Would Non blastery wizard be useless in Curse Of Strahd?

[Zorrah]

Without giving too much of the story away, I would really like to play a 5e wizard and will be playing Curse Of Strahd in a while here. I'm at a toss up between paladin and wizard. I'm certain paladin will be most useful and one of the other players will probably pick that up if I don't but if I do go wizard, I'm still also torn between an actual evoker, which I know will still do all kinds of damage, or an illusionist or enchanter. The issue I have here is the assumption that many undead enemies will be immune to the best those schools have to offer, so are they even viable in that campaign? Is there a good illusionist or enchanter build that can still shine within that campaign?

[Mith]

From 3verything I can recall, an Evoker would not be a problem. Granted, the last time I played Strahd with a Wizard was in a different edition, and the Wizard lasted all of 30 seconds in game. :P

Providdd yoh plan your spell research to be able to control and have multiple damage type spells, I see no reason to have any more problems surviving Barovia than any other party.

[Zorrah]

Well, it really wouldn't be the burning hands, and fireballs I'm afraid of not working. I guess, double checking skeleton and zombie for instance, immunity to poison and poison condition, so if I wanted color spray (not nearly as good in 5e as in the past, alas) to be a go to spell, I wouldn't be SOL as far as those creatures. I guess is there anything along the lines of that, as far as the buffs and debuffs of the charm and illusion that would make them not worthwhile (aside from Color spray not being as good as it used to be)? Granted, zombies wouldn't run away in fear of my big scary barbarian illusion like a goblin or kobold.

[Mith]

Well, it really wouldn't be the burning hands, and fireballs I'm afraid of not working. I guess, double checking skeleton and zombie for instance, immunity to poison and poison condition, so if I wanted color spray (not nearly as good in 5e as in the past, alas) to be a go to spell, I wouldn't be SOL as far as those creatures. I guess is there anything along the lines of that, as far as the buffs and debuffs of the charm and illusion that would make them not worthwhile (aside from Color spray not being as good as it used to be)? Granted, zombies wouldn't run away in fear of my big scary barbarian illusion like a goblin or kobold.

Frpm my recollection, depending on the path your party takes, there are plenty of places where an enchanter or illusionist would shine.

However, if you fear being rendered useless from creatures that are immune to Charm, or are worried about Illusions failing, an Evoker can definitely be good for laying down damage and conttol spells on top of your allies.

[sophontteks]

Its the exact opposite. A blasty wizard would be a crutch on the party. Its CoS. Everything can kill you. Blasting them is not a good idea.

[Zorrah]

Frpm my recollection, depending on the path your party takes, there are plenty of places where an enchanter or illusionist would shine.

That was a huge part of what I was kind of looking for from this thread. Thank you.

The fortunate thing I do realize, is that this isn't 2e or 3e where I can lose access to those spells by specializing or like in pathfinder where my access to those spells isn't blocked but still kind of nerfed, and that is one thing that makes me excite to play a 5e wizard. Though, I am one of a kind of roleplayer while still being an optimizer. I don't want to be be a cheeseball and pick up illusionist or enchanter for it's spell like abilities and not have at least 1 or 2 illusion or enchantment spells prepped, if that makes sense.


Its the exact opposite. A blasty wizard would be a crutch on the party. Its CoS. Everything can kill you. Blasting them is not a good idea.

Ah, well, I did make this post because I am on the fence about the character I want for this. Thank you for this angle too.

[Mortis_Elrod]

There’s nothing cheesy about picking a well rounded spell list. A lot of the time taking the same types of spells won’t do much for you.

Nothing out of it place for any type of wizard to have any school of spell. That’s the whole point of getting rid of the specializations.

If you like the illusion and enchanter features pick the subclass. Just keep a fireball prepared for when stuff hits the fan

[Ashaman]

I played a Fireball Cleric: Light Domain. When we needed the fire, I brought it down and shared it all around. When we needed other stuff, I had that too. And when undead are everywhere, you simply can't have too many Clerics in the party.

[Dirclaw]

I played an enchanter wizard through CoS and it was great! the lvl 2 ability is amazing at early levels to take a creature out of the fight, reaction casting shield if you get attacked, while the rest of your part mops up the rest. And remember, you are a wizard. You will have so many useful spells, and Leomond's tiny hut is all but necessary once you get it. And you still get the same spells as all the other wizards