Quote Originally Posted by Derjuin View Post
Spoiler: Tangent: Horribly built wizards
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A horribly built wizard is still something that's difficult to do on accident. And no, banning conjuration does not make a wizard into a liability. They still have access to divination (and the spontaneous divination ACF), enchantment, illusion, necromancy and transmutation. There are plenty of spells in every other school to still allow the wizard to reign nigh-supreme near the top of the food chain (obviously not THE top, since THE top is occupied by a conjurer ).


Have you actually played a high level (12+) wizard? For some people, the bookkeeping is too much - having to rewrite your prepped spell list every D&D morning can become a huge hassle, especially when you're picking spells that are spread across four books because half of them weren't printed in Spell Compendium. For others, most notably those with mastery of the system, the ability to end every encounter with one or two spells can be a drag. Defeating everything your DM throws at you in one round may be fun for you, but look at the other players (including the DM!). If they never get a chance to do anything but narrate how their characters shuffle about uncomfortably while you get your thing on, then they're probably not having fun. D&D is not about just you - it is about everyone at the table (including the DM!) - and every table is different. Some people want to play Lancelot, not Merlin, etc.
While I haven't played a high level wizard, I have played a high level druid. And there are two points here I strongly disagree on.

1) At least in the case of druids, I found that if I was changing my spell list, I was only making minor changes. This may be more because the druid can spontaneously summon, so I may be willing to accept that wizards need to change out more.

2) Yeah, encounter-ending spells. I'll agree to this. Although if the DM throws things which can dispel or the like, this isn't as much of a point.

3) I get wanting to play a warrior, not a wizard. The thing I don't get is that there are ways to play a warrior where you have options. Playing a fighter/barbarian/whatever in combat means "I full attack. Then, I full attack. Oh, he moved away? I charge/move and attack." In comparison, gishes and ToB have options. Don't want a magical fighter, go look up ToB and play a warblade.