As a wizard you are easily the most versatile spell caster in the game, with access to the most powerful spells, and battlefield control second to none. That comes at a price, of course, a mere d6 for HP, no armor and just overall fragility, but wizard fans think the price is more than worth it.
You can easily bypass at least the armor issue by starting as a level 1 fighter or cleric (which is kind of silly), but really a wizard's AC is not a terribly big issue. The HP though... yeah. That's a pretty big trade off.
A pure (non multiclass) wizard has plenty of spells to compensate for low AC. Start with a DEX of at least 14, make sure you get Mage Armor, Shield, Absorb Elements and Mirror Image and you're not that easy to hit. Blur is also an option, though at the high price of being a concentration spell. Blink is a coin toss - for the next ten rounds at the end of your turn, flip a coin each round - heads, you're ethereal (and effectively invulnerable), tails the spell has no effect.
All of these spells are level 1 or 2 (except Blink which is level 3) and those spells will save your life countless times on the way to level 20. I suppose I should also mention another great defensive level 3 spell - the invaluable counterspell, a sort of preemptive defensive spell that can save not only you, but your entire party.
A pure (non multiclass) wizard has plenty of spells to compensate for low AC. Start with a DEX of at least 14, make sure you get Mage Armor, Shield, Absorb Elements and Mirror Image and you're not that easy to hit.
Plus, always take cover! In SKT, a wizard is never farther than 1 to 2 hits from death. But mage armor + Dex is base AC 15. Add +2 to +5 for taking cover, and then a shield spell if necessary means I have not taken a single hit in most fights.
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DM -- Elanon -- Homebrew world
Gronn -- Tiefling Warlock -- Amarath
Slim -- Halfling Cleric -- CoS (future Lord of Waterdeep 😁)
Wizard are your go to if you want to be just plain awesome. For example I love art so I draw all of my characters to gauge how awesome they seem, and all my wizard drawings are cool looking. (Not because of artistic merit as they are pretty average drawings)
Beyond survivability, wizards can also be your combat cannons- doing either large amounts of single target dmg, or area spell damage for multiple targets. Also, and probably more importantly, they can battlefield control with holds, slows, debuffs, etc, to help your team take much less damage- or do more damage with buffs like Haste or enlarge.
Outside combat, well that's where your wizard will really shine. Almost any obstacle can be surmounted with the right spell. Fly, levitate, telekinesis, wall spells, teleport, invisibility... you name it. Social encounters can be manipulated (perhaps not as well as a bard, but hey, that IS their specialty.) Don't underestimate the value of a safe place to rest ( Tiny hut, rope trick, mansion.) And with ritual casting, you won't burn through those precious spell slots, as many utility spells fall under that catagory.
Eventually, your biggest challenge as a wizard will just be trying to anticipate your daily needs with spell selection. And finding the best words to describe your awesome spell effects!
1) Never have a required spell prepared, because neither GM nor other party members bother giving you time to make research and find out what to expect;
2) Hear all about how you can potentially learn every wizard spell in the game, but never be able to find any spell scrolls anywhere, or never have enough gold to actually inscribe the spell you've found into your spell book;
3) Be reduced to a shadow of your former glory because some schmuck stolen/destroyed your spell book;
4) Think that you're the most powerful class out there, but constantly fail at actually being that, because your emenies consistently pass their saving throws;
5) Be insta-killed by an enemy who ambushed your party and chose you as the squishiest character of them all;
6) Wait for the high levels where you supposed to get a lot of power, but never be able to get there, because most games never reach levels beyond 7-8.
In short, being a wizard is a challenge. However, if you really like the ideas of mystery, magic and winning by being smart, this class is for you.
It truly depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking to be the damage dealer then this is not your class. You will never compete with a fighter/rogue/monk of your level. For the roleplaying however they are fantastic. As a utility knife they are fantastic though they do not keep pace with the rogue or the cleric built for that. I find them to be the good back up clsss. They back up everyone else and have no value of their own.
They back up everyone else and have no value of their own.
My wizard has defeated a gang of assassins with hold person, wiped out 19 gnolls with a fireball, reduced an adult black dragon to target practice using Bigby's hand, and foiled Yeenoghu with a wall of force. One of my buddy's wizard teamed up with my bard to turn a narzugon and its nightmare into soup by trapping them inside a wall of force with only sickening radiance for company. Each of these happened in the first round of combat.
In my experience, parties find the character that singlehandedly ends encounters to be quite valuable.
If the campaign is likely to go into mid to high level play and you want a huge variety of options and the ability to bend reality to your will, wizards are the choice. If you are more interested in a simple character and not thinking too hard about your actions or your build? Wizards are probably a pretty bad choice. I don't know what you like in your game so I don't know what would best sell you on the idea or even if your style justifies "selling" you the concept.
If you are interested in optimization, and ending encounters in a variety of ways with an action, wizards at mid to high levels can do it. If you want to have a huge variety of options you can leverage to truly squeeze all the possible power out of a D&D character, wizards have the highest power ceiling in the game.
I play wizards because after playing D&D for more than 30 years I tend to get bored easier than when I was younger. Having lists of spells to learn and potentially cast lets me keep busy at the table. Trying to choose the best available spell for the occasion keeps the mind active. The class probably has the steepest learning curve but its likely the best for its variety and keeping busy.
It truly depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking to be the damage dealer then this is not your class. You will never compete with a fighter/rogue/monk of your level. For the roleplaying however they are fantastic. As a utility knife they are fantastic though they do not keep pace with the rogue or the cleric built for that. I find them to be the good back up clsss. They back up everyone else and have no value of their own.
I would agrue that wizards are FAR superior to those classes when it comes to damage. Granted the fighters ability to attack 5 times or the monk’s ability to attack 6 times makes them great melee damage dealers, but that’s exactly why wizards are superior, their MELEE attackers. When you’re battling a horde of orcs (100 or more of them) or a dragon then your melee attacks are practically useless, while a wizard (starting at the humble level of 5) can cast spells that while cut enemies down from a very long range. Lightning bolt shoots in a 100 feet line, and fireball has a range of 150, which means you’ll be so far away your enemies won’t even be able to see that you’re giving them the finger. And on top of that wizards deal WAY more damage at all levels, fighters at level 5 can attack 2 times (so let’s say their using a great sword with a strength bonus of 4+) that’s 4d6 damage plus 8 damage (and that’s if they hit both attacks), while a wizard can deal 8d6 damage with a single spell (all while staying at a very comfortable distance) , and even if they succeed on the saving throw fireball will match the damage of a fighter. Of yeah and it’s a AoE, so that means a wizard deals more damage to more enemies.
It truly depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking to be the damage dealer then this is not your class. You will never compete with a fighter/rogue/monk of your level. For the roleplaying however they are fantastic. As a utility knife they are fantastic though they do not keep pace with the rogue or the cleric built for that. I find them to be the good back up clsss. They back up everyone else and have no value of their own.
I would agrue that wizards are FAR superior to those classes when it comes to damage. Granted the fighters ability to attack 5 times or the monk’s ability to attack 6 times makes them great melee damage dealers, but that’s exactly why wizards are superior, their MELEE attackers. When you’re battling a horde of orcs (100 or more of them) or a dragon then your melee attacks are practically useless, while a wizard (starting at the humble level of 5) can cast spells that while cut enemies down from a very long range. Lightning bolt shoots in a 100 feet line, and fireball has a range of 150, which means you’ll be so far away your enemies won’t even be able to see that you’re giving them the finger. And on top of that wizards deal WAY more damage at all levels, fighters at level 5 can attack 2 times (so let’s say their using a great sword with a strength bonus of 4+) that’s 4d6 damage plus 8 damage (and that’s if they hit both attacks), while a wizard can deal 8d6 damage with a single spell (all while staying at a very comfortable distance) , and even if they succeed on the saving throw fireball will match the damage of a fighter. Of yeah and it’s a AoE, so that means a wizard deals more damage to more enemies.
Yeah I think the largest sustained DPR build I've ever seen was a Bladesinger wizard. IDK anyone would say wizards can't do damage. They can. That might not be the best way to build them, though. Since they can also be built to like, control fate and rewrite the world around them to suit their taste... but when they're built to do damage they do a lot of damage.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
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Because you want to be the best member of your party.
...because it's fun! (Of course, so are all the other classes, so I guess I'm no help at all, am i?) 8p
Basically, the closest thing D&D has to Batman.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
As a wizard you are easily the most versatile spell caster in the game, with access to the most powerful spells, and battlefield control second to none. That comes at a price, of course, a mere d6 for HP, no armor and just overall fragility, but wizard fans think the price is more than worth it.
You can easily bypass at least the armor issue by starting as a level 1 fighter or cleric (which is kind of silly), but really a wizard's AC is not a terribly big issue. The HP though... yeah. That's a pretty big trade off.
A pure (non multiclass) wizard has plenty of spells to compensate for low AC. Start with a DEX of at least 14, make sure you get Mage Armor, Shield, Absorb Elements and Mirror Image and you're not that easy to hit. Blur is also an option, though at the high price of being a concentration spell. Blink is a coin toss - for the next ten rounds at the end of your turn, flip a coin each round - heads, you're ethereal (and effectively invulnerable), tails the spell has no effect.
All of these spells are level 1 or 2 (except Blink which is level 3) and those spells will save your life countless times on the way to level 20. I suppose I should also mention another great defensive level 3 spell - the invaluable counterspell, a sort of preemptive defensive spell that can save not only you, but your entire party.
--
DM -- Elanon -- Homebrew world
Gronn -- Tiefling Warlock -- Amarath
Slim -- Halfling Cleric -- CoS (future Lord of Waterdeep 😁)
Bran -- Human Wizard - RoT
Making D&D mistakes and having fun since 1977!
And if you want to be really durable, you can always select the Abjurer archetype.
Wizard are your go to if you want to be just plain awesome. For example I love art so I draw all of my characters to gauge how awesome they seem, and all my wizard drawings are cool looking. (Not because of artistic merit as they are pretty average drawings)
Beyond survivability, wizards can also be your combat cannons- doing either large amounts of single target dmg, or area spell damage for multiple targets. Also, and probably more importantly, they can battlefield control with holds, slows, debuffs, etc, to help your team take much less damage- or do more damage with buffs like Haste or enlarge.
Outside combat, well that's where your wizard will really shine. Almost any obstacle can be surmounted with the right spell. Fly, levitate, telekinesis, wall spells, teleport, invisibility... you name it. Social encounters can be manipulated (perhaps not as well as a bard, but hey, that IS their specialty.) Don't underestimate the value of a safe place to rest ( Tiny hut, rope trick, mansion.) And with ritual casting, you won't burn through those precious spell slots, as many utility spells fall under that catagory.
Eventually, your biggest challenge as a wizard will just be trying to anticipate your daily needs with spell selection. And finding the best words to describe your awesome spell effects!
Play a wizard if you want to:
1) Never have a required spell prepared, because neither GM nor other party members bother giving you time to make research and find out what to expect;
2) Hear all about how you can potentially learn every wizard spell in the game, but never be able to find any spell scrolls anywhere, or never have enough gold to actually inscribe the spell you've found into your spell book;
3) Be reduced to a shadow of your former glory because some schmuck stolen/destroyed your spell book;
4) Think that you're the most powerful class out there, but constantly fail at actually being that, because your emenies consistently pass their saving throws;
5) Be insta-killed by an enemy who ambushed your party and chose you as the squishiest character of them all;
6) Wait for the high levels where you supposed to get a lot of power, but never be able to get there, because most games never reach levels beyond 7-8.
In short, being a wizard is a challenge. However, if you really like the ideas of mystery, magic and winning by being smart, this class is for you.
UNLIMITED POWER!!!
It truly depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking to be the damage dealer then this is not your class. You will never compete with a fighter/rogue/monk of your level. For the roleplaying however they are fantastic. As a utility knife they are fantastic though they do not keep pace with the rogue or the cleric built for that. I find them to be the good back up clsss. They back up everyone else and have no value of their own.
............. and most important, what's a wizard without casting COMETS over Tiamat or any Tirant-saurus ???
My Ready-to-rock&roll chars:
Dertinus Tristany // Amilcar Barca // Vicenç Sacrarius // Oriol Deulofeu // Grovtuk
My wizard has defeated a gang of assassins with hold person, wiped out 19 gnolls with a fireball, reduced an adult black dragon to target practice using Bigby's hand, and foiled Yeenoghu with a wall of force. One of my buddy's wizard teamed up with my bard to turn a narzugon and its nightmare into soup by trapping them inside a wall of force with only sickening radiance for company. Each of these happened in the first round of combat.
In my experience, parties find the character that singlehandedly ends encounters to be quite valuable.
If the campaign is likely to go into mid to high level play and you want a huge variety of options and the ability to bend reality to your will, wizards are the choice. If you are more interested in a simple character and not thinking too hard about your actions or your build? Wizards are probably a pretty bad choice. I don't know what you like in your game so I don't know what would best sell you on the idea or even if your style justifies "selling" you the concept.
If you are interested in optimization, and ending encounters in a variety of ways with an action, wizards at mid to high levels can do it. If you want to have a huge variety of options you can leverage to truly squeeze all the possible power out of a D&D character, wizards have the highest power ceiling in the game.
I play wizards because after playing D&D for more than 30 years I tend to get bored easier than when I was younger. Having lists of spells to learn and potentially cast lets me keep busy at the table. Trying to choose the best available spell for the occasion keeps the mind active. The class probably has the steepest learning curve but its likely the best for its variety and keeping busy.
I would agrue that wizards are FAR superior to those classes when it comes to damage. Granted the fighters ability to attack 5 times or the monk’s ability to attack 6 times makes them great melee damage dealers, but that’s exactly why wizards are superior, their MELEE attackers. When you’re battling a horde of orcs (100 or more of them) or a dragon then your melee attacks are practically useless, while a wizard (starting at the humble level of 5) can cast spells that while cut enemies down from a very long range. Lightning bolt shoots in a 100 feet line, and fireball has a range of 150, which means you’ll be so far away your enemies won’t even be able to see that you’re giving them the finger. And on top of that wizards deal WAY more damage at all levels, fighters at level 5 can attack 2 times (so let’s say their using a great sword with a strength bonus of 4+) that’s 4d6 damage plus 8 damage (and that’s if they hit both attacks), while a wizard can deal 8d6 damage with a single spell (all while staying at a very comfortable distance) , and even if they succeed on the saving throw fireball will match the damage of a fighter. Of yeah and it’s a AoE, so that means a wizard deals more damage to more enemies.
Yeah I think the largest sustained DPR build I've ever seen was a Bladesinger wizard. IDK anyone would say wizards can't do damage. They can. That might not be the best way to build them, though. Since they can also be built to like, control fate and rewrite the world around them to suit their taste... but when they're built to do damage they do a lot of damage.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.