PnP-style speciality wizard restrictions

[DavidW]

In pen-and-paper AD&D, specialist wizards have to use their additional spell slot to memorize a spell of their chosen school. Unmodded, the game doesn't implement that; is there a mod that does?

[Guest Mantis]

Yes, although I haven’t used it much myself:

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/63421/restricting-specialists-extra-spell-slots-to-specialists-school-spells

[DavidW]

Thanks.

(I ask because I just worked up something like this for an ongoing project of mine and wondered if it had already been done... looks as if kjeron's is reasonably different, though.)

[Jarno Mikkola]

I would remember that the game actually forces the specialist mages to select at least one spell of every level at character creation. So no, you don't need to use it, but you'll have to use a selection slot to your own schools one. This should also effects specialist sorcerers, though the vanilla game doesn't feature any.

[CamDawg]

One thing to keep in mind is that BG2/EE doesn't have a school-balanced set of spells. Only four schools have spells available at every level--abjuration, conjuration/summoning, evocation, and necromancy--while the rest have gaps:

• There are no level 7-9 divinations
• There are no level 6-9 enchantments
• There are no level 9 illusions.
• There are no level 8 alterations

SCS/IWDification does at least provide a level 8 alteration (Iron Body) but you'll still need spells for the other gaps.

edit: And I see that's already mentioned in the thread Mantis linked.

Edited September 2, 2020 by CamDawg

[DavidW]

Yes, I noticed that. Introducing a bunch of new spells is a bit outside scope for this, though (it was intended as a neat self-contained 200-line UI mod, not a spell pack). I think I'll follow 3rd edition's (and SR's) lead and offer a mapping of Power Words (possibly also Symbols) over to Enchantment, and of Wish to Universal (which it is mechanically already, it's just got Invocation and Conjuration as schools), and otherwise just get the mod to exclude spell levels where there's a gap. (I think that's what kjeron's version does too.)

EDIT: on reflection, perhaps the simpler and more balanced thing to do is just to apply the restriction up to level 5. Up to there, there are reasonably nice options for every school, and I think it adds flavor. But once the spells start thinning out around level 6, it might start being a bit of a pain for some schools, even if technically there are available options.

[subtledoctor]

9 hours ago, Guest Mantis said:

Yes, although I haven’t used it much myself:

I'm a big fan of Kjeron's mod.  It does what it says on the tin, and is nicely customizable.  It has options to apply only when there are actually spells of the specialized school at a certain level, or to apply even when there are none; and options to make specialists to memorize two spells of their chosen school at each level, which means when you receive spells of a new spell level, you are forced to lean in to your specialty really hard.  And if people want to use this or that mod to rebalance spell schools (I put power words and sequencers in Enchantment, and symbols in Divination), Kjeron's mod will work just fine with the spells as it finds them.  A+.

[DavidW]

I like Kjeron's mod, and if I'd known it existed beforehand I might not have bothered writing anything, but there are aspects of the implementation and aesthetic I'm not keen on. (That's partly a matter of taste, of course.)