School specialization

[Ricochet]

Transmutation is definetely the largest school, number of spells wise..

Interesting to see necromancy up beside it though!

 

[Ricochet]

Well, I would be forgetting that...

... if it were true.

Limited Wish and Wish are Universal spells.

-Hyp.

Ahh touche... Twas in second edition they were in that school. Silly me

 

[Hypersmurf]

Huh. Interesting. I just did a quick-and-dirty tally-mark check of each level (except 0), of the three spells I'd choose first for a character with no particular theme.

Of the 27 spells :

Transmutation 10
Abjuration 4
Conjuration 4
Evocation 4
Illusion 3
Divination 1
Necromancy 1
Enchantment 0

And yet, I still feel comfortable with the three groups I put the schools into before...

-Hyp.

 

[Eternalknight]

True it is interesting. Remember, that is what people's favourites are, not neccessarily what they think are the most powerful. Maybe you should create a poll asking that question?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Maybe you should create a poll asking that question?

Or a poll asking what people think is the least useful school...

-Hyp.

 

[Eternalknight]

Huh. Interesting. I just did a quick-and-dirty tally-mark check of each level (except 0), of the three spells I'd choose first for a character with no particular theme.

Of the 27 spells :

Transmutation 10
Abjuration 4
Conjuration 4
Evocation 4
Illusion 3
Divination 1
Necromancy 1
Enchantment 0

And yet, I still feel comfortable with the three groups I put the schools into before...

-Hyp.

Here were my results:

Transmutation 7
Abjuration 4
Enchantment 3
Evocation 3
Illusion 3
Universal 3
Conjuration 2
Divination 1
Necromancy 1

 

[Hypersmurf]

Here were my results:

Universal 3

I must admit, I ignored Universal for the purpose of this, since it's never a prohibited school.

Divination 1
Necromancy 1

True Seeing and Enervation?

-Hyp.

 

[Eternalknight]

True Seeing and Enervation?

-Hyp.

How'd you guess???

 

[Bonedagger]

Illusion is IMO one of the best specializations because of the little cost. As the forbidden school I would say that enchantment is far to prefer. Illusions and enchantments are very similar in that they both try to mess with peoples minds. Enchantment however is direct manipulation. Relative easy to prevent (Many spells protect against it and some races are even immune to certain enchantment effects). Illusion on the other hand is indirect manipulation. Even a creature with high SR and will saves can still easily be fooled into acting differently by an illusion.

And not to forget. Illusion give possibility for a lot of creativity.

 

[Spatzimaus]

Enchantment spells are almost always Will saves, and don't affect constructs or undead. So, it's not as useful as, say, Transmutation. That's why, IMHO, it goes in the middle group. Also, the Hold spells are nice but Clerics do those better.

Divination is nice, but you keep running into the simple fact that Clerics can cast most of the same spells or better. Also, many of the divinations have material components that other classes can avoid. If you play with Psions, they get many of the spells sooner. To top it off, at a few levels you only get 1-2 choices (I'm not saying Discern Location isn't good at 8, but that's your only option, and Foresight at 9 just sucks)

Necromancy is just a tiny school. It's got a few great spells, but the key is FEW. Two 5th-level, 1 6th, 2 7th, and 2 8th-level spells in the PHB?

So there's the reason for the difference. Some categories have a small number of spells. Be a Transmuter and you have tons of options at each level, be a Necromancer and you're stuck picking specific ones. The power of each individual spell may be just fine, but flexibility is an asset.

In 2E I never saw many illusionists, but now in 3E I see quite a few. Some because they're Gnomes, some because of the Shadow spells.