Well if you look at him, he’s a Wizard, Sorcerer, and Warlock. He’s a wizard cause he had to learn his powers. He’s a Sorcerer cause he’s always had these powers, he just needed to learn how to activate them. He’s a warlock cause he’s the herald of the Vishanti.
I had a wizard that his spell book was a Rubix Cube with arcane writings on each square that he needed to move to the correct combination of squares and it doubled as his arcane focus. He was a hermit that took it from an obelisk he was charged with watching but during his studies of it discovered it can bring a great evil to the world so he took a part of the obelisk to prevent that from happening. Now he is hunted by his former sect of wizards.
I always make my spellbook my arcane focus plus my DM and I go out of our way to keep my Spellbook safe because we don't want to deal with replacing it and it's a running gag that my Spellbook doesn't have a scratch on for any of the shit we deal with
Sorcerer: An expensive, top of the line, high quality assault rifle with tons of attached high tech gadgets provided by the military. Warlock: A homemade weapon sent to you by your shady anon friend that could be anything from a brutal double barrel shotgun, a precision sniper rife, or a fucking minigun. Wizard: A backpack filled with tons of things you've collected, including but not limited to: A silenced pistol, a stun gun, a bar of soap, a Swiss Army knife, a pair of binoculars, and some C4.
Replace warlock's "sent to you by your friend" with "sent to you by a shady anonymous user you found on the dark web's version of Etsy who now has your contact details and keeps sending you forceful advertising to buy more." And then it's spot on :)
@@AndrewChumKaser oh I was just joking haha, I didn't genuinely intend you to change anything; I'd made it overly long for humourous effect XD Shady is a good addition though.
I agree, his powers are really nebulous and hard to define: in the end he doesn't neatly "fit" into any class container. It's very difficult to detach the association when the source material calls Gandalf a "Wizard" and the *archetypal* idea Wizard, but there are arguments out there that he's a Cleric, Fighter, Sorcerer, Wizard, even a Druid!
Dungeon Dudes Yes... that's true. I don't really know. I still think Sorcerer fits him best. Yes, his power (and pretty much everyones power in tolkiens universe, really) comes from Eru/Illuvatar (God), so he could be a cleric. He can also communicate and connect with animals over distances (Shadowfax)... so that's slightly druidic. But even if his powers and he himself were created by god, he was still 'born' with it. He can wield these powers, even if he'd choose to turn against the valar and switched to Sauron's site. It doesn't seem that he has to pray for using his powers. He's essentially of angelic/devine bloodline (he is a Maiar) So sorcerer, in my opinion, fits the most. But he certainly does not 'study' magic in the way, D&D wizards do, although he knows some magic passwords... But now, thinking about that and the fact, that his body is just an disguise - he could be the middle earth equivalent of a Planetar or a Deva.... are they considered clerics?? 😅 But I have to say, I do not claim that I'm right or something. I'm just sharing my thoughts
Ok here is a cool twist on Necromancy. So to prove a point about good Necromancers i had to show it and play it, this was an absolute blast by the way. So as a human variant i picked up magic initiate to get cure wounds (over healing word as it more "intimate"), spare the dying, and guidance. So that i have these skills as a level 1 wizard necromancer, i can now also save lives. So i would say that in my incantations i am actually communing with the dead and finding a soul that is willing to return to there body to aid me even if they need something in return, i did this vs the normal of just soving soul fragments back into a body and send it off to do bidding. Now i would still raise dead without "talking" to them but only in dire emergencies or if the fallen bodie was from a known baddy. This character was inspired by tbe fact that necromancy could do great things. The undead could be a never tiering work force to better solve or improve the lives of the living to make better peace throughout the world. But first the world must see the good that can come of it....
It is basically robots that have no energy sorce required... inately I mean. You still spend spell slots and they are limited, but as long as obe eats well yeah, nevrr tiring work force making life easier.
I'd argue that shield is better than mage armor if yiu can only have 1. This is under the assumption that you will not be targeted often due to cover, stay far away, have melee allies, etc. Mage Armor is a 15% lower chance to be hit with any given attack. Shield is a 100% chance to turn a hit into a miss (assuming you can know the enemy's result) on each use because you only use it when you know it matters
my favorite wizard by far came from dnd group just starting out. I was handed a pregen the dm found online and it had the best story. basically he was once very powerful but during a magical experiment his past present and future selves merged into one being and he was never really sure when or where he was or what reality he was in. this presented enormous RP opportunities
While you were discussing the spellbooks, I recalled one of the stories of Raistlin Majere in one of the Dragonlance books, War of the Twins. Raistlin and Caramon had joined a mercenary army. Raistlin is "apprentice" to the army's mage. The mage was inspecting a spellbook that was thrown from an enemy mage while he was fleeing. It was a very ornate book. Just as the mage was beginning to open the book, Raistlin slammed it shut and suggested that it may be booby-trapped. No mage in their right mind would want to draw attention to their spellbook, so why would he have made it so attractive looking??!!! They took it out and, from a distance, Raistlin used a spell to open the cover of the book. Nothing happened. The mage and the commander of the army mocked him. A breeze blew and turned some pages which then caused the book to explode.
As always, different DMs and players have different opinions about it -- so it's a good idea to make sure everyone in the group is on the same page! For instance, alignment isn't an important concept in our home games, so it really doesn't matter if someone wants to play a necromancer -- but the general population of the setting doesn't trust people who animate the dead.
This was so useful, and the timing was perfect. I've only been playing for a little while, and my first character was a Barbarian. I've thought for a while "If he dies, I'm rolling a Wizard.". Well, last night he died. Then, I see this on Reddit this morning, and you've really helped with how I'm going to go about building my Wizard. Incredibly helpful, informative, and to the point. Much appreciated, you've got a new subscriber in me.
Thank you! May the valkyries spirit your fallen barbarian to Valhalla to stand amongst his ancestors. ... and may your Wizard go on to be your next great character! Please tell us about your new character :) - monty
My group is playing homebrew characters and I am just a wizard gnome, I told them If I die im making a super saiyan. They thought I was joking >:D. Fortunately for them, I can hold my own as wizard along with their outrageous character classes. Wizard is a fantastic class.
Although I'm happy you got help from this, I must tell you that, IMO, the best way to build a wizard, is, TO PLAY ONE. There are no 1st lvl gamebreakers, you have zero chance of making a crap wiz because of your choices. Decide what you want your wizard to be like, and pick spells accordingly. You may not end up OPTIMIZED, but you'll sure as hell love your character more, which means you'll RP more, and better! After all, that's the point.
@@mackdaddie222 late here but first dnd character was a wizard (technically not dead but due to covid the dm said "fuck it" on the campaign, I was only 3 weeks in anyway, I was a wizard to fill in a role that was needed, not so much because I wanted to be one, spells always confuse me tho
In the future, I’m going to play a wizard that’s reflavored as a crazy old inventor. (Yes, I’m aware there’s the artificer but I want to play a full caster.) The idea was that when he was younger, he was the top student in his Wizard College but had no actual arcane ability. The most complex spells he could ever master were cantrips so he flunked out. He then became obsessed with being able to invent things that could take the place of magic. Each of his “spells” will be a gadget that takes the place of that spell. (Example: Fireball = bomb) Preparing spells = thinking with his inventions to make sure they’ll work the next day. Arcane recovery = Tinkering with gadgets he’s already used that day. Spell book = a journal and a bag of his inventions Copying spells into his spell book = taking notes on how to invent an object to take the place of that spell. Paper and ink for copying spells = purchasing the materials needed to make the object
I'm definitely showing this to my wizard player. Most people stop at rules but I loved that you went into rp suggestions. I also loved the anecdotes from your wizard characters!
Glad you liked our characters and the video! We wanted to have a nice balance in RP and mechanics discussion. Hope your wizard player is slinging spells like a pro after all the recent videos on spells we've made ;) - Monty
So, like, as a DM, I have often been given funny looks and 'um actually' responses from new players when I compare the Sorcerer to Harry Potter and the Wizard to Dr. Strange. I always have to explain it to them, so it makes me happy to hear you guys compare Strange to a Wizard in this video and Harry Potter to a Sorcerer in your other video.
Obviously in their own worlds the rules of D&D don’t apply, which is the irony of calling the sorcerer supreme a Wizard. In D&D it’s all about how they learned magic. Dr. Strange studied it from books, Harry discovered his powers within himself as he matures. It’s all there! Glad you agree with us lol.
Harry Potter is still a wizard. He gains his ability through study. In the VAST majority of worlds, an innate potential is still needed before the study does any good.
Original I made a warlock that was sort of just myself as a character. But then when I got the chance to make a new character I decided that I wanted to do something completely different-ish, I still liked magic. I got really into the idea of the Drow, and the more I looked into their culture the more my character began to take shape. A female slave, Zesstra was a Drow born into slavery under the ownership of a powerful noble family. She had the “honor” of being the mistress’s personal chambermaid (the daughter of the house). However, the culture of the Drow is deceptive and full of backstabbing. So when another Noble family wanted the power of the A’Daragon’s they hired assassins to eliminate the competition. Long story short the assassins killed everyone in the house, even mortality wounding Zesstra, but they were sloppy and left her to bleed out. She crawled her way to the personal safe of the A’Daragon’s and, reciting the spell she had seen her mistress cast hundreds of times, managed to open the door. She woke up hours later with half a healing potion spilled onto her dress and her freedom. She left the underdark for the surface because it was the last place she knew she should go. Her motivations sprung from never receiving any real education due to her heritage of being a slave. She wanted to understand the world and learn as much as she could. I couldn’t decide what school of magic to have her filter into, but I figured that she would want to protect her freedom, the first thing she had ever truly owned, so I made her an abjuration wizard.
having played 5e for about three years now, i can say that being a wizard has been one of my favorite spell casters, just second behind bard. while my race for my current pc isn't very 'wizard-y' (half-orc), being a war wizard has helped add a nice touch to what could have otherwise been a typical 'orc smash!' character. it's taught me to think differently, and has made me appreciate tactical spells rather than boom-explosion! kind of spells for sure
Power does not corrupt. Power reveals. It does often reveal people being corruptible, but that's because most people are corruptible, not because power itself corrupts.
I was a divination wizard and our part didn't have any healers. Luckily I'd rolled a 20 for one of my portent dice so when a team mate went down I just gave them the 20 on their death save and they were back up.
Your videos are so good, guys. They're so organized and clean/scripted, but still naturally spoken and those little hiccups make it feel so natural and not robotic.
One spell that I find Invaluable for you DPS mongers out there is the 3rd level Melf's Minute Meteors. Initially, the spell gives you 6 tiny meteors that float around your character. After you cast this as an action, as a bonus action on your turn, you may send one or two of these meteors towards your opponents. All within 5 ft. of the explosion must make DEX saves. Each meteor deals 2d4 fire damage, giving you a total of 4d4 total per turn, and a succeeding saving throw takes half instead of none. At higher levels, two additional tiny meteors apparate around you at each level casted above 3rd. That's not only guaranteed damage, but double the potency of a scorching ray at base level, dealing 12d6 total if used most efficiently and concentration isn't broken, which is very unlikely to happen if you took warcaster. This spell scales immensely well, and both wizards and sorcerers can take it. Super underrated spell, as it activates on an often poorly used bonus action otherwise. The most optimal use I would say would be at 6th level, as that's a pretty bland level for this class anyways and leaves room for those crucial higher level spells, although all levels provide amazing bang for your buck. At 6th level, it apperates 12 meteors instead of 6, dealing a cumulative total of 24d6 guaranteed damage over the course of 6 turns, and can be stacked with other support or DPS spells considering that it's a bonus action to activate. It also has AoE, so any enemies paired close together will all be affected by the spell as well. Such a good pick up for a 3rd level spell slot, and would definitely be way too good if warlocks got access to it considering how their spellcasting system works.
I love Minute Meteors. I took it for my bladesinger at level 6 and pairing Green-Flame Blade, Extra Attack and Minute Meteors really adds up fast against small groups of enemies
I once played an Orc Abjuration Wizard with 6 Intelligence. Whenever they were about to enter combat he would cast Mage Armor on himself 6 times which doesn’t stack, but the arcane ward from his class feature did. so at 3rd level he effectively had 54 HP with his high Con and the arcane ward. He would fight with a Q-Staff and the Booming Blade cantrips.
I have always wondered just how strong the wish spell is. Can the wish spell wipe out all life in the multiverse? Can you wish a god dead? What happens if two simultaneously cast wish spells oppose each other?
@@SinerAthin ok for comparison, a PC can cast wish once a day that leaves you weakened, a God casts wish as a bonus action all day everyday with no drawbacks. Also initiative is a thing that prevents simultaneous effects.
"Alright. The arcane focus consists of a magical glove and several magical gemstones. You'll need to choose trusty companions to help you gather them."
Just wanna share a bit about a wizard I created and am currently playing: His name is Hans Shmidt (you can tell he has a German accent and says some word in German sometimes and you can tell I based that idea from Caleb in Critical Role) and he is a studious man on his 20s that has been given a position to work on a library, there he met a old librarian that was once a powerful wizard. The interest for magic sparkled in him and he started to study intensely the arcane arts (I took the Human Variant and took the Archanist Feat from UA: Feats for Skills). It has been incredibly fun to play him even though we are only on the beggininng of the campaign.
heath hertter Probably wouldn’t fit with the theme of the historical figure. Also some people with disabilities or deformities embrace them rather than lament them.
I love my dwarf transmutation wizard. Auto light and medium armour, hammer and axe proficiency, auto smith and with background be a clan crafted and now you are a respected dwarven crafter.. pick up “fabricate” and you can make elaborate dwarven armour and weapons.
3 levels of Bard (College of Swords) and the rest in Wizard (Bladesinger), so you still get 9th level wizard spells. Now go forth and be the dancewizard; that can speak with animals and turn animals into allies and give advantage and inspiration (because enhance ability and bard). Live that Disney princess life and have Baloo murder your enemies while you dance, sing, dodge and throw fireballs from behind your wall of undead minions/bound elementals/demons/devils (minions are great, catch em' all!)! I need to play that wizard one day :)
Wizard holds a special place in my heart, my introduction to DND was with a Wizard (Evoker) in 2nd edition and the first spell I cast was fireball (of course, I was a teenager, what else would it have been?) I had it from the start because I joined an ongoing campaign.
Nice to see a focus put on the roleplaying aspect, thought that was really interesting. I like resources that go a little more into the roleplaying aspects, since it is slightly limited in the books (though 5e has done a lot for emphasizing roleplay more in their books).
Cheesing the witch bolt spell... 1d12 damage every turn... It needs a twig from a tree that has been stuck by lighning... Cheese it by striking a tree with another lightning spell, collect many twigs, kill enemies...
You COULD if the damage did anything at higher levels and the ramge wasn't shit. Which is no problem for an evocation wizard with the spell sniper feat
@@Krolmark the component pouch needs COMPONENTS, if not then it's just an empty pouch. Also material components thay don't cost gold can be replaced by an arcane focus
Brandon colo are we both talking 5e? As far as i know, if the component doesn’t have a cost you can always just pull it out of your component pouch, you don’t have to go around and collect the components.
@@Krolmark yes! What is a component pouch without components? Just a pouch! The arcane focus is what really does the replacing, the component pouch just keeps those materials needed in a specific place
I love the bit at 26:00. I had a Dwarf (admittedly a druid, but bygones) who wanted to learn Passwall because he'd been kicked out of his mountain home and needed a way back in.
You guys mention a magic school being a great way to reason why your wizard knows/learned magic. The way we did this in my current group was with a retired character of mine that was from a previous group. Maka, my Tiefling wild magic sorcerer from the previous group, started a school of magic because she dealt with the prejudice of being a tiefling with wild magic and wanted to offer a safe place for magic users to go to learn/harness their abilities no matter the source/class of magic. This school has now become a cornerstone of our current campaign. I also love seeing a favorite retired character continue on as an NPC and live out their endgame dreams as Headmistress.
That might be better off as a Warlock. That way you at least get light armor. I have a yuan-ti Wizard with a 10 CON and I eventually had to get, I believe, a necklace of health. (CON 19) and it basically doubled my CON and HP. I'm a bit concerned that I could hit an anti-magic field while injured and drop below zero.
Straight up at the end when asked "What would your wizard wish for"? Unlimited cheese was the first thought that popped into mind. Like a mad Sheogorath from The Elder Scrolls series.
Asking your characters & players what they would wish for is a great roleplay question and bonding experience for the group, and gives the DM ideas, ideas that lead to plans....so many plans...
My wizard was painfully shy and reclusive and hated going to new places. So why is she out adventuring? She wanted to gain the arcane and magical knowledge to be able to keep herself safe. She had this assumption that magic and brains could save her from everything that she came across. Her character arc concluded with her learning the Wish spell but, rather than use it to make herself brave she used it to resurrect someone dear to the party by casting resurrection (doesn't say it has to be a Sorc/Wiz spell! :P). As someone who's coped with anxiety all her life, being able to snap my fingers and get rid of it is a very tempting proposition. So it was nice to write/RP someone so selfless.
Charisma is a very good secondary stat for wizards. A wizard is not going to be good at melee combat in any case, however, they can be a good leader & talk their way into & out of places & situations. This makes you a double threat in combat & social situations.
I just created a Wizard character, it's my backup character in case my current one dies (my DM has a reputation for running rather tough encounters, in terms of number of foes). He is allowing homebrew races, so my character is a more intelligent subspecies of Pseudodragon. Before becoming an adventurer, Vaerath worked as a professor at arcane academy. He'll arrive in the game after an accident caused by one of his colleague's experiments with conjuration magic. He specializes in divination magic, which will be quite fun to use to his allies' boon and his foes; detriment. He might come off a bit arrogant and rude at times, but he is a dragon, after all!
A friend recently put me onto your channel, and I'm grateful that he did. But one thing that I've noticed - you guys haven't read the Wheel of Time series! Dungeon Dudes, you can find some of the best archetypes for all these characters, especially Thom, the bard, but the magic system is stunning. The guy who wrote it (deceased now) was a high level freemason and historian who wrote a bunch of Conan books and others like it (as well as the the epic Wheel of Time, which is like Lord of the Rings on steroids). Trust me, you'll love the books. Thanks for the awesome uploads - I'm just about to create an elf wizard (probably a high elf) and my Fiance is creating a halfling bard :)
Great video especially for the people just trying to figure out what the game is about. I Saw a video about D&D last night that sparked my interest and now I'm just trying to get information on the game. Glad I stumbled unto your channel, I'm definitely subbing.
This channel is great! They have this organized approach on stuff focusing on the books. I also recommend Mathew Collvile and the Geek and Sundry channels! Lot's of great stuff. Collvile is more "subversive" and often challenges common sense when talking about d&d and geek and sundry have this fun touch.
rrivers52 you wanna learn? Go play, immerse yourself into it, if you don't have fun find another group to play with until you do, never give up, never surrender, you will find fun in this game!
*Levitate.* Werewolves attacked us on a windy steppe. I levitated the big dog 20' into the air and the wind disappeared him. In another adventure, our huge fighter got knocked out cold in a sewer system. There was no way we could carry him, so I levitated him and we just pushed him along with one finger until we reached the exit.
I think a good option for secondary stat of dex is good for a wizard. Especially if you take a background that will give you sealth. Holding concentration isn't as big a deal if nobody knows where you are
I would go for CON, DEX's effect are too small to consistently evade attacks, 14 AC is low, even for early game standards You also are suposed to not be in melee range to begin with so you'll want to build for surviving spells
@@rompevuevitos222 yeah in the vast majority of builds I completely agree, but I do think a stealth build could work pretty well, especially if you focus on spells that don't give your position away
@@rompevuevitos222 lol yeah very true, a bastard sword in the back is a little more effective than a dagger. The scream might give up your position though hahaha
I'd love to talk about worldbuilding ideas in future videos... we'll have to see where we can fit them into the schedule! I don't know if we'd do a video dedicated solely to one form of government, BUT between you and me, I think a magocracy/ theocracies are really important to cover, as they have some really unique traits in fantasy worlds where magic actually works! Great suggestion.
Dungeon Dudes Is have to argue that those exact settings are so unique to fantasy settings that they deserve their own dedicated discussion, but it's up to you all.
I have a Mountain Dwarf Runecarver background Wizard who is planning on School of Necromancy specialization. Outside of the Necromancy spells he primarily specializes in Acid and Poison spells/cantrips. He is Chaotic Neutral and his reasons for Necromancy are; his family's Ancestral Home (before he was born by a couple generations) was taken over by an Army of Undead lead by an Arch-Lich wearing a strange Crown/Circlet (hope if I can find a group and a DM that allows it, would turn out to be the Crown of Bones linked to Myrkul). Anyway, with that he plans on taking over the Ancestral Home and restoring it's glory and realizes that to succeed he needs to be a Master of the Undead himself to better withstand and defeat them. He also seeks personal Apotheosis/Immortality and Knowledge from the Undead/Dead to then fully restore the power of Runecarving and Ancient Dwarven Mastery of Metalworking/Stonecarving.
Imagine how utterly broken it would be if overchannel worked with Meteor Swarm. Four explosions each four times the size of a Fireball spell that deals 120 damage on a *successful* save? That would be completely and utterly beyond overpowered.
In my campaign a god was turned into a tree and one of the things we needed to do was un-tree him and we didn’t think we’d be able to do it until we were waaaay higher leveled, but our bard did some calculations and he had a spell that could do it as long as the rest of us gave him our buffs and we messed up all of the gm’s plans by freeing him from the tree earlier than expected.
Starting a new campaign at level 3 and I'm making a Lizard folk bladesinger (elf restriction was lifted) looks like it is going to work really well with shadow blade! As a background for how he got into magic, as a boy his tribe was very traditional and afraid of magic so when he started being able to use magic, he was cast out. He then came across a wizard who taught him the ways of being an arcane caster and used his training with the lizardfolk to combine the fighting styles into bladesinging.
Awesome video guys! Some great Ideas for wizard characters. I would have liked to hear you discuss the different archetypes for the class though. I hope you can do them in another video!
Wizard is the best utility class of all time. The spell that they can choose from and the way you can exchange it make the class is the most adaptable in any situation. Basically all higgest level wizard can eventually replace all their daily needs with magic spells. From house, meals, transport, and even servants. So many option to chose from. I have made a wizard that basically reserves 1 of his level 7 spell slot to be able to mordenkainen's magnificent mansion just because he can do it and he don't want to settle for less comfort lol. Btw I made his spell book to be a card binder full of spell cards. When he prepare his magic he is building a deck of card from his spell card collection and then putting it in the deck holder AKA his arcane focus. The card just fly out off the deck holder and hover in front of him when he cast his spell. Also my DM allows me to make my spell book can dissappear into me so it rarely able to be destroyed or lost but have the individual spell cards easier to be destroyed.
Once you've lived in the Mansion, all other accommodations pale in comparison. I once created a "Mage Tower" type dungeon which was conspicuously lacking living quarters, because the mage owned a powerful magic item which could create a doorway to a Magnificent Mansion instead.
Did you get a lot of spells from from the adventures? For me the wizards has been pretty useless class in all the campaigns i have played. The druid completely outshines the wizard in utility since it has all the spells from the start and is not useless when all spellslots is expended and can actually fight a fair bit even after he cant turn into an animal any longer. Druid also have more spells prepared. The only thing wizard has done better is that it has a liitle higher damage single target spells (and do you really need that pick a sorcerer instead). Am I missing something with the wizard here, because it really confuses me why people still think the wizard is good? :/.
Wizards have the greatest amount of spells to choose from when learning new ones at almost any time - only a Lore Bard can get a better variety, and only at levels where Magical Secrets are learned. Sorcerers and Warlocks have sharply limited spell lists and no spellbook, Clerics and Druids have all their spells known, but their spells are more focused while the Wizard can pick what might be needed. If you have other spellcasters, the Wizard can fill in the gaps that their spells can't cover, or a primary spellcaster Wizard can actively seek out books and scrolls to stuff their spellbook with a hundred or so choices, then begin the day with a loadout of useful things that they can then completely swap out for the next day. "Swiss Army Knife" is a good descriptor, as an expertly-played Wizard can use their spells to adapt to different situations in ways that other spellcasting classes find more difficult.
My half-elf envoker wizard entered a tomb because of whispering and found a spellbook, grabed it, and elementals appeared and tried to kill him. Now he is on the run and can't/won't hurt elementals and when adding spells to his spellbook he has to use the elements to write.
as ALL spells in D&D have a school, I homebrewed that a Wizard can learn spells of her school from all spell lists, but she doesn't get the lowered time & cost for non-Wizard spells
I am currently playing an Abjurer with the Courtier Background. A Waterdevian Diplomat & Proprietor of discrete deeds for those with the right coin. My Party members all, ALL, are Low armor class squishies. With Mage Armor and Arcane Ward I have become the Party Tank seeing my compatriots through many encounters.
Mage Tank! With the right spells and abilities Wizards can become surprisingly durable. It really shows how wizards are such a flexible and adaptable class. Your character sounds really cool, great concept too -- hope your campaign has lots of good intrigue.
I got lucky we defeated a evil spell-caster and that netted me a Staff of defense early on. Cementing my role I had intended for him to be adept at combat being the second in court duels when it benefited him politically
Wizard 1 Lizardfolk called Zuccarbarg ( WIZARD LIZARD ) His goal is to get better to protect his tribe from unbelievable evil he once witnessed in his really real dream. He doesnt like to share his materialistic things. He is wary, everyone may one day threaten his tribe. He is kinda okay sharing his knowledge with others. seems good enough :D
You made a super smart, cold blooded, reptile, who can manipulate the real world by mathematically calculated rituals and who doesn't like to share.... then named him "Zuckerberg" I love it!!
I've found that the Healer feat is incredibly good for a wizard, especially if you're playing in a campaign with intense limit-testing combat. Wizards have the most to lose from being out of spell slots, but if you have the Healer feat there's always something high impact you can do on your turn.
My party had an awoken cat wizard who wanted to learn magic to turn himself into a human and find the "wizard" who made him in the first place. One of my favorite characters to see played at the table.
So, last night I discovered something. In D&D 5E most dragons do NOT have immunity to the Sleep Spell. My adventurers were going up against a young dragon and the wizard gets the bright idea to try and cast Sleep. The dragon had 32 health left, and so the wizard rolled 33 hp to put to sleep. The wizard soothed my poor black dragon to sleep, then the party surrounded him and killed him. I am beginning to dislike that spell as a DM.
One of my favorite spells in D&D is Legend Lore (if your DM is well prepared and/or great at improvising). It really gives a ton of immersion to the story and can make so much difference. I love hearing the DM give a detailed description of whatever fun, interesting and probably macabre stuff happened to an item
My latest wizard, is known as Jaggert, the Puzzled. He's obsessed with riddles and puzzles. His spell book, as well as arcane focus, is "The Arcane Sphericon". A steel ball made of interlocking segments and gears. Resembling a round rubix cube. Different combinations are different spells. Probably the coolest flavor I've done in a long time.
These videos have really helped me understand and truly appreciate all of the classes in D&D. Thank you for taking the time to be so thorough and share your knowledge with someone like me, who couldn’t really tell the difference between a lot of the magical classes!
Fun note guys, you can do a dragon born and while strength isn't a big deal, though it's fun to surprise people with a decent strength. But also the charisma buff is a nice point. plus a resistance to make use of as well is nice I built one for fun and took the dragon hide feat. So my dragon born wizard can tank a hit with a little bit of armour, 13 +dex is nice. His spell book was a series of tattoos written in ink that is only visible when he casts the spell. His back up books are ink books that the ink will flow onto his body if he replaces a lost book.
Having "the best stats" should never get in the way of making a character you love to roleplay. You character sounds fun and interesting! Have a great campaign!
I'm running this campign so our normal dm can be a player, I'm running a cleric so I might use the wizard as an npc at a later date, its hard to run for the first time and run a class you don't know. Fortunately I have experience with a cleric. :) But I like the idea of a caster who is a bit tougher than you might think at first glace and can still throw down both with damage spells and have those cool tricks up his sleeve for just the right moment. Very Gandalf like,, I don't always blow stuff up but when I do its becsue the Balroge is attempting the cross the bridge of Kazadom and the party must flee!
Seeing as you referenced Potter, i am going to be playing a divination wizard inspired by the lovable mercurial Divination teacher, Sybil Trelawney. Odd seer like powers began to manifest and he was shipped off to a school. Because of his size and shyness he was bullied a bit and nicknamed Mole. His spellbook was a gift from the Librarian and it is a relic of sorts. Gonna be playing on the forest and mole themes with a couple of spell choices - Maxi's Earthen Grasp, Erupting Earth to name but 2 Debating if he wants a familiar down the road. Great video, glad i subbed. Currently watching Dungeons of Drakkenheim
Me too, thanks for the d12 inspiration =] the video affirmed my decisions so i'm stoked. He looks like an early years N'Sync Justin Timberlake with freckles and glasses. With a slight Irish lilt too. He's not as quirky as his inspiration though, but his grt grt grandmother, the last seer in his family, is more or less Sybil And yes, i named his family members after characters from potter =]
@@DungeonDudes Told my group to watch your class guides. Our bard is very grateful and inspired by the guide. We are playing today! Loving your game too
I think the most fun I had as a wizard is playing a Gnome with the evocation arcane tradition. I was chaotic neutral and just blew things up. Imagine Millhouse Manastorm, "ultimate power!" :P
I may have just missed it, but I'd love to see an episode devoted to the most creative uses of the "conjure object" ability for a 2nd level conjurer. Some of the cooler options include bags of marbles, helium-filled balloons to lift the halfling, a barrel of lantern oil, clothing that glows for assisting with intimidation, etc., etc.
variant human with war caster and at level 4 spell sniper, or ritual caster depending on focus. ritual caster for great support out of battle and spell sniper for long ranger target attacks to stay out of the fray while pumping damage into most enemies. great combo is firebolt/spell sniper, chromatic orb/spell sniper. also one wizard type character that you missed was constantine, sure he might be more of an anti hero cleric but a lot of what he does seems like wizard ritual spells being used in an angels and demons centered campaign. using a whole slew of various spells for each situation.
My very first ever character was a wizard when I was 6 playing 2e/ad&d, I have to consciously avoid wizard just to avoid playing them in every single campaign. Now I have a reborn necromancer in CoS and I remind myself why I love this class. So amazingly versatile and I’m writing homebrew spells with this character and experimenting and it’s so fun. My favorite thing to do is flavor my spells and describing how I wield this dark magic to the party and I’m looking forward to trying that cloud kill+ zombie grapple maneuver you mentioned in your necromancer video!
my character, a cleric/wizard multiclass, serves Mystra. Whenever I cast counterspell i play it like my character is drawing closed the hole in Mystra's weave produced by the enemy spell.
I made my wizard based off of Alastor Moody. He’s a sort of wizard secret police. He hunts down mages from his college that have gone rogue and started using their magic to harm others.
My enchanter that I'll be playing in our upcoming Eberron campaign stole a spellbook during a heist and became fascinated by all the spells in it and decided to try his hand at learning them. His spellbook now consists of a bound journal with a bunch of loose notes stuck in as well, held together by a leather strap. He's a newspaper journalist, so his research notes look almost identical and he sometimes grabs the wrong one.
I had an idea that my wizards can contain the material components of say a fireball in a tiny vial that she breaks by channeling her magic then crushing it in her hand or throwing, casting the spell through that process.
I’m in the process of creating a wizard character who is pure wish fulfillment. She’s essentially me if I lived in a fantasy world and had the powers that I want to have - and she learns them _because they’re cool._ Specifically the school of conjuration perks, since being able to poof objects into existence every 6 seconds would make me unreasonably happy. (That said, this self-insert character DOES still have some life issues that she needs to work out and some motivation to go adventuring based on those issues.)
I love all your videos lads! You guys amongst the many dnd you tubers provide clear, concise videos well laid out with great ideas. If I could make a request, could you lads please provide some lore vids especially around this wizard mentioned that the creator of the forgotten realms used as I know precisely nothing about him. Keep up the good work! Thanks from the uk!
Nox from the Walkfu Series is a AMAZING TIME WIZARD!!!! and an inspiration for a evil, neutral wizard that isn't evil for just power or curiosity, he's evil just to see his family again...it's very sad...
What's your must-have Wizard spell?
Sneak attack
Identify
Wish?
Animate dead (im a huge zombie fan)
or Wish
Find familiar
Dr Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme, is a actually wizard. Harry Potter, the Boy Wizard, is a actually sorcerer.
didnt know you were into dnd Doc Antle
Well if you look at him, he’s a Wizard, Sorcerer, and Warlock. He’s a wizard cause he had to learn his powers. He’s a Sorcerer cause he’s always had these powers, he just needed to learn how to activate them. He’s a warlock cause he’s the herald of the Vishanti.
Bard of Lake Town is a ranger.
@@stanleylee5358 ranger is a fighter with a bow
Harry Potter would also be a sorcerer wizard. He has learned some spells on his own afterall.
I had a wizard that his spell book was a Rubix Cube with arcane writings on each square that he needed to move to the correct combination of squares and it doubled as his arcane focus. He was a hermit that took it from an obelisk he was charged with watching but during his studies of it discovered it can bring a great evil to the world so he took a part of the obelisk to prevent that from happening. Now he is hunted by his former sect of wizards.
I always make my spellbook my arcane focus plus my DM and I go out of our way to keep my Spellbook safe because we don't want to deal with replacing it and it's a running gag that my Spellbook doesn't have a scratch on for any of the shit we deal with
This is a really cool idea and reminds me of the Hextech Runes from Arcane
@@lennartduchow7415 Thank you, I thought so too. :)
Now thats a fucking cool character.
Sorcerer: An expensive, top of the line, high quality assault rifle with tons of attached high tech gadgets provided by the military.
Warlock: A homemade weapon sent to you by your shady anon friend that could be anything from a brutal double barrel shotgun, a precision sniper rife, or a fucking minigun.
Wizard: A backpack filled with tons of things you've collected, including but not limited to: A silenced pistol, a stun gun, a bar of soap, a Swiss Army knife, a pair of binoculars, and some C4.
that's a good way of looking at it
Now I wanna play all of em
Replace warlock's "sent to you by your friend" with "sent to you by a shady anonymous user you found on the dark web's version of Etsy who now has your contact details and keeps sending you forceful advertising to buy more." And then it's spot on :)
@@TheRABIDdude too long, but i added "shady" to the description to get the gist of that.
@@AndrewChumKaser oh I was just joking haha, I didn't genuinely intend you to change anything; I'd made it overly long for humourous effect XD
Shady is a good addition though.
One funny thing you mentioned:
Gandalf, pretty much THE wizard archetype is in fact a Sorcerer in D&D terms, as Gandalfs (Olorins) powers are innate.
I agree, his powers are really nebulous and hard to define: in the end he doesn't neatly "fit" into any class container. It's very difficult to detach the association when the source material calls Gandalf a "Wizard" and the *archetypal* idea Wizard, but there are arguments out there that he's a Cleric, Fighter, Sorcerer, Wizard, even a Druid!
Dungeon Dudes
Yes... that's true.
I don't really know. I still think Sorcerer fits him best.
Yes, his power (and pretty much everyones power in tolkiens universe, really) comes from Eru/Illuvatar (God), so he could be a cleric.
He can also communicate and connect with animals over distances (Shadowfax)... so that's slightly druidic.
But even if his powers and he himself were created by god, he was still 'born' with it.
He can wield these powers, even if he'd choose to turn against the valar and switched to Sauron's site.
It doesn't seem that he has to pray for using his powers.
He's essentially of angelic/devine bloodline (he is a Maiar)
So sorcerer, in my opinion, fits the most.
But he certainly does not 'study' magic in the way, D&D wizards do, although he knows some magic passwords...
But now, thinking about that and the fact, that his body is just an disguise - he could be the middle earth equivalent of a Planetar or a Deva.... are they considered clerics?? 😅
But I have to say, I do not claim that I'm right or something. I'm just sharing my thoughts
Sounds to me like Gandalf is multiclassing.
Gandalf is totally an Epic Level Eldritch Knight.
I would say he is an epic level caster in a low-magic setting where there is no distinction between arcane and divine magic.
Ok here is a cool twist on Necromancy. So to prove a point about good Necromancers i had to show it and play it, this was an absolute blast by the way. So as a human variant i picked up magic initiate to get cure wounds (over healing word as it more "intimate"), spare the dying, and guidance. So that i have these skills as a level 1 wizard necromancer, i can now also save lives. So i would say that in my incantations i am actually communing with the dead and finding a soul that is willing to return to there body to aid me even if they need something in return, i did this vs the normal of just soving soul fragments back into a body and send it off to do bidding. Now i would still raise dead without "talking" to them but only in dire emergencies or if the fallen bodie was from a known baddy. This character was inspired by tbe fact that necromancy could do great things. The undead could be a never tiering work force to better solve or improve the lives of the living to make better peace throughout the world. But first the world must see the good that can come of it....
It is basically robots that have no energy sorce required... inately I mean.
You still spend spell slots and they are limited, but as long as obe eats well yeah, nevrr tiring work force making life easier.
Take MAGE ARMOR!!! & more importantly REMEMBER TO CAST IT!!!
Preferably before the sword is in your guts. P
I'd argue that shield is better than mage armor if yiu can only have 1. This is under the assumption that you will not be targeted often due to cover, stay far away, have melee allies, etc.
Mage Armor is a 15% lower chance to be hit with any given attack. Shield is a 100% chance to turn a hit into a miss (assuming you can know the enemy's result) on each use because you only use it when you know it matters
@@timothye.2902 Especially if you're playing at higher levels and pick Shield as one of your mastery spells
I only prepare mage armor shield and magic missile for my 1st levels.
I just finished a campaign on a wizard at level 12
.... and i never remembered to cast mage armor once.
How about false life?
my favorite wizard by far came from dnd group just starting out. I was handed a pregen the dm found online and it had the best story. basically he was once very powerful but during a magical experiment his past present and future selves merged into one being and he was never really sure when or where he was or what reality he was in. this presented enormous RP opportunities
While you were discussing the spellbooks, I recalled one of the stories of Raistlin Majere in one of the Dragonlance books, War of the Twins. Raistlin and Caramon had joined a mercenary army. Raistlin is "apprentice" to the army's mage. The mage was inspecting a spellbook that was thrown from an enemy mage while he was fleeing. It was a very ornate book. Just as the mage was beginning to open the book, Raistlin slammed it shut and suggested that it may be booby-trapped. No mage in their right mind would want to draw attention to their spellbook, so why would he have made it so attractive looking??!!!
They took it out and, from a distance, Raistlin used a spell to open the cover of the book. Nothing happened. The mage and the commander of the army mocked him. A breeze blew and turned some pages which then caused the book to explode.
It's so sad that exploding runes in 5e cant move more than 5ft
TheCinderfang "Killer Queen has already touched the book!"
As a DM, I would never force a necromancing character to be an evil alignment. Check out Sabriel or Jesus Christ.
As always, different DMs and players have different opinions about it -- so it's a good idea to make sure everyone in the group is on the same page! For instance, alignment isn't an important concept in our home games, so it really doesn't matter if someone wants to play a necromancer -- but the general population of the setting doesn't trust people who animate the dead.
Dungeon Dudes subjectivity is exactly my point!
You just gave me the coolest character ideas!!!!!
keggerous I also love Johann Kraus from Hellboy!
I love sabriel lol my favorite books ever
This was so useful, and the timing was perfect. I've only been playing for a little while, and my first character was a Barbarian. I've thought for a while "If he dies, I'm rolling a Wizard.". Well, last night he died. Then, I see this on Reddit this morning, and you've really helped with how I'm going to go about building my Wizard. Incredibly helpful, informative, and to the point. Much appreciated, you've got a new subscriber in me.
Thank you! May the valkyries spirit your fallen barbarian to Valhalla to stand amongst his ancestors.
... and may your Wizard go on to be your next great character! Please tell us about your new character :) - monty
My group is playing homebrew characters and I am just a wizard gnome, I told them If I die im making a super saiyan. They thought I was joking >:D.
Fortunately for them, I can hold my own as wizard along with their outrageous character classes. Wizard is a fantastic class.
Connor L how did your wizard turn out?
Although I'm happy you got help from this, I must tell you that, IMO, the best way to build a wizard, is, TO PLAY ONE. There are no 1st lvl gamebreakers, you have zero chance of making a crap wiz because of your choices. Decide what you want your wizard to be like, and pick spells accordingly. You may not end up OPTIMIZED, but you'll sure as hell love your character more, which means you'll RP more, and better! After all, that's the point.
@@mackdaddie222 late here but first dnd character was a wizard (technically not dead but due to covid the dm said "fuck it" on the campaign, I was only 3 weeks in anyway, I was a wizard to fill in a role that was needed, not so much because I wanted to be one, spells always confuse me tho
Magic casters are my favorite classes. They’re so complex but at the same time very rewarding
Learn plane shift to take your kids back who were stolen by a demon? Sounds like the plot of the next taken movie
Good luck
In the future, I’m going to play a wizard that’s reflavored as a crazy old inventor. (Yes, I’m aware there’s the artificer but I want to play a full caster.) The idea was that when he was younger, he was the top student in his Wizard College but had no actual arcane ability. The most complex spells he could ever master were cantrips so he flunked out. He then became obsessed with being able to invent things that could take the place of magic. Each of his “spells” will be a gadget that takes the place of that spell. (Example: Fireball = bomb)
Preparing spells = thinking with his inventions to make sure they’ll work the next day.
Arcane recovery = Tinkering with gadgets he’s already used that day.
Spell book = a journal and a bag of his inventions
Copying spells into his spell book = taking notes on how to invent an object to take the place of that spell.
Paper and ink for copying spells = purchasing the materials needed to make the object
You mentioned Harry Dresden. You get a “like”.
You mentioned Harry Dresden, so you get a like. Bonus points for reminding me of his satellite throwing uncle, Ebenezer
Grandfather* the blackstaff was his grandfather
@@bobbyLNZ good point
@@jacobhamilton2473 In a similar vein: John Constantine.
Hell's bells, Peace Talks was announced a month or so ago. It's been a long time.
23:47 I can’t help but imagining you cast something like charm person by just pointing the gun at them “Be friends with me and nobody gets hurt.”
I'm definitely showing this to my wizard player. Most people stop at rules but I loved that you went into rp suggestions. I also loved the anecdotes from your wizard characters!
Glad you liked our characters and the video! We wanted to have a nice balance in RP and mechanics discussion. Hope your wizard player is slinging spells like a pro after all the recent videos on spells we've made ;) - Monty
So, like, as a DM, I have often been given funny looks and 'um actually' responses from new players when I compare the Sorcerer to Harry Potter and the Wizard to Dr. Strange. I always have to explain it to them, so it makes me happy to hear you guys compare Strange to a Wizard in this video and Harry Potter to a Sorcerer in your other video.
Obviously in their own worlds the rules of D&D don’t apply, which is the irony of calling the sorcerer supreme a Wizard. In D&D it’s all about how they learned magic. Dr. Strange studied it from books, Harry discovered his powers within himself as he matures. It’s all there! Glad you agree with us lol.
Harry Potter is still a wizard.
He gains his ability through study.
In the VAST majority of worlds, an innate potential is still needed before the study does any good.
Original I made a warlock that was sort of just myself as a character. But then when I got the chance to make a new character I decided that I wanted to do something completely different-ish, I still liked magic. I got really into the idea of the Drow, and the more I looked into their culture the more my character began to take shape. A female slave, Zesstra was a Drow born into slavery under the ownership of a powerful noble family. She had the “honor” of being the mistress’s personal chambermaid (the daughter of the house). However, the culture of the Drow is deceptive and full of backstabbing. So when another Noble family wanted the power of the A’Daragon’s they hired assassins to eliminate the competition. Long story short the assassins killed everyone in the house, even mortality wounding Zesstra, but they were sloppy and left her to bleed out. She crawled her way to the personal safe of the A’Daragon’s and, reciting the spell she had seen her mistress cast hundreds of times, managed to open the door. She woke up hours later with half a healing potion spilled onto her dress and her freedom. She left the underdark for the surface because it was the last place she knew she should go. Her motivations sprung from never receiving any real education due to her heritage of being a slave. She wanted to understand the world and learn as much as she could. I couldn’t decide what school of magic to have her filter into, but I figured that she would want to protect her freedom, the first thing she had ever truly owned, so I made her an abjuration wizard.
having played 5e for about three years now, i can say that being a wizard has been one of my favorite spell casters, just second behind bard. while my race for my current pc isn't very 'wizard-y' (half-orc), being a war wizard has helped add a nice touch to what could have otherwise been a typical 'orc smash!' character. it's taught me to think differently, and has made me appreciate tactical spells rather than boom-explosion! kind of spells for sure
Knowledge is power.
Power corrupts.
Study hard.
BE EVIL!
This a meme I live my life by!
I love this. It is SO true
That's why a lot of d&d villains are wizards
Get all the girls!
Power does not corrupt. Power reveals.
It does often reveal people being corruptible, but that's because most people are corruptible, not because power itself corrupts.
I was a divination wizard and our part didn't have any healers. Luckily I'd rolled a 20 for one of my portent dice so when a team mate went down I just gave them the 20 on their death save and they were back up.
Your videos are so good, guys. They're so organized and clean/scripted, but still naturally spoken and those little hiccups make it feel so natural and not robotic.
I love how you guys go over all the important class features and traits Wizards have and what they get as they level up.
One spell that I find Invaluable for you DPS mongers out there is the 3rd level Melf's Minute Meteors. Initially, the spell gives you 6 tiny meteors that float around your character. After you cast this as an action, as a bonus action on your turn, you may send one or two of these meteors towards your opponents. All within 5 ft. of the explosion must make DEX saves. Each meteor deals 2d4 fire damage, giving you a total of 4d4 total per turn, and a succeeding saving throw takes half instead of none. At higher levels, two additional tiny meteors apparate around you at each level casted above 3rd. That's not only guaranteed damage, but double the potency of a scorching ray at base level, dealing 12d6 total if used most efficiently and concentration isn't broken, which is very unlikely to happen if you took warcaster. This spell scales immensely well, and both wizards and sorcerers can take it. Super underrated spell, as it activates on an often poorly used bonus action otherwise. The most optimal use I would say would be at 6th level, as that's a pretty bland level for this class anyways and leaves room for those crucial higher level spells, although all levels provide amazing bang for your buck. At 6th level, it apperates 12 meteors instead of 6, dealing a cumulative total of 24d6 guaranteed damage over the course of 6 turns, and can be stacked with other support or DPS spells considering that it's a bonus action to activate. It also has AoE, so any enemies paired close together will all be affected by the spell as well. Such a good pick up for a 3rd level spell slot, and would definitely be way too good if warlocks got access to it considering how their spellcasting system works.
I love Minute Meteors. I took it for my bladesinger at level 6 and pairing Green-Flame Blade, Extra Attack and Minute Meteors really adds up fast against small groups of enemies
I once played an Orc Abjuration Wizard with 6 Intelligence. Whenever they were about to enter combat he would cast Mage Armor on himself 6 times which doesn’t stack, but the arcane ward from his class feature did. so at 3rd level he effectively had 54 HP with his high Con and the arcane ward. He would fight with a Q-Staff and the Booming Blade cantrips.
That has to be the absolutely Biggest Dick Energy
you have to have intel of 13 to be wizard
@@jamesbragg1959 Only if you multiclass
Thanos: "I want to learn the 'wish' spell"
The DM should have stepped in
I have always wondered just how strong the wish spell is.
Can the wish spell wipe out all life in the multiverse?
Can you wish a god dead?
What happens if two simultaneously cast wish spells oppose each other?
@@SinerAthin ok for comparison, a PC can cast wish once a day that leaves you weakened, a God casts wish as a bonus action all day everyday with no drawbacks. Also initiative is a thing that prevents simultaneous effects.
"Alright. The arcane focus consists of a magical glove and several magical gemstones. You'll need to choose trusty companions to help you gather them."
wish should be level 10, thus limited to immortals
Just wanna share a bit about a wizard I created and am currently playing:
His name is Hans Shmidt (you can tell he has a German accent and says some word in German sometimes and you can tell I based that idea from Caleb in Critical Role) and he is a studious man on his 20s that has been given a position to work on a library, there he met a old librarian that was once a powerful wizard. The interest for magic sparkled in him and he started to study intensely the arcane arts (I took the Human Variant and took the Archanist Feat from UA: Feats for Skills). It has been incredibly fun to play him even though we are only on the beggininng of the campaign.
A great voice and personality are perfect starting points for a character. Have an awesome campaign!
The first wizard I’ve played from the 80’s is based on Tycho Brahe, silver nose and all. He lost his nose in a duel over Arcana, a duel he won.
Also, great video guy.
Sounds like an awesome character concept. Thanks for liking the video!
He lost his nose but he still won? Why didn't he find a cleric or a paladin to heal him.
Gold nose
heath hertter Probably wouldn’t fit with the theme of the historical figure. Also some people with disabilities or deformities embrace them rather than lament them.
While it's not optimal, I find a Mountain Dwarf abjurer who wades into melee with a warhammer and the occasional vampiric touch can be pretty fun.
yeah, i really want to play that, both because i love spell and sword classes, and i find the concept of the battle wizard funny.
I love my dwarf transmutation wizard.
Auto light and medium armour, hammer and axe proficiency, auto smith and with background be a clan crafted and now you are a respected dwarven crafter.. pick up “fabricate” and you can make elaborate dwarven armour and weapons.
3 levels of Bard (College of Swords) and the rest in Wizard (Bladesinger), so you still get 9th level wizard spells. Now go forth and be the dancewizard; that can speak with animals and turn animals into allies and give advantage and inspiration (because enhance ability and bard). Live that Disney princess life and have Baloo murder your enemies while you dance, sing, dodge and throw fireballs from behind your wall of undead minions/bound elementals/demons/devils (minions are great, catch em' all!)!
I need to play that wizard one day :)
Dance Magic! Sounds great. You should take over the goblin kingdom and build a giant.....maze type thing.
Wizard holds a special place in my heart, my introduction to DND was with a Wizard (Evoker) in 2nd edition and the first spell I cast was fireball (of course, I was a teenager, what else would it have been?) I had it from the start because I joined an ongoing campaign.
Nice to see a focus put on the roleplaying aspect, thought that was really interesting. I like resources that go a little more into the roleplaying aspects, since it is slightly limited in the books (though 5e has done a lot for emphasizing roleplay more in their books).
Cheesing the witch bolt spell... 1d12 damage every turn... It needs a twig from a tree that has been stuck by lighning... Cheese it by striking a tree with another lightning spell, collect many twigs, kill enemies...
You COULD if the damage did anything at higher levels and the ramge wasn't shit. Which is no problem for an evocation wizard with the spell sniper feat
but... don't you just gotta have the component pouch?
@@Krolmark the component pouch needs COMPONENTS, if not then it's just an empty pouch. Also material components thay don't cost gold can be replaced by an arcane focus
Brandon colo are we both talking 5e? As far as i know, if the component doesn’t have a cost you can always just pull it out of your component pouch, you don’t have to go around and collect the components.
@@Krolmark yes! What is a component pouch without components? Just a pouch! The arcane focus is what really does the replacing, the component pouch just keeps those materials needed in a specific place
I love the bit at 26:00. I had a Dwarf (admittedly a druid, but bygones) who wanted to learn Passwall because he'd been kicked out of his mountain home and needed a way back in.
You guys mention a magic school being a great way to reason why your wizard knows/learned magic. The way we did this in my current group was with a retired character of mine that was from a previous group. Maka, my Tiefling wild magic sorcerer from the previous group, started a school of magic because she dealt with the prejudice of being a tiefling with wild magic and wanted to offer a safe place for magic users to go to learn/harness their abilities no matter the source/class of magic. This school has now become a cornerstone of our current campaign. I also love seeing a favorite retired character continue on as an NPC and live out their endgame dreams as Headmistress.
Dude, great vid. I've been playing d&d for a long time, but watching your videos has made me open my mind in a way I didn't before. Keep it up
I just created a tiefling wizard and completely skipped over constitution, i have 15+1 INT, 14 DEX and 15+2 CHA, i also have 5 hitpoints oops
Not Who You Think lmao good luck
That might be better off as a Warlock. That way you at least get light armor. I have a yuan-ti Wizard with a 10 CON and I eventually had to get, I believe, a necklace of health. (CON 19) and it basically doubled my CON and HP. I'm a bit concerned that I could hit an anti-magic field while injured and drop below zero.
Straight up at the end when asked "What would your wizard wish for"? Unlimited cheese was the first thought that popped into mind. Like a mad Sheogorath from The Elder Scrolls series.
Asking your characters & players what they would wish for is a great roleplay question and bonding experience for the group, and gives the DM ideas, ideas that lead to plans....so many plans...
My wizard was painfully shy and reclusive and hated going to new places. So why is she out adventuring? She wanted to gain the arcane and magical knowledge to be able to keep herself safe. She had this assumption that magic and brains could save her from everything that she came across. Her character arc concluded with her learning the Wish spell but, rather than use it to make herself brave she used it to resurrect someone dear to the party by casting resurrection (doesn't say it has to be a Sorc/Wiz spell! :P).
As someone who's coped with anxiety all her life, being able to snap my fingers and get rid of it is a very tempting proposition. So it was nice to write/RP someone so selfless.
Charisma is a very good secondary stat for wizards. A wizard is not going to be good at melee combat in any case, however, they can be a good leader & talk their way into & out of places & situations. This makes you a double threat in combat & social situations.
I just created a Wizard character, it's my backup character in case my current one dies (my DM has a reputation for running rather tough encounters, in terms of number of foes). He is allowing homebrew races, so my character is a more intelligent subspecies of Pseudodragon. Before becoming an adventurer, Vaerath worked as a professor at arcane academy. He'll arrive in the game after an accident caused by one of his colleague's experiments with conjuration magic.
He specializes in divination magic, which will be quite fun to use to his allies' boon and his foes; detriment. He might come off a bit arrogant and rude at times, but he is a dragon, after all!
A friend recently put me onto your channel, and I'm grateful that he did. But one thing that I've noticed - you guys haven't read the Wheel of Time series! Dungeon Dudes, you can find some of the best archetypes for all these characters, especially Thom, the bard, but the magic system is stunning. The guy who wrote it (deceased now) was a high level freemason and historian who wrote a bunch of Conan books and others like it (as well as the the epic Wheel of Time, which is like Lord of the Rings on steroids). Trust me, you'll love the books. Thanks for the awesome uploads - I'm just about to create an elf wizard (probably a high elf) and my Fiance is creating a halfling bard :)
Great video especially for the people just trying to figure out what the game is about. I Saw a video about D&D last night that sparked my interest and now I'm just trying to get information on the game. Glad I stumbled unto your channel, I'm definitely subbing.
rrivers52 dnd is amazing, try checking out web dm and nerdarchy
This channel is great! They have this organized approach on stuff focusing on the books.
I also recommend Mathew Collvile and the Geek and Sundry channels! Lot's of great stuff.
Collvile is more "subversive" and often challenges common sense when talking about d&d and geek and sundry have this fun touch.
rrivers52 you wanna learn? Go play, immerse yourself into it, if you don't have fun find another group to play with until you do, never give up, never surrender, you will find fun in this game!
*Levitate.* Werewolves attacked us on a windy steppe. I levitated the big dog 20' into the air and the wind disappeared him.
In another adventure, our huge fighter got knocked out cold in a sewer system. There was no way we could carry him, so I levitated him and we just pushed him along with one finger until we reached the exit.
Finally, a channel that mentions the best wizard, Raistlin Majere!
The fact that you mentioned Raistlin made my day.
I think a good option for secondary stat of dex is good for a wizard. Especially if you take a background that will give you sealth. Holding concentration isn't as big a deal if nobody knows where you are
I would go for CON, DEX's effect are too small to consistently evade attacks, 14 AC is low, even for early game standards
You also are suposed to not be in melee range to begin with so you'll want to build for surviving spells
@@rompevuevitos222 yeah in the vast majority of builds I completely agree, but I do think a stealth build could work pretty well, especially if you focus on spells that don't give your position away
@@georgelilly1847 for stealth it really helps yeah, but that applies to all classes who want stealth (who says a barbarian can't go for stealth? lol)
@@rompevuevitos222 lol yeah very true, a bastard sword in the back is a little more effective than a dagger. The scream might give up your position though hahaha
@@georgelilly1847 That's the thing, you only rage when found, so instead of the usual "they saw you, run for your life!" it's "plan b bitches"
Would you ever make a video discussing making a magocracy or theocracy setting for d&d?
I'd love to talk about worldbuilding ideas in future videos... we'll have to see where we can fit them into the schedule! I don't know if we'd do a video dedicated solely to one form of government, BUT between you and me, I think a magocracy/ theocracies are really important to cover, as they have some really unique traits in fantasy worlds where magic actually works! Great suggestion.
Dungeon Dudes Is have to argue that those exact settings are so unique to fantasy settings that they deserve their own dedicated discussion, but it's up to you all.
Red Wizards of Thay like this post
I have a Mountain Dwarf Runecarver background Wizard who is planning on School of Necromancy specialization. Outside of the Necromancy spells he primarily specializes in Acid and Poison spells/cantrips. He is Chaotic Neutral and his reasons for Necromancy are; his family's Ancestral Home (before he was born by a couple generations) was taken over by an Army of Undead lead by an Arch-Lich wearing a strange Crown/Circlet (hope if I can find a group and a DM that allows it, would turn out to be the Crown of Bones linked to Myrkul). Anyway, with that he plans on taking over the Ancestral Home and restoring it's glory and realizes that to succeed he needs to be a Master of the Undead himself to better withstand and defeat them. He also seeks personal Apotheosis/Immortality and Knowledge from the Undead/Dead to then fully restore the power of Runecarving and Ancient Dwarven Mastery of Metalworking/Stonecarving.
Ability Score priorities,
In my opinion
Greatest to Least
1) Intelligence
2) Constitution
3) Dexterity
4) Wisdom
5) Charisma
6) Strength
Reasons
1) Intelligence
Your core Stat
Affects Spell Casting Ability
Improves on Spells Prepared
Wizard Level
+ Intelligence Modifier
Intelligence Skills
Saving Throws
Intelligence
2) Constitution
Spell Concentration
Hit Points
3) Dexterity
Armor Class
Melee Damage, Dex Based
Dexterity Skills
Initiative Rolls
Acrobatics
Resistance to Shoves, etc
4) Wisdom
Wisdom Skills
Saving Throws
Wisdom
5) Charisma
Social Pillar
Charisma Skills
6) Strength
Exploration;
Strength & Athletics
Strength Skills
Athletics
Resistance
To Grapples, Shoves, etc
--
Imagine how utterly broken it would be if overchannel worked with Meteor Swarm. Four explosions each four times the size of a Fireball spell that deals 120 damage on a *successful* save? That would be completely and utterly beyond overpowered.
I want to play MUSCLE WIZARD WITH 16 STRENGTH AT LEAST
Muscle Rick
Play a dragon born wizard with 16 strength best of both worlds and so much fun
Muscle wizard cast fist
When I rolled the strenght for my Wizard, she got a 16 xD
Armstrong style of alchemy.
In my campaign a god was turned into a tree and one of the things we needed to do was un-tree him and we didn’t think we’d be able to do it until we were waaaay higher leveled, but our bard did some calculations and he had a spell that could do it as long as the rest of us gave him our buffs and we messed up all of the gm’s plans by freeing him from the tree earlier than expected.
Starting a new campaign at level 3 and I'm making a Lizard folk bladesinger (elf restriction was lifted) looks like it is going to work really well with shadow blade! As a background for how he got into magic, as a boy his tribe was very traditional and afraid of magic so when he started being able to use magic, he was cast out. He then came across a wizard who taught him the ways of being an arcane caster and used his training with the lizardfolk to combine the fighting styles into bladesinging.
I wish I had watched this video before I started my school of invention wizard, those magic bullets would of been so fitting.
My "gun mage" was a REALLY fun character to play. Maybe your wizard can invent it as a new method of spellcasting?
Awesome video guys! Some great Ideas for wizard characters. I would have liked to hear you discuss the different archetypes for the class though. I hope you can do them in another video!
New subscriber just starting out in D&D (again...I played as a kid). What an amazing channel guys. A wealth of information. Thank you!
Wizard is the best utility class of all time. The spell that they can choose from and the way you can exchange it make the class is the most adaptable in any situation. Basically all higgest level wizard can eventually replace all their daily needs with magic spells. From house, meals, transport, and even servants. So many option to chose from. I have made a wizard that basically reserves 1 of his level 7 spell slot to be able to mordenkainen's magnificent mansion just because he can do it and he don't want to settle for less comfort lol.
Btw I made his spell book to be a card binder full of spell cards. When he prepare his magic he is building a deck of card from his spell card collection and then putting it in the deck holder AKA his arcane focus. The card just fly out off the deck holder and hover in front of him when he cast his spell. Also my DM allows me to make my spell book can dissappear into me so it rarely able to be destroyed or lost but have the individual spell cards easier to be destroyed.
Once you've lived in the Mansion, all other accommodations pale in comparison. I once created a "Mage Tower" type dungeon which was conspicuously lacking living quarters, because the mage owned a powerful magic item which could create a doorway to a Magnificent Mansion instead.
Did you get a lot of spells from from the adventures? For me the wizards has been pretty useless class in all the campaigns i have played. The druid completely outshines the wizard in utility since it has all the spells from the start and is not useless when all spellslots is expended and can actually fight a fair bit even after he cant turn into an animal any longer. Druid also have more spells prepared. The only thing wizard has done better is that it has a liitle higher damage single target spells (and do you really need that pick a sorcerer instead). Am I missing something with the wizard here, because it really confuses me why people still think the wizard is good? :/.
Wizards have the greatest amount of spells to choose from when learning new ones at almost any time - only a Lore Bard can get a better variety, and only at levels where Magical Secrets are learned. Sorcerers and Warlocks have sharply limited spell lists and no spellbook, Clerics and Druids have all their spells known, but their spells are more focused while the Wizard can pick what might be needed. If you have other spellcasters, the Wizard can fill in the gaps that their spells can't cover, or a primary spellcaster Wizard can actively seek out books and scrolls to stuff their spellbook with a hundred or so choices, then begin the day with a loadout of useful things that they can then completely swap out for the next day.
"Swiss Army Knife" is a good descriptor, as an expertly-played Wizard can use their spells to adapt to different situations in ways that other spellcasting classes find more difficult.
My half-elf envoker wizard entered a tomb because of whispering and found a spellbook, grabed it, and elementals appeared and tried to kill him. Now he is on the run and can't/won't hurt elementals and when adding spells to his spellbook he has to use the elements to write.
as ALL spells in D&D have a school, I homebrewed that a Wizard can learn spells of her school from all spell lists, but she doesn't get the lowered time & cost for non-Wizard spells
This is an interesting houserule. I could definitely see offering this as a reward or arcane discovery for a brilliant wizard. Great ideas!
I am currently playing an Abjurer with the Courtier Background.
A Waterdevian Diplomat & Proprietor of discrete deeds for those with the right coin.
My Party members all, ALL, are Low armor class squishies. With Mage Armor and Arcane Ward I have become the Party Tank seeing my compatriots through many encounters.
Mage Tank! With the right spells and abilities Wizards can become surprisingly durable. It really shows how wizards are such a flexible and adaptable class. Your character sounds really cool, great concept too -- hope your campaign has lots of good intrigue.
I got lucky we defeated a evil spell-caster and that netted me a Staff of defense early on. Cementing my role
I had intended for him to be adept at combat being the second in court duels when it benefited him politically
Currently establising a reputation with a Faction. Then after perhaps some intrigue. He's out of his element and I'm roleplaying as such
I played a high int high cha wizard. She was a sociopath and used her magic for social power plays :3
Where do you get a DM to play those sort of character :(
“If knowledge is power, then a god am I.” - The Riddler
And every Wizard.
Wizard 1 Lizardfolk called Zuccarbarg ( WIZARD LIZARD )
His goal is to get better to protect his tribe from unbelievable evil he once witnessed in his really real dream.
He doesnt like to share his materialistic things.
He is wary, everyone may one day threaten his tribe.
He is kinda okay sharing his knowledge with others.
seems good enough :D
Is he a wizard lizard who can cast blizzard?
My human wizard is also very protective of his meterial posessions, but eager to share knowledge.
is he in a party with king gizzard?
You made a super smart, cold blooded, reptile, who can manipulate the real world by mathematically calculated rituals and who doesn't like to share.... then named him "Zuckerberg"
I love it!!
I've found that the Healer feat is incredibly good for a wizard, especially if you're playing in a campaign with intense limit-testing combat. Wizards have the most to lose from being out of spell slots, but if you have the Healer feat there's always something high impact you can do on your turn.
Wizard is my favourite class for Dungeons and Dragons so this was very helpful!
My party had an awoken cat wizard who wanted to learn magic to turn himself into a human and find the "wizard" who made him in the first place. One of my favorite characters to see played at the table.
Capriccio that sounds so fun
So, last night I discovered something. In D&D 5E most dragons do NOT have immunity to the Sleep Spell. My adventurers were going up against a young dragon and the wizard gets the bright idea to try and cast Sleep. The dragon had 32 health left, and so the wizard rolled 33 hp to put to sleep.
The wizard soothed my poor black dragon to sleep, then the party surrounded him and killed him. I am beginning to dislike that spell as a DM.
I'd love to see your take on the bladesinging wizard
One of my favorite spells in D&D is Legend Lore (if your DM is well prepared and/or great at improvising). It really gives a ton of immersion to the story and can make so much difference. I love hearing the DM give a detailed description of whatever fun, interesting and probably macabre stuff happened to an item
My latest wizard, is known as Jaggert, the Puzzled. He's obsessed with riddles and puzzles. His spell book, as well as arcane focus, is "The Arcane Sphericon". A steel ball made of interlocking segments and gears. Resembling a round rubix cube. Different combinations are different spells. Probably the coolest flavor I've done in a long time.
I love the school of divination, portent is just so useful.
Potent, Halfling with lucky feat named Bumbles.
My Tiefling Wizard is a recently graduated student from wizard school
These videos have really helped me understand and truly appreciate all of the classes in D&D. Thank you for taking the time to be so thorough and share your knowledge with someone like me, who couldn’t really tell the difference between a lot of the magical classes!
Fun note guys, you can do a dragon born and while strength isn't a big deal, though it's fun to surprise people with a decent strength. But also the charisma buff is a nice point. plus a resistance to make use of as well is nice I built one for fun and took the dragon hide feat. So my dragon born wizard can tank a hit with a little bit of armour, 13 +dex is nice.
His spell book was a series of tattoos written in ink that is only visible when he casts the spell. His back up books are ink books that the ink will flow onto his body if he replaces a lost book.
Having "the best stats" should never get in the way of making a character you love to roleplay. You character sounds fun and interesting! Have a great campaign!
I'm running this campign so our normal dm can be a player, I'm running a cleric so I might use the wizard as an npc at a later date, its hard to run for the first time and run a class you don't know. Fortunately I have experience with a cleric. :)
But I like the idea of a caster who is a bit tougher than you might think at first glace and can still throw down both with damage spells and have those cool tricks up his sleeve for just the right moment. Very Gandalf like,, I don't always blow stuff up but when I do its becsue the Balroge is attempting the cross the bridge of Kazadom and the party must flee!
Seeing as you referenced Potter, i am going to be playing a divination wizard inspired by the lovable mercurial Divination teacher, Sybil Trelawney.
Odd seer like powers began to manifest and he was shipped off to a school.
Because of his size and shyness he was bullied a bit and nicknamed Mole.
His spellbook was a gift from the Librarian and it is a relic of sorts.
Gonna be playing on the forest and mole themes with a couple of spell choices - Maxi's Earthen Grasp, Erupting Earth to name but 2
Debating if he wants a familiar down the road.
Great video, glad i subbed. Currently watching Dungeons of Drakkenheim
Great character concept! Hope you enjoy our campaign, and good luck with your new character too :)
Me too, thanks for the d12 inspiration =] the video affirmed my decisions so i'm stoked.
He looks like an early years N'Sync Justin Timberlake with freckles and glasses.
With a slight Irish lilt too. He's not as quirky as his inspiration though, but his grt grt grandmother, the last seer in his family, is more or less Sybil
And yes, i named his family members after characters from potter =]
@@DungeonDudes Told my group to watch your class guides. Our bard is very grateful and inspired by the guide.
We are playing today!
Loving your game too
@@Jiminat0rr Glad it could help! Have a great game! We're playing today too :)
The variant human is soooo good for nearly any class, so much so that it’s almost TOO powerful.
That's the big strength of feats (combined with their relative scarcity) to be honest. So many classes gain a lot by having one feat at first level.
"Most teams I find- most parties have a severe lack of intelligence."
Spoken like a True Wizard!
Rogue, Wizard. Animate object combined with a ball bearing might be a nice effect for a range attack. You'll shoot your eye out.
The crossbow can be superior in dealing damage to your cantrips before level 5.
I think the most fun I had as a wizard is playing a Gnome with the evocation arcane tradition. I was chaotic neutral and just blew things up. Imagine Millhouse Manastorm, "ultimate power!" :P
I may have just missed it, but I'd love to see an episode devoted to the most creative uses of the "conjure object" ability for a 2nd level conjurer. Some of the cooler options include bags of marbles, helium-filled balloons to lift the halfling, a barrel of lantern oil, clothing that glows for assisting with intimidation, etc., etc.
variant human with war caster and at level 4 spell sniper, or ritual caster depending on focus. ritual caster for great support out of battle and spell sniper for long ranger target attacks to stay out of the fray while pumping damage into most enemies. great combo is firebolt/spell sniper, chromatic orb/spell sniper. also one wizard type character that you missed was constantine, sure he might be more of an anti hero cleric but a lot of what he does seems like wizard ritual spells being used in an angels and demons centered campaign. using a whole slew of various spells for each situation.
Let's talk about spells. I find Variant human to be a really good one.
Just discovered your channel. Great format. Thanks! New sub.
Thank you! Glad to hear you're enjoying our channel! We'd love to hear any suggestions for future video topics you'd like to see! -- monty
My very first ever character was a wizard when I was 6 playing 2e/ad&d, I have to consciously avoid wizard just to avoid playing them in every single campaign. Now I have a reborn necromancer in CoS and I remind myself why I love this class. So amazingly versatile and I’m writing homebrew spells with this character and experimenting and it’s so fun. My favorite thing to do is flavor my spells and describing how I wield this dark magic to the party and I’m looking forward to trying that cloud kill+ zombie grapple maneuver you mentioned in your necromancer video!
Running a warforged wizard its my first time playing dnd but it's so much fun!
my character, a cleric/wizard multiclass, serves Mystra. Whenever I cast counterspell i play it like my character is drawing closed the hole in Mystra's weave produced by the enemy spell.
2 words:
Spell Sniper
I made my wizard based off of Alastor Moody. He’s a sort of wizard secret police. He hunts down mages from his college that have gone rogue and started using their magic to harm others.
Currently playing a wizard who I base off of Fizban(paladine from Dragonlance) a powerful wizard who is kind of senile. So fun!
Eladrin elf is a handy wizard. Misty step let's you be more free on a battle field
It is an excellent play for getting into OR out of trouble quickly.
Well constructed video. Don't forget to add your information cards. Pin a comment that you like from a viewer or create your own comment on the video.
Thanks for watching, and for the tip! - Monty
Yet another excellent video, gave me some serious motivation towards figuring out why my BBEG learned magic in the first place. Excellent job Dudes.
My enchanter that I'll be playing in our upcoming Eberron campaign stole a spellbook during a heist and became fascinated by all the spells in it and decided to try his hand at learning them. His spellbook now consists of a bound journal with a bunch of loose notes stuck in as well, held together by a leather strap. He's a newspaper journalist, so his research notes look almost identical and he sometimes grabs the wrong one.
I had an idea that my wizards can contain the material components of say a fireball in a tiny vial that she breaks by channeling her magic then crushing it in her hand or throwing, casting the spell through that process.
That gives new meaning to spells prepared too.
I’m in the process of creating a wizard character who is pure wish fulfillment. She’s essentially me if I lived in a fantasy world and had the powers that I want to have - and she learns them _because they’re cool._ Specifically the school of conjuration perks, since being able to poof objects into existence every 6 seconds would make me unreasonably happy. (That said, this self-insert character DOES still have some life issues that she needs to work out and some motivation to go adventuring based on those issues.)
i feel like characters who love magic and adventure are wonderful.
I love all your videos lads! You guys amongst the many dnd you tubers provide clear, concise videos well laid out with great ideas.
If I could make a request, could you lads please provide some lore vids especially around this wizard mentioned that the creator of the forgotten realms used as I know precisely nothing about him.
Keep up the good work! Thanks from the uk!
Nox from the Walkfu Series is a AMAZING TIME WIZARD!!!! and an inspiration for a evil, neutral wizard that isn't evil for just power or curiosity, he's evil just to see his family again...it's very sad...