D&D General Enchantment wizard

[GoblinOrc]

Hey
I have a few questions about enchantment wizards.

• For those that have played one what are the pros and cons of that school of magic?
• What could help me make it stronger if anything?
• Are there any examples from movies, tv, books that have enchantment wizards?

 

[aco175]

They are fine, but feel a bit underpowered to those that cast big damaging spells. Some game worlds view charming people as bad as killing them, so talk with the DM to get a feel of things. I think they would be good in a party where there is a lot of politics and city adventuring and less suited for dungeon crawling where undead and constructs are immune to charming.

Maybe just have a 'normal' wizard and take a bunch of enchantment spells for flavor, but still have a few other spells for the other situations.

One of the most famous enchanters in the world did not cast anything but fire bolts and blasts, so there is that.

 

[Krachek]

Stronger? Don’t compel you to play only enchantement spell.

 

[pukunui]

For those that have played one what are the pros and cons of that school of magic?

A potentially major con is that enchantment is frequently about mind control, which can be considered a horrible thing.

Are there any examples from movies, tv, books that have enchantment wizards?

Jafar from Aladdin would be a good example of an enchanter.

 

[J-H]

The defensive attack-redirect is pretty situational. It works best in small, crowded rooms with allies around. I ran an NPC enchanter through my Goblin Defense module, and it got no good uses out of the reaction because the goblins were spread out, shooting from cover, etc.

 

[Zardnaar]

Average until level 10 then it's amazing.

 

[ECMO3]

Hey
I have a few questions about enchantment wizards.

• For those that have played one what are the pros and cons of that school of magic?
• What could help me make it stronger if anything?
• Are there any examples from movies, tv, books that have enchantment wizards?

In 5E they are one of the most powerful casters. If you are not counting the Mercer subclasses I think they are the most powerful.

Hypnotic Gaze is amazing. This is the most powerful 2nd level Wizard ability for the PHB Wizard subclasses. It takes an enemy out of a fight until it is over and very useful out of combat as well. RAW you can lock someone down for 6 days with Hyp gaze, if you have someone to cast greater restoration to keep you from dying from lack of sleep it can go indefinitely. I have managed to land Hyp gaze against a boss and had the rest of the party do a rest before we continued the fight.

Also if you look at the wording on hypnotic gaze, the first turn you do not need to stay within 5 feet, so you can use it and then scurry away. If you stay though you can extend the effect.

The only downside is the 5 foot range and the action every turn if you extend it. As such things that help with that help tremendously. Playing a Gobin that can disengage with a bonus action, or a race with a teleport bonus action are really good there, otherwise you are going to have to take an AOO here or there when someone saves.

Instinctive charm is not that great, occasionally useful.

Split enchantment is again amazing. Split Pschic lance, Enemies Abound, Hold Monster or Ottos Dance are game changers.

Alter memory is very situational and not very useful. This also works better with a high Charisma, which is very difficult to do on Enchantment Wizard particularly, as Enchantment wizards will be closer to enemies than your average, making dex and con more important than they normally are.

Things that can help this class tremendously:
1. Take spells that don't use actions to do things. Flaming Sphere and Storm Sphere are my favorites. You can cast these, then next round lock someone down with hyp gaze and use bonus actions to still be in the fight. Familiar+dragon's breath works for this too.

2. Getting a 13 Charisma and a 2-level Sorcerer dip and metamagic adept and quicken spell feat really help a lot. I would take the 1st sorc level early to get Absorb Elements and Shield, then do 12 Wizard levels, take the feat and then another level in sorcerer for flexible casting. Then you can trade spells for sorc points so you can quicken things while holding a hyp gaze. If you are playing a lot at high levels above 12 I think a 13 Charisma and a 12 Con is better than a 14 Con and 8 Charisma.

As far as fiction - wyrmtongue from LOTR (books not movie) is what I think of as enchantment Wizard