Pathfinder 1E First pathfinder character

[Donal Graeme]

I kind of worded my first post weird. I wasn't asking for what to pick I was asking for the differences between things. Besides the number of spells and having to prepare the spells what is the difference between a sorcerer and a wizard. And what is the pros and cons of the different schools.

Others have covered the principle differences between a sorcerer and wizard, so I will take a stab at the schools for you.

Abjuration focuses on protective spells and wards. Most defensive magic is found here. Pro: strong defenses. Con: weak offensively.

The Conjuration school is about creating, moving and summoning things with magic. Summoning monsters, teleportation spells, spells that summon things out of thin air, that is found in this school. A flexible school, good for offense and defense. Pro: Good at most any situation. Con: Many GMs hate the Conjuration school, and limit spells from it.

Divination as a school is about detection and seeing things that are out of the ordinary. Magical investigation and farseeing are found here. A utility type school, has both offensive and defensive applications. Pro: Great for spotting danger, keeping aware. Con: Only a few useful combat spells.

Enchantment is all about charms and mind-altering spells. Spells that mess with enemies heads, spells that act as "crowd control" can be found here. Can be used offensively or defensively. Pro: Lots of ways to mess with enemies, also has some buffs. Con: Many enemies are immune to enchantment type spells.

Evocation is the primary school for destructive magic, although it encompasses a lot of other spells as well which deal with energy. Fireball, Lightning Bolt, most of the "blast" spells are found here. Very offensive school. Pro: Lots of ways to deal damage here. Con: Enemies with immunity to energy types can ruin your day.

Illusion is the school which includes invisibility effects as well as illusion/mirage effects. It is a school that rewards subtlety, and therefor tends to be more defensive/support in nature. Pro: Very flexible, lots of options available here. Con: Less out of combat utility that many other schools.

Necromancy deals with death spells, death effects and undeath. Most spells for creating, harming or impacting the undead are found here. Has a heavy emphasis on "debuffs" as well. Very offensive minded school, has a significant problem in that many of the spells are evil in nature and thus often more suited to the villains than the heroes. Pro: Can be very powerful in the right hands. Con: Those hands tend to only be evil ones.

Transmutation magic is about changing matter and reality. Most fly spells are found here, as are most of a Wizard/Sorcerer's buffs. A strong school, it focuses on supporting the other members of your party with buffs and enhancements. A strong utility school. Pro: Lots of different ways to help the party in nearly any situation. Con: Not a lot of ability to influence matters besides the party.

Hope this helps.

 

[N'raac]

It's also important to mention that a school specialization does not restrict you to that school. For example, an Illusion specialist would have an extra slot per spell level for illusion spells, but can still fill his other spell slots with spells selected from other schools, so a L1 Illusionist might well have a Silent Image spell in his bonus slot, a Mage Armor abjuration to protect himself and an offensive spell from a third school (perhaps Evocation, Enchantment or Conjuration). He likely won't have spells from the schools he selected as opposition, as two spell slots is a hefty chunk of his capacity, but there's normally lots to choose from between the non-opposition schools.

 

[Rev Bolyard]

As a new player, I would recommend the wizard as you can easily gain experience using one with the Beginner Box. From then on out you can begin sculpting the wizard to whatever end you'd like. If you ever have a question, this forum is as knowledgeable as any and several here can help you build a powerful character with whatever vision you might have... (with the exception of a wizard who dual-wields bastard swords or something).

Most important thing is to have fun!

 

[saundby]

I'm playing a low level Evo wizard right now. Just to let you know how he plays, I don't expect to get in on every fight. I cast spells that really matter in about half the fights, mainly doing crowd control with Sleep or singling out some enemies on a wing of the fight where I can burn them with Burning Hands or Fire Breath without torching friendlies. Otherwise I just throw out a few force missiles in combat.

Outside combat I do a reasonable amount of utility casting, and the Knowledge skills come in extremely handy. Having Gambling as a profession and good sleight of hand is a regular money-maker in town.

...to give you an idea of how one particular type plays.

One other note--I'm playing a pretty traditional D&D wizard. If your DM is new to Pathfinder, they might have an easier time working with your character if you play a more traditional style char than one that takes advantage of some of the new Pathfinder changes. I.e., they'll have an easier time setting up scenes that use your character's skills, putting in treasure your char can use, etc.

It's worth considering the DM when choosing a char class and build type.

And what sort of char clicks with you for what's "fun" in the game. I like to be the artillery.

 

[eurytion]

Thanks for all the help guys I made my charecter today and chose a conjuration wizard with necro and divination as the opposing schools, it turned out pretty cool. But one thing I'm wondering is as you level up do you get more spells you can prepare per day.

 

[N'raac]

Not sure which question you're asking here:

- as you gain levels, you gain spells you can cast per day as set out on the table in the Wizard writeup in the book, or at Wizard.

- at each new level, the wizard adds any two spells of levels he can cast to his spellbook at no cost. Other spells can be added from other wizards' spellbooks or from scrolls, or even from spell research.

 

[Rejnferhth]

Thanks for all the help guys I made my charecter today and chose a conjuration wizard with necro and divination as the opposing schools, it turned out pretty cool. But one thing I'm wondering is as you level up do you get more spells you can prepare per day.

IIRC, the number of spells you can prepare per day is equal to the number of "spells per day".

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/classes/wizard.html

See "spells per day" progression in Table: Wizard.