Are most Wizards Diviners now?

[Thanee]

Hiyas!

With the new specialization rules one school of magic has been given a special place... Divination. The only school with a "light" restriction (i.e. lose only Necromancy or Enchantment) when specializing.

Dropping two schools is hard, especially now they made the schools a bit more balanced (transmutation having less alround coverage, conjuration being more useful, etc). Divination spells are always handy, so there's no real loss if you gain a slot limited to divinations per spell level (there's usually a good spell to fit into, like Detect Magic, Comprehend Languages, See Invisibility, Arcane Sight, True Seeing, etc).

So will most Wizards now choose to become Diviners to avoid the second prohibited school?

Of course, not the ones with a concept in mind, that evolves around a school of magic (would be kinda dumb to play a Diviner focused on Evocation magic, altho it's probably more effective than an Evoker).

What do you think?

Bye
Thanee

 

[ConcreteBuddha]

The reason why I think most wizards won't be diviners is because half of their free spells per level would have to go to learning Divination spells.

 

[green slime]

I fear so...

And even more so, as according to the SRD, you no longer need to have Spell Focus in your specialization. In 3.0 you were required to, if you were going to take SF.

Which makes it all the easier for Diviners to be Archmages these days.

 

[nsruf]

I agree with ConcretBuddha. Plus, from my experience, divination spells are not that widely used, nor is there a useful one at every level that a wizard would like to prepare daily.

My favorite specialist at the moment would be an abjurer, conjurer, or transmuter who drops necromancy and either enchantment or illusion.

 

[green slime]

I agree with ConcretBuddha. Plus, from my experience, divination spells are not that widely used, nor is there a useful one at every level that a wizard would like to prepare daily.

My favorite specialist at the moment would be an abjurer, conjurer, or transmuter who drops necromancy and either enchantment or illusion.

I disagree, I feel the divination line of spells is quite strong.

0th:Detect magic, Read magic
1st:Comprehend Languages, True Strike
2nd:Detect Thoughts, See Invisibility
3rd:Arcane Sight, Clairaudience/Clairvoyance
4th:Arcane Eye, Scrying
5th:Prying Eyes, Telepathic Bond
6th:True Seeing
7th:Greater Scrying, Greater Arcane Sight
8th:Greater Prying Eyes, Moment of Prescience

In fact, it is not until 9th level, that the diviner is limited to only one choice, foresight. Which is why one has picked up extend spell and persistent spell. In a game which all too often bogs down due to player indecision because of lack of player knowledge, being forewarned is forearmed, and noone does the forearming better than a diviner.

 

[Plane Sailing]

If the DM makes it easy to pick up new spells by buying scrolls (or through some other means) then diviner is a bit of an obvious choice. If the DM narrows things down so the 2 free spells per level is all the wizard gets (barring spellbooks from downed victims, perhaps), then it doesn't look so good.

While there are good divinations, no doubt about it, would a 5th level wizard who was eyeing up fireball, protection from elements, fly, haste... always be willing to narrow his choice down to 1 of those alongside a divination spell? And at 6th level just get another one alongside the other divination spell?

I certainly wouldn't *unless* I was wanting to play a specifically divination themed wizard. For a general wizard? Not a chance!

Cheers

 

[green slime]

If the DM makes it easy to pick up new spells by buying scrolls (or through some other means) then diviner is a bit of an obvious choice. If the DM narrows things down so the 2 free spells per level is all the wizard gets (barring spellbooks from downed victims, perhaps), then it doesn't look so good.

While there are good divinations, no doubt about it, would a 5th level wizard who was eyeing up fireball, protection from elements, fly, haste... always be willing to narrow his choice down to 1 of those alongside a divination spell? And at 6th level just get another one alongside the other divination spell?

I certainly wouldn't *unless* I was wanting to play a specifically divination themed wizard. For a general wizard? Not a chance!

Cheers

Well if that is what the DM was doing, seriously nerfing the wizard, I'd either be playing a sorcerer, or some other character class. IMO, the wizard needs to have plentiful access to scolls (not neccesarily cheapily, but so the player can take advantage of his character's greatest asset: the flexibility of a wizard. Remove this, and you may as well play another class.

For a generalist, I agree. In fact, I wonder if the new rules haven't made the generalist somewhat more attractive.

 

[nsruf]

I disagree, I feel the divination line of spells is quite strong.

They are not bad, but I think the other schools have more to offer, and that is definitely worth the price of two forbidden schools (necromancy being a no-brainer in a good aligned party, IMO).

Of those spells you list, only read magic, detect magic, and see invisibility (true seeing at higher levels) are on my "must prepare daily" list. The others can be very useful but I won't bother with them unless I know in advance that I am going to need them.

I realize that we (that is, the people I game with) could act smarter by using long-range divinations, but somehow this never caught on. And since I don't like adjudicating such effects as a GM, I neither encourage their use by my players nor do I push them onto other GMs when I play in their game.

Bottom line, usefulness of divinations depends on your style of play, as the more interesting ones have no straightforward mechanical benefits.

 

[Darklone]

I would love to have a Diviner in our group... though they have an item with one Augury per day and love to cast Divinations (2 priests & 2 druids).

It's always fun to have them ask questions and ponder or rage after the answers

 

[bret]

I would say Diviners are less likely than before because there are more good spells in the other schools of magic.

Even in a good aligned group, there are several Necromancy spells that a wizard could use. Examples include: Ray of Enfeeblement, Blindness/Deafness, Spectral Hand, Gentle Repose, Fear, and Astral Projection.

Although I don't agree with all of the spells that shifted schools, it is a lot more difficult to find a school that doesn't have several spells in it which a caster would want.