Arelith

Normally Mass Haste is an Enchantment school spell in nwn. Some time in ages past, probably for coherence but I wasn't there so I don't know, someone decided to make it the same school as regular haste. This in my opinion is the biggest reason Conj spec is generally considered bad or niche. A primary caster with no extendable haste option (or self-cast haste option in general as is the case here) is generally speaking always going to be awful on Arelith unless it's showered in other features which Conj Spec is not. Imo reverting this one change would instantly make the specialization much more competitive with other choices.

I think all of the wizard specialist paths could follow the Shadow Mage model of making the school you give up significantly weaker instead of banning it altogether.

Perhaps it's possible to make M. Haste an exception, similar to how Evocation spells like Darkness interacts with Shadow Mage?

I don't think there should be exceptions to forbidden schools of magic. However, I think you should be able to choose which school you want forbidden to you.

Also - currently a wizard can enjoy the bonuses from taking the SF/GSF/ESF of the forbidden school, which probably shouldn't work if those spells are supposed to be forbidden in the first place.

PowerWord Rage wrote: Sat May 17, 2025 1:22 am

Perhaps it's possible to make M. Haste an exception, similar to how Evocation spells like Darkness interacts with Shadow Mage?

I like this idea, that would actually revive some of the wizards specs - question is if spells are forbidden is because of engine limitation or not.

I've only quoted Mass Haste here because it's supposedly an Enchantment school rather than Transmutation based on original NWN game. Since it was changed to Transmutation due to mechanical reason ( yep, i can't think otherwise why. There's a proper reason why NWN has it as enchantment and not transmutation )

So, having Mass Haste as the only exception is actually reasonable. At least, i feel that way.

The original specialist wizard bonuses have been designed around which spells become unavailable and how relevant they are in gameplay, so any changes to the forbidden school or exceptions for impactful spells like Mass Haste would necessitate some further adjustments of the specialist bonuses themselves.

Kalopsia wrote: Mon May 19, 2025 7:18 am

The original specialist wizard bonuses have been designed around which spells become unavailable and how relevant they are in gameplay, so any changes to the forbidden school or exceptions for impactful spells like Mass Haste would necessitate some further adjustments of the specialist bonuses themselves.

As a Necromancer Specialist I can say my Planar Conduit with only GSF Conjuration out damage and live longer than my ESF Necromancer Mummy's Dust.

Kalopsia wrote: Mon May 19, 2025 7:18 am

The original specialist wizard bonuses have been designed around which spells become unavailable and how relevant they are in gameplay, so any changes to the forbidden school or exceptions for impactful spells like Mass Haste would necessitate some further adjustments of the specialist bonuses themselves.

This would be a Good Thing.