More often or not, many wizards spend years or decades, studying the fundamentals of arcane mastery. However, it is quite rare to witness these willful masters within the battlefield. As chaos reigns over the ground, there are some wizards who bend the forces of evocative magic to their will as a means to fight against conflict. This tradition is regarded as the School of Arcane Artillery.

Followers of this tradition are known as Arcane Artillerists, Magic Rainmakers, or Spell-Gunners since many practitioners of the artform choose to remain in the backlines. By combining both spells and martial marksmanship, these individuals become banes on the battlefield, striking fear on those who oppose them.

While similar to War Mages, Spell-Gunners focus on morphing magic as a whole in order to have full control on the battlefield, rather than acting as steady bulwarks of arcane might.

School of Arcane Artillery Features

Wizard Level	Feature(s)
2nd	Magical Arsenal, Spell Morphing
6th	Rapid Vigor
10th	Mystical Impairment
14th	Arcane Bulwark

Magical Arsenal

When you choose this tradition at 2nd level, you gain proficiency in light armour and firearms.

If you’re proficient with a ranged weapon, you can use it as a spellcasting focus for your wizard spells.

Firearms in Dungeons & Dragons

While firearms don't usually exist in the Dungeons & Dragons multiverse, you can choose to implement them in your game. This subclass in particular uses the rules listed in the Firearms section on page 267 of The Dungeon Master's Guide.

 

Ammunition. The ammunition of a firearm is destroyed upon use. Renaissance and modern firearms use bullets. Futuristic firearms are powered by a special type of ammunition called energy cells. An energy cell contains enough power for all the shots its firearm can make.

Burst Fire. A weapon that has the burst fire property can make a normal single-target attack, or it can spray a 10-foot-cube area within normal range with shots. Each creature in the area must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take the weapon’s normal damage. This action uses ten pieces of ammunition.

Reload. A limited number of shots can be made with a weapon that has the reload property. A character must then reload it using an action or a bonus action (the character’s choice).

Spell Morphing

At 2nd level, your training and skill have allowed you to augment and expand certain properties of spells. Whenever you cast a wizard spell of 1st-level or higher that has an area of effect, you can choose to expand or contract the spell's area by 5 feet. Specifically this includes:

• The radius of any sphere, cylinder or circle
• The lengths of any cone, line, wall or cube
• The height and width of any cylinder or wall.

The amount of area that you can contract or expand increases to 10 feet when you reach the 10th level in this class.

Rapid Vigor

Beginning at 6th level, your quick wits has given you an advantage on the battlefield. Whenever you cast a wizard spell of 1st-level or higher as an action, you can use your bonus action to make a single ranged weapon attack.

You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all uses of this ability whenever you finish a long rest.

Mystical Impairment

Starting at 10th level, your mastery with ranged weapons has allowed you to cripple your opponents against your arcane might.

If you successfully hit a creature with a ranged weapon attack, that creature has disadvantage on the next saving throw it makes against a spell you cast before the end of your next turn.

Arcane Bulwark

At 14th level, you learn how to channel your spells to give temporary aid under heavy fire. While you maintain concentration on a spell, you and up to two friendly creatures of your choice within 30 feet of you gain a +2 bonus to all saving throws and a number of temporary hitpoints equal to half your wizard level, rounded up.