what school do you use?

[Replacement]

I want to make a specialized wizard, but I can't decide on a school, I'm torn between Enchantment and Conjuration. So I would like to ask the forumites what they use and why?

[Jack Mann]

Divination. There are plenty of useful divination spells (especially if you have access to the spell compendium) and you only have to give up one school (probably evocation). What's not to love?

[Dhavaer]

Illusion. Then go into Master Specialist. You can end up throwing Shadow spells with immense DCs.

[Replacement]

How high DCs, by when?

[Dhavaer]

Depends on exactly what you're allowed to use. By about 13 you can get +4 above your Int and spell level with CompMage, Unearthed Arcana and the PHB. +5 if you use Ghostwalk and don't mind getting gimped on a regular basis.

[Gralamin]

abjuration, and then into IotSFV
Invincibility for the win!

[PMDM]

Assuming core, I would totally go for divination too. You're a wizard, you need to keep as much utility as you can.

[Deathcow]

At that point, it depends on character flavor. Personally, of the two listed by the OP, I'd go with Enchantment. Although, if you're going to go heavily Enchantment, you may just want to make a Beguiler and be done. 'Cause Beguilers win.

[Replacement]

Ok, so let me rephrase this alittle. What are the school you would give up?

[Jack Mann]

Evocation. It has the fewest useful spells of any school (and you can generally use shadow evocation to duplicate the spells you really want). Beyond that? Well, it's a hard choice. You should never give up abjuration, conjuration, transmutation, and necromancy. They all have really useful things to cast. It really comes up down to illusion or enchantment for the second school. Since I want the shadow spells, I usually give up enchantment. It hurts, but anything else would hurt more.

[Chris_Chandler]

Evocation, every time. I really don't care for most of the the spells in that school. I'd second illusion, but not for some crazy power reasons, but rather that they have the best flavor, as far as I'm concerned.

[Woot Spitum]

It depends on whether you fight more monsters or more NPC's. If NPC's, go with enchantment, and have fun taking control of all your foes. If monsters, you may want to go with conjuration, since monsters tend to have higher saves, and won't be affected by enchantments as often.

[TimeWizard]

Going to be the black sheep on this but if I specialize- Evocation. I know it's not optimal but god-damn it's fun. Really, fireball is THE spell of DnD in my opinion.

Besides, I have great Inspiration-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaarsuvius

[Replacement]

Are there ways/feats/classes that you can make more of the schools forbidden?

I'm thinking of choosing Conjuration and forbidding, Evocation, Illusion, and then Enchant or Necro would get the spellbook axe.

Honestly, cutting my spell pool in more then half doesn't bother me if I can get some slight benefits from it.

[Dhavaer]

I think Incantatrix makes you specialise in abjuration.

[Dausuul]

Are there ways/feats/classes that you can make more of the schools forbidden?

I'm thinking of choosing Conjuration and forbidding, Evocation, Illusion, and then Enchant or Necro would get the spellbook axe.

Honestly, cutting my spell pool in more then half doesn't bother me if I can get some slight benefits from it.

Red Wizard of Thay, in the DMG.

My choices for specialty and forbidden schools really depend on the character.

[Replacement]

Red Wizard of Thay, in the DMG.

My choices for specialty and forbidden schools really depend on the character.

Oooooo! I'm playing in FR too! MWHAHAHA

[Hamster_Ninja]

Are there ways/feats/classes that you can make more of the schools forbidden?

I'm thinking of choosing Conjuration and forbidding, Evocation, Illusion, and then Enchant or Necro would get the spellbook axe.

Honestly, cutting my spell pool in more then half doesn't bother me if I can get some slight benefits from it.

Theres also the focused specialist alternative class feature, you lose a spell prepared from each level and must choose another prohibited school (thats not divination), but you get two additional spells per day from your school.

[AmoDman]

Wtf is with the evocation hate? Sure, utilitiy is great, but seriously, do your wizards never have to deal a lot fo damage to a lot of enemies fast? I'd drop Necromancy. It's, like, THE drop school IMO. But hey, whatever works for you.

[Scorpina]

Divination. There are plenty of useful divination spells (especially if you have access to the spell compendium) and you only have to give up one school (probably evocation). What's not to love?

I agree wholeheartedly, although my diviners often drop Necromancy rather than Evocation for flavour reasons. That and 'Light' is an awesome Cantrip. If you're optimising though, ditchin Evocation is a good bet.

I also like Enchantment, but I find that basically reduces you to a three trick pony (Sleep, Charm/Dominate, Hold)

[Gralamin]

Wtf is with the evocation hate? Sure, utilitiy is great, but seriously, do your wizards never have to deal a lot fo damage to a lot of enemies fast? I'd drop Necromancy. It's, like, THE drop school IMO. But hey, whatever works for you.

Damage can be done by anyone, and fighter types can do it better then Wizards. Special Effect's can only be done by casters, and help much more then say a fireball.

[Replacement]

This is getting confusing and fun... anyone know any articles on the matter? Maybe Evocation needs to stick around, ARG!

[Person_Man]

If you want to do Enchantment or Illusion, a Beguiler is usually the best way to go.

I'm a fan of Conjuration. Battlefield control is where its at.

[JaronK]

The problem with Evocation is that other schools do everything it does better. Conjuration can handle the damage spells, with Orb of X for direct damage, Summon X for long term damage, etc. Shadow Evocation can handle the other spells if you really need them.

JaronK

[Ruik]

I tend to point people at The Logic Ninja's Guide to Wizards: Being Batman for stuff like this... there are some good arguments in there that will at least give you something to think about.

[Ted_Stryker]

For banned schools, Evocation is the #1 choice for banning for sure, and then a toss-up between Enchantment and Necromancy for the other. If I were to be specializing in one of those two schools, that makes the choice for me. Otherwise, I usually lean towards banning Necromancy over Enchantment.

If you can play the Domain Wizard variant, it's kind of nice. The Conjuration, Illusion, and Transmutation domains are all pretty good choices.

[Ninja Chocobo]

Transmutation. Mega-cheese from Polymorph and relatedness. And some great buffs.

[Fizban]

I get where all the evocation hate comes from, but really, it's gonna be an odd group that doesn't expect the wizard to have a fireball or two. Plus, a lot of the AOE damage spells that aren't evocation have more restrictive areas that tend to put the caster closer to danger, unless you have sculpt spell. But then you're using a higher level slot for your probably higher level fireball replacement.

In sum: most groups will assume the caster will have some sort of nuke spell available, and while evocation does little else, it will take more resources than you want to spend when you need a nuke if you banned it.

[Parlik]

Generally I find than when making a specialist is is more fun to go all the way and/or follow some theme, and then just make the most of the spells I do have available within that:

Conjurer: Drop Evocation and Enchantment, maybe make some druid like spellcaster, I would definetly get Improved Familar with this one, they do have a decent survival rate. Go for feats such as Augmented Summoning, and and other feats that boost your creatures, there is also a few feats usually reserved for Druids, however with a little talking your GM might allow them.

Enchanter: Could do a beguiler instead, but otherwise drop Evocation and Conjuration, I'd make some flamboyant talker with this specialization, and back it up with focusing on similarly minded skills such as Diplomacy, Bluff, Sense Motive, etc....

[AmoDman]

I get where all the evocation hate comes from, but really, it's gonna be an odd group that doesn't expect the wizard to have a fireball or two. Plus, a lot of the AOE damage spells that aren't evocation have more restrictive areas that tend to put the caster closer to danger, unless you have sculpt spell. But then you're using a higher level slot for your probably higher level fireball replacement.

In sum: most groups will assume the caster will have some sort of nuke spell available, and while evocation does little else, it will take more resources than you want to spend when you need a nuke if you banned it.

I, I mean, I get it, but I didn't think the whole would be so against evocation. I don't know if I could paly a Wizard w/o it...it'd just feel wrong. *I cast fireb...cries*

p.s. If I were dropping a Wiz, it'd all depend on the type of character they were. I'd probably drop Necro and Enchant if I was specializing in non-divin. I love enchant, though...if I were to play an actual campaign in the next millenium, I'd probably try out that new spiffy-looking Beguiler.