Why do YOU hate specialization?

[evilbob]

The specialist comes up a bit lacking. The Master Specialist PrC from Complete Mage certainly helps, imo.

The Master Specialist is an amazing PrC - I second this post! It makes me want to be a specialist wizard.

 

[Solarious]

Not all specialists were made equal. Evoker Master Specialist has nothing on, say, Abjuration Master Specialist. Or perhaps Conjuration Master Specialist. I'm sure we can all agree that a virtual Quicken 3/day is better than a gimped Empower 3/day. If they were buffed up until they were roughly equivilant, though, I would probably happy.

 

[Nifft]

Abjuration Master Specialist + Master of the Seven Veils = Secret Agenda to Put Wizards Back on the Coast... This message brought to you by the Convocation of Non-Divine Casters.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Votan]

Abjuration Master Specialist + Master of the Seven Veils = Secret Agenda to Put Wizards Back on the Coast... This message brought to you by the Convocation of Non-Divine Casters.

Cheers, -- N

That is a lot of levels of prestige class to squeeze together (17 by my count) and it ignores competing (good) options like abjurant champion with faster pay-offs.

 

[Nail]

Abjuration Master Specialist + Master Initiate of the Seven Veils = Secret Agenda to Put Wizards Back on the Coast... This message brought to you by the Convocation of Non-Divine Casters.

Cheers, -- N

FTFY

....and excellent combo, BTW. I need to play that PC!

 

[Nifft]

FTFY

That's what I get for not sleeping. Thanks! -- N

 

[lukelightning]

For me, being a specialist means trading in the thing that makes wizards great: versatility.

I'd like specialists if they had "specialists only" lists, kind of like psions' disciplines or clerics' domains. That way you could have some really juicy spells that you could only cast if you were an enchanter or whatever.

 

[Bad Paper]

I don't like the specialist school/prohibited school thing. It is too cut and dried.

I would like a mechanic where the specialist does not get more spells per day, but instead gets, say, hmm, example:

An 8th level Evoker ("prohibited" Enchantment/Illusion, with 18 Int) can use his 4th-level spell slots to memorize Cone of Cold, Displacement, and Suggestion. Thus you get that boost in your favored school, and a penalty in two other schools, but you don't run into the mind-boggling "prohibited school" idiocy, and of course your specialist really *is* better at his school than the plain wizard.

 

[Old Gumphrey]

Abjurant Champ requires a martial weapon and +5 BAB, and it doesn't make any sense to take more than 2 levels of it if you're a full caster. It's not very doable for your average joe full spellcaster. If you're rolling a gish, you're probably not going to be going after something like Master Specialist or Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil anyway since it would cripple your BAB. Abjurant Champ is an awesome class for the right character, but if you're going full spell power ultra mage, Sevenfold Veil is definitely the way to be.

Abj3/MaS6/ISV7, then you can either go back to master specialist or stack archmage on top.

Oh and here's a fun trick for a master specialist: you can add spells of your school to your spellbook. Since this also applies to spells not on your class list, you can grab Dispel Magic at 1st level from the Combat Trapsmith's list.

 

[Nifft]

That is a lot of levels of prestige class to squeeze together (17 by my count) and it ignores competing (good) options like abjurant champion with faster pay-offs.

That particular option is not competitive for that particular character. Seriously, he's going to have BAB +8 by 20th level. He really, really, really doesn't care about full BAB. Five levels of AbChamp would bring him up to +10, right?

The PrCs strung together up there (all 17 levels of 'em) are actually quite cheap, seeing as their pre-reqs overlap, and how Master Spec actually gives you the other two pre-reqs for Io7V.

Cheers, -- N