Wizards 2 free spells ? and Specialization

thol · Jan 22, 2003

a little off topic here but....

a friend of mine was telling me that a specialist wizard gets a +1 DC for spells of his specialist school, but nowhere can i find any rule that states this. is this false?

mikebr99 · Jan 22, 2003

thol said:
a little off topic here but....

a friend of mine was telling me that a specialist wizard gets a +1 DC for spells of his specialist school, but nowhere can i find any rule that states this. is this false?

I think he's blowing smoke up your a**.... YMMV

Mike

Bastoche · Jan 22, 2003

They get a +2 to their spellcraft check for their specialist school to learn new spells. That is all. In the PHD in the "magic" chapter, before the "spells" chapter, somewhere in the spellbook rules area.

Lucius Foxhound · Jan 22, 2003

Yeah, IMO, it doesn't seem that WotC spent a lot of time thinking about specialist Wizards. I mean, there's only ONE necromantic spell at 6th level... so if you specialize in that school, you're supposed to take a lower level spell?

Could be that they use this as a devious ploy to make you by supplementary books. Or that it's expected that you'll do spell research and come up with your own spells.

Staffan · Jan 22, 2003

I'd say that the problem is most obvious with Enchantment specialists, since they by necessity run into it as early as 4th level: there is only one 2nd level enchantment spell in the PHB (Tasha's Hideous Laughter). A 10th level abjurer would run into the same problem (Dismissal), as would a 12th level necromancer (Circle of Death), 14th level enchanter (Insanity), 16th level diviner or illusionist (Discern Location, Screen), or 18th level diviner, enchanter or illusionist (Foresight, Dominate Monster and Weird).

It's a bit odd that one of the mid-tier schools, Enchantment, has three levels of spells where there's only one spell of that school. Then again, many of the Enchantment spells are quite powerful (Sleep, Hold Person, Charm/Dominate stuff), so perhaps it balances out.

Bastoche · Jan 22, 2003

I want to point out again abjuration because I'm playing one and I just found out about the sucky 5th level. Not only there is only one 5th level spell, but it's not a very uselful spell

unlike protection from arrows or shield or globe of invulnaribility.

Hashmalum · Jan 22, 2003

IIRC in 2nd Edition the targets of a specialist wizard's spells saved at -1 (equivalent to a +1 DC in 3rd Edition). Either someone just assumed that the save modification carried over, or its a house rule.

kigmatzomat · Jan 22, 2003

I would talk with the GM and come up with a compromise, possibly allow thematic equivalents (i.e. diviners can learn knowledge gaining spells that fall under other non-prohibited schools; e.g. I think Arcane Eye is conjuration), allowing specialists with no spells available to pick up any spell they otherwise could. I can't see penalizing a specialist for being over-eager.

"Now, now, youngster. Don't learn ALL the spells you're really good at or you won't have nothin' else to learn later during even-numbered class levels."

bret · Jan 22, 2003

Bastoche said:
I want to point out again abjuration because I'm playing one and I just found out about the sucky 5th level. Not only there is only one 5th level spell, but it's not a very uselful spell unlike protection from arrows or shield or globe of invulnaribility.

I think that there are a couple of Abjuration spells in Tome & Blood. Isn't Mass Resist Elements at that level?