Oh yeah, I forgot the restricted schools!<br/><br/>Okay so first, a quick run-down of schools, since it might be useful to know how they line up, spell-wise<br/><br/>•<strong>Abjuration</strong>: A school of warding and defensive spells. It doesn't really bring anything flashy to the table; A line of spells that creates wards that explode when broken is about as exciting as it gets. But its spells are very utilitarian and good to have.<em>Protection From Evil</em>and<em>Shield</em>are excellent all-purpose 1st level spells, while things like<em>Hold Portal</em>and<em>Alarm</em>are more situational but still very good at what they do. At higher levels,<em>Dispel Magic</em>is pure gold.<br/><br/>Abjuration doesn't excite me, but it's an excellent toolbox school of spells, and I'd hate to make it more difficult for Fnicket to use.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>•<strong>Conjuration</strong>; The school of making things physical appear out of thin air! this is the school you want for summoning extraplanar beings, or manifesting magical weapons, or sometimes even creating an extradimensional space. It's a very flexible school, especially hte monster summoning aspect; at higher levels you cna summon creatures that cast their own spells! It's like Abjuration in being very toolboxy, and is also the second-largest school of wizard spells.<br/><br/>For Fnicket, I'm honestly neutral; I don't see her conjuring beasts from other worlds, but spells like<em>Obscuring Mist</em>and<em>Mage Armor</em>are pretty useful. I'm going to leave Conjuration as a "maybe" for restricted schools.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>•<strong>Divination:</strong>The school for detecting things. Divination covers the scrying and detection powers such as, well,<em>Scrying</em>and<em>Detect Evil</em>. It has two very useful cantrips -<em>Detect magic</em>and<em>Read magic</em>, but levels 1 and 2 are kind of lacking in exciting spell. At spell levels 3 and above, it starts to pick up, and high-level Divination spells can be some of the most derailing abilities available to players ("yes, i know exactly where our major villain is hiding, the exact sum and location of his minions, where the treasure is, and what he's going ot have for dinner tomorrow.")<br/><br/>Divination is a school of spells that, while they have their uses, seem really specialized, and the sort of spells you're going to plan your day around; Fnicket's not likely to ever prepare<em>Comprehend Languages</em>unless she<em>already knows</em>she's going to need to comprehend someone's language.. she seems like someone who suffers from a lack of foresight, too.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>•<strong>Enchantment:</strong>Obviously this school of magic revolves around manipulating the minds of others. Spells like<em>Charm Person</em>and<em>Sleep</em>are Wizard staples, and there's some really delightfully weird ones on this list (such as, er,<em>Unnatural Lust</em>). The downside is that the bulk of this School's spells are offensive in nature... but can be negated by your opponent making a single saving throw. These are known as "save or suck" spells, in the parlance; they have really neat effects, unless your enemy saves, in which case they have no effect whatsoever (as opposed ot most other offensive spells which usually have<em>some</em>effect even on a successful save.)<br/><br/>As for this Gnome however, I imagine things like<em>memory Lapse</em>and<em>Hypnotism</em>are on her regular list of spells -<em>Charm Person</em>is always solid for her, but she probably prefers to use natural charm when possible. Enchantment isn't<em>my</em>favorite School, but I can't see Fnicket dumping it, so it stays.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>•<strong>Evocation</strong>: Where Conjuration manifests physical matter, Evocation manifests and manipulates energies. This is the school of<em>Magic Missile</em>,<em>Fireball</em>and of course, who could ever forget, the one, the only, erm,<em>Fire Sneeze</em>. With a<em>very</em>few exceptions (such as the<em>Floating Disk</em>spell) evocation is about blasting, doing damage, and covering everything in fire, ice, and icefire. If you're going to focus on Wizard as damage, then Evocation is the school for you!<br/><br/>...Fnicket is not a damage-dealing flame-wreathed badass. i can definitely see her getting use out of<em>Magic Missile</em>, and the series of spells that just knock people around like<em>Hydraulic Push</em>or<em>Gusting Sphere</em>seem like good investments for a two-foot nine conwoman, but for Fnicket Evocation is kind of a wash.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>•<strong>Illusion:</strong>Illusion is a hard school to five a quick description for; it conjures things, but they aren't really there. it messes with people's minds, but doesn't<em>control</em>their minds. And apparently it can make a kazoo sound like a cathedral pipe organ because why the hell<em>wouldn't</em>you need a spell like that? It's a school that is very reliant on player creativity and DM allowance; It can be rendered completely useless if either of these components is missing at the table, but can almost replicate every other school if both are in abundance. I know i'm creative and i'm pretty sure eBadger is a very allowing DM in this regard, so no problems there! Some key spells of Illusion are the image line of spells (<em>Silent Image</em>,<em>Minor Image</em>, etc),<em>Invisibility</em>, and a whole host of obscurative defensive spells like<em>Blur</em>and<em>Mirror Image</em>.<br/><br/>I've already decided that Fnicket will be an Illusionist, so no point in debating whether to restrict this.<br/><br/>•<strong>Necromancy:</strong>A school of magic revolving around the manipulation of souls, spirits, and life energy. Necromancy usually gets typecast as an edgelord at the head of a zombie army... but to be totally honest in D&D that's more of an evil cleric thing. Wizards CAN do it, of course, but their angle on Necromancy is stronger towards curses, sickness, and other debuffs. Even if you don't want a shambling horde at your back, there are some pretty useful spells in here;<em>Cause Fear</em>and<em>Ray of Sickening</em>are solid level 1 spells, while at higher levels, spells like<em>enervation</em>and<em>Magic Jar</em>can be absurdly good.<br/><br/>I like the idea of Fnicket having a shady side. She's definitely not going to be raising the dead or anything, but I think she could appreciate the selective application of fear effects or making a target suffer Monteczuma's Revenge.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>•<strong>Transmutation:</strong>Transmutation is a school of altering persons, places, and things. It's the largest of the Wizard school spell lists, and the most diverse in effect. It doesn't have any "blast" spells, but when you can turn your party's fighter into a Strength 30 flying owlbear that breathes fire, who needs<em>Magic Missile</em>? Some key spells of transmutation are obviously<em>Polymorph</em>and related spells, but also thigns that manipulate objects like<em>Mage Hand</em>and<em>Animate rope</em>.<br/><br/>Transmutation is a huge school, and has so many toolboxy, solid spells that I couldn't live with myself if I wrote it off. Fnicket certainly wouldn't do so; The reduce / Enlarge person line of spells alone have a million applications! And she needs these spells if she plans on making hair tonic potions, right? Well, hair tonic potions that<em>work</em>, anyway.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>•<strong>Universalist:</strong>Actually is a school of spells! It offers things like<em>Prestidigitation</em>,<em>Wish</em>and... uh...<em>Halt Plants</em>? really, there's a spell to stop plants, and it's a 4th level Universal spell? That's weird. There's like five other spells here, and i don't think Universal is an option for school restrictions, so, this was a pointless inclusion. Yay!<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Looking over my takes, Fnicket is going to have Divination as a restricted school, along with either conjuration or evocation. It's kind of a tough choice. I see that so far, Galanthor's wizard is a Conjuration specialist who has restricted illusions though, so maybe going with an Illusion speicalist who has restricted Conjuration makes sense; I can definitely see her using Evocation for pyrotechnic displays and, of course, one-upping other wizards, so Evocation is going to stay.<br/><br/><strong>Arcane School:</strong>Illusion.<br/><strong>Restricted Schools:</strong>Conjuration, Divination