Ok, I'm relatively new to 5e. We started a group a few months ago and everyone has their own idea of the character type they want to play. Cool. But I noticed that no one wanted to play a wizard, myself included. I got thinking about it and looked over the pros and cons in 5e and came to the conclusion that the wizard is getting shafted in comparison to the other classes. It should be known that the last edition of D&D that I played was 2.5, back in the 90s. Back then, wizards did start out relatively weak. A d4 for hit dice+Con bonus. Meanwhile, your fighter started with a d10. But the wizard had magic, whereas the fighter did not. Everyone progressed in their prospected classes and the players had fun. Now in Now in 5e, EVERYONE has magic (yes I know its high fantasy) to throw at that little goblin. The Sorcerer and Warlock will turn that goblin into a brickette before the barbarian can even finish nashing her teeth to get into the rage. meanwhile, the wizard is off in the back still wiggling his fingers and mumbling some arcane mumbo jumbo to get his magical shield up. Everyone levels up. A few weeks or months later and everyone is now in the double digits for levels. You have the fighter is now imbuing his sword and shield with magical abilities. The Thief is now casting thicker shadows to hide in. The Ranger is shooting lightning bolts through his bow instead of an arrow. Meanwhile, the wizard is still in the background mumbling and wiggling his fingers. So what's the point in playing a wizard? Everyone else can now do almost everything a wizard can do, and do it a lot sooner than the wizard. Now don't get me wrong, back in the day, wizards were my all time favorite class to play. Hell, just for nostalgic reasons, I had to build my favorite character I ever played into a Homebrew monster here in D&DBeyond. I played Brigit for around 7 years before the DM NPCed him, and I totally enjoyed every minute of play. Now, I just don't see the point in making another wizard when there's little to nothing that it can do to help the campaign progression that another class can do long before the wizard can even try.
Now in Now in 5e, EVERYONE has magic (yes I know its high fantasy) to throw at that little goblin.
No, they don't. None of the other classes compare to clerics, wizards, bards, sorcerers, druids and warlocks in terms of magic, and those classes are fairly competitive with each other.
The Sorcerer and Warlock will turn that goblin into a brickette before the barbarian can even finish nashing her teeth to get into the rage.
Sorcerers and warlocks don't have any significant advantage over wizards in this situation.
You have the fighter is now imbuing his sword and shield with magical abilities. The Thief is now casting thicker shadows to hide in.
Two specific subclasses are able to do this and they gain magic at 1/3rd the rate of a wizard.
The Ranger is shooting lightning bolts through his bow instead of an arrow. Meanwhile, the wizard is still in the background mumbling and wiggling his fingers.
Rangers only get magic at 1/2 the rate of a wizard. By the time any of these characters are doing these things, the wizard is able to teleport and disintegrate people.
None of the above characters have ritual casting, by the way.
So what's the point in playing a wizard? Everyone else can now do almost everything a wizard can do, and do it a lot sooner than the wizard.
No, they can't. None of your observations are actually based on 5e's rules.
Wizards have access to the biggest spell list in the game, can cast ritual spells without preparing them, can add more spells to their spellbook, and have a huge number of specializations.
Yes, the wizard does have ritual magic, which is cool. But all of your claims that everyone else gets their spells at 1/2 or 1/3 progression still doesn't offset that the wizard is still off in the background. Yes, the wizard is the only one to get that Wish spell or Power Word Kill spell. But again, he's in the background. And I know that all of the examples were a bit exaggerated, if not a lot. But go into the character builder here and look at the wizard progression and compare it to all the other classes. Almost every other class progression table is cluttered with unique abilities. But looking at the wizards, it's like looking at a blank screen.
But all of your claims that everyone else gets their spells at 1/2 or 1/3 progression still doesn't offset that the wizard is still off in the background. Yes, the wizard is the only one to get that Wish spell or Power Word Kill spell. But again, he's in the background.
So? What exactly do you expect to get from standing next to a monster?
But go into the character builder here and look at the wizard progression and compare it to all the other classes. Almost every other class progression table is cluttered with unique abilities. But looking at the wizards, it's like looking at a blank screen.
You're comparing apples and oranges. You can have a ton of class features or you can have a ton of spells. You're not going to get both.
Fighter is a class built around a very simple concept: the Attack action. They have a lot of design space for class features. Spellcasting is a subsystem complex enough to require a dedicated chapter in the Player's Handbook. Spellcasting classes naturally have less class features as a result. And among spellcasters, wizards have by far the largest amount of choice. Between the Player's Handbook, Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide and Xanathar's Guide to Everything, they have 256 spells to choose from. Sorcerers have the next largest spell list at 164 spells, 99% of which are just wizard spells. Paladins and Rangers have 45 and 50 spells to choose from respectively.
Wizards also have the largest selection of subclasses out of any class in the game. And if you want to be all up in the monster's face for whatever reason, you have 3 good options: School of Abjuration, Bladesinging, and War Magic.
Point being..., spells. I don't know if you're old enough, I assume you are, to remember when there were only 4 classes and everything else was a subclass of a core class. Paladins were a subclass of fighter. Druids were a subclass of Cleric. Schools of magic were subclasses of Wizard. Thief and Assassin were subclasses of Rogue. Yes, you could stay as the core class and not sub into another, but you didn't get the cool specializations. And before the Eldritch Knight gets thrown into this mix, cause yes, I know that it's a "subclass", It just seems that you don't have to work to get all the cool toys anymore. For example, the Wizard can craft magical items. And that use to be because they had to study for many months, or even years, to learn how to enhance a sword to +1. And he had to be relatively high level to do that. Now every Joe Shmoe can do that. And yeah I know that they get more spells than any other class. But that still doesn't offset that the Thief or Fighter can also cast spells. That takes away the questioning oneself if they want to multi-class. Don't get me wrong, I love the high fantasy and magic-infused worlds that get created because of this. I just can't shake the feeling that Wizards are getting the raw end of the stick. I'm sorry, I truly believe that magic that the other class are shooting from the hip should be taken away from them. Or at least seriously nerfed.
For example, the Wizard can craft magical items. And that use to be because they had to study for many months, or even years, to learn how to enhance a sword to +1. And he had to be relatively high level to do that. Now every Joe Shmoe can do that.
No, they can't.
First of all, the DM doesn't have to use magic items at all. If they choose to use them, they certainly don't have to allow players to craft them. The default assumption in 5e is that magic items are well-preserved rarities and in most cases the secrets needed to create them have been lost to time.
And if the DM does use the rules in the DMG for creating magic items, besides finding the magic formula to create the item, you need to be a spellcaster. As in, a character that casts spells, not just a character with a couple of non-spell magical abilities. Xanathar's Guide to Everything has - in my opinion - better rules for this, and while they don't require being a spellcaster, you do need proficiency in the Arcana skill. And that means odds are you're a sorcerer, warlock or wizard.
And even if you meet all those requirements you'd still need a ton of money and time and proficiency with smith's tools.
So when the party doesn't have enough magic weapons to go around and you're fighting something resistant to nonmagical attacks, guess which spellcaster is most likely to have the magic weapon spell? The wizard.
And yeah I know that they get more spells than any other class. But that still doesn't offset that the Thief or Fighter can also cast spells.
Only if they choose a specific subclass, and even then, they have a very small list of spells they know permanently, a very small number of spell slots, and they'll be forever lagging behind the wizard by a huge margin. Again, by the time the Eldritch Knight gets 2nd level spells the wizard has 4th level spells and way more spell slots.
I'm sorry, I truly believe that magic that the other class are shooting from the hip should be taken away from them. Or at least seriously nerfed.
I think you should play a few games as one of those other classes and a few games as a wizard. You're really jumping the gun.
I've played Warlocks, a Druid, and now I'm playing a Wizard and the Wizard's spell casting is by far the most potent of the 3 classes that I've played. I've also played a Way of the Shadow Monk who has some limited spell casting and they don't come close in spell casting to a Warlock, which is the weakest as a straight spell caster of those three classes.
I'm playing a Wizard of the School of Conjuration and I can magically conjure any non-magical item that I want as long as it's small enough. No, that's not very useful in combat, but it's incredible for exploring. Plus those items glow and shed dim light so I can summon a small rock just so that I can read something without casting Light and announcing to the entire world where I am and painting a beacon that lights me up.
I have a nice spell selection and I change it up every day based on what I expect to need that day. I'm 4th level and I still have enough spells that I'm picking which spells to prepare every morning. And the rituals are incredibly useful out of combat too! Last week my DM commented in the middle of a 2+ hour combat that my wizard had only cast 1 or 2 spells that did damage during the entire combat and other than that had spent the entire combat buffing the rest of the party members and had made more of a difference in the combat than he'd have made if he'd have been attacking. Mage Armor on our Circle of the Moon Druid bumped his AC up enough to turn several near hits into near misses. Fog Cloud cast above us blocked flying opponents from seeing us until I was hit and failed a Concentration check. Not to mention the Druid gave me several berries from Goodberry and I used those to bring other party members who had been knocked unconscious back to 1 HP. My only regret is I didn't have Mage Hand going before the fight started so I had to dodge around the melee in order to do that instead of doing it from 30 feet away.
Wizards are awesome in 5e! They have a ton of things that they do in and out of combat with their spells and special abilities!
My wizard is a Bladesinger so she is often in the front lines fighting with everyone and holding her own while doing it. For the last few games, she has carried the party to victory with one encounter almost being a TPK. We are a party of 6, 4th level characters playing in the Curse of Strahd adventure module. She single highhandedly defeated an evil wizard that dropped the entire party to unconsciousness or death, after a booby trap went off and he got a fireball off that hit the entire party. Successful saving throw and a reaction casting of Endure Elements left her standing when every single other party member dropped. And after the combat was over and she stood over the evil wizards corpse, it was the wizard that stabilized the party (one at a time) and got them back on their feet. You should play a wizard in a few games or a campaign and see for yourself. Easily in the top tier as far as best classes goes.
The short answer here is: YES, wizards are absolutely worth playing in 5e.
While 5e has addressed some of the power creep they still haven't fully tamped down on high level magic. At 13th plus level it is hard to beat a wizard of any kind played by a imaginative player.
Wizards have access to the most magic of any class. They're extremely flexible in that they can choose to prepare a wide variety spells based on their mood, and can change their entire role in the party on a long rest. If you're normally playing as a battlefield controller, and just decide...you know, I feel like melting faces today, you prepare your blasty spells, and you go melt faces.
A sorcerer, doesn't get to do that. If his spells are set up for battlefield control and he decides he wants to just nuke things tonight...well enjoy spamming your firebolt, because that's all you get to do, unless you've used precious "known spells" to take some blast spells as well. But, that means you didn't take all the control spells you wanted. Sorcerers are great, if you're looking for a thematic caster. They are excellent at whatever it is they want to do, but not so hot at other things. Sorcerers have hard choices to make when they pick their spells, and they are stuck with that choice until they level up. A wizard is excellent at whatever he wants to be, generally speaking whenever he wants to be excellent at it and given a long rest to prepare to be excellent at it.
A Warlock's got it even worse. They get two spell slots per short rest and a very limited spell selection, until higher levels. Enjoy spamming your eldritch blast because that's your life. Past level 5, they only get 1 spell per day as a mystic arcanum, and unlike thier lower level spell slots it doesn't recharge on a short rest. That's not to say that a warlock stinks, because they are quite strong. Flexible as a wizard though? lolno.
That's pretty much what it comes down to. The wizard has the flexibility to be whatever the party needs or whatever the player wants it to be...and it's not locked into it. A sorc or warlock are specialists and will likely always BE specialists of exactly what they are for their entire careers.
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Point being..., spells. I don't know if you're old enough, I assume you are, to remember when there were only 4 classes and everything else was a subclass of a core class.
Arbitrary, irrelevant pre-condition, but I'll play along: I'm old enough to remember OD&D, AD&D, and AD&D 2e. Does it matter at all? No. This is 5e.
And yeah I know that they get more spells than any other class. But that still doesn't offset that the Thief or Fighter can also cast spells.
On top of the very clear response InquisitiveCoder provided, just because there is a path for Fighters/Rogues to learn spellcasting does not open a floodgate that makes them better than a Wizard, nor do they even come close to a Wizard's full complement of magical ability. The spellcasting ability of Fighters/Rogues that choose to progress in these very specific sub-classes is severely restricted. The actual spells an Eldritch Knight or Arcane Trickster are capable of learning is only one aspect of the balance. The real balance is in the fact that these sub-classes learn spell slots at 1/3rd the rate of a full Wizard.
A level 20 Eldritch Knight or Arcane Trickster will NEVER learn 5th+ level spells. They are maxed out at 4th level spells, max of one 4th level spell slot, and only get that at level 19. They gain access to 3rd level spells at level 13. When does the Wizard get 3rd level spells? Level 5.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Is it bad that my read of this is 'wizards are no longer stupidly overpowered game-breaking uber-demigods that make the DM want to pull his hair out and kill himself by putting dice in his nostrils and inhaling, and that makes me all pouty'? I swear I've heard all of these 'arguments' when a character in an MMO or team shooter gets nerfed.
I think a lot of your issues with wizards are just plain wrong and based on false information or severe bias.
And yes some classes can dip into minor magical hocus pocus with a subclass, but the wizard can also dip into front line fighting without sacrificing magical prowess.
Also please don't do the "I'm not sure if you're old enough to..." if it's not relevant.
I can get where the OP is coming from... "back in the day", Wizards (well, "Magic-users") were the arcane spellcasters. No other class, or subclass, had arcane spells, period. This wasn't true for divine spellcasters. Clerics and Druids (which were a Cleric subclass) had divine spells, but so did Rangers and Paladins (Fighter subclasses), and Bards (which you couldn't start as, and was almost impossible to attain). Magic-users were also ridiculously overpowered at higher levels, but that was "ok" because they were ridiculously underpowered at low levels.
Now, with 5e, every class has at least one subclass that can cast at least one spell on the Wizard's list, with most classes having at least one subclass than can cast a significant number of spells on the Wizard's list (yes, I'm counting Barbarian's Ancestral Guardian's Clairvoyance hehe), so Wizard's feel less special that old Magic-users used to feel, in that particular sense.
That, though, doesn't make them be worth less, or bring less to the table. D&D has become a bit more homogenized in terms of class abilities, but it also has become more balanced. Wizards now contribute more at early levels, and less at higher levels, compared to old Magic-users, but their contribution is more evenly matched by other classes, across all levels.
Don't forget Arcane Recovery. I don't think any other class can recover as many spell slots from a short rest.
Warlocks get all their spell slots back on a short rest. They have a lot fewer slots, but they're all max level.
Sorcerers can make/regain slots with sorcery points, so while not tied to short rests, they can get more spellcasting out of their slots.
Arcane Recovery is nice, but it does feel a bit underwhelming at times.
Land Druids get a recovery, as for Warlocks that Pact Magic is good if your getting short rests. but not getting that 3rd slot until 10th level and then the 4th one really high level does make it hard. Sorcerers while being full casters only get a total of 15 spells, some subclasses 16 really hampers them. Arcane recovery does get better as they grow in power, but yes being a low level ability it isn't the greatest but I like it.
Yes, the wizard does have ritual magic, which is cool. But all of your claims that everyone else gets their spells at 1/2 or 1/3 progression still doesn't offset that the wizard is still off in the background. Yes, the wizard is the only one to get that Wish spell or Power Word Kill spell. But again, he's in the background. And I know that all of the examples were a bit exaggerated, if not a lot. But go into the character builder here and look at the wizard progression and compare it to all the other classes. Almost every other class progression table is cluttered with unique abilities. But looking at the wizards, it's like looking at a blank screen.
Doesn't being in the background mean you can avoid getting hit as often?
If you're unhappy that Wizards aren't the mostly obviously godly class at 18th or 20th level compared to almost every other class, then there's simple answer for that: don't play 5th edition. There are plenty of people running Pathfinder and even a few running 1st or 2nd edition games. One of the things that 5th edition does well is to balance power levels of the different classes so that no one class is essential at any tier of play. This makes the game more enjoyable for more people, not just the ones who play full casters. And don't get me wrong, I AM someone who enjoys playing Wizards, Clerics and Druids. However, my caster allies and I shouldn't be the only ones able to pull off epic plays. 5th edition gives more combat options - including some spellcasting - to what were previously just melee classes b/c that makes playing them more interesting and reduces the overhead of multi-classing for the Rogues who want some illusion spells and the Fighters who want some abjuration and AoE. So what? Why are you letting their fun take away from your own? Wizards can still do plenty of amazing things at all levels. If you like getting up in the enemy's grill, pick Bladesinger. That's a full-on Wizard with sword-fighting skills. Want to manipulate the battlefiend AND do amazing damage? Major Image to convince your foes to go to a specific spot, cast Web, then drop a Fireball on them or Meteor Swarm.
5th Edition IS different from previous editions. Instead of complaining about a class you haven't played before why not try it out for a few games and see how you feel then? Or don't. It's your time and your energy. Of course, if you enjoy just theorycrafting the most powerful character with such and such prestige class, there's always 3.5. Different strokes for different folks.
I used to DM back in 3.5 (which was loads of fun; we won't discuss 4e...) and I remember fondly the many uses a magic wielder (wizard, sorcerer, etcetera) had in terms of crowd control, buffs/debuffs, and damage. Having said that, my experiences with 5e are that magic only classes (for example, the wizard) feel weak and limited when compared to other classes. As an example, if a fighter attacks and then casts a cantrip but the party mage only casts a cantrip it feels like the person who specializes in magic is getting kind of messed over. Another example is fireball; I have heard players complain that feel like a one-trick pony when it comes to damage dealing for AoE type spells. Another complaint I have heard (and I share myself) is the removal of the summon monster spells for the conjuration school; conjurors feel under powered now.
This is not to say "there is no point in playing a magic user" in 5e; there is fun to be had there. I have found my players often have the most fun when we strongly use either home brewed spells/items, or we view the rules as more of a guideline. In the end, as a DM your job is to make sure the party is having fun; if that means allowing a spell or effect to happen even if it contradicts the rules a bit. So long as it doesn't brake the game or become a gross change to rules then just have fun!
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Ok, I'm relatively new to 5e. We started a group a few months ago and everyone has their own idea of the character type they want to play. Cool. But I noticed that no one wanted to play a wizard, myself included. I got thinking about it and looked over the pros and cons in 5e and came to the conclusion that the wizard is getting shafted in comparison to the other classes. It should be known that the last edition of D&D that I played was 2.5, back in the 90s. Back then, wizards did start out relatively weak. A d4 for hit dice+Con bonus. Meanwhile, your fighter started with a d10. But the wizard had magic, whereas the fighter did not. Everyone progressed in their prospected classes and the players had fun. Now in Now in 5e, EVERYONE has magic (yes I know its high fantasy) to throw at that little goblin. The Sorcerer and Warlock will turn that goblin into a brickette before the barbarian can even finish nashing her teeth to get into the rage. meanwhile, the wizard is off in the back still wiggling his fingers and mumbling some arcane mumbo jumbo to get his magical shield up. Everyone levels up. A few weeks or months later and everyone is now in the double digits for levels. You have the fighter is now imbuing his sword and shield with magical abilities. The Thief is now casting thicker shadows to hide in. The Ranger is shooting lightning bolts through his bow instead of an arrow. Meanwhile, the wizard is still in the background mumbling and wiggling his fingers. So what's the point in playing a wizard? Everyone else can now do almost everything a wizard can do, and do it a lot sooner than the wizard. Now don't get me wrong, back in the day, wizards were my all time favorite class to play. Hell, just for nostalgic reasons, I had to build my favorite character I ever played into a Homebrew monster here in D&DBeyond. I played Brigit for around 7 years before the DM NPCed him, and I totally enjoyed every minute of play. Now, I just don't see the point in making another wizard when there's little to nothing that it can do to help the campaign progression that another class can do long before the wizard can even try.
No, they don't. None of the other classes compare to clerics, wizards, bards, sorcerers, druids and warlocks in terms of magic, and those classes are fairly competitive with each other.
Sorcerers and warlocks don't have any significant advantage over wizards in this situation.
Two specific subclasses are able to do this and they gain magic at 1/3rd the rate of a wizard.
Rangers only get magic at 1/2 the rate of a wizard. By the time any of these characters are doing these things, the wizard is able to teleport and disintegrate people.
None of the above characters have ritual casting, by the way.
No, they can't. None of your observations are actually based on 5e's rules.
Wizards have access to the biggest spell list in the game, can cast ritual spells without preparing them, can add more spells to their spellbook, and have a huge number of specializations.
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Yes, the wizard does have ritual magic, which is cool. But all of your claims that everyone else gets their spells at 1/2 or 1/3 progression still doesn't offset that the wizard is still off in the background. Yes, the wizard is the only one to get that Wish spell or Power Word Kill spell. But again, he's in the background. And I know that all of the examples were a bit exaggerated, if not a lot. But go into the character builder here and look at the wizard progression and compare it to all the other classes. Almost every other class progression table is cluttered with unique abilities. But looking at the wizards, it's like looking at a blank screen.
So? What exactly do you expect to get from standing next to a monster?
You're comparing apples and oranges. You can have a ton of class features or you can have a ton of spells. You're not going to get both.
Fighter is a class built around a very simple concept: the Attack action. They have a lot of design space for class features. Spellcasting is a subsystem complex enough to require a dedicated chapter in the Player's Handbook. Spellcasting classes naturally have less class features as a result. And among spellcasters, wizards have by far the largest amount of choice. Between the Player's Handbook, Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide and Xanathar's Guide to Everything, they have 256 spells to choose from. Sorcerers have the next largest spell list at 164 spells, 99% of which are just wizard spells. Paladins and Rangers have 45 and 50 spells to choose from respectively.
Wizards also have the largest selection of subclasses out of any class in the game. And if you want to be all up in the monster's face for whatever reason, you have 3 good options: School of Abjuration, Bladesinging, and War Magic.
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Point being..., spells. I don't know if you're old enough, I assume you are, to remember when there were only 4 classes and everything else was a subclass of a core class. Paladins were a subclass of fighter. Druids were a subclass of Cleric. Schools of magic were subclasses of Wizard. Thief and Assassin were subclasses of Rogue. Yes, you could stay as the core class and not sub into another, but you didn't get the cool specializations. And before the Eldritch Knight gets thrown into this mix, cause yes, I know that it's a "subclass", It just seems that you don't have to work to get all the cool toys anymore. For example, the Wizard can craft magical items. And that use to be because they had to study for many months, or even years, to learn how to enhance a sword to +1. And he had to be relatively high level to do that. Now every Joe Shmoe can do that. And yeah I know that they get more spells than any other class. But that still doesn't offset that the Thief or Fighter can also cast spells. That takes away the questioning oneself if they want to multi-class. Don't get me wrong, I love the high fantasy and magic-infused worlds that get created because of this. I just can't shake the feeling that Wizards are getting the raw end of the stick. I'm sorry, I truly believe that magic that the other class are shooting from the hip should be taken away from them. Or at least seriously nerfed.
No, they can't.
First of all, the DM doesn't have to use magic items at all. If they choose to use them, they certainly don't have to allow players to craft them. The default assumption in 5e is that magic items are well-preserved rarities and in most cases the secrets needed to create them have been lost to time.
And if the DM does use the rules in the DMG for creating magic items, besides finding the magic formula to create the item, you need to be a spellcaster. As in, a character that casts spells, not just a character with a couple of non-spell magical abilities. Xanathar's Guide to Everything has - in my opinion - better rules for this, and while they don't require being a spellcaster, you do need proficiency in the Arcana skill. And that means odds are you're a sorcerer, warlock or wizard.
And even if you meet all those requirements you'd still need a ton of money and time and proficiency with smith's tools.
So when the party doesn't have enough magic weapons to go around and you're fighting something resistant to nonmagical attacks, guess which spellcaster is most likely to have the magic weapon spell? The wizard.
Only if they choose a specific subclass, and even then, they have a very small list of spells they know permanently, a very small number of spell slots, and they'll be forever lagging behind the wizard by a huge margin. Again, by the time the Eldritch Knight gets 2nd level spells the wizard has 4th level spells and way more spell slots.
I think you should play a few games as one of those other classes and a few games as a wizard. You're really jumping the gun.
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I've played Warlocks, a Druid, and now I'm playing a Wizard and the Wizard's spell casting is by far the most potent of the 3 classes that I've played. I've also played a Way of the Shadow Monk who has some limited spell casting and they don't come close in spell casting to a Warlock, which is the weakest as a straight spell caster of those three classes.
I'm playing a Wizard of the School of Conjuration and I can magically conjure any non-magical item that I want as long as it's small enough. No, that's not very useful in combat, but it's incredible for exploring. Plus those items glow and shed dim light so I can summon a small rock just so that I can read something without casting Light and announcing to the entire world where I am and painting a beacon that lights me up.
I have a nice spell selection and I change it up every day based on what I expect to need that day. I'm 4th level and I still have enough spells that I'm picking which spells to prepare every morning. And the rituals are incredibly useful out of combat too! Last week my DM commented in the middle of a 2+ hour combat that my wizard had only cast 1 or 2 spells that did damage during the entire combat and other than that had spent the entire combat buffing the rest of the party members and had made more of a difference in the combat than he'd have made if he'd have been attacking. Mage Armor on our Circle of the Moon Druid bumped his AC up enough to turn several near hits into near misses. Fog Cloud cast above us blocked flying opponents from seeing us until I was hit and failed a Concentration check. Not to mention the Druid gave me several berries from Goodberry and I used those to bring other party members who had been knocked unconscious back to 1 HP. My only regret is I didn't have Mage Hand going before the fight started so I had to dodge around the melee in order to do that instead of doing it from 30 feet away.
Wizards are awesome in 5e! They have a ton of things that they do in and out of combat with their spells and special abilities!
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My wizard is a Bladesinger so she is often in the front lines fighting with everyone and holding her own while doing it. For the last few games, she has carried the party to victory with one encounter almost being a TPK. We are a party of 6, 4th level characters playing in the Curse of Strahd adventure module. She single highhandedly defeated an evil wizard that dropped the entire party to unconsciousness or death, after a booby trap went off and he got a fireball off that hit the entire party. Successful saving throw and a reaction casting of Endure Elements left her standing when every single other party member dropped. And after the combat was over and she stood over the evil wizards corpse, it was the wizard that stabilized the party (one at a time) and got them back on their feet. You should play a wizard in a few games or a campaign and see for yourself. Easily in the top tier as far as best classes goes.
The short answer here is: YES, wizards are absolutely worth playing in 5e.
While 5e has addressed some of the power creep they still haven't fully tamped down on high level magic. At 13th plus level it is hard to beat a wizard of any kind played by a imaginative player.
Current Characters I am playing: Dr Konstantin van Wulf | Taegen Willowrun | Mad Magnar
Check out my homebrew: Items | Monsters | Spells | Subclasses | Feats
Wizards have access to the most magic of any class. They're extremely flexible in that they can choose to prepare a wide variety spells based on their mood, and can change their entire role in the party on a long rest. If you're normally playing as a battlefield controller, and just decide...you know, I feel like melting faces today, you prepare your blasty spells, and you go melt faces.
A sorcerer, doesn't get to do that. If his spells are set up for battlefield control and he decides he wants to just nuke things tonight...well enjoy spamming your firebolt, because that's all you get to do, unless you've used precious "known spells" to take some blast spells as well. But, that means you didn't take all the control spells you wanted. Sorcerers are great, if you're looking for a thematic caster. They are excellent at whatever it is they want to do, but not so hot at other things. Sorcerers have hard choices to make when they pick their spells, and they are stuck with that choice until they level up. A wizard is excellent at whatever he wants to be, generally speaking whenever he wants to be excellent at it and given a long rest to prepare to be excellent at it.
A Warlock's got it even worse. They get two spell slots per short rest and a very limited spell selection, until higher levels. Enjoy spamming your eldritch blast because that's your life. Past level 5, they only get 1 spell per day as a mystic arcanum, and unlike thier lower level spell slots it doesn't recharge on a short rest. That's not to say that a warlock stinks, because they are quite strong. Flexible as a wizard though? lolno.
That's pretty much what it comes down to. The wizard has the flexibility to be whatever the party needs or whatever the player wants it to be...and it's not locked into it. A sorc or warlock are specialists and will likely always BE specialists of exactly what they are for their entire careers.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Arbitrary, irrelevant pre-condition, but I'll play along: I'm old enough to remember OD&D, AD&D, and AD&D 2e. Does it matter at all? No. This is 5e.
On top of the very clear response InquisitiveCoder provided, just because there is a path for Fighters/Rogues to learn spellcasting does not open a floodgate that makes them better than a Wizard, nor do they even come close to a Wizard's full complement of magical ability. The spellcasting ability of Fighters/Rogues that choose to progress in these very specific sub-classes is severely restricted. The actual spells an Eldritch Knight or Arcane Trickster are capable of learning is only one aspect of the balance. The real balance is in the fact that these sub-classes learn spell slots at 1/3rd the rate of a full Wizard.
A level 20 Eldritch Knight or Arcane Trickster will NEVER learn 5th+ level spells. They are maxed out at 4th level spells, max of one 4th level spell slot, and only get that at level 19. They gain access to 3rd level spells at level 13. When does the Wizard get 3rd level spells? Level 5.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Is it bad that my read of this is 'wizards are no longer stupidly overpowered game-breaking uber-demigods that make the DM want to pull his hair out and kill himself by putting dice in his nostrils and inhaling, and that makes me all pouty'? I swear I've heard all of these 'arguments' when a character in an MMO or team shooter gets nerfed.
I think a lot of your issues with wizards are just plain wrong and based on false information or severe bias.
And yes some classes can dip into minor magical hocus pocus with a subclass, but the wizard can also dip into front line fighting without sacrificing magical prowess.
Also please don't do the "I'm not sure if you're old enough to..." if it's not relevant.
I can get where the OP is coming from... "back in the day", Wizards (well, "Magic-users") were the arcane spellcasters. No other class, or subclass, had arcane spells, period. This wasn't true for divine spellcasters. Clerics and Druids (which were a Cleric subclass) had divine spells, but so did Rangers and Paladins (Fighter subclasses), and Bards (which you couldn't start as, and was almost impossible to attain). Magic-users were also ridiculously overpowered at higher levels, but that was "ok" because they were ridiculously underpowered at low levels.
Now, with 5e, every class has at least one subclass that can cast at least one spell on the Wizard's list, with most classes having at least one subclass than can cast a significant number of spells on the Wizard's list (yes, I'm counting Barbarian's Ancestral Guardian's Clairvoyance hehe), so Wizard's feel less special that old Magic-users used to feel, in that particular sense.
That, though, doesn't make them be worth less, or bring less to the table. D&D has become a bit more homogenized in terms of class abilities, but it also has become more balanced. Wizards now contribute more at early levels, and less at higher levels, compared to old Magic-users, but their contribution is more evenly matched by other classes, across all levels.
Don't forget Arcane Recovery. I don't think any other class can recover as many spell slots from a short rest.
Warlocks get all their spell slots back on a short rest. They have a lot fewer slots, but they're all max level.
Sorcerers can make/regain slots with sorcery points, so while not tied to short rests, they can get more spellcasting out of their slots.
Arcane Recovery is nice, but it does feel a bit underwhelming at times.
Well it is a low lvl feature.... not expecting those to break world records.
Land Druids get a recovery, as for Warlocks that Pact Magic is good if your getting short rests. but not getting that 3rd slot until 10th level and then the 4th one really high level does make it hard. Sorcerers while being full casters only get a total of 15 spells, some subclasses 16 really hampers them. Arcane recovery does get better as they grow in power, but yes being a low level ability it isn't the greatest but I like it.
Doesn't being in the background mean you can avoid getting hit as often?
If you're unhappy that Wizards aren't the mostly obviously godly class at 18th or 20th level compared to almost every other class, then there's simple answer for that: don't play 5th edition. There are plenty of people running Pathfinder and even a few running 1st or 2nd edition games. One of the things that 5th edition does well is to balance power levels of the different classes so that no one class is essential at any tier of play. This makes the game more enjoyable for more people, not just the ones who play full casters. And don't get me wrong, I AM someone who enjoys playing Wizards, Clerics and Druids. However, my caster allies and I shouldn't be the only ones able to pull off epic plays. 5th edition gives more combat options - including some spellcasting - to what were previously just melee classes b/c that makes playing them more interesting and reduces the overhead of multi-classing for the Rogues who want some illusion spells and the Fighters who want some abjuration and AoE. So what? Why are you letting their fun take away from your own? Wizards can still do plenty of amazing things at all levels. If you like getting up in the enemy's grill, pick Bladesinger. That's a full-on Wizard with sword-fighting skills. Want to manipulate the battlefiend AND do amazing damage? Major Image to convince your foes to go to a specific spot, cast Web, then drop a Fireball on them or Meteor Swarm.
5th Edition IS different from previous editions. Instead of complaining about a class you haven't played before why not try it out for a few games and see how you feel then? Or don't. It's your time and your energy. Of course, if you enjoy just theorycrafting the most powerful character with such and such prestige class, there's always 3.5. Different strokes for different folks.
I used to DM back in 3.5 (which was loads of fun; we won't discuss 4e...) and I remember fondly the many uses a magic wielder (wizard, sorcerer, etcetera) had in terms of crowd control, buffs/debuffs, and damage. Having said that, my experiences with 5e are that magic only classes (for example, the wizard) feel weak and limited when compared to other classes. As an example, if a fighter attacks and then casts a cantrip but the party mage only casts a cantrip it feels like the person who specializes in magic is getting kind of messed over. Another example is fireball; I have heard players complain that feel like a one-trick pony when it comes to damage dealing for AoE type spells. Another complaint I have heard (and I share myself) is the removal of the summon monster spells for the conjuration school; conjurors feel under powered now.
This is not to say "there is no point in playing a magic user" in 5e; there is fun to be had there. I have found my players often have the most fun when we strongly use either home brewed spells/items, or we view the rules as more of a guideline. In the end, as a DM your job is to make sure the party is having fun; if that means allowing a spell or effect to happen even if it contradicts the rules a bit. So long as it doesn't brake the game or become a gross change to rules then just have fun!