[Master Shake]

The various paths of magic seemed damned well balanced to me. Some are better at certain things than others. That's the whole fricking point! If they all had great globals, summons, battle magic, and items, than the game would be more boring!

However, if you still think death is overpowered, then choose death magic. It's the easiest path for anyone to get into. Dark Knowledge is a D1 spell. You can create TWO easy +1 D items with D2 (skull staff and crown). You can summon revenants with D1 mage with a skull staff. A revenant can cast Dark Knowledge. A revenant with a skull staff can summon more revenants. A revenant with a skull staff and crown can summon a spectre (D1, 2?). A D2 spectre can take the staff and crown from the revenant and summon a Mound Fiend (D3, unholy 3). The Mound Fiend with the staff and crown is D5 and can do pretty much anything you want death-wise. So if you like death, go for it.

As a final point, I would say that Posts on an open forum whining about things being overpowered without any sort of clear argument backed up by specifics is a really bad barometer about real game balance.