Maximizing Banned Schools

[sonofzeal]

Okay, silly build idea: Wizard who can only cast spells of a single school. I realize there was a recent thread on how to function under that restriction, but I'm interested in actually producing it under the rules.

So far I have....

Eight starting schools
Focussed Specialist bans three (down to five)
Red Wizard bans one (down to four)
Incantrix bans one (down to three)

Master Specialist is a great help in actually making this playable, but doesn't ban any schools.

Any others I'm missing?

[Godskook]

It should be noted that, iirc, it is impossible to ban Divination even with those methods, or Abjuration if you're using Incantrix, making the easiest of the best cases an Abjurer.

[Fiendish_Dire_Moose]

Yeah, I never understood why Divy was unbannable. You can't ban divy cause it's utterly useless :P. Same with Universal. But Uni has a decent excuse.

[PhoenixRivers]

You can ban Abjuration. Just not with incantatrix.

Say, Focused specialist. Ban Evocation, Enchantment, Necromancy.
Incantatrix. Ban Illusion.
Red Wizard. Ban Abjuration.

Now, all that's left is Divination, Conjuration, and Transmutation.

[Shadowbane]

Yeah, I never understood why Divy was unbannable. You can't ban divy cause it's utterly useless :P. Same with Universal. But Uni has a decent excuse.

Wait, how is divination utterly useless?

[sonofzeal]

Any way to ban more? It's probably impossible to ban seven, as that'd require being a Diviner meaning you actually need one more source of bannings. Still, getting down to just two would be fun.

[Doc Roc]

Yeah, I never understood why Divy was unbannable. You can't ban divy cause it's utterly useless :P. Same with Universal. But Uni has a decent excuse.

I think I must disagree with you on many different grounds.

[Zephyros]

You can't ban Divination cuz within it lies the spell that lets you read your spellbook in the first place

Was it in 3.0 edition that a chart existed with the forbidden school options? I seem to recall that Red Wizard from the FRCS could ban even more than 1 school.

[Godskook]

Yeah, I never understood why Divy was unbannable. You can't ban divy cause it's utterly useless :P. Same with Universal. But Uni has a decent excuse.

I think the reason for that is that more than any other school, divination is supposed to be an iconic wizardly role, in much the same way that healing spells are an iconic good cleric role(or undead manipulation of some sort is an iconic cleric's role, period). Just a guess, though.

[Ravens_cry]

Wait, how is divination utterly useless?

I am not getting it either. Isn't a vital component of the scry-and-die combo, well, the scry?

[Fiendish_Dire_Moose]

I am not getting it either. Isn't a vital component of the scry-and-die combo, well, the scry?

Oh, that's right, some people actually play casters don't they? Odd.....
Naw I'm kidding. I just never found a decent use for it, not when I have Enchantment to throw around power words, Necro for Magic Jar, and all the wonderful Transmuty spells.

[Superglucose]

You can't ban Div because it's the weakest of the schools.

Now I know that seems like a "WTFWTF no what are you talking about" but keep in mind that the way the rules are written is the way the author SAW the classes and spells as he wrote them in his mind. Div is certainly not the weakest or most useless school, but the author thought so, and thus, he made it easier to specialize in div.

[jiriku]

Wotc believes that divination is about half as powerful as other schools, thus a diviner only has to ban one other school and other specialists can't get a full school's worth of credit for banning divination.

I had a DM once who was of the "divination sucks and necromancy is almost as bad" mindset. I played a diviner who favored necromancy spells, just to prove him wrong, and just absolutely crushed his encounters. He doesn't call those schools weak any more.

[Shadowbane]

I love divination. Scry-and-die. I generally ban enchantment.

[Eloel]

You can also use that shadow-based PrC in eberron (or was it FR?) that bans a school for uber illusion/necromancy

[olentu]

Somewhat on topic perhaps the changeling wizard substitution level. I believe it gives up an additional school but do not remember if it is worded so that it would not work with focused specialist. However now that I think about it I believe that this requires specialization in two specific schools which might pose a problem but I can not remember for sure how exactly it works.

Edit: Also if we are really mixing up settings I sort of recall that the wizard of high sorcery prestige class having to ban another school but there were some restrictions on the schools one had to specialize in and ban.

Also of abjuration is ever banned that might mean disqualification from incantatrix depending on how the requirement is worded.

[Kurald Galain]

Yeah, I never understood why Divy was unbannable.

Because the way the designers played it, it was the weakest school. But then, in this way evocation is one of the strongest schools, so there is some obvious differences between how the designers played, and how people who post on this forum play...

[Tyndmyr]

I love divination. Scry-and-die. I generally ban enchantment.

Scry alone is sufficiently powerful that it'd keep divination off my banned list.

To take incanatrix, you must not have banned abjuration. Now, you could take incanatrix first, then ban it...it'd up the ban count, but it'd be pretty crappy in terms of character power.

[Boci]

You can also use that shadow-based PrC in eberron (or was it FR?) that bans a school for uber illusion/necromancy

Shadow weave. +1 CL and DC for illusion/necromancy/enchantments, -4 caster level to evocation and tranmutations and something else.

[Tyndmyr]

Of course...the incantatrix banned school is actually a class feature, gained at first level...if you ban abj, technically, you'd lose all incant class features, no?

Thus getting a banned school back. How would that work, exactly?

[FMArthur]

Changeling wizard Dual-Specialization substitution works with Focused Specialist. This specializes you in Illusion and Transmutation, but I think you can still ban schools you're specialized in.

[Tyndmyr]

No rule prevents you from doing so...it's just not normally a terribly optimal path.

[Akal Saris]

Sadly, I think you're stuck with Abjuration, Divination, and 1 more school without twisting alignment and world-specific PrCs around.