Editing Specialist Wizard (section)

=Mechanics=
When they debuted in AD&D 2nd edition, specialist wizards were, well, ''very'' specialized! You needed to have a minimum ability score in addition to your base 9+ [[Intelligence]], had racial restrictions, and gave up ''two'' schools for every specialization except [[Illusionist]]s (who gave up '''three''') and [[Diviner]]s (who only gave up one). What did you get in return?
* +1 to saving throws against spells of your specialized school.
* Targets of spells you cast from your specialized school suffer a -1 penalty to their saving throws.
* +15% bonus to chance to learn spells from your specialized school.
* -15% penalty to chance to learn spells from any other school.
* Automatically gain a spell of your specialized school when you reach a new spell level - a bigger deal than it sounds, since you were otherwise restricted to whatever scrolls or spellbooks you could find, buy or steal and even then you had to gamble that the dice gods would favor your chance to learn that spell.
* A bonus spell slot in each spell level that '''must''' be used to memorize a spell of your specialized school (so a level 1 evoker gets 2 spell slots per day, but must memorize at least 1 Evocation spell with its bonus one).
* When attempting to invent a spell of your specialized school, treat its level as being 1 level lower to determine your chance of success.

Whilst the "nonstandard" specialist wizards of 2e would play around with this formula, by and large it remained the base template; increased ability to learn and invent spells of their school(s) alongside bonus spells per day and some save modifiers for the caster and the caster's targets, at the cost of directly and indirectly limiting their access to spells outside of their schools.

In 3.5, the idea was simplified; Specialist Wizards now gained +1 daily spell per spell level and a +2 bonus to Spellcraft checks made to learn spells. They also gained a lot more flexibility in choosing their prohibited schools:
* Abjuration: To become an abjurer, a wizard must select a prohibited school or schools from the following choices: (1) either Conjuration, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, or Transmutation; or (2) both Divination and Necromancy.
* Conjuration: To become a conjurer, a wizard must select a prohibited school or schools from one of the following choices: (1) Evocation; (2) any two of the following three schools: Abjuration, Enchantment, and Illusion; (3) Transmutation, or (4) any three schools.
* Divination: To become a diviner, a wizard must select any other single school as a prohibited school.
* Enchantment: To become an enchanter, a wizard must select a prohibited school or schools from the following choices: (1) either Abjuration, Conjuration, Evocation, Illusion, or Transmutation; or (2) both Divination and Necromancy.
* Evocation: To become an evoker, a wizard must select a prohibited school or schools from one of the following choices: (1) Conjuration; (2) any two of the following three schools: Abjuration, Enchantment, and Illusion; (3) Transmutation; or (4) any three schools.
* Illusion: To become an illusionist, a wizard must select a prohibited school or schools from the following choices: (1) either Abjuration, Conjuration, Enchantment, Evocation, or Transmutation; or (2) both Divination and Necromancy.
* Necromancy: To become a necromancer, a wizard must select any other single school as a prohibited school.
* Transmutation: To become a transmuter, a wizard must select a prohibited school or schools from one of the following choices: (1) Conjuration; (2) Evocation; (2) any two of the following three schools: Abjuration, Enchantment, and Illusion; or (4) any three schools.

The [[Pathfinder Roleplaying Game]] continued in 3e's footsteps in downplaying the penalties; in this game, a specialist wizard must select any two other spells of their choice as prohibited schools... but they don't '''lose access''' to these schools. Instead, they merely have to expend 2 spell slots to cast a spell of a "prohibited" school, and suffer a -4 penalty to skill checks made as part of creating a magic item that features spells from their "prohibited" school. As for the benefits that the wizard gains from specializing, they're much more unique than in previous editions, although they do still gain the +1 spell slot per spell level of editions past. Even unspecialized "Universalist" wizards get some bonuses, though they lack that bonus spell slot per spell level.

PF2E would downplay those penalties even further, removing any mention of opposing schools. That said, specialist wizards do still get a bonus spell slot per level and bonus spell, cantrip and focus spell from their chosen school. Universalist wizards, without such a focus, won't get most of these perks but still get to cast a spell through their bonded item one additional time per day on top in addition to a bonus class feat.

In 5th edition, due to specialist wizards serving as the subclass mechanic for [[wizard]]s, their benefits are entirely unique and there are '''no''' penalties for specializing - which is only fair, since specialization is ''mandatory'' for 5e wizards!