[3.5] New player wants advice on character.

[zoobob9]

I've played 4e briefly, only got up a few levels, but now were starting a 3.5 campaign. I'm planning on being a wizard as I always am, and probably an elf too. Any and all general advice would be appreciated, but what I really need help with is the schools. Is specializing in a school a good idea? I was thinking of specializing in Transmutation, banning Necromancy and something else, but I'm not sure of the other. I haven't taken skills, feats, etc. into consideration yet; I want to get the basics down before i think too much about those things.

Also, if my DM allows it, would being a fire elf be a good idea? (From Unearthed Arcana)

[Techsmart]

well, wizard is always effective. Specializing in a school is generally pretty good deal, since bonus spells and easier learning of them is usually pretty effective. I usually ban evocation, since it usually doesn't do anything for me that I can't emulate (or do better) with other schools. However, it really depends on your character's background. I would make a full character concept (background, personality), then decide what to specialize in and ban.

[Yora]

If you really know what you're doing, specialization is quite useful.
But for players without much experience with wizards, I would strongly recommend staying a generalist. Versatility is where the wizard truely shines and having access to all spell schools is clearly better than a few more spells per day, unless you know the huge amount of spells out there quite well.

[PollyOliver]

Yeah, if you don't have a lot of experience with the edition and the class, I'd stay a generalist. It would suck to get to level 5 and realize you banned a school with spells you really want (or get a new sourcebook and find out the same). If you have access to Races of the Wild, take a look at the Elven Generalist substitution level; it lets you generalize but with some of the benefits of specialization.

If you're going to go elf and eat the CON penalty anyway, you might as well be a Gray Elf. +2 DEX, +2 INT, -2 STR, -2 CON. Unless you have an attachment to fire elves for whatever character reason, or would rather take a hit to charisma and weakness to water and cold instead of a hit to strength.

[Zaq]

What books are available? If you want to be an elf, see if you can be an Elven Generalist from Races of the Wild, p. 157. They get some of the benefits of school specialization without giving up much. The only real drawback is that you have to be an elf. (Even ignoring the flavor, which I personally find to be incredibly distasteful before heavy refluffing, that CON penalty really hurts.)

[Amnestic]

If you do go generalist, bear in mind the Domain Wizard ACF (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm). Highly recommend it since there's no real downsides to taking it, and it can add some nice spells to your list which you might not otherwise have access to, or simply give you ones without bothering with scribing them/learning them on level up.

[Cog]

If you do go generalist, bear in mind the Domain Wizard ACF (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm).
"No real downsides" is an understatement; there's no cost at all. This one's just giving Wizards something for free, to one of the classes that least needs the power boost. Don't expect your DM to go for it.