dcollins said:
Here's a poll I'm using to generate a "baseline" core Wizard's spell list. You can pick as many selections as you like.
Anotehr skewed list. No Fireshield? Feh.
For low-hitpoint wizards, Fireshield is *great* - it really helps protect against the more-common area-effect spells out there, especially fireball and meteor swarm (effectively granting evasion against them). And it also provides a clear disincentive to attack the wizard in *melee*, as it deals damage BACK.
I had a necromancer/loremaster who was VERY grateful for that spell, as the counter-damage dropped a vampiric gibbering mouther (don't ask) ONE hit before negative levels were equal to levels (only a high constitution and coming out of a fight with the temp HP of a maximised vampiric touch saved me from HP death).
I'd suggest not narrowing the list down in future polls such as this, as that is truly going to skew results in favor of the ones *you* felt were must-haves to begin with.
Anyway, beyond the Fireshield, I went with Black Tentacles (battlefield control through mobility reduction is ALWAYS important - wall spells, grease, Tentacles, whatever you have to do to keep the enemy away form you for just another couple rounds ...). I *didn't* select wall of fire or wall of ice, as Wall of Stone (5th level) is superior to either of those for battlefield control, and black tentacles is more useful IMO than most walls.
Generally, for battlefield control, core only, off the top of my head and in level order from 0-9: [-/grease/web/-/tentacles/wall of stone/wall of force/-/prismatic wall/-].
I also chose dimension door and greater invisibility, as those two are excellent ways for the wizard to keep otu of melee reach and spell-target-ability, respectively.