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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Best Wizard School Specialization in 3.5?
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<blockquote data-quote="Pax" data-source="post: 1441911" data-attributes="member: 6875"><p>It also depends on PrC plans - and heavily, now, on wether or not your DM will allow you to use the Variant Specialist Wizard rules in Unearthed Arcana.</p><p></p><p> For examples:</p><p></p><p> Conjuration specialist, with the "rapid summons" ability (in place of having a familiar): summoning monster spells are 1 standard action (instead of 1 full round). Yes, this means you CAN Quicken them! Alternately (or <strong>as well as</strong> rapid summons), Enhanced Summons, which replaces your bonus feat progression. Augment Summons instead of scribe scroll, harder to dispel your creatures, and eventually gain <strong>another</strong> +2 or +4 to Strength and Constitution, <em>on top</em> of Augment Summoning.</p><p></p><p> An Evoker would get <strong>great</strong> mileage from Energy Substitution - which is basically all five such feats, chosen on-the-fly, in return for sacrificing the Wizard's bonus feat options.</p><p></p><p> An illusionist giving up their bonus feats to get Shadow Shaper (instead of bonus wizard feats), can basically fill in a bit for a second-string Rogue. Hide as a class skill, intelligence modifier AND dexterity modifier added to Hide checks, +1 to the save DC of all his illusion spells, <strong>Hide in Plain Sight</strong> (!!), and eventually, the ability to be treated as invisible when in ANY illumination conditions that would give ANY degree of concealment. Drop a darkness spell, and disappear completely ...!</p><p></p><p> A Necromancer can exchange their familiar for Skeletal Minion - basically, kind of like a specialised form of Improved Familiar, for free, at 1st level - with only one option open.</p><p></p><p> Transmuters can, with Spell Versatility - which costs them their bonus feat progression - gain one spell per five levels which they can treat as a Transmutation spell ... <em>even if it is normally from an opposed school!</em> Further, Transmutable Memory can be VERY powerful, despite costing them their extra prepared Transmutation spell per spell level: it lets them un-prepare as many spells as they like (once per day), and replace them with an identical number of spell levels of newly-prepared spells (the process takes 1 minute per spell level given up). This even allows, per the example, to give up two 1st level spells and two 2d level spells ... for two <strong>third</strong> level spells! IOW, you can trade in all those low level spells, for more HIGH-level spells!</p><p></p><p> So, I dunno; a Conjuror with Rapid and Enhanced Summons ... or a Transmuter with Spell Versatility and Transmutable Memory. Well ... I'd be interested in giving either of THOSE a try, in the right campaign!</p><p></p><p> And Evokers with Energy Substitution stop having to worry about which element(s) to prepare spells of each day; if he's loaded out with fireballs, and the party encounters some fire elementals ... *poof* instant "Coldball" ...! <strong>Always</strong> use the element a creature is susceptible to, without needing any advanced warning? <strong>That's</strong> nice, indeed!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Pax, post: 1441911, member: 6875"] It also depends on PrC plans - and heavily, now, on wether or not your DM will allow you to use the Variant Specialist Wizard rules in Unearthed Arcana. For examples: Conjuration specialist, with the "rapid summons" ability (in place of having a familiar): summoning monster spells are 1 standard action (instead of 1 full round). Yes, this means you CAN Quicken them! Alternately (or [b]as well as[/b] rapid summons), Enhanced Summons, which replaces your bonus feat progression. Augment Summons instead of scribe scroll, harder to dispel your creatures, and eventually gain [b]another[/b] +2 or +4 to Strength and Constitution, [i]on top[/i] of Augment Summoning. An Evoker would get [b]great[/b] mileage from Energy Substitution - which is basically all five such feats, chosen on-the-fly, in return for sacrificing the Wizard's bonus feat options. An illusionist giving up their bonus feats to get Shadow Shaper (instead of bonus wizard feats), can basically fill in a bit for a second-string Rogue. Hide as a class skill, intelligence modifier AND dexterity modifier added to Hide checks, +1 to the save DC of all his illusion spells, [b]Hide in Plain Sight[/b] (!!), and eventually, the ability to be treated as invisible when in ANY illumination conditions that would give ANY degree of concealment. Drop a darkness spell, and disappear completely ...! A Necromancer can exchange their familiar for Skeletal Minion - basically, kind of like a specialised form of Improved Familiar, for free, at 1st level - with only one option open. Transmuters can, with Spell Versatility - which costs them their bonus feat progression - gain one spell per five levels which they can treat as a Transmutation spell ... [i]even if it is normally from an opposed school![/i] Further, Transmutable Memory can be VERY powerful, despite costing them their extra prepared Transmutation spell per spell level: it lets them un-prepare as many spells as they like (once per day), and replace them with an identical number of spell levels of newly-prepared spells (the process takes 1 minute per spell level given up). This even allows, per the example, to give up two 1st level spells and two 2d level spells ... for two [b]third[/b] level spells! IOW, you can trade in all those low level spells, for more HIGH-level spells! So, I dunno; a Conjuror with Rapid and Enhanced Summons ... or a Transmuter with Spell Versatility and Transmutable Memory. Well ... I'd be interested in giving either of THOSE a try, in the right campaign! And Evokers with Energy Substitution stop having to worry about which element(s) to prepare spells of each day; if he's loaded out with fireballs, and the party encounters some fire elementals ... *poof* instant "Coldball" ...! [b]Always[/b] use the element a creature is susceptible to, without needing any advanced warning? [b]That's[/b] nice, indeed! [/QUOTE]
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