Dang. I had a big long post ready to go, but it got rejected when I tried to post it.
Anyway, I'm using Grog's Alternate Opposition Schools (an optional part of the mod, for complete list, see
here) where the opposition schools to Inv/Ev are actually Alteration and Enchantment/Charm, not Conj/Summ - I was working off of my memory on my first post, which proved to be faulty. All the really necessary spells from these two schools (Haste, Slow, Charm Person, Confusion, Chaos, Emotion: "x", Domination, Feeblemind) are of low enough level that a bard and a F/M/T can cover them - especially since I'm planning to dual at either lvl 18 or lvl 21. The higher level spells (all alteration, unless Auril's Bane adds some enchantment/charm spells over lvl 5) available are Disintegrate, Otiluke's Freezing Sphere, Tenser's and Suffocate - none of which will turn the tide. By the time Suffocate becomes available, most of the enemies are undead or elementals, and Disintegrate is never a sure-fire success (and Flesh to Stone is almost as good). I've never had a lot of luck with Otiluke's, either. The vital Alteration spells (e.g. Incendiary Cloud and especially Death Fog) are crossover spells with Evocation, so an Invoker would still have access to them.
I'm not sold on Tenser's as a general buffer for spellswords. To my mind, any spell that stops your mage from casting for rounds at a time defeats the purpose for having a mage. The same goes for Iron Body. Both are good for a "last spell before resting" or a desperation spell when attacked in melee, but in a pinch you can do without. Mirror Image and Stoneskin are the keys, so a spellsword specialist needs access to Illusion and Evocation.
[ 10-04-2006, 02:25 AM: Message edited by: Aerich ]