I was interested in peoples thoughts with regard to specialization in ToEE specifically. I always intend to use a specialist if only for flavour but can never bring myself to give up entire schools, necromancy aside, especially given I don't know the game and spell system inside out. Are there any non-obvious spells/schools that are absolute must haves? Are Invokers by far and away the best choice?
i made an invoker with barred necromancy/charme and it was ok considering i had also a bard in the party who had access to charme (while necromancy isn't that great in toee).
Necromancy has been getting better with all the spell addenda by Co8. TBH, I never knew what the point of a specialist is in TOEE, just take the specialization feat instead?
I've been using an invoker a lot now. I just get rid of illusion and necromancy. Never had much use for those schools. I do miss out on the cantrip that damages undead which is useful at lower levels only. At higher levels, my wizard has better spells to cast. I have used Phantasmal Killer against one really tough opponent when I first started playing. I just kept reloading until he failed his save. I don't need to resort to this cheap tactic any more, so I don't miss losing Phantasmal Killer. The extra spell is nice and I pretty much only use big blast spells.
In the "batman wizard" school of thought, use Diviners banning Evocation or Transmution, or use a Transmuter or Conjuror banning Evocation and Enchantment. For those unfamiliar you can look into that further here.. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104002
For ToEE, Evoker banning Necromancy and Illusion or Charm works best. Though I'm tempted to try making an Enchanter one of these days and just get a horde of charmies to fight my battles for me.
Enchanters, or sorcerers with enchantment specialization, rock the house in TOEE. Think of all the awesome creatures with low saves you can get: Greater Temple bugbears, Ettins, Hill Giants, and even Smigmal. The drawback is that you have to re-charm them after resting, and they occasionally get lost during travel.
Charm type spells are very, very effective in TOEE, arguably more so than they would be in pnp actually. I always have one generalist wizard who also crafts, and one multiclass (elf ftr/wiz) who specializes in divination and skips out on enchantments and focuses on spells that make him a better fighter along with utility type spells, since his saves/duration/caster lvl is always going to be lower anyway. A fighter/wiz with a couple of lvl1 or lvl 2 spells and the right feats/weapon choice can be frightening if deployed properly, consistently has the most kills out of anyone in my parties.
