Who's the greatest specialist of them all?

[interwyrm]

With just the PHB....
Abjuration.
1: Shield
2: Protection from Arrows
3: Dispel Magic
4: Stoneskin (Anyone else find it odd that this is not transmutation?)
5: Private Sanctum
6: All useful
7: Spell Turning
8: Prismatic Wall
9: All useful

I could live with those as my extra spells.

As for prohibited school...
1. Evocation. The only thing holding me back is contingency.
2. Illusion or Necromancy. Both of them are useful... it ends up being a more thematic thing. I like necromancy for the no-save spells. Illusion has got better protective stuff going on though.

 

[green slime]

Necromancers, just because of the coolness factor.

 

[Hussar]

Always thought Conjurers were the way to go. Losing out that first round of attacks isn't all that bad since all that happens is movement with a single attack anyway. And, the nice thing about conjurers is that they dovetail very well with the rest of the group. Providing flanking for the rogue and the fighter, cleric buffs work on summonings as do the bard's, being able to have a fairly unlimited number of meat shields just makes so many problems go away.

 

[Dykstrav]

I have to go with conjurers for the "strongest" specialist. A 1st-level human conjurer with Spell Focus (conjuration) and Augment Summoning is pretty cool. Once you get second-level spells (web and glitterdust), you can pretty much control movement of any non-fire critter on the battlefield. Things only get sweeter when you get sleet storm, stinking cloud, cloudkill, and the various wall spells. There's always the iconic summon monster at every new spell level. Things get better if your DM lets in Spell Compendium or any other sources.

An evoker, necromancer, or transmuter with the right spell selection can also be situationally powerful. I kinda like to steer away from evokers and necromancers though, as it's more interesting to me to attack foes indirectly. Status effects are neat though, and this is where necromancers really shine.

Illusionists are neat from a roleplaying standpoint. They're very fun to play if you like coming up with on-the-fly plans and impromptu theatrics. Unfortunately, there are alot of critters against which illusions aren't any good (such as undead or mindless critters). However, color spray is a truly awesome spell, probably one of the best 1st-level spells in my opinion.

Diviners are also interesting. Since you only have to give up one other school it's often an appealing choice (especially if you're going for a mystic theurge build). Although people don't think about them too much, most spellcasters rely heavily on divinations. Comprehend languages, detect thoughts, tongues, and the like are useful enough for me to consider giving up necromancy or illusion in order to effectively gain an extra spell slot.

 

[Stalker0]

I'll go with conjuration as well. The orbs obviously, but the conjurer is the best general specialist in my opinion.

There's no enemy a conjurer can't hurt. An evoker against a golem, forget about it. A conjurer can use fog spells, orb spells, or summon his own beef. He can control the battle field against powerful enemies, summon more friends to fight a large number of enemies, etc.

 

[frankthedm]

I have a soft spot for evokers. Early in my 2e days I played and evoker name Romar Oakenshield. I had a blast playing that character. He was a wizard who didn't understand that wizards weren't supposed to lead the charge! He hit the ground a whole bunch, but man was it fun to blast a door down with a lightning bolt and rush into danger. Of course Romar's wrecklesness cost him. He was covered with burn scars over like 90% of his body.

Evokers certainly do evoke nostalgia, back when 1d6 a level meant something, even if capped at 10d6. What a shame they are still slinging 2E damage most of the time while the monsters have 3E HP!

Trolls used to drop from a decent fireball if they failed the save and even hill giants had a good chunk of their life torn off by 1d6 per caster level. Nowadays you might as well save the fireball till the troll drops. And 1d6 per caster level will barely dent the hill giant’s HP.

 

[Vuron]

Transmuter especially if we are talking PHB by itself. No other school gives quite as much flexibility with the extra spell. There is pretty much one or two worthwhile spells in the school every level. I'm not sure you can honestly say that with every other school.

When you use other books like Spell Compendium it's not as much of an issue but bare bones SRD D&D the transmuter definitely shines.

 

[Wolfwood2]

From specialists, it's Diviners. Only give up one school, and always have a Divination spell on tap.

But really, generalists are better than any of them. No matter what school, there's always one spell in it you don't really want to give up.

Take Evocation. Everybody talks about your Fireball and your Magic Missile, but did you know that Sending is an Evocation spell? At high levels that spell is just ridculously useful for keeping everybody coordinated during "down time" and for opening negotiations with beings you'd not want to trying scrying or teleporting in unannounced.

I could go on, but there's nothing like having all your options open when it comes to magic. Can't be beat.

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Favorite specialist and school is conjurer and since 3rd the most powerful too IMO. Summoning stuff is powerful and fun and it has all of the cloud spells, web and teleports.

Prohibited Schools: Necromancy and Evocation. You loose the least by selecting those too.

Evocation is mostly just blast spells and I think a lot of people use it too much so it's fun to try something different (bigbys hand is fun though and ofc contingency)
and necro only has 3 spells I miss (ray of enfeeblement, falselife and vampiric touch).

 

[Erithtotl]

Wow, no love for enchanters?

Admittedly they have some weaknesses, the biggest being that their core spells are useless against some types of enemies, like constructs and undead.

On the plus side though they possess some of the most devestating spells in the game. Feeblemind might be the most deadly 5th level spell in the game. My last PC was a 13th level enchanter when we ended the campaign. With a +6 Headband of Intellect, he had a modified 24 int, with greater spell focus enchantment, and feeblemind's -4 save penalty for arcane casters, it was a DC 28 Wil save or be turned into a vegetable. Not to mention Dominate Person, whose duration is DAYS, confusion, one of the more entertaining area of effect spells, as well as all the 'hold' spells, which though nerfed in 3.5, can still mean certain death of deployed properly (say against an opponent in melee). Finally, some of the new spells from Spell Compendium, like the 7th level Final Rebuke (Short range spell, wil save or die) round out the arsenal.

In some campaigns, namely one focusing on fighting undead, an enchanter might find themselves nerfed, but in others not only are they very powerful, but one of the most fun specialties to play.