I see your Hammer Man and raise you with ProStars, sir.
I once had a character that was a Neutral Good wizard armed entirely with 3rd ed. non-lethal spells save for one, which was fireball. His belief was that he had to serve as an example to pave the wave for a new era of pacifist wizards using the practical applications of magic to enrich peoples' lives for profit. For example, why learn magic missile when you can create a self-heating frying pan for traveling caravans? It was SICK amounts of fun. We'd be getting attacked by minotaurs and my character would be casting grease as a 9th level wizard. He absolutely REFUSED to cast fireball until finally they encountered Illithids.