In PnP, transmutation is the most versatile school of all, having lots of buff, debuff, utility, battle field control and damage dealing spells.
In BG2 however, abjuration school is very essential, so much so that SCS mod does not make any enemy mage a transmuter. Lack of abjuration spells really gimps a caster in BG. You can use the wand that casts breach+pierce magic but all in all, abjuration is THE school required for high level play in BG2. If you have a party with good fighters, a mage ultra specialised in abjuration will do okay. He can protect himself and others, remove debuffs from the party via dispel magic, and strip enemy spell caster's defenses, and can imprison troublesome enemies like adamantite golems. In a solo game he will be rather useless as he can't do enough damage to enemies with just abjuration spells.
Invocation is fun IMHO, I plan on creating a sorceress from Diablo 2, specialising in fire, ice and lightning spells. Shame there is no big ice spell like a good ol' frozen orb (in your face, Dia...err, Sarevok!), though.
@lunar, wow you're right re: no Transmuters. I checked and even Ruhk teh ransmuter isn't a Transmuter. Agree with you on Abjuration being the most important school in, I would say the whole of SoA and ToB. At least to my style of play it is. The sorceress sounds cool. IMO generally any kind of wizard that focuses on a specific form of magic rather than picking the best schools from each school is interesting from a roleplaying perspective.
The problem with the diablo sorceress is that all high-level (>6) elemental direct damage spells are fire based(delayed blast FB, icendiary cloud, meteor swarm, dragon breath, comet) which make them not-so-useful for the end-game.
You would probably end up using ADHW and skull trap as every other mage...
I wonder why all Bioware DnD games are so fire-based. It can't be that hard to add different spells. Hell, just change the fire ones to green graphics and acid damage type and call it Acid Ball, Acidiary Cloud etc. lol
nvocation is fun IMHO, I plan on creating a sorceress from Diablo 2, specialising in fire, ice and lightning spells. Shame there is no big ice spell like a good ol' frozen orb (in your face, Dia...err, Sarevok!), though.
In Diablo II, Ice Spells were overpowered, you could freeze your opponents for a while with just a few points, an then throw (little not-AoE) fireballs to them to un-freeze them (anyway this only happened with a few enemies, so you were dealing lots of damage) :P such a funny game!
Evocation! Nothing says 'wizard' more than blowing things up and lighting them on fire!
When I think of the traditional powerful wizard, I think of destruction, not 'crowd control' or domination or raising skeletons. I was always disappointed in Gandalf being a human lightbulb as opposed to a badass that shoots lightning and fire at enemies. I understand there are more useful spells, but when it comes to something as cool as magic, I prefer style over substance.
Evocation! Nothing says 'wizard' more than blowing things up and lighting them on fire!
When I think of the traditional powerful wizard, I think of destruction, not 'crowd control' or domination or raising skeletons. I was always disappointed in Gandalf being a human lightbulb as opposed to a badass that shoots lightning and fire at enemies. I understand there are more useful spells, but when it comes to something as cool as magic, I prefer style over substance.
pew pew pew boom boom boom fwoooossshh!
If you look at style rather than power/usefulness in this game, then I agree: Invokers with their fire and lightning are the most emblematic wizards you can have. Followed IMO by polymorphing, petrifying, disintegrating, slowing and hasting, and even time-stopping Transmuters. The others simply aren't as spectactular...
Comments
In BG2 however, abjuration school is very essential, so much so that SCS mod does not make any enemy mage a transmuter. Lack of abjuration spells really gimps a caster in BG. You can use the wand that casts breach+pierce magic but all in all, abjuration is THE school required for high level play in BG2. If you have a party with good fighters, a mage ultra specialised in abjuration will do okay. He can protect himself and others, remove debuffs from the party via dispel magic, and strip enemy spell caster's defenses, and can imprison troublesome enemies like adamantite golems. In a solo game he will be rather useless as he can't do enough damage to enemies with just abjuration spells.
Invocation is fun IMHO, I plan on creating a sorceress from Diablo 2, specialising in fire, ice and lightning spells. Shame there is no big ice spell like a good ol' frozen orb (in your face, Dia...err, Sarevok!), though.
Agree with you on Abjuration being the most important school in, I would say the whole of SoA and ToB. At least to my style of play it is.
The sorceress sounds cool. IMO generally any kind of wizard that focuses on a specific form of magic rather than picking the best schools from each school is interesting from a roleplaying perspective.
You would probably end up using ADHW and skull trap as every other mage...
You could easily be a Frost/Acid sorcerer, for example.
edit: you almost can't go without alteration anyway so it almost has to be that one school
When I think of the traditional powerful wizard, I think of destruction, not 'crowd control' or domination or raising skeletons. I was always disappointed in Gandalf being a human lightbulb as opposed to a badass that shoots lightning and fire at enemies. I understand there are more useful spells, but when it comes to something as cool as magic, I prefer style over substance.
pew pew pew boom boom boom fwoooossshh!