D&D 5E So it looks as if the mountain dwarf will still make the best overall wizard.

[The Black Ranger]

Looks to me like the mountain dwarf will still come out being the best overall wizard. Looks like taking heavy armour proficiency will enable a mountain dwarf the chance to wear full plate early on in the game, not to mention the extra con bonuses, plus the combat type caster feat. All this will allow the dwarf to focus on boosting his intelligence, while keeping his spell slots for other spells besides Mage Armour and shield. Add a shield in there and you have a wizard who should never have problems passing his concentration checks while having a great AC and fantastic HP.

Win win I say.

 

[ccooke]

Looks to me like the mountain dwarf will still come out being the best overall wizard. Looks like taking heavy armour proficiency will enable a mountain dwarf the chance to wear full plate early on in the game, not to mention the extra con bonuses, plus the combat type caster feat. All this will allow the dwarf to focus on boosting his intelligence, while keeping his spell slots for other spells besides Mage Armour and shield. Add a shield in there and you have a wizard who should never have problems passing his concentration checks while having a great AC and fantastic HP.

Win win I say.

Well, you're talking about taking heavy armour proficiency, which is a feat, early in the game. Which means that this particular wizard will have a 15 INT (assuming point buy) up to level 8 at least. That's a big loss of accuracy and DC for the bulk of most campaigns career. Any race with an INT bonus could have 18 by level 4, giving a +4 bonus compared to the dwarf's +2. That's 2 fewer spells prepared per day and 10% lower accuracy.

The mountain dwarf makes a good wizard, but in no way the best. It'll support particular character concepts very well, but with nicely balanced fair costs.

 

[Shiroiken]

It depends on the playstyle of the group. In most of my games during the playtest, the wizard was seldom attacked anyway (the rest of the group defended him), so his AC was fairly irrelevant. If good AC and HP are a necessity for your game, then the Mountain Dwarf Wizard will shine.

 

[variant]

Best by what definition? A high elf that is focusing on Dexterity will have at the same time the dwarf gets heavy armor proficiency, 1 less AC, a 16 Intelligence instead of a 15 and no less cantrips despite having Mage Armor all the time. In additional the high elf will have a higher movement speed and all the benefits of having a higher Dexterity including higher initiative.

 

[KarinsDad]

Well, you're talking about taking heavy armour proficiency, which is a feat, early in the game. Which means that this particular wizard will have a 15 INT (assuming point buy) up to level 8 at least. That's a big loss of accuracy and DC for the bulk of most campaigns career. Any race with an INT bonus could have 18 by level 4, giving a +4 bonus compared to the dwarf's +2. That's 2 fewer spells prepared per day and 10% lower accuracy.

Not if the dwarf doesn't get a shield.

If he just bumps up to heavy armor, then his Int is 2 lower than other Wizard PCs which means 1 fewer spell per day, he doesn't have to prep Shield or Mage Armor, so more versatility, and the -1 to hit means that attacks that requires a to hit, or attacks that requires a save will fail 1 time out of every 20. At low level, that's about 1 encounter per 5 or 6. Assuming the same Dex as another Wizard (let's say 14 at 1st level), he will be walking around with AC 14 instead of 12 right away, and will soon be to AC 16 and eventually 18. The other Wizard will need to keep pumping Dex as his secondary stat if he wants AC to slowly climb up.


And if he doesn't take any feats, he will eventually be AC 17 in medium armor (or 16 if he doesn't want the Stealth disadvantage) and half of the levels, his Int mod will be 1 lower and half of the levels, his Int mod will be the same.

There is huge difference between AC 16 or 17, and AC 12. This allows the Wizard to help out more and protect those squishy Rogues and Archers "Get behind me!!!"

 

[Psikerlord#]

I suspect fighter 1, wizard xx, will be the best for concentration casting. if you start as fighter youll get armour and shield and con prof. the tradeoff will presumably be not getting wizard profs, and be a level behind in wizard relative to your party... but for a pure wizard, i agree with OP that dwarf is looking strongest, at least for concentration spells.

 

[Emerikol]

If the wizard is getting attacked before 10th level, game over anyway.

I'd be okay if we just ruled that any melee attack against a wizard auto kills him. I can't conceive of a game remotely resembling the game I play where the wizard is getting attacked very often. Perhaps against an arrow attack it could help some.

 

[The Black Ranger]

It depends on the playstyle of the group. In most of my games during the playtest, the wizard was seldom attacked anyway (the rest of the group defended him), so his AC was fairly irrelevant. If good AC and HP are a necessity for your game, then the Mountain Dwarf Wizard will shine.

Not sure I would really call that a playstyle.

I know in our games the ranged attackers will attack the squishy guys while the melee ones attack the melee players. Since concentration is essential to keep buffs up in this edition, having a good Con is something one shouldn't be without.

 

[Quartz]

If the wizard is getting attacked before 10th level, game over anyway.

Wizards now get d6 for HPs, not d4, so are ~40% less squishy (before CON bonus).

 

[The Black Ranger]

If the wizard is getting attacked before 10th level, game over anyway.

I'd be okay if we just ruled that any melee attack against a wizard auto kills him. I can't conceive of a game remotely resembling the game I play where the wizard is getting attacked very often. Perhaps against an arrow attack it could help some.

I've never heard of not attacking a PC because they were squishy. If that were yhe case then they would nees HP or defenses. Might as well say they are immune to all attacks until they reach a certain level.