Are Wizards Overpowered

A order of the scribes wizard gives a lot of customization, you could make a sword that deals psychic damage at third level.

Also, Chaosium's Bibliomancer can do it at level 3 with one spell (which you can keep changing). You can even change the spell's name. 

yes, 2 first level slots, and then afterwards, you have to just click firebolt while enemy slowly approaches and you die in a 2 hits cuz ur a wizard, its like

you have 2 bailouts and then you are stuck playing a character that deals 1d10 per round and is the opposite of bulky

and this persists until you get enough resources to not have to spam cantrips constantly

and, at least at my table, we have a LOT of encounters per day, cuz DND is designed around resource management,

basically, for you, you are playing wizard at a table where the DM is not playing DND as intended and wizard is quite powerful in that 2 ish encounters per day

(does not apply to witch bolt, that thing is overpowered as hell, but even so, its only 60ft range)

Quote from Babawonga1 >>

I personally think Wizards are one of the worst classes. Sure you have lots of versatility with spells, but in game play you have to deal with concentration which means you can have one defensive/utility/condition spell and then just toss damage spells. Get hit, lose concentration, lose a spell. With very limited spell slots that can hurt a lot. Secondly, at high levels you run into a fair number of enemy bosses who all can auto save, so no powerful spells or they just auto save. Want to learn more spells, spend a ton of money. Also several spells cost money to cast. Want to be a diviner? Cast divination and spend 25 gold each time. Compare to other classes and to be equivalent they would have to spend money to use their powers, would have enemies that just say "You auto miss". Get hit and you have to make a concentration point or lose your actions. Etcetera. Having now played a high level Wizard I would never play one again.

 yes, mostly
though, at least you don't have to pay for armor
and you can always play abjuration wizard if you want your concentration(if something hits arcane ward, you are not techinally damaged for the purpose of concentration)
and you should most likely always take war caster and resillence(con) as a wizard

Have you seen the cost of some of the Mats for spells?  It's way cheaper to buy plate in the long run lol

Quote from Sir_Texas_Sir >>

Have you seen the cost of some of the Mats for spells?  It's way cheaper to buy plate in the long run lol

 
Mage Armour, False Life, Shield, Blur, Mirror Image, Absorb Elements... don't have any material component cost. With 16 dex this is an AC of 16, 21 with shield for a round. If you have 3/4 cover this means you can reach 26 AC. Plus all attacks have disadvantage against you. Plus those that would still hit have a chance to be completely negated. Plus if an Abjuration wizard and they get through all then you have an Arcane Ward reducing damage. Even if that gets depleted you have temporary hit points to reduce damage before anything gets to your HP. And if it was elemental damage you can halve it before all of this.

Nah, I'll keep to spells. Offers more protection than plate armour (which, without the right subclass/feats will stop your spellcasting due to lack of proficiency).

Quote from Babawonga1 >>

I personally think Wizards are one of the worst classes. Sure you have lots of versatility with spells, but in game play you have to deal with concentration which means you can have one defensive/utility/condition spell and then just toss damage spells. Get hit, lose concentration, lose a spell. With very limited spell slots that can hurt a lot. Secondly, at high levels you run into a fair number of enemy bosses who all can auto save, so no powerful spells or they just auto save. Want to learn more spells, spend a ton of money. Also several spells cost money to cast. Want to be a diviner? Cast divination and spend 25 gold each time. Compare to other classes and to be equivalent they would have to spend money to use their powers, would have enemies that just say "You auto miss". Get hit and you have to make a concentration point or lose your actions. Etcetera. Having now played a high level Wizard I would never play one again.

 This may be an unpopular opinion, but I agree with you, and it's especially true in version 5.5 of the game, where all other casters can have more spells prepared at any given time than the wizard thanks to their subclasses, making them more versatile. Plus, they all have powerful features like the druids' wildshape and the clerics' channel divinity, while the wizard is a very anemic class, gaining very few useful features. It's also the only class that has to pay to learn more spells; clerics and druids have access to their entire spell list.

There's still some wizard subclasses that are good, but Arcana Unleashed just ate their lunch with the school adept feats (at least for many schools - Necromacy Adept sucks). 

Evocation Adept is probably better than the entire Evoker subclass... as a feat.  (Now a Sorceror with Evocation Adept is the real Evoker, and it still gets a subclass!)

Honestly, I'm tempted to just give wizards the non-attribute parts of their specialist school adept feat for "free" (as part of their subclass features somewhere), or even upgrade it by instead letting them automatically prepare all their school savant bonus spells in addition to adding them to their spellbook.

i think those feats are poorly balanced but it doesn't eat the sub classes lunch. Evoker subclass is far more than a few spells and a bit more damage on one die. And an evoker can take that feat just like a sorcerer. i wish they had at least added a save to wall of force like wall of stone has, give it a Ac and hit points something to balance it but oh well.  But adding wall of force to any caster class seems to be asking for problems. fey touched and other give spells feats seem pretty sad in comparison, though those can help a non caster a bit. 

Still the power creep in this book seems concerning. Not sure how much of it I'll be putting in my games. 

Quote from MyDudeicus >>

i think those feats are poorly balanced but it doesn't eat the sub classes lunch. Evoker subclass is far more than a few spells and a bit more damage on one die. And an evoker can take that feat just like a sorcerer. i wish they had at least added a save to wall of force like wall of stone has, give it a Ac and hit points something to balance it but oh well.  But adding wall of force to any caster class seems to be asking for problems. fey touched and other give spells feats seem pretty sad in comparison, though those can help a non caster a bit. 

Still the power creep in this book seems concerning. Not sure how much of it I'll be putting in my games. 

 Illusionist: I can ignore the V component of my illusions

Illusion Adept: I can ignore all the components of my illusions.  And they're harder to disbelieve.

Illusionist: Wait, so I'm outclassed at casting illusions by someone who just took a feat?

Also, wizards can't 'retrain' spells like other casters can.  So if you're going to take the feat, either you do without what are sometimes critical early game spells until you can take the feat, or you duplicate the spell you're going to be automatically preparing in your spellbook.  (Illusionist Adept definitely has this problem).

in a couple cases sure, there wont be another X spell to learn so they lose out a bit on their auto learn spell from school feature. And they seem to be about as good as a sub classes level 3 feature, but sub classes also have level 6. 10, 14 features. And lets face it for illusionist its all about the level 14 feature which while sadly nerfed from 2014 is still a really absurd feature. So, no one feat is not eating their lunch even if these feats are poorly balanced power creep which wont make it to my tables. 

Quote from MyDudeicus >>

in a couple cases sure, there wont be another X spell to learn so they lose out a bit on their auto learn spell from school feature. And they seem to be about as good as a sub classes level 3 feature, but sub classes also have level 6. 10, 14 features. And lets face it for illusionist its all about the level 14 feature which while sadly nerfed from 2014 is still a really absurd feature. So, no one feat is not eating their lunch even if these feats are poorly balanced power creep which wont make it to my tables. 

The level 6 feature for the illusionist is pretty meh.  And the level 10 feature is fine, but maybe the last level you actually play on average?

The level 14 feature might as well not exist for most tables.  I agree its awesome, but most people will never play with it.

Quote from Squirrelloid >>

Quote from MyDudeicus >>

in a couple cases sure, there wont be another X spell to learn so they lose out a bit on their auto learn spell from school feature. And they seem to be about as good as a sub classes level 3 feature, but sub classes also have level 6. 10, 14 features. And lets face it for illusionist its all about the level 14 feature which while sadly nerfed from 2014 is still a really absurd feature. So, no one feat is not eating their lunch even if these feats are poorly balanced power creep which wont make it to my tables. 

The level 6 feature for the illusionist is pretty meh.  And the level 10 feature is fine, but maybe the last level you actually play on average?

The level 14 feature might as well not exist for most tables.  I agree its awesome, but most people will never play with it.

while true i think its the only reason people play an illusionist, illusions are at the mercy of the DM until they are real. Though i do think the level 6 feature is solid. even if they are 1/2 hit points free castings are nice. 

The worst part about wizards in 5.5 is the endless discussions with DM's about spells their effects and the legal wording. If you have a paid DM or a DM who is not a friend it can be a nightmare, as your constantly discussing what spell is there. At high levels you have to beg to have a Sim with you, you have to beg for clones, beg for spells to do their intended effects. Yes the 9th level spell invulnerability gives me invulnerability to everything. And of course the anti magic wasp that stings you and takes away your magic is always there to keep you in check. So playing a wizard requires a relationship with the GM, and if you do have that then other players will be saying it sound like favoritism because they have seen how powerful the ban hammer is on wizards who get a DM they are not buddy buddy with. So to play a good wizard you better be good at politics.

I had the same issue with a particular DM in 2014 rules with a stars druid (DM just didn't understand/agree with how some spells and abilioies worked), and i left the campaign. I haven't had DMs nerf my wizards since they seem to know them better.