A Thought On Wizards

[Serpentine]

So, as the title says, I've just had a thought on Wizards and their overpoweredness. I'm sure many others have had this thought before, and I'd like to know if anyone's gone anywhere with it.

Specifically, my thought is this: the class of "Wizard" is, through its spells, hugely versatile - that's the source of its Tier 1 status. It's this versatile because it has to cover so many different archetypes - the blasting human cannon, the charming enchantress, the subtle manipulator, the alterer of reality, and so on.
So what if you break it up into those different archetypes? Instead of the Wizard, you have the Enchanter with a spell list focussing on charming spells and a Blaster with all the brutal damage-dealing spells and the Illusionist with (shockingly) all the illusion spells - each basically exactly the same as the Wizard, but with a much more specialised spell list (although I wouldn't expect the Enchanter to ONLY have explicitly charming type spells, just broadly thematically appropriate ones). If someone wants to blast and make illusions, they have to multiclass as the Blaster and the Illusionist (or, you know, whatever).
I'd probably be inclined to custom-make each spell list. In which case, what's a good number of spells at each level to have access to? Or it is more about the quality of spells than quantity? On the other hand, another option might be to just divide them up by school - Illusion spells only or Evocation spells only or Necromancy spells only unless they multiclass. I'd guess that'd be pretty imbalanced between the wizard types in that case, though, although that might happen regardless. Or possibly you could have something in-between: all the spells in a specific school, and a certain number of "electives" which can be taken from other schools.
So what do you think? Would that be a feasible solution to "Wizards win forever"? I'm sure I'm not the only one who's thought of it, so what else has been done with the idea?

[Mithril Leaf]

Base it off the Dread Necromancer, Beguiler, and Warmage (Not so much that last one) as that is precisely what these classes were meant to do.

[Aegis013]

Then you get down to Conjurer and Transmuter and they still win the day just about effortlessly.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Just about the only thing I can think of that'd be a hard-nerf on the wizard, is to make him pick one school of magic from which he can draw. This effectively divides the wizard into 8 very similar classes that are none-the-less wildly different from one another. Even then they'd probably remain in either T1 or T2.

*I'm not suggesting this as a "fix," just an interesting option.

[Serpentine]

Then you get down to Conjurer and Transmuter and they still win the day just about effortlessly.Sooo... Because two of the cut-down options will still be powerful, don't bother doing it at all, even though they will be less powerful? :smallconfused:
Just about the only thing I can think of that'd be a hard-nerf on the wizard, is to make him pick one school of magic from which he can draw. This effectively divides the wizard into 8 very similar classes that are none-the-less wildly different from one another. Even then they'd probably remain in either T1 or T2.

*I'm not suggesting this as a "fix," just an interesting option.Yeah, I did muse on that option in my post.
I know they'd still be powerful - some more than others - but they would be LESS powerful, wouldn't they?
Another question is, would any of these "sub-Wizards" be completely unfeasible as a character?

[Kelb_Panthera]

Sooo... Because two of the cut-down options will still be powerful, don't bother doing it at all, even though they will be less powerful? :smallconfused:Yeah, I did muse on that option in my post.
I know they'd still be powerful - some more than others - but they would be LESS powerful, wouldn't they?
Another question is, would any of these "sub-Wizards" be completely unfeasible as a character?

It'd be tough to be a wizard who could only cast divinations, but with some carefully chosen PrC's it should still be viable. The other seven are no-question still playable.

[Serpentine]

Hm. Would they at least make good support characters? Or are there any bits that could be added on or changed to make them more independently useful?

I don't know why I'm even thinking about fiddling with Wizards, to be honest... I've never played one, and now that I think about it I don't think I've ever played a game with any in it (or at least not anything other than a short-term game).

[Kelb_Panthera]

Hm. Would they at least make good support characters? Or are there any bits that could be added on or changed to make them more independently useful?

I don't know why I'm even thinking about fiddling with Wizards, to be honest... I've never played one, and now that I think about it I don't think I've ever played a game with any in it (or at least not anything other than a short-term game).

They'd still have plenty of out of combat utility, but they wouldn't be able to do much when it's time to draw steel. There's really no need to add anything, the utility of all those divinations will support a PrC that can improve his combat ability really well. Even just a quick fighter dip and then straight into eldritch night turns him back into a serious threat.

[Aegis013]

Sooo... Because two of the cut-down options will still be powerful, don't bother doing it at all, even though they will be less powerful? :smallconfused:

Please do not put words in my mouth.

I was simply saying that those two schools alone will still present classes that cause a significant power disparity when paired with the classes at the level that you are presumably trying to bring Wizard down to.

[NichG]

If you do this, you have to get rid of 'emulating' spells. Things like Shadow Conjuration, Limited Wish, etc. Otherwise, you end up with an Illusionist who becomes much closer to a generalist wizard by memorizing nothing but Shadow Evocation, Shadow Conjuration, Shades, whatnot.

Conjuration's problem here is that you can summon things that can cast other schools for you, so a slightly artificial way to limit it would be that summoned creatures can't use spell-likes other than those from the Conjuration school. This goes under the idea that summoned creatures aren't really there, they're just kind of projecting an avatar of themselves via the spell (or maybe the platonic ideal of the particular creature is being made to manifest by the spell, but something weird is going on if the creatures don't retain anything done to them while they're summoned). Therefore Called creatures would be unaffected by this limitation because they're actually there. Gate will still be a problem, but Gate is a big problem anyhow.

Transmutation's problem shows up much later, but has the similar issue of 'I can become something that can cast X'. Polymorph Any Object really needs to be clarified anyhow - as written it sort of implies you can grant things hit-dice or levels by polymorphing them since you can 'turn a stone into a gryphon' in one of the examples, and doing staged polymorphs to get a permanent duration is a well-known trick (first I morph to a different kingdom, then a different size, then a different intelligence, then ...). Shapechange and Assume Supernatural Ability then gets you the same issue as Gate or huge-list summons in that you can basically get any ability so long as you can become the right creature, so that needs an independent fix anyhow.

For Divination, give the class Cleric BAB and saves and I think it'd be a decent T3. Pretty good versatility (though mostly the plot-breaking kind) and not totally useless in a fight.

All in all I really like the idea of one-school wizards. There are so many spells, and people who play casters frequently get used to the best of the bunch so you find those cropping up again and again. Splitting it up means that there'd be an opportunity for some spells that don't usually see much attention to shine. My estimate would be that with these adjustments the one-school wizards will roughly be around T3-T2.

-Conjurers and Transmuters'd be an easy T2 (though Transmuters would probably drop by a tier if the Polymorph spells were all removed).
-Necromancers would probably be low T3 (minion-mancy could salvage things here, I dunno).
-I'd say Illusionists would be T2 with a receptive DM and as low as T4 with a resistive DM (the difference being, how much does the DM say 'they interacted so they get a save', 'its obviously fake so they ignore it', play to the targets' inclinations, throw only mind-affecting immune enemies at the party, etc).
-Enchanters are probably T3 (they can do a lot of cool social things, but they can't do too much to bypass a door or kill a zombie).
-Abjurers now become really good by comparison, as they get to keep Dispel Magic, Antimagic Field, and the like. I don't know if that's worth T2 with the rest of the playing field nerfed, but I'd think so.
-Evokers are probably T3. They have some versatility though with Wall of Force and a couple odd spells that made it into Evocation, but its hard to say if its enough for a bump.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Aegis013 is right. A conjurer with nothing but conjurations is still capable of doing most of the things that make wizards so versatile, and for anything he can't do himself he can summon or call a creature to do for him.

Transmuters with only transmutations are just plain nasty in combat and can generally get around most problems by changing them into less of a problem.

They really are that good, even in core.

Necromancers become T2 because there are creatures and situations for which necromancy can't be a viable option, but they're few and far between, I'd say that's also fairly true for illusionists.

Enchanters have their niche, but they're significantly nerfed to T3. Evokers with nothing but evocations are just prep'ed warmages, without class features, and so also T3, because you probably can blow it up, regardless of the problem in question.

Diviners I've already discussed and because of those thoughts, I'd put them at T4, barring PrC advancement.

Abjurers are harder to place. My gut says T2-ish since they aren't as versatile as T1's but they can shut most of them down. OTOH, what's more versatile than saying "no" to the things that everyone else uses to be versatile? Maybe someone else can chime in and place Abjurers a bit better.

[Randomguy]

There's no need to do this with necromancy, illusion, enchantment and evocation: That's what the beguiler, dread necromancer and warmage are for.

Try splitting Conjurers up into two different classes: One for summoning, binding and teleportation, a Summoner, and the other for the rest of the conjuration spells. That might bring them down to maybe a low tier 2.

Splitting the transmuter one could also be an option. Maybe lump in the self polymorphing spells with abjuration, and make it a gish-y class?

[Reluctance]

Hacked down, single-school wizards are a popular quick n' dirty nerf that actually works. It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing.

Since they already exist, though, keeping the Beguiler, Warmage, and Dread Necro cover the respsective specialist roles better. Conjurer would be tricky, transmutation specialist is covered passably by the wildshape ranger, and then you'd just need to make a divination/abjuration mystic type and you'll be good to go.

[eggs]

If Conjuration and Transmutation are too big, they could just as easily be divided further into eg. Teleports, Creation, Summons, Creature-alterations, non-creature-alterations spells.

And on the more limited spell lists, they could always be supplemented with thematic add-ons (the existing theme-casters already go outside Illusion/Necromancy/Evocation).

[roguemetal]

Considering this new approach to wizards, would this eliminate the specialization bonuses so that save DC remains the same? Or would this automatically be considered specializing in a school and gain the benefits of doing so? Also, in doing this, you are basically required to do something similar to clerics, wu-jen, sorcerers, and psions. Otherwise every one of those choices becomes instantly more ideal than a wizard.

In the past, when wizards get too powerful, I just enforce the rules of spell components and the rarity of certain items, and suddenly things fall into place. My other means of dealing with the nigh limitless access to spells of the wizard is to simply limit what spells are accessible. Also, just for clarification, wizards really aren't terrible unless you have munchkins at the table. Clerics on the other hand I never know how to balance beyond enforcing deity subservience.

[Gnome Alone]

I always thought it was kinda weird how the specialist list casters (Beguiler, Dread Necromancer, Warmage) were themed around the weaker schools of magic. Although Illusion can be pretty powerful and it's a really fun school. Anyway I'm not complaining about any of these; I don't know them that well anyway.

But I would've thought they would've made similar classes for the other schools, or at least Conjuration and Transmutation. As people have pointed out, yeah, they'd be more powerful than the other list casters, but not as much as straight wizards in the first place. Did the spooky wizards who live by the coast just figure that if people wanted to specialize in all that groovy conjuring and transmuting they could just roll a plain wizard using all those spells anyway? I mean, I thought they didn't understand their own game enough to even realize that would be the most powerful option.

[Eldest]

Then you get down to Conjurer and Transmuter and they still win the day just about effortlessly.

So break Conjuration up. Make a mage that focuses on Teleportation, one that focuses on Summoning, one that focuses on healing. Shuffle all of the spells dealing with creation into Evocation, where they belong.
So there would be a Teleporter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=168948), a Summoner (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=181483), a Healer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133118), a evoker with more options from the former Conjuration (creation) spells (who we shall call a Warmage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131346)), a wizard who specializes in illusions and enchantments (let's call him the Beguiler, for funsies), a necromancer (you know, let's call that the Dread Necromancer). Maybe the transmuter could focus on polymorph and be called a Shapeshifter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=239085). I don't know of a similar idea for Diviners, though.

[Kelb_Panthera]

I'd probably give the Wizard sub-classes the benefit of being specialized. I'm already nerfing them hard, no sense in over-doing it.

Clerics are easier. If you pick a god, I will hold you to that god's teachings. If you don't choose a god, I'll hold you even tighter to your own ideas and drop you in a heartbeat for a crisis of faith. Being a godless cleric in my game is not an easy row to hoe. The same goes for any other divine caster.

Roleplaying was supposed to be part of the balance of divine casters, IMO. That's not an idea balancing factor from a game-design perspective though.

[gkathellar]

Many, many people on the Homebrew board have already thrown their hats into this ring. There is an abundance of full-list casters that very talented homebrewers have created, from expert Conjurers to Witches to Oracles to Transmuters to Teleporters to cold-focused variant Dread Necromancers to more Bard-esque Beguilers to more revised Warmages than you can shake a stick at. Seriously, go check out the Homebrew board. Browse the Extended Signature, use Google, whatever. Do it. Right now.

[eggs]

Yeah, this cropped up in another thread. I dug around a bit and found a bunch of these (I haven't really critiqued them for balance or completion, but this list might save some legwork).
{table=head]Class |Author |Schools/Themes
Aeromancer (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=476.0;msg=2222) |RobbyPants |Air themes
Alchemist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49554) |GryffonDurime |Transmutation
Barrier Mage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9866726#post9866726) |The-Mage-King |Abjurations, walls and clouds
Blood Mage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=203924) |Lord Tylenol |Transmutation, summons
Cleric (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=4082) |Prime32 |Buffs, heals, aligned spells
Court Mage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5824387) |Darth Stabber |Abjuration/Divination
Earth Dreamer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155003) |jiriku |Divinations, earth themes
Emberhaunt (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158205) |jiriku |Fire spells and buffs
Geomancer (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=476.0;msg=2223) |RobbyPants |Earth themes
Harbinger (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=244491) |wayfare |Divinations and enchantments
Haruspex (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=213491) |Silva Stormrage|Divinations, variety of other spell effects
Hydromancer (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=476.0;msg=2224) |RobbyPants |Water themes
Medic (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=12170) |Garryl |Arcane Healing/Defensive buffing
Mutationist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106138) |Darth Stabber |Transmutation
Oracle (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=105787) |ParO'Dice Lost |Abjuration, variety of miscellaneous others
Oracle (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=7683.msg254245#msg254245) |RobbyPants |Abjurer/Diviner
Planeswalker (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49583) |The Demented One|Conjuration
Puppet Master (http://wiki.faxcelestis.net/index.php?title=Puppet_Master) |DragoonWraith |Transmutation and Summoning
Purifier (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=9803) |RobbyPants |Healing, Buffing, Positive Energy blasting
Pyromancer (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=476.0;msg=2226) |RobbyPants |Fire themes
Rearranger (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99314) |Arguskos |Transmutation
Savant (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5207261&postcount=2) |Arguskos |Abjuration/Divination
Seer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158308) |Frog God |Abjuration/Divination
Shadowmage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4700555#post4700555) |Ghost Warlock |Debuff Necromancy and Shadow Illusions
Shapeshifter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=239085) |jiriku |Morphs, buffs, polymorph nerfs
Spellshifter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162170) |Frog God |Transmutation
Spellweaver (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5207279&postcount=4) |Arguskos |Transmutation
Storm Lord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=157750) |jiriku |Air, electricity, buffing
Summoner (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5207270&postcount=3)|Arguskos |Conjuration
Summoner (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=181483) |jiriku |Summons, buffs, control
Summoner (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=3400) |Prime32 |Conjuration
Teleporter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=168948) |Saph |Teleports and Divinations
Time Mage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93531)|Violet Octopus |Divinations, Summons, Teleports and speed-related buff/debuffs
Village Priest (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9383721) |dspeyer |Either Life- or Death-themes, modified by domains
Void Disciple (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159776) |jiriku |Divinations and curses
Wavekeeper (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159251) |jiriku |Water spells, "controller" elsements
Witch Doctor (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60146) |The Glyphstone |Buffs and Curses
Wizard (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=2410) |Prime32 |Utility spells, Warlock-style invocations[/table]

[Mystral]

You could just make a specialist mage for every archetype of wizard, like the beguiler, warmage and the dread necromancer. Give him some appropriate extra powers and make sure his spell list isn't overpowered.

If you still fear the transmuter and the conjurer, break them up even more. The warmage is already half conjurer (Battlefield Control like Stinking Cloud and Black Tentacles, Orb spells etc.), so just make a summoner who specialises in summoning allies to the battlefield and teleportation. For the transmuter, make a class that focuses on buffing and just don't put polymorph et al. into the spell list.

[GenghisDon]

Diviner & Abjurer need some work indeed.

stealing just from other 3.5 sources (like psionics) helps the diviner quite a bit.

I think the abjurer would need to steal some cleric style stuff. It definitely would want for counterspelling supremcy built in as class features

Both of these 2 might do with some slight improvements to non magical combat ability, as was suggested earlier. maybe not, if their class features give them a "supernatural" edge in combat instead.

I don't think the conjurer or transmuter are impossible/broken tasks, but they would need some thought, yes. I'd say the only way to run polymorph/shapechange is to break it up into form per spell (ie: shape of the wolf, shape of the bear, form of man, ect), make some examples at each spell level & set some guidleines for how to research other forms/spells. Of course, that's already a problem d20 struggles with. The conjurer needs be stripped of idiotic spells like conjuring force effects (sorry, that's invocation magic!), but past that, it ought be fine. summoned critters simply haven't ever been a big deal at our table, although I'm well aware how they apparently are awesome at others.

[Kelb_Panthera]

i'm mostly just discussing this as a thought experiment. If I think a straight wizard would be too much for my campaign I just ban it outright. There are plenty of other options including at least a half-dozen other arcane classes. I've yet to have a player come up with some type of wizardry that was a problem though.

[GenghisDon]

Time magic. It tends to be problematic. It's touched on in transmutation, but only a bit.

[Eldest]

Yeah, this cropped up in another thread. I dug around a bit and found a bunch of these (I haven't really critiqued them for balance or completion, but this list might save some legwork).
{table=head]Class |Author |Schools/Themes
Aeromancer (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=476.0;msg=2222) |RobbyPants |Air themes
Alchemist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49554) |GryffonDurime |Transmutation
Barrier Mage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9866726#post9866726) |The-Mage-King |Abjurations, walls and clouds
Blood Mage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=203924) |Lord Tylenol |Transmutation, summons
Cleric (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=4082) |Prime32 |Buffs, heals, aligned spells
Court Mage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5824387) |Darth Stabber |Abjuration/Divination
Earth Dreamer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155003) |jiriku |Divinations, earth themes
Emberhaunt (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158205) |jiriku |Fire spells and buffs
Geomancer (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=476.0;msg=2223) |RobbyPants |Earth themes
Harbinger (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=244491) |wayfare |Divinations and enchantments
Haruspex (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=213491) |Silva Stormrage|Divinations, variety of other spell effects
Hydromancer (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=476.0;msg=2224) |RobbyPants |Water themes
Medic (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=12170) |Garryl |Arcane Healing/Defensive buffing
Mutationist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106138) |Darth Stabber |Transmutation
Oracle (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=105787) |ParO'Dice Lost |Abjuration, variety of miscellaneous others
Oracle (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=7683.msg254245#msg254245) |RobbyPants |Abjurer/Diviner
Planeswalker (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49583) |The Demented One|Conjuration
Puppet Master (http://wiki.faxcelestis.net/index.php?title=Puppet_Master) |DragoonWraith |Transmutation and Summoning
Purifier (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=9803) |RobbyPants |Healing, Buffing, Positive Energy blasting
Pyromancer (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=476.0;msg=2226) |RobbyPants |Fire themes
Rearranger (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99314) |Arguskos |Transmutation
Savant (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5207261&postcount=2) |Arguskos |Abjuration/Divination
Seer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158308) |Frog God |Abjuration/Divination
Shadowmage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4700555#post4700555) |Ghost Warlock |Debuff Necromancy and Shadow Illusions
Shapeshifter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=239085) |jiriku |Morphs, buffs, polymorph nerfs
Spellshifter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162170) |Frog God |Transmutation
Spellweaver (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5207279&postcount=4) |Arguskos |Transmutation
Storm Lord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=157750) |jiriku |Air, electricity, buffing
Summoner (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5207270&postcount=3)|Arguskos |Conjuration
Summoner (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=181483) |jiriku |Summons, buffs, control
Summoner (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=3400) |Prime32 |Conjuration
Teleporter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=168948) |Saph |Teleports and Divinations
Time Mage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93531)|Violet Octopus |Divinations, Summons, Teleports and speed-related buff/debuffs
Village Priest (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9383721) |dspeyer |Either Life- or Death-themes, modified by domains
Void Disciple (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159776) |jiriku |Divinations and curses
Wavekeeper (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159251) |jiriku |Water spells, "controller" elsements
Witch Doctor (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60146) |The Glyphstone |Buffs and Curses
Wizard (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=2410) |Prime32 |Utility spells, Warlock-style invocations[/table]

Well that's a lot more complete than my little list of links. Nice.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Time magic. It tends to be problematic. It's touched on in transmutation, but only a bit.

Time magic, as in magic that manipulates time, is just plain bad for game balance. It bends the action economy over and does bad things to it. Fortunately the only time-magic spells I can think of are time-stop, and a couple from a WotC web article that I'm not even going to name because they involve straight-up time travel.

Are haste and slow time magic? I've never looked at them as such, but if you do, they're not included in my previous statement.

[killianh]

Allow one school only, no feats, half wealth, and no PrCs. defeats the main point of the wizard but brings them to acceptable levels

[The Boz]

Just about the only thing I can think of that'd be a hard-nerf on the wizard, is to make him pick one school of magic from which he can draw. This effectively divides the wizard into 8 very similar classes that are none-the-less wildly different from one another. Even then they'd probably remain in either T1 or T2.

*I'm not suggesting this as a "fix," just an interesting option.

But even that option doesn't really work because the magic schools aren't balanced at all. Take Conjuration, for example. Is there anything it can't do? Necromancy, Evocation and Abjuration are the most limited schools, and even those have an unhealthy amount of unrelated utility spells in them.
Core rework from the ground up is the only thing that could work. And not just spells, schools and spell levels, but the lists and classes as well.

[Psyren]

I was simply saying that those two schools alone will still present classes that cause a significant power disparity when paired with the classes at the level that you are presumably trying to bring Wizard down to.

This.

An Evocation-only Wizard might fall to T4, while an Illusion-only or Necromancy-only Wizard might make it to T3. Conjuration and Transmutation would definitely still be T1, or T2 at the lowest.