Everything you need to know about the new wizard for D&D 5e 2024 including rules and tactics
Wizards of the Coast have revealed the 2024 revised version of the wizard. This is probably the most untouched class we’ve seen so far with he wizard looking very similar to the version we saw in the 2014 PHB. Good news for those that already loved this scholarly Spellcaster. We do get a few quality of life improvements though including some changes to ritual spells, better skill capabilities, more flexibility in swapping spells known and some subclass tweaks.
Below I’ve gone through everything that’s changing for the new wizard as well as how this might change the way you play and what tactics you can employ.
If you want to see the original reveal, you can check out the video below:
Why are we getting changes to the wizard?
In all honesty, there’s not much that needs changing! But every other class gets a refresh so it wouldn’t be fair if the wizardly folk missed out. We also wouldn’t want them missed out from the 2024 revised PHB either. Having said that, they do get a bit of streamlining
Wizards in general are very powerful with a huge repertoire of spells at their fingertips. They trade this off with a lack of resilience which has rightly been left unchanged (you can’t be good at everything).
What changes have been made to the 2024 wizard?
Spellcasting – lv1
The changes here are more about streamlining the class. Rather than getting a number of known spells equal to your wizard level plus intelligence modifier, you now get a set number of spells known at each level. It’s a minor change that just makes character management a little easier.
There’s also a bit more fluidity in changing your known spells with the option to swap a known cantrips with one in your spellbooks every long rest.
Your spellbook can also be used as a spellcasting focus and no one else can read it unless they use the identify spell.
While not a huge amount changes for the wizard, it seems that most of the changes will occur within the spells themselves with brand new spells and tweaks to existing spells, though what these changes will be is yet to be revealed.
Ritual adept – lv1
Ritual casting is granted to all classes as long as they have that spell prepared and it has the ritual casting tag.
Wizards are the best at spells though so ritual adept allows them to ignore the prepared restrictions on ritual casting as long as they have the spell in their spellbooks. This isn’t really a practical change for the wizard and is probably more exciting for other spellcasters, but does change how this mechanic is represented.
Scholar – lv2
You can now be a skillful wizard… Well kind of. You aren’t going to replace a rogue or bard in the skills department, but wizards are scholars and many skills are related to scholarly pursuits. As such, at level 2 you gain expertise in a skill you’re proficient in from these options; arcana, history, investigation, medicine, nature or religion
Memorise spell – lv5
Most classes have had some flexibility updates and this is a small one for the wizard. You can now swap a known spells for one in your spellbook whenever you take a short rest. This gives you a bit more flexibility to adapt to certain situations that might crop up.
Spells mastery – lv18
This feature actually gets toned down a bit. As normal, you can cast a 1st and 2nd level spell at will without using a spell slot so you can always do something more powerful than casting a cantrip. However, there’s now a restriction that this spell must require an action. Presumably, this is to stop wizards abusing their bonus action or reaction with repeated uses of the same spells. These spells are at least a little easier to swap by just requiring a long rest rather than 8hrs of study.
Epic boon – lv19
Like all classes at lv19, you get an epic boon (kind of like a super feat). This will allow you to increase an ability score (even beyond the normal maximum of 20, allowing you to potentially go up to 30 in an ability score). You’ll also get an ability alongside that feat too.
To make things juicer, when you gain levels beyond lv20, you’ll get an epic boon each time making you even gnarlier (there are 12, presumably 1 geared towards each of the 12 classes, though any class can take any epic boon)!
While you can pick any of the 12 epic boons, the one recommended for wizards is the boon of spells recall. Along with increasing an ability score by 1, you can also roll 1d4 whenever you cast a level 1-4 spell, if you roll the same number as the level of the spell, you don’t expend a spell slot to cast it meaning 1/4 of your level 1-4 spells will be freebies.
Wizard 2024 subclasses
At level 3, you get to choose a subclass known as an arcane tradition. You get 4 options in the 2024 PHB (this is a big downgrade from the 8 in the 2014 PHB). What we’re left with is the abjurer, diviner, evoker and the illusionist. It certainly feels like a shame that we’ve lost 4 of the schools of magic. Presumably this was to balance the subclass options with the other classes, but I don’t think anyone would have minded a bit of favouritism to keep all the schools of magic in there.
Fortunately, with the limited changes to the wizard, it may be that the backwards compatibility with the 2014 wizard subclasses will be a lot easier anyway.
One thing to be aware of for all wizard subclasses, is in the 2014 edition, they got cheaper scribing of spells from their school into their spellbooks. This feature was often underused though. Instead, they now get 2 new spells from their school of magic at level 3 and another spell from their school of magic every time they level up.
Like with the rest of the 2024 wizard, not a lot has changed here but there are a few quality of life changes still.
Abjurer
You can now refill your arcane ward with a bonus action. Arcane ward has another tweak where you can apply any resistances and immunities you have to the damage dealt before taking hit points from the arcane ward. This means it stacks really well with resistances and you’ll receive even less damage. You also get a new ability called spellbreaker giving you counterspell and dispel magic as prepared spells. Dispel magic can also be cast as a bonus action. What’s really handy here though, is if you use either spell and fail, no spell slot is used! This makes abjurers the kings of counterspell and means you can cast it a little more liberally.
One of the interesting changes for the abjurer actually occurs outside of their subclass. With the spell list being revitalised, it was recognised that some spells had been categorised incorrectly, so some spells that weren’t abjuration spells, now are. This should allow abjurers to have a wide array of spells available to them.
Diviner
Not much changes for the diviner (it was a pretty strong subclass anyway) but third eye does get made a bonus action and darkvision from it is now 120ft.
See invisibility can now be cast without expending a spell slot while ethereal sight has been removed.
Evoker
Potent cantrips gets an improvement causing half damage not just on a successful saving throw, but also on a failed spell attack. This is a big improvement and makes evokers really reliable at causing at least a bit of damage. This feature also becomes a signature feature for the class, coming in at level 3 and swapping with sculpt spells which comes in at level 6. Otherwise evokers remain effectively the same.
Illusionist
As you might hope from an illusionist, they get a bit more sneaky. Crucially, they can cast illusion spells without needing to use verbal components. This is extremely useful in stealth moments when you’re trying to stay hidden and want to create a distraction for your foes.
At level 6, illusionists get a new feature called phantasmal creatures. This gives them summon fey and summon beast as prepared spells. These obviously aren’t illusion spells, but you’ll get an illusionary variant of these spells to keep the right flavour. You also get a free casting of each spell every long rest and you can restore a use of illusory self by expending a spell slot of level 2 or higher.
Tactics
Below are a few ways you can approach playing as a wizard with the 2024 update:
Stealthy illusionists: Illusionists can cast illusion spells without vocal components making them great at stealthing. Distract a guard with an illusion, scare away a nasty foe or quickly change your appearance with minimal noise. You may not be proficient at stealth (unless you get that from a race or background which could be a good idea) but you could be a rogue’s best friend.
Damage dealer: If you want to go big on damage, take an evoker. Your cantrips will always do damage which is a huge benefit and this affects more spells than it used to.
Your other abilities will also grant extra damage meaning you’ll want to fashion your spell list with many damage dealing spells to maximise on your increased damage output.
Predict the future: If you want to screw with your enemies and make best friends with your allies, take a diviner. You can alter their rolls to improve or make them worse and force a success or a failure.
Protector: If you want to play something more defensively minded, go with an abjurer. You can use a protective ward to soak up damage, protect an ally and counterspell and dispel magic are more viable without soaking up spell slots as frequently. Plus you can get advantage on saving throws against spells.
Consider taking a race and spells that provide resistances to really enhance your arcane ward. Current races like the Aasimar and the Yuan-Ti have some great options for resistances.
It’s not a lot, but that’s all the changes for the wizard. If I’m honest, wizards didn’t need many changes and I expect we’ll know better how they’ve fared based on how the new and altered spells look.
What do you think of the changes to the wizard? Let us know in the comments below.
Spotlight on the D&D 2024 revision
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