Your personal experience with: the wizard schools

[Sindal]

Hi everyone

So this is more out of pure curiosity.
Calling all peoples that have played a wizard.

1) which wizard school did you select as your subclass(s)? Why?
2) what was your experience playing it? Did you enjoy the perks or did they make you feel thematic?

I've never played one so I'm curious how each one 'feels' since often wizards are just referred as to as a class on the whole.

Are the necromancers feeling DEADly? Are the abjurrurs anti threat paragons?

[Bobthewizard]

Other than a few one-shots, I've mostly played low to mid levels. At those levels most of the subclasses play about the same. Some have better 2nd and 6th level abilities, but for the most part, none of those abilities are as important as spell casting itself. I'm always going to take shield and absorb elements, at least one of web, suggestion or levitate, counterspell and either hypnotic pattern or fear.

The only exception to this for me is evocation. Sculpt spells pushes me to take AOE blast spells that I can cast on top of my party.

This changes quite bit at high levels. Illusionists really change their tactics. Enchanters use their auto twinned enchantment spells, conjurers have more useful summons, and evoker's switch to magic missile as their go to spell.

But if you are playing a real campaign starting at level 1, choosing to be a wizard is more important than which subclass you choose.

[Eldariel]

Hi everyone

So this is more out of pure curiosity.
Calling all peoples that have played a wizard.

1) which wizard school did you select as your subclass(s)? Why?
2) what was your experience playing it? Did you enjoy the perks or did they make you feel thematic?

I've never played one so I'm curious how each one 'feels' since often wizards are just referred as to as a class on the whole.

Are the necromancers feeling DEADly? Are the abjurrurs anti threat paragons?

I've played most of them. Let's go through them in order:
- Abjuration: The Tank. This is most often used for various more martial Wizards as the ability to have a shield of regenerating temporary HP from level 2 is great. On level 10 they get close to autosucceeding on dispel and counter checks, which feels very abjurery (4+5 = +9 for very nice chances of success). The 6th level ability is kinda cool too. Overall, mostly this is being a tank and thus Abjurers are more likely to want to be in the thick of things. Doesn't perhaps feel that much like a protective Wizard as an actual Gish
- Bladesinger: The Gish. It mostly realises its power fantasy pretty well, being both a durable, hard-to-kill martial combatant and a full spellcaster. Higher up the martial side falls off and the castery side comes to the fore (aside from Tenser's), as spells just outpace martial combat in general. Still, being able to pump your AC is pretty good in a bounded accuracy system. It also conveniently almost autohits Concentration DCs pretty early.
- Conjurer: One I haven't really played yet, it looks pretty cool. Benign Transposition was one of my favourite spells in 3e and getting it as a class ability early in nice. Not being able to lose Concentration on Conjurations makes many of the summons at your disposal much more reliable and that's extra nice. Conjuration has always had its identity crisis, being the teleporter and the summoner and the creator. The most important features here definitely cater to the summoning and teleporting, less so to creation (the level 2 ability is quite versatile though, but it doesn't really do anything low level spells couldn't).
- Divination: The save-or-suck machine. This is funny in that it doesn't really do too much of what it advertises but it does have a thematic, immensely powerful ability from level 2 up. The level 6 ability, Expert Divination, does feel very divinery and it's actually really cool but the other abilities feel like Preordination more than anything. That said, it's really powerful and quite fun to play, especially if the DM uses the UA that adds various Divinations to the Wizard list.
- Enchanter: Definitely fits its power fantasy, being both kind of social beast and surprisingly good in combat. Hypnotic Gaze has a painfully short range but it's a Concentration-free disable. Free avoiding of an attack, free Twin on enchantments and free mind****ery on level 14 gives this a lot of value (sadly memory alteration only comes on level 14; up until that point, Charming is still quite risky).
- Evoker: Fairly solid at what it does. Sculpt Spell, Empowered Evocation and Overchannel all make it especially good at blowing things up, which is what you'd expect out of an Evoker. Simple, but quite effective.
- Illusionist: Perfect for its intended purpose! Getting extra mileage out of the best cantrip in Minor Illusion (and a free cantrip in general) is superb, malleable illusions is really useful for that particular ability, and being able to autonegate an attack is just insane. It's an ability that basically doesn't exist in 5e. Of course, what you're really here for is Illusory Reality, which is an absurd ability, but unfortunately comes so late. Then again, if it came any earlier it would be broken beyond belief. Being able to cast Mirage Arcana, shape anything you want out of it and make it reality at will is just bonkers. If Evoker is simple but effective, Illusion is the most complexity you can possibly imagine but also incredibly effective. The defensive ability on level 10 is a nice bonus.
- Necromancer: You're basically here for only one ability: the level 6 ability to produce extra dead and give them bonuses to everything is great, enhancing an already absurd spell even further. Command Undead is also something you have a hard time getting in this edition. Overall, Necromancer does live up to its power fantasy with two great abilities, though it does start off slow and the other two are kinda mediocre.
- Transmuter: It doesn't really feel like a Transmuter as such. You don't spend that much time changing stuff into different stuff and your spells to that end aren't meaningfully augment. It's more like an Alchemist. It does do the Philosopher's Stone thing and it does that well. But the self-shifting is really restricted and comes late, the level 2 ability is cool but kinda weak, the level 6 ability is great for gaining Proficiency in Con-saves and overall, it just buffs you.
- War Wizard: Very good early on. Very boring though. It doesn't do anything. It just gives you static bonuses to things. You get +Int to Initiative (Great!), a Pseudoshield for AC or Saves (the latter is very good!), permanent AC and Concentration bonus (great!) and two random, weak abilities. Overall, it doesn't do anything but it pumps your numbers making it incredibly powerful but I have no clue what about this is supposed to be related to War Wizardry.

[Zetakya]

The only one I can personally attest to is Diviner, which made for excellent RP hooks for an explorer/archaeologist Wizard whose aims were to seek out lost magic from ancient civilisations.

[Democratus]

Diviners make DMs cry. :)

Being able to declare that an enemy auto-fails a save against Banish can end a fight real soon.

[Eldariel]

Diviners make DMs cry. :)

Being able to declare that an enemy auto-fails a save against Banish can end a fight real soon.

Already from level 3, autofailing against Levitate or Suggestion can put things out of the fight hard. Hell, on level 1, Hideous Laughter is an efficient combo (though of course, restricted in target options). Level 7 also brings Polymorph to the mix; just Polymorph > Portent that Pit Fiend or Solar you really don't like into a frog, deposit them in some deep hole or whatever, fill said hole and leave the frog there to suffocate, and go back to being a level 7 Wizard.

[Toofey]

not quite op. but I have found that when playing with DMs who require you to spend money on transcribing spells etc... the specialties all feel more like their specialties because the discount to transcribing becomes a bigger deal.

[Mr Adventurer]

I'm playing a Conjurer right now, started at level 3 and we are at level 5 now. I have to say that I don't feel much like a conjurer at all. Nothing rewards me for casting conjuration spells. I have tried to pick more conjuration spells for my spell book but every damn one seems to need concentration so it's tricky. I've been disappointed with Flaming Sphere.

I don't believe I've used my Minor Conjuration ability even once, though I was looking forward to doing so. Does anyone have any good tips or stories on that?

Hopefully at level 6 the frequent teleporting will start to help.

[Willie the Duck]

So this is more out of pure curiosity.
Calling all peoples that have played a wizard.

1) which wizard school did you select as your subclass(s)? Why?
2) what was your experience playing it? Did you enjoy the perks or did they make you feel thematic?

I've never played one so I'm curious how each one 'feels' since often wizards are just referred as to as a class on the whole.

Are the necromancers feeling DEADly? Are the abjurrurs anti threat paragons?

Note:This is mostly based on gaming from levels ~1-12.
Of all the schools, the only ones that radically change playstyle are Evoker and Bladesinger.

Bladesinger definitely makes you a lot better at handling being a wizard on the front line (or in a group where the rear line is particularly vulnerable). If you tried playing another type of wizard before and just got chewed to pieces (either killed or spent so much time running away, etc. that it just wasn't fun), this is the school to try next. Note that it does not turn you into a gish in and of itself.

Evokers are for anyone whose idea of having fun while playing a wizard is throwing around a bunch of fireballs and magic missiles. Kord knows there are a lot of treatises on how direct damage is only rarely the best use of a spell slot, and just as many gamers out there saying, "yes, and...?" If fireball was what you were going to be doing anyways, not hitting the party frontliner in the process is too good to pass up. Note also that the wording of Magic Missile reads such that each dart doesn't roll separately for damage, so the 10th level Evoker ability Empowered Evocation would add <Int Mod> damage to each dart. I've never met a playgroup in the wild that hew to that, however.

The rest of them range from 'nice' to 'may be useful in the right campaign.' Abjurer is a nice little cushion of extra (temporary) hit points and would seem like a great thing, but the total is going to be less than taking the Toughness feat in many cases (their 10th level ability is more impactful...if you play in tier 3+4 significantly). I disagree that Diviners make DMs cry. Bounded accuracy gives greater weight to the d20 roll, and thus you cannot assume that a given roll be successful or unsuccessful (and thus any DM who put themselves in the position of having their night ruined by a PC making a save or a monster failing one was going to have their night ruined eventual anyways). It is, however, an ability that any build will find useful, and so I consider it a go-to school if you don't have something else specifically in mind. The rest can be useful, but overall their effect is small compared to the overall variability in playing a wizard.

I'm playing a Conjurer right now, started at level 3 and we are at level 5 now. I have to say that I don't feel much like a conjurer at all. Nothing rewards me for casting conjuration spells.

That's generally how most schools feel.

[Grey Watcher]

I had a lot of fun as an Abjurer (admittedly the only Wizard I've played). Having a knack for locking down enemy threats was super fun. One encounter had us squaring off against a pair of sentient golems. I was able to trap one in a Globe of Invulnerability while tying up the other one with Counterspells and such. Something very smugly satisfying about just being able to go "Nope!"

[Keravath]

I've enjoyed playing my 1 knowledge cleric/9 evoker wizard character.

Sculpt spell makes it much easier to drop evocation spells exactly where they will do the most good. I don't need to worry about friendly fire when the group is being over run or surrounded. I think it has resulted in a 20-50% increase in the efficiency of the AoE evocation spells depending on the specifics of the encounter.

The level 6 ability when combined with Toll the Dead gives a very reliable if not huge amount of damage since any target will still take half damage on a failed save. The ability also says "your cantrip" and not "your wizard cantrip" so I can also combine it with Sacred Flame from cleric to do reliable (if small) radiant damage every turn which can be useful against specific targets.

The rest of the evoker abilities add to the playstyle so overall it seems like one of the better wizard archetypes.

[Keravath]

I had a lot of fun as an Abjurer (admittedly the only Wizard I've played). Having a knack for locking down enemy threats was super fun. One encounter had us squaring off against a pair of sentient golems. I was able to trap one in a Globe of Invulnerability while tying up the other one with Counterspells and such. Something very smugly satisfying about just being able to go "Nope!"

Cool. Though I am trying to figure out how you could trap a golem with Globe of Invulnerability or tie them up with Counterspells. Was it a homebrewed creature?

[Sigreid]

Of the wizards I've played, Evoker was the one most appreciated by the group. The party often finds themselves in battles with one or two powerful foes with weaker support. Dropping a fireball, or sometimes just shatter, to eliminate the weaker support (I like to call it clearing the ground) allows the rest of the party to focus on the more powerful foes that your not killing with spells without using way too many slots. As an evoker, you get to do this without worrying about your party's position; and you still get to do all the other wizard things when appropriate.

[CBAnaesthesia]

The rest of them range from 'nice' to 'may be useful in the right campaign.' Abjurer is a nice little cushion of extra (temporary) hit points and would seem like a great thing, but the total is going to be less than taking the Toughness feat in many cases.

While this is true, the HP from your Arcane Ward is way easier to heal than normal HP in my experience. Every time you Counterspell you top up your ward by 6 HP (or more, if you upcast it), for example. Because of that, I find that in general the ward HP is better than just boosting your maximum HP, unless you have some resistances to damage types because those don't apply to your ward. Being able to share the ward HP at level 6 has been very helpful in my game as well.

I'd also say that it incentivizes Abjurers to cast Abjuration spells more often, so it may change your playstyle but YMMV of course.

[jmartkdr]

I'm currently playing a conjurer. I thought it would be cool to summon stuff.

If you asked the other players in the game, I think maybe one would realize that I'm a conjurer, since I rarely get a chance to summon stuff anyways, and even when I do it's not like it's something any wizard couldn't have done.

[Segev]

I've played most of them. Let's go through them in order:
(...)
- Illusionist: Perfect for its intended purpose! Getting extra mileage out of the best cantrip in Minor Illusion (and a free cantrip in general) is superb, malleable illusions is really useful for that particular ability, and being able to autonegate an attack is just insane. It's an ability that basically doesn't exist in 5e. Of course, what you're really here for is Illusory Reality, which is an absurd ability, but unfortunately comes so late. Then again, if it came any earlier it would be broken beyond belief. Being able to cast Mirage Arcana, shape anything you want out of it and make it reality at will is just bonkers. If Evoker is simple but effective, Illusion is the most complexity you can possibly imagine but also incredibly effective. The defensive ability on level 10 is a nice bonus.
- Necromancer: You're basically here for only one ability: the level 6 ability to produce extra dead and give them bonuses to everything is great, enhancing an already absurd spell even further. Command Undead is also something you have a hard time getting in this edition. Overall, Necromancer does live up to its power fantasy with two great abilities, though it does start off slow and the other two are kinda mediocre.

I agree with or have nothing to argue with in most of your assessment, but wanted to comment on these two.

On the Necromancer, I actually do agree, but I feel it warrants reiteration just how little it feels like anything but a generic wizard until you get to level 6. Moreover, it has a counterintuitive incentive to delay picking up animate dead, because you get it for free on top of your 2 free picks for level 6 if you don't have it, but nothing in the rules say you get a "make-up" spell if you took it at 5th level. (I doubt you'd have trouble talking a DM into house ruling you a freebie, though.) The level 2-5 problem led me to making this thread, which includes a spell or two and a couple of thoughts on alternate level 2 features that I think would make the subclass more Necromancer-y. Balance not guaranteed, but I think at the least the spell is okay.


On the illusionist, I strongly disagree with the ordering of importance of subclass features. First off, the Improved Minor Illusion is actually harder to make work out than you might think, since the image function can only make objects, which removes the seemingly-obvious synnergy of the sound being a match for what the image is doing. Not 100% removes, depending on your DM's permissiveness for objects and motion, but reduces at the least. It does mean you can have an image in one spot and a sound in another, which...has its own utilities, but will be situational.

Secondly, while Illusory Reailty definitely looks like the most powerful ability, it isn't. Malleable Illusions gets pretty insane, especially once you get 6th level spell slots and can make permanent illusions. It's Malleable Illusions that will let the Illusionist eventually surpass the Warlock who takes one or two Invocations for master of the illusory arts.

[Sudsboy]

I play an Abjuration Wizard, currently at level 15. I love the character, and I think he is my favorite in 5e. At lower levels the arcane ward comes in very handy, and it is still useful in higher level play, if only to prevent concentration checks on a big hit. I get a lot of mileage out of adding my proficiency bonus to counterspell checks, as my DM loves spellcasting bad guys (the reason I selected this subclass).

My experience hasn't been particularly tanky or gishy. I play him as a tactical leader/controller and try to avoid base to base contact. Roleplaying-wise, I've taken the protection magic theme and applied it to his overall goals. He inherited an old tower from his deceased master, and a small city has sprung up around it as we offer protection to various creatures and humanoids in the area. We are an island of misfit toys, with a fey sector, a large contingent of dragonborn, a small flock of griffons, a chapter house of paladins lead by a tiefling, and other various weirdos. Great fun.

[Grey Watcher]

Cool. Though I am trying to figure out how you could trap a golem with Globe of Invulnerability or tie them up with Counterspells. Was it a homebrewed creature?

Might've technically been a Warforged? I don't remember, but I'm pretty sure it (she?) was Medium-sized, so it worked. And yeah, the other one was a caster of some kind, if I remember correctly. (Again, whatever they were, they were sentient, so they could do things like learn wizardry.) But regardless, my general shtick was to tie up casters with counterspells and otherwise throw up shields, wards, and other means of blocking Bad Stuff^TM.

[Segev]

Might've technically been a Warforged? I don't remember, but I'm pretty sure it (she?) was Medium-sized, so it worked. And yeah, the other one was a caster of some kind, if I remember correctly. (Again, whatever they were, they were sentient, so they could do things like learn wizardry.) But regardless, my general shtick was to tie up casters with counterspells and otherwise throw up shields, wards, and other means of blocking Bad Stuff^TM.

Did you mean resilient sphere? A globe of invulnerability protects against magic, but doesn't trap anything.

(Actually, I'm pretty sure the fact that globe of invulnerability is immobile is new to 5e, too; I think it used to move with you.)

[Grey Watcher]

Did you mean resilient sphere? A globe of invulnerability protects against magic, but doesn't trap anything.

(Actually, I'm pretty sure the fact that globe of invulnerability is immobile is new to 5e, too; I think it used to move with you.)

Yeah, I was definitely thinking of Resilient Sphere. Just remembered the wrong name, apparently.

[Willie the Duck]

While this is true, the HP from your Arcane Ward is way easier to heal than normal HP in my experience. Every time you Counterspell you top up your ward by 6 HP (or more, if you upcast it), for example. Because of that, I find that in general the ward HP is better than just boosting your maximum HP, unless you have some resistances to damage types because those don't apply to your ward. Being able to share the ward HP at level 6 has been very helpful in my game as well.

I'd also say that it incentivizes Abjurers to cast Abjuration spells more often, so it may change your playstyle but YMMV of course.

There are going to be pros and cons for any such thing. You don't have to heal up temp HP afterwards. OTOH, you don't 'miss out' on regular HP like you do if you cast two abjurations in a row without being damaged in between. Being able to share the tHP is great, but it uses the same action type as some common abjuration spells (Shield and Absorb Elements). Overall, however, my point was not that the ability isn't useful, so much as it is not a huge change in how you play (and of the schools, I've only found Evoker and Bladesinger to do so).

[ZorroGames]

Only played two wizards so far.

AL Mountain Dwarf armored War Wizard. Left the city because he was put in a status of not quite a normal Dwarf and wanted to try out his magic in the “Outside” arena of life. I like the Combat Support role with some combat value for the party.

AL Forest Gnome, Tempest Cleric 2 dip ( well the village, his teacher, and temple were destroyed by hostile Wild Elf types) and eventually found he had arcane abilities. Just into early Tier 2 but looking forward to maximized Lightning bolts. Do not miss Fireball at all like an Evoker would.

Non-AL level 7 Enchanter. Weird starting at level 5.

Enjoy them but Wizards are not in my main classes of interest. That would be Cleric, Fighter, Ranger MCs, Gnome EK.

A lot would depend it you went combat oriented or Treantmonk’s God Wizard in design.

[Necromas]

I'm playing a school of invention wizard right now and it's been pretty fun to work in the flavor. It's a UA option that gives you the ability to craft arcanomechanical armor and 'invent' spells on the fly by rolling on a random table to cast spells you don't have prepared. We haven't hit level 6 yet but at that point they also get an ability to burn low level slots for metamagic-like effects to change damage types or add raw damage.

Mechanically you're just a generalist wizard with a little higher than average AC and the ability to sometimes whip out some odd spells, but I love the artificer-like flavor of being a wizard that works with technology and performs experiments with their magic. I'm even planning to dip artificer and flavor a lot of my spells as gadgets I've built into the mechanical armor.

Also part of the fluff behind the school of invention is that we believe that we were the true first school of wizardry to exist and we claim credit for actually inventing the other individual schools. So you get to tease other wizards.

[NecessaryWeevil]

My only 5e wizard experience was playing an Illusionist to 20, and I basically gave up on the illusion aspect after a few levels because the DM and I had different expectations of illusions. Still enjoyed being a Wizard though.

[Segev]

My only 5e wizard experience was playing an Illusionist to 20, and I basically gave up on the illusion aspect after a few levels because the DM and I had different expectations of illusions. Still enjoyed being a Wizard though.

Ouch. Yeah, that's one of the biggest problems with illusions. It requires the DM to be on board, and even the most willing-to-cooperate DM has to struggle with his own knowledge of the fact that it is, in fact, an illusion, and try not to overthink but also not to under-think the fact that his monsters don't know it.

[fbelanger]

I play an evocation wizard.
Seem nice but rapidly got to take spells from multiple school to be effective.
Wizard by default is a generalist.

[Segev]

I play an evocation wizard.
Seem nice but rapidly got to take spells from multiple school to be effective.
Wizard by default is a generalist.

I think the key lies less in how much the specialty makes you focus on only spells from your school, but more in how the specialty makes your play-style feel like something specializing.

Evokers and Abjurors get their flavor from really rewarding use of their school's effects. Or signature effects, in the Evoker's case; he can fireball his front line without worry, for example, making him far more likely to use the spell than an Illusionist or Transmuter is.

Illusionists, past level 6 or 11, really start to use illusions all the time. They've always got a tool on hand for making the world look, smell, sound, or feel different, and make enemies doubt their senses.

Any wizard can have undead minions past level 5, but the necromancer at 6+ has minions that keep up on the damage front, making his effective to carry around.

Diviner feels more like a generalist, but his signature ability makes him feel like a bit of a know-it-all in the sense that he can smugly declare somebody fails a save.

Transmuter...kinda gets an extra 4th level spell slot, and...well, alchemically changing materials with a lengthy ritual is in flavor, I guess, but isn't going to DO much for play-style.

Conjuror at least can create anything he wants at will, even if it's limited duration and utility.

[TheUser]

Only played -with- an Abjurer not -as- but he took a beating. The counterspell/dispel magic buff at level 10 is amazing spell trading value. Level 3 spells trading up to smash 5th and 6th level spells was great! We never got to see spell resistance in action. Having unlimited level 1/2 spells to recharge the ward out of combat at level 18 seems useful.

Bladesinger is dope. It gets insane AC at early and late levels especially with shield and haste as options. The movespeed makes kiting and finding cover much better. High dex becomes very important if only because losing initiative means you have an early part of the first round where your AC is borked. Also you're hella squishy until level 10. Very MAD so your feat options are extremely limited.

Conjurerers are most fun in tier 1 where making any object is super useful and fun. The swap is nice when you have no means for verbal requirements. But all in all it's very lack luster.

Diviners get a neat little gimmick at level 2 but you don't always get good rolls for portent (which nobody ever talks about). The rest is nice but not game breaking. Seeing invisibility I find especially neat and recycling spell slots from Divination Spells is great.

Enchanter's are very meh. Their level 2 feature is meh, their level 6 directly competes with the shield spell and their level 14 is based off charisma modifier. All in all I just want to play a subtle sorcerer whenever I play one.

Invokers are very fun. They do what they are designed to do and especially take off at level 7-9 when things like dawn and sickening radiance and their massive areas come into play.

Illusion is an endgame monster truck. Malleable Illusions pops off with Creation, Simulacrum, Mirage Arcana and permanent level 6 major illusions. Illusory Reality can make spell components and spell books (Keen Mind); nuff said.

Necromancer's are definitely the most overpowered in tier 2: even a trivial amount of skeletons offsets encounter substantially. It was framed superbly for me very recently; you are investing time and spell slots outside of combat to landslide encounters, no other class has solid concentration free long term summons that can be abused this way. Inured to Undeath has some....questionable interactions but Command Undead is top tier (mummmmmyyyyy loorrrrd or even an ancient white dracolich).

Transmuter: probably the most balanced. All their abilities are super useful. Their stone lasts until they make a new one, which means your simulacrum can make one, give it to someone, die and the stone is useful forever. If you make a new simulacrum it can make another... Obviously most DM's would say no but the potential exists.

[dragoeniex]

I decided to play an Abjurer in our next long game- perhaps ironically- to fit the enthusiastically reckless character I've planned. The absent-minded professor tendencies mixed with a magical obsession makes extra durability great; it means my guy can afford to run into risky spots to get the perfect spell explosion angle more often.

The buffer to occasionally prevent concentration checks is also appreciated. And I haven't seen anyone talking about how the rare-but-life-threatening attacks that lower your maximum hp on hit can be negated by a healthy ward.

On top of letting your arcanomaniac laugh in the face of danger once in a while, the lv 10 and 14 abilities turn him into an anti-mage mage. Perfect for a proud scholar who had studied spells and their components for so long they can recognize and snuff enemy spells at a glance. Or shrug blasts off so you look increasingly unimpressed.

Just scratch some icicles off your glasses while your teammates are still thawing and frown at your opponent. "Well, actually, it's more potent if you create a funnel shape with your hands and speak the verbal portion through that. Allow me to demonstrate."

[col_impact]

War Wizard is a great 2-3 level dip for any class. Their level 2 ability is crazy good. Palladin X/ Warlock 0-3/ War Wizard 2-3 is just insane. Swap Palladin for Fighter if you can't deal with MADness, but I know how to squeeze around MADness.

Evokers are really good, but kinda 'this is too easy' kind of good.

Divination Wizards are really really good, especially in Tier 4. A Simulacrum and a mod reward and you can get 8 portent die to play with. Importantly, with portent die you have power over what the DM can do. The 6th level Divination ability means you will practically never run out of spells.

Illusionists are really powerful, but if you have a DM that always wants to dominate players then your OP abilities will get nerfed. Get to know the rules very well and find a DM who can handle DMing Wizards.

Abjurers are really good at beating other casters, so if that is your thing . . .

I just started up with a Necromancer/Shepherd Druid. So I am looking forward to seeing how that plays out. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.