Good Morning Game Fans, we’re back to continue our deeper investigation into the mysteries of Dungeons and Dragons, and how it shaped the larger roleplaying game community. We’ve put a temporary hold on our discussion about races in fantasy roleplaying (We’ll pick back up with the races from Volo’s Guide to Monsters and the Elemental Evil Player’s Companion after this interlude). We’re going to discuss the role of Classes in fantasy roleplaying games, and then we’ll take a look in turn at each of the character classes in the Player’s Handbook for Dungeons and Dragons, 5th Edition.
So what is a Character Class? In Dungeons and Dragons (and many other roleplaying games) A Character Class represents a combination of special abilities, options and skills that make up a character’s occupation. Your Character Class helps define what options you have to interact with the larger game world, and determines whether you’re a sneaky expert, or a bold warrior, or a crafty arcane magician.
It also serves to indicate to other players what they can expect your character to be capable of doing. In other words, it can serve as a keyword for you to identify a variety of factors. It’s also the second most common descriptor used to identify a character after race. For example, “He’s a human ranger, or she’s an elven wizard.” in the same way that people can identify as a lawyer, or a doctor or a soldier, the fantasy adventurer identifies as a barbarian, or a ranger, or a wizard.
Wizard:
It seems fitting that we end with the Wizard. Magic is a very real force in the fantasy world that Dungeons and Dragons exists in. Some feel their way through the art of magic, where others make pacts to gain access to it. The oldest traditions that actively study magic revolve around ancient lore and extreme devotion to the study of magic. The most common name for these sages of arcane power is Wizards.
Through the study of timeless methods of bygone eras, the Wizard can manipulate energies both benevolent and malevolent. Arcane traditions dominate the practice of the wizard, and like academics of other fields, they divide themselves by the powers and energies they study. A prepared Wizard is a powerful ally, or a dangerous enemy.
Creating a Wizard:
Why did you pick Wizard for this character? What prompted your character’s interest in arcane magic? What Arcane Tradition do you follow? How did your character learn arcane magic? Was it from a wizened master or did you study at an arcane college or guild? Figuring out these answers can help you figure out why you want to be a Wizard, and how you can select a background that works with the class and your concept.
Wizards have some extremely potent options for casting spells, and have one of the broadest spell lists in the game. Couple this with the fact that a wizard can change up their prepared spells on a day by day basis, you have the potential for a wizard who’s got just the right trick for just the right problem. The only major limitation to the spells a Wizard has access to are whether or not they’ve been able to copy it into their book. A Wizard is one of the undisputed masters of arcane magic in Dungeons and Dragons, and finding the right spot for one in a party is usually a good idea.
The Wizard is powered by Intelligence. It represents the depth of their studies and their ability to comprehend the secrets of arcane magic. Wizards have a low hit die, and suffer from a lack of hit points. One way to compensate for this is to have a high constitution score. The other school of thought for this is to have a high dexterity score so you don’t get hit. Either school of thought works, it’s just a matter of how you see your character.
Class Features
This section contains all of the mechanically and statistically relevant information that you will need as a player to build your character.
Hit Points:
Hit points represent the amount of damage a character can take before being incapacitated and potentially dead. Every class has a specific range of potential hit point totals, modified by the character’s Constitution modifier.
Hit Dice: Wizards use a D6 for their hit dice. This is smallest hit die, like the Sorcerer. Virtually every other class has a larger hit die, which means they’re more capable of taking a beating than a Wizard is.
Hit Points at 1st level: A 1st level Wizard will have 6 hit points plus an additional number of hit points equal to their constitution bonus.
Hit Points at higher levels: Every level after first, a Wizard gains an additional D6 hit die, which they can roll for hit points, or take the average value of 4. They also get to add their Constitution modifier to whatever they roll. The new Hit Die plus Con mod is added to their existing Maximum hit points, and they are off to the races.
For example, a level 2 Wizard has just gained enough experience points to achieve level 3. They roll a D6, and come up with a 3. The player adds their Constitution bonus of +1, and this comes to a 4. Added to the existing maximum Hit Point total of 11, the new 3rd level Wizard has 15 hit points.
Proficiencies:
Proficiencies represent specific training and competency levels with a variety of weapons, armor, saving throws, tools, and skills. When using weapons and skills your character is proficient in, as well as making saving throws of types your character is proficient with, you get to add your proficiency bonus to the die roll.
Armor: None
Weapons: Daggers, Darts, Slings, Quarterstaffs, Light Crossbows
Tools: None
Saving Throws: Intelligence, Wisdom
Skills: Choose two from Arcana, History, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, or Religion
Note: There are other ways to acquire certain proficiencies beyond the character class. Certain races, backgrounds, and other options allow a character to pick up proficiencies outside their normal range, so if you see something you’re looking for, you might just find it in another section.
Equipment:
Every character class has a recommended starting package of weapons and equipment. This is an excellent way to save yourself time by grabbing a gear package and being ready to go. All of the suggestions are laid out in a menu, and you as a player get to make one choice per bullet point for your character’s equipment.
- (a) quarterstaff or (b) a dagger
- (a) component pouch or (b) an arcane focus
- (a) scholar’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack
- A spellbook
Class Abilities:
The majority of the remaining class description will feature a combination of special abilities and tricks that only members of this specific class have access to. These are the other professional capabilities that define this class and separate it from the remaining ones. They give the flavoring that make the bard play differently from the sorcerer. They have a specific format that they’ll likely follow:
1st Level
Spellcasting
Arcane study is a lengthy pursuit for a Wizard, and Intelligence powers the Wizard’s spell casting.. Spellcasting is an incredibly dense topic that is covered in Chapter 10 of the PHB (Spellcasting) and Chapter 11 (The Spell Lists). I’m going to cover the basics of how Spellcasting is affected by being all that is Wizard, but you should definitely check out both of those chapters before slinging spells.
Cantrips
The Wizard knows three cantrips from the Wizard Spell list. As the Wizard gains more experience, they learn more cantrips.
Spellbook
At 1st level, the Wizard gains a spellbook that has 6 1st level spells of their choice in it.
Preparing and Casting Spells
The Wizard has a limited number of slots that they can use to cast magical spells. There’s a big table on page 113 that will tell you how many spell slots of each level you have available. In order to cast a spell, you need to have a spell slot of the appropriate level or higher available. Casting the spell expends the spell slot. All expended spell slots recover with a long rest.
Note 1: Some spells work better when cast with higher level spell slots.
Select a list of spells from the Wizard list that you have in your spellbook and wish to cast for the day. The two restrictions on this are that the spells must be of a level that you can cast, and you can prepare a maximum of your Wizard’s Intelligence Modifier + their Wizard Level spells. You have to prepare at least one. You can change the spells your Wizard has prepared after finishing a long rest, this takes 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.
Example: Wizard Steve is a 3rd level Wizard with Intelligence of 15. This means he has a Intelligence Modifier of +2. Since Wizard Steve is a 3rd level Wizard, he can prepare five spells per day. He chooses to prepare 3 1st level spells, and 2 2nd level spells on Tuesday. Wednesday morning comes and he needs to prepare different spells, so he chooses to prepare 2 1st level spells and 3 2nd level spells. The change takes him 8 minutes (1 minute per first level spell, 2 minutes per second level spell).
Spellcasting Ability
Intelligence is the spellcasting attribute a Wizard uses. The Wizard’s devotion to arcane formulas and ancient texts fuel his or her spells and give them the potency to change the world.. What this means in game terms is as follows:
- Spell Save DC = 8 + Wizard’s Proficiency Bonus + Wizard’s Intelligence Modifier
- Spell Attack Modifier= Wizard’s Proficiency Bonus + Wizard’s Intelligence Modifier
Ritual Casting
The Wizard can cast any Wizard spell as a ritual, if the spell has the ritual tag
Spellcasting Focus
The Wizard can use his or her Arcane Focus as a Focus for casting arcane spells.
Learning New Spells of 1st level and Higher
Each time the Wizard gains a level, he or she can add two spells to his or her spellbook. They have to be spells that the Wizard has an available spell slot for (this can be one that they’ve just gained access to from leveling up). The Wizard can also learn spells along the way on their adventures from spellbooks found in dungeons or taken from enemy Wizards.
Arcane Recovery
The Wizard can recharge his or her reservoir of arcane power. After finishing a Short Rest, the Wizard can regain a number of spent spell slots equal to ½ his or her Wizard level. They can parcel them out as they like, so long as the total number of spell slots recovered doesn’t exceed this limit. For Example, a level 10 Wizard uses Arcane Recovery and can regain a total of 5 levels worth of spell slots, meaning they can recover 1 5th level spell slot, or 1 4th and 1 1st, or any other permutation of this value.
2nd level
Arcane Tradition Ability 1
Depending on which Arcane Tradition the Wizard selects, he or she will gain 1 of 8 abilities
3rd Level
The Wizard gains no new Abilities
4th Level
Ability Score Increase
You can increase one ability score of your choice by two points or you can increase two different ability scores by one point. You can’t increase an ability score over 20 using this ability. Some games allow feats, and you can substitute a feat for an Ability Score Increase.
5th Level
The Wizard gains no new Abilities
6th Level
Arcane Tradition Ability 2
Depending on which Arcane Tradition the Wizard selects, he or she will gain 1 of 8 abilities
7th Level
No New Abilities gained
8th Level
Ability Score Increase
You can increase one ability score of your choice by two points or you can increase two different ability scores by one point. You can’t increase an ability score over 20 using this ability. Some games allow feats, and you can substitute a feat for an Ability Score Increase.
9th Level
No New Abilities gained
10th Level
Arcane Tradition Ability 3
Depending on which Arcane Tradition the Wizard selects, he or she will gain 1 of 8 abilities
11th Level
No New Abilities gained
12th Level
Ability Score Increase
You can increase one ability score of your choice by two points or you can increase two different ability scores by one point. You can’t increase an ability score over 20 using this ability. Some games allow feats, and you can substitute a feat for an Ability Score Increase.
13th Level
No New Abilities gained
14th Level
Arcane Tradition Ability 4
Depending on which Arcane Tradition the Wizard selects, he or she will gain 1 of 8 abilities
15th Level
No New Abilities Gained
16th Level
Ability Score Increase
You can increase one ability score of your choice by two points or you can increase two different ability scores by one point. You can’t increase an ability score over 20 using this ability. Some games allow feats, and you can substitute a feat for an Ability Score Increase.
17th Level
No New Abilities Gained
18th Level
Spell Mastery
The Wizard’s intense study has granted them near perfect mastery of arcane magic. Choose a 1st and a 2nd level Wizard spell that is in the Wizard’s spellbook. The Wizard can cast these spells at their lowest level without expending a spell slot, when they are prepared. If the wizard wants to cast them at a higher level, they expend spells at the normal method. By spending 8 hours, the Wizard can change these spells out with other spells in their spellbook.
19th Level
Ability Score Increase
You can increase one ability score of your choice by two points or you can increase two different ability scores by one point. You can’t increase an ability score over 20 using this ability. Some games allow feats, and you can substitute a feat for an Ability Score Increase.
20th Level
Signature Spells
The Wizard’s mastery of arcane power is at its height. The depths of their study into arcane magic have revealed greater secrets. The Wizard picks two 3rd level spells in their spellbook as signature spells. They are always considered prepared and don’t count against the limit of spells a Wizard can normally prepare. The Wizard can also cast each spell at its lowest level without expending a spell slot. This ability recharges after a short or long rest. If the Wizard wants to cast the spell at a higher level, he or she expends spell slots as normal.
Thoughts and Ideas:
A Wizard has almost unparalleled versatility. The only real limits to what a Wizard can accomplish are the spells in their book and their creativity. Unlike the other class that has a giant spell list, (the Cleric), your spell access is tied to your spellbook, so you better hold on to it. You can have a lot of fun with this type of character, but you need to remember that while you have a wide range of power available, there are still going to be situations that you need the assistance of a party, and you have a role to play in that party. Soloing is a way to get yourself killed real quick.
Archetypes:
A character class is built to be as broadly encompassing as it can be. There are many types of wizards in the world, and different types of fighters as well. Each class has access to a selection of Archetypes that allow a player to further tighten up their concept and build the type of character they are specifically looking for. Rogues have access to both thief and assassin, for example, and while they are both Rogues at heart, the abilities that each Archetype uses definitely change the way the class feels to play.
Arcane Traditions represent a Wizard’s adherence to a specific school of magic. Each school has a range of effects that taken as a whole are exemplary of that specific Tradition. A Wizard can select the Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, or Transmutation as their Arcane Tradition. Each one has abilities that are gained at 2nd, 6th, 10th and 14th level.
(Note: When a character selects an Arcane Tradition, they gain a savant ability for that school of magic. This reduces the price to copy a spell of that school into their spellbook by half, and it takes half as long.)
Abjuration
Abjuration is the school of magic that wards and protects. It can also be used to banish things that are from other planes. Abjurers are magical security specialists who are more than capable of locking down and magically protecting an area. At higher levels they are capable of weaving deadly magical traps and wards to challenge the most capable adventurers.
2nd Level
Arcane Ward
When an Abjurer casts an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher, they can use some of the magic to ward themselves. The Ward has a number of hit points equal to twice the Abjurer’s Wizard level plus their Intelligence Modifier. This ability lasts until the Wizard takes finishes a long rest. The ward takes hit point damage instead of the Wizard. Should the ward be reduced to 0 hit points, it can be recharged when the Abjurer casts an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher (this restores twice the spell’s level in hit points to the Ward). This ability can be recharged on a long rest.
6th Level
Projected Ward
The Abjurer can use a reaction to protect a creature it can see within 30 feet with their Arcane Ward ability. If the damage reduces the Ward to 0 hit points, the warded creature takes any excess damage.
10th Level
Improved Abjuration
When the Abjurer casts an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher that requires an ability check (like counterspell) the Abjurer adds his or her Proficiency Bonus to the check.
14th Level
Spell Resistance
The Abjurer has advantage on Saving Throws against spells and Resistance against damage caused by spells.
Thoughts and Ideas:
The Abjurer’s Tradition abilities let him or her soak up damage. First, they can protect themselves from trouble before they finally get the ability to expand their shield around others. Eventually they become very proficient at dispelling the spells of others before finally manifesting Spell Resistance. At that point, the Abjurer is excellently positioned to shrug off the most dangerous magical effects. .
Conjuration
One of the most powerful abilities that a Wizard has access to is the ability to move things to and from other locations. This school encompasses both the summoning of monsters and the vaunted ability teleportation. Conjurers are masters of these powers (and others) and can use this magic in creatively unexpected ways.
2nd Level
Minor Conjuration
As an Action, the Conjurer can summon an inanimate object (either in their hand, or to an unoccupied space within 10 feet). The object must be smaller than three feet on a side, and weigh no more than 10 pounds. The Conjurer must have seen the item (or one similar) before, and the summoned item is visibly magical, radiating light in a 5 foot radius. The Item lasts for 1 hour, or until it takes damage or the Conjurer uses this ability again.
6th Level
Benign Transposition
The Conjurer can use an action to teleport 30 feet to an unoccupied space that he or she can see. Alternatively, the Conjurer can select a space occupied by a small or medium creature, and if that creature is willing, the Conjurer trades places with them. This ability recharges on a long rest, or whenever the Conjurer casts a conjuration spell of 1st level or higher.
10th Level
Focused Conjuration
The Conjurer can’t have his or her concentration broken by damage while concentrating on a conjuration spell.
14th Level
Durable Summons
Creatures summoned or created with a conjuration spell have 30 temporary hit points.
Thoughts and Ideas:
The Conjurer’s Tradition works with the idea of being able to make something out of nothing, and having the freedom to move wherever the Conjurer wants to be. Minor Conjuration can be amazingly useful, and Benign Transposition can give the Conjurer some wiggle room. Focused Conjuration and Durable Summons encourage the Conjurer to bring allies to the fight and makes them hardier when they get here.
Divination
The Divination school focuses on being able to read the future, and extend to a variety of other information gathering spells and abilities. This is a powerful, if subtle ability, and while it’s not the flashiest of magical powers, Divination can be extremely useful in researching the past and predicting the future.
2nd Level
Portent
The Diviner can read the near future and prepare a little. At the end of a long rest, the Diviner rolls 2D20, and records the individual rolls. The Diviner can replace any attack roll, saving throw or ability check made by the Diviner, or a creature the Diviner can see with one of these foretold rolls. The Diviner must choose to do so before the die is rolled, and only once per turn. Each roll can only be used once, and unused rolls are lost at the end of the next long rest.
6th Level
Expert Divination
The Diviner can replenish used spells slots in certain situations. When the Diviner casts a Divination spell of 2nd level or higher, they can regain the use of an expended spell slot. The slot regained can’t be higher than 5th level.
10th Level
The Third Eye
The Diviner channels his or her magic to grant them unusual sensory abilities. The Diviner gains one of the following abilities until they are either incapacitated, or take a short or long rest, Darkvision, Ethereal Sight, Greater Comprehension, or See Invisibility.
14th Level
Greater Portent
This ability allows the Diviner to roll 3D20 for the Portent ability instead of 2.
Thoughts and Ideas:
The Diviner has always had an interesting appeal. It’s not as flashy as some of the other wizard traditions, but its abilities are very solid. Portent allows you to make sure that the attack roll you made succeeds, or that the monster’s saving throw fails. The ability to recycle spell slots for divinations can be very powerful, as it lets the Diviner use all of his or her fact finding spells and still have spells ready to go for the adventure. The Third Eye can give situation specific sensory information that can radically alter the tone or pace of an encounter. All in all, a neat package of abilities to stack onto a wizard chassis.
Enchantment
The ability to turn a foe into an ally is a powerful ability, and one that falls firmly into the domain of the Enchanter. Enchanters turn the minds of their enemies against them, and can put them to sleep, render them helpless, or turn them into willing allies. The Enchanter has subtle offensive capabilities, but they are very powerful abilities.
2nd Level
Hypnotic Gaze
As an Action, the Enchanter can use the power of the voice and the eyes to enthrall a creature. A creature within 5 feet of the Enchanter has to make a wisdom saving throw if it can see or hear the Enchanter. If the creature fails the save, its speed drops to 0, and the creature is both incapacitated and visibly dazed. The Enchanter can maintain this effect by using their action on subsequent turns, but they must stay within 5 feet of the creature, and the creature must be able to see or hear the Enchanter. The effect ends if the Enchanter is more than 5 feet away from the creature, it can’t see or hear the Enchanter, or it takes damage. If the creature makes its initial saving throw, or the effect ends as described, that specific creature can’t be targeted by this effect until the Enchanter finishes a long rest.
6th Level
Instinctive Charm
The Enchanter can reactively charm his or her foes to change the targets of their wrath. As a reaction, the Enchanter can divert a creature’s attack as long as the creature is within 30 feet, and there is a different target available in that range. If the target fails a Wisdom saving throw, they attack the nearest creature other than the Enchanter or the creature itself. If there are multiple creatures, the attacker gets to pick. On a successful save, that particular creature is immune to this ability until you complete a long rest. This ability must be used before the attacks succeeds or fails, and creatures that are immune to charm effects are immune to this ability.
10th Level
Split Enchantment
The Enchanter can affect a second target when casting an Enchantment spell of 1st level or higher (that normally only targets a single target).
14th Level
Alter Memories
The Enchanter’s powerful charms have gained two significant effects. First, the Enchanter (when casting an enchantment spell of 1st level or higher) can affect the target’s memory to the point they don’t remember being charmed.
Second, the Enchanter can further modify the target’s memory so they forget what they were doing while under the charm effect. The target has to succeed at an Intelligence saving throw or the Enchanter can erase a number of hours equal to 1 + the Enchanter’s charisma modifier. The Enchanter can erase less than the full amount available, but can’t erase more than the total duration of the charm.
Thoughts and Ideas:
The Enchanter’s tradition focuses on short term charm like abilities to help the Enchanter either manage a single target (Hypnotic Gaze) or keep pressure off of an ally (Instinctive Charm). The upper level abilities allow the Enchanter to affect more than one target, and to create interesting opportunities with charmed enemies. The major issue with this style of magical power is that there are several very dangerous types of creatures that are immune to charm, and you have to factor that into your plans.
Evocation
Energy itself is a powerful tool, and the Evoker is a master of channeling that energy into pure destructive force. Evokers are flashy spellcasters, ready to toss fire and lightning at the drop of a hat. If you need something knocked down or overwhelmed with magical force, the Evoker should be the first and last call you make.
2nd Level
Sculpt Spell
When the Evoker casts an Evocation spell that affects other creatures, the Evoker can choose a number of creatures equal to 1 + the spell’s level. Selected creatures automatically pass their saving throw, and they take no damage if they would normally take half damage on a successful save.
6th Level
Potent Cantrip
The Evoker’s cantrips do half damage even on successful saves to resist them. Additional effects are not triggered.
10th Level
Empowered Evocation
The Evoker adds his or her intelligence modifier to any damage roll for a Wizard Evocation spell.
14th Level
Overchannel
The Evoker’s mastery of energy allows them to pour more energy into their spells than other Wizards. When they cast an evocation spell of 5th level or lower, they can choose the spell to do maximum damage. The first time the Evoker uses this ability, it causes no additional harm. The second time it deals 2D12 necrotic damage that ignores resistances and immunities. Each additional time this ability is used, it deals an additional D12 necrotic damage. This resets on a long rest.
Thoughts and Ideas:
The Evoker is not a subtle spellcaster, and usually let’s the evocation spells handle the talking. It’s the most offensive minded of the Arcane Traditions, and the abilities are focused on hammering damage past resistance and causing maximum harm. A potential pitfall of this Tradition is an unprepared Evoker may not have the specific spells he or she needs to get past a specific creature’s immunities, and that makes the Evoker far less dangerous than otherwise presented.
Illusion
The Illusionist is a wizard of the mind and the senses. The real power of the Illusion tradition is that it can trick the target’s senses into believing a host of things, either pleasant or painful. At the highest levels, the Illusionist can make illusions so real that people can interact with them, and so terrifying that they can kill.
2nd Level
Improved Minor Illusion
The Illusionist learns the Minor Illusion Cantrip (if not already known, or a new Wizard cantrip of their choice, if they already know Minor Illusion). The Illusionist can use Minor Illusion to create both a sound and an image with a single casting (the spell normally allows one or the other).
6th Level
Malleable Illusions
When the Illusionist is working with illusions they’ve created with a duration of longer than 1 minute, they can spend their action to change the nature of the illusion (so long as the changes are within the parameters of the illusion itself), provided they can see the illusion.
10th Level
Illusory Self
As a reaction, the Illusionist can create an illusory copy of himself or herself. This reaction can be taken to a creature making an attack roll against the illusionist. The Illusion takes the hit in place of the Illusionist and the attack automatically fails. The Illusion dissipates after the attack. This ability recharges on a short or long rest.
14th Level
Illusory Reality
The Illusionist can make portions of their illusions a reality. When they cast an Illusion spell of 1st level or higher, the Illusionist can make 1 feature of the illusion real. This takes a Bonus action from the Illusionist and the feature becomes real for 1 minute. This object can not deal damage or otherwise directly harm anyone.
Thoughts and Ideas:
The Illusionist can be one of the most creative ways to play with the Wizard class. Because a majority of the spells in this school not named invisibility allow the caster to create visual (and other sensory) effects, the Illusionist has a lot of potential for how they cast spells. This let’s you tinker with the way your spells interact in a very different way from other spellcasters.
Necromancy
There are extremely powerful cosmic forces that interact with magic in fundamental ways. Necromancers study the interplay between the energy of life and the energy of death. Often thought to be morbid or creepy by most, the Necromancer is a student of life as much as a student of death.
2nd Level
Grim Harvest
The Necromancer draws vitality from the dead and the dying. Once per turn, when the Necromancer kills one or more creatures with a spell of 1st level or higher, they regain hit points equal to twice the spell’s level, or 3 times the spell’s level if its a Necromancy spell. This doesn’t work on constructs or undead.
6th Level
Undead Thralls
The Necromancer learns the spell Animate Dead (if not all ready known). When the Necromancer casts the spell, they can target one additional body to create another skeleton or zombie. Further, when the Necromancer creates an undead creature with a spell that creature adds the Necromancer’s Wizard level to its hit point total and the Necromancer’s Proficiency Bonus to weapon damage rolls.
10th Level
Inured to Undeath
The Necromancer has resistance to necrotic damage and can not have his or her maximum hit points reduced.
14th Level
Command Undead
The Necromancer’s study of life and death has given them the ability to command the undead. As an Action, the Necromancer can target an undead creature it can see within 60 feet. That creature must make a Charisma saving throw or become friendly towards the Necromancer and follows his or her commands until the Necromancer uses this ability again. Intelligent undead are harder to control with this ability. Undead with an Intelligence score of 8 or higher have advantage on the save, and Undead with an intelligence of 12 or higher repeat the saving throw every hour until they succeed or break free.
Thoughts and Ideas:
The Necromancer’s power comes primarily from the study of life and death. Most of their abilities are focused on reducing their ability to be hurt by the things they study, eventually giving them the ability to create minions of their own, and as a final ability, to steal control of other undead creatures. The extra bodies can certainly help, but most folks don’t take kindly to those that wake the dead.
Transmutation
The Transmuter is a master of changing one thing into another. Whether turning a small creature larger, or a creature’s skin into stone, the Transmuter finds great power in the ability to turn one thing into another, and the power to transcend the limits of arcane magic.
2nd Level
Minor Alchemy
The Transmuter can turn some basic materials into others. The alchemical process works on wood, stone, iron, copper, or silver and transforms the material into a different type of material. For every 10 minutes the transmuter spends working the process, they can transform 1 cubic foot of the material. After 1 hour, or the Transmuter loses concentration, the material reverts back to its original type.
6th Level
Transmuter’s Stone
The Transmuter can create a magic talisman that bestows one of the following benefits:
- Darkvision to 60 feet
- Increase movement speed by 10 feet while unencumbered
- Proficiency in Constitution Saves
- Resistance to Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder damage (Transmuter’s choice)
The benefits are bestowed to any creature carrying the stone. If the Transmuter is the creature carrying the stone, they can change the benefit any time they cast a transmutation spell of 1st level or higher. The stone loses all powers if the Transmuter uses this ability again.
10th Level
Shapechanger
The Transmuter adds the Polymorph spell to his or her spellbook if it’s not already there. The Transmuter can cast the Polymorph spell without expending a spell slot to transform into himself or herself into a beast with a challenge rating of 1 or less. This ability recharges on a short or long rest. The Transmuter can cast the Polymorph spell normally using spell slots.
14th Level
Master Transmuter
The Transmuter can use the power in the Transmuter’s Stone to perform an even more powerful magical effect. This consumes the Transmuter’s Stone and the Transmuter will have to construct another one, after a long rest. The potential effects are:
- Major Transformation: Transforms one non-magical object (no larger than a five foot cube) into another non-magical item of equal or smaller size, mass and value. It takes 10 minutes to perform this trick
- Panacea: Cures all curses, diseases, and poisons affecting a creature touched by the stone. It also restores all hit points.
- Restore Life: The Transmuter casts Raise Dead on a creature touched by the stone without expending a spell slot or needing the spell in their spellbook.
- Restore Youth: The Transmuter touches the stone to a willing creature and reduces the creature’s apparent age by 3D10 years, to a minimum of 13 years. This has no effect on the creature’s lifespan.
Thoughts and Ideas:
The Transmuter brings a couple of unique options to the Wizard class. Being one of the few things that’s not a cleric that can raise the dead can be astonishingly handy in a pinch, and never underestimate the ability to turn three cubic feet of wood into silver in a town you’re never coming back to. The Transmuter could very easily be flavored as a con man with the right background and choices.
Conclusions:
Wizards are astonishingly broad in their capabilities. You can find the right spell or combination of abilities to get most things done as a Wizard. Other arcane classes focus on a specific type of magic or capability, but the strength of the Wizard is the ability to prepare to handle any sort of situation that may arise. That versatility is a great asset to a Wizard, but can also be a liability if the Wizard is unprepared for the situation of the day.
When building your Wizard, you have a variety of options to customize and tailor your Wizard to whatever other pursuits you may have. Arcane Traditions are extremely helpful at developing your character’s specialty, and it’s very easy to make two Wizards that play very differently on the tabletop. Remember you still need a party of adventurers to go with you.
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