Foxhound438
2018-03-31, 05:35 PM
Here's a build concept for a war wizard that I've done some theorycrafting on. Some of you may remember the mountain dwarf build I posted a ways back on here, and this is in the same vein, but for this one I've decided to go for variant human with the fighter 1 dip for a bit more of a "power jank" build.
So here goes:
Variant human, stats 16/8/16/16/8/8
Feat: tavern brawler (mostly for +1 str, another great option is heavy armor master)
start fighter for heavy armor and con saves out the gate, and use chain mail and shield with defense style for 19AC out the gate. Take athletics for that tavern brawler grapple attempt.
The rest is war wizard, though I suppose it wouldn't kill to eventually take fighter 2.
The cantrips you'll probably want are create bonfire and booming blade. Bonfire has the added benefit of being a slot-free concentration spell later on. Booming blade can get pretty much garunteed value one way or the other if you can force your enemy to stay in the bonfire for one turn... Which is actually a big upside to tavern brawler
Turn 1: create bonfire-> damage-> enemy moves on their turn (expectably)
Turn 2: kick the target in the shin, grapple as a bonus action, drag them into the fire... You probably have to take damage here too, but with prof in con saves and 16 in the stat you should be fine here in terms of concentration
Turn 3: enemy still in the fire, you let go of them and take off your nice loafer and cast a booming blade through your improvised weapon-> enemy has a choice of staying for a dex save or leaving for garunteed BB damage
Obviously there's a lot of failure points there, if any one thing goes wrong the whole setup has gone to waste. Between the grapple check, the concentration save, and the attack roll with booming blade, I would honestly not expect this to work most of the time
Anyways, the 1st level spells you take are probably pretty standard, with the exception that you might not take shield since you have arcane deflection next level, but maybe the 3 more AC on top of already bonkers AC is worth it...
Level 4 (wiz 3) gets you a big upgrade with flaming sphere, which will allow you to start out by casting it on an action and ram as a bonus action, then subsequently cast booming blade and ram the enemy for the same damned-if-you-do(n't) situation as before with far fewer failure points- no grapple since you can move the sphere, and no instance of having to take your own damage to force a concentration check. Best of all is that you get the 2d6 from ramming and also the 2d6 from proximity if the enemy chooses to stick in place or the 1d8 if they move. Damage is something like 19dpr, so not too bad anyways.
For level 5, ASI at wizard 4 is probably just strength. Your cantrip gets an upgrade here to add a d8 to both sides, so that's nice. Around this level (or soon after) you should be getting enough cash for plate for a static AC of 21, boosting to 23 at will. The high AC can help make up for the poor HP scaling that wizard gives you.
Unfortunately there's not a ton of gas in terms of 3rd level spells, so at wizard 5 you're probably taking your choice of fear or hypnotic pattern and utiltiy, or maybe you take haste for an extra attack (albeit with a basic attack as opposed to the booming blade).
Level 7 (wizard 6) is probably not great, since power surge is such a clunky ability in general. Might as well take counter/dispel if you haven't already for the rare opportunity to recharge, but honestly the one-off 3 damage is pretty pathetic for now. Luckily it does scale, meaning that eventually it's better burst than an evocation would have... albeit still as a one-off.
Level 8 (wizard 7) is where things really ramp up, now having storm sphere in your arsenal. Since you're strength built, you can stand in the spell's area and lock things down as usual, and having now a +7 to your own save or a +11 in a pinch, you shouldn't be taking damage from the spell yourself most of the time.
Level 9 is maxing out strength, and after that you can either keep the dream alive by upcasting the storm sphere for that sweet 2d6 scaling, or maybe you can stop being a maniac and act like a normal wizard for a while. With 2 or 3 ASI down the road, I would definitely say max int, though I can see merit in taking war caster for reaction booming blades. Level 11 gets you an almost-always on +2 AC for 23 all the time or 25 in a pinch, and by that level probably more on the back of magic items like ring/cloak of prot or a magic shield. Deflecting shroud probably comes into play a lot once you get it, further boosting your damage.
So here goes:
Variant human, stats 16/8/16/16/8/8
Feat: tavern brawler (mostly for +1 str, another great option is heavy armor master)
start fighter for heavy armor and con saves out the gate, and use chain mail and shield with defense style for 19AC out the gate. Take athletics for that tavern brawler grapple attempt.
The rest is war wizard, though I suppose it wouldn't kill to eventually take fighter 2.
The cantrips you'll probably want are create bonfire and booming blade. Bonfire has the added benefit of being a slot-free concentration spell later on. Booming blade can get pretty much garunteed value one way or the other if you can force your enemy to stay in the bonfire for one turn... Which is actually a big upside to tavern brawler
Turn 1: create bonfire-> damage-> enemy moves on their turn (expectably)
Turn 2: kick the target in the shin, grapple as a bonus action, drag them into the fire... You probably have to take damage here too, but with prof in con saves and 16 in the stat you should be fine here in terms of concentration
Turn 3: enemy still in the fire, you let go of them and take off your nice loafer and cast a booming blade through your improvised weapon-> enemy has a choice of staying for a dex save or leaving for garunteed BB damage
Obviously there's a lot of failure points there, if any one thing goes wrong the whole setup has gone to waste. Between the grapple check, the concentration save, and the attack roll with booming blade, I would honestly not expect this to work most of the time
Anyways, the 1st level spells you take are probably pretty standard, with the exception that you might not take shield since you have arcane deflection next level, but maybe the 3 more AC on top of already bonkers AC is worth it...
Level 4 (wiz 3) gets you a big upgrade with flaming sphere, which will allow you to start out by casting it on an action and ram as a bonus action, then subsequently cast booming blade and ram the enemy for the same damned-if-you-do(n't) situation as before with far fewer failure points- no grapple since you can move the sphere, and no instance of having to take your own damage to force a concentration check. Best of all is that you get the 2d6 from ramming and also the 2d6 from proximity if the enemy chooses to stick in place or the 1d8 if they move. Damage is something like 19dpr, so not too bad anyways.
For level 5, ASI at wizard 4 is probably just strength. Your cantrip gets an upgrade here to add a d8 to both sides, so that's nice. Around this level (or soon after) you should be getting enough cash for plate for a static AC of 21, boosting to 23 at will. The high AC can help make up for the poor HP scaling that wizard gives you.
Unfortunately there's not a ton of gas in terms of 3rd level spells, so at wizard 5 you're probably taking your choice of fear or hypnotic pattern and utiltiy, or maybe you take haste for an extra attack (albeit with a basic attack as opposed to the booming blade).
Level 7 (wizard 6) is probably not great, since power surge is such a clunky ability in general. Might as well take counter/dispel if you haven't already for the rare opportunity to recharge, but honestly the one-off 3 damage is pretty pathetic for now. Luckily it does scale, meaning that eventually it's better burst than an evocation would have... albeit still as a one-off.
Level 8 (wizard 7) is where things really ramp up, now having storm sphere in your arsenal. Since you're strength built, you can stand in the spell's area and lock things down as usual, and having now a +7 to your own save or a +11 in a pinch, you shouldn't be taking damage from the spell yourself most of the time.
Level 9 is maxing out strength, and after that you can either keep the dream alive by upcasting the storm sphere for that sweet 2d6 scaling, or maybe you can stop being a maniac and act like a normal wizard for a while. With 2 or 3 ASI down the road, I would definitely say max int, though I can see merit in taking war caster for reaction booming blades. Level 11 gets you an almost-always on +2 AC for 23 all the time or 25 in a pinch, and by that level probably more on the back of magic items like ring/cloak of prot or a magic shield. Deflecting shroud probably comes into play a lot once you get it, further boosting your damage.