Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is getting people excited once more for the iconic tabletop franchise. From the trailers, it seems like the infamous Red Wizards of Thay are the enemies of the band of heroes. Their displays of power may have convinced a few newbies to try out the Wizard class.
Some good news, there are no truly “terrible” subclasses for Wizard, because the Wizard is by default one of the most powerful pure classes in the game. That being said, some subclasses really start getting into game-breaker territory thanks to their features.
13 Transmutation
The subclass sounds extremely cool on paper. Altering the state of energy and matter for the Wizard’s own means is the type of reality shifting that any magic caster ought to aspire to. The raw stuff of creation is at their fingertips. Unfortunately, it’s not quite as impressive in practice.
Minor Alchemy is neat but ultimately a novelty in most campaigns. Transmuter’s Stone provides a solid but again, an underpowered stone that grants different buffs to its holder. A shapechanger is a free Polymorph spell restricted to a CR 1 change. Master Transmuter also gives some powerful features that sadly fall below the potential of other subclasses. Far from useless, but not the “Fullmetal Alchemist” that most people would expect.
12 Conjuration
The conjurer is slightly better than transmuters by virtue of actually creating stuff out of nothing, as opposed to needing some sort of material to work with. Minor Conjuration has a lot more uses than Transmutation, as it allows the creation of anything no larger or wider than 3 feet and weighs no more than 10 pounds. The item dissipates after taking or dealing damage.
Creative players will find a lot to do with that. Benign Transportation grants a free Misty Step once every long rest, with the added versatility of being able to swap with willing creatures of Medium or smaller. This effect can also be used after casting a conjuration spell of 1st level or higher. Focused Conjuration prevents the conjurer’s concentration from being broken by damage, while Durable Summons grants an extra 30 hitpoints to any conjurations made. These are all solid effects, but nothing groundbreaking.
11 Graviturgy
Wizards are all about messing with the bounds of reality, and gravity is one of the laws they keep breaking the most. Graviturgy is a theoretically powerful class that’s held back by its reliance on concentration. Adjust Density allows the doubling or halving of the weight of objects or creatures, granting different benefits (and disadvantages) for either status.
Gravity Well, without the need for any check, allows the wizard to move a target 5 feet in any direction after a successful spell hit or failed saving throw. Violent Attraction increases the velocity of an attack or fall to cause extra force damage. The capstone, Event Horizon, forces creatures within 30 feet to hold people in place with gravity, dealing heavy force damage all the while. If the concentration requirements were dropped, they have the potential to stand toe-to-toe with some top-tier subclasses.
10 Necromancy
Necromancers were a previously mediocre class that was saved by Tasha’s new spells. Before they didn’t quite have the needed to stand out, but now they’re in a great place. Grim Harvest allows necromancers to steal life from dying creatures. Undead Thralls make raised undead hit harder and survive more damage.
Inured to Undeath prevents the reduction of one’s maximum hitpoints and resistance to necrotic damage. Lastly, Command Undead allows necromancers to use magic to attempt to take control of any undead, even ones under the thrall of other wizards. Situational, but potentially hilarious if the boss’s big minion happens to be a low INT undead. A solid class despite the viscera.
9 Evocation
While most power gamers would balk at the idea of a damage-focused wizard, they are still wizards raining down fireballs with impunity. Few creatures survive that sort of onslaught, except the ones the wizard chooses to save with Sculpt Spell. Potent Cantrip ensures that a cantrip always deals damage, even on a successful save by the enemy.
Empowered Evocation allows wizards to add their Intelligence modifier to their evocation spells. Lastly, Overchannel makes it so that any evocation spells cast from the 1st to the 5th level deal max damage once without any adverse effects. After using this feature, the wizard takes heavy necrotic damage that byes immunity and resistance. Overall, a good subclass for the Fireball addict in every magic caster, if lacking in versatility.
8 War Magic
War Magic is the sort of “gatekeeper” for the consistently powerful subclasses. There’s nothing wrong with it and it doesn’t have any visible downsides. However, it also doesn’t have any broken upsides either. Arcane Deflection is a massive boost to survivability thanks to the +4 to saving throws and the AC bonus, at the expense of not being able to cast leveled spells next turn.
Tactical Wit is a flat boost to the initiative. Power Surge isn’t as potent damage-wise as something like Evocation’s features, but useful and a nice bonus for Counterspell and Dispel Magic. Durable Magic grants a flat bonus to AC and saving throws while concentrating, ensuring they never break concentration. Lastly, Deflecting Shroud adds damage to Arcane Deflection. Overall, solid features won’t break the game but make the Warcaster very reliable.
7 Illusion
Illusionists are powerful wizards who are limited only by their own creativity. The subclass does take some time to get into “strong” territory, however. Improved Minor Illusion now comes with state-of-the-art sound technology. Malleable Illusions make Illusion spells that last a minute or longer to change their nature in real time. Illusory Self is a super-charged version of the magic item Cloak of Displacement.
As a reaction, the wizard leaves an instant copy of themselves right in front of them. This guarantees a missed attack. Finally, the feature that boosts Illusion school to greater heights is Illusory Reality, which turns any illusion into reality for one minute, an eternity in combat. The only caveat is it can’t be animated, magical, or directly deal damage. A boon for creative players, and a giving DM. It’s held back by being not as powerful as other Wizards in the earlier tiers of play.
6 Enchantment
Enchanters are the premiere gaslighting masters of the fantasy world. The subclass excels at disabling enemies and turning them against each other. Hypnotic Gaze incapacitates a target creature into a charming daze, so long as the wizard is within 5 feet of them. Instinctive Charm causes attackers to strike a creature close to the wizard instead of the wizard themselves.
Split Enchantment is an incredible spell that basically grants free Twinning to enchantment spells such as Haste and Enlarge/Reduce. Alter Memories is perhaps a powerful and mildly unsettling capstone feature that makes creatures unaware that they were charmed in the first place. In political campaigns, this is a completely broken power to have, and in the heat of battle, could cause untold chaos. Think Kilgrave from MCU’s Jessica Jones but with dangerous wizard spells.
5 Order of Scribes
When people say that Wizards are the nerds of spellcasters, these guys are who they imagine. The Order of Scribes is gifted with a Wizardly Quill that requires no ink and way faster spell transcription. Their spellbook is also enhanced, gaining arcane sentience. A spell’s damage type can be replaced with that of another spell, and skip ritual casting time once per long rest.
Manifest Mind grants wizard the ability to summon an echo of their tome’s intellect, which can be treated as a “copy” of the caster. A very good positioning tool. Master Scrivener allows the creation of a magic scroll 2nd level or lower once per long rest. Lastly, One With the Word grants an advantage on Intelligence checks all around, and a unique damage negation feature (at the cost of temporarily losing a few spells). A subclass that elevates everything that makes wizards so powerful.
4 Abjuration
It’s a well-known fact that spellcasters are “squishy”, so anything that helps them survive is very welcome. Abjuration is specifically geared toward this. Arcane Ward weaves protective magic around the wizard that blocks incoming damage, its hitpoints are equal to twice the wizard level plus Intelligence mods. Once reduced to 0 hit points, it can be recharged by casting more abjuration spells.
Projected Ward allows wizards to grant the ward’s protection to allies temporarily as a reaction. Improved Abjuration adds the proficiency bonus as a modifier to abjuration spells. Lastly, Spell Resistance is a straightforward resistance to spell damage and advantage on saving throws against all spells. A tanky subclass in an otherwise not-so-tanky class.
