A Mix of Spells

In the examples above, we suggested a number of situations where it is to the wizard's best advantage to arm himself with an arsenal of spells from a particular category. In some situations, however, a wizard might be better arming himself with a few spells from each category. Here are a few examples:

The party is beginning a new adventure. When embarking on a new adventure or a new episode of an ongoing campaign, it is unlikely that the party will know exactly what obstacles or dangers they will face. In these cases, a wizard armed with a mix of Defensive, Offensive, Reconnaissance, and Special spells will be able to handle a variety of situations. As the adventure progresses and the party accumulates more information, the wizard can adjust his spell mix accordingly, perhaps concentrating on Defensive or Reconnaissance spells as the situation dictates.

The party has only a single wizard. In this case, the party might have to rely on the wizard to assume a variety of roles-- for instance, he may be expected to provide magical protection for the party (requiring Defensive spells) as well as ferreting out information about its opponents (requiring Reconnaissance spells). Of course, the more duties a wizard assumes, the less effective he can be at any one of them, but sometimes such a situation is unavoidable. The party has a large number of powerful characters in a variety of classes. The more power a party has at its disposal, and the more that power is dispersed among a large number of characters, the less dependent they will be on any one party member. In this case, a wizard's arsenal of spells is not as crucial. If the party has a number of strong warriors for offensive and defensive actions (as well as an extra warrior or two to serve as bodyguards for the wizard), has some rogues for spies, and has a magical scrying device, it is not vital for a wizard to concentrate exclusively on Defensive, Offensive, or Reconnaissance spells.

The wizard has no choice. If the wizard is just beginning his career, he probably does not have a lot of spells in his spell books. Likewise, if he has only Defensive spells in his spell book, he obviously cannot choose from the various categories.

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