Wizard guide- realy REALY wip.

[Rfkannen]

The master of the arcane

A guide to wizard

There is by far no image more iconic in fantasy than the wizard, master of the arcane. D&d 5e may have the warlock, it may have the sorcerer, it may have the bard, it may have the eldritch knight, but there will never be as good a spell-caster as a wizard. In 5e they fill that role exactly, the master of all things arcane, other classes may be better buffers, better Shields, better blasters, but none of them are are purely magical as the wizard. With An impressive spell list and great schools of magic the wizard is definitely a contender in 5e.


Turquoise: Amazing
Blue: Good
]Black Decent
Purple: Bad
Red Horrible


class features

d6 hit dice; this isn't at all good, you probably aren't going to play a wizard for close range combat however. If you are then you probably have some other source of not ac. In short, its bad but you were expecting it to be.

Proficiency, You get no armor, not even all simple weapons. just daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs, and light crossbows . Even for the wizard this can be annoying in many builds. Fine for your average wizard that stays out of the way but otherwise you will want some way to get armor and weapons.

Int/wis Saving throws; Pretty commons ones, decent.

[COLOR="#0000FF"]Skills;[/COLOR] Arcana, History, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, and Religion. pretty good actually most of these work on intelance and will come up fairly often

Equipment, Nothing to write home about, at least you get a component pouch and a spell-book. None of it is really worth mentioning besides that

Spell-casting. This is why you pick wizard, you are probably the best spell caster around, all your ritual spells, a ton of spells. All kinds of good.

Arcane recover- pretty useful, makes it so you don’t have to take long rests as often.

Arcane tradition- will be covered in arcane tradition

spell master- very nice, lets you stay active longer and can make you devastating in long combats.

Signature spells- not sure what to think about this.



Any suggestions or things about the wizard you noticed would be appreciated, also anything I got wrong!

[Rfkannen]

Races

Hill dwarf- An interesting option because instead of making you better at what your good at, it makes you better at what your not good at, that being staying alive. A hill dwarf works very well in any tanky wizard build, such as one that gets armor or a blade-singer, and it will be okay in other stations. Works well with abjuration.

Mountain dwarf- Very much not a typical dwarf race, but one that can work, as it grants you armor and a weapon, making it so that when you need to you can survive in melee. Works well with abjuration wizard.


High elf- One of the best wizard races: a bonus to your casting stat, a cantrip, freedom from sleep. When your playing one of these you get dexterity which helps your ac and initiative. The weapons can be useful in certain situations. Overall a good choice for most wizard.

Wood elf- its like high elf except better at stealth and without the cantrip and int boost, meaning it is probably worse in most situations, but if you want to be stealthy it works well. For a school I would pick illusion, and stealthy game-play melds well with it.


Drow- Not a very good option in most cases, sure you get spells but you cast them off of charisma, and sunlight sensitivity will make you useless in any above-ground campaign. Does work decently if you are playing an underground campaign, but even then high elf might be a better option, For school I would choose enchanter.

LIghtfoot halfling- An okay option, could be worse, could be better. It gives you dexterity which is useful, and lucky is good if you roll badly often, but there is nothing else that a wizard will regularly use. Works very well with the divination school, as the re-rolls stack.

Stout halfling- On footing with lightfoot I suppose, you get a Constitution point and resistance to poison. Generally not the best, and not the worst. Still decent in the roll of divanation wizard, also works well with abjuration.

human- Another okay option, when you have several odd numbered stats this is the race to take. Not very good or bad at any school.

Varient human- you get a feat, aka this is realy realy powerful. However less so for wizards than other classes. As a human they are good at most schools

Dragonborn- If you want to play a magical dragonborn you should probably go sorcerer, as it wizard there isn't much they will give you at all. Not particularly good at any school.


Forest gnome One of the best wizard races: gives you minor illusion and speaking with animals, both of witch are fairly useful but not as useful as that sweet sweet plus two to inteligence. Generally one of the better wizard races and can do any school realy well.

Rock Gnome- Somehow even better than forest gnome, probably the best wizard race. You get a con point instead of the forests dex, you get some artificer power, and you get a bonus on intelligence history checks. Overall just amazing. Even better than the forest gnome, they can still do most builds well.

Half elf- Half elves are one of the strongest races in the game, but wizards are not one the classes where they shine, however you will have decent charisma, and you can have a +1 to intelligence, so it will never be awful, good if you want to play a charismatic wizard.

Half orc- Your a wizard, you probably are not going in melee. Even for a gish its only good if your someone who is mostly melee and only a little bit wizard

[Rfkannen]

Arcane traditions

Abjuration
Abjuration, so maybe your parties pretty squishy, maybe your team just needs that extra little bit of help to not die. This is what you roll, master of shields you have the ability to make it so your team does not die. While the cleric is healing and the bard is buffing it will be your job to shield the party from any damage your party could get.

• abjuration savant- meh
  
  
• Arcane ward- alleviates how squishy you are, very useful
  
  
• Projected ward- VERY useful, helps you protect your party.
  
  
• Improved Abjuration- no idea if this is at all good
  
  
• Spell resistance- well now you are finally tanky!
  

School of conjuration

Do you want to be god? To you want the power of creation? The ability to summon things from beyond the mortal plane, to have a range of things from huts to elemental s you can make whatever you want! This school also grants you the ability to teleport, making you harder to hit. necessity when you have so few hitpoints. Overall well constructed school.

• Conjuration savent- meh
  
  
• Minor Conjuration- so abusrsble, weapon aren't magical. Only works if your dm is nice
  
  
• Benign transposition- very useful! Stay out of the enemy way, get your minions in the way of the enemies. Very nice
  
  
• Focused Conjuration- lets you summon things in the middle of battle, very useful
  
  
• Durable summons, lets your summons stay alive, and with a fair amount of hitpoints!
  
  

School of divination
While the magic in the school of divination is more about the future, in reality this school is more about making the most out of everything you can do. It gives you rolls that let you replace bad rolls, it gives you more spells. While this school does have bonuses to casting divination spells, this school is actually helpful for pretty much anything your wizard might want to do, from blasting to summoning. Overall a decent school.

• Divination savant- meh.
  
  
• Portent- Makes it so you have a couple dice that you can replace, very useful.
  
  
• Expert Divination- Very useful, lets you cast more spells.
  
  
• The third Eye- Very useful in certain encounters, however it very much depends on your dm.
  
  
• Greater portent- It's even more powerful than portent, basically you are never getting a bad roll.
  
  

School of enchantment
Seducer, tyrant, manipulate of the mind. It is your job to control the masses and make your enemies not harm your party. Has a lot of flavor. In combat your job with this school is largely battlefield control. I do have my worries about how this actually plays but by pure numbers it seems pretty good.

[

• B]Enchantment Savant- meh[/B]
  
  
• Hypnotic gaze- pretty good when your fighting a single person, otherwise meh.
  
  
• Instinctive charm- Pretty useful, protect yourself and your allies.
  
  
• Split enchantment- pretty useful, You can control two people.
  
  
• Alter Memories- Mind control, this is why you take this school.
  

School of Evocation
Boooooom! This is when you don't want to play a sorcerer but still just kinda want to kill stuff. Your a wizard and are more versatile in your blasting than any other class, and with this school you get the most damage out of that versatility.

[

• B]Evocation savant[/B]- meh
  
  
• Sculpt spells- don’t kill your friends, very useful.
  
  
• Potent cantrip- your cantrps always do at least a bit of damage
  
  
• Empowered Evocation- do even more damage, as a wizard you should have a lot of intelligence, so this will be useful.
  
  
• Over-channel- for when you just want to deal as much damage as possible even if your going to die.
  
  

School of illusion
You are the master of that which is not real. Voices that terrify the orc captain, shadows that scare the king. With the illusion school you do not get more ability to cast these illusions, you can cast your cantrips better, however this is not the point. Instead the point of this school is to make your illusions change, you get the ability to change your illusions at will, to even make it so you are so good at manipulation that your enemies can't hit you. And at the end you have the ability to make these illusions reality.

• Illusion savant- meh
  
  
• Improved Minor Illusion- Pretty good actually, more convincing when you have both slight and sound
  
  
• Malleable illusion- one illusion not working? Switch to another!
  
  
• Illusory self- makes it so one attack doesn't hit you, can save your butt, but you cant do it that often.
  
  
• Illusory reality- you need a thing for a minute? This will give it to you, from a prison, a bridge, a house! Anything you want.
  
  

School of Necromancer
Necromancers, those who call upon the power of the dead for there nefarious purposes. This school is for you if your the kind of person that likes to control waves of minions. With the 3 spells, finger of death, animate dead, create undead, you can create entire armies. If that is what you like than this school is for you.

• necromancer savant- meh
  
  
• Grim harvest- worse than the warlock ability but it still gives you some suitability
  
  
• Undead thralls- makes your army more tanky, and deal a lot more damage.
  
  
• Inured to undeath- well your harder to hurt with necrotic damage, and if you are targeted by an undead your hit points can be reduced, good as you don’t have that many.
  
  
• Command undead- Control undead that you didn't make, very very useful, hell maybe even have control over that lich!.

School of transmutation
The alchemist, your goal is to change on thing into another. You can turn coal into gold. You can turn yourself into beasts! And of course you get the wonderful transmuters stone, giving you a magic item that can benefit your party a ton. You want to play this if you want to have freedom in combat to do with you want while your stone is helping your party, you pick this if you want a limited wild-shape. Overall it does seem a bit weak however.

• Transmutation savant- meh.
  
  
• Minor alchemy- Turn that wooden sword into a real one for your fighter! can’t think of any other uses.
  
  
• Trasmuters stone- Pretty awesome, doesn't require concentration but works as a rather powerful magic item.
  
  
• Shape-changer- actually pretty bad, you can’t cast spells in most forms, you can;t turn back, you can’t realy think. Still pretty awesome fluff wise though.
  
  
• Master transmuter.- All the fluffs! raise the dead, restore your youth(doesn't make you immortal though) all that cool stuff :)

[Rfkannen]

Multiclassing

Ah multiclassing is great. Gives you all kinds of crazy builds. Gives you variety of tools to use. However as a wizard you realy want that 9th level spell. As such you have to be very careful about what your multiclassing. There are several types of multiclassing that a wizard may wish to take.

The first is the one level dip- This is usually done for alleviating some of the problems that wizards have in staying alive. The most common uses for these are for armor and weapon proficiency. These can also be useful for getting a healing spell. The school that benefits the most from these is abjuration. You do lose Signature spell however, so you lose raw power for versatility and the abillity to stay alive.


Second level dips- These are for when you want some more tools for your wizard. From eldrich invocations, cunning action, Fighting styles, and wild-shape these kinds of dips give you the tools that allow you to do things that a pure wizard cannot. Of course you do lose a feat, so you need to make sure that your gaining more than a feat.

Third level dips- These are risky, giving you ability to get aces to subclass abilities, some of these are pretty powerful but you lose a lot in turn for these subclass abilities. Be careful.

6 level dips- You lose a lot of spells, however you get your school capstone. For the most part they are like the half and half exept you are going for very specific builds. This is for when you want to not just be a necromancer wizard; but a full necromancer that is a wizard 14/ death cleric 6. This is for when you want to have complete control over peoples find you could instead of going enchanter go enchanter 14/ and then 6 levels of old one warlock or knowledge cleric. You do lose a fair bit of your wizard power, but in return you can be more specialized.

The half and half- At this point your less of a wizard and more of a hybrid, you lose a lot of power but you gain a metric ton of versatility. You can go a lot of ways with this, from being a magic warrior hitting things and setting them on fire. Or you can go the caster route, grabing your other levels in a full caster class; with this you get 9th level spell slots, half the spell list of two classes, but you do not get any high level spells. Not for new players but if you know what your doing can be very powerful. In truth you get more from going

Barbarian While an experienced player can make it work, you actually lose a fair bit for going barbarian. To make unarmed defense work you need high dexterity and constitution, and while your raging you can't cast spells, one of the hallmarks of the wizard. The best barbarian dip is 3 levels as you can get the bear totem and have a lot tankness.

Bard Actualy a fairly good dip. First off its a full caster so you get full spell-slots. You get healing spells, something the wizard is lacking. You also get bardic inspiration that lets you help your party. From a third level dip you get a bigger inspiration, the ability to be a skill monkey, and either sevral skills or medium armor, shields and martial weapons. Still a very good dip. Valor Bard is actually one of the best level 6 dips, granting you an extra attack and counter-charm, while still keeping full spell slots.

[Rfkannen]

Reserved for feats

[Rfkannen]

Reserved for backrounds

[Rfkannen]

Just in case

[MaxWilson]

For necromancers, it's worth calling out Finger of Death, as that is the only way to get actual permanent, unlimited zombie minions.

I love the idea of an evil necromancer holed up in a little village somewhere, slowly Finger of Death-ing the entire population to add to his undead army. Bonus points if he takes the Inspired Leadership feat so that every zombie gets 60+ HP. Still not particularly powerful compared to just hiring an army, but for an antisocial wizard who hates asking anyone for anything, it's a good (evil) plot, one that's worth heroic opposition.

[Rfkannen]

For necromancers, it's worth calling out Finger of Death, as that is the only way to get actual permanent, unlimited zombie minions.

I love the idea of an evil necromancer holed up in a little village somewhere, slowly Finger of Death-ing the entire population to add to his undead army. Bonus points if he takes the Inspired Leadership feat so that every zombie gets 60+ HP. Still not particularly powerful compared to just hiring an army, but for an antisocial wizard who hates asking anyone for anything, it's a good (evil) plot, one that's worth heroic opposition.

Thank you! I have mentioned it.

[odigity]

hit dice; this isnt at all good, you probably arent going to play a wizard for close range combat however

Proficiency, You get no armor, not even all simple weapons.

Saving throws; Pretty commons ones, decent.

Skills; pretty good actually most of these work on intelance and will come up fairly often

Equipment, Nothing to write home about, at leastyou get a component puch and a spellbook.

Spellcasting. This is why you pick wizard, you are probably the best spellcaster around, all your ritual spells, a ton of spells. All kinds of good.

Arcane recover- pretty usefull, makes it so you don’t have to take long rests as often.

Arcane tradition- will be covered in arcane tradition

spell master- very nice, lets you stay active longer and can make you devastating in long combats.

Signature spells- not sure what to think about this.

It would be nice if you added the basic details of the thing you're commenting for those of us who don't have them memorized or a convenient stand for our PHB.

Example:

d6 hit dice; this isnt at all good, you probably arent going to play a wizard for close range combat however

Proficiency, You get no armor, not even all simple weapons, just daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs, and light crossbows .

Int/Wis Saving throws; Pretty commons ones, decent.

Skills; Arcana, History, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, and Religion -- pretty good actually most of these work on intelance and will come up fairly often

etc

[Rfkannen]

It would be nice if you added the basic details of the thing you're commenting for those of us who don't have them memorized or a convenient stand for our PHB.

Example:

d6 hit dice; this isnt at all good, you probably arent going to play a wizard for close range combat however

Proficiency, You get no armor, not even all simple weapons, just daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs, and light crossbows .

Int/Wis Saving throws; Pretty commons ones, decent.

Skills; Arcana, History, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, and Religion -- pretty good actually most of these work on intelance and will come up fairly often

etc

Will do! mind if I just copy and paste that?

[odigity]

Will do! mind if I just copy and paste that?

Of course not.

[EvilAnagram]

A couple pointers:

• Spell check your stuff, man. I cannot bring myself to read an extensive work if basic spelling and grammar is consistently wrong.
• Making features you're rating bold helps them stand out, especially if they have a Black rating.
• For sky blue, Turquoise is more readable than Cyan on a white background.
• Lists are easy to make and organize your items in a visually appealing manner.
• Have fun! Theorycrafting and listing things gets boring, so add your own spin to it.

[Rfkannen]

A couple pointers:

• Spell check your stuff, man. I cannot bring myself to read an extensive work if basic spelling and grammar is consistently wrong.
• Making features you're rating bold helps them stand out, especially if they have a Black rating.
• For sky blue, Turquoise is more readable than Cyan on a white background.
• Lists are easy to make and organize your items in a visually appealing manner.
• Have fun! Theorycrafting and listing things gets boring, so add your own spin to it.

Yeah sorry about that, my philosiphy has always been write it then check it latter. Since im not sure what to do with the other sections yet ill go fix that.

K bold will do.

I am haveing trouble chaning the colour for some reaosn, but when I figure that out ill change it.



Lists are easy to make and organize your items in a visually appealing manner. Slightly confused by this

Will do!

[EvilAnagram]

Lists are easy to make and organize your items in a visually appealing manner. Slightly confused by this

If you want to make a bulleted list to convey information in an easy-to-digest manner, write it as you normally would, then highlight the text and click the "Insert/Remove Bulleted List" button right underneath "Font" and "Size" in the control panel. You can also just click that button and type everything you need to in there.

As for font color, just play around with it. You'll get it.

[Rfkannen]

If you want to make a bulleted list to convey information in an easy-to-digest manner, write it as you normally would, then highlight the text and click the "Insert/Remove Bulleted List" button right underneath "Font" and "Size" in the control panel. You can also just click that button and type everything you need to in there.

As for font color, just play around with it. You'll get it.

Oh cool I never actually noted that feature

Yeah I figured out color, not sure how I didn't before.

[MinaBee]

For the school of Divination, the portent ability doesn't give you re-rolls. It let's you PRE ROLL d20's, and then swap in those die rolls in for any check, attack, or saving throw that you, or any other creature you can see, is about to make.

It's a completely different ability than the Halfling Luck trait, or the Lucky feat, and it is much more powerful.

[Rfkannen]

For the school of Divination, the portent ability doesn't give you re-rolls. It let's you PRE ROLL d20's, and then swap in those die rolls in for any check, attack, or saving throw that you, or any other creature you can see, is about to make.

It's a completely different ability than the Halfling Luck trait, or the Lucky feat, and it is much more powerful.

This is true, I did know this and I was mostly just being funny. However you do raise the idea in my mind that some people might think that Portent is the same as hafling luck. Ill try to do something about this.

[odigity]

The first is the one level dip- This is usually done for elevating some of the problems that wizards have in staying alive.

Elevating a problem would make it worse. I think you meant "alleviating".

[Rfkannen]

Elevating a problem would make it worse. I think you meant "alleviating".

That I will fix. Thank you for point this out.

[rollingForInit]

Did you forget the Tieflings?

[Rfkannen]

Did you forget the Tieflings?

That I did, thank you for pointing that out.

[saintstardust]

Multiclassing

Ah multiclassing is great. Gives you all kinds of crazy builds. Gives you variety of tools to use. However as a wizard you realy want that 9th level spell. As such you have to be very careful about what your multiclassing. There are several types of multiclassing that a wizard may wish to take.

The first is the one level dip- This is usually done for alleviating some of the problems that wizards have in staying alive. The most common uses for these are for armor and weapon proficiency. These can also be useful for getting a healing spell. The school that benefits the most from these is abjuration. You do lose Signature spell however, so you lose raw power for versatility and the abillity to stay alive.


Second level dips- These are for when you want some more tools for your wizard. From eldrich invocations, cunning action, Fighting styles, and wild-shape these kinds of dips give you the tools that allow you to do things that a pure wizard cannot. Of course you do lose a feat, so you need to make sure that your gaining more than a feat.

Third level dips- These are risky, giving you ability to get aces to subclass abilities, some of these are pretty powerful but you lose a lot in turn for these subclass abilities. Be careful.

6 level dips- You lose a lot of spells, however you get your school capstone. For the most part they are like the half and half exept you are going for very specific builds. This is for when you want to not just be a necromancer wizard; but a full necromancer that is a wizard 14/ death cleric 6. This is for when you want to have complete control over peoples find you could instead of going enchanter go enchanter 14/ and then 6 levels of old one warlock or knowledge cleric. You do lose a fair bit of your wizard power, but in return you can be more specialized.

The half and half- At this point your less of a wizard and more of a hybrid, you lose a lot of power but you gain a metric ton of versatility. You can go a lot of ways with this, from being a magic warrior hitting things and setting them on fire. Or you can go the caster route, grabing your other levels in a full caster class; with this you get 9th level spell slots, half the spell list of two classes, but you do not get any high level spells. Not for new players but if you know what your doing can be very powerful. In truth you get more from going

Barbarian While an experienced player can make it work, you actually lose a fair bit for going barbarian. To make unarmed defense work you need high dexterity and constitution, and while your raging you can't cast spells, one of the hallmarks of the wizard. The best barbarian dip is 3 levels as you can get the bear totem and have a lot tankness.

Bard Actualy a fairly good dip. First off its a full caster so you get full spell-slots. You get healing spells, something the wizard is lacking. You also get bardic inspiration that lets you help your party. From a third level dip you get a bigger inspiration, the ability to be a skill monkey, and either sevral skills or medium armor, shields and martial weapons. Still a very good dip. Valor Bard is actually one of the best level 6 dips, granting you an extra attack and counter-charm, while still keeping full spell slots.

A one or two level dip into warlock for a frontline, tanky abjuration wizard might make sense to get Armor of Agathys for automatic damage and additional spell renewal per short rest.

[saintstardust]

Hoping to see some more progress. Another thing I wanted to add was that Feeblemind (8th level) combined with the Command Undead feature of the Necromancy Wizard allows you to pretty much permanently enslave any undead at level 15.

[LtDarien]

RE: Multiclassing

If you want to multiclass as a wizard, it's almost always better to start as your other class first, and them MC into wizard. The reason for this is to get the full proficiencies from your other class, and not the partial list you'd get from multiclassing into that class. Probably the only reason you wouldn't want to do this is if you specifically wanted the Wizard saving throw proficiencies over the ones from your second class.

[Morukai]

For "durable summons" (the Conjurer's 14th level ability), just go ahead and change "lets your summons stay alive..." to "lets your elementals stay alive..." since that's pretty much all a wizard can summon now.

Well, it does buff your familiar too, I guess...

[Nyan]

Anyone who can explain to me some of the uses the basic conjuration thing you get from the conjuration tradition could be used for? I cant seem to understand its purpose.

[Morukai]

Anyone who can explain to me some of the uses the basic conjuration thing you get from the conjuration tradition could be used for? I cant seem to understand its purpose.

I don't agree with some of these, but there's a discussion on that very topic here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...-Use-and-Abuse

[MadBear]

I really suggest you go through the guide and correct some of the more obvious grammar errors. My grammar is far from perfect, but the errors are very distracting to reading the guide. I'll also point out the same thing to you, that my professors have said to me. Poor grammar detracts from your credibility, because it makes people think if your too lazy to fix mistakes, then how can you possible know the subject. Now, I'm not saying you don't have a good guide so far, but the many mistakes will likely get people to skip ever looking at your guide based off of the title alone.

[MaxWilson]

Hoping to see some more progress. Another thing I wanted to add was that Feeblemind (8th level) combined with the Command Undead feature of the Necromancy Wizard allows you to pretty much permanently enslave any undead at level 15.

Oh, that's clever! Thanks!

I can't remember the wording of the Awaken spell, but I wonder if you could Feeblemind something and then Awaken it to get 30 days of loyalty. Not an undead obviously, because they're immune to Charm.