Knock in a dangerous area(most areas you need to use it in) will likely bring multiple encounters to you at once, which could TPK the group.
Sure and if the Rogue fails his thieves tools check then you can't get in at all.
This is aside from the fact that the wizard, or any character, can get thieves tools proficiency. So a Wizard can try with a lockpick and then decide whether or not to cast knock, or dimension door, or gaseous form ....
Charm Person and Friends would be highly illegal in any civilized area.
So is killing and looting, yet we do a lot of that. Further if it is illegal to use friends to give you advantage on the deception check to convince the guards you are supposed to be in this section of the castle, then it is equally illegal to just lie to them about it with expertise in deception.
There are times when a good score and expertise are better than friends, but friends will work on any charisma check (even intimidate when you are trying to get the band of orcs to surrender) and numerically it will generally match expertise.
Friends makes the target hostile to you and the charmed person knows it was charmed. That and charm doesn't accomplish much. All it does is make the target regard you as a friendly acquaintance.
Charm Person sets the charmed condition, which gives you
"advantage on any ability check to interact socially".
Not even a friend. Just some guy you see and talk to every few months at a friend's party. If a friend couldn't persuade the merchant to give a discount, a friendly acquaintance won't have a chance, so no roll to get advantage on.
In this case it is no worse than having a 20 Charisma and expertise. No "face" can do this then, and yes it is impossible to talk your way out of something.
Do you really think casting weak social spells that are going to make enemies and/or result in the wizard going to jail or being a fugitive from justice is better than the party face just trying to talk the guy into it? Do you think risking a TPK with every knock spells is better than the rogue unlocking it quietly?
Anything that is going to get the wizard jailed is going to get your other "face" jailed too.
Stealth advantage to be unseen, sure. Not to be silent. Invisibility would provide no advantage against being heard.
Sure, but being unable to see would pose disadvantage on the check for those that rely on sight.
Further as noted earlier, invisibility makes you obscured. A 20th level Rogue with expertise in stealth and a 22 dexterity he got from a tome has less of a chance of hiding in a well lit room than a 3rd level invisible wizard with no proficiency at all.
And that is before we even consider darkvision ..... which the Wizard has a spell for or etherealness where he is not even on the same plane.
Ahh, but now it's not the wizard being better, it's the feats he chooses just like anyone else can.
Sure but he can choose those feats. Your point is the wizard can't be as good, yes he CAN. Not saying he should or that it is a good build but he CAN have a stealth ability as high as any Rogue BEFORE he boosts it further with magic.
The vast majority of wizards will never reach a level to cast etherealness and dimension door blindly is dangerous. I would be shocked if my players were so stupid as to use that spell for exploration, hoping that nothing solid is where they want to dimension door to.
Scouting ahead at all is dangerous and being at the whim of the dice, even with advantage and reliable talent is dangerous, and that is before you consider blindsight.
Not when he's being a fighter. He might have the wizard class, but he's not throwing around spells like a wizard unless he isn't being a fighter. He can't do both at once, and he can't be a better fighter than the fighter in any combat that he's being a good wizard.
I don't care he is still a wizard. If he is in melee, dominating melee then by definition he is not "throwing around spells" but he is still a wizard, no "like" about it.
And no one said he could do both at once, I only said he can dominate melee if he wants.
Clerics keep people up or bring them back from unconsciousness and bring back dead companions, so yes, he can't be a better cleric than a cleric. I agree. And there are tons of cleric spells that the wizard doesn't have, so your argument falls flat.
SOME Clerics do. The last cleric I played (tempest cleric with 1-level Fathomless Warlock dip) had healing word prepared and no other healing spells at all. She did none of this.
Most of her spell casting was either offensive (thunderwave, shatter, call lighting, dissonant whispers), battlefield control (fog cloud, silence) or defensive (shield of faith, sanctuary, Armor of Agathys)
The only time she cast a healing word is when a party member went down. I think I could have built a wizard to do that job just as well.
If you watched critical role you will note Jester did heal her party members often, but she did some but not a whole lot.
Charms are going to be illegal mind control in any civilized area and the target knows he has been charmed, so he's going to be running to the local authority as soon as the charm breaks.
Not in any I have played in. Not in any I've seen on online streams.
Again, in critical role Jester used a magic item (dust of deliciousness) and a spell that wipes memories (can't remember it) to get someone to reverse a curse on another character. It worked and no one got arrested.
Critical role is high level play and I did not see any of that.
Not to mention, unless you're rolling the wizard is going to have high int and mid to high dex/con. He can't have a high charisma unless he makes himself much easier to kill by dropping AC or hit points.
First of all rolling is the default, second there is no minimum intelligence, dexterity or constitution to play a wizard.
There is a trade off to everyting but spells cover a lot of ground. FWIW I have played a lot of wizards and I have only played one that had a higher constitution than charisma. She is a multiclassed Shadar Kai Cavalier-bladesinger I am still playing and she has a 12 con and 10 charisma and to be honest I am regretting that and wish I did it the other way around.
Most of the time on point buy I am shooting to start with an 8 strength, 16 Dex, 17 Intelligence, 10 constitution on a wizard. Then when it comes to Wisdom and Charisma split the remaining 7 with either a a 13 in one and a 10 in the other or a 14 charisma and an 8 wisdom.
I have a build I am working on that actually starts with a 8strength, 8 dex, 12 con, 16 Int, 17 Wis, 14 Charisma. It is going to be a Mountain Dwarf order cleric, enchantment Wizard in heavy armor who is going to go weaponless. To be honest it is more cleric than wizard, so I am not sure if it is really applicable to this discussion.
Right up until he gets eaten by something that can see invisibility, has ears and can hear the unstealthy clod, has blindsight/blindsense or a sense of smell. Which means lots of things.
If it can see the invisible wizard then it can see the unobscured Rogue too.