D&D 5E Sell me on Wizards

[raleel]

So... Wizards (the class).

I've played a lot of classes. I've been playing since 1978. One of the first characters I played was a wizard, and I always enjoyed things like making spells and the shenanigans one could pull.

It seems, though, like there is not much talk about wizards on the board. No guide (a few weeks out, from the senior folks). Very few spell questions, but also very little excitement about them. Reading over wizards, it seems like there is not much to get excited about either - concentration has really trimmed down the amount of shenanigans you can pull at one time, damage has been flattened pretty seriously, and spells have been altered such that it is difficult to pull, as one of my group puts it, F***ery. Not that I think that is necessarily a bad thing - there are plenty of reasons to get upset about loose wording and the like.

But this lack of excitement does make it seem like the wizard is sub par. I see people yell "utility!" but then I see a cleric with half the spell list, but 2-5x the accessibility to the list, which makes the wizards utility seem pretty constrained, or pretty niche, or both. This, combined with the aforementioned concentration and tightening up of spell language is not helping with a view that wizards are more than a handy NPC to have around, but not really PC material until they are tossing around meteor swarms.

A bit saving grace is rituals, which are really good, but perhaps not as glamorous as all that. Pretty cool that you can keep up find familiar or unseen servant or alarm all the time, but on the other hand, maybe not all that useful.

So, tell me of awesomeness of your wizard, or cool things you've found. Neat combinations, handy tricks. Sell me on a wizard here, because I'm aiming to play one, and I'd like to not be disillusioned. Particularly if it is lower level.

I'll start - Minor illusion might be the best cantrip. It doesn't require concentration, it doesn't require a verbal component (strong from stealth), and requires interaction or an Intelligence (Investigation) to disbelieve. Incredibly handy for things like portable concealment (I'm behind a rock! Heck, I'm in a rock), lures (look, wagon full of goodies, or the cry of prey), potentially even cover (until that first one goes through it I suppose). It is super super useful, and a good reason to just go Gnome out of the gate.

 

[Skyscraper]

Wizards are wizards man! Spellbooks, familiars, fireballs and all that cool stuff! They'll put the seed of fear into men's hearts, because who doesn't fea magic?

Don't let numbers or other such mundane things deter you from playing the class you want to play. Play the wizard, and make him fearsome and great as he should be!

 

[Zaran]

I have been underwhelmed with the 5e Wizard. I think almost all the schools are weak. I dislike that wizards only get 1 of each high level spell slot. They don't start with enough cantrips that I think an apprentice would have. There is no generalist wizard. Cantrip damage is so weak when compared to martial characters (Not just a wizard issue). There is a big disparity in spells. Why does Bigby's Hand do more damage than Mordenkanen's sword? There aren't many good feats for a wizard to select.

Personally, I think that WotC was afraid to give any kind of bonus to this class. People argue "well, they have so much versatility in spell selection" So? I still feel like wizards were overly nerfed. because of balance issues in 3rd edition. I can see some of that but I think it was taken too far.

 

[Kobold Stew]

I love the 5e wizard. Almost all the schools give strong, defining flavour that make them interesting and unique. I love the tactical element involved in dealing with only 1 of each higher-level spell slot per day, requiring more system mastery of from the player. They start with three cantrips, which remain useful throughout their wizarding career, and gain more as they level up. Every school is effectively a generalist wizard; there are no penalties associated with preferring one school over another. Cantrip damage scales as you level up. There are a few spells that I've yet to see shown to be effective in play (Mordenkanen's sword especially). There are several feats that benefit any spell caster.

Personally, I love what WotC has done with this class -- I've never wanted to play an Abjurer or a Diviner before, and now both are flavourful and look fun. Necromancer fully supported out of the gate; Enchantment, Illusion... each one gives a flavour that was lacking for me previously in specialist schools. And there's eight to choose from!

Wizards are a creative, thought-through, amped up class that allows truly individual designs to make each one unique, a process supplemented by backgrounds and feats. Best Wizards ever.

 

[MortalPlague]

The half-orc wizard in my 14th level game routinely tears it up.

It was his efforts that let the party scry an ancient black dragon and its rider, teleport onto the dragon's back, and disintegrate the rider in their surprise round. Then he used fly to get to safety while plummeting through the air. Then while the dragon hunted the interlopers, he nearly succeeded in using his teleportation circle to escape.

(The party had to fight the dragon off instead. Hiding from a dragon is nearly impossible with their perception checks!)

Seriously though, some of the abilities of the various schools are outstanding. A quick look:

Abjuration School - Arcane Ward. You have a renewable source of temporary hit points! Later on, you can extend that to shield your other party members from harm. Also, later on, you get resistance to magic. This is huge!

Conjuration School - The powers these guys get have tremendous roleplay opportunity (and on top of that, plenty of practical application for dungeon crawling).

Divination School - The half-orc wizard in my game has this school. The fact that he can pre-roll some dice and sub them in for a d20 roll somebody is going to make (him, another player, or a monster) is huge. It's what allowed him to disintegrate the black dragon rider. He 'knew' he would roll a 3 on his save.

Lots of other schools in the list... Enchanters can divert attacks to other creatures (including enemies), Evokers are just pure damage-dealers, Necromancers can heal themselves when they kill a creature, Transmuters get a philosopher's stone (an incredibly useful buff item). Honestly, the wealth of flavorful, mechanically potent possibilities are very compelling.

And that's not even looking at the spells!

 

[Mr Fixit]

Honestly, the wealth of flavorful, mechanically potent possibilities are very compelling.

Agreed. 5E wizard looks very sweet. If only I could say the same about sorcerer; in my view the weakest class in the PHB, and I don't mean that from a power gamer's perspective. Every other class in the game is mechanically distinctive. Sorcerer feels like a wizard-lite with some metamagic thrown in.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

Wizards have far and away the best spell selection of any class, and they can learn all of them. The neo-vancian spell slots and infinite scaling cantrips mean that they can prepare a good variety of utility spells without gimping their combat effectiveness. They get awesome subclass abilities. Really, the only discussions I've seen of wizards is whether they are overpowered and which subclass is the most awesome. Both seem unresolved.

 

[Mort]

I don't have the PH with me at the moment so my replies will be more general than I would like, still I think you're being overly harsh:

I have been underwhelmed with the 5e Wizard. I think almost all the schools are weak.

Really? Diviners get a pretty big benefit being able to substitute die rolls of allies OR enemies and doing multiple times a day - that's HUGE. Transmuters get pretty nice benefits from the philosopher's stone - not as good as the playtest - but oh well. Abjurers get a renewable hit point boost.

Overall many of the abilities are both flavorful and decent.

I dislike that wizards only get 1 of each high level spell slot.

Because high level spells can do some serious stuff - now they actually have to resource manage as opposed to have the illusion of resource management.

They don't start with enough cantrips that I think an apprentice would have.

3 is not enough? I guess that's a taste issue but seems plenty to me.

There is no generalist wizard.

Again a taste issue - there is no disadvantage to specialization only advantage.

Cantrip damage is so weak when compared to martial characters (Not just a wizard issue).

By design. The wizard has the option to pull out the big guns, martial characters don't. I don't see 1d10 damage when the wizard chooses to conserve resources as that bad at all - and it scales.

There is a big disparity in spells. Why does Bigby's Hand do more damage than Mordenkanen's sword?

This seems to be true, but only because the wizard gets so many spells to choose from.

There aren't many good feats for a wizard to select.

This puzzles me. Spell sniper is awesome for a wizard (the wizard in our group is very effective with it). Warcaster makes concentration checks much easier even Tough is actually worth it for a wizard. I'm sure there are others if I had the book in front of me.
And if you don't like the feats, take the +2 to a stat since for wizards Int is king (they are probably the least MAD class) you can't really go wrong with that.

Personally, I think that WotC was afraid to give any kind of bonus to this class. People argue "well, they have so much versatility in spell selection" So? I still feel like wizards were overly nerfed. because of balance issues in 3rd edition. I can see some of that but I think it was taken too far.

I think they were nerfed just enough. A low level wizard is effective, a mid level wizard is powerhouse that must be taken very seriously and a high level wizard is still a worldbeater - It's just now they actually have to conserve their resources and they can't layer spells in the seriously broken way they used to.

Further your discounting rituals, I think there could be a few more of them, but they add power and versatility to the class.

 

[KarinsDad]

The neo-vancian spell slots and infinite scaling cantrips mean that they can prepare a good variety of utility spells without gimping their combat effectiveness.

Without gimping more their already gimped combat effectiveness.

At low levels (and I've only played levels 1 to 3), combat cantrips are really weak. The wizard hardly contributes. Sure, when his Burning Hands or Sleep (for those wizards who takes spells like that) work, it can really make an encounter. But contributing significantly less in two encounters in three and contributing more in one encounter in three seems less satisfying. A wizard is almost forced to take damaging spells in order to contribute. Spells like Web and Hold Person seem to fizzle pretty darn quickly.

After throwing cantrips for the first 8 or 10 rounds of the day, the low level wizard fires off his mega-spell that he's been saving, only to see it fall on its face half of the time. And he also watches as the Bard is throwing some of the same spells, but still has better AC, hit points, and is often better in combat. The whole "should I use Mage Armor and give up one of my spell slots, or should I hang back so far that nobody can target me" conundrum rears its ugly head.

I totally get the balance thing, but am still somewhat unimpressed. I think 4E has ruined me for playing wizards (which has always been one of my favorite classes).

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

On the other hand, the game is called Dungeons & Dragons, not Wizards & Warriors.