Abjuration - Although it's hardly a simple matter to wield the magic that will produce a blast of fire or slay a gaint with a word, the highest form of the mage's arts lies at the place where magic interacts with magic. To study the school of Abjuration is to wield the spells that manipulate the fabric of arcane power itself.
Conjuration - The Material Plane is nothing but a small and unimportant crossroads in the cosmos. All that exists in this physical world is a mere reflection of the iconic truths embodied in the unseen worlds that border it.
Divination - History is full of missed opportunities, personal tragedies, and kingdom-shattering defeats that might easily have been averted but for a single piece of information that could have changed the course of lives and worlds. Knowledge is power, and those who know all hold ultimate power in their hands.
Enchantment - The mind is the ultimate power. Any fool can oppose an enemy by physical means, but to halt a foe through the sheer force of one's will - or to turn a most hateful enemy into a loyal ally - is the purest and most subtly effective manifestation of arcane might.
Evocation - The universe is the interplay of impersonal forces - some spiritual, some political, some moral, some elemental, and some whose natures have yet to be revealed. Beneath the surface of the merely physical, fundamental energies form the true nature of all things.
Illusion - The universe is all in the mind that perceives it, and sensation is the first and only reality. If a tree falls in the forest with no creature to hear it, then there is no tree.
Necromancy - Life and death are one, for all the living things die in time. Death is not an ending, but a beginning. Since one's living days are but a fraction of the eternal existance of death, life is but a useless distraction to the study and understanding of the long darkness to come.
Transmutation - Like a reflection of the large process by which worlds are built and torn down once more, all life is change, to grow, to evolve from what it was ceases to be a part of the world, and the ultimate power is that which manipulates these forces of transmutation.
Which is your favorite school of arcane magic and why?
Personally, I prefer Illusion over the others, though Enchantment is a close second. Why would you need to use a dangerous Fireball if you can convince your enemy that you are a powerful creature, capable of much more. But that's just me, what does everyone else think?
I've always been fond of the shapechanging sorcerer, making transmutation my favorite, but illusion, enchantment, and divination come up close. I prefer the indirect approahces to the arcane arts. Slinging lightning bolts is all well and good, but I like magic that requires you to be a little more creative and emphasizes the role-playing aspect, something you can accomplish with all the schools I listed.
Abjuration is a terrible school that is not very creative and has a pretty worthless spell list. Shielding yourself from effects doesn't win battles, and it won't astound the common folk like turning people into frogs does. The abjurer is about as useful as a bard (a decent support character) but without the bard's knowledge, charisma, or endless opportunities for roleplaying.
A wonderfull question, but some of the descriptions are inaccurate.
Conjuration - The Material Plane is the center of the universe. It is a mix of other planes, bound only by it's physical limitations. However, the nature of other planes means they each are an essence and concentration of purity.
Evocation - The true nature of the univers is that it is a composition of many inumerable forces. But this is only the basics. Fire is not alive.
Necromancy - The study of death and the application of ways to manipulate it, cause it, or delay it. All things must end, but when and how is just as important.
My favorite is necromancy. When you have the absolute power to heal, hurt, destroy, or restore the living, summoning angels from heaven to set off dungeon traps just seems like a waste of time.
I like illusion and divination, myself. I know those would be the two I'd stick with if I could actually cast.
the right issues of dragon actually have the divine spells listed under their appropriate schools, actually. for clerics, it's #340, and it's #341 for druids and rangers. i imagine pallies are in either #339 or #342.
Quote from: the_takenA wonderfull question, but some of the descriptions are inaccurate.
Conjuration - The Material Plane is the center of the universe. It is a mix of other planes, bound only by it's physical limitations. However, the nature of other planes means they each are an essence and concentration of purity.
Evocation - The true nature of the universe is that it is a composition of many inumerable forces. But this is only the basics. Fire is not alive.
Necromancy - The study of death and the application of ways to manipulate it, cause it, or delay it. All things must end, but when and how is just as important.
My favorite is necromancy. When you have the absolute power to heal, hurt, destroy, or restore the living, summoning angels from heaven to set off dungeon traps just seems like a waste of time.
All of the above descriptions are taken from the Complete Arcane (pages 166-169).
I know.
Transmutation and Illusion for sure.
Thransmutation has some wicked tricks and is so versatile.
Illusion is just plain amazing. It can do anything, and i could actually do magic i would be a trickster mage without a doubt.
I don't like the way illusions work in D&D though, so i very infrequently play illusionists.
I really, really like everything except Evocation and Conjuration, but my favorite would have to be either Divination, Transmutation, or Necromancy. Divination is underestimated and is FAR from being among the weakest schools, transmutation just rules because it does, and nothing beats the ability to pull a corpse from the grave or suck the life force out of the living.
Abjuration should definitely get more credit, but it doesn't seem at all that great on its own compared to other schools. The exception to this, of course, is in a case where the spellcaster is also a decent combatant, in which case certain spells can make him ridiculously effective, especially against other casters. Thoughts I've had on making these spells more interesting would be to make them Universals, so that all casters have access regardless of specialization (what spellcaster would learn to pull off some devastating magic without being able to protect himself from similar effects?), or maybe throwing some spells from other schools that seem more appropriate for Abjuration into the school (ex: Mage Armor. Yes, it creates something, but it's more protective than anything else, and Abjuration also creates barriers of various sorts to protect the caster/caster's allies).
I've honestly got to say, I really can't see the appeal of Transmutation. I mean, sure, you can get combat bonuses and ability boosts, but what good does that do a regular Wizard, who shouldn't be in combat anyway? And if you're just buffing your allies, I can't see a lot of fun or role-playing opportunities there either. It does seem to have the most spells, good for a specialist who has to pick at least one of their school's spells every level. Maybe I'm just missing something, anyone want to enlighten me as to the greatness of Transmutation?
Quote from: DarkxarthI've honestly got to say, I really can't see the appeal of Transmutation. I mean, sure, you can get combat bonuses and ability boosts, but what good does that do a regular Wizard, who shouldn't be in combat anyway? And if you're just buffing your allies, I can't see a lot of fun or role-playing opportunities there either. It does seem to have the most spells, good for a specialist who has to pick at least one of their school's spells every level. Maybe I'm just missing something, anyone want to enlighten me as to the greatness of Transmutation?
*cough* gishbuild! *cough*
Quote from: DarkxarthI've honestly got to say, I really can't see the appeal of Transmutation. I mean, sure, you can get combat bonuses and ability boosts, but what good does that do a regular Wizard, who shouldn't be in combat anyway? And if you're just buffing your allies, I can't see a lot of fun or role-playing opportunities there either. It does seem to have the most spells, good for a specialist who has to pick at least one of their school's spells every level. Maybe I'm just missing something, anyone want to enlighten me as to the greatness of Transmutation?
If you think transmutation is all about combat bonuses and ability boosts, you're not using it to its fullest extent. Take the polymorph/shapechange line of spells, for instance. Yeah, you can use those to give yourself a combat edge if you want, but they are equally useful to hide or deceive, just like an illusionist would. Turning yourself into an unobtrusive animal is many times just as good as invisibility, and with Alter Self even an unskilled mage can be a master of disguise.
Transmutation has all the best utility spells: fly, knock, passwall, levitate, haste, slow, feather fall, telekinesis, and so on. It also has the etherealness spells and flesh to stone, two of my favorites. It is a broad school that combines trickery and deception with solid utility and a few quirky but effective attack spells. I picture a transmuter as the kind of mage that's ready for everything and totally unexpected - you'll never know where he'll show up next, what he'll look like, what he'll cast, and so on. If you fight a necromancer, you're up against death and inflict spells (and maybe a few undead on the side). An evoker will have the fireballs lined up, or some other assortment of in-your-face attack spells. An enchanter will have the charm and dominate spells ready. A Transmuter, however, could strike in any number of ways, from polymorphing into a red dragon or turning himself into a golem, to disintegrating you or turning you to stone, to throwing you around the room with telekinesis... or maybe he'll just send his lackeys after you, charged up with buffing spells. He's a master of ruining everybody's carefully laid plans, and capable of dealing with any situation himself.
That's a great description, Mithridates. I think I can see the appeal now :D . Maybe next time I play a Wizard, he'll be a Transmuter. Anyone else have a compelling speech about their favorite school, or any school?
Of course, the downside is that - like the Diviner - the endlessly adaptible Transmuter also has the capability of ruining the DM's carefully laid plans. :D
Quote from: MithridatesIf you fight a necromancer, you're up against death and inflict spells (and maybe a few undead on the side)... A Transmuter, however, could strike in any number of ways, from polymorphing into a red dragon or turning himself into a golem, to disintegrating you or turning you to stone, to throwing you around the room with telekinesis... or maybe he'll just send his lackeys after you, charged up with buffing spells.
undead[/i] lackeys after you, charged up with buff spells.
Quote from: Epic MeepoQuote from: MithridatesIf you fight a necromancer, you're up against death and inflict spells (and maybe a few undead on the side)... A Transmuter, however, could strike in any number of ways, from polymorphing into a red dragon or turning himself into a golem, to disintegrating you or turning you to stone, to throwing you around the room with telekinesis... or maybe he'll just send his lackeys after you, charged up with buffing spells.
undead[/i] lackeys after you, charged up with buff spells.
ouch... a necromancer who did not specialize in necromancy... PAIN. Pain and shameless use of the evil overlord list.
Quote from: Epic MeepoOr, double your fun as GM by having your necromancer prepare only one necromancy spell per level. The PCs charge in expecting death and inflict spells, but what do they get: a necromancer who polymorphs into a red dragon, disintegrates you, tosses you about the room with telekinesis... or maybe just sends his undead lackeys after you, charged up with buff spells.
Well, obviously all mages have a lot of choice, as specialist wizards don't give up much - but I believe the discussion is about specialist
schools, not specialist
practitioners. I was just emphasizing a point about the school of Transmutation having several things other schools lacked.
And by the way, how would the PCs even know they were facing a necromancer? I mean, I guess if you go and deck the guy out in a black robe and accessorize him with bone everything, but personally I try not to go the cliche obvious route when I make villains. ;)
Quote from: MithridatesAnd by the way, how would the PCs even know they were facing a necromancer? I mean, I guess if you go and deck the guy out in a black robe and accessorize him with bone everything, but personally I try not to go the cliche obvious route when I make villains. ;)
Currently my party in my IRL campaign are fighting necros and are fully aware they are fighting necros (zombies, skeleton mages, advanced gargoyles that make zombie spawn of stuff they kill, specters, morghs, the works) and the leader is a death preist decked out in full bone battle armour necro-regalia. But there's a shadowy figure lurking around who is her liason to her boss, and they have no idea what he is yet.
Gotta love hooded black cloaks and the abbility to easily escape. (he's actually an abbysal ghoul with rogue levels, but they don't know that. he could be a necro, a rogue, a fighter, a random outsider, anything).
Although at this point these are the superiors of one character, employer of 3 more and the uneasy allies of the last (they decide to go evil campaign). The last guy is actually playing an awesome game of intruigue, playing all sides against eachother and getting paid 3 time for the same assasination job, as well as setting up a pawn as ruler of the local town and trying to manipulate the generals of the undead army. I'm actually really looking forwards to seeing where this story will go.
And i'm the one running the campaign.
Quote from: MithridatesI believe the discussion is about specialist schools, not specialist practitioners. I was just emphasizing a point about the school of Transmutation having several things other schools lacked.
Didn't mean to sound like I was trying to invalidate your point. I actually agree with everything you said about transmuters. I was just trying to point out that its fun when considering schools of magic to think about how two schools can be woven together into a thematic whole, a la the transmutational necromancer.
Quote from: Epic MeepoDidn't mean to sound like I was trying to invalidate your point. I actually agree with everything you said about transmuters. I was just trying to point out that its fun when considering schools of magic to think about how two schools can be woven together into a thematic whole, a la the transmutational necromancer.
I see what you mean. It makes me wish that specialists were a bit more specialized - often times people take a specialist class for the extra spell slots, not because they actually want to play a dedicated Transmuter or whatever. A few extra spell slots and a Spellcraft bonus doesn't shoult customization to me. I'd like a specialist to be actually able to cast their school spells more effectively, or gain access to them earlier, or something that justifies the loss of schools while still making a specialist... special.
I sometimes use the Specialist Variants to make my Wizard seem more dedicated. There are three for each school. One that replaces the familiar, one that replaces the Wizard's bonus feats, and one that replaces the extra specialization spell. I don't usually use all three variants, but I always give them a look-over before I finish a specialist Wizard. If you, like me, don't have Unearthed Arcana (which is what I think the book they're in is called) they are available at d20srd.org under the Variant Classes section. Some a kind of dull, but a lot of them I like. They're a nice way to make your Wizard seem like a true master of, whatever it is he's a master of.
I actually have Unearthed Arcana (it was just too good for me not to buy it and give the authors their props) and I agree: the specialist variants are a good way to make specialists more diverse. But I can also see Mithridates' point: becoming a specialist doesn't really let you cast the spells of your school any better than anyone else. A necromancer can learn fireball just as soon and cast it just as effectively as an evoker.
Perhaps it would make more sense if specializing in a school worked more like those domains that provide a caster level bump. Evokers get a +1 caster level when casting evocation spells, for example. (In fact, I think there's a trait in Unearthed Arcana that does exactly that: +1 caster level in one school, -1 caster level in all other schools.)
speeling of the evil overlord list, anybody have a link. I've lost mine.
Quote from: the_takenspeeling of the evil overlord list, anybody have a link. I've lost mine.
ta-dah! (http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html)
there it is! Thank you.
I prefer thaumaturgical schools over philosophical schools.
I have played two of the specialty wizards first introduced in Player's Option: Skills & Powers and elaborated on in Player's Option: Spells & Magic: a geometer, named Euclid Euler Pythagoras e pi i, and an alchemist named, There's Antimony, Arsenic, Aluminum, Selenium, and Hydrogen, and Oxygen and Nitrogen and Rhenium (sung quickly to the tune of "I Am The Very Model of A Modern Major General").
That was back in my high school days and those were fun times.
Quote from: khyron1144I prefer thaumaturgical schools over philosophical schools.
I have played two of the specialty wizards first introduced in Player's Option: Skills & Powers and elaborated on in Player's Option: Spells & Magic: a geometer, named Euclid Euler Pythagoras e pi i, and an alchemist named, There's Antimony, Arsenic, Aluminum, Selenium, and Hydrogen, and Oxygen and Nitrogen and Rhenium (sung quickly to the tune of "I Am The Very Model of A Modern Major General").
That was back in my high school days and those were fun times.
Thank you. Now I have to go find the whole lyrics to that stupid periodic table song...