Magical Specialist Idea

[Sergeantbrother]

I was wondering how balanced it might be to have a spell caster who knew (or got access to eventually) every single spell with a certain theme. For example, a cold based caster who automatically knows ray of frost, chill touch, chill metal, sleet storm, etc. but doesn't know any other kind of magic.

While the number of spells known will be rather high, the lack of versatility would likely make them less magically powerful than say a wizard or sorcerer.

Any ideas on how to balance such an idea?

[Private-Prinny]

This sounds an awful lot like what the Beguiler and Warmage do already.

[Bibliomancer]

This sounds an awful lot like what the Beguiler and Warmage do already.

Seconded. Warmage is considered to be underpowered, since blasting is non-optimal (does what a fighter does, with less damage, more saving throws, and greater range), while beguiler is, I believe, considered to be alright.

It would be difficult to balance a specialist in conjuration or transmutation, however, since those two schools are so broad.

Basically, the problem comes down to determining what range of spells is balanced, and (more critically) what you are balancing it against. If you're aiming for Tier 3, you should probably look to beguiler as a reference.

[Flob]

If I were you, I would take the spellcasting progression of a sorcerer, replace the bonus feats with +damage to the specific type of spell being cast, and mabye make up a couple of extra spells for this class specifically. Like, I don't believe that there is a fire shield that actually gives bonus AC, and one would need that in case of an emergency.

Also, something that you didn't mention is if by "all spells", you meant divine and arcane, or just one. If it was both divine and arcane, that would be a little bit over-powered for my taste.

[gorfnab]

Take a look into Wu-Jen from Complete Arcane. You can focus them fairly easily to one element.

[Sergeantbrother]

Also, something that you didn't mention is if by "all spells", you meant divine and arcane, or just one. If it was both divine and arcane, that would be a little bit over-powered for my taste.

Yes, I was thinking all spells both arcane and divine, as long as they match the theme of the character. This would include a huge number of spells, though many of them may well be redundant.

As others have said, in essence several classes to this to some degree - like the Beguiler, Warmage, or Dread Necromancer.