I'm having wizard fever again, and my indecision over which Wizard subclass to commit to is pulling me in all directions.
Curiously, I've begun to entertain the notion of a Dwarf Wizard, and so I've wrestled with which subclass suits their strengths & weaknesses...and I've arrived Abjuration vs. Conjuration.
For "Abjuration", I'm looking at the Mark of Warding dwarf subrace, for the +1 Intelligence, and the appropriate abjuration spells they can receive...chiefly, "Armor of Agathys", and later, "Antilife Shell".
Notably, Abjuration is just a rock-solid subclass...you boost your health buffer, extend that protection to allies, enhance your negation spells, and then SPELL RESISTANCE as a capstone...pretty sweet the whole way through. A rather sturdy dwarf wizard could seriously benefit from these layers of defenses...perhaps even get a Booming Blade or Shocking Grasp in every now and then.
The only downside is that abjuration sacrifices flair for function...abjuration spells are undeniably useful, but they aren't as exciting as, say, a combusting fireball, a bolt of lightning, or a writhing mass of tentacles.
Compared to "Conjuration", you have a seriously diverse assortment of spells surpassed only by Transmutation spell list...Conjuration gives you mobility & support, in the way of summons.
And those new summon spirit spells...they seriously give the Conjuration tradition a fresh injection of power & support abilities, with the spirits attacking AFTER the conjuration wizard's own turn, an applying their various debuffs.
Conjuration has interesting subclass features, as well...conjuring whatever small tool you need for exploration, teleporting yourself or swapping places with allies in a pinch, beefing up your summons with extra health...and IGNORING CONCENTRATION CHECKS ON CONJURATION SPELLS.
That last one is particularly delicious with the new Summon Spirit spells...for my own Dwarf Wizard, I figured on shoring up their defenses with a Mountain Dwarf subrace for Medium Armor proficiency...perhaps taking one level in Artificer for additional spells & proficiencies...
But then I keep coming back to Abjuration...with a single multiclass into Artificer, you also gain "Faerie Fire" or "Sanctuary"...Sanctuary being particularly good for Abjuration Wizards, as it refuels their wards...and Wizards can keep that Sanctuary going for a long time, as they have buff & debuff spells to support their comrades without breaking Sanctuary in combat.
I'm torn...but ignore my own indecision: I want to ask the rest of you your thoughts on how Abjuration stacks up against Conjuration.
Which subclass do you think offers more?
Which is more fun, effective, or provides roleplaying opportunity?
What personal experiences or stories have you had with Abjuration or Conjuration builds?
I find I play the classes that have more flavor and also seem a bit more like an underdog. Conjuration would be my choice hands down, as Abjuration is overplayed and honestly not as solid as it sounds (especially when you start to really get in melee range).
And at the end of the day, who doesn’t want an unstoppable Flaming Sphere, Cloudkill, Sleet Storm, or Incendiary Cloud???
I find I play the classes that have more flavor and also seem a bit more like an underdog. Conjuration would be my choice hands down, as Abjuration is overplayed and honestly not as solid as it sounds (especially when you start to really get in melee range).
And at the end of the day, who doesn’t want an unstoppable Flaming Sphere, Cloudkill, Sleet Storm, or Incendiary Cloud???
I enjoy the prospect of an unstoppable "Watery Sphere"...that would be SO annoying.
I find I play the classes that have more flavor and also seem a bit more like an underdog. Conjuration would be my choice hands down, as Abjuration is overplayed and honestly not as solid as it sounds (especially when you start to really get in melee range).
And at the end of the day, who doesn’t want an unstoppable Flaming Sphere, Cloudkill, Sleet Storm, or Incendiary Cloud???
I enjoy the prospect of an unstoppable "Watery Sphere"...that would be SO annoying.
Absolutely... play your own version of Pokemon, collecting baddies in the sphere...
My personal fave is Sleet Storm on top of some mages... which War Caster won’t help against (it’s not damage). And the DC is your Spell Save DC... 🤩
My suggestion is build your wizard at 1st level so that he’ll be fun to play and then pick your school based on the strengths and weaknesses of your party. I’ve started doing that and it’s more fun playing that way than it is building my PC and sticking with that build no matter what the other party members do. I do build my characters a little bit ahead, but I don’t plan more than one or two levels ahead any more.
The Abjurer wizard is always a Safe-plan if the party is filled with "overprouded characters" ( iykwim ). It's so common to find paladins or clerics that focus in battle instead of being butt-savers. So if your party is like this, don't be so ashamed to be an Abjurer, the effort it's pretty worthed it.
The Conjurer is also a butt-saver, just using distractions, portals, or invocations. Then, it depends on the party, and how they play to decide by yourself what kinda school you gonna focus into.
You only have to remember the Wizard decides what school gonna masterize at LVL 3..... so, good luck and never be ashamed of it.
I’ve tried this exact build: Mark of Warding Dwarf Abjuration Wizard all though level 6 and I have to say that my biggest hurdle was to manage the sheer amount of power, durability and versatility I had in my own hands to not outshine my other fellow players.
My humble Dwarf was literally tanking more damage than our Barbarian and the combination of Arcane Ward + Armor of Agathys almost ruined every melee combat planned by our DM. I was deliberately choosing to not cast AoA again and refresh the Ward in order to not break the immersion. As a Mark of Warding Dwarf, you have two resourceless way per day of replenish your Arcane Ward through one free use of Mage Armor and Alarm. I was capable of trivialize most melee encounters with just one spell and my school feature — at level 2.
If we start accounting the usual battlefield control and versatile tricks any Wizard can do, regardless your School, then you’ll notice that a Mark of Warding Dwarf Abjurer is a powerhouse by itself. Oh, you even have a “Guidance-like” feature for any Investigation roll.
Small things seasoned Wizards can do like Minor Illusion, Create Bonfire, Sleep, Tasha’s Hideous Laugher, Unseen Servant and Find Familiar at lower levels: grab some flask of oil and pour it any enemies square through your Unseen Servants (using a bonus action), light a Create Bonfire upon them and expect at least 5 of fire damage.
At higher levels, we all know the game-changer spells any Wizard will get: Hold Person, Web, Mirror Image, Misty Step, Counterspell, Fireball, Hypnotic Pattern, etc. Since you are really tough and deadly at melee range, your DM can start changing his tactics and starts throwing lots of ranged enemies upon your group — and that’s when subpar spells like Warding Wind can save the day.
I would like to share a particular and usually not-so-effective combination that improves a lot in the hands of an Abjurer: Dragon’s Breath + Find Familiar.
You basically cast Dragon’s Breath in your Owl familiar, choose a very good elemental damage not resisted by everyone and as a “free action” you have a small AoE damage (15-foot cone, 3d6) every round. What’s the biggest weakness of this combination? Well, familiars are super fragile and only have 1 HP, your Owl fire-breathing of course will become an easy target for your enemies — and that’s when our level 6 ability Projected Ward comes into play. You are able to protect your Owl familiar entirely, to the point that 2-3 turns keeping it alive will surely pays off the damage caused by Dragon’s Breath as a “free action”. And you haven’t even used your action and bonus action.
So yes, I can say in practice, if you want to be truly powerful, durable and versatile, play a Mark of Warding Dwarf Abjuration Wizard — and don’t even bother to multiclass, you are so freaking cool that you don’t need Artificer or Cleric dips, you are already tough as nails.
I realize this thread is old but I thought I'd point out something that might away you to Abjuration. If your ward takes all the damage, you don't need to roll concentration checks. Pretty great!
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I'm having wizard fever again, and my indecision over which Wizard subclass to commit to is pulling me in all directions.
Curiously, I've begun to entertain the notion of a Dwarf Wizard, and so I've wrestled with which subclass suits their strengths & weaknesses...and I've arrived Abjuration vs. Conjuration.
For "Abjuration", I'm looking at the Mark of Warding dwarf subrace, for the +1 Intelligence, and the appropriate abjuration spells they can receive...chiefly, "Armor of Agathys", and later, "Antilife Shell".
Notably, Abjuration is just a rock-solid subclass...you boost your health buffer, extend that protection to allies, enhance your negation spells, and then SPELL RESISTANCE as a capstone...pretty sweet the whole way through. A rather sturdy dwarf wizard could seriously benefit from these layers of defenses...perhaps even get a Booming Blade or Shocking Grasp in every now and then.
The only downside is that abjuration sacrifices flair for function...abjuration spells are undeniably useful, but they aren't as exciting as, say, a combusting fireball, a bolt of lightning, or a writhing mass of tentacles.
Compared to "Conjuration", you have a seriously diverse assortment of spells surpassed only by Transmutation spell list...Conjuration gives you mobility & support, in the way of summons.
And those new summon spirit spells...they seriously give the Conjuration tradition a fresh injection of power & support abilities, with the spirits attacking AFTER the conjuration wizard's own turn, an applying their various debuffs.
Conjuration has interesting subclass features, as well...conjuring whatever small tool you need for exploration, teleporting yourself or swapping places with allies in a pinch, beefing up your summons with extra health...and IGNORING CONCENTRATION CHECKS ON CONJURATION SPELLS.
That last one is particularly delicious with the new Summon Spirit spells...for my own Dwarf Wizard, I figured on shoring up their defenses with a Mountain Dwarf subrace for Medium Armor proficiency...perhaps taking one level in Artificer for additional spells & proficiencies...
But then I keep coming back to Abjuration...with a single multiclass into Artificer, you also gain "Faerie Fire" or "Sanctuary"...Sanctuary being particularly good for Abjuration Wizards, as it refuels their wards...and Wizards can keep that Sanctuary going for a long time, as they have buff & debuff spells to support their comrades without breaking Sanctuary in combat.
I'm torn...but ignore my own indecision: I want to ask the rest of you your thoughts on how Abjuration stacks up against Conjuration.
Which subclass do you think offers more?
Which is more fun, effective, or provides roleplaying opportunity?
What personal experiences or stories have you had with Abjuration or Conjuration builds?
I find I play the classes that have more flavor and also seem a bit more like an underdog. Conjuration would be my choice hands down, as Abjuration is overplayed and honestly not as solid as it sounds (especially when you start to really get in melee range).
And at the end of the day, who doesn’t want an unstoppable Flaming Sphere, Cloudkill, Sleet Storm, or Incendiary Cloud???
I enjoy the prospect of an unstoppable "Watery Sphere"...that would be SO annoying.
Absolutely... play your own version of Pokemon, collecting baddies in the sphere...
My personal fave is Sleet Storm on top of some mages... which War Caster won’t help against (it’s not damage). And the DC is your Spell Save DC... 🤩
My suggestion is build your wizard at 1st level so that he’ll be fun to play and then pick your school based on the strengths and weaknesses of your party. I’ve started doing that and it’s more fun playing that way than it is building my PC and sticking with that build no matter what the other party members do. I do build my characters a little bit ahead, but I don’t plan more than one or two levels ahead any more.
Professional computer geek
The Abjurer wizard is always a Safe-plan if the party is filled with "overprouded characters" ( iykwim ). It's so common to find paladins or clerics that focus in battle instead of being butt-savers. So if your party is like this, don't be so ashamed to be an Abjurer, the effort it's pretty worthed it.
The Conjurer is also a butt-saver, just using distractions, portals, or invocations. Then, it depends on the party, and how they play to decide by yourself what kinda school you gonna focus into.
You only have to remember the Wizard decides what school gonna masterize at LVL 3..... so, good luck and never be ashamed of it.
My Ready-to-rock&roll chars:
Dertinus Tristany // Amilcar Barca // Vicenç Sacrarius // Oriol Deulofeu // Grovtuk
What? No. It’s level 2.
Mmmm...
I still prefer Abjuration. They can take out the rest of a 4 person party one-handed (all at 1st level)! Who could resist them?
Chilling kinda vibe.
I’ve tried this exact build: Mark of Warding Dwarf Abjuration Wizard all though level 6 and I have to say that my biggest hurdle was to manage the sheer amount of power, durability and versatility I had in my own hands to not outshine my other fellow players.
My humble Dwarf was literally tanking more damage than our Barbarian and the combination of Arcane Ward + Armor of Agathys almost ruined every melee combat planned by our DM. I was deliberately choosing to not cast AoA again and refresh the Ward in order to not break the immersion. As a Mark of Warding Dwarf, you have two resourceless way per day of replenish your Arcane Ward through one free use of Mage Armor and Alarm. I was capable of trivialize most melee encounters with just one spell and my school feature — at level 2.
If we start accounting the usual battlefield control and versatile tricks any Wizard can do, regardless your School, then you’ll notice that a Mark of Warding Dwarf Abjurer is a powerhouse by itself. Oh, you even have a “Guidance-like” feature for any Investigation roll.
Small things seasoned Wizards can do like Minor Illusion, Create Bonfire, Sleep, Tasha’s Hideous Laugher, Unseen Servant and Find Familiar at lower levels: grab some flask of oil and pour it any enemies square through your Unseen Servants (using a bonus action), light a Create Bonfire upon them and expect at least 5 of fire damage.
At higher levels, we all know the game-changer spells any Wizard will get: Hold Person, Web, Mirror Image, Misty Step, Counterspell, Fireball, Hypnotic Pattern, etc. Since you are really tough and deadly at melee range, your DM can start changing his tactics and starts throwing lots of ranged enemies upon your group — and that’s when subpar spells like Warding Wind can save the day.
I would like to share a particular and usually not-so-effective combination that improves a lot in the hands of an Abjurer: Dragon’s Breath + Find Familiar.
You basically cast Dragon’s Breath in your Owl familiar, choose a very good elemental damage not resisted by everyone and as a “free action” you have a small AoE damage (15-foot cone, 3d6) every round. What’s the biggest weakness of this combination? Well, familiars are super fragile and only have 1 HP, your Owl fire-breathing of course will become an easy target for your enemies — and that’s when our level 6 ability Projected Ward comes into play. You are able to protect your Owl familiar entirely, to the point that 2-3 turns keeping it alive will surely pays off the damage caused by Dragon’s Breath as a “free action”. And you haven’t even used your action and bonus action.
So yes, I can say in practice, if you want to be truly powerful, durable and versatile, play a Mark of Warding Dwarf Abjuration Wizard — and don’t even bother to multiclass, you are so freaking cool that you don’t need Artificer or Cleric dips, you are already tough as nails.
I realize this thread is old but I thought I'd point out something that might away you to Abjuration. If your ward takes all the damage, you don't need to roll concentration checks. Pretty great!