The Wizard Nobody Asked For
Clad in the silver robes that denote her station, an elf closes her eyes to shut out the distractions of the battlefield and begins her quiet chant. Fingers weaving in front of her, she completes her spell and launches a tiny bead of fire toward the enemy ranks, where it erupts into a conflagration that engulfs the soldiers.
Checking and rechecking his work, a human scribes an intricate magic circle in chalk on the bare stone floor, then sprinkles powdered iron along every line and graceful curve. When the circle is complete, he drones a long incantation. A hole opens in space inside the circle, bringing a whiff of brimstone from the otherworldly plane beyond.
Crouching on the floor in a dungeon intersection, a gnome tosses a handful of small bones inscribed with mystic symbols, muttering a few words of power over them. Closing his eyes to see the visions more clearly, he nods slowly, then opens his eyes and points down the passage to his left.
Wizards are supreme magic-users, defined and united as a class by the spells they cast. Drawing on the subtle weave of magic that permeates the cosmos, wizards cast spells of explosive fire, arcing lightning, subtle deception, and brute-force mind control. Their magic conjures monsters from other planes of existence, glimpses the future, or turns slain foes into zombies. Their mightiest spells change one substance into another, call meteors down from the sky, or open portals to other worlds.
Scholars of the Arcane
Wild and enigmatic, varied in form and function, the power of magic draws students who seek to master its mysteries. Some aspire to become like the gods, shaping reality itself. Though the casting of a typical spell requires merely the utterance of a few strange words, fleeting gestures, and sometimes a pinch or clump of exotic materials, these surface components barely hint at the expertise attained after years of apprenticeship and countless hours of study.
Wizards live and die by their spells. Everything else is secondary. They learn new spells as they experiment and grow in experience. As they gain mastery over the arcane, they find new ways to manipulate magic, modifying spells in astonishing ways. They can also learn them from other wizards, from ancient tomes or inscriptions, and from ancient creatures (such as the fey) that are steeped in magic.
The Lure of Knowledge
Wizards’ lives are seldom mundane. The closest a wizard is likely to come to an ordinary life is working as a sage or lecturer in a library or university, teaching others the secrets of the multiverse. Other wizards sell their services as diviners, serve in military forces, or pursue lives of crime or domination.
But the lure of knowledge and power calls even the most unadventurous wizards out of the safety of their libraries and laboratories and into crumbling ruins and lost cities. Most wizards believe that their counterparts in ancient civilizations knew secrets of magic that have been lost to the ages, and discovering those secrets could unlock the path to a power greater than any magic available in the present age.
Creating a Wizard
Creating a wizard character demands a backstory dominated by at least one extraordinary event. How did your character first come into contact with magic? How did you discover you had an aptitude for it? Do you have a natural talent, or did you simply study hard and practice incessantly? Did you encounter a magical creature or an ancient tome that taught you the basics of magic?
What drew you forth from your life of study? Did your first taste of magical knowledge leave you hungry for more? Have you received word of a secret repository of knowledge not yet plundered by any other wizard? Perhaps you’re simply eager to put your newfound magical skills to the test in the face of danger.
The Wizard
| Level | Proficiency | Features | Cantrips Known | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | +2 | Spellcasting, Metamagic | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2nd | +2 | Arcane Tradition | 3 | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3rd | +2 | Wizard Versatility | 3 | 4 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 4th | +2 | Ability Score Improvement | 4 | 4 | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 5th | +3 | Arcane Detection | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 6th | +3 | Arcane Tradition Feature | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 7th | +3 | Metamagic(3) | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 8th | +3 | Ability Score Improvement | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 9th | +4 | — | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | — | — | — | — |
| 10th | +4 | Arcane Tradition Feature | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | — |
| 11th | +4 | — | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | — | — | — |
| 12th | +4 | Ability Score Improvement | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | — | — | — |
| 13th | +5 | Metamagic(4) | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | — | — |
| 14th | +5 | Arcane Tradition Feature | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | — | — |
| 15th | +5 | — | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — |
| 16th | +5 | Ability Score Improvement | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — |
| 17th | +6 | — | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 18th | +6 | Leyline Conduit | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 19th | +6 | Ability Score Improvement | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 20th | +6 | Spell Mastery | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Class Features
As a wizard, you gain the following class features.
Hit Points
- Hit Dice: 1d6 per Wizard level
- Hit Points at 1st Level: 6 + your Constitution modifier
- Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d6 or 4 + your Constitution modifier per Wizard level after 1st
Proficiencies
- Armor: None
- Weapons: Daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs, light crossbows
- Tools: None
- Saving Throws: Intelligence, Wisdom
- Skills: Choose two from Arcana, History, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, and Religion.
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
- (a) a quarterstaff or (b) a dagger
- (a) a component pouch or (b) an arcane focus
- (a) a scholar’s pack or (b) a explorer’s pack
- a spellbook
Spellcasting
As a student of arcane magic, you have a spellbook containing spells that show the first glimmerings of your true power. See Spells Rules for the general rules of spellcasting and the Spells Listing for the wizard spell list.
Cantrips
At 1st level, you know three cantrips of your choice from the wizard spell list. You learn additional wizard cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the Wizard table.
Spellbook
At 1st level, you have a spellbook containing six 1st-level wizard spells of your choice. Your spellbook is the repository of the wizard spells you know, except your cantrips, which are fixed in your mind.
Preparing and Casting Spells
The Wizard table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your wizard spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.
You prepare the list of wizard spells that are available for you to cast. To do so, choose a number of wizard spells from your spellbook equal to your Intelligence modifier + your wizard level (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
For example, if you’re a 3rd-level wizard, you have four 1st-level and two 2nd-level spell slots. With an Intelligence of 16, your list of prepared spells can include six spells of 1st or 2nd level, in any combination, chosen from your spellbook. If you prepare the 1st-level spell magic missile, you can cast it using a 1st-level or a 2nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn’t remove it from your list of prepared spells.
You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of wizard spells requires time spent studying your spellbook and memorizing the incantations and gestures you must make to cast the spell: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.
Spellcasting Ability
Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for your wizard spells, since you learn your spells through dedicated study and memorization. You use your Intelligence whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Intelligence modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a wizard spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.
Spell Save DC
Spell attack modifier
Ritual Casting
You can cast a wizard spell as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag and you have the spell in your spellbook. You don’t need to have the spell prepared.
Spellcasting Focus
You can use an arcane focus (see the Adventuring Gear section) as a spellcasting focus for your wizard spells.
Learning Spells of 1st Level and Higher
Each time you gain a wizard level, you can add two wizard spells of your choice to your spellbook for free. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots, as shown on the Wizard table. On your adventures, you might find other spells that you can add to your spellbook.
Metamagic
You are taught that magic coincides with the flow of mana. Mana is a wellspring of power that surrounds everything and permeates the universe. As a student of arcane magic, you are trained in the ways to harness mana, letting you seamlessly augment your spells to suit your need. Mana fuels augmentations to your spell casts called Metamagic.
Mana
You have an amount of mana equal to 1 + 1/2 your wizard level(round up). You regain all spent mana when you finish a long rest.
Metamagic
You gain two of the following Metamagic options of your choice. You gain another one at 7th, and again at 13th level.
You can use only one Metamagic option on a spell when you cast it, unless otherwise noted.
Careful Spell. When you cast a spell that forces other creatures to make a saving throw, you can protect some of those creatures from the spell’s full force. To do so, you spend 2 Mana and choose a number of those creatures up to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of one creature). A chosen creature automatically succeeds on its saving throw against the spell.
Confounding Spell. When you cast a spell, you can spend mana to cast the spell at a higher level, as if you had used a higher level spell slot. You spend 2 mana for each spell level above the spell slot used. For example, using a 2nd level spell slot to cast Acid Arrow as a 4th level spell costs 4 mana.
To be able to cast spells at higher levels, you must have access to the higher level spells slots, as listed in the wizard table. You cannot raise a 2nd level spell to 4th level is you do not have access to 4th level spell slots. Additionally, this augmentation cannot raise a spell beyond 5th level.
Distant Spell. When you cast a spell that has a range of 5 feet or greater, you can spend 1 Mana to double the range of the spell.
When you cast a spell that has a range of touch, you can spend 2 Mana to make the range of the spell 30 feet.
Empowered Spell. When you roll damage for a spell, you can spend any amount mana to reroll a number of the damage dice up to the amount of additional mana spent. You must use the new die rolls. For example, spending 2 mana lets you reroll 2 damage die.
You can use Empowered Spell even if you have already used a different Metamagic option during the casting of the spell.
Extended Spell. When you cast a spell that has a duration of 1 minute or longer, you can spend 1 mana to double its duration, to a maximum duration of 24 hours.
Heightened Spell. When you cast a spell that forces a creature to make a saving throw to resist its effects, you can spend 3 mana to give one target of the spell disadvantage on its first saving throw made against the spell.
Quickened Spell. When you cast a spell that has a casting time of 1 action, you can spend Mana equal to 3 to change the casting time to 1 bonus action for this casting.
Seeking Spell. If you make an attack roll for a spell and miss, you can spend 2 mana to reroll the d20, and you must use the new roll. You can use Seeking Spell even if you have already used a different Metamagic option during the casting of the spell.
Subtle Spell. When you cast a spell, you can spend 2 mana to cast it without any somatic or verbal components.
Transmuted Spell. When you cast a spell that deals a type of damage from the following list, you can spend 2 mana to change that damage type to one of the other listed types: acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, thunder.
Arcane Tradition
When you reach 2nd level, you choose an arcane tradition, shaping your practice of magic through one of eight schools: Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, or Transmutation. The School of Evocation is detailed at the end of the class description, and more choices are available in other sources.
Your choice grants you features at 2nd level and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th level.
Wizard Versatility
Starting at 3rd level, you can scribe a set of arcane formulas in your spellbook that you can use to formulate a cantrip, just as if it were a leveled spell. Whenever you finish a long rest and consult those formulas in your spellbook, you can replace one wizard cantrip you know with another cantrip from the wizard spell list.
Ability Score Improvement
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.
Arcane Detection
At 5th level, you learn to hone your magic and spells to new power levels thanks to your dedicated studies. Choose one Spell Study that reflects what you have dedicated your arcane studies to.
Arcane Vestiges
Additionally, add identify to your spellbook if it wasn’t already there. You can cast identify once without expending a spell slot or material components. Once you have done so, you can’t cast it this way again until you finish a long rest.
Additionally, you can gleam information about a source magic at a glance. By touching a creature or object and using your action, you learn what school of magic is effecting it and if it cursed. You do not learn the specific form of magic nor the severity of the curse, if it was.
Manatide Telemetry
You are adept at sensing magic and its effects. If there are active magical effects near you, such as a spell effect on an object or a spell effect in an area, you automatically sense its presence. You don’t know what spell effects there are or where they are, but you can automatically sense the effect of magic in a 10-foot radius around you.
In addition, you have honed your detection spells. Add detect magic to your spellbook if they wasn’t already there. Whenever you cast detect magic using a spell slot, the range that you can sense magic is increased to 60 feet.
Magical Inquiry
Through your deep understanding of the flow of magic, you can more easily recreate the events of the past in your minds eye, letting you notice details that others would more easily miss. You gain proficiency in Investigation, and if you were already proficient you gain an expertise die. When you make an ability check in which you have an expertise die, roll 1d4 and add the number rolled to the result of your check.
In addition, when succeeding on an Investigation skill check, you could learn of specific spells and other magic that was used in the vicinity by decoding the latent magical markings left behind. The difficulty of detecting what magic was used is up to the DM; to recount what magic was used in a battle from its undisturbed scene would be an easy an skill check, while attempting to discern the magic used in well traversed tavern from days long gone would be difficult.
Leyline Conduit
Starting at 18th level, anytime you spend mana on your Metamagic augmentations, you spend 1 less, to a minimum of 0.
Spell Mastery
When you reach 20th level, you no longer need to prepare spells from your spell book. You may cast any spell that is in your spell book.
Arcane Traditions
The study of wizardry is ancient, stretching back to the earliest mortal discoveries of magic. It is firmly established in the worlds of D&D, with various traditions dedicated to its complex study.
The most common arcane traditions in the multiverse revolve around the schools of magic. Wizards through the ages have cataloged thousands of spells, grouping them into eight categories called schools. In some places, these traditions are literally schools; a wizard might study at the School of Illusion while another studies across town at the School of Enchantment. In other institutions, the schools are more like academic departments, with rival faculties competing for students and funding. Even wizards who train apprentices in the solitude of their own towers use the division of magic into schools as a learning device, since the spells of each school require mastery of different techniques.
School of Abjuration
The School of Abjuration emphasizes magic that blocks, banishes, or protects. Detractors of this school say that its tradition is about denial, negation rather than positive assertion. You understand, however, that ending harmful effects, protecting the weak, and banishing evil influences is anything but a philosophical void. It is a proud and respected vocation.
Called abjurers, members of this school are sought when baleful spirits require exorcism, when important locations must be guarded against magical spying, and when portals to other planes of existence must be closed.
Abjuration Savant
Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, the gold and time you must spend to copy an abjuration spell into your spellbook is halved.
Arcane Ward
2nd-level School of Abjuration feature
You can weave magic around yourself for protection. When you cast an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher, you can simultaneously use a strand of the spell’s magic to create a magical ward on yourself that lasts until you finish a long rest. The ward has a hit point maximum equal to twice your wizard level + your Intelligence modifier. Whenever you take damage, the ward takes the damage instead. If this damage reduces the ward to 0 hit points, you take any remaining damage.
While the ward has 0 hit points, it can’t absorb damage, but its magic remains. Whenever you cast an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher, the ward regains a number of hit points equal to twice the level of the spell.
Once you create the ward, you can’t create it again until you finish a long rest.
Projected Ward
6th-level School of Abjuration feature
Whenever you cast an abjuration spell that has a range of self, you can instead cast the spell on a target other than yourself within 30 feet, whom you can see.
Improved Abjuration
10th-level School of Abjuration feature
When you cast an abjuration spell that requires you to make an ability check as a part of casting that spell (as in counterspell and dispel magic), you add your proficiency bonus to that ability check.
Spell Resistance
14th-level School of Abjuration feature
You have advantage on saving throws against spells. Furthermore, you have resistance against the damage of spells.
School of Conjuration
As a conjurer, you favor spells that produce objects and creatures out of thin air. You can conjure billowing clouds of killing fog or summon creatures from elsewhere to fight on your behalf. As your mastery grows, you learn spells of transportation and can teleport yourself across vast distances, even to other planes of existence, in an instant.
Conjuration Savant
Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, the gold and time you must spend to copy a conjuration spell into your spellbook is halved.
Minor Conjuration
Starting at 2nd level when you select this school, you can use your action to conjure up an inanimate object in your hand or on the ground in an unoccupied space that you can see within 10 feet of you. This object can be no larger than 3 feet on a side and weigh no more than 10 pounds, and its form must be that of a nonmagical object that you have seen. The object is visibly magical, radiating dim light out to 5 feet.
The object disappears after 1 hour, when you use this feature again, or if it takes or deals any damage.
Benign Transposition
6th-level School of Conjuration feature
You can use your action to teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space that you can see. Alternatively, you can choose a space within range that is occupied by a Small or Medium creature. If that creature is willing, you both teleport, swapping places. You can convert this action into a bonus action by spending 3 mana.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest or you cast a conjuration spell of 1st level or higher.
Focused Conjuration
10th-level School of Conjuration feature
When you cast a conjuration spell that requires concentration, you can choose to modify the spell by spending 3 mana. The modified spell cast no longer requires concentration, but has a maximum duration of 1 minute. Once you use this modification, you cannot use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
In addition, when you use your Minor Conjuration feature, the size of the object you can conjure increases to no more than 5 feet on a side and weigh no more than 30 pounds.
Durable Summons
14th-level School of Conjuration feature
Any creature that you summon or create with a conjuration spell has 30 temporary hit points.
School of Divination
The counsel of a diviner is sought by royalty and commoners alike, for all seek a clearer understanding of the past, present, and future. As a diviner, you strive to part the veils of space, time, and consciousness so that you can see clearly. You work to master spells of discernment, remote viewing, supernatural knowledge, and foresight.
Divination Savant
Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, the gold and time you must spend to copy a divination spell into your spellbook is halved.
Portent
Starting at 2nd level when you choose this school, glimpses of the future begin to press in on your awareness. When you finish a long rest, roll two d20s and record the numbers rolled. You can replace any attack roll, saving throw, or ability check made by you or a creature that you can see with one of these foretelling rolls. You must choose to do so before the roll, and you can replace a roll in this way only once per turn.
Each foretelling roll can be used only once. When you finish a long rest, you lose any unused foretelling rolls.
Expert Divination
6th-level School of Divination feature
Beginning at 6th level, casting divination spells comes so easily to you that it expends only a fraction of your spellcasting efforts. When you cast a divination spell of 2nd level or higher using a spell slot, you regain one expended spell slot. The slot you regain must be of a level lower than the spell you cast and can’t be higher than 5th level.
The Third Eye
10th-level School of Divination feature
You can use your action to increase your powers of perception. When you do so, choose one of the following benefits, which lasts until you are incapacitated or you take a short or long rest. You can’t use the feature again until you finish a rest.
Darkvision. You gain darkvision out to a range of 60 feet, as described in chapter 8, “Adventuring.”
Ethereal Sight. You can see into the Ethereal Plane within 60 feet of you.
Greater Comprehension. You can read any language.
See Invisibility. You can see invisible creatures and objects within 10 feet of you that are within line of sight.
Greater Portent
14th-level School of Divination feature
The visions in your dreams intensify and paint a more accurate picture in your mind of what is to come. You roll three d20s for your Portent feature, rather than two.
School of Enchantment
As a member of the School of Enchantment, you have honed your ability to magically entrance and beguile other people and monsters. Some enchanters are peacemakers who bewitch the violent to lay down their arms and charm the cruel into showing mercy. Others are tyrants who magically bind the unwilling into their service. Most enchanters fall somewhere in between.
Enchantment Savant
Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, the gold and time you must spend to copy an enchantment spell into your spellbook is halved.
Hypnotic Gaze
Starting at 2nd level when you choose this school, your soft words and enchanting gaze can magically enthrall another creature. As an action, choose one creature that you can see within 5 feet of you. If the target can see or hear you, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your wizard spell save DC or be charmed by you until the end of your next turn. The charmed creature’s speed drops to 0, and the creature is incapacitated and visibly dazed.
On subsequent turns, you can spend 1 mana to maintain this effect, extending its duration until the end of your next turn. However, the effect ends if you move more than 5 feet away from the creature, if the creature can neither see nor hear you, or if the creature takes damage.
Once the effect ends, or if the creature succeeds on its initial saving throw against this effect, you can’t use this feature on that creature again until you finish a long rest.
Instinctive Charm
6th-level School of Enchantment feature
When a creature you can see within 30 feet of you makes an attack roll against you, you can use your reaction to divert the attack, provided that another creature is within the attack’s range. The attacker must make a Wisdom saving throw against your wizard spell save DC. On a failed save, the attacker must target the creature that is closest to it, not including you or itself. If multiple creatures are closest, the attacker chooses which one to target. On a successful save, you can’t use this feature on the attacker again until you finish a long rest.
You must choose to use this feature before knowing whether the attack hits or misses. Creatures that can’t be charmed are immune to this effect.
Split Enchantment
10th-level School of Enchantment feature
When you cast an enchantment spell of 1st level or higher that targets only one creature, you can have it target a second creature.
Alter Memories
14th-level School of Enchantment feature
You gain the ability to make a creature unaware of your magical influence on it. When you cast an enchantment spell to charm one or more creatures, you can alter one creature’s understanding so that it remains unaware of being charmed.
Additionally, once before the spell expires, you can use your action to try to make the chosen creature forget some of the time it spent charmed. The creature must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw against your wizard spell save DC or lose a number of hours of its memories equal to 1 + your Charisma modifier (minimum 1). You can make the creature forget less time, and the amount of time can’t exceed the duration of your enchantment spell.
School of Evocation
You focus your study on magic that creates powerful elemental effects such as bitter cold, searing flame, rolling thunder, crackling lightning, and burning acid. Some evokers find employment in military forces, serving as artillery to blast enemy armies from afar. Others use their spectacular power to protect the weak, while some seek their own gain as bandits, adventurers, or aspiring tyrants.
Evocation Savant
Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, the gold and time you must spend to copy an evocation spell into your spellbook is halved.
Sculpt Spells
Beginning at 2nd level, you can reshape your evocation spells. When you cast an evocation spell that creates an area of effect, you can spend mana to change its shape based on the following table. You can perform up to 2 modifications per spell cast, which can be the same or different effects.
| Feature | Modification | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Cone Angle | Narrow to 30 degrees | 0 mana |
| Cone Size | Reduce by up to 20 feet | 0 mana |
| Cone Size | Enlarge by up to 10 feet | 1 mana |
| Cube Edge | Reduce 1 edge by up to 20 feet | 0 mana |
| Cube Edge | Enlarge 1 edge by up to 10 feet | 1 mana |
| Line Width | Widen by up to 5 feet | 1 mana |
| Line Length | Shorten by up to 30 feet | 0 mana |
| Line Length | Lengthen by up to 15 feet | 1 mana |
| Radius | Reduce by up to 10 feet | 0 mana |
| Radius | Enlarge by up to 5 feet | 1 mana |
| Cyl. Height | Reduce by up to 50 feet | 0 mana |
| Cyl. Height | Enlarge by up to 30 feet | 1 mana |
In addition, when you cast an evocation spell that affects other creatures that you can see, you can choose a number of them equal to 1 + the spell’s level. Should they succeed on their save to normally take half damage, they instead take no damage.
Potent Cantrip
6th-level School of Evocation feature
Your damaging cantrips affect even creatures that avoid the brunt of the effect. When a creature succeeds on a saving throw against your cantrip, the creature takes half the cantrip’s damage (if any) but suffers no additional effect from the cantrip.
Empowered Evocation
10th-level School of Evocation feature
You learn the empowered spell metamagic option. If you already know this option, you learn a different metamagic option of your choice. Anytime you use this option, spending at least 1 mana, you can reroll up to 2 additional dice as if you had spent 2 additional mana.
Overchannel
14th-level School of Evocation feature
The shape changing limits on your Sculpt Spells table are doubled. For example, a line shaped spell can be widened by up to 10 feet instead of 5 feet.
School of Illusion
You focus your studies on magic that dazzles the senses, befuddles the mind, and tricks even the wisest folk. Your magic is subtle, but the illusions crafted by your keen mind make the impossible seem real. Some illusionists — including many gnome wizards — are benign tricksters who use their spells to entertain. Others are more sinister masters of deception, using their illusions to frighten and fool others for their personal gain.
Illusion Savant
Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, the gold and time you must spend to copy an illusion spell into your spellbook is halved.
Subtle Illusion
When you choose this school at 2nd level, you learn the minor illusion cantrip and subtle spell metamagic option. If you already know this cantrip, you learn a different wizard cantrip of your choice. The cantrip doesn’t count against your number of cantrips known. If you already know this metamagic option, you learn a different wizard metamagic option of your choice. For you, minor illusion does not require any material components.
Whenever you cast an illusion spell augmented by subtle spell, you can regain 1 spent Mana. You can regain spent mana this way a number of times equal to your Proficiency bonus and regain all expended uses after finishing a long rest.
Malleable Illusions
6th-level School of Illusion feature
When you cast an illusion spell that has a duration of 1 minute or longer, you can use your action to change the nature of that illusion (using the spell’s normal parameters for the illusion), provided that you can see the illusion. Doing so does not require and somatic nor verbal components.
Illusory Self
10th-level School of Illusion feature
You can create an illusory duplicate of yourself as an instant, almost instinctual reaction to danger. When a creature makes an attack roll against you, you can use your reaction to interpose the illusory duplicate between the attacker and yourself. The attack automatically misses you, then the illusion dissipates.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Illusory Reality
14th-level School of Illusion feature
You have learned the secret of weaving shadow magic into your illusions to give them a semi-reality. When you cast an illusion spell of 1st level or higher, you can choose one inanimate, nonmagical object that is part of the illusion and make that object real. You can do this on your turn as a bonus action while the spell is ongoing. The object remains real for 1 minute. For example, you can create an illusion of a bridge over a chasm and then make it real long enough for your allies to cross. The object can’t deal damage or otherwise directly harm anyone.
School of Necromancy
The School of Necromancy explores the cosmic forces of life, death, and undeath. As you focus your studies in this tradition, you learn to manipulate the energy that animates all living things. As you progress, you learn to sap the life force from a creature as your magic destroys its body, transforming that vital energy into magical power you can manipulate.
Most people see necromancers as menacing, or even villainous, due to the close association with death. Not all necromancers are evil, but the forces they manipulate are considered taboo by many societies.
Necromancy Savant
Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, the gold and time you must spend to copy a necromancy spell into your spellbook is halved.
Grim Harvest
At 2nd level, you gain the ability to reap life energy from creatures you kill with your spells. Once per turn when you kill one or more creatures with a spell of 1st level or higher, you regain hit points equal to twice the spell’s level, or three times its level if the spell belongs to the School of Necromancy. You don’t gain this benefit for killing constructs or undead.
Undead Thralls
6th-level School of Necromancy feature
You add the animate dead spell to your spellbook if it is not there already. When you cast animate dead, you can target one additional corpse or pile of bones, creating another zombie or skeleton, as appropriate.
Whenever you create an undead using a necromancy spell, it has additional benefits:
- The creature’s hit point maximum is increased by an amount equal to your wizard level.
- The creature adds your proficiency bonus to its weapon damage rolls.
Inured to Undeath
10th-level School of Necromancy feature
You have resistance to necrotic damage, and your hit point maximum can’t be reduced. You have spent so much time dealing with undead and the forces that animate them that you have become inured to some of their worst effects.
Command Undead
14th-level School of Necromancy feature
You can use magic to bring undead under your control, even those created by other wizards. As an action, you can choose one undead that you can see within 60 feet of you. That creature must make a Charisma saving throw against your wizard spell save DC. If it succeeds, you can’t use this feature on it again. If it fails, it becomes friendly to you and obeys your commands until you use this feature again.
Intelligent undead are harder to control in this way. If the target has an Intelligence of 8 or higher, it has advantage on the saving throw. If it fails the saving throw and has an Intelligence of 12 or higher, it can repeat the saving throw at the end of every hour until it succeeds and breaks free.
School of Transmutation
You are a student of spells that modify energy and matter. To you, the world is not a fixed thing, but eminently mutable, and you delight in being an agent of change. You wield the raw stuff of creation and learn to alter both physical forms and mental qualities. Your magic gives you the tools to become a smith on reality’s forge.
Some transmuters are tinkerers and pranksters, turning people into toads and transforming copper into silver for fun and occasional profit. Others pursue their magical studies with deadly seriousness, seeking the power of the gods to make and destroy worlds.
Transmutation Savant
Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, the gold and time you must spend to copy a transmutation spell into your spellbook is halved.
Minor Alchemy
Starting at 2nd level when you select this school, you can temporarily alter the physical properties of one nonmagical object, changing it from one substance into another. You perform a special alchemical procedure on one object composed entirely of wood, stone (but not a gemstone), iron, copper, or silver, transforming it into a different one of those materials. For each 10 minutes you spend performing the procedure, you can transform up to 1 cubic foot of material. After 1 hour, the material reverts to its original substance.
Transmuter’s Stone
6th-level School of Transmutation feature
You can spend 8 hours creating a transmuter’s stone that stores transmutation magic. You can benefit from the stone yourself or give it to another creature. A creature gains a benefit of your choice as long as the stone is in the creature’s possession. When you create the stone, choose the benefit from the following options:
- Darkvision out to a range of 60 feet
- An increase to speed of 10 feet while the creature is unencumbered
- Proficiency in Constitution saving throws
- Resistance to acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage (your choice whenever you choose this benefit)
Each time you cast a transmutation spell of 1st level or higher, you can change the effect of your stone if the stone is on your person.
If you create a new transmuter’s stone, the previous one ceases to function.
Shapechanger
10th-level School of Transmutation feature
You add the polymorph spell to your spellbook, if it is not there already. You can cast polymorph without expending a spell slot. When you do so, you can target only yourself and transform into a beast whose challenge rating is 1 or lower.
Once you cast polymorph in this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest, though you can still cast it normally using an available spell slot.
Master Transmuter
14th-level School of Transmutation feature
You can use your action to consume the reserve of transmutation magic stored within your transmuter’s stone in a single burst. When you do so, choose one of the following effects. Your transmuter’s stone is destroyed and can’t be remade until you finish a long rest.
Major Transformation. You can transmute one nonmagical object—no larger than a 5-foot cube—into another nonmagical object of similar size and mass and of equal or lesser value. You must spend 10 minutes handling the object to transform it.
Panacea. You remove all curses, diseases, and poisons affecting a creature that you touch with the transmuter’s stone. The creature also regains all its hit points.
Restore Life. You cast the raise dead spell on a creature you touch with the transmuter’s stone, without expending a spell slot or needing to have the spell in your spellbook.
Restore Youth. You touch the transmuter’s stone to a willing creature, and that creature’s apparent age is reduced by 3d10 years, to a minimum of 13 years old. This effect doesn’t extend the creature’s lifespan.
War Magic
A variety of arcane colleges specialize in training wizards for war. The tradition of War Magic blends principles of evocation and abjuration, rather than specializing in either of those schools. It teaches techniques that empower a caster’s spells, while also providing methods for wizards to bolster their own defenses.
Followers of this tradition are known as war mages. They see their magic as both a weapon and armor, a resource superior to any piece of steel. War mages act fast in battle, using their spells to seize tactical control of a situation. Their spells strike hard, while their defensive skills foil their opponents’ attempts to counterattack. War mages are also adept at turning other spellcasters’ magical energy against them.
In great battles, a war mage often works with evokers, abjurers, and other types of wizards. Evokers, in particular, sometimes tease war mages for splitting their attention between offense and defense. A war mage’s typical response: “What good is being able to throw a mighty fireball if I die before I can cast it?”
Arcane Deflection
At 2nd level, you have learned to weave your magic to fortify yourself against harm. When you are hit by an attack or you fail a saving throw, you can use your reaction to gain a +2 bonus to your AC against that attack or a +4 bonus to that saving throw.
When you use this feature, you can’t cast spells other than cantrips until the end of your next turn.
Tactical Wit
Starting at 2nd level, your keen ability to assess tactical situations allows you to act quickly in battle. You can give yourself a bonus to your initiative rolls equal to your Intelligence modifier.
Power Surge
6th-level War Magic feature
You can store magical energy within yourself to later empower your damaging spells. In its stored form, this energy is called a power surge.
You can store a maximum number of power surges equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of one). Whenever you finish a long rest, your number of power surges resets to one. Whenever you successfully end a spell with dispel magic or counterspell, you gain one power surge, as you steal magic from the spell you foiled. If you end a short rest with no power surges, you gain one power surge.
Once per turn when you deal damage to a creature or object with a wizard spell, you can spend one power surge to deal extra force damage to that target. The extra damage equals half your wizard level.
Durable Magic
10th-level War Magic feature
The magic you channel helps ward off harm. While you maintain concentration on a spell, you have a +2 bonus to AC and all saving throws.
Deflecting Reverberance
14th-level War Magic feature
Your Arcane Deflection becomes infused with deadly magic. When you use your Arcane Deflection feature, you can cause magical energy to arc from you. Up to three creatures of your choice that you can see within 60 feet of you each take force damage equal to half your wizard level.
Order of Scribes
Magic of the book—that’s what many folk call wizardry. The name is apt, given how much time wizards spend poring over tomes and penning theories about the nature of magic. It’s rare to see wizards traveling without books and scrolls sprouting from their bags, and a wizard would go to great lengths to plumb an archive of ancient knowledge.
Among wizards, the Order of Scribes is the most bookish. It takes many forms in different worlds, but its primary mission is the same everywhere: recording magical discoveries so that wizardry can flourish. And while all wizards value spellbooks, a wizard in the Order of Scribes magically awakens their book, turning it into a trusted companion. All wizards study books, but a wizardly scribe talks to theirs!
Wizardly Quill
2nd-level Order of Scribes feature
As a bonus action, you can magically create a Tiny quill in your free hand. The magic quill has the following properties:
- The quill doesn’t require ink. When you write with it, it produces ink in a color of your choice on the writing surface.
- The time you must spend to copy a spell into your spellbook equals 2 minutes per spell level if you use the quill for the transcription.
- You can erase anything you write with the quill if you wave the feather over the text as a bonus action, provided the text is within 5 feet of you.
This quill disappears if you create another one or if you die.
Awakened Spellbook
2nd-level Order of Scribes feature
Using specially prepared inks and ancient incantations passed down by your wizardly order, you have awakened an arcane sentience within your spellbook.
While you are holding the book, it grants you the following benefits:
- You can use the book as a spellcasting focus for your wizard spells.
- When you cast a wizard spell with a spell slot, you can temporarily replace its damage type with a type that appears in another spell in your spellbook, which magically alters the spell’s formula for this casting only. The latter spell must be of the same level as the spell slot you expend.
- When you cast a wizard spell as a ritual, you can use the spell’s normal casting time, rather than adding 10 minutes to it. Once you use this benefit, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.
If necessary, you can replace the book over the course of a short rest by using your Wizardly Quill to write arcane sigils in a blank book or a magic spellbook to which you’re attuned. At the end of the rest, your spellbook’s consciousness is summoned into the new book, which the consciousness transforms into your spellbook, along with all its spells. If the previous book still existed somewhere, all the spells vanish from its pages.
Manifest Mind
6th-level Order of Scribes feature
You can conjure forth the mind of your Awakened Spellbook. As a bonus action while the book is on your person, you can cause the mind to manifest as a Tiny spectral object, hovering in an unoccupied space of your choice within 60 feet of you. The spectral mind is intangible and doesn’t occupy its space, and it sheds dim light in a 10-foot radius. It looks like a ghostly tome, a cascade of text, or a scholar from the past (your choice).
While manifested, the spectral mind can hear and see, and it has darkvision with a range of 60 feet. The mind can telepathically share with you what it sees and hears (no action required).
Whenever you cast a wizard spell on your turn, you can cast it as if you were in the spectral mind’s space, instead of your own, using its senses. You can do so a number of times per day equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
As a bonus action, you can cause the spectral mind to hover up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space that you or it can see. It can pass through creatures but not objects.
The spectral mind stops manifesting if it is ever more than 300 feet away from you, if someone casts dispel magic on it, if the Awakened Spellbook is destroyed, if you die, or if you dismiss the spectral mind as a bonus action. Once you conjure the mind, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend a spell slot of any level to conjure it again.
Master Scrivener
10th-level Order of Scribes feature
Whenever you finish a long rest, you can create one magic scroll by touching your Wizardly Quill to a blank piece of paper or parchment and causing one spell from your Awakened Spellbook to be copied onto the scroll.
The spellbook must be within 5 feet of you when you make the scroll. The chosen spell must be of 1st or 2nd level and must have a casting time of 1 action. Once in the scroll, the spell’s power is enhanced, counting as one level higher than normal. You can cast the spell from the scroll by reading it as an action. The scroll is unintelligible to anyone else, and the spell vanishes from the scroll when you cast it or when you finish your next long rest.
You are also adept at crafting spell scrolls, which are described in the treasure chapter of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. The gold and time you must spend to make such a scroll are halved if you use your Wizardly Quill.
One with the Word
14th-level Order of Scribes feature
Your connection to your Awakened Spellbook has become so profound that your soul has become entwined with it. While the book is on your person, you have advantage on all Intelligence (Arcana) checks, as the spellbook helps you remember magical lore.
Moreover, if you take damage while your spellbook’s mind is manifested, you can prevent all of that damage to you by using your reaction to dismiss the spectral mind, using its magic to save yourself. Then roll 3d6. The spellbook temporarily loses spells of your choice that have a combined spell level equal to that roll or higher. For example, if the roll’s total is 9, spells vanish from the book that have a combined level of at least 9, which could mean one 9th-level spell, three 3rd-level spells, or some other combination. If there aren’t enough spells in the book to cover this cost, you drop to 0 hit points.
Until you finish 1d6 long rests, you are incapable of casting the lost spells, even if you find them on a scroll or in another spellbook. After you finish the required number of rests, the spells reappear in the spellbook. Once you use this reaction, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.
Bladesinging
Bladesingers master a tradition of wizardry that incorporates swordplay and dance. Originally created by elves, this tradition has been adopted by non-elf practitioners, who honor and expand on the elven ways.
In combat, a bladesinger uses a series of intricate, elegant maneuvers that fend off harm and allow the bladesinger to channel magic into devastating attacks and a cunning defense. Many who have observed a bladesinger at work remember the display as one of the more beautiful experiences in their life, a glorious dance accompanied by a singing blade.
Bladesong
2nd-level Bladesinging feature
You can invoke an elven magic called the Bladesong, provided that you aren’t wearing medium or heavy armor or using a shield. It graces you with supernatural speed, agility, and focus.
You can use a bonus action and spend 1 Mana to start the Bladesong, which lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are incapacitated, if you don medium or heavy armor or a shield, or if you use two hands to make an attack with a weapon. You can also dismiss the Bladesong at any time (no action required).
While your Bladesong is active, you gain the following benefits:
- You gain a bonus to your AC equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1).
- Your walking speed increases by 10 feet.
- You have advantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks.
- You gain a bonus to any Constitution saving throw you make to maintain your concentration on a spell. The bonus equals your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1).
Training in War and Song
2nd-level Bladesinging feature
You gain proficiency with one type of one-handed melee weapon of your choice. You also gain proficiency in the Performance skill if you don’t already have it.
Extra Attack
6th-level Bladesinging feature
You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. Moreover, when you use your action to cast a cantrip, you can make one attack as a bonus action.
Song of Defense
10th-level Bladesinging feature
You can direct your magic to absorb damage while your Bladesong is active. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to expend one spell slot and reduce that damage to you by an amount equal to five times the spell slot’s level.
Song of Victory
14th-level Bladesinging feature
You can add your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1) to the damage of your melee weapon attacks while your Bladesong is active.
