When it comes to designing specialist wizards, some schools seem to fall to the wayside a lot faster than others. Necromancy takes the hit more often than transmutation, for instance. Every school seems to have its "can't-do-without" spells that form the staple of a wizard's repertoire, but wizards have to wait to get many of them, leaving the low-level survivally-challenged wizard stuck bartering long-term benefits against short-term ones..
I was thinking along the lines of what it would take to establish a "must-have" 1st-level spell--after all, 1st level is when a wizard makes the choice to specialize. Some schools already have such a spell, but others might actually need an existing spell lowered to first. The thing about a staple is that every wizard should know what they're getting up-fronti. It should offer basic utility, it should be easy to remember all the details of its mechanics, it should scale up to higher caster levels, and it should be obviously, incontrovertibly useful to just about anyone. So, for example, summon monster may be a great spell, but it's not an ideal staple for conjurers.
Conjuration does already have a staple though: mage armor. In fact, it's probably the quintessential staple spell. It does something very basic, very useful, and everyone knows what its duration, range, and effect are.
Evocation, in keeping with its nature, has the staple offensive spell, magic missile. Long range, scales to 9th-level, does force damage, and allows no save. Simple and direct.
Necormancy only has three 1st-level spells--cause fear, chill touch, and ray of enfeeblement. The first two are pretty underwhelming, while the third is a fine little debuff that many have come to know and love. It seems to lack some staple quality that I can't quite finger. Maybe it's the issue that applies to debuffs in general: when you're fighting a bunch of goblins or orcs, why make'em weaker when you can just kill'em dead? I'd say make false life the staple. Drop it down to 1st-level and we're in business.
That's three for starters. I'd be interested to hear what other folks think on the subject.
I was thinking along the lines of what it would take to establish a "must-have" 1st-level spell--after all, 1st level is when a wizard makes the choice to specialize. Some schools already have such a spell, but others might actually need an existing spell lowered to first. The thing about a staple is that every wizard should know what they're getting up-fronti. It should offer basic utility, it should be easy to remember all the details of its mechanics, it should scale up to higher caster levels, and it should be obviously, incontrovertibly useful to just about anyone. So, for example, summon monster may be a great spell, but it's not an ideal staple for conjurers.
Conjuration does already have a staple though: mage armor. In fact, it's probably the quintessential staple spell. It does something very basic, very useful, and everyone knows what its duration, range, and effect are.
Evocation, in keeping with its nature, has the staple offensive spell, magic missile. Long range, scales to 9th-level, does force damage, and allows no save. Simple and direct.
Necormancy only has three 1st-level spells--cause fear, chill touch, and ray of enfeeblement. The first two are pretty underwhelming, while the third is a fine little debuff that many have come to know and love. It seems to lack some staple quality that I can't quite finger. Maybe it's the issue that applies to debuffs in general: when you're fighting a bunch of goblins or orcs, why make'em weaker when you can just kill'em dead? I'd say make false life the staple. Drop it down to 1st-level and we're in business.
That's three for starters. I'd be interested to hear what other folks think on the subject.
