Change prohibited spellschools

[I love cats]

Apparantly this can be adjusted via 2da files. I think the biowares prohibited school system should just be changed as per PNP or let wizrds chose their prohibited school. Its a bit absurd but everyone can OOCLY or ICLY identify a necromancer by them not being able to cast see invisibility. Also Conjurors having Transmutation as a prohibited school basically makes them suck. It also enc bourages the lame practice of people taking the illusionist spellschool while basically being conjurors because enchantment as a prohibited school is a super mechanical advantage.

I think from a storytelling standpoint and unique wizards it would be better to get rid of Bioware's prohibited school system. I believe that there is a way to change/do this. Even make it like classical PNP where it is impossible to make divination a prohibited school. Even make it possible to prohibit evocation, necromancy and abjuration. I think this would be an awesome flavorful addition to wizards.

[Stranger]

As a huge fan of wizards, I am quite comfortable with prohibited schools which "basically makes [my wizard] suck" and will find ways to make any handicap mechanically enjoyable. If there were to be any change to the specialization system, I'd like to see a more complete coverage. I'd like each school to have a different (and mirrored) school of opposition. Transmutation/Conjuration, yes! But why not also Abjuration/Enchantment? Or Illusion/Divination? Et cetera!

[I love cats]

As a huge fan of wizards, I am quite comfortable with prohibited schools which "basically makes [my wizard] suck" and will find ways to make any handicap mechanically enjoyable. If there were to be any change to the specialization system, I'd like to see a more complete coverage. I'd like each school to have a different (and mirrored) school of opposition. Transmutation/Conjuration, yes! But why not also Abjuration/Enchantment? Or Illusion/Divination? Et cetera!

This is probably more viable and doable and requires less work. Why not do that?

[SunrypeSlim]

Trigger warning: D&D edition change.

Pathfinder did something pretty sweet with opposition schools: you have your choice of which schools to choose, but you have to pick two. The upside is that you can still cast those spells, but it takes up twice as many spell slots.

Suppose that when you make a Wizard, you just pick Generalist. You can scribe any spell to your spellbook at that point. Then you have a Wizard perk system that lets you pick a specialization (or not) and two opposition schools (or not).

Every time you cast a spell from the opposition school, it would check to see if you have another one memorized. If you don't, the spell fails.

Downside is that you'd lose one spell slot from each level for going Generalist. You could either modify that with spell slots that appear on your robes (if you're wearing robes) based on your wizard level, OR take it as a perk and leave in the (literally) old school system unmodified for people who care about having more spells.

Thoughts?

[VanillaPudding]

• Abjuration - opposed by Conjuration  
  
• Conjuration - opposed by Evocation -
  
• Divination - opposed by Enchantment
  
• Enchantment - opposed by Divination
  
• Evocation - opposed by conjuration
  
• Illusion - opposed by Abjuration
  
• Necromancy - opposed by Transmutation
  
• Transmutation - opposed by Necromancy
  

I'd recommend this to better fit EFU balance and spell changes.

[efu1984]

Wouldn't it be possible to create a completely custom opposed school system by forcing all wizards to be generalists, having them choose a specialization + opposed school through player tools if desired, adding bonus spell slots to the creature skin, and just preventing them from casting or learning spells from their opposed school through scripting?

[Stranger]

I do not have much insight into mechanical concerns! But if I were to propose static schools of opposition, I would have put forward the logical oppositions of...

• Abjuration vs Enchantment
• Conjuration vs Transmutation
• Evocation vs Necromancy
• Illusion vs Divination
• Vice versa

[Stranger]

I'd like our school specializations to reflect deeper, fundamental divides in how wizards view the world. Yes, on some level, it is a matter of eschewing courses of study from an overbooked curriculum, but why does it have to end there? I'd love it if specialists in opposing schools were to scowl at each other across the table—if debates raged over whose particular end of the pole happened to be superior, and both sides balked at the philistine suggestion of mingling their opposed disciplines.

To specify the "logic" of my outline...

Repulsion versus Compulsion.

Summoning Planar Assets versus Modifying Material Assets.

Something Out of Nothing versus Something Out of Something.

Deception versus Detection.

[Pigadig]

Actually, as someone mentioned in IRC yesterday, it would be possible through altering spellschools.2da as per this:
http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Spell_school

Now whether that'd be a good thing or not is another question.

[Valo56]

• Necromancy - opposed by Transmutation
  
• Transmutation - opposed by Necromancy
  

I'd recommend this to better fit EFU balance and spell changes.

Transmuters will become vastly popular and necromancer wizards will never be seen again.

[Paha]

Simply editing .2da does not follow-up to change all that is intended. I've found this out painfully by trying some changes but some things are not build into the engine and those changes won't simply work. It would require testing and seeing how far the changes actually do as intended, and where they don't. Only if the code in engine itself supports that change to the .2da and the results those changes would bring.

This is the very reason that many changes we've considered or wanted have never come true, because getting into changing engine systems through nwnx gets really hacky and there are -always- issues with those hacks.