Neonchameleon
Legend
The biggest problem the classic D&D wizard has IMO is that there are two basic schools of magic that people are thinking of when they want to play a wizard. And D&D historically has tried to accomodate both within the same class, leading to pretty huge tensions.
The first one is the Evoker. The powerful, flashy mage who blows stuff up and feels mighty. Boom. Ideally an Evoker wants magic that's simple, straightforward (Note that not all Evokers in this classification necessarily use evocation spells; a lot of conjuration spells fit the pattern, and a fair few necromancers and other schools). A pure Evoker's ideal victory ends up with a great smoking hole where the enemy castle was, and the Evoker themselves walking out sillhouetted by the fire and flames.
The Second one is the Illusionist. The trickster who enjoys the challenge of using a rag-tag bag of quixotic magic to rig things in their favour - preferably using small spells to weight things and counter, effectively playing Xanatos Speed Chess. (Again, not all Illusionists favour the illusion school - enchantment and divination are also favourites). A pure illusionist's ideal victory takes just one spell; the right spell (or better yet a Silent Image of the right spell) and very possibly no one even knowing the illusionist was there.
This, incidently, is very close to the Timmy/Johnny divide in Magic the Gathering.
But my basic question here is given that there are two very distinct profiles here who both pick wizards (albeit for very different reasons) should the wizard remain one class or be split into the flashy evoker with obvious spells and few direct limits on them but limited subtlety, and the sneaky trickster with quirky and weak-appearing spells?
The first one is the Evoker. The powerful, flashy mage who blows stuff up and feels mighty. Boom. Ideally an Evoker wants magic that's simple, straightforward (Note that not all Evokers in this classification necessarily use evocation spells; a lot of conjuration spells fit the pattern, and a fair few necromancers and other schools). A pure Evoker's ideal victory ends up with a great smoking hole where the enemy castle was, and the Evoker themselves walking out sillhouetted by the fire and flames.
The Second one is the Illusionist. The trickster who enjoys the challenge of using a rag-tag bag of quixotic magic to rig things in their favour - preferably using small spells to weight things and counter, effectively playing Xanatos Speed Chess. (Again, not all Illusionists favour the illusion school - enchantment and divination are also favourites). A pure illusionist's ideal victory takes just one spell; the right spell (or better yet a Silent Image of the right spell) and very possibly no one even knowing the illusionist was there.
This, incidently, is very close to the Timmy/Johnny divide in Magic the Gathering.
But my basic question here is given that there are two very distinct profiles here who both pick wizards (albeit for very different reasons) should the wizard remain one class or be split into the flashy evoker with obvious spells and few direct limits on them but limited subtlety, and the sneaky trickster with quirky and weak-appearing spells?