How's your Wizard

[Blk4ce]

A rookie question. You roll a practitioner. Usually you have two spots for the highest skills. Which two do you put from Conviction, Lore, Discipline. (I'm asking both for advice and your personal preference)

[Mr. Death]

Depends on the style of the practitioner.

If you're focused on Evocation, Discipline and Conviction are usually up top; generally, Discipline is more useful to have higher--it's both your control and targeting roll, and having Conviction higher leaves you wide open to take Backlash or Fallout.

If you're focused on Thaumaturdy, Discipline and Lore should be up top. Conviction can take a back seat here because it has less impact on ritual style casting.

[cowardlylion]

If you have the refresh for lots of specializations/focus items then lore can do the role of both so for higher refresh its the better focus. 

[Hick Jr]

Mr. Death pretty much nailed it. If you're playing an evocation-heavy wizard (think of a Warden) then you generally want Conviction or Discipline to be maxed. However, the type of evoker dictates which skill you focus on. A Harry Dresden style evoker ("river of fire that turns the vamp and everything behind him to ash") would focus on Conviction over Discipline, using foci to pump his control rolls. A Captain Luccio style evoker ("laser/needle of fire that neatly bisects the vamp") would focus on Discipline over Conviction, and use foci to increase their base power.

If you're going for the power-optimized one, Control (Discipline) wins out over Power (Conviction) pretty much all the time, because your control roll is also your attack roll, and 10-shift evocations don't mean anything if you can't hit anyone with them.

[Blk4ce]

So, that way, it would be more powerful to use both higher Discipline AND Discipline foci.

On the downside, you relinquish the extra consequence in submerged.

[Taran]

I like Lore and discipline.

Discipline because I tend to make rotes that are higher shifts of power and I take a bit of extra stress(because my conviction is lower) but they are always controlled.  I can then extend those powerful spells in the next exchange if I need at almost no risk.  Although, the rotes tend to be a bit more powerful because I like to put an exchange of duration into them.

Lore because I get more rotes and I can round out the wizard with enchanted items and foci.  Foci to push my control a bit higher and enchanted items for emergency block and armour and skill replacement items for everything else: sprinting, social stuff...even discipline if I want an auto-control for a non-rote spell.  It gives your character lots of utility.

In General:

I look at a wizard a bit differently than the "harry Dresden/Luccio" comparison.  I don't divide my wizards into control/power.  Instead I divide them into offense/defense.  A defensive wizard will have high defensive control and a bit of boost in defensive power with lots of enchanted items and rotes that buff or protect the group, while an offensive wizard will have lots of offensive control.  Enchanted items would be used almost exclusively as self-defence(probably).

The extra mild consequence is nice...but I don't have lots of experience whether it's a must-have.  I don't believe so.

Edit:  I should note that I've made LOTS of wizards but have only been able to play with a couple of them to really put those preferences to the test.  So far, though, what I have played has been good.

[Haru]

I prefer Lore and Discipline as well.

Lore is responsible for rituals, rote spells and anything having to do with enchanted items, and I like to get the most out of that.

Discipline, because if you do any offensive evocation, you are going to need to beat your opponents defense roll, and you don't do that with a low skill value.

I also don't really see a value of having conviction higher than discipline. For one, you won't be able to control all the power you could theoretically draw in, so if you use your conviction to its full potential, you are going to need to take backlash almost all the time. And again, if this is something offensive, you might have a mighty powerful spell, but it isn't going to hit, so you wasted it anyway.
But I do tend to even out the lack of conviction with specializations or focus items. Though come to think of it now, those points are probably better spend on control as well.

From a narrative perspective, I like it as well. A wizard to me is basically represented by two components, knowledge and the power to impose his will on the world. To me, that's represented by Lore and Discipline. I understand why conviction is part of the mix as well, but it isn't a priority for me.

[Mr. Death]

Well, whether having high Conviction is worth it is somewhat dependent on whether you interpret the rules to mean that taking backlash counts toward the targeting roll or not.

[Taran]

I always saw backlash as a separate attack...since you can take it as physical or mental.

[Blk4ce]

I tend to simplify things, gathering it all in one.

Also, what if it's not an offensive spell, but a block or a veil?

[PirateJack]

And now for the power gaming route. Apologies in advance, I hate doing this but if we're talking optimisation this is probably the best you can get for a straight up spellslinger.

High Conviction/Low Discipline can be workable, but not as a straight out of the box Wizard. Focused Practitioners, on the other hand, are perfectly capable of using it because they can afford a couple of other powers on top of their Channelling.

Basically, you take Channelling [-2] (Element), Blood Drinker [-1], Feeding Dependency [+1], Inhuman Toughness [-2], Supernatural Recovery [-4], the Catch [+2] (Something) and Refinement*3 [-3] (Focus Items*6).

Skills wise you go:
+5 - Conviction
+4 - Discipline, Endurance
+3 - Lore, Fists

This gives you 0000(00) Physical stress.

Focus Items go half and half into Offensive/Defensive Power, which lets you cast spells within your element at +9 power for 1 stress. It doesn't matter if you fail the control roll, since you've got plenty of stress boxes to soak up the backlash, and your recovery power lets you get rid of those pesky consequences you seem to rack up while mercilessly slaughtering things. If worst comes to worst and you look like you're going down (or are just running out of mental stress to use), just kill a mook with your bare hands and let Blood Drinker get you a free scene's worth of recovery. That stacked on top of SupRec gives you a powerhouse of a FP that can also tank a hit if he needs to.

You could even swap out a Focus Item Slot for 2 Enchanted Items Slots, which would gives you a defensive shield for those moments when you're too busy wrecking things to notice the vampire that's about to eat your face.

[Blk4ce]

Man that gives me a new perspective. What about the high discipline way?

[Cadd]

It is definitely the most powergamed spellcaster I've seen, but it might be hard to even get off the ground - one simple ruling shuts it down cold: I figure most GMs considers spellcasting-related stress (indeed most if not all self-inflicted stress) to be catch-satisfying. I sure as heck would. Thus no extra stress boxes for backlash (It'll still work for the rest of course) and no regenerating Backlash-caused Consequences. Of course, you can "spare" some of it for the backlash, since whatever your enemy does to you probably can be regenerated and such, so you'll still keep going longer than if you didn't have recovery!

This is based on self-inflicted stress bypassing armor IIRC, though flipping through the physical book I can't find that note...

[Ulfgeir]

My character started as a focused practitioner, and later developed into a full wizard.

As she was focused on divination, I started with as high lore as I could, and then had low conviction but better discipline. She did things through thaumaturgy, and prefers to take her time doing the rituals so she doesn't risk backlash. 

Now when we are at refresh 11 (I think),  she has Lore: 5, Discipline: 5, Conviction: 4, and investigation: 4 (she also has the power of psychometry).  Add to that a focus item (+2) for complexity on Divination, a specialization on divination (from when she was a focused practitioner), and a refinement for complexity on divination, so she will hit a target complexity of 9 for her divinations without any other preparations.

So she is the person to go to if you want to find out where something is or what happened, or what might happen. She is very squishy in a stand-up fight though. Heck her most offensive-based rote-spell is a sleep spell (causing 6 shifts of fatigue on a target). Only offensive skill: Fists (1)

/Ulfgeir

[Taran]

One simple ruling blow that out of the water though - I figure most GMs considers spellcasting -related stress (indeed most if not all self-inflicted stress) to be catch-satisfying. I sure as heck would.

This is based on self-inflicted stress bypassing armor IIRC, though flipping through the physical book I can't find that note...

You can't find that note because i don't think it exists.

Then 'self-inflicted' stress should be worked into your catch.  If i am immune to fire, exposing myself to an open flame shouldn't act as a catch.

Toughness and recovery doesn't affect mental stress, so those powers will never off-set the stress caused by calling up power.  It only works on physical backlash.

Where you get into problems is with custum powers like Stoicism that could, potentially off set mental stress.