D&D 5E Low Level Wizards Really Do Suck in 5E

[KarinsDad]

It's also a matter of how you play and look at the wizard. I look at the wizard as the "Oh excrement" button. I usually wander around doing very little for long stretches of time. I let the martials do what the martials do well: kill stuff. When we run into problems, then I start doing stuff to make sure we don't lose. I've been playing wizards in this fashion for a long time. It's how I feel they should be played. If you're looking for more damage which equates to immediate effect, you play a martial or maybe a damage dealing warlock or sorcerer. The wizard is a tide turner when the immediate method doesn't work.

This is the problem that I had with the low level wizard.

The "Oh excrement" button is sporadic. I cast Web. Some encounters, it stops nobody. And what's worse, an NPC inside the web whose turn has not yet come up is not yet restrained. There is no penalty for him using a reaction or an Opportunity Attack. What? He should at least be restrained until his turn comes up and he can make his first saving throw. That way, Web would always have some minor utility.

I want to cast Web and cast Flaming Sphere. Nope. Can't do that at all and have them both up. In fact, this is the very reason I play wizards, to push the "Oh excrement" button (and sometimes to push it more than once per encounter).


Or, Find Familiar. It's a very useful spell. But one portion of the spell almost never comes up in the game, casting Touch spells. Shocking Grasp is practically the only offensive touch spell and is almost never worth risking a 10 GP familiar over. Sure, there are few touch spells like Longstrider, Mage Armor, Invisibility, but the times where the wizard would need to do these in range in combat would tend to be few and far between. Maybe once every 2 or 3 levels or so. At higher levels, there are a few more touch spells like Protection From Energy that might need to be cast at range, but most wizards would have their familiar in a pocket dimension most encounters so that it does not get killed, so even to use the touch ability, a wizard would often have to use 2 rounds, one for bringing the familiar back from the pocket dimension and one to use the touch spell.

3E had quite a few touch attack spells. This type of ability had some traction. 5E, not so many and only Bestow Curse TMK at low level (if one considers 5th level to be low level).

Granted, some of these types of things are minor, but it's a bunch of little minor "mehs" that subtract from the gaming experience. Mostly, it's the "cast a spell and nothing happens" aspect of the "Oh excrement" button not working. Not because that's a big deal, but because in earlier versions, if one got past the save (magic resistance, whatever) the spell worked. It didn't fizzle in a turn because the NPC made a second save. Spells just seem to be at most one round wonders a lot. Being able to affect 12 seconds out an entire day with two spells total seems to be a very limited impact. zzzzzzzzzz

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Or, Find Familiar. It's a very useful spell. But one portion of the spell almost never comes up in the game, casting Touch spells. Shocking Grasp is practically the only offensive touch spell and is almost never worth risking a 10 GP familiar over.

Familiar + Bestow Curse came up last game (cursed a guard with diarrhea as a distraction, without giving away the wizard's presence).

Contagion is pretty neat too, if you happen to be a cleric with a familiar.

 

[KarinsDad]

Familiar + Bestow Curse came up last game (cursed a guard with diarrhea as a distraction, without giving away the wizard's presence).

Yup. Like I said, I really do not consider 5th level to be low level anymore though. But, I can definitely see the advantage of Familiar and Bestow Curse. That combo is just aching to be used.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Yup. Like I said, I really do not consider 5th level to be low level anymore though. But, I can definitely see the advantage of Familiar and Bestow Curse. That combo is just aching to be used.

Oh, I thought you were making a general statement about the rarity of touch spells. Since we were discussing Vampiric Touch a minute ago, which is also 3rd level.

 

[KarinsDad]

Oh, I thought you were making a general statement about the rarity of touch spells. Since we were discussing Vampiric Touch a minute ago, which is also 3rd level.

I was. Maybe you missed where I said "3E had quite a few touch attack spells. This type of ability had some traction. 5E, not so many and only Bestow Curse TMK at low level (if one considers 5th level to be low level)." since you did not quote that part of my post.

 

[chriton227]

I was. Maybe you missed where I said "3E had quite a few touch attack spells. This type of ability had some traction. 5E, not so many and only Bestow Curse TMK at low level (if one considers 5th level to be low level)." since you did not quote that part of my post.

There aren't many low level touch spells for wizards, but there are a number of buff and/or utility spells that are touch that may be useful to cast through a familiar, either because it has faster movement and can get to the target sooner, because it can go places the wizard can't by flying, swimming, or going through small openings, or because the wizard's movement is constrained for some reason. Please don't take this as saying that any particular spell in this list would be commonly useful to cast through a familiar, but there may be situations where it could be useful.

Cantrips:
* Light
* Mending
* Shocking Grasp

1st Level:
* Identify
* Illusory Script
* Jump
* Longstrider
* Mage Armor
* Protection from Evil and Good

2nd Level
* Arcane Lock
* Continual Flame
* Darkvision
* Gentle Repose
* Invisibility
* Magic Weapon
* Nystul's Magic Aura
* Rope Trick
* Spider Climb

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I was. Maybe you missed where I said "3E had quite a few touch attack spells. This type of ability had some traction. 5E, not so many and only Bestow Curse TMK at low level (if one considers 5th level to be low level)." since you did not quote that part of my post.

Yep, I missed that paragraph. My bad.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

There aren't many low level touch spells for wizards, but there are a number of buff and/or utility spells that are touch that may be useful to cast through a familiar, either because it has faster movement and can get to the target sooner, because it can go places the wizard can't by flying, swimming, or going through small openings, or because the wizard's movement is constrained for some reason. *snip*

Arcane Lock jumps out at me from that list as having particularly useful potential when cast through a familiar.

I wonder if you could cast Simulacrum through a familiar...

 

[Celtavian]

Karinsdad,

Keep at wizarding. It gets better. I think you'll figure out how to make it work well.

 

[pickin_grinnin]

Is your party doing anything besides going from fight to fight? Is there any exploration or interaction opportunity to use magic creatively? If the campaign is just a series of combat encounters then I would probably want to play another class.

Yes. That.

The campaigns I run generally include some combat, but it's not what the characters are doing most of the time, and doesn't dominate the challenges they face. Anyone with any sort of skills - even those that don't help at all in combat - are likely to find good ways to contribute in my campaigns. You could be a farmer or a baker and find ways to be useful in my games.

If I were playing under a DM who was mainly focused on combat, I would design a character that fit into that sort of campaign.