Is it Even Worth Water Specialization?

[Zonbitara]

So, I'm playing D&D and decided to play as a Wu-Jen. I decided early on that I would specialize in Water, but the more I read, the more I thought 'is it even worth it?' it seems that the only element specializing in for an offensive character was Fire, which frankly got me a bit miffed. Nearly all the wu-jen water spells that deal 1d6/lvl (like fireball or lightning bolt) are crippled by an insultingly long casting time that gives the enemies a chance to all walk up single-file and attempt to break your concentration, fizzling the spell. Fire on then other hand gets spells like Fireball, Fiery Eyes, Fire Shiruken, Fire Breath, Fire Seeds, and even the ONLY 9th-level elemental aligned spell. So, is there even a point to taking anything but fire?

[Metahuman1]

Based on my experience, Wu Gen are at there best as Gishes with the rather impressive list of Buff spells there dropping.

[eggynack]

So, I'm playing D&D and decided to play as a Wu-Jen. I decided early on that I would specialize in Water, but the more I read, the more I thought 'is it even worth it?' it seems that the only element specializing in for an offensive character was Fire, which frankly got me a bit miffed. Nearly all the wu-jen water spells that deal 1d6/lvl (like fireball or lightning bolt) are crippled by an insultingly long casting time that gives the enemies a chance to all walk up single-file and attempt to break your concentration, fizzling the spell. Fire on then other hand gets spells like Fireball, Fiery Eyes, Fire Shiruken, Fire Breath, Fire Seeds, and even the ONLY 9th-level elemental aligned spell. So, is there even a point to taking anything but fire?
Damage dealing capabilities are a really bad metric to judge a class on. Water seems significantly more powerful than fire to me, though the lack of certain specialties at certain levels is pretty weird. I mean, water gets you nearly all of the fog spells, and those are awesome. I'd take fogs over direct damage any day of the week.

[Biotroll]

If you are struggling, you can check handbook: link (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=246975) It has some parts missing, but it has spells covered. Water may not be good for blasting, but then combat control is usualy better. Water looks perfectly usable to me (and you can just stinking cloud everyone who thinks otherwise :smalltongue:). Let fighters do their job and feel like king for allowing them to do so on your terms.

[Jeff the Green]

Specialization (actually Elemental Mastery) isn't a big deal for Wu Jen. You get a bonus to saving throws against spells from that school and +2 CL to those spells.

[eggynack]

Specialization (actually Elemental Mastery) isn't a big deal for Wu Jen. You get a bonus to saving throws against spells from that school and +2 CL to those spells.
Huh. True enough. I guess I just skipped over that, and filled in the blanks with psionic style specialization. Water probably isn't the best choice in that case, given how little reliance fogs have on anything. I guess the fogs have longer durations, but they're mostly lasting the whole encounter by the time you pick up mastery at sixth level. I'd still probably get more use out of water than fire, just based on my general love of fogs, but I can see how fire could be better if you're preparing any amount of direct damage.

[ArqArturo]

Wujen make cool Frostmages. And it fits the theme.

[Jeff the Green]

Huh. True enough. I guess I just skipped over that, and filled in the blanks with psionic style specialization. Water probably isn't the best choice in that case, given how little reliance fogs have on anything. I guess the fogs have longer durations, but they're mostly lasting the whole encounter by the time you pick up mastery at sixth level. I'd still probably get more use out of water than fire, just based on my general love of fogs, but I can see how fire could be better if you're preparing any amount of direct damage.

Admittedly I've never played a wu jen, but I would prefer metal or stone specialization, even if I were going for blasting. Fire's so commonly resisted, while the metal and stone spells aren't, and they include some things like GMW that having CL boosts are quite nice for. Plus you can still use fire when it's not resisted; +2 CL only gives you +7 damage on most blast spells, and then only if you're not already at the cap.