Wizard Specialization, which school?

[Shuffle]

I'm sure this question's been asked 1000 times, but

Since I've never had the opportunity to use a wizard before; I finally squeaked into the role.

I was thinking of taking him on more of a debuffing/buffing route versus the artillary piece route.

Just looking for some opinions on what school (if any) would be good for specialization and dropping. This is with a level 6 start, and I was thinking of taking a human.

Thanks in advance

 

[kenobi65]

If you want to be a "buffer", specialize in Transmutation, as that's where most of the good buff spells are -- Bull's Strength and its brothers, Blink, Haste, Fly, Magic Weapon, etc. are among the spells you'd have available to you at this level. At 4th level, you'll get Mass Enlarge Person and Polymorph, which will be handy, too.

I'm not entirely sure by what you mean by "debuff" -- being able to get rid of magical effects? Protective effects? Either way, I'd make sure you keep Abjuration as a school you can use.

If you're going against being an "artillery piece", you'd probably drop Evocation. That hurts my heart, as a long-time fan of those spells, but, Conjuration can give you some damaging spells, esp. if you are able to take spells from Complete Arcane (esp. the Orb spells).

Beyond that, I'd probably drop Necromancy, but I know some folks here would argue against that. I'd also consider dropping Illusion -- but, again, there are folks who'd rather lose a hand than lose access to Invisibility.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Well, if you're buffing, the obvious school is Transmutation. You could fairly safely drop Necromancy.

 

[Liquidsabre]

For buffs you want the Transmutation school. For opposition schools I usually go with either enchantment & necromancy or enchantment & illusion. For a good-aligned caster I try to steer away from necromancy and for a noble caster I usually opt out on Illusion too - no sneakiness or subterfuge type.

I've never enjoyed the enchantment spells, something inherently evil in taking over the will of other creatures, but mostly I don't care for many of the spells in the enchantment school, plus many of them can be difficult for DMs to adjudicate well.

 

[shilsen]

Specialize in Transmutation and drop Evocation and either Necromancy or Enchantment. Causing direct hit point damage, as evocation tends to, is one of the least effective ways for a spellcaster to deal with enemies in 3e, hence I'd drop it (esp. since you don't want to play a blaster-type). Drop Necro or Ench depending on your preferences and the character concept.

 

[Testament]

Buffing? Transmutation is the specialty for you.

What to drop...you never EVER EVER drop Abjuration*, losing Dispel Magic hurts way too much. I'd never drop Illusion either, I'm one of those people who'd rather lose a hand then Improved Invisibility.

You can give up Evocation, they aren't even the best blasters since the release of the Complete Conjurer. You could also probably ditch Necromancy or Enchantment, but not both. Why? They both pack really nice cursing effects, and there's not much point doubling up.

Actually, lose Enchantment. At higher levels, when you're fighting fiends, its damn near useless, and there's several monster types that are immune to it. Or maybe that's just my love of the Undead coming through.

*If you have access to the Complete Arcane (or Complete Conjurer as I call it), then you HAVE to take a look at the spells Duelward and Reciprocal Gyre. For an abjurer, they are simply amazing spells, especially Gyre. What that will do to an uber-buffed Cleric is simply horrifying.

 

[Shuffle]

I'm not entirely sure by what you mean by "debuff" -- being able to get rid of magical effects? Protective effects? Either way, I'd make sure you keep Abjuration as a school you can use.

Debuffing is to make the opposition weaker. A good example is slow of glitterdust. Sorry, I've been playing too many MMO's lately.

And yes pretty much everything's open. Thanks ladies and gentlemen

 

[Nifft]

Play a Diviner. Drop Evocation.

The best "Buff" spells are Illusion, Enchantment, Necromancy and Abjuration.
The best "Debuff" spells are Divination, Enchantment, Abjuration and Necromancy.

Some justification for my non-obvious choices (above):

Best Buff Illusion: Mirror Image, Illusory Wall (in front of rogue archers), Displacement, Improved Invisibility

Best Debuff Divination: See Invisibility, True Seeing, and then a quick Glitterdust

Best Buff Necro: False Life, Astral Projection (!!!)
Best Debuff Necro: Anything with "Fatigue" or "Exhaustion" in the name

Best Buff Enchantment: Heroism
Best Debuff Enchantment: Hold, Crushing Despair, Confusion

Transmutation also has a host of good buffs, of course. Abjuration has Dispel Magic, which is vital to any de-buff-er. But don't overlook Necro, Illusion, Enchantment and Divinations.

-- N

 

[Capellan]

As others have said, specialise in Transmutation, and drop Evocation. Keep Abjuration (even if just for dispel magic!) and Necromancy (which has lots of good drain/debuff spells like touch of idiocy, waves of fatigue and ray of enfeeblement). Enchantment could be dropped, but that would cost you spells like heroism and hold person, so I would drop Illusion instead, as it has the least relevance to the buff/debuff concept (conjuration is another option, but its high level spells are hard to pass up).

Edit: I think Nifft's suggestion is also a good one. But then, I think Diviners are the best specialist option there is, so I am biased

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Specialize in Transmutation and drop Evocation and either Necromancy or Enchantment. Causing direct hit point damage, as evocation tends to, is one of the least effective ways for a spellcaster to deal with enemies in 3e, hence I'd drop it (esp. since you don't want to play a blaster-type). Drop Necro or Ench depending on your preferences and the character concept.

I agree.

Conjuration is the must have school in 3.5. Transmutation is second place in my book. Direct damage is overrated, but losing Wall of Force will be painful. The are plenty of terrain control conjurations, though.