D&D 5E Dwarves are the best spellcasters?

[Jaracove]

A mate of mine commented on how dwarves seem to be the best wizards...

"Dwarves with their racial armour proficiency and bonus Con, make the best Wizards. Elven wizards can boast one extra Cantrip and +1 Int, but in the grand scheme of things, that hardly adds p to grand arcane mastery.

The extra Con makes up for the low HD, certainly, but it's the armour proficiency that's the big clincher. in 5ed, you can be walking around in breastplate armour, wielding a warhammer and slinging spells as a 1st level dwarf. Elves getting +1 Int (and only High Elves) does not make a significant enough difference to make them superior magi. No race gets more than +1 Int, so the dwarven racial abilities that cover all the areas that Wizards normally lack (armour, good weapons, HP) makes them better wizards than anyone else."

Has he a point? I don't know enough to comment if I'm honest

 

[Evenglare]

A mate of mine commented on how dwarves seem to be the best wizards...

"Dwarves with their racial armour proficiency and bonus Con, make the best Wizards. Elven wizards can boast one extra Cantrip and +1 Int, but in the grand scheme of things, that hardly adds p to grand arcane mastery.

The extra Con makes up for the low HD, certainly, but it's the armour proficiency that's the big clincher. in 5ed, you can be walking around in breastplate armour, wielding a warhammer and slinging spells as a 1st level dwarf. Elves getting +1 Int (and only High Elves) does not make a significant enough difference to make them superior magi. No race gets more than +1 Int, so the dwarven racial abilities that cover all the areas that Wizards normally lack (armour, good weapons, HP) makes them better wizards than anyone else."

Has he a point? I don't know enough to comment if I'm honest

Point buy only goes to 15, elves get that one point and that does make quite the difference, dwarf wizards are pretty good but they do lack in casting. There's a huge topic about this here and on the wizards board. Pretty much the base line is dwarves have more survivability getting hit, but elves are better casters... which you know... is what a wizard does. Me personally? I don't know why I'd need that extra support THAT much why isn't my party protecting me? Especially with the new shield rules that make great defenders. But whatever I'm really tired of this topic being brought up (obviously not tired enough to not comment).

 

[Nebulous]

If i think about it realistically (which D&D is not anywhere close, i know) the reason why a wizard would not "historically" wear armor is because it is too damn heavy and encumbering. In D&D you would also need to easily and quickly reach for a component pouch, which would be all but impossible in gauntlets and plate.

 

[Xodis]

There are advantages and disadvantages to being a Dwarven Spellcaster (pun TOTALLY intended), the other thread that was mentioned has the math all boiled down. In summery, anyone that plays either version of a Wizard should feel free to do so, the benefits are not spectacular enough to drastically change the game.

 

[Wolfskin]

There are advantages and disadvantages to being a Dwarven Spellcaster (pun TOTALLY intended), the other thread that was mentioned has the math all boiled down. In summery, anyone that plays either version of a Wizard should feel free to do so, the benefits are not spectacular enough to drastically change the game.

Pretty much this. I'm happy people can play a dwarf wizard if they want without getting shafted by the rules, but it's not really a killer build. I'd personally stick to an Elf or Human Wizard for getting Int 16 ASAP.

 

[Evenglare]

Pretty much this. I'm happy people can play a dwarf wizard if they want without getting shafted by the rules, but it's not really a killer build. I'd personally stick to an Elf or Human Wizard for getting Int 16 ASAP.

I'm of like mind, also people seem to be dismissing cantrips for some reason. Cantrips are pretty damn powerful in 5e don't assume your past knowledge of the game applies, especially with cantrips. I imagine when the PHB comes out and we get even more cantrips you will see clearly what the High Elf advantages are.

(Edit: I'm not referring specifically to you Wolfskin when you say "your", just to be clear, you seem to have a good idea of what a wizard can do lol)

 

[Aloïsius]

in 5ed, you can be walking around in breastplate armour, wielding a warhammer and slinging spells as a 1st level dwarf.

Or you could forget about being both a bad fighter and a mediocre wizard, and play either a real fighter or a good wizard.

I mean, a dwarf wizard has a low speed : he lacks the mobility required to cast his spell out of danger. So, he wears heavy armor to compensate somewhat. That won't protect him from grappling monsters or nat 20 anyway, while being 10 foot away behind the real fighter (or barbarian/paladin, whatever meat shield is protecting you) would.

Note that I'm absolutely OK with someone playing a dwarf spellcaster, even a dwarf wizard, for any roleplaying reason one can find. But playing it because it's the "superior" option ? Maybe in a solo or duo party group. In a classical four to five members party, chances are that the other players will complain about the wizard not doing his job. When you wield a warhammer, you don't cast spells.

 

[Jaracove]

Good points

Thanks all for the input

 

[Ebony Dragon]

Some people here posting like wizards don't get attacked, lol.
In the last Pathfinder game I played our party wizard was getting pounded *all* the time. As soon as opponents knew who the wizard was they knew he would be the easiest person to take out of commission. Luckily, in 3.X spell casters have all sorts of ridiculous ways to survive and skirt damage.

In that game our wizard often used some spell that could invoke a force bubble around himself at immediate speed. Great for surviving, but it did take him out of combat for a round or two because he would be trapped in the bubble then on his next round.

Now in 5E they are solving the "stack a million buffs" phenomenon so who knows if wizards will be able to put up as many ridiculous magical defenses that can always be active as they did in 3.X. From what I've seen so far of the rules, I doubt it. That medium armor proficiency could be a huge benefit, even at higher levels.

 

[AverageCitizen]

Humans can start with +2 int in the alpha.