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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6443432" data-attributes="member: 4937">If I was playing a low level wizard in 1e, I'd go for a necromancer controller/debuffer.  For a 1st level Wizard, Sleep is almost required to have a strong character.   Some combination of Ray of Sickness, Tasha's and Grease seem like reasonably useful choices for controlling, with False Life and Shield in the Defensive role.  Chill Touch and Ray of Frost may occasionally be useful as well.  Rituals like Find Familiar, Identify, and Unseen Servant give me lots of out of combat utility.  You are initially an 'adventuring scholar' with some potential control effects and Sleep can be a win button.  Eventually, some low level damage utility like Magic Missile or Chromatic Orb can be added on to make you an archer in your secondary role.5th level has always been huge for a wizard, and it remains huge in 5e.  You suddenly get double damage to your cantrips plus access to comparatively huge new battlefield control in the 3rd level spells.Higher level, you are clogging up the battlefield with zombies.  From what I've seen discussed, as a wizard against single targets you aren't as effective as some other builds, but you have broad battlefield utility, particularly in moving allies around the battlefield.   For that reason, the other build that seems particularly viable is Conjurer, since bounded accuracy gives you much more utility for your summons and you have enhanced ability to manipulate the battle space.Basically, the Wizard no longer is the party artillery.  The idea in earlier versions of D&D was that you were a glass cannon, and the martials were meat shields that protected you long enough to destroy whatever you were facing.  That style of play is largely gone so far as I can tell, because there are much stronger damage dealing builds.  Trying to build the Wizard as a damage dealer is likely to be frustrating.  My main problem with the Wizard looking it over right now, is that at low level it doesn't hold a candle to the Bard, Cleric (Bless!!), or Druid (Fairy Fire!!) in terms of buffing/debuffing and also just doesn't have enough good battlefield control options and also doesn't have strong nova damage (other than Sleep).  I'd be perfectly OK with the Wizard as controller rather than striker (in 4e terms), but at least at low level its battlefield control is too unreliable to consistently make up for its lower available damage.  Without Sleep, you're just a bit weak.  For that reason, if I was the DM, I'd probably slightly tweak Fog Cloud and a few other spells to allow just a tad more control options at low level.Higher level, I'm worried that the Druid and Bard just do what you'd want to do better than you do.   However, if it is concentration that is the limiting factor, then it's pretty much going to hit all the spellcasters and not just Wizards.</blockquote>

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