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The stereotypical Wizard has been a Dungeons & Dragons staple since the game’s inception. After all, what’s an adventuring party without a wizard? As the game has evolved, each of its classes has found ways to expand and improve to ensure players can tailor a build to suit their playstyle and character backstory. All Wizards have access to the arcane arts, but choosing an Arcane Tradition to follow can help narrow things down, granting players an opportunity to focus on specific types of magic.
With 13 Arcane Traditions to choose from, the Wizard class is incredible diverse, capable of all sorts of amazing and fantastical things. However, this makes the choice of which to follow all the more important. It’s important for a Wizard to carefully consider what they would like to be capable of — on the battlefield and off.
13. Order of Scribes
Wizards typically possess numerous tomes and spell books, as they know that knowledge is power — especially when it comes to magic. The Order of Scribes are the most bookish of Wizards, holding sway over the written word itself. They can even create a sense of sentience within their personal spellbook that then acts as an arcane focus and reduces ritual casting times. In time, that sentience can manifest as a spectral presence that communicates telepathically with the Wizard. As amazing as that sounds, however, the other Arcane Traditions conjure even more awesome magic.
12. Bladesinging
Combining sword, dance and sorcery, Bladesinging is an ancient Elven tradition that has become more widely practiced by non-Elves over the centuries. Bladesingers channel their magic into defense and powerful attacks, gaining special advantages like a boost to their Armor Class, Dexterity advantage and an added boost to Constitution saves required to maintain concentration on their song. One of the reasons this subclass lands so close to the bottom of the list is because, in essence, it feels like a muted Bard, which would be much more practical for a player looking to add a little more flare and Charisma to their character.
11. School of Abjuration
Those who follow the School of Abjuration are like exorcists. Called upon to help end damaging influences and banish evil entities, they also have a knack for protecting locations from magical effects like scrying. One of their key features being able to create magical wards, which they can weave around themselves for protection. As they advance in power, that ward can be projected to absorb damage on allies. In time, they even gain advantage against spell attacks. However, there are other schools and paths that are much cooler than this.
10. School of Evocation
Evokers focus magical energy on elemental effects, like cold, flame, thunder, lightning and acid. Their ability to mold and shape these elements allows them to deal powerful damage, while also creating pockets of safety for their allies. As they gain levels, they can even make their lower levels spells more damaging, achieving maximum damage on spells levels 1-5. The first use of this does no damage to the caster, but continued usage deals 2d12 necrotic damage for each level of the spell cast, with the amount increasing by 1d12 per spell level for each additional casting without a long rest. Wizards love throwing around their power, so it’ll be a challenging — and risky — decision between maximizing power or playing it safe.
9. School of Divination
Those who wish to better understand the past, present and potential future turn to Divination Wizards in hopes of gaining clarity. These magic-users gain portents from the future that allow them to reroll attack, saving throws or ability checks, as foresight provided them with a glimpse before it happened. They can also gain back used spell slots because their power is so great that they expend less energy when casting. In time, Divination Wizards can improve their powers of perception, gaining abilities like darkvision, ethereal sight, greater comprehension for written languages and see invisibility. Unfortunately, this subclass doesn’t offer much else.
8. War Magic
War is common in D&D, and many arcane colleges train their Wizards in the art of War Magic. These battle mages blend Abjuration and Evocation, empowering their spells and bolstering their defenses so they can make an impact on the battlefield and live to face the next fight. Their training grants them boosts to their Armor Class and initiative rolls so they can strategically engage in war tactics more quickly. They can also use Power Surge to steal magic when ending powerful spells with Dispel Magic or Counterspell. While cool in concept, there other subclasses that are just even better.
7. School of Conjuration
Conjurers learn how to produce objects from thin air, which really comes in handy when they find themselves in need of a simple nonmagical weapon or a key they’ve seen elsewhere that might open a lock in front of them. They can even learn to teleport up to 30 feet, swapping places with a willing party member in range to help put the other party closer to combat if they desire, while moving themselves out of harm’s way. Eventually, their conjuring powers become so strong that they can summon or create a creature with 30 hit points, which puts this subclass right in the middle of the list.
6. Graviturgy
Holding power over gravity itself is highly beneficial, as it allows a Wizard to increase or decrease the weight of a creature either small or large, with their powers extending to huge creatures at level 10. With the creature’s weight halved, they gain additional movement and can jump twice as far, but they suffer a disadvantage on Strength saves. A creature doubled in weight sees the opposite effect, with their movement slowed by ten feet and their Strength saves made with advantage. In time, manipulating the gravity around a creature allows it to be moved, with the most powerful Graviturgists capable of drawing creatures into a debilitating field of force damage. Holding sway over gravity has a lot of potential, which is why this one comes in sixth.
5. School of Illusion
There is a lot of power to be found in Illusion. A skilled illusionist can trick even the wisest and most cunning of minds with a flick of the wrist. Not only can they manipulate and sustain illusions much longer, but they also gain the ability to cast illusionary versions of themselves as a protective measure to take damage in the caster’s place. At level 14, their illusive power becomes so strong they can actually turn inanimate objects from illusion into temporary reality. For example, they could conjure a false bridge and make it real enough to cross quickly, helping the party get to safety.
4. School of Enchantment
Similar to Illusionists, Enchanters have abilities that allow them to alter perception and manipulate the mind, which definitely makes them a dangerous foe or valuable ally. They are often called upon to initiate peace by issuing calming magic over the enemy long enough to get them to lay down their arms. The more powerful they become, the easier it becomes for Enchanters to manipulate the thoughts of others, eventually granting them the ability to permanently alter the memory of an interaction with them once per long rest. Messing with memory is more dangerous than altering reality, which is why Enchantment ranks so highly.
3. School of Necromancy
Often frowned upon as unnatural, those who work with necromantic magic tend to be regarded with suspicion. Early on, their power is almost vampiric in nature, reaping life from the creatures they kill in combat to sustain their own hit points. They can create Undead Thralls to serve them, and by the time they reach level 10, they become resistant to necrotic damage. Eventually, their power of undeath becomes so strong that they can draw the undead thralls of others under their command and turn them against their own necromancers. The ability to command armies of undead soldiers definitely puts Necromancers in the top three.
2. School of Transmutation
Transmutation Wizards can alter the nature of an object through transmutative magic. Their alchemical abilities allow them to change objects like wood, stone, copper, iron or silver into another of those objects, for example, turning 100 copper coins into silver instead. However, the transmutation only lasts for one hours. At level 10, they can cast Polymorph without expending a slot to turn themselves into a beast with a challenge rating of one. By the time they become Master Transmuters, they can consume the magic stored in their transmutation stone to Restore Life, Restore Youth, remove all diseases and curses, or trasmute one object into another of equal or lesser value. Having the ability to manipulate energy like this earns Transmutation Wizards the number two spot.
1. Chronurgy
A Wizard practicing Chronurgy can manipulate the flow and pace of time to their needs. This comes in handy when they want to prepare beads of magic to go off at their whim, rather than immediately. They can stop creatures from moving, slowing them down so much that they become incapacitated and their speed drops to zero. Eventually, they can even peer into the future far enough to manipulate outcomes to their advantage. Having the ability to stop time and hold it in place (even if only temporarily) makes Chronurgy the most powerful form of magic available in Dungeons & Dragons. After all, who hasn’t wished they could stop time, reverse it and undo a mistake?
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