Wizard

Description
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To Wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, Wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The Wizard's strength is his spells. Everything else is secondary. He learns new spells as he experiments and grows in experience, and he can also learn them from other Wizards. In addition to learning new spells, a Wizard can, over time, learn to manipulate the spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. Some Wizards prefer to specialize in a certain type of magic. Specialization makes a Wizard more powerful in his chosen field, but it denies him access to some of the spells that lie outside that field.

Additional features
Wizards gain Scribe Scroll and Summon Familiar at 1st level.

Bonus feats
At level 5 and every five levels after (5, 10, 15, 20), the Wizard may select a bonus feat, chosen from the metamagic, item creation and spell feat lists. The Wizard must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including caster level minimums. This bonus feat is in addition to the feats every character gains for advancing in character level.

List of bonus feats (v1.23)

 * Spellcasting feats
 * Combat Casting
 * Spell Penetration
 * Greater Spell Penetration
 * Spell Focus
 * Greater Spell Focus
 * Arcane Defense
 * Augment Summoning
 * Augment Healing
 * Metamagic
 * Still Spell
 * Silent Spell
 * Extend Spell
 * Empower Spell
 * Maximize Spell
 * Quicken Spell
 * Item Creation
 * Brew Potion
 * Craft Wand
 * Craft Magical Arms and Armor
 * Craft Wondrous Item

Spellcasting

 * Sorcerer/Wizard Spell List: Wizards share the same spell list as Sorcerers.
 * Wizard Spell Progression

A Wizard casts Arcane spells, which are drawn from the Sorcerer/Wizard Spell List. A Wizard must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time. To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the Wizard must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level (Int 10 for 0-level spells, Int 11 for 1st-level spells, and so forth). Wizards learn new spells from Wizard scrolls they find during play. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a Wizard's spell is 10 + the spell level + the Wizard’s Intelligence modifier.

A Wizard must study his spellbook each day to prepare his spells. He cannot prepare any spell not recorded in his spellbook. A Wizard begins play with a spellbook containing all 0-level Wizard spells (except those from her prohibited school or schools, if any) plus three 1st-level spells of your choice. For each point of Intelligence bonus the Wizard has, the spellbook holds one additional 1st-level spell of your choice. At each new Wizard level, he gains two new spells of any spell level or levels that he can cast (based on his new Wizard level) for her spellbook. For example, when a Wizard attains 5th level, he can cast 3rd-level spells. At this point, he can add two new 3rd-level spells to his spellbook, or one 2nd-level spell and one 3rdlevel spell, or any combination of two spells between 1st and 3rd level. At any time, a Wizard can also add spells found in other Wizards' spellbooks to his own.

School Specialization
A school is one of eight groupings of spells, each defined by a common theme. If desired, a Wizard may specialize in one school of magic (see below), or be a generalist, where there are no bonuses and no penalties.

The eight schools of arcane magic are Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation.

The Wizard must choose whether to specialize and, if he does so, choose his specialty at 1st level. At this time, he must also give up another school of magic, which become his prohibited school (see table below). A Specialist Wizard then can prepare one additional spell per spell level each day. Unlike in the original DnD rules, the additional spell need not be of the specialist school.

Spells of the prohibited school or schools are not available to the Wizard, and he can not cast such spells from scrolls. He can use wands with prohibited school spells though. He may not change his specialization later.

This does not only affect a Wizards spell selection; school specialization takes precedence over other base classes or Use Magic Device checks.

For instance, a multi-classed Wizard/Cleric can not cast Clerical spells from the prohibited school. So if that Wizard/Cleric has Conjuration as a prohibited school, he can no longer use Resurrection scrolls. It also means that the tip from the official rulebooks of taking a level in the Sorcerer class on a Specialist Wizard, to yet gain access to all arcane items from the prohibited school, does not work. (However, see Talk:Wizard)

Specialist Wizards get +2 on Spellcraft checks when dealing with spells from their own school and can memorize one additional spell per spell level per day(ie. with an 18 int, at 1st level, a wizard normally gets three 1st level spells, a specialist would get four 1st level spells). Other than that, there seems to be no difference between specialists implemented in NWN2.

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