Wizard school specialization, your favorites?

[The Forsaken One]

Abjurer all the way, but for powergaming reasons assuming you actually specialise and focus on your chosen school mostly instead of just dropping a weak school or 2 for that bonus spell a day. Cba explaining my reasoning again for the 3rd time this month .

 

[mhensley]

I'm currently running an Enchanter with prohibited schools being illusion and conjuration. It's working out very nicely so far.

 

[TheNovaLord]

I like to keep necromancey most of all, not overly an enchanter or evoker type. If i fancied blowing things up i be a warmage, and go bard if i fancied enchantment i think. wouldnt drop transmuter either. quite like illusions and divinations. conjurations are goodish and abjurations are ok.

JohnD

 

[Sejs]

Diviner.

Nothing embodies the idea that knowledge is power as much as a wizard does and the diviner really drives that point home. And you only have to give up one school so you don't really end up hobbling yourself too terribly much. I usually give up Necromancy (if I feel like being particularly moral; personal research into transmutation or enchantment can make up for some of the debuffs you lose), Illusion (if I feel like being particularly unsubtle, which isn't often), or Evocation (if I feel like being really, really subtle, which is even less often).

Feat-wise, pick up Collegiate Wizard. Again, it fits with the diviner, and you'll know a boatload of spells. If it's cool with your DM (always check, natch), you might well use the spells you gain at level up to cover personal spell research. Such as making up new divinations! How old is that thing? What protections does that guy have? What happened in this area in the past 24 hours? How does this work and what does it do? Who is the owner of this object? How can I move to avoid this guy hitting me? Etc, etc.

You may also want to pick up the Research feat if you feel like being particularly bookish. Bookish is wizard all over. It's not an oomph, pow, kick you down and take your stuff feat, but it helps you know stuff.

 

[DM_Jeff]

Another Diviner Vote

My wife played her first Diviner in 2nd Edition, with a ton of restrictions that everyone else thought would lead to the weakest player ever. She proved beyond a doubt however, that knowledge is power, and more than once her PC helped victory through divinations. She also wrote a ton of specific diviner spells (which I rewrote into AEG's Mercenaries and Warlords of the Accordlands Master Codex). She lead most of the adventure hooks through her curiosity and now, some 11 years later "Moondown" is legendary in our circle, quoted and beloved by players who weren't even in that group at the time.

-DM Jeff

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

My namesake was an old character of mine, an Evoker.

For me, it's Evocation all the way, and I would geenrally drop Enchantment and Necromancy - who needs to control people or undead when you can blast them to ashes.

...it's pretty much personal preference though. Most people seem to think school specialisation isn't worthwhile - personally, I enjoy it a lot...

I don't really see the point to evocation, now that conjuration is the new evocation. Maybe using core only it's not so bad, but you've still got a ton of energy-damage effects that aren't subject to SR.

 

[lukelightning]

Conjuration. And I'll be clear and say that this would be my choice even without all those (in my mind dumb) spells that are basically evocation spells that bypass SR.

Illusion is also good, because you can use shadow evocation and shadow conjuration type spells to patch up the holes in your repertoire.

Giving up evocation is not much of a problem. And enchantment is pretty weak, since it has so many mind-affecting spells that are useless vs. undead, vermin, and constructs.

 

[Munin]

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions...just what I needed!