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View Full Version : Forced Arcane Specialization - a thought experiment



nonsi
2013-12-08, 10:34 AM
We all know that full arcane casting is broken.
Bearing that thought in mind, I came up with the following idea:

Without getting into class design details ATM, let's think of this full arcane spellcasting class.
We'll call it "Mage".

A mage:...
1. has access to all schools.
2. must specialize.
3. gains a single bonus spell known from his chosen school at each level. This replaces the extra spell slots gained per SL according to the RAW.
4. LOSES ACCESS to 4 arcane schools, with a special clause that Conjuration & Transmutation each have an equivalent "weight" of 2 schools.


What will be the overall impact ?

Zman
2013-12-08, 04:38 PM
Force specialization is not a new idea, and IMO it does wonders to help limit some end game Wizard Builds. I can't remember who first suggested it to me, but I implemented it into my Wizard fix.

The way I implemented it is for every spell level gained beyond 4th the Wizard must select a prohibited school, this is in addition to any chosen for Specialization. Ie a Generalist Mage capable of casting 8th level spells will have four prohibited schools and be able to cast from four schools while a specialist will have six prohibited schools and be able to cast from only two.

Alone it's not enough to balance out casters as there are many broken spells but it will put a serious crimp in their ability to dominate so completely.

NichG
2013-12-08, 05:06 PM
The usual counter-argument is that a specialized Conjurer will still retain most of the things that makes a wizard Tier 1, with a specialized Transmuter right behind (a specialized Illusionist through use of poly-spells like Shadow Conjuration along with the Shadowcraft Mage PrC can also do this in a more roundabout way).

That said, I very much like what this kind of thing does for the flavor of magic. It effectively turns a single over-the-top class into 8 classes of varying potency - sure the Conjurer who knows how to get SLAs from summons may still be able to do everything, but the Abjurer or Enchanter or Illusionist or Evoker or Necromancer or Diviner each play very differently. 'Magic' is such a huge design space that it makes a lot of sense to break it up, and thematically this will help various magic-users in the setting each have a more unique feel and theme.

eggynack
2013-12-08, 05:36 PM
So, you can be a conjurer banning illusion, evocation, enchantment, and necromancy? I'd say that there's no change in tier at that level of school access. I can't tell if divination can be banned, and I'm similarly not sure if it should be banned if you have that capacity. Maybe before illusion.