D&D 5E [GUIDE] A Blast From the Past: Wizarding 101

[Azzy]

I'm so confused. Fireball? That's a damage spell. If you want damage, why on earth are you playing a wizard? Wizards are for control.

Silly Rabbit, wizards (or any other class) are for whatever the player whats to do with them. Besides, artillery wizards and evokers have been a popular choice for decades.

 

[jgsugden]

OOC: How much experience do you have with the 5E wizard, Avalongod?

 

[indemnity]

Paladin 2 for smites makes for a nice addition for bladesinger's, or abjuration wizard with a blade.

Seems like a big dip for only two smites per day (4d8/day) and 10hp from Lay on Hands. Especially with the Str 13 and Cha 13 requirements.

 

[mellored]

Seems like a big dip for only two smites per day (4d8/day) and 10hp from Lay on Hands. Especially with the Str 13 and Cha 13 requirements.

you burn spell slots to smite, of any kind, including wizard slots. And it stacks with green flameblade/booming blade. And 10 HP is still enough get someone off the ground, or use healing word.

13 is a bit of a waste though.

 

[Awesome Adam]

Just wanted to compliment the OP on this thread. While I may not agree with everything, it's great to read guides like this and gleam new insights from other people's perspectives.

 

[Avalongod]

Just wanted to compliment the OP on this thread. While I may not agree with everything, it's great to read guides like this and gleam new insights from other people's perspectives.

Thank you sir! I think the thing to remember with any guide, is that it's really generalities and, of course, one person's experience. I think they're also most helpful to people who are maybe new to a class and just want to see the thoughts of others. If you've got a build in mind and you know what you're doing, go for it!

 

[Cognomen's Cassowary]

you burn spell slots to smite, of any kind, including wizard slots. And it stacks with green flameblade/booming blade.

Thunderous smite makes such a great combination with booming blade, too--smack them ten feet away and make them stay there. Prone.

13 is a bit of a waste though.

The work-around is to start as a paladin and then multiclass into wizard. The problem with that is that you're pretty useless for your first level, and your skills take a hit.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

The work-around is to start as a paladin and then multiclass into wizard. The problem with that is that you're pretty useless for your first level, and your skills take a hit.

Starting as a paladin doesn't change the multiclass stat requirements. You still need Str 13, Cha 13, Int 13.

 

[Cognomen's Cassowary]

Oh, yes, had a little brain fart there. I forgot the technicality of needing to meet the requirements for your current class in order to multiclass. A nice bit of foresight to prevent cheekiness.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I'm so confused. Fireball? That's a damage spell. If you want damage, why on earth are you playing a wizard? Wizards are for control.

In the language of the formal 'Controller' Role, Fireball, and other AE spells, are 'control' because they annihilate large numbers of lesser enemies. Thus, 'controlling' them via that most primal of lock-downs - death. Kinda like "pest control."

The threat of AEs like fireball - and ongoing AEs like a Wall of Fire - also exerts 'soft control' in that it encourages enemies to avoid an area of the battlefield or to keep spread out, limiting their movement/positioning choices.

That's only one way to play a wizard. Wizards were exclusively about control in 4e, but not so much either prior or before.

The 'Controller Role' was funny in 4e. It wasn't as clearly defined as the other three formal Roles and wasn't supported by one or two obvious class features. Leaders got a class feature that triggered an ally's surge. Defenders got class features that marked. Strikers got class features that increased damage directly or indirectly. Controllers got, well, better powers than everyone else.
Ostensibly Controller party contributions included minion-sweeping, area interdiction, soft-control/debuffs, hard-control/lockdowns, and even more nebulous things like 'changing the assumptions of the challenge.' But the bottom line was more, more varied, and more potent powers than the classes of other roles - and for some, more flexibility/choice built into those powers, as well, particularly the Druid, which swapped available powers round to round based on whether it was in humanoid or beast form, and the Wizard, who could swap out daily and utility powers (and, in Essentials, encounter powers - /and/ was the only class who could re-train powers without losing access to them). They also tended to be Ritual Casters, adding to their breadth of non-combat options.

Wizards, specifically, were secondary strikers, perhaps, more accurately 'blasters,' since they could be customized to do striker-like damage, but to multiple targets, overlapping the Sorcerer a bit (though not to any where near the point of strict superiority claimed by critics of 3.5 & 5e), but that was nothing new and is still the case. While wizards could do some buffing/de-buffing they didn't much step on the toes of Leaders - which has always been and remains the case, healing is verboten to the Wizard for whatever reason (of course, healing is also arguably a 'burden'). Similarly, Staff builds and the Bladesinger sub-class could be tough enough to operate in melee, but not to the point of being secondary defenders, also nothing new (Bladesinger dates to 2e, 3e wizards maxxing concentration could be functional melee) and still the case (5e wizards can be pretty tough, especially the oddball heavy-armor wearing dwarven builds and Abjurers, and SCAG re-re-introduced the melee-capable Bladesinger).