How Should Specialist Wizards be handled?

[Lord Zack]

I think specialist wizards should be different classes than the base wizard. Like the 1e Illusionist.

 

[Prickly]

I think that the specialist should work like the 4e mage.

Not giving up the ability to use a certain school but instead getting a bonus when using spells of the specialised school.

I prefer to build upwards.

there could be a ability that generalist could get that shows the versatility of the generalist.

 

[Serendipity]

As long as we're talking 'specialist wizard' they will suffer - by definition we're using a standard wizard (whatever form that takes in 5e) and making something that cannot exceed and - likely I think - won't equal that standard. 2e and various iterations of the concept in 3.x (Pathfinder and 3.0 primarily, as those are what I have experience with in this regard) both exemplify this. My favorite version of the illusionist, in my opinion the most flavorful, was the 1e version - which is literally impossible to make in any later edition because of certain 'spell schools' being denied them.

For specialist wizards to really work, I think a couple of things need to happen. Firstly, lose the spell schools that have existed to this point. Or at least, change them around. Reorganize the spell schools into a smaller number (say, five or six) and organize them around thematic lines, as opposed to .... whatever they're organized around now. Each of these new schools would, I think, suggest a certain specialist class.

Say, Necromancer, Illusionist, Summoning, Enchantment (unless that will step on any extant psi class too much), Seer, and maybe Abjurer (or whatever you want to name the anti-magic school). Note that I didn't include Evoker. A big complaint about specialist mages is that they become useless in combat - well then, break up the combat magics into different themes (not six identical spells but reflavor some of the extant ones) and then everyone can take them. (You could still make an evoker, I suppose, make it an optional add on school wise).

Anyway, from there, you build the specialist class as it's own class based but not exclusive to that school. This way you don't have specialist wizards that suck at doing anything OTHER than their specialty *and* you dont' have necromancers that are, for example, strangely really good at healing. This does create a problem in that you now need seperate spell lists for everyone which might be a deal breaker for many.

 

[CM]

I think that the specialist should work like the 4e mage.

Not giving up the ability to use a certain school but instead getting a bonus when using spells of the specialised school.

I prefer to build upwards.

there could be a ability that generalist could get that shows the versatility of the generalist.

Agreed. IMO banning schools doesn't really help give a specialist more flavor. Instead of telling you what you are, it tells you what you are not.

Give specialists access to unique spells and abilities that go with their theme.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

I think a specialist wizard mechanic should just go away. want to be a fire wizard? Choose mostly fire spells. Illusionist? Choose illusion spells. Done.

 

[Remathilis]

From 3e and 2e, for the most part not being a Specialist Wizard was a substandard choice. Some of the splatbooks tried to make Generalists more appealing, but for the most part specialist wizards were generally better.

I realized YMMV and all, but my experience is opposite; specialists were rare because PCs rather have access to the best of all schools than get hamstrung by the loss of 2 or more schools. I honestly rarely saw anything but mages/generalists in 2e or 3e, the only specialist that I ever saw go the distance was a necromancer (opp: Illusion and Ench) and a shadow mage. In fact, it took Player's Option: Spells and Magic giving specialists added boons and then the Master Specialist PrC in Complete Mage to see specialists in the short run again.

(The opposite, btw, held true of clerics/specialty priests; I never saw clerics in 2e because people went for the most broken priesthoods they could find. Generic clerics were literally nonexistent in my 2e days).

That said, I think Pathfinder's model of making opposition schools harder to cast (2 spell slots) in exchange for spell abilities (extra spells, at-will powers, etc) is a good way to go. It doesn't cripple you from important spells, but you get the feel of having traded versatility for power.

 

[Mercule]

Combat isn't just damage.

If your illusion causes enemies to cower in fear or attack illusory targets it can be just as effective as fire.

The effectiveness needs to come from smart/creative play, not from some statistical exercise on the part of the developer/player. Even in 2e, I played a wizard who was, essentially, a transmuter focused on the Item spell and some higher level variants. I had 15+ years of experience vs. the 1-2 years of the artillery wizard, but I was considered significantly more valuable. Even at 12th level, I still had to pull out my crossbow or dagger to actually do damage.

I don't want the artillery mage to feel worthless. I do really, really want some elements to the game that allow you to flex your creative muscles to some advantage.

 

[Mercule]

I realized YMMV and all, but my experience is opposite; specialists were rare because PCs rather have access to the best of all schools than get hamstrung by the loss of 2 or more schools. I honestly rarely saw anything but mages/generalists in 2e or 3e

Ditto.

 

[nightwyrm]

Here's a crazy idea - all wizards should be specialists (in the vein of 3e's warmage beguiler, dread-nec etc.), no single wizard should be allowed to have access to the entire spell-list that allows them to do everything.

 

[Lord Zack]

Here's a crazy idea - all wizards should be specialists (in the vein of 3e's warmage beguiler, dread-nec etc.), no single wizard should be allowed to have access to the entire spell-list that allows them to do everything.

Yeah, that does sound right actually. Maybe even have the core wizard fulfill a limited set of archetypes and let all the others be different classes.