How to Build a Tough, Front-line D&D Wizard — Transcript

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1. 0:00Is it possible to play a tanky wizard? A
2. 0:03wizard who stands at the front of the
3. 0:05battles, soaking up the damage, dealing
4. 0:07it back out, and protecting those behind
5. 0:09them. Yes. Yes, it is. And let's see how
6. 0:13to do it. The whole idea of a wizard in
7. 0:15D and D usually, is to hide behind the
8. 0:18meat shield fighter and lob the big
9. 0:21spells from the back that take out
10. 0:22multiple opponents. But today, we're
11. 0:24going to make a beefy wizard that tanks
12. 0:26it out of the front and actually does it
13. 0:28well. First thing a tank needs is good
14. 0:30hit points. So, what we're going to do
15. 0:32at first level is take the human variant
16. 0:36with the feet toughness. That gives you
17. 0:38plus two hit points every level, which
18. 0:41means that from second level onwards,
19. 0:43you're getting the same number of hit
20. 0:44points as your average fighter, paladin,
21. 0:47or ranger. Step two is attributes and
22. 0:51putting them in a strategic way. For a
23. 0:52tanky wizard, you need three stats in
24. 0:55particular. You need intelligence,
25. 0:56constitution, and dexterity. As a human
26. 0:59variant, you get a plus one to put on
27. 1:01any two stats. Whatever you do, make
28. 1:03sure that constitution is your biggest
29. 1:06stat, intelligence your second biggest,
30. 1:08and dexterity your third biggest. You
31. 1:10can dump strength cuz you're not going
32. 1:12to need it. The third step is choosing
33. 1:15the school of abjuration. When you reach
34. 1:17second level, it unlocks one of the
35. 1:20coolest abilities in the game.
36. 1:22Definitely for wizards. It gives you
37. 1:25arcane ward, which basically puts a
38. 1:29magical force field around you that
39. 1:30heals every time you cast an abjuration
40. 1:33spell. Now, your wizard is already
41. 1:36looking pretty impressive thanks to the
42. 1:38toughness feat, high constitution, and
43. 1:41the arcane ward. The fourth and final
44. 1:43step is to choose the right spells.
45. 1:46First up, cantrips. You've got to get
46. 1:48shocking craft. It is the tanky wizard's
47. 1:51bread and butter. Core attack does a d8
48. 1:55damage and it's melee so you can do it
49. 1:56to the people that are right next to
50. 1:58you. Plus, you get advantage when you're
51. 2:00attacking someone with metal armor.
52. 2:02Plus, plus if you hit them, they don't
53. 2:04get reaction so they can't do an
54. 2:05opportunity attack on you when you move
55. 2:07away from them. And plus, plus plus it
56. 2:10gets more powerful as you level up. It
57. 2:13does more damage. And now for the
58. 2:15leveled spells, grab mage armor because
59. 2:18it puts your base armor class up to 15.
60. 2:20And make sure you turn it on the moment
61. 2:22there's any sniff of danger. Also grab
62. 2:25shield because it will put that armor
63. 2:27class up to 20 for a round anyway and
64. 2:29will heal your arcane ward for two hit
65. 2:31points. And also consider getting
66. 2:33protection from good and evil. Not only
67. 2:35because it protects you, but also
68. 2:37because it also heals your arcane ward
69. 2:39for another two hit points. And in terms
70. 2:41of attacking spells, consider getting
71. 2:43thunderwave and burning hands because
72. 2:45they always do damage to the people
73. 2:47around you.
74. 2:49Burning hands.
75. 2:52Other good spells for controlling
76. 2:53enemies are web and grease. You could
77. 2:56also consider fire shield at higher
78. 2:58levels because it doesn't require
79. 2:59concentration and it does damage to your
80. 3:02enemies whenever they touch you.
81. 3:05Banishment is another really good one
82. 3:07because not only does it get rid of a
83. 3:08powerful enemy for a whole minute, but
84. 3:11it heals your arcane ward of eight hit
85. 3:13points. And of course, there's fireball.
86. 3:16Every wizard needs fireball.
87. 3:19That's it. You've got your super tanky
88. 3:20wizard. Now, you're never going to have
89. 3:22a base armor class of 20 plus or be
90. 3:25swinging around a sword getting multiple
91. 3:27attacks like a fighter, but who cares?
92. 3:30when you're able to do area effect
93. 3:32attacks that hit everyone around you,
94. 3:34automatically dealing damage, decimating
95. 3:36those around you. Super fun. Hey, so
96. 3:40give it a go. Make a tanky wizard and
97. 3:42leave in the comments how you get