Wizards and schools of magic

Some further points concerning wizards cropped up this weekend in an interesting thread on the RPGNet forums started by Count_Rugen.

I posted my thoughts on wizards a few weeks ago including how I voluntarily limited myself to the unfashionable Necromancy School for my character Corvell.

The thread on RPGNet asked for readers views on ranking the Schools of Magic, strongest to weakest. I find this a little hard to take seriously because you really are comparing apples and pears. All magic is poweful and ranking has to be considered in the context of the game you are playing and who is running it for you. Fortunately most of the posters were of the same view and put their opinions into context.

What encourages me is how many players seem to enjoy the idea of voluntarily limiting their characters in terms of access to spells and had dedicated a lot of thought to the consequences. If you have a tolerant GM, this kind of approach should be rewarding and (hopefully) rewarded as it is a great opportunity for roleplaying as opposed to system-playing.