Are Wizard schools irrelevant?

[TwinPeaksGuy]

I've tended to play gish casters for whom the wizard spellbook rules are irrelevant, but I'm now considering one, and see a potential problem. I'll concede I may not be understanding the rules correctly.

If the only way to grow a wizard's spell list is to copy spells from found spellbooks and there are only one or two per season, which may not contain any spells of the wizard's school, then how can you really build "Tim the Enchanter" when after initial creation all Tim finds are divination and conjuration spells? Of course Tim might want to have a few spells from other schools for utilitarian reasons, but unless there's something like one focused spellbook per school per season, how does that progression even work in AL? The chance of amassing all spells of a particular school that are of a level you can cast seems pretty remote.

Or do wizards simply have to take what they're given, and schools are indeed pretty meaningless?

 

[kalani]

Every time you gain a level in wizard, you add two spells (of your choice) to your spellbook at no cost. Spells above and beyond the 2/level must be copied into your spellbook from another PC wizard, captured spellbook, or scroll.

Spell schools in 5E work differently than previous. While you can hyperfocus on your chosen school, that isn't necessary. Each school gives you a handful of special abilities that are thematically related to your school. Tim the Enchanter however might still want to gain as many divination spells as possible for two main reasons - 1) They are cheaper to copy into his spellbook and 2) His Level 6 class ability allows him to gain a refund on spell slots used to cast divination spells.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

His Level 6 class ability allows him to gain a refund on spell slots used to cast divination spells.

The amount of bribery that WotC has tried to use to make Divination spells more popular over the years is kind of hilarious.

 

[Pauper]

In AL, a number of modules include a spellbook as a treasure option (at least one contains more than one!), and nearly every module includes a scroll, though not all scrolls contain spells from the wizard class list. So I'd say a wizard will have numerous options to gain spells outside the 'two free spells per level' received from his class.

Tim the Enchanter however might still want to gain as many divination spells as possible for two main reasons - 1) They are cheaper to copy into his spellbook and 2) His Level 6 class ability allows him to gain a refund on spell slots used to cast divination spells.

This makes sense if Tim the Enchanter is a Divination specialist, but my guess is that someone whose last name is "the Enchanter" is probably going to be an Enchantment specialist. With that said, the Enchantment school abilities (and really, many of the Wizard school abilities) don't really rely on or interact much with spells -- the Diviner's 'roll 2 d20s at the start of the day and use those instead of a roll if you want', the Conjuror's 'create a minor non-magical item at will'. Pretty much only the Evocation specialist really has abilities that all power his spells.

In short, choose the school you think will be fun, and don't worry about being 'gimped'. It won't happen.

--
Pauper

 

[kalani]

Gah, I really spaced when answering that question. No idea why I answered as Divination (instead of Enchantment). Probably because he kept mentioning the Beast of Caerbannog "with nasty big pointy teeth".... Then again Tim seemed more like an evoker given how many fire bolts he cast.

 

[Ainulindalion]

The implication that there are only '1 or 2' spellbooks per season is simply wrong.

Season 1: 6 spellbooks in DDEX modules. May or may not be any in Hoard or Rise.
Season 2: 5 spellbooks in DDEX modules. 1 in Princes.
Season 3: 3 spellbooks in DDEX modules. 2 in Abyss.
Season 4: ? spellbooks in DDAL modules. 9 in Curse of Strahd.

Sorry, it always annoys me when I see that, so I must correct it. And yes, many of the spells repeat over and over. But not all of them do - not counting the Curse of Strahd spellbooks, which I haven't yet sorted, there are 118 different wizard spells available via spellbooks.

This does not take into account spells which might be accessed via spell scrolls.

EDIT: The spellbooks in Curse of Strahd add an additional 22 different wizard spells available via spellbooks, bringing the total to 140. Further, there are 200 wizard spells listed in the PHB and an additional 30 in the EEPC.

That means, in theory, your wizard could have 180 of 230 total spells (at level 20) even if every wizard he or she met had chosen the same spells at level up as he or she did. This will cost a small fortune in gold, though (assuming those 140 spells average to level 5, 35000gp to copy them all, not including school discounts).

 

[TwinPeaksGuy]

I'd definitely missed the part about choosing 2 per level. No matter what school you choose, you can do a lot with that to build a spell selection that suits your concept.

Interesting to know there were so many more spellbooks than I remembered, which was pretty much 1 or 2 per season. If there's that many more, then there's a lot of selection building possible there. So not gimped like I'd started to think, given enough gold from adventuring.

the build I'm actually considering is school of necromancy with a healer feat, as a backup option for CoS. He's basically a variant mad scientist type with Asperger's, but at least he'll be able to hand out the heals and do some necrotic damage. Something tells me there will be at least one spellbook that really lights his fire in the season 4 adventures.

 

[Ainulindalion]

Huh, my math was off. You actually get to pick 44 (not 40, 4 extra at 1st level) spells on leveling your wizard to 20. (45 if you take Magic Initiate: Wizard as a feat at some point.) Given the best you'll be able to have prepared at any time is 27 (28 with Magic Initiate), that should be plenty. Assuming you don't find a way to increase your INT above 20, that is.

But a huge chunk are out there for when those 44 aren't enough. But with 8 schools (not super evenly divided) among 230 spells, you ought to be able to pick up most of your school's spells, if nothing else.

 

[TwinPeaksGuy]

How is it possible that a school of necromancy wizard can't do the third level spell Speak with dead (which would strictly speaking a form of divination, but whatever)? I am just dumbfounded.

A necromancer can't actually do necromancy? The very word means death divination, otherwise known as speaking with the dead or being a medium. Yet another weird and inexplicable twist in the rules.

 

[kalani]

Necromancy has always been weird, as it has been traditionally broken up across both wizard and cleric. In order to be a "True Necromancer" you need to be a hybrid wizard/cleric..... Clerics have always been better undead-related necromancers anyway, while wizard necromancers have traditionally been about inflicting death