D&D Wizards are THE spellcasters… More than Gandalf and Harry Potter
Spells, spells, and more spells.
And hey… why not some more spells?
That is a quick summary of the Wizard character class.
And here are the 4 types of spell casting obsessed people that should play the wizard class in their next D&D 5e campaign.
Players That Want to Spell Cast ONLY
There are 13 different character classes in Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition. Virtually all of them allow some options for players to choose from and customize.. Clerics, for example, can fight up on the front lines or heal from the rear.
Wizards, on the other hand, don’t have much variety. They do one thing and one thing only… spellcasting.
The game goes to great lengths to hammer this point home. Wizards get access to zero armor… Not even light padded armor! They are the only class in the game that cannot use all the simple weapons, they are reduced to wielding daggers, quarter staffs, and light crossbows.
Basically, if a wizard runs out of spells, they’re totally screwed. Which is why they have their special Arcane Recovery class ability at level 1, which allows them to recover spell slots, equal to, or less than half their wizard level during a short rest.
Players That Want to Read the D&D Rule Books
In multiple other posts I have mentioned how spellcasting classes are much more complex than any of the martial classes. And the reason is simple; martial classes just follow the standard rules, but every single spell you cast has its own unique rules that sort of, kind of, break the rules.
And since Wizards are ONLY spellcasting, your entire character depends on which spells you choose…which means you need to know ALL the spells so you can choose the best ones for you!
So for that reason alone, you need to get the Players Handbook, or scroll through all the wizard spells on the Spellbook app, or buy print outs of spells. Just find some you want to use and familiarize yourself with them ahead of time so the table isn’t waiting forever for you to take your turn in combat as you pick which exact spell you want to use.
Wizard Subclasses: “Arcane Traditions”
But also… you need to read up on the schools of magic.
All the spells in D&D fall into categories called magical schools. The wizards sub-classes (all D&D classes have subclasses, which allow for more specialization) are divided based on the schools of magic.
School of Abjuration: Prevent damage from happening in the first place with magical energy shields and force fields. The hero your party needs, but doesn’t deserve.
School of Conjuration: Teleport here, there, and everywhere. Communicate over vast distances and conjure supernatural and magical help when you’re in a pinch.
School of Divination: Replace rolls as you see fit. SEE THE FUTURE… TELL THE FUTURE… CONTROL THE FUTURE!!!
School of Enchantment: Charm and manipulate people and crowds against their will. Super silly and fun to role play, even if it is wildly unethical!
School of Evocation: Took a page from the sorcerers book (if sorcerers could read…) and is all about MAX MAGIC DAMAGE. Lots of fire, ice, lightning, etc.
School of Illusion: Make people think they see, hear, and feel things that aren’t actually there. Requires a ton of creativity and out of the box thinking.
School of Necromancy: Raise, control, and lead the dead as your minions. Def an option if being kiiiiinda evil doesn’t bother you.
School of Transmutation: If something is one thing, you can change that thing into another thing. Broken sword? Repaired. Wood door? Now metal. Tummy ache? Here’s a magic cookie.
Chronurgy Magic: Stop time and “intervene” on enemy attacks (cause the DM to reroll). Freeze time and enemies in a stasis. In other words, become a Dr. Who time lord!
Graviturgy Magic: Shift gravity willy nilly, making things smaller/bigger, lighter/heavier, and move them to and fro. Do LOTS of force damage.
Ok, admittedly not all the wizard subclasses fall into schools of magic…
Bladesinging: A blend of fighter and wizard. Flavored as an Elven martial/dance art form. Gives the wizard access to armor, weapons, and extra attack.
War Magic: Feel free to wade into the thick of a fight, knowing you’ll be safe as you block, redirect, and counter any attacks and spells they throw your way.
Order of the Scribes: Become the biggest book worm magic nerd among wizards as you record everything about magic you can. Get magic quills and awakened spellbooks, and twist spells in unusual ways.
For more information on the Wizard subclasses, check out RPGBOT.
Players That Like to Get Better SLOWLY
So, after reading all of that, you might be thinking “hot damn wizards are powerful… how does any other character class compete?”
And you would be right… sort of.
At higher levels, wizards are incredibly powerful. They know dozens and dozens of spells, some of which can shape reality to their will or literally bring down the heavens upon their enemies.
But that’s at like level 20. At level 1? A wizard is a puny weakling who will die from
a single goblin arrow and needs a barbarian to keep them safe.
Players who want to play Wizard need to be patient, and wait as their wizard increases in levels. Slowly, but surely, they’ll turn from a bookworm into the most feared mage in the land.
They do start off with one thing that they are very very good at… Intelligence base skills. Most of the D&D classes do not require high intelligence, so most player characters have quite low intelligence scores. So if you’re the wizard, you’ll be the only smart one in the party, the only one capable of getting really high roles in essential skills, like arcana and investigation.
Players That Want a Spell for Everything
There are over 490 spells in D&D. But not only does your character (no matter what class you play) not know all the spells, it’s not even possible for them to know all the spells. Each different class has a certain set of spells that they were able to learn.
Here’s the good news for wizards… they have by far the biggest spell list to choose from.
For other classes that would not be as big of a deal. For example, even the highest level sorcerer can only learn around 20 spells. And the highest level bard can only learn around 20 spells. It doesn’t matter if they can choose between 100 or 1000 spells… They can only learn 20!
But the wizard is different… The wizard has a spell book. And If a wizard has the gold to pay for fancy magic ink and the time to write it down, the wizard can copy as many spells into their spell because they want.
Now, they can only prepare a certain amount of spells at the beginning of the day… But they can choose from anywhere between 40 to 100 spells! Finally, any of this third and either spells the spell book that are rituals, as long as they have the time to cast it, they can cast it anytime.
What does this mean for players?
It means that as a wizard you are very, very likely to have a magical answer for every problem. Need to get through a locked door? No need for thieves' tools, just use knock! Can’t understand what anyone saying in a dwarven city? Just cast comprehend languages! Not sure which cup is the holy grail? No problem, just cast identify!
No joke… with a big enough spell book, a wizard can tackle ANY problem.
Liked this blog, but not sure if the wizard is for you? Check out some of our other posts on the D&D character classes:
SORCERER
MONK
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Riley Rath
Based out of Spokane, Riley is a freelance copywriter that combines his love of reading, writing, and people into something useful! He is thankful to be applying his passion for imaginative role-playing to help DnD related businesses communicate their value in the best way possible. He's kinda like a bard giving inspiration, except without the annoying pop covers!
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