Behold the Wizard. Beware his powers, unspeakable powers!
Wizards in Fifth Edition D&D.
I have always been a fan of Wizards in games as they are the ultimate expression of being a fantasy character. Manipulating arcane power to blast away opponents or control them with mind alternating effects.In the latest D&D game our Wizard class has eight sub-classes, or schools, to choice from Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy or Transmutation. Some of them, such as Illusion are really powerful at high level but three of the schools stand out to me as ones I would want to play from low level all the way through.
School of Abjuration Eldritch Knight
Abjuration gives us a mystic ward that absorbs damage before we take it. Two hit points (HP) per level actually gives up 50% more hit points, the same number as a Fighter. We can also 'heal' these hit points by casting spells. The character I want to play with this is a Battle Mage striding into combat in plate armour swinging a sword supported by magic such as Blur and Haste. My two thoughts for the build are either Fighter 1 / Wizard 19 or Fighter 9 / Wizard 11. Either way the first six levels are going to be the same start as a Fighter for proficiency and then take Wizard levels until we get third level spells.Build Plan
| Level | Details |
|---|---|
| Fighter 1 | Defensive Fighting Style gives us an extra point of AC.
We start at AC 19 with Chain and Shield going up to 21 once we can get Plate. Starting as a Human we can get Warcaster Feat to allow us to cast with Sword and Shield. |
| Wizard 1 | Behold the Wizard! Booming Blade and Shocking grasp give us useful melee cantrips
We still want Shield spell for +5 AC and it will power up our ward Grease makes opponents fall down and the usual useful rituals. |
| Wizard 2 | We gain our Ward and take the Alarm Ritual to power it back up. Beware his powers! |
| Wizard 3-4 | Second level spells gives Blur and Flaming Sphere.
Split Mail gives us AC 20. With Blur active opponents with +5 to hit only has a 9% change of doing so If they hit we still have Shield Spell for another +5 AC! Unspeakable powers! |
| Wizard 5 | We gain level 3 Spells giving us Haste for +2 AC and an extra attack in combat.
We cannot use it at the same time as Blur but both spells give us options. |
School of Enchantment
School of Enchantment offers Hypnotic Gaze as its signature power. We get to charm a target creature and if they fail a Wisdom save they are incapacitated. We can use our action to keep them incapacitated until they take damage. On the face of it this is a one for one exchange however as a Wizard I should have another control spells to keep concentrating on such as Web or Laughter and can also use bonus action spells to assist the rest of the party while keeping one powerful opponent occupied.If we are going to be mixing it up in melee again we once again want decent armour. This time I think Cleric makes the best choice for first level and then we are a Wizard for the rest of our career. This does delay spell progression, but not spell slots, slightly. We gain Bless, Guidance and healing spells. In particular Healing Word is a bonus action cast so we can use it while keeping Hypnoitc Gaze active. I have gone into this build more as I am playing an Elven Enchanter in Adventures League.
At Wizard level 9 our prepared spells would be something like this. We also still have Bless and cure spells from our one level of Clerical power.
Prepare 13 of 22 Spells Known; with our Rituals it means we only have one spell not prepared. Spell slots each day 4/3/3/3/2
1. Shield, Absorb Elements, Hideous Laughter
2. Web, Mirror Image, Misty Step
3. Slow, Thunderstep, Counterspell
4. Polymorph, Fire Shield
5. Animate Object, Wall of Force
Rituals: Find Familiar, Comprehend Languages, Detect Magic, Alarm, Unseen Servant, Tiny Hut, Phantom Steed, Water Breathing.
At level ten we get split enchantment which twins our spells allowing us to take out two targets from the fight whenever we cast Tasha’s Hideous Laughter (level 1), Hold Monster (level 5) or Otto’s Irresistible Dance (level 6). Therefore we want these spells in our book.
11&12 - Learn Irresistible Dance, Mass Suggestion, Telepathic Bond (ritual), Contingency
13 - Learn Force cage
Contingency is not a spell we will use on adventures but if we have any downtime it allows us to prepare a teleport or healing spell that triggers when our HP drop below a certain threshold.
School of Divination
Diviners get the power to see the future which in game terms means the ability to know the outcome of two D20 dice rolls each day before they happen! High rolls can be used for our own saving throws or Allies attacks low rolls will become enemies saving throws. This is our pure Wizard but I would happily take two level dip with other characters to gain Portent as it gives us truly unspeakable powers!Spell selection will be very similar to the Enchanter above. The main difference will be needing Mage Armour at first level and taking Disintegrate not Dance when we get sixth level spells. We also have the option of other third level spells such as Fireball or Hypnotic Pattern.
At Wizard level 9 our prepared spells would be something like this
Prepare 13 of 22 Spells Known; with our Rituals it means we only have one spell not prepared. Spell slots each day 4/3/3/3/1
1. Shield, Absorb Elements, Mage Armour
2. Web, Mirror Image, Misty Step
3. Hypnotic Patterns, Fireball, Counterspell
4. Polymorph, Arcane Eye
5. Animate Object, Wall of Force
Rituals: Find Familiar, Comprehend Languages, Detect Magic, Alarm, Unseen Servant, Tiny Hut, Phantom Steed, Water Breathing.
Sorcerer - The Blaster caster
At first I was not fussed by the Sorcerer but having looked at the bloodlines I can see playing a half elven red dragon Sorcerer. You get permanent Mage Armour, extra hit points (1/level), Flight (at level 14) and to add your ability modifier to damage rolls for Fire based spells (from level 6).The Sorcerers main weakness is lack of spells known which could be compensated for with a dip into Wizard. Although managing the 13 Intelligence requirement while maintaining Dexterity and Constitution would be difficult and the Sorcerers cap-stone which is getting 20% of their sorcery points back on a short rest is worth staying the distance with the Sorcerer class.
Half-Elven Sorcerer Red Dragon Ancestry ~
Str 8 Dex 16 Con 14 Int 10 Wiz 12 Cha 16; AC 16; HP 9
Start with Sleep and Magic Missile but they will get traded out.
Meta Magic - Twinned, Empower, Quicken and properly Subtle.
The main reason to pick Sorcerer is to make use of Meta Magic. Twin allows us to duplicate our spells having two allies Hasted. Empower increases damage and Quicken lets us cast other spells and still use our action for ongoing effects such as Sunbeam or Telekinesis.
Final spell list:
Cantrip: Firebolt, Acid splash, Minor illusion, Prestidigitation, Create Bonfire, Mage hand
1 ~ Shield
2 ~ Invisibility, Misty Step, Scorching ray (Maybe replace this)
3 ~ Fireball, Haste, Counterspell
4 ~ Greater invisibility, Polymorph
5 ~ Telekinesis , Wall of Stone
6 ~ Sunbeam - 10 shorter Lightning Bolts average 270 damage!
7 ~ Reverse gravity
8 ~ Sunburst - You are a blaster caster and this is a fireball with triple the radius that blinds people
9 ~ Start with Wish and change to Meteor Swarm if we ever get to the point we cannot cast it.
Feats
All characters get five feats
- The first two are getting Chrarisma to 20.
- Inspiring Leader ~ Gives everyone some extra HP's.
- Lucky ~ Removing Variance is always good.
- Boost to dex, con or Resilience if I rolled stats and have an odd number in Wisdom.
Image Credits
Daffy Duck the Wizard by Rodrigues404
Daffy Duck the Wizard by CalamityKangaroo
Daffy Duck the Wizard by heroxsolder1
Daffy Duck is, of course, Copyright © Warner Bros., all rights reserved
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