School of Amalgamation

What is an Amalgamation Wizard?

At 2nd level, each wizard gets to choose one of the eight schools of magic to which they devote themselves, and, as a result, wizards become better at learning spells from their chosen school and usually get a few useful, evocative abilities that make them more effective at casting spells from that school. Necromancers summon larger numbers of stronger undead, evokers learn to shape their spells to keep their allies safe from AoE damage, and divination wizards start to glimpse (and change) the future.
Amalgamation wizards probably get one of the strangest arrays of unique abilities, which range from simple alchemical tricks to some that can let them impart great power upon themselves and their allies, change form, and do all manner of other wondrous things related to the process of combination.

The Amalgamation Wizard’s Strengths;
You are a buffed Artificer - You are an Artificer's best friend - You are the Artificer
Would you like a LASER SWORD?
Takes advantage of races with CON buffs

The amalgamation wizard is kind of an odd bird with abilities that are completely and truly unique. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing at all as amalgamation wizards (more than other, less focused wizard subclasses) feel like they are a walking collection of magical trinkets and ephemera. A mixture of alchemy, shapeshifting, and glowing magic rocks is exactly the sort of energy that amalgamation wizards should be emitting. Also, this slightly chaotic approach to the magical arts is typified in the amalgamation wizard’s 2nd-level feature, Alloy, which lets you combine two objects composed entirely of one type of wood, stone, gemstone, or base metal (iron, copper, tin, lead, sulfur, mercury, silver, gold, or platinum) into an alloy of these materials (for example; Iron and charcoal makes high-carbon steel). You will be the smith's best friend. Turning chunks of stone or wood into odd alloys is a great way to scam your way into (or out of) a free meal here and there, but there are ways you can turn this ability toward making an honest living.
In a situation with slightly higher stakes, turning a door’s internal mechanisms from multiple metal components into a metal ball is a neat way of unlocking it. As with most mid 2nd-level wizard features, Alloy can be as good as your imagination. Of course, an eclectic skillset doesn’t have to mean a suboptimal one. Depending on your party composition and the adventure you’re on, the amalgamation wizard can be a hugely versatile support caster once they reach 5th level and have access to Melding, as it provides buffs, and buffs, and buffs. For example, the ability to give oneself a godslaying-fire-sword-arm is a hugely useful way to equip your party’s fighter in preparation for a dangerous encounter. On the other hand, if you’re a party of elves and other non humans preparing for a stealthy infiltration, somehow giving darkvision to the one human in the group is going to be invaluable. On the other other hand, being able to make yourself an absolute TANK and soak damage like nobodies business is always a plus.
Your Familiar-Bound ability is also highly versatile and effective as it allows you to turn your self into a -Thrope of whatever type of animal your familiar is (as long as it is a beast of CR 1 or lower), suddenly making you a fairly competent melee combatant, an amazing infiltrator and scout, and a good deal more survivable. Picking an animal with insane HP or move speed right before you’re about to take a bunch of damage basically negates it. You not only become one of the two wizard subclasses with access to healing magic (curing disease and curses), you also get the ability to transform one item into another of similar size and weight (perfect if you need keys, musical instruments, or sets of tools). You could also totally find a way to start raising the dead.

The Amalgamation Wizard’s Weaknesses;
To focused
To focused
Way to focused
Simply no broadness
Your spells all literally do the same thing, they're just worded differently

Even with the lack of the usual array of survivability problems that wizard experience throughout most of their careers, spellcasters who focus mostly on the Amalgamation School of Magic may find themselves lacking in damage and defense options as this school of magic focuses so much that you may find yourself useless in every scenario except for those you have specifically prepared for. Of course, there are some solid damage-dealing options, like making FIRE ARROWS and SPECTRAL GIGA-LASER SWORDS and there’s nothing to stop you from dipping into other schools of magic for a few hard-hitting options, but your own school of magic is entirely focused putting stuff together to make new stuff. If you dont have stuff... you just might find yourself up poop creek without a paddle to fuse to your arm. Other than that, the sheer intensity of the magic you are casting can cause you great harm and make it feel a little difficult to get a handle on.

Character Creation: Building a Transmutation Wizard
Let’s take a look at some of the key decisions and things to prioritize when building a transmutation wizard from 1st level.

Ability Scores
Primary: Constitution, Intelligence
Tier II: Charisma, Wisdom
Tier III: Dexterity
Absolute Dump Tier: Strength

Regardless of how you generate your ability scores, when creating a transmutation wizard, Constitution and Intelligence are going to your most important stats.
Constitution is essential to the amalgamation wizards, as almost all amalgamation spells make up for the inherent squishiness that wizards suffer from as a result of their puny hit dice (not to mention it’ll help you maintain your concentration).
Not only does your Intelligence modifier determine your Spell Attack Bonus and Spell Save DC, but it also denotes how many spells you can hold in your head simultaneously (you can memorize spells equal to your Intelligence modifier + your wizard level, which makes a solid modifier really important at lower levels). Intelligence also aligns nicely with some very wizard-y skill proficiencies like Arcana and History.
Put points into Wisdom for better results when rolling information gathering skills like Perception and Insight, helping you get your facts straight before you go charging in, wand drawn.
Charisma is a useful stat in social situations, but your ability scores are probably better used elsewhere since it’s pretty likely someone else in your party is going to be playing a class that naturally leans toward diplomacy.
Dexterity compensates for your inability to wear armor or carry shields and also allows wizards to be slightly less than useless with simple ranged and finesse weapons, like light crossbows, slings, daggers and darts, although this isn’t as useful as grabbing a good damage cantrip like fire bolt.
Lastly, Strength has absolutely zero place on a wizard. None at all. Put your lowest score into Strength and leave it alone.

Races
Unless you’re using a custom lineage from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, you’re going to want to pick a race that boosts one or more of your key ability score modifiers at 1st level (Intelligence and Constitution). Anything that gives a +2 bonus to Intelligence is pretty much immediately a top-tier choice. Beyond that, unique features, like innate spellcasting and other special abilities, are never a bad thing.
Rock Gnome: A great thematic and mechanical candidate for the transmutation wizard, Rock Gnomes give a powerful +2 Intelligence bonus with +1 to our Constitution as well, not to mention advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma Saving Throws against magical effects. Rock Gnomes also have something akin to Expertise when it comes to checks involving machinery and tinkering as well as the ability to make small miraculous inventions, which fits quite nicely with the transmutation wizard’s eccentric alchemist schtick.
High Elf: A +2 Dexterity and +1 Intelligence bonus are a solid base for a more survivable wizard. High Elves also get an additional free cantrip from the wizard spell list and the elven resistance to charm and sleep effects. Perhaps not the absolute perfect fit for a wizard build but still pretty close; it’s an iconic archetype for a reason.
Custom Lineage: The new-ish rules for creating custom characters from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything are a solid foundation for just about any class that can get away with being single-ability dependent, especially if that class can benefit from a feat at 1st level. For the wizard, a +2 Intelligence or Constitution bonus and ready access to something with a lot of immediate utility, like Eldritch Adept or Keen Mind.

Background
Backgrounds are both a great way to help flesh out your character’s personal history and your primary source of skills. Each background also has its own special feature, something which I maintain remains a woefully underused aspect of D&D. For example, the Criminal’s natural ability to draw upon a network of contacts for information, leads, and jobs or the fact that the Sage’s Researcher feature means that even if they can’t recall a piece of lore, they know exactly where to go to get it. Background features are a fantastic way to make your character feel like a part of the world in which they live as well as gain access to useful things in that world, whether that means lore, quests, assistance from factions, or even some free retainers. Some options that fit neatly into the wizard’s mechanical and thematic needs include the Sage, which gives you proficiency in Arcana and History. Also, when you attempt to learn or recall a piece of lore, if you do not know that information, you often know where and from whom you can obtain it. This can be a hugely helpful way to avoid your party spending whole sessions blundering around in the dark — assuming your DM is okay with you all heading “off to the library” yet again. Aside from the Sage, other solid contenders for wizard backgrounds include the Cloistered Scholar, the Courtier, or the Noble.

Skills
The wizard class is given the ability to choose two skills: Arcana, History, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, and Religion.

Arcana (INT) – Arcana lets you analyze magical artifacts, read arcane runes, and generally be a big know-it-all when it comes to the mystical arts. This is basically the wizard skill.
History (INT): Works like Arcana for mundane affairs. A great way to gather new information about the world from the DM.
Insight (WIS): A useful way to read someone’s intentions and intuitively understand the world around you but perhaps best left to less-cerebral party members.
Investigation (INT): Analyze the world around you for new information. Another great way to get valuable stuff out of the DM.
Medicine (WIS): Actually kind of thematically on brand for a transmutation wizard, even though magical healing isn’t something you’ll be doing until way, way later.
Religion (INT): Worth picking up if it fits with your backstory, but otherwise History will do you fine.

Feats
Feats are an optional rule that allows you to forgo an ability-score increase in favor of a special ability or bonus that can (in some cases radically) alter the way your character works. Here are some solid options for a transmutation wizard.

Eldritch Adept: A really useful option that gives you access to an Eldritch Invocation from the warlock spell list. The strongest, most versatile choice here (that solves the big humanoid-shaped gap in your Shapechanger ability) is being able to cast Disguise Self at will.

Keen Mind: An interesting feat with lots of applications for exploration and mystery-heavy games. In addition to always knowing which way is north and how many hours are left until sunset, you also gain a photographic memory that lasts a month. Basically free license to ask the DM to repeat important details you, the player, forgot.

Telekinetic (Intelligence): You gain a soft ASI in one mental stat of your choice, an invisible version of Mage Hand that you can cast without components, and you can use your bonus action to shove people with the hand. Wizards rarely have stuff to do with their bonus action, and the shove can do a lot to get enemies out of Opportunity Attack range.

Transmutative Amalgamorph

Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, the gold and time you must spend to copy a Transmutation or Amalgamation spell into your spellbook is halved.

Mirror Alchemist

Starting at 2nd level when you select this school, you can temporarily alter the physical properties of one nonmagical object, changing it from one substance into another. You perform a special alchemical procedure on one object composed entirely of wood, stone (but not a gemstone), iron, copper, tin, lead, sulfur, mercury, silver, gold, or platinum transforming it into a different one of those materials. For each 15 minutes you spend performing the procedure, you can transform up to 1 cubic foot of material. After 1 hour, or until you lose your concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell), the material reverts to its original substance.

Alloy

Starting at 2nd level when you select this school, you can combine two non-magical objects composed entirely of one type of wood, stone, gemstone, or base metal (iron, copper, tin, lead, sulfur, mercury, silver, gold, or platinum) into an alloy of these materials (for example; Iron and charcoal makes high-carbon steel)

Frankensteampunker

Starting at 6th level, you gain the ability to cast amalgamation spells upon yourself.

Skin Changer

Starting at 10th level, you add the Polymorph spell to your spellbook, if it is not there already. You can cast Polymorph without expending a spell slot. When you do so, you target yourself and transform into any creature whose challenge rating is lower than 1.
Once you cast Polymorph in this way, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest, though you can still cast it normally using an available spell slot.

Familiar-Bound

Starting at 14th level, you can touch your familiar (if you have one) and meld yourselves together to create a -Thrope of the type of animal your familiar is (as long as it is a beast of CR 1 or lower) for 10 minutes. This Thrope has the combined stats you and of your Familiar, and any extra appendages or abilities your familiar may have are also given to the Thrope. You, the player, are still in control of this being, but it does the will of both the Familiar and the Mage. This only works if your Familiar is willing, otherwise the activation fails.