D&D 5E so, mountain dwarf wizards...

[Baumi]

While a nice build, I think the medium Armor is overrated. Mage Armor is just a level one Spell that doesn't need concentration and stays active for 8 hours. At first level you will have equal AC (the high end medium armor is too expensive) and while you later loose one or two AC compared to medium armor, if you increase dex over the +2 Bonus you will get equal later on and might even surpass it. Also the spell doesn't give you Disadvantage on stealth.

The Strenght Build with a Warhammer sound great and works well on level 1-4, but the Wizard is missing some Melee Buffs to stay relevant to the other classes who have multiple Attacks or a Damage Boosts. Also his Attack Spells will be so much more powerfull than his Melee Attacks from Level 5 forward, that it would be stupid not to use them.

I actually tried a Str / Con Build, and only took Utility and Defensive Spells so I could ignore Int. And while the HP's went through the roof, it was certainly a weaker build than a classical Hight-Int Elf Evoker. But maybe the other Sub-Classes and the full Spell-list will remedy the problem.

 

[Nebulous]

Only 4E. In 3E, dwarf wizards were quite solid. In 1E and 2E, they didn't exist at all, as the rules flat-out banned them. In fact, one of the defining traits of the dwarf race was that dwarves and arcane magic did not mix. IIRC, they got bonuses to save against spells because of it. I still remember the shock and disbelief when people discovered "dwarf wizard" was legal in 3E.

But yes, they are quite viable in 5E. I also like the tradeoffs; giving up a bit of spellcasting power in exchange for physical toughness feels very "dwarfy."

out of curiosity, if a 5e DM banned dwarf wizards "because he doesnt like them" is it balancing to give them back that old bonus save against spells? I don't mind them, if they're Rare, i don't want parties of dwarf wizards galumphing around Although....that's kinda a neat image now that i think about it.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

out of curiosity, if a 5e DM banned dwarf wizards "because he doesnt like them" is it balancing to give them back that old bonus save against spells? I don't mind them, if they're Rare, i don't want parties of dwarf wizards galumphing around Although....that's kinda a neat image now that i think about it.

Banning PCs from picking a particular class isn't normally something that affects that PC's balance, so no, you don't need to do anything to make up for it.

It's just world-building, essentially. I mean, if a player wants to play a Dwarf Cleric, and you've banned Dwarf Wizards, is aforementioned PC in any way affected or inconvenienced? No. Even if the player wants to play a Wizard, and loves Dwarves, all you're doing is forcing him to make a choice between the which he wants more, and his High Elf Wizard will not be any more or less powerful as a result.

So there is absolutely no "balance" reason to give a race anything because you banned them from being a class (as long as you left them with reasonable options - if you banned them from tons of classes, and only left them with options which were a poor match for their abilities, then maybe - for example, if you banned Mountain Dwarves from everything but Rogue). You could still do it, but it would essentially be a free benefit, not balanced against anything (nothing wrong with that, of course, just something to be aware of).

(...I can't believe I'm defending banning classes for specific races... But really, it isn't normally a balance issue, it's a taste one.

Level limits, OTOH, were a complicated and troublesome balance issue, because they encouraged people to be that class/race combo, and had usually had no consequences, because few campaigns reached the levels where they kicked in unless they were single-digit limits, but if you DID reach that amount of XP, then suddenly you got a kick-in-the-NADs-type "balancing", even though you'd actually enjoyed the benefits of being race X for a long time, and it was probably LESS meaningful at that level than when you started - kind of like the worst "0% APR for X months" ever credit card! 0% APR for 11 Levels 400% APR thereafter. )

 

[Dausuul]

out of curiosity, if a 5e DM banned dwarf wizards "because he doesnt like them" is it balancing to give them back that old bonus save against spells? I don't mind them, if they're Rare, i don't want parties of dwarf wizards galumphing around Although....that's kinda a neat image now that i think about it.

Ruin Explorer summed this up pretty well. Banning some class/race combinations does not affect the balance of those that remain unbanned. The only time you would need to offer compensation is if the race strongly favors certain classes and you ban it from all of those classes; but 5E tries to avoid having strongly favored classes like that.

 

[jaycrockett]

The Strenght Build with a Warhammer sound great and works well on level 1-4, but the Wizard is missing some Melee Buffs to stay relevant to the other classes who have multiple Attacks or a Damage Boosts. Also his Attack Spells will be so much more powerfull than his Melee Attacks from Level 5 forward, that it would be stupid not to use them.

I totally agree, by 5th level you'd have to have given up on the melee attacks if you are a pure wizard. I just have this idea for this guy at 1st level, a dwarf wizard who acts more like a fighter. Has the soldier background. I'm thinking he's naturally adept at magic which made him an oddity. Maybe his parents forced him into the army. Maybe he actually found his spellbook in the attic tries to hide his magic use.

As he levels he's going to have to come to terms with this. Maybe he embraces his wizardling ways. Or maybe he continues to try to split the difference and he multiclasses in fighter. Hopefully that's a viable option now!

 

[Dausuul]

I totally agree, by 5th level you'd have to have given up on the melee attacks if you are a pure wizard.

No, you wouldn't:

Ray of frost at level 5: 2d8 damage --> average 9
Battleaxe at level 5, with Str 18: 1d8+4 damage --> average 8.5

And as soon as you hit Strength 20, the battleaxe edges ahead of the cantrip again. It's true that the spell also has a slowing effect, but in practice I've seldom found that makes a lot of difference.

From level 11, yes, the cantrip is substantially better--unless you've picked up, or made, a magical axe by then.

 

[Xodis]

Certainly you're not as "powerful" a fighter as an actual fighter--you're a pure wizard. But not as "powerful" a wizard as a wizard? No, again you are a wizard. In 5E, being good at your class comes automatically from being a member of that class; picking a good race/class combo is no longer required.

What was meant was that you will be behind other Wizards who focus on spell casting since your stats are spread more thinly. So the Dwarven "Spell Hammer" (I love this concept and name) will probably lose to the Elven Wizard on simple numbers alone. However in a situation where someone charges the Spell Hammer....they will be unpleasantly surprised at what they meet.

 

[evilbob]

I think it's great that any race/class combo can be optimal in 5E, but the hidden weakness of this approach is that 5E doesn't do enough (that we know so far) to encourage archetypical characters.

That is SO not a weakness to me - that's a huge bonus. I would LOVE to not feel like I have to play an elven wizard or halfling rogue because the mechanics are too strong to ignore. It's great that you can - and of course you'll always be able to - but making the archetypes strong just means that's all you see.

Ray of frost at level 5: 2d8 damage

You could use Fire Bolt for 2d10 fire damage, avg 11 (and longer range, if you need it). Not that it really disproves your point but just throwing that out there.

 

[Nagol]

What was meant was that you will be behind other Wizards who focus on spell casting since your stats are spread more thinly. So the Dwarven "Spell Hammer" (I love this concept and name) will probably lose to the Elven Wizard on simple numbers alone. However in a situation where someone charges the Spell Hammer....they will be unpleasantly surprised at what they meet.

MAD is both better tolerated and more heavily punished in the Basic rules.

It is more tolerated in the differences are prevented from becoming large. The cap at 20 substantially limits how far behind you can fall and generally means a lagging character will catch up while the leading character has to purchase secondary or tertiary ability scores with their last stat bumps.

It is more heavily punished in that there are a limited set of bumps for character and no visible method of increasing stats outside that mechanic. This means the more wide the list of "must-have" stats for a character, the less likely it has the bumps necessary to buy secondary or tertiary abilities.

For Wizards, Int is certainly a primary "must-have". The "saving throw" stats Con, Dex, and Wis are secondary. No character can max all four -- a typical Wizard can only max 2 and have one boost in a third. So wizards will typically want Int/X where X is a saving throw stat.

For those players that want Int/Con, the mountain dwarf is an excellent vehicle. It gives a +2 bonus in the preferred stats and simultaneously reduces the necessity of increasing Dex by allowing medium armour.

For those players that want Int/Dex, the high elf is an excellent choice since it gives +3 in the preferred stats.

Human is a good choice for those that choose Int/Wis or don't want to choose

I thinks Rogues really 'win' the stat assignment race though. That class has a single stat that affects initiative, ranged to-hit, melee to-hit, damage, favoured save, and class skills/abilities. And it receives the 2nd highest count of stat bumps.

 

[Joe Liker]

I think it could work pretty well. Start each combat with a Concentration buff spell, then stand in the back in half plate and shield, casting battlefield control and utility spells. If you need to dish out some damage, lob throwing axes. If the enemy gets too close, or if the front-liners are struggling, or if you just don't feel like sitting in the back any more, unsling your battle-axe and go to town. Your high AC and beefy Con will make it substantially harder for opponents to disrupt your concentration, and as long as you steer clear of spells that grant saving throws, your Int won't hurt you too much. (Though your versatility will suffer; prepared spells are a precious, precious resource.)

I sorta want to make this guy now.

Or you could just, you know, roll a cleric.

Don't get me wrong -- I love the idea of an armored dwarf wizard, but what you've just described is a cleric.