Picking a School of magic to focus on???

[Brutalix]

What are the benefits of focusing on one? and why wouldn't I just pick General so i could have access to all of the schools? Or is that not how it works?

[mrm3ntalist]

What are the benefits of focusing on one? and why wouldn't I just pick General so i could have access to all of the schools? Or is that not how it works?

+1 DC and +1 spell slot per level makes specialist wizards so much better. Especially the DC wizards.

[Brutalix]

What school of magic would be the least desired then?

[mrm3ntalist]

What school of magic would be the least desired then?

Divination is the least desired mechanically. It has some very good RP spells though. You should research and see what spells you can do without. If you can make that sacrifice then you can specialize to a school.

Otherwise being a generalist is a good option.

[Brutalix]

Thank you.

[Rinzler]

In terms of pure mechanics, in my opinion, you have two routes:

Evocation or Necromancy

Evocation if you want to be a Bigby's/IGMS blasting machine or Necromancy if you want to instant kill. There's benefits to both and honestly at the end of the day I think it's a tossup. I'm also of the belief that if you go evocation then sorcerer is a much superior choice. Wizard is superior for DC Mages.

[Tsidkenu]

+1 DC...

Not sure where you pulled that from, but the rest is correct.

In terms of opposed spell schools, most folks choose either Divination or Necromancy to drop these days. There are not any significant spells of the school of divination you cannot survive without by other means (and the best is probably Battle Precognition, which you can swap for Hilater's [Greater] Misdirection, an abjuration that does the same thing more effectively, admittedly).

Good mages can consider dropping Necromancy as they will only lose out on Undead/Death Magic they probably wouldn't use anyway, and you can use Sunburst (Evocation) instead of Undeath to Death if you need some anti-undead clout.

[mrm3ntalist]

+1 DC...

Not sure where you pulled that from, but the rest is correct..

oooook

whatever you say

@brutalix Dont listen to them. They do get +1DC.

[Tsidkenu]

Care to offer proof? Unless, of course, it is one of those completely undocumented bugsidian things because I've seen no references anywhere that specialist wizards receive +1 DC in their specialised school simply because they've specialised.

[mrm3ntalist]

Care to offer proof? Unless, of course, it is one of those completely undocumented bugsidian things because I've seen no references anywhere that specialist wizards receive +1 DC in their specialised school simply because they've specialised.

I dont care. If you do, it is easy enough to test. Make a level 1 wizard and cast a level 1 DC spell of the school you specialized in.

[Pimple]

Gotta say I'm 100% sure I don't get a +1 from specialization on the wizard I play. I've gone through the numbers again and again and they've never added up if I'm supposed to get +1 from school specialization. I do see that you get a +1 on nwn2builds though. So I made a wizard to test a few level 1 spells before and after choosing prohibition school with that feat we have on the server, just in case it makes a difference.

This is a level 1 human mage with a +3 intelligence modifier, no spellcasting prodigy and no spell focuses. I chose to specialize in Transmutation.

Before using the Prohibition School feat

I cast Know Protection which is a level 1 Divination spell and got a DC of 10 base + 3 intelligence modifier + 1 spell level = 14.

I cast Burning Hands which is a level 1 Transmutation spell and got a DC of 10 base + 3 intelligence modifier + 1 spell level = 14. No specialization bonus.

After using the Prohibition School feat the DCs were exactly the same.

It doesn't look like we get a +1 DC for specializing. Are we supposed to?

[Tsidkenu]

No, you're not supposed to get +1 DC from specialising, just as I expected.

[Deathgrowl]

Yeah, the +1 DC is only Kaedrin. Try building on nwn2db with only SoZ and check your DC calculation on a specialist wizard.

BG hasn't implemented that because it's not Vanilla and it's not according to PnP.

[Aspect of Sorrow]

It doesn't look like we get a +1 DC for specializing. Are we supposed to?

No.

[Babuguuscooties]

Would be cool though... #wizardsneedallthepower