My current character for Tyranny of Dragons is Malvedar, a Dragonborn wizard. I want to play him as a Crazy Prepared utility caster. A spell for any opportunity, but I'm struggling with if I want him to be specialized in Abjuration, so he has more survivability, or Conjuration, so he can be more utility.
Abjuration gives him an extra 6 hp via the Arcane Ward, which is good because his AC (11) and HP (9) are both very bad (I rolled consistently low across the board). We also homebrewed the Arcane Ward ability you get at lv. 6 so that instead of using a reaction to shield another character, I can expand it to cover a larger area. This would pretty much make me able to carry the other characters with only a single cast of Fly (like this: https://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-308-harems-got-some-splainin-to-do/), and all the other cool stuff you can do with a Wall of Force Lite.
Conjuration, on the other hand, won't be much for combat until lv. 6 (with the Benign Transposition ability), but Minor Conjuration is awesome flavor wise, and I can imagine some pretty cool ways of using it, such as conjuring daggers or even ropes (if the DM is feeling lenient). Getting stronger conjured creatures is also great to provide some extra muscle, since half our party are squishy casters.
(I doubt it changes anything, but I'm also thinking about multi classing as Draconic sorcerer later, flavoring it as Bahamut helping the players against Tiamat)
If you're doing a lot of role playing and out of combat adventuring, Conjuration is incredible! If you're focused more on combat, Abjuration is better.
I'm playing a Conjuration wizard right now and I'm having a blast with Minor Conjuration out of combat. I saved another member of my party from falling off of a tower that we were climbing by creating a climbing piton and hammering it into the ground to anchor a rope instead of us holding the rope. The DM told me after the session that if I wouldn't have done that we'd have had to make rolls to hold onto the rope and the other PC would have also had to make a roll to hold onto the rope at the same time. That ability, like illusions, is only limited by your imagination.
You need a 13 in both Intelligence and Charisma in order to multi-class into sorcerer, so if your scores are bad you may not be able to. You probably shouldn't anyway as buffing Int, Dex, and Con is likely to be much more useful than also working on Charisma while slowing down your wizard progression.
To clarify, by consistently bad, I mean that my stats are generally dead average, or slightly above. I have 8 in strength, 12 in Dex, 11 in Con, 15 in Int, 10 in wis, and 13 in Cha
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"What do you mean I get disadvantage on persuasion?"
I don't know, Sneet, maybe because your argument is "Submit and become our pet"?
You can't beat Diviner for having the tools to be Crazy Prepared. But, between Conjuration and Abjuration, as others have indicated the flavor of the campaign really dictates which will be more effective. In a combat-heavy campaign, Abjuration grants a lot of survivability and, at higher levels, the bonuses to dispel magic and counterspell are great against enemy casters.
If you're going for pure survivability and preparation I'd pick Diviner like MasterOfConflict says but if you want to stick to those two and go heavy on utility I think Conjurer has to take it. The issue with Abjuration is not enough spell options to trigger Arcane Ward. You'll be ritual casting Alarm every day.
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My current character for Tyranny of Dragons is Malvedar, a Dragonborn wizard. I want to play him as a Crazy Prepared utility caster. A spell for any opportunity, but I'm struggling with if I want him to be specialized in Abjuration, so he has more survivability, or Conjuration, so he can be more utility.
Abjuration gives him an extra 6 hp via the Arcane Ward, which is good because his AC (11) and HP (9) are both very bad (I rolled consistently low across the board). We also homebrewed the Arcane Ward ability you get at lv. 6 so that instead of using a reaction to shield another character, I can expand it to cover a larger area. This would pretty much make me able to carry the other characters with only a single cast of Fly (like this: https://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-308-harems-got-some-splainin-to-do/), and all the other cool stuff you can do with a Wall of Force Lite.
Conjuration, on the other hand, won't be much for combat until lv. 6 (with the Benign Transposition ability), but Minor Conjuration is awesome flavor wise, and I can imagine some pretty cool ways of using it, such as conjuring daggers or even ropes (if the DM is feeling lenient). Getting stronger conjured creatures is also great to provide some extra muscle, since half our party are squishy casters.
(I doubt it changes anything, but I'm also thinking about multi classing as Draconic sorcerer later, flavoring it as Bahamut helping the players against Tiamat)
"What do you mean I get disadvantage on persuasion?"
I don't know, Sneet, maybe because your argument is "Submit and become our pet"?
-Actual conversation in a game.
If you're doing a lot of role playing and out of combat adventuring, Conjuration is incredible! If you're focused more on combat, Abjuration is better.
I'm playing a Conjuration wizard right now and I'm having a blast with Minor Conjuration out of combat. I saved another member of my party from falling off of a tower that we were climbing by creating a climbing piton and hammering it into the ground to anchor a rope instead of us holding the rope. The DM told me after the session that if I wouldn't have done that we'd have had to make rolls to hold onto the rope and the other PC would have also had to make a roll to hold onto the rope at the same time. That ability, like illusions, is only limited by your imagination.
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You need a 13 in both Intelligence and Charisma in order to multi-class into sorcerer, so if your scores are bad you may not be able to. You probably shouldn't anyway as buffing Int, Dex, and Con is likely to be much more useful than also working on Charisma while slowing down your wizard progression.
To clarify, by consistently bad, I mean that my stats are generally dead average, or slightly above. I have 8 in strength, 12 in Dex, 11 in Con, 15 in Int, 10 in wis, and 13 in Cha
"What do you mean I get disadvantage on persuasion?"
I don't know, Sneet, maybe because your argument is "Submit and become our pet"?
-Actual conversation in a game.
You can't beat Diviner for having the tools to be Crazy Prepared. But, between Conjuration and Abjuration, as others have indicated the flavor of the campaign really dictates which will be more effective. In a combat-heavy campaign, Abjuration grants a lot of survivability and, at higher levels, the bonuses to dispel magic and counterspell are great against enemy casters.
If you're going for pure survivability and preparation I'd pick Diviner like MasterOfConflict says but if you want to stick to those two and go heavy on utility I think Conjurer has to take it. The issue with Abjuration is not enough spell options to trigger Arcane Ward. You'll be ritual casting Alarm every day.