D&D 5E 9th level NPC wizard, what is your "Minimum Personal Security" suite?

[Ancalagon]

Since it's an NPC give him a Shield Guardian. That effectively doubles his hit points.

A very good point.

A wizard would have some kind of body guard... a few skeletons, some form of construct, a fiend... memorizing a summoning spell, especially if it's a creature that has useful non combat applications is another good idea.

I think it really depends where this wizard is though. Are they in a busy city? A court mage? Lonely tower on the moor?

That being said, I think that the OP's question is very valid. And I think that a wise wizard would have, at the very least, a way to escape combat, as many pointed out. And those emergency scrolls are... really important.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Don't take it personally, but I dislike this because it's already stronger than any armor made for rogues for example.

Okay.

It’s not, btw. It’s the same as studded leather armor with a given +X. The basic one is very slightly better than just casting Mage Armor, while the upgrades are more significant but also higher rarity and price.

 

[Lyxen]

. It’s not, btw. It’s the same as studded leather armor with a given +X. The basic one is very slightly better than just casting Mage Armor, while the upgrades are more significant but also higher rarity and price.

No, the “basic” is like a studded leather +1 which is already a Rare armour, only it’s already better as it doesn’t require any armour proficiency. As for the improved one, with the same advantage, it is therefore better than a studded leather +3, a legendary armour.

 

[Stalker0]

Since a lot of people are wanting to "decorate" the wizard's lair with various spells and things, I figured lets put some guidelines on that. So a 9th level wizard is a close equivalent to the "Mage" npc, which is a CR 6.

So we can use the equivalent of a "Treasure Hoard" to give us a ballpark on what he might have. So lets take the middle of the CR 5-10 treasure hoard tables (that's probably higher than normal for a CR 6 but this also includes components he has expended previously and he's a cool mage so he has some stuff).

That gives us
1) 10 50gp gems
2) 1-4 Table B Magic Items (examples: 2nd or 3rd level spell scrolls, mithral armor)
3) 3857 gp worth of coins

So that's a ballpark for things like spell scrolls and components they may have had access to.


Just a note: I am fully on board with NPCs not following the rules, and in most cases I would just give them whatever I thought was fitting. But for this discussion, I'm coloring in the lines, and I wanted to see what made sense using standard 5e considerations. For example, a shield guardian is probably too much. Alarm cannot be made permanent, so if we are using it, than that's one of our prepared spells. Meanwhile Glyphs of Warding and Arcane Locks are perfectly on the menu assuming we want to pay for it with our resources above.

I think having a few 2nd or 3rd level spell scrolls handy is very in line with our magic item notes above....but 4th and 5th level ones are not. A permanent Teleport Circle would cost ~18k in components, so that's not in the cards.

 

[Ancalagon]

I think if you take scrolls off the table, there's something wrong with the picture. They have resources for research, but don't scribe any scrolls for emergencies?

This is like ignoring a class ability.

I completely agree with you that they should have a few scrolls but... 5e is a bit... vague on scroll making isn't it? Xanathar helped clear that up, but given that this book isn't part of the core...

 

[Lyxen]

Just a note: I am fully on board with NPCs not following the rules, and in most cases I would just give them whatever I thought was fitting. But for this discussion, I'm coloring in the lines, and I wanted to see what made sense using standard 5e considerations. For example, a shield guardian is probably too much. Alarm cannot be made permanent, so if we are using it, than that's one of our prepared spells. Meanwhile Glyphs of Warding are perfectly on the menu assume we want to pay for it with our resources above.

As a wizard, you don’t need to prepare your ritual spells.

 

[Stalker0]

As a wizard, you don’t need to prepare your ritual spells.

Fair, though that means that the wizard has to consume 33 minutes of their day to maintain one alarm spell for 24 hours. It gets time expensive very quickly to do that with even a few of them, not to mention the travel time walking around whatever complex you live in to cast them. Its a little kinder if we assume that's only done at night or when they leave.

 

[HammerMan]

Lets assume an 18 int wizard, so a total of 13 prepared spells in total. If it matters for your discussion, here are the spell slots per day such a wizard has access to:

5th - 1
4th - 3
3rd - 3
2rd - 3
1st - 4
Floating Slots (assuming one short rest) - 5

Also lets assume the wizard does NOT have access to magic items. So his own spells are what he's got.

I am doing this without looking at other answers
13 preped spells, what do I use for combat

1st mage armor, shield
2nd (NONE)
3rd Fireball COunter Spell
4th Phantasmal killer (1 of banish, blight, or evard black tentacles depending on what you expect)
5th Enervation

having atleast 1 damaging cantrip with the above is good

that is half... 7 out of 13 if I really wanted to slim down I could drop both 4th level spells from my prep (use those slots for counter spell or fireball)
of those 7 mage armor, shield, and counter spell are defense and firball the 2 4th level are both offensive, and Enervation is both offense and self healing.
6 remaining will be more useful/misc... legend lore is a personal fav.

 

[HammerMan]

I think if you take scrolls off the table, there's something wrong with the picture. They have resources for research, but don't scribe any scrolls for emergencies?

This is like ignoring a class ability.

adding in scrolls makes the answer SO MUCH more complicated.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

No, the “basic” is like a studded leather +1

That's literally what I said. That's the first thing I said. It's also, as I said, the same AC as casting mage armor. So it's a magic item that turns a level 1 spell that lasts 8 hours without concentration into an at-will effect. The Warlock can get the same thing with an invocation.

which is already a Rare armour, only it’s already better as it doesn’t require any armour proficiency. As for the improved one, with the same advantage, it is therefore better than a studded leather +3, a legendary armour.

Or, it's comparable to magical medium armor, like mithral half plate. The proficiency point is completely irrelevant.

Also, a +1 shield is uncommon.

All of which is beside the more important point, which is...okay? Don't use it then?