My Diviner is taking spell focus: evocation. What do you think about that?

[Shard O'Glase]

There are choices that are good, pretty good, and no-brainers/must haves. You have selected 3 no-brainers and must-haves for your wizard, which is natural.

3.5 is on a rampage, tearing down all the no-brainers and must-haves, like spell focus, the buff spells, etc. I know if I was responsible for giving FR the 3.5 make-over, there is one must-have feat for Wizards that would be on my hit-list.

How is your DM going to handle conversion?

spell focus was a must have and a no brainer. Because I must have missed that with so far only two characters taking it since 3e came out. Most players I have find feats that do something other than give a small bonus a much bigger must have. The choice bewee gaining an ability to do something you never could vs a +2 to one school of spells DCs, and the DCs always seem to lose.

The buffs weren't must have's either in my games, they were common stop gaps until the party got the items that did the job at all times. About the only times buffs were layed down heavily is low levels where no buff items existed and they had planned a serious assault on a place.

The new buffs and spell focuses have become no brainers though in my games I suspect in that they are must not haves.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Obligatory:

Powergamer.


Seriously: Whatever makes you happy playing your character. While I find a specialist wizard who focuses on a school other than his specialty odd, there's really nothing wrong with it. It's not like Spell Focus: Divination actually does anything, and I see no reason to take a completely useless feat purely as flavor text.

 

[Cloudgatherer]

I have a feeling there will at least a couple spells in 3.5e that are diviinations that involve a save...

And I never found spell focus to be unbalanced at +2. I had a hard time with +4 from GSF, but not with the regular +2 version.

 

[Technik4]

Out of Curiousity:

Ok, so lets say that being a specialist granted you a +1 DC to spells in your specialist school and Spell Focus and GSF only added 1 (each) to your DCs.

My question is:

Would you still have become a diviner for the easy school ban and memorize a lot of evocations while taking spell focus: evocation despite being a diviner?

Or

Would you have been an evoker who likes using divinations sometimes (and had to pay more stringent school loss for the 1 extra spell/level and the same DC adjustment)?

Or

Would you have simply not bothered with Spell Focus Evocation?

Technik

 

[d12]

I would have become a diviner for the extra divination per day [though I really like some necromantic spells.] As a player I love casting things like scry, claraudience, etc... I also saw this character as "Indiana Jones as a Wizard" and so a diviner with an interest in old relics and tomes (and tombs!) made sense.

Would I have taken Spell Focus: Evocation if it only granted a +1 to the DC? Maybe, maybe not. I took it at 3rd level and at that point I still think it would have been more appealing than still spell, silent spell, toughness, dodge, any item creation feat, any weapon or armor feat, skill focus in anything, etc. Combat casting, alertness and the save bonus feats might have been tempting, yeah but Spell Focus would have been way up in the running.

From Levels 1-5, I've actually memorized as many buffing spells as evocation spells. I often cast mage armor on the party's Astral Deva, who can't wear armor. The only evocation with a save I've cast a lot has been Gedlee's Electric Loop (from Magic of Faerun), though Fireball is going to catch up very quickly now that I have it.

 

[Voadam]

Quintessential wizard has a few feats that require spell focus divination as a prereq, so it is not entirely useless. Some of those QW div feats are quite nice.

 

[Chimera]

No problem with it whatsoever. To me it adds flavor as the character's "favored secondary schools".

Merilduche'

Abjurer 3rd level Prohibited: Enchantment

Feats: Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus: Abjuration, Spell Focus: Divination, Spell Focus: Evocation

 

[hong]

Well, its my PC and the DM has expressed no concern about it at all. The only reason I bring it up is that I've seen objections to it on the boards and I want to try to understand those objections.

There are a lot of people on these boards who want to play your character for you. Your mental equilibrium will be much served by ignoring these people.

Now drop that Spell Focus and give me twenty, munchkin.

 

[JChung2003]

Unless your diviner's prohibited school is Evocation, I don't see anything wrong with your diviner taking Spell Focus: Evocation as a feat. As far as I'm concerned, it's like someone in wizard's college majoring in divination and minoring in evocation.

 

[Jalkain]

Re: Re: My Diviner is taking spell focus: evocation. What do you think about that?

Unless your diviner's prohibited school is Evocation, I don't see anything wrong with your diviner taking Spell Focus: Evocation as a feat. As far as I'm concerned, it's like someone in wizard's college majoring in divination and minoring in evocation.

As I play an abjurer with spell focus in Transmutation and Evocation, I'd have to agree! I'm no min/maxer, but really, some schools just aren't designed with spell focus in mind. Or should that be the other way round?