I wish generalist were an option, because I'd have a really hard time picking a specialty. Since the OP brought up the analogy of medical doctors, there is such a thing as a "general practitioner".
If we're talking about introducing magic into real life, I'd probably take illusion or enchantment, because those would be the easiest to get some benefit from without getting caught. There are dozens or maybe hundreds of sci-fi stories about what would happen with this sort of thing if it became real: if the authorities became aware of you and what you could do, you'd disappear into some heavily guarded government laboratory, and you'd never be able to live a normal or happy life, if you were even allowed to live.
If a lot of people started getting these powers, we'd have a real-life version of "X-Men" or one of its knockoffs on our hands. People would cry "mutant", "not human anymore", and out would come the proverbial torches and pitchforks.
while Enchantment offers the most ludicrous possibilities in the modern world, I'd go with illusion. your boss gives you trouble? is ok, you can lock him/her in a scary world of giants insects that eat his/her guts. Is money you're looking for? you can sell that wonderful family diamond big like a watermelon.... oh wait, it's really a watermelon, but only you know this, so... it's women you want? why don't you just change your aspect a little bit? and of course, your mama's old car is a Ferrari tonight
Abjuration because LOL bullets and arrows. Besides, I already dual-wield axes and give people rabies. I don't need more superpowers, I just need the current one to be indestructible. My axes are already beyond enchantment anyways.
Look little mageling, you've put yourself under an illusion of grandeur, your all smoke and mirrors when it comes to harvesting the power of the primordial obliterator, namely necromancy.
Your mama's old car may look like a Ferrari... but it still handles like a supermarket trolley with a sticky wheel...
*Chortles evilly and awaits for fervent upcoming banter*
Just use Shades to make an actual Ferrari....it wouldn't handle EXACTLY the same, but would be 80% as good as a real one. And if you let an experienced driver who didn't notice it was a shade-construct instead of a real Ferrari, it would perform exactly as good as one. You just know it's fake so it only performs at 80% effectiveness when used by you, because belief is what gives high level illusion reality warping power, the subject's belief makes it's effects real.
@ZanathKariashi When I said "raise the dead", I didn't mean zombie and skeleton servants. I meant bringing back people I cared about. You know like 'Resurrection', which I assumed was a Necromancy school spell. I use it all the time ingame on Aerie and co, with no apparent ill-effects on them psyche and health. Aerie even has a conversation with Jaheira where she says how if she died, we can bring her back with spells.
If a lot of people started getting these powers, we'd have a real-life version of "X-Men" or one of its knockoffs on our hands. People would cry "mutant", "not human anymore", and out would come the proverbial torches and pitchforks.
Nu uh - they'd be real torches and pitchforks. :u
@typo_tilly I think it depends on country. In the US for example, I'm sure the equivalent of torches and pitchforks would be shotguns and assault rifles...
Keep in mind BG does NOT properly implement raising at all (or spell-casting in general). Making death, except for the PC, a slap on the wrist, even on core and above setting.
Both Raise Dead and resurrection permanently reduce the target's Con by 1 due to the strain on their body/soul, and they have to make a survival roll or their connection to their body is severed and can never be raised (this connection weakens overtime anyway, with Raise Dead having 1 day per caster level, and Resurrection having 1 year per caster level or the spell lacks the power to pull the soul back). Resurrection also burns 10 years off the caster's life due to the strain of channeling such a mighty spell.
Restoration spells weaken both the caster and target and both lose 2 years off their life.
Haste spells reduce the target's life by 1. (Improved Haste does not, but only affects a single target and they're fatigued as if they've gone an entire extra day without rest, the moment it ends). (In PnP both versions of haste double all natural attacks, haste just has a nasty penalty, while improved haste is double the spell level and only affects a single target but only fatigues instead of shortening their life).
Raise dead also requires the body be relatively intact. Someone that died of suffocation, heart-attack or bleeding death. But any major damage to the body (missing limbs, completely destroyed organs etc, are still gone). People killed by death-spells (finger of death, death spell, etc) or turned into undead via life-draining attacks can't be raised.
Resurrection on the other hand can raise just about anyone and completely makes them a new body, but requires at least a few specks of dust from their original body. It's only restriction is that they can't have died from old age, suicide, and must be native to that plane of existence. Also undead creatures have to be destroyed before their soul can be revived.
Also both those options are divine magic, given directly by gods, while the only option a mage (or druid) gets is Reincarnation, which requires the target have been dead less then a day, but the condition of the body doesn't matter and there's no survival rolls....but they comeback as a completely random living creature. They retain their level and stats, but might not be able to speak or use class-functions depending on their form.
Wish can also do it, but can only replicate raise dead, and requires the same components and downsides of raise dead, and casting Wish shortens the casters life by 5 years per spell + any extra life-shortening spells they replicate require.
Also, you can bet your ass, that if magic was real, those components would be horded by every rich nation's leadership/families making it extremely unrealistic for the average person to ever be able to get raised, just as it is in Faerun. Unless you've got A LOT of powerful friends, death tends to be quite permanent, even in a high magic place such as FR.
Do not base your choices around BG. It removes pretty much every limiting factor spells have, improperly implements a lot of them, or simply leaves out huge chunks of spells (Illusion being one of the most screwed, with nearly all their best spells not being included).
Wish-resting alone, with no penalty, makes the BG Wish stronger then any PnP spell, including True-Dweomers. That's a wish explicitly forbidden to grant as asked, and should only restore 1d4 spells up to 8th level.
Yeah, it's in tome of Magic, same as I mentioned above.
3rd level haste works identically to BG's IH, but affects several targets and reduces their lifespan by 1 year in addition to fatiguing them. IH only fatigues the target, but due to the spell protecting their body from the strain, it's higher level and only affects a single target.
Nah, Limited Wish can replicate any arcane spell up to 7th level, even from an opposed school, or divine magic of 4th or lower. It can also force a re-roll of 1 dice roll that happened in the previous round, negating the results if appropriate. Ages the caster by 1 year.
Wish can be used to cast Heal on the whole party, raise dead as per the spell, or teleport the whole party instantly without error, even to other planes. It can also be used to raise stats, but the number of Wishes required to gain a single point increases dramatically after 14. 15>16 takes 5, 16>17 takes 10, 17>18 takes 10, 18>19 takes 20.
So...yeah...Wishing your way to high stats is probably NOT going to happen.
They can wish for other stuff as well, but it reduces the caster's str by 3 and prevents all spellcasting for up to a week (2d4 days), regardless of the outcome. And any use of Wish reduces the caster's lifespan by 5 years.
Also something I overlooked when aging penalties from spells are being determined. Any time a spell says you lose x number of years, you lose that many for every 100 years of maximum lifespan your race typically has, rounded up.
So a human casting Wish loses 5 years from their life, while an Elf would lose 50. And everything else would fall somewhere between.
For me Wish should work with a D20 variable rather than just wisdom. Wisdom should give a bonus to wish but the result of the spell should never be 100% certain, no matter how high is the guy wisdom.
The fact that the wish list is semi-random sort of helps...slightly...but wish resting is just too powerful. That exact scenario is explicitly mentioned to never be completely fulfilled, only restoring around 4 spells up to 8th level.
The PnP Wish has a few things that will always work, with no additional penalty, as mentioned above. But other wishes have additional penalties and are completely at the DM's discretion and have to be worded carefully to avoid literal interpretations or making a wish too powerful to be fulfilled completely, either causing it to only partially work, or an alternative "next best thing" happening which usually goes horribly wrong.
Weeeeeeeell, since i usually play Fighter/Mages(always in plate, mind you ;p), i am a generalist.
However, i love 3 schools more than others.
My personal favorite for aesthetic reasons is Necromancy, i just love undead. But it irks me that i can only summon them, instead of transforming into one!
So we have Transmutation next and very close, the shapechange ability and other nice stuff it has is really really a delicious milkshake. Infusing yourself and changing your body in various nice ways.
Lastly, Illusion, but in the jester/clown petty illusions. No, i am speaking of images of terror and dread, that are capable of actually killing. Well, invisibility helps too :>
Illusion always seemed like a perfect school for a deceiver. The kind of deceiver that makes you think he is a scared old man, or a wuss, only to realize he's a Berserker/Mage coming after your azz screaming in plate :pp
Comments
If we're talking about introducing magic into real life, I'd probably take illusion or enchantment, because those would be the easiest to get some benefit from without getting caught. There are dozens or maybe hundreds of sci-fi stories about what would happen with this sort of thing if it became real: if the authorities became aware of you and what you could do, you'd disappear into some heavily guarded government laboratory, and you'd never be able to live a normal or happy life, if you were even allowed to live.
If a lot of people started getting these powers, we'd have a real-life version of "X-Men" or one of its knockoffs on our hands. People would cry "mutant", "not human anymore", and out would come the proverbial torches and pitchforks.
it's women you want? why don't you just change your aspect a little bit? and of course, your mama's old car is a Ferrari tonight
...
Look little mageling, you've put yourself under an illusion of grandeur, your all smoke and mirrors when it comes to harvesting the power of the primordial obliterator, namely necromancy.
Your mama's old car may look like a Ferrari... but it still handles like a supermarket trolley with a sticky wheel...
*Chortles evilly and awaits for fervent upcoming banter*
When I said "raise the dead", I didn't mean zombie and skeleton servants. I meant bringing back people I cared about. You know like 'Resurrection', which I assumed was a Necromancy school spell. I use it all the time ingame on Aerie and co, with no apparent ill-effects on them psyche and health. Aerie even has a conversation with Jaheira where she says how if she died, we can bring her back with spells. @typo_tilly
I think it depends on country. In the US for example, I'm sure the equivalent of torches and pitchforks would be shotguns and assault rifles...
Both Raise Dead and resurrection permanently reduce the target's Con by 1 due to the strain on their body/soul, and they have to make a survival roll or their connection to their body is severed and can never be raised (this connection weakens overtime anyway, with Raise Dead having 1 day per caster level, and Resurrection having 1 year per caster level or the spell lacks the power to pull the soul back). Resurrection also burns 10 years off the caster's life due to the strain of channeling such a mighty spell.
Restoration spells weaken both the caster and target and both lose 2 years off their life.
Haste spells reduce the target's life by 1. (Improved Haste does not, but only affects a single target and they're fatigued as if they've gone an entire extra day without rest, the moment it ends). (In PnP both versions of haste double all natural attacks, haste just has a nasty penalty, while improved haste is double the spell level and only affects a single target but only fatigues instead of shortening their life).
Raise dead also requires the body be relatively intact. Someone that died of suffocation, heart-attack or bleeding death. But any major damage to the body (missing limbs, completely destroyed organs etc, are still gone). People killed by death-spells (finger of death, death spell, etc) or turned into undead via life-draining attacks can't be raised.
Resurrection on the other hand can raise just about anyone and completely makes them a new body, but requires at least a few specks of dust from their original body. It's only restriction is that they can't have died from old age, suicide, and must be native to that plane of existence. Also undead creatures have to be destroyed before their soul can be revived.
Also both those options are divine magic, given directly by gods, while the only option a mage (or druid) gets is Reincarnation, which requires the target have been dead less then a day, but the condition of the body doesn't matter and there's no survival rolls....but they comeback as a completely random living creature. They retain their level and stats, but might not be able to speak or use class-functions depending on their form.
Wish can also do it, but can only replicate raise dead, and requires the same components and downsides of raise dead, and casting Wish shortens the casters life by 5 years per spell + any extra life-shortening spells they replicate require.
Also, you can bet your ass, that if magic was real, those components would be horded by every rich nation's leadership/families making it extremely unrealistic for the average person to ever be able to get raised, just as it is in Faerun. Unless you've got A LOT of powerful friends, death tends to be quite permanent, even in a high magic place such as FR.
Do not base your choices around BG. It removes pretty much every limiting factor spells have, improperly implements a lot of them, or simply leaves out huge chunks of spells (Illusion being one of the most screwed, with nearly all their best spells not being included).
Also, I'm reasonably certain even Limited Wish could replicate Raise Dead, but don't quote me on that.
3rd level haste works identically to BG's IH, but affects several targets and reduces their lifespan by 1 year in addition to fatiguing them. IH only fatigues the target, but due to the spell protecting their body from the strain, it's higher level and only affects a single target.
Nah, Limited Wish can replicate any arcane spell up to 7th level, even from an opposed school, or divine magic of 4th or lower. It can also force a re-roll of 1 dice roll that happened in the previous round, negating the results if appropriate. Ages the caster by 1 year.
Wish can be used to cast Heal on the whole party, raise dead as per the spell, or teleport the whole party instantly without error, even to other planes. It can also be used to raise stats, but the number of Wishes required to gain a single point increases dramatically after 14. 15>16 takes 5, 16>17 takes 10, 17>18 takes 10, 18>19 takes 20.
So...yeah...Wishing your way to high stats is probably NOT going to happen.
They can wish for other stuff as well, but it reduces the caster's str by 3 and prevents all spellcasting for up to a week (2d4 days), regardless of the outcome. And any use of Wish reduces the caster's lifespan by 5 years.
Also something I overlooked when aging penalties from spells are being determined. Any time a spell says you lose x number of years, you lose that many for every 100 years of maximum lifespan your race typically has, rounded up.
So a human casting Wish loses 5 years from their life, while an Elf would lose 50. And everything else would fall somewhere between.
The PnP Wish has a few things that will always work, with no additional penalty, as mentioned above. But other wishes have additional penalties and are completely at the DM's discretion and have to be worded carefully to avoid literal interpretations or making a wish too powerful to be fulfilled completely, either causing it to only partially work, or an alternative "next best thing" happening which usually goes horribly wrong.
Can I choose all?
Sorry for calling you Shirley... @Sadras
However, i love 3 schools more than others.
My personal favorite for aesthetic reasons is Necromancy, i just love undead. But it irks me that i can only summon them, instead of transforming into one!
So we have Transmutation next and very close, the shapechange ability and other nice stuff it has is really really a delicious milkshake. Infusing yourself and changing your body in various nice ways.
Lastly, Illusion, but in the jester/clown petty illusions. No, i am speaking of images of terror and dread, that are capable of actually killing. Well, invisibility helps too :>
Illusion always seemed like a perfect school for a deceiver. The kind of deceiver that makes you think he is a scared old man, or a wuss, only to realize he's a Berserker/Mage coming after your azz screaming in plate :pp