I have an idea for a wizard who specializes in ancient magic and ancient artifacts. He plunges into ancient ruins and such in search of old secrets and discoveries just for the heck of it, he isn't working towards any goal or some arbitrary concept of "power". He's just an archaeologist nerd with a penchant for old magics. In his time spent delving into ruins he's learned he needs to keep himself protected, and so I want him to wear a shield and heavy armor, with the war caster feat so he can cast while holding a shield, as well as focus on spells that would be particularly useful for Indiana Jones style escapades. I'm not sure the most effective/optimal way of getting all these things on to one character would be though. Thoughts?
If you want armour... Don't play a wizard. Unless you don't mind flavouring mage armour as heavy plate, but it's actually really light, then don't play wizard. (Unless you use ALL your ASI's for feats, but then you'll be bad a spells). As for the rest, it seems wizard. I would say that abjuration or scribes wizard (if your DM allows UA). Abjuration as you mentioned defense, and the 2nd level ability could be flavoured as a shield. Scribes wizard is all about knowledge, and it works very thematically. Spells that let you jump and run more are what you're looking for: expeditious retreat, longstrider etc. Find familiar and find traps (at higher levels) are good, especially in dungeons.
But I could also see this as a warlock. You can get medium armour and shields as a hexblade. I think that just light armour could work, and having the great old one as a patron would be cool. Pact of the tome gives you more flexibility in casting, allowing you to get some wizard spells. Hope this helped!
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'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
Taking a first level dip into Arcana cleric gives you medium armor and shields as well as always prepared Detect Magic and Magic Missile. They get proficiency in Arcana and two wizard cantrips (choose non attack since they work off Wisdom). Next level start your wizard, I would also suggest Order of Scribes. Being full caster multiclass does give you your full spell slot progression but you will be one level behind on your spell levels. At level 2 you will have 8 cantrips.
The first thing that comes to mind for me towards this type of wizard would be a bladesinger. Though you can't wear heavy armor, it goes to medium, so if you still want to be a wizard instead of a hexblade or something, this feels like a good option to me. Some good spells for this build are the cantrip booming blade and combative spells like Shield. For your specific idea, I would suggest spells that will help you get to other places that would usually not be available to you, such as feather fall, enlarge reduce, or levitate.
shameless self promotion but i made a fighter subclass called occult ritualist, basically revolves around having been a failure either at wizard school, sorcerous bloodline not fully manifesting or making a deal with a warlock patron for material wealth so you didnt recieve any magical powers.
As a result you got left with no real skill so developed fighter class abilities and "pieced" together how magic work, the only side effect is you can only cast spells as rituals. It lies somewhere between warlock, fighter and the ritual caster feat.
Otherwise you could go divination wizard and specialise with using divination spells to locate ancient tombs, spam contant other plane to harress dead wizards and ask them about their work etc
Take five levels of Eldritch Knight, then switch to wizard.
Though really, Indiana Jones wasn't the type of character to use heavy armor. The intrepid explorer archetype depends too much on agility.
Alternatively, if you're fine with restricting yourself to medium armor, you could play a Mountain Dwarf, Hobgoblin, or Githyanki and get medium armor proficiency as a racial feature.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
2 Levels of straight Fighter is worth it, then switch to Wizard. You do NOT need the full 5 levels of fighter/Eldritch Knight - that costs you 2 1/2 spell slots. You will still be 1 spell slot behind, but you get
Heavy armor
An actual Shield in your offhand, no weapon in your main hand to cast spells
About 6 more hitpoints
Con Saves, and Stre (But Con is great for concentration spells)
Action Surge
Second Wind
Fighting Style (take Defense for yet another +1 to AC)
Perception as a class skill
You are giving up:
1 full spell slot - always be casting 3rd when others are casting 4th
Int and Wisdom saves
Wizardly skills, which really means Arcana
Have to buy a spellbook
An ASI (and delaying all of them by 2 levels)
Signature Spell at 20th level)
I think it is worth it for the Action Surge, IF you like the concept of Heavy Armor Wizard.
With an Indiana Jones-ish concept I could see even using Arcane Trickster as your class. Yes, you are not a wizard, but you have access to their list. Mage hand would be good exploring ruins and disarming traps (swap out that golden idol with a bag of sand from a distance and avoid the rolling bolder altogether). Higher level abilities, magical ambush, versatile trickster, and spell thief I could see as great abilities to deal with ruins denizens.
you don’t get heavy armor, but the lighter more mobile character I can see as a benefit to exploring.
Your description doesn't really scream wizard. It sounds more like a rogue arcane trickster; lock picking, trap disarming, and skulking through dungeons with a magical flavor. And a warlock could also fit your description rather well because of the invocations that let you see in the dark, detect magic, or read all writing. Rolling as an archaeologist is an easy way for a warlock patron to guided your efforts. And as a rogue you would be less likely to flinch about "grave robbing" or going places you shouldn't.
Wizards can make any role there own but it means having to make some choices before leveling up, heres the bio for a Necromancer "archeologist" called Fredrick Von Munihausen (NPC equivalent of lvl 12 Wizard).
Fredrick has been a necromancer for as long as he (or anyone else) can remember. He fell into it as a career, he started out as a morticians assistant at the Mages Guild at the young age of 8yrs old and was soon picked out for better things as he displayed a knack for complex magical theory and medicine. He quickly became accustomed to analyzing basic methods of spell interaction with living and dead tissue and by the age of 12 was helping prepare and repair cadavers for the necromancy school. At 15yrs old he went on his first field trip with the Necromancy school and his real talents became apparent. He displayed a knack for dungeon delving, trap lore and physical investigations. He soon became a "must have" member on any expedition and after becoming a fully fledged member of the Necromancers sect of the Mages Guild started his own delving and dungeoneering team and uncovered many artifacts and forgotten lore. His own research has been in emulating the powers of undeath as opposed to raising undead. Now at the ripe old age of 60 he has branched out and started working for the Thieves Guild in a senior advisor capacity. When asked why, his only comment is "it alleviates the boredom".
Based on that his lvl4 character sheet would include Variant Human (taking +1 Int/+1 wis but these could easily be switch over to dex & cons for a bit more resilience, Perception skill and Observant Feat), Sage Background (Wizards Apprentice, gaining Arcana and History), Wizard (taking Investigation & Medicine skills), lvl4 feat Dungeon Delver
As you gain levels and get Feat steer clear of the usual and look for things like Skilled, Skulker or Tough or if you want a bit more skill & spell utility go into the UA and get Arcanist and/or Theologian. Spell wise pick spells like chill touch, vampiric touch to mimic undead attacks and phantom steed, feather fall, Protection form Evil & Good and Alter Self for utility and all the ritual spells you can muster.
EDIT: war wizard would work quite well, using the level 2 abilities to represent honed reflexess, go fo spells with bonus action and reaction casting times as well
I actually ended up going with variant human and starting 1 level in fighter then taking wizard the rest of the way. I was trying to over engineer the problem big time. Although you make a good case for a second level dip in fighter down the road.
I could see this done with a mountain dwarf wizard, ala Torvald, and the investment of an extra feat for heavy armor, though I don't think heavy armor is needed unless you plan on dumping dexterity. This can also be done a bit more easily with a Githyanki, but that is harder to turn into a pc in my opinion.
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I have an idea for a wizard who specializes in ancient magic and ancient artifacts. He plunges into ancient ruins and such in search of old secrets and discoveries just for the heck of it, he isn't working towards any goal or some arbitrary concept of "power". He's just an archaeologist nerd with a penchant for old magics. In his time spent delving into ruins he's learned he needs to keep himself protected, and so I want him to wear a shield and heavy armor, with the war caster feat so he can cast while holding a shield, as well as focus on spells that would be particularly useful for Indiana Jones style escapades. I'm not sure the most effective/optimal way of getting all these things on to one character would be though. Thoughts?
If you want armour... Don't play a wizard. Unless you don't mind flavouring mage armour as heavy plate, but it's actually really light, then don't play wizard. (Unless you use ALL your ASI's for feats, but then you'll be bad a spells). As for the rest, it seems wizard. I would say that abjuration or scribes wizard (if your DM allows UA). Abjuration as you mentioned defense, and the 2nd level ability could be flavoured as a shield. Scribes wizard is all about knowledge, and it works very thematically. Spells that let you jump and run more are what you're looking for: expeditious retreat, longstrider etc. Find familiar and find traps (at higher levels) are good, especially in dungeons.
But I could also see this as a warlock. You can get medium armour and shields as a hexblade. I think that just light armour could work, and having the great old one as a patron would be cool. Pact of the tome gives you more flexibility in casting, allowing you to get some wizard spells. Hope this helped!
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
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Taking a first level dip into Arcana cleric gives you medium armor and shields as well as always prepared Detect Magic and Magic Missile. They get proficiency in Arcana and two wizard cantrips (choose non attack since they work off Wisdom). Next level start your wizard, I would also suggest Order of Scribes. Being full caster multiclass does give you your full spell slot progression but you will be one level behind on your spell levels. At level 2 you will have 8 cantrips.
The first thing that comes to mind for me towards this type of wizard would be a bladesinger. Though you can't wear heavy armor, it goes to medium, so if you still want to be a wizard instead of a hexblade or something, this feels like a good option to me. Some good spells for this build are the cantrip booming blade and combative spells like Shield. For your specific idea, I would suggest spells that will help you get to other places that would usually not be available to you, such as feather fall, enlarge reduce, or levitate.
shameless self promotion but i made a fighter subclass called occult ritualist, basically revolves around having been a failure either at wizard school, sorcerous bloodline not fully manifesting or making a deal with a warlock patron for material wealth so you didnt recieve any magical powers.
As a result you got left with no real skill so developed fighter class abilities and "pieced" together how magic work, the only side effect is you can only cast spells as rituals. It lies somewhere between warlock, fighter and the ritual caster feat.
link here: https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/216856-occult-ritualist
Otherwise you could go divination wizard and specialise with using divination spells to locate ancient tombs, spam contant other plane to harress dead wizards and ask them about their work etc
Take five levels of Eldritch Knight, then switch to wizard.
Though really, Indiana Jones wasn't the type of character to use heavy armor. The intrepid explorer archetype depends too much on agility.
Alternatively, if you're fine with restricting yourself to medium armor, you could play a Mountain Dwarf, Hobgoblin, or Githyanki and get medium armor proficiency as a racial feature.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
2 Levels of straight Fighter is worth it, then switch to Wizard. You do NOT need the full 5 levels of fighter/Eldritch Knight - that costs you 2 1/2 spell slots. You will still be 1 spell slot behind, but you get
You are giving up:
I think it is worth it for the Action Surge, IF you like the concept of Heavy Armor Wizard.
With an Indiana Jones-ish concept I could see even using Arcane Trickster as your class. Yes, you are not a wizard, but you have access to their list. Mage hand would be good exploring ruins and disarming traps (swap out that golden idol with a bag of sand from a distance and avoid the rolling bolder altogether). Higher level abilities, magical ambush, versatile trickster, and spell thief I could see as great abilities to deal with ruins denizens.
you don’t get heavy armor, but the lighter more mobile character I can see as a benefit to exploring.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
Your description doesn't really scream wizard. It sounds more like a rogue arcane trickster; lock picking, trap disarming, and skulking through dungeons with a magical flavor. And a warlock could also fit your description rather well because of the invocations that let you see in the dark, detect magic, or read all writing. Rolling as an archaeologist is an easy way for a warlock patron to guided your efforts. And as a rogue you would be less likely to flinch about "grave robbing" or going places you shouldn't.
Wizards can make any role there own but it means having to make some choices before leveling up, heres the bio for a Necromancer "archeologist" called Fredrick Von Munihausen (NPC equivalent of lvl 12 Wizard).
Fredrick has been a necromancer for as long as he (or anyone else) can remember. He fell into it as a career, he started out as a morticians assistant at the Mages Guild at the young age of 8yrs old and was soon picked out for better things as he displayed a knack for complex magical theory and medicine. He quickly became accustomed to analyzing basic methods of spell interaction with living and dead tissue and by the age of 12 was helping prepare and repair cadavers for the necromancy school.
At 15yrs old he went on his first field trip with the Necromancy school and his real talents became apparent. He displayed a knack for dungeon delving, trap lore and physical investigations. He soon became a "must have" member on any expedition and after becoming a fully fledged member of the Necromancers sect of the Mages Guild started his own delving and dungeoneering team and uncovered many artifacts and forgotten lore.
His own research has been in emulating the powers of undeath as opposed to raising undead.
Now at the ripe old age of 60 he has branched out and started working for the Thieves Guild in a senior advisor capacity. When asked why, his only comment is "it alleviates the boredom".
Based on that his lvl4 character sheet would include Variant Human (taking +1 Int/+1 wis but these could easily be switch over to dex & cons for a bit more resilience, Perception skill and Observant Feat), Sage Background (Wizards Apprentice, gaining Arcana and History), Wizard (taking Investigation & Medicine skills), lvl4 feat Dungeon Delver
As you gain levels and get Feat steer clear of the usual and look for things like Skilled, Skulker or Tough or if you want a bit more skill & spell utility go into the UA and get Arcanist and/or Theologian. Spell wise pick spells like chill touch, vampiric touch to mimic undead attacks and phantom steed, feather fall, Protection form Evil & Good and Alter Self for utility and all the ritual spells you can muster.
EDIT: war wizard would work quite well, using the level 2 abilities to represent honed reflexess, go fo spells with bonus action and reaction casting times as well
I actually ended up going with variant human and starting 1 level in fighter then taking wizard the rest of the way. I was trying to over engineer the problem big time. Although you make a good case for a second level dip in fighter down the road.
I could see this done with a mountain dwarf wizard, ala Torvald, and the investment of an extra feat for heavy armor, though I don't think heavy armor is needed unless you plan on dumping dexterity. This can also be done a bit more easily with a Githyanki, but that is harder to turn into a pc in my opinion.