Wizards in my hypothetical campaign

[Felix]

Ok, so you're joining my campaign and I lay out my house rules and tell you about the world as you know it. It's terribly interesting and your dice are all aquiver to begin rolling. And I come to this:

"Wizard" in this world is synonymous with specialist. Wizards all train in colleges, and like colleges in the real world, some departments are stronger than others. Like you would attend Virginia Tech for the Engineering department or William and Mary for Philosophy, some wizardly schools are brilliant at Conjuration or Illusion and rubbish at Evocation or Necromancy. Some colleges exist that enforce specialization, as do some that have at least one unanimously barred school. Your choice of wizard college will determine to a degree spells available to you, as well as provide a heirarchy who will to some extent restrict your actions and provide comissions for you to execute.

Consistent through every school however is a restriction on what barred schools you choose. Taking inspiration from the 2e AD&D PHB's presentation of schools of magic arranged around a compass, the schools are classified as Cardinal or Intercardinal, much like the points of a compass. They are divided thusly:

Cardinal Schools
Abjuration
Conjuration
Evocation
Transmutation

Intercardinal Schools
Divination
Enchantment
Illusion
Necromancy

Crunch
Specialists of cardinal schools must sacrifice either two other cardinal schools or one cardinal school and two intercardinal schools; Abjuration is an exception, being able to choose one cardinal and one intercardinal school as banned. Specialists of intercardinal schools may sacrifice one cardinal school or two intercardinal schools, with Diviners only having to sacrifice one school of their choice.

The Complete Mage class option "Focused Specialist", which trades 1 additional banned school and 1 less spell per day per level for 2 additional specialized school spells per day per spell level, is available, and that additional banned school may be freely chosen.

The Master Specialist PrC (Complete Mage) is the only prestige class available at every college, though not every specialty is available at every one.

Fluff
Specialists of cardinal schools are generally respected as more passionate and devoted; they are the "serious" students of magic. A modern comparison would be the difference between a PhD of Mideval Poetry and a Master's degree in English Literature. Both a Diviner and a Conjurer would be respected, but "Conjurer" would carry the extra oomph associated with someone who can introduce themselves as "Dr."

Dear God, Why???
Firstly, I do not like the "generalist" mage. I feel that magic study for a wizard must be an almost consuming passion; this passion will naturally incline a student towards a particular discipline and school of magic. To regard all schools of magic as equal suggests to me that the wizard has distanced himself emotionally from his profession, something I regard as suspicious in someone who has purportedly spent years of his life perfecting the craft. I like that these mechanics reflect this role-playing predictilition in the wizard.

Secondly, I absolutely love what the Complete Mage has done for specialists. It provides flavorful feats for specialists, and the Master Specialist is a brilliant PrC, accessable for any specialist and each discipline with yield wholly different flavored specialists. Its easy-to-meet prereqs also leave open the option of going quite far in another specialist-type PrC; an Evoker/Master Specialist Evoker/Elemental (Fire) Savant tastes like the kind of powerful high-level blasting wizard I'd like to have in my campaign.

Thirdly, restricting the schools as this does focuses the wizard's role in the party somewhat; he is no longer "the arcanist", but rather "the arcanist who enchants the party out of problems". This will allow parties to tailor themselves to the wizard's flavor, or alternatively allow the wizard to tailor himself to the party's style. A conjurer or abjurer will fit in well with a melee-oriented party while illusionists and enchanters will do better in a party of rangers and rogues.

Your Reaction
You sat through my prep talk and find yourself thinking, "Distracted as I was by Felix's stunning good looks, his wizardly house rules evoked quite a reaction; were I to articulate them, they would read something like _____________."

Fill in the blank.

Suggestions and alterations are welcome as well, as are testimonials regarding experiences of games with similar restrictions.

As to the availability of other arcane classes such as Sorcerers, Warlocks and Wujen, assume for the moment that they are all allowed. Sorcerers are for certain, but I haven't really turned my mind towards Warlocks, Wujen or Warmages.

 

[el-remmen]

I'm shifting this over to house rules.

 

[Crothian]

You sat through my prep talk and find yourself thinking, "Distracted as I was by Felix's stunning good looks, his wizardly house rules evoked quite a reaction; were I to articulate them, they would read something like _____________."

"I'll play a fighter."

Actually, it reads pretty good and I think I would enjoy playing a wizard if the4 schools are nicely detailed and mean more then just what schools I can and cannot cast.

 

[Thanee]

"Distracted as I was by Felix's stunning good looks, his wizardly house rules evoked quite a reaction; were I to articulate them, they would read something like I'm shifting this over to house rules."

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

I think it's good and certainly wouldn't mind playing a specialist wizard under those rules (I never play generalist wizards, anyways, well except elven generalist wizards, but I guess that's not quite the same... speaking of which... what happens to those (speaking of the elven wizard substitution levels here)?).

I do hope there are some roleplaying 'advantages' associated with specializing in one of the cardinal schools, since the mechanical downsides are pretty big.

Also, would the UA variants also apply (or be available)? Conjuration (with UA) would probably be the *only* (cardinal) specialization, I would consider, apart from the intercardinal schools.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Jon Potter]

Your Reaction
You sat through my prep talk and find yourself thinking, "Distracted as I was by Felix's stunning good looks, his wizardly house rules evoked quite a reaction; were I to articulate them, they would read something like _____________."

Cool. I really like the flavor and the way it differentiates the sorcerer from the wizard. I've long toyed with the idea of eliminating the generalist mage in favor of all specialists.

I do think that, as Thanee already suggested, there needs to be some pretty good RP advantages to the system elsewise it's seems just a gimp for the wizard class.

 

[Felix]

I would enjoy playing a wizard if the4 schools are nicely detailed

It is going to be the case that each college is going to have a much different flavor from one another. Magic, both arcane and divine, is unappreciated in society and regarded with fear and suspicion; colleges began as repositories of magical knowledge, protecting the accumulated works of centuries against the torches of the mob. As time passed, the wizards and (to a lesser extent) clerics in these enclaves built defenses against the outside world and ensured autonomy and self-sufficiency.

Time passes.

Just as each wizard faces a choice of specialities, the "faculty" of these enclaves tended to be in agreement as to how things should be run and the college defended. All are hidden by mundane means, but Necromantic schools will have wards crackling with negative energy; Illusion schools are impossible to find or, once found, navigate; a quick death awaits those who trespass an Evocation school.

Some schools house only a few wizards and isolationist while others are growth oriented and have become the power behind the throne. But what is generally the case is that an enclave's worst enemy is other colleges. At this point it's something of an Arcane Cold War, with two major colleges squaring off with their loosely associated allies while some happy independents look on. The population at large remains ignorant of their existance.

I should note that while the general population (read: commoners) hate and fear magic (for good reason, I should say), governments and well traveled individuals understand that it is not magic but the individual practitioner who should be judged. When I refer to people esteeming Conjurers over Enchanters, it is these folks I'm talking about as well as the magical community in general.

speaking of which... what happens to those (speaking of the elven wizard substitution levels here)?).

They're not available. I never did like racial substitution levels; while I have been happy as a clam (not a "Walrus and the Carpenter" clam, mind you) mining the Complete series for stuff, I have left the "Races of" books virtually untouched.

Besides, I tend to associate elven wizards with an almost pathological focus on their art. Elves in the wild living in the NOW are insulated against the enormity of time passing by remaining near-fey creatures of the present; when an elf seeks to expand his understanding vis a vis magical study, he becomes aware of time in a new way which has disturbing side-effects for a creature born to live in the NOW. (One venerable elf wizard has a crippling need to be surrouned by the tick-tock of clocks to remind him that time is indeed passing. )

I do hope there are some roleplaying 'advantages' associated with specializing in one of the cardinal schools, since the mechanical downsides are pretty big.

In university, do you recall there being some courses you just *didn't* take unless you were utterly masochistic? The coursework was difficult and you were pressed hard. Similarly, there were disciplines you snickered at because classes were filled with the smell of gym socks and the sound of people breathing heavily through their mouths; in my uni the soft option was Communication, and students of that major were, if not openly laughed at, derided for not being able to manage a proper degree.

A similar attitude exists in the magical world, only much more pronounced. Have you ever met a PhD candidate of Particle Physics? That's your Transmuter. When you see someone announce themselves as a Diviner, think of an undergraduate sophmore sociology student on a full ride athletic scholarship whose girlfriend takes all his tests for him and never goes to class. The world reacts according to these paradigms; a diviner has to prove himself over, and over, and over again and may never be treated fairly; Evokers have it on easy street with excusing sycopahnts about should they fail, be they ever so undeserving.

Also, would the UA variants also apply (or be available)? Conjuration (with UA) would probably be the *only* (cardinal) specialization, I would consider, apart from the intercardinal schools.

I do not have, nor have I read UA thoroughly, though the brief glance I gave my friend's copy did not impress me. So I would say that most likely they would not be available. And I can understand how you'd choose Conjuration: it's a good school. Not that you'd have access to any of the Orb spells besides Acid Orb... But Abjuration would reap you the same social benefits and you would have more flexibility in your spells.

But game-mechanics wise, I understand the reticence to give up 3 schools to specialize in Evocation when you could cast the more spells and be a Diviner. But then, you'd have to explain to other wizards why Divination deserves to be a majority of your spells and what you spend your life pursuing; I have seen smart and capable Communication students have to deal with the same issue.

I really like the flavor and the way it differentiates the sorcerer from the wizard.

Oh, don't get me started on the Sorcerer and how hard they have life after discovering their "gift".

 

[Ciaran]

\Have you ever met a PhD candidate of Particle Physics? That's your Transmuter. When you see someone announce themselves as a Diviner, think of an undergraduate sophmore sociology student on a full ride athletic scholarship whose girlfriend takes all his tests for him and never goes to class.

And which one do you think gets invited to more parties?

 

[Felix]

Are you saying that D&D players in general will associate themselves more with Transmuters in my game?

 

[airwalkrr]

I wouldn't mind it for flavor. But I wouldn't want every campaign to be this way. I like the archetypes of generalist and specialist. There are those who are simply all about accumulating the most magic and there are those passionate about a particular kind, letting others fall to the wayside. It makes sense. Think of a liberal arts degree candidate as a generalist and an engineer or business school candidate as a specialist. I think both are important in the real world as they are in D&D. An interesting twist however would be to say that generalists exist, but they are very rare for some reason (which can be mechanical if you like; such as maybe only wizards who start with an 18 Intelligence are capable of mastering all schools of magic). Or you could say only elves are in touch with arcane magic enough to be generalists.