D&D 5E Overspecialization

[Doug McCrae]

As for learning cone of cold, I would say only if you are ruling at your table that that spell puts out fires, in which case having an off-button spell or two is very on-brand to being able to control fire.

The cantrip Control Flames from Xanathar's Guide to Everything allows the caster to extinguish flames, amongst other effects. I think it's the most thematically appropriate way to do it, and a must-have for any fire-themed caster.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Even a very specialised character can find something to do, even if it's using the Help action, or occasionally popping out from cover just long enough throw a rock.

 

[Gadget]

Gandalf's really a Life Cleric though (complete with a sword!). In Tolkien, Wizard is a particular class of angel (Aasimar).

I'm very familiar with Tolkien and the origins of his tales, especially with how they relate to D&D. You seem to have completely missed the point of what I was saying, in that things can be reflavored somewhat to make a fire mage more mechanically palatable.

 

[Northern Phoenix]

I feel like a lot of problems with DnD, in 5e and in general, come from the hyper-generalist type characters. In my ideal, specialist, even overspecialist characters, should be encouraged, both by the system and elsewhere.

 

[CydKnight]

Overspecialization is something you do with NPCs imho. Often they are going to be used for a specific occasion (but not always), which may or may not involve combat.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I think it's fun for PCs to have a Shtick. But the player also needs to recognize that it comes with a cost. A few sessions ago, the party faced a whole pile of devils, most of which were completely immune to fire. The fire sorcerer, who had been dealing a ton of damage throughout the campaign, suddenly found himself almost entirely ineffective. The player was talking about making a new character after that, but thankfully relented considering the campaign doesn't have much more than 3-4 more sessions left.

 

[Marandahir]

Well, 5e (and D&D in general) does encourage some types of specialization by dint of the class (and subclass) system. It just cannot accommodate all types of specialization, as indeed no system could. Specializing in a vary narrow type of magic--out side of say, school specialization--just does not work very well. Ideally, a special class or subclass could be made with class features and spell lists to make a balanced fire mage.

Or, lacking that, I think it could be a fair bit of re-flavoring to make things work. Even Gandalf the Grey, who specialized in fire & lights type of magic, still had other tricks to help out. Things like 'dispelling' hostile fire hazards or attacks "I am a Servant of the Secret Fire and a wielder of the Flame of Anor! The Dark Fire will not avail you, Flame of Udun!" Perhaps that Cone of Cold is merely a skilled fire mage taking the heat out of everything in the area. After all, Morgoth (to once again go to Tolkien), who was somewhat of a Fire God (or at least, that seemed to be his realm, just as Manwe was Air, Ulmo was Water & Alue was Earth) caused fierce colds to ravage the land and thereby created snow and ice. Perhaps a divination spell is seeing a vision in a fire burning special fuel with incense. Magic Missile and radiant damage can be seen as part of, or at least adjacent to, a broad defination of a fire theme.

I'm very familiar with Tolkien and the origins of his tales, especially with how they relate to D&D. You seem to have completely missed the point of what I was saying, in that things can be reflavored somewhat to make a fire mage more mechanically palatable.

Sure. Just meaning he's not a good example of a specialized fire/light mage with some other tricks up his belt, because his much better modeled by Clerics.

I agree with you that even a specialist usually has a few other tricks up their sleeves. Wizards are particularly good at being specialists with other options - they can keep those in their book and use them for utility rituals as needed, without wasting a prepared spell slot on them.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I think it's fun for PCs to have a Shtick. But the player also needs to recognize that it comes with a cost. A few sessions ago, the party faced a whole pile of devils, most of which were completely immune to fire. The fire sorcerer, who had been dealing a ton of damage throughout the campaign, suddenly found himself almost entirely ineffective. The player was talking about making a new character after that, but thankfully relented considering the campaign doesn't have much more than 3-4 more sessions left.

Some players would find that an interesting challenge.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Absolutely! That's a challenge to the player's creativity. But alas, some would also get discouraged at their uber-build hitting a situation where it can't prevail by brute force.

Some players would find that an interesting challenge.

 

[TheSword]

I think sometimes a little imagination can go a long way to resolving your theme though.

Let’s take the fire wizard described by @Doug McCrae. Smoke and explosions can certainly fall in the purview of a fire mage.

Poison spray can be a blast of smoke, as can fog cloud and its many poisonous varients.

Spells that deal fatigue and exhaustion can easily be imagined to be the result of heat.

Force damage such as the force wave and blast could be the result of an explosion that tosses people trough the air.

Even healing magic can be considered to be cauterizing wounds shut - I think there was a dark sun cleric who did this.

In short, think outside of the box. If in doubt these forums are probably a good thing place to come for ideas. See what people can come up with to broaden your theme.