Dungeons & Dragons 5e
wizard subclasses
There are currently 13 official D&D 5E wizard subclasses. Each subclass specialises in a different type of magic and have different strengths and weaknesses, but all subclasses can cast any spell, so be very wary of all of them.
School of Abjuration
(Player’s Handbook p.115) Wizards of the School of Abjuration focus on abjuration magic- magic which protects or which drives away bad things. These wizards spend half the normal amount of time and gold to scribe abjuration spells into their spellbook, and when they cast abjuration spells they also add a magical ward to themselves which absorbs some/all of the next damage(s) which they or a nearby comrade would otherwise take. They are also more likely to cast abjuration spells successfully, they have advantage on saving throws against spells, and they have resistance to spell damage. This is a pretty good school of magic to take if you plan on battling other spellcasters a lot.
Bladesinging
(Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything p.76, Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide p.141) Bladesinger wizards combine spell slinging with melee skills, allowing them to wear light armor and become proficient with a one-handed melee weapon. While bladesinging, these wizards get an AC bonus equal to their INT modifier, move faster, are more dextrous, and it is harder to break their concentration. At higher levels they also get extra attacks, damage absorption, and extra damage based upon their INT modifier.
Chronurgy Mage
(Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount p.184) Chronurgy Mages use dunamis magic to alter the pace of time itself. These wizards can force creatures around them to reroll attack rolls, saving throws, or ability checks, they add their INT modifier to their initiative, they can freeze a creature for a turn, they can trap spells in beads to be used within the next hour by anyone, and they can force a success or a failure on a roll once per day.
School of Conjuration
(Player’s Handbook p.116) Wizards of the School of Conjuration focus on conjuration magic- magic which creates things from nothing or transports creatures away. These wizards spend half the normal amount of time and gold to scribe conjuration spells into their spellbook and can temporarily conjure small objects without using spell slots. In addition, they can teleport short distances without using a spell slot, they can’t have their concentration broken on conjuration spells, and creatures which they summon or create with conjuration spells get extra temporary hit points.
School of Divination
(Player’s Handbook p.116) Wizards of the School of Divination focus on divination magic- magic which reveals the unknown. These wizards spend half the normal amount of time and gold to scribe divination spells into their spellbook. They also can replace attack rolls, saving throws, or ability checks with numbers which they rolled earlier in the day, and when they cast divination spells above 1st level they regain a spell slot, which is quite nice. They can also choose each day to either gain darkvision to 60 feet, see into the ethereal plane, see invisible creatures, or read any language.
School of Enchantment
(Player’s Handbook p.117) Wizards of the School of Enchantment focus on enchantment magic- magic which charms and confuses. These wizards spend half the normal amount of time and gold to scribe enchantment spells into their spellbook. They also can charm creatures without using a spell slot, as a reaction they can distract a creature which is attacking someone into instead striking the nearest creature to them, they can affect more creatures than usual with their enchantment spells, they can keep creatures from realising that they have charmed them, and they can modify the memories of charmed creatures.
School of Evocation
(Player’s Handbook p.117) Wizards of the School of Evocation focus on evocation magic- magic involved in forming the four elements. They spend half the normal amount of time and gold to scribe evocation spells into their spellbook. These wizards can also create safe pockets for their friends within their dangerous area of effect spells, their cantrips will do half damage even if the targeted creature saves against its effects, their evocation spells do increased damage, and they can do maximum damage with their lower level evocation spells, although there may well be a price for them for that extra damage. This is a nice subclass for those Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition wizards who really want to blow things up a really, really lot.
Graviturgy Magic
(Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount p.185) Graviturgy wizards manipulate gravitational forces to their own advantage. They can change the weight of creatures, drag creatures around, increase the damage from weapon attacks or falls, and create gravity sucks which cause damage and slow/stop movement.
School of Illusion
(Player’s Handbook p.118) Wizards of the School of Illusion focus on illusion magic- magic which confuses and tricks the minds. These wizards spend half the normal amount of time and gold to scribe illusion spells into their spellbook. In addition, their minor illusion cantrip uses both sound and an image, they create more flexible illusions which can also have components that are temporarily real, and they can create an illusory image of themselves between themselves and an attacker as a reaction to avoid being struck.
School of Necromancy
(Player’s Handbook p.118) Wizards of the School of Necromancy focus on necromancy magic- magic which is tied to life and death. They spend half the normal amount of time and gold to scribe necromancy spells into their spellbook. They also heal themselves whenever they kill a creature with one of their spells, they can animate more dead than usual and the animated dead have more hit points and deal more damage than normal, they are resistant to necrotic damage, their hit point maximums can’t be reduced, and they can take control of undead which they did not raise themselves. This kind of behaviour is typically frowned upon in polite society.
Order of Scribes
(Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything p.77) These wizards are more in touch with books than most, and that’s saying something. They get a magical quill that they can make appear & disappear at will and which uses no ink but can write in any colour ink of the wizard’s choosing, which cuts the time it takes to scribe a spell into their spellbooks down to only 2 minutes per level, and which allows them to erase anything which they wrote using that pen as a bonus action as long as it is within 5 feet. That’s pretty sweet, but in addition they get a special spellbook; the spellbook becomes an arcane focus, any spells in the spellbook can change their damage type with the damage type of another spell of the same level in that spellbook, and once a day the wizard can cast a ritual spell from the book as a ritual using its normal casting time, instead of adding 10 minutes to it. But wait, there’s more! They also get an awakened spellbook, which is a spectral manifestation of their spellbook which can float up to 300 feet from them and through which they can see and hear and cast spells. On top of all that, they can create a low level spell scroll for free once each morning and additional scrolls which they create cost half as much gold and time. Finally, they can use their spellbooks to protect themselves from harm; if they take damage, they can use their spellbook to protect them from all of that damage once a day, by removing certain spells temporarily from the spellbook. This is a really clutch Dungeons & Dragons 5E subclass if you enjoy spell slinging.
School of Transmutation
(Player’s Handbook p.119) Wizards of the School of Transmutation focus on transmutation magic- magic which changes matter and energy from one form into another. They spend half the normal amount of time and gold to scribe transmutation spells into their spellbook. In addition, these wizards can temporarily change matter from one form into another without using a spell slot, they can polymorph into weaker creatures without using a spell slot, and they can make a transmuter’s stone, which gives them a variety of effects which they can choose each time they cast a transmutation spell: either darkvision to 60 feet, increased speed, CON saving throw proficiency, or resistance to acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage. They can also destroy the stone to either permanently transmute a material, remove all curses, diseases, and poisons affecting a creature & return it to full hit points, cast raise dead on a creature, or make a creature appear younger.
War Magic
(Xanathar’s Guide to Everything p.59) War Magic wizards focus on mixes of evocation and abjuration magic to become masters of battle. When hit, these wizards can use their reaction to add 2 to their AC or 4 to their saving throw to try to thwart the hit while simultaneously striking their enemies with force damage. They also get bonuses to their initiative, they can pump extra damage into their spells which they steal from other mages when they dispel their magic or counterspell them, and they get bonuses to their AC and saving throws while concentrating on a spell.
