it took 1-4 weeks and a lot of money to level up even after you had all the experience), but just the final coming-to-fruition of work they're doing anyway.
I might demand that a player give a reasonable IC justification for crossclassing into a new class, though. If they let me know ahead of time that they want to do that, I'll work with them in making things in game work so that the crossclassing makes sense.
On topic... I drop necromancy a lot. and Abjuration is nice but illusion has just as much defensive spells.
So the pros are: more spells/day, neato abilities, and the cons are opposition schools, and less choice in your 2 free spells/level. That's really about it.
As for which schools to give up, Evocation isn't at the top of the list. Yeah, it's a lot of dumb blasting spells, but it's also got some really nice staples in it, and sometimes (not that often, unless you build around it) you need a big dumb blasting spell.
Enchantment is a pretty good one to surrender, since it's all Will save or something bad happens, and also Charm, which is still a will save. I like save or dies as much as the next guy, but there's way too much overlapping weakness to mind immunity, etc.
Necromancy is also a good choice for opposition, it's a lot of random undead niche stuff, and a couple really good spells that take some effort to use anyway (Enervation, f'rex)
The ones I'd definitely keep are Transmutation, Conjuration, and Abjuration. You can give up any of the other ones, and you'll miss a few things, but you won't completely cripple yourself.
So yeah, specialize if you can bear it. More spells from a slightly shorter list per day is better than less spells with a complete menu.
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Still reading Trentmonk's guide I see. It was a great guide for its time but it is old and out dated. The idea that a Wizard can't out DPR a fighter or barbarian has been disproven. When you can memorize all utility spells, and then convert all those utility spells into blasting spells, it is no contest. Mix a level of crossblooded sorcerer with Dragon and Orc bloodlines, Magical Lineage Fireball, and at 10th level (9 Wiz / 1 Sorc) you're casting 12d6+24 fireball than can hit multiple targets,cast it 11 times per day and still have access to spell completion items from opposition schools.Immune to fire? No worries convert it with Elemental Acid feat for zero level increase. Damage goes down to 10d6+12, still not bad.
Barbarian won the init and charges? Fine, convert it with selective, again no increase in level and damage only decreases to 10d6+24.
A Blaster Wizard is perfectly viable, with the right build.
I find it funny you think an average of 66 damage is high at level 10.
Fighter with 26 str is +19 to damage right from the get go. Add in an enlarge person off a cheap wand and your at +21 (you can pre-cast it into the cracked ioun stone if needed). +9 for power attack. Your weapon training should be at +4 (with the gloves) and +2 for weapon spec. With a +1 impact great sword and potion/wand of lead blade you do 6d6 with the weapon. So 6d6+37 damage...PER HIT...and I get two of them...three with haste. If I REALLY wanted to get things broken, my UMD should be high enough by then for monstrous humanoid 3 scrolls (yes yes, don't do this every fight as that gets damn expensive). In which case, my damage goes to 8d6+43 damage...or more damage then your fire ball per hit. Yes the ability to hit multiple opponents is nice...when they are in fireball formation. Yeah evocation got a boost since core...do did DPR. By level 10, if your suppose to be doing DRP and your not in triple digits, your not doing DPR. Still it's not bad damage...I'd just rather take critters out of the fight with no saves if possible (wall spells are your friends).
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A 'Dip" should be Universalist unless you can come up a good reason for a Specialist, and they do exist.
Personally, I stink as a Wizard these days, but from my POV, Full casters need to stay single class to maximize their power level. The Sorcerer I play with has 6 levels, plus 4 in single dips. She fears a wet paper bag. My Cleric is a straight 8 levels of mean.
Depends on what you're dipping for. If you're making an arcane archer, Transmutation isn't bad--you're getting +1 to a physical stat in the bargain.
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I find it funny you think an average of 66 damage is high at level 10.
Fighter with 26 str is +19 to damage right from the get go. Add in an enlarge person off a cheap wand and your at +21 (you can pre-cast it into the cracked ioun stone if needed). +9 for power attack. Your weapon training should be at +4 (with the gloves) and +2 for weapon spec. With a +1 impact great sword and potion/wand of lead blade you do 6d6 with the weapon. So 6d6+37 damage...PER HIT...and I get two of them...three with haste. If I REALLY wanted to get things broken, my UMD should be high enough by then for monstrous humanoid 3 scrolls (yes yes, don't do this every fight as that gets damn expensive). In which case, my damage goes to 8d6+43 damage...or more damage then your fire ball per hit. Yes the ability to hit multiple opponents is nice...when they are in fireball formation. Yeah evocation got a boost since core...do did DPR. By level 10, if your suppose to be doing DRP and your not in triple digits, your not doing DPR. Still it's not bad damage...I'd just rather take...
Okay, now let me theory craft. I do an average of 66 damage to 48 enemies that's 3168 DPR, so I'm in quadruple digits. You see a 20ft radius fireball covers 48 squares. That's 48 enemies. Oh and that's AFTER I move and the enemies are 800 feet away, on the first round, since I don't waste time buffing.
Now after doing some more math, with your +3 Weapon and your +6 STR Belt, you're at 54,350gp WBL only gives you 62,000 and you haven't bought armor yet. Add your gloves at 15k and you're 7,000gp over your WBL and you haven't bought a single wand and have no armor.
Assuming you didn't tank your CHA, your UMD is probably around a 13, assuming you wasted a trait, but probably closer to 10, meaning you'll fail to use the wand around 50% of the time, all the time praying you don't get a 1 or you just lost your lead blades.
Let's continue the example, what happens if your fighter can't reach the bad guys? How much DPR does he do then? If a Wizard can't reach the bad guys, well neither can anyone else because they pretty much have to be out of sight.
If the enemies are spread out what does your fighter do? Well after a round or two of buffing he runs up and hits one of them for 6d6+37 damage... assuming he hits. Meanwhile the Wizard has been blasting for 3 straight rounds with an intensified snowball vs Touch AC, for 10d6+25 per shot. So in three rounds your fighter has done an average of 58 damage, the wizard has done 180 damage. And oh yeah, big baddie has DR20/Piercing, what's that do to your Fighter's DPR? Cold resistance you say? That's cool my Admixture Wizard was launching acid snowballs.
We can play this game all day, you can set up scenarios that make the fighter shine, and I can come up with scenarios that hurt the fighter and make the wizard shine, but that's really going to hurt you more than me. The ONLY time a fighter will truly shine is if the baddies line up for him... except that helps the wizard too... Reality is that your fighter will probably be around 3d6+24 averaging 34 point of damage per swing, and assuming he doesn't have to move may get two of them, for about 68 points of damage... hmmm Wizards average 66, fighter average 68. Interesting.
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Okay, now let me theory craft. I do an average of 66 damage to 48 enemies that's 3168 DPR, so I'm in quadruple digits. You see a 20ft radius fireball covers 48 squares. That's 48 enemies. Oh and that's AFTER I move and the enemies are 800 feet away, on the first round, since I don't waste time buffing.Now after doing some more math, with your +3 Weapon and your +6 STR Belt, you're at 54,350gp WBL only gives you 62,000 and you haven't bought armor yet. Add your gloves at 15k and you're 7,000gp over your WBL and you haven't bought a single wand and have no armor.
Assuming you didn't tank your CHA, your UMD is probably around a 13, assuming you wasted a trait, but probably closer to 10, meaning you'll fail to use the wand around 50% of the time, all the time praying you don't get a 1 or you just lost your lead blades.
Okay so your assuming we are fighting mooks in the APL-4 range (anything less then that and the critters could very well fall into the too weak to give EXP clause). That is 48 CR 6...which is CR 15 encounter set up in perfect fireball formation just for your taking. Yeah right.
And the fighter is NOT THEORYCRAFT. That is a perfectly valid fighter. And who says I need a +6 belt. 20 Str, +2 level +4 belt...no need for a +6 yet. So yeah, this is perfectly within WBL. I have fighter who have this...although it seems that the lead blade and impact not stacking is true...so dang (will have to make a couple of changes it looks like), 4d6 in enlarge and 6d6 in huge humanoid form it looks like (I suppose I could be using a large bastard sword to do 4d8 or 6d8...might just be worth it....). Oh well means I can get my sword to have 2d6 elemental damage then instead...or be holy or even just do a flat out +2 enchantment to get that average damage at or above your fireball damage.
I can have a 7 charisma and have better then 10 UMD. 10 ranks+6 skill focus+4 whatever that feat is for spell craft and UMD +1 trait +3 in class +5 UMD magic item -2 stat. That is +27...or don't roll a 1 for wands or the scroll. And yes I used two feats...take a wild guess what have GOBS of as a fighter and I don't mind using a couple of them so I can use some powerful scrolls.
Oh well means I can get my sword to have 2d6 elemental damage then instead...or be holy or even just do a flat out +2 enchantment to get that average damage at or above your fireball damage.
I had a long post with a bunch of math and other proofs, but really this quote says it all. Your fighter has to use wands and scrolls and +3 weapons just to catch up. My wizard shows up in his underwear holding a beer. Let's buy him some gear and see what he can do. And my wizard is useful outside of combat too, again, in his underwear, holding a beer.
Are you ready to concede that Wizards can make viable blasters?
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Oh well means I can get my sword to have 2d6 elemental damage then instead...or be holy or even just do a flat out +2 enchantment to get that average damage at or above your fireball damage.I had a long post with a bunch of math and other proofs, but really this quote says it all. Your fighter has to use wands and scrolls and +3 weapons just to catch up. My wizard shows up in his underwear holding a beer. Let's buy him some gear and see what he can do. And my wizard is useful outside of combat too, again, in his underwear, holding a beer.
Are you ready to concede that Wizards can make viable blasters?
So...on top of your list feats you took eschew material as well there? Because you see, unlike your wizard, I'm swimming in feats. Spell focus, greater spell focus, spell penetration greater spell penetration and you took how many feats to do that damage and swap out spells again?!? And while showing up in your underwear might make you great as long as the spells you memorized last, your gonna pretty dang useless without that spellbook of yours tomorrow (or you wanna add spell mastery to the list of feats you need). So what, your gonna get a bandolier of empower and maximized meta rods (Okay so 14k to do 96 damage 3 times per day. That still isn't more then two hit from the fighter). Not only that but haste on 2+ people who do that kind of damage = WAY better then your silly fireball...with NO feats required...at all. Just one plain old 3rd level spell. So yeah, you CAN blast...but your still SHOULDN'T blast barring 48 CR 6 critters in fireball formation. All your math proved is that blasting is still a bad option in many cases. Now certain APs are great for the blaster wizards. If your in one of those, have fun, blast away and enjoy your shiny moment.
Taking a dip in oracle and sorcerer is my idea. So I could make a rimed freezing spell so they are entangled and slowed in addition to the damage. With magical knack unbanned in pfs thats what I am going to try. I give up the speed at which i get fireball and the amount of them, but the damage will be the same. I think for the status effects more than make up for it.
I know a bow fighter would own cold napalms idea and mine for damage but solid damage with status effects i think are awesome.
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And while showing up in your underwear might make you great as long as the spells you memorized last, your gonna pretty dang useless without that spellbook of yours tomorrow
Oh he has his spellbook... I'll let you guess where it's hidden :)
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The con is that if you memorize one spell of your opposition you are basically a universalist at that spell level for the day. More and you probably chose the wrong opposition school. Of course you could always get scrolls of your favorite opposition spells. And also you can't cast an opposition spell from your bonded item.
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Taking a dip in oracle and sorcerer is my idea. So I could make a rimed freezing spell so they are entangled and slowed in addition to the damage. With magical knack unbanned in pfs thats what I am going to try. I give up the speed at which i get fireball and the amount of them, but the damage will be the same. I think for the status effects more than make up for it.
I know a bow fighter would own cold napalms idea and mine for damage but solid damage with status effects i think are awesome.
Yeah no kidding. My fighter isn't even REMOTELY optimized for damage. It's just one of the few variants I like to have fun with every once in a while when I am in the mood to be a fighter.
Yeah the elemental bloodline cold + rimed spell is fun. Adding freezing is just mean. Nice combo there.
See I never understood how a sorcerer would start as one and than go wizard. Dont you generally study to be a wizard? How'd you find time to study in between goblin raid 1 and kobold dungeon 2. Correspondence courses via message spells?
Was going to read through all the posts until I got to this one, which is a common question, and one GMs can rake a player through the muck with.
Level increase is often considered "you acquired enough experience in doing what you've done through the previous levels to gain another level." While that is true, its not limited to "only what I've done in combat."
Level increase can encompass what you're character has been learning during that time when the GM fast forwards. "The trip to town takes you a little under a week." "The trek through the sea goes smoothly, and the crew docks your ship after three weeks underway." "You figure its a three day hike through the hills before you reach the temple." These are all perfect opportunities for characters to be learning what they'll be gaining next level. Any GM who tells you "you didn't directly tell me your character was actively training to multiclass, so it didn't happen" deserves to be slapped. Character progression is only ever in the hands of the PC, its the last vestige of the game that is 100% the players*.
For the quoted statement, it would be actually very easy to pick up wizard as a sorcerer, and vice versa. Your character is already tooling arcane energies, it would be almost natural for an intelligent sorcerer to learn to shape it in ways wizards do, and for a wizard to realize during his travels that he has latent natural arcane tendancies.
*The only exception to the above is if your new class is so far removed from continuity its hard to make happen. A brick of a Fighter who's never seen a spell form, book or scroll, and hasn't been outside of his training academy in the martial prowess, would have a hard time selling how he acquired Magic Missile. A travelling Fighter who has a wizard in the party, however, would be an easy sell.
Specialists also have much better school powers. The subschools are even better with Conjuration/Teleportation's teleport ability
I don't know about that ...
So...on top of your list feats you took eschew material as well there? Because you see, unlike your wizard, I'm swimming in feats. Spell focus, greater spell focus, spell penetration greater spell penetration and you took how many feats to do that damage and swap out spells again?!?
Spell Focus came free from being a wizard (swaping out Scribe Scroll in PFS) and Eschew Materials came free from the Sorcerer dip. The damage swap is free from Admixture School, and the swaping from utility spells to damage spells is free from Spellbinder Archetype and Greater Spell Specialization. I've never said anything about Spell Penetation, as a 10th level Elf, don't really need it yet. So really the only feats I've mentioned are Greater Spell Specialization, and by default Spell Specialization. I have plenty of feats left for Spell Mastery, and Craft Wonderous Item (I'm now making 3rd level Pearls of Power for 4500gp).
And while showing up in your underwear might make you great as long as the spells you memorized last, your gonna pretty dang useless without that spellbook of yours tomorrow (or you wanna add spell mastery to the list of feats you need).
Wow, you completely missed the point of that. The point was that you're comparing your fighter's damage, to my wizard's and I haven't mentioned a single piece of gear. Do you get that? If I started looking through the gear, how much higher can I get that damage? If I spent as much as you have, what could a Wizard do with it?
So what, your gonna get a bandolier of empower and maximized meta rods (Okay so 14k to do 96 damage 3 times per day. That still isn't more then two hit from the fighter). Not only that but haste on 2+ people who do that kind of damage = WAY better then your silly fireball...with NO feats required...at all.
I don't need rods, I just need the feats. I can convert them WITH metamagic... EVERY TIME. And who's casting Haste on you? Who's enlarging you? Who's casting that besital body thingy on you? Are you doing it yourself? Cool, you do know about action economy right? Let's say you have 2 wands and and a scroll.
Round 1 Fighter: Move action to draw wand, Standard to castWizard: Fireball 66 damage
Round 2 Fighter: Move action to replace wand, move action to draw wand
Wizard: Fireball 66 damage
Round 3: Fighter: Standard to cast, move action to replace wand
Wizard: Fireball 66 damage
Round 4: Fighter: Move action to draw scroll, standard to cast
Wizard: Fireball 66 damage
Round 5: Yay the fighter's in the fight. Has to move up to baddies so only get's 1 attack for 34 damage
Wizard: Fireball 66 Damage
Damage after 5 rounds Wizard: 330, Fighter: 34. And that assumes there's only one target. If there's 2 targets within 40' of each other now it's 660 to 34.
Now maybe your GM blows off action economy, or allows you to drop your wands and they're still there when you go back for them, or even worse, you just say you have wands that you just use when they run out, and your GM is okay with that. A different GM, and the scenario above is much more accurate.
Just one plain old 3rd level spell. So yeah, you CAN blast...but your still SHOULDN'T blast barring 48 CR 6 critters in fireball formation. All your math proved is that blasting is still a bad option in many cases. Now certain APs are great for the blaster wizards. If your in one of those, have fun, blast away and enjoy your shiny moment.
This also assumes that the Wizard only has 1 spell, I assure you, a Wizard has more.
I realize I wasting my breath here. You've been told for so long that Wizards shouldn't blast it's become gospel to you, but for anyone else keeping score, Treantmonk made some awesome guides, but they only cover core and are really outdated. Take another look.