Fighter 1 / Abjuration Wizard?

[Trustypeaches]

Is the idea behind this build to use Heavy Armor Master + Arcane Ward to mitigate huge amounts of damage or does the build function fine without this given the Con profiency, armor profiencies, shield proficiency and fighting style that give a 14 dex wizard 19 AC?

[Citadel97501]

Is the idea behind this build to use Heavy Armor Master + Arcane Ward to mitigate huge amounts of damage or does the build function fine with Medium Armor / Dex?

Both Heavy Armor Master, or skipping that feat and sticking with Medium Armor work well. Really finding some method to continuously buff out your Arcane Ward is usually necessary, the 3 easiest ways to accomplish that are through the shield spell from spell mastery pg 115 of the PHB, or through the Warlock invocation Armor of Shadows on 110 of the PHB, or finally by playing a Deep Gnome and taking their Svirfneblin Magic feat at your 1st opportunity (mordenkainen's tome of foes).

-Deep Gnome: Online at level 4 or 5, depending on if you start with 1 in fighter or just rush wizard to 4. So likely the easiest route unless you skip fighter for 2 wizard, 2 warlock.

-Warlock 2 for Armor of Shadows is GREAT but hurts a lot though as you won't be able to get Spell Mastery, if you go for 1 fighter. Infinite Shields, or Absorb Elements are really good and difficult to pass up and if they give you temporary hp even better.

-Spell Mastery takes forever to get online though...

-Also look at taking Fighter 2, Action Surge is REALLY useful for most wizards, and while this hurts you in the short run on spells you don't lose 9th level spells or Spell Mastery, if you make it to 20.

[djreynolds]

Is the idea behind this build to use Heavy Armor Master + Arcane Ward to mitigate huge amounts of damage or does the build function fine without this given the Con profiency, armor profiencies, shield proficiency and fighting style that give a 14 dex wizard 19 AC?

I played a mountain dwarf abjurer, the 15 intelligence was tough. I hit my peak at 13th level. My intelligence was finally 20.

Everything is based on your spell DC and intelligence. I might wait on HAM, and you will need war caster with a shield.

Good luck, it is a good multiclass.

My melee attack was I used shocking grasp in melee and mirror image

[LudicSavant]

Is the idea behind this build to use Heavy Armor Master + Arcane Ward to mitigate huge amounts of damage or does the build function fine without this given the Con profiency, armor profiencies, shield proficiency and fighting style that give a 14 dex wizard 19 AC?

Medium armor and heavy armor builds both work.

Consider Fighter 2 for Action Surge at some point (you don't have to take it at level 2, you can wait until you get some spell slots under your belt). Note that Action Surge can break the "1 leveled spell per turn" rule.

Another really good option for the Abjurer is Hexblade 2 / Abjurer X. In addition to Armor of Shadows, you get a lot of mileage out of Armor of Agathys (which doesn't deplete until after your ward does, which means it's a lot harder, not to mention more painful, to remove. And recharges your ward when you cast it!), you get the half-plate and shield, and you get short rest recharge slots for more Shields and Absorb Elements and such.

Also, you can grab armor via Hobgoblin, Mountain Dwarf, or Githyanki if you'd prefer a straight Wizard.

[Trustypeaches]

I was planning on playing a Deep Gnome so Svirfneblin magic is assured at some point. My stat spread looks something like this

8 STR
14 DEX
15 CON
12 WIS
17 INT
8 CHA

So while getting a free recharge on on arcane ward with NonDetection is great, I'm not sure if it's as useful as using my first ASI to grab +1 to INT and CON.

[Dark Schneider]

If you get many concentration support spells, then I would get Warcaster or Resilient (CON), depending if you are a combatant or a 2nd line character.
So you could upgrade INT and CON with ASI, and go for Warcaster, or upgrade CON with Resilient and INT with another feat, like Observant or Linguist.

Also, IMO, the lvl 20 wizard ability is great, 2 free prepared spells, and 2 extra 3rd lvl slots. See that you could put Animate Dead so you could use it freely once per day, to maintain your control over 4 undeads. The other could be Fireball, always useful.

If defense is your only worry, you could get some armor feat. There are good light armors, and if magical you could get a good AC (enough for a caster IMO), with no penalty (to DEX that you could increase or stealth).
Notice that Light Armored grants +1 DEX, so it could be good to have an odd value before getting it.

Also, an Elven Chain is a great item. You could go to adventure for finding one, discuss it with your DM, you could use a downtime Research to know where there could be one, so it would appears on a treasure.

[Trustypeaches]

If you get many concentration support spells, then I would get Warcaster or Resilient (CON), depending if you are a combatant or a 2nd line character.Half the point of starting a Fighter is to get their CON Save proficiency.


Also, IMO, the lvl 20 wizard ability is great, 2 free prepared spells, and 2 extra 3rd lvl slots. See that you could put Animate Dead so you could use it freely once per day, to maintain your control over 4 undeads. The other could be Fireball, always useful.I'm of the mind it's not even worth considering tier 4 when character building. By the time you even get that far (if you even get that far), the adventure is likely over.

[Dark Schneider]

But you lose the WIS save proficiency, so you have a weak point in any case.

The tier 4 abilities are for long-term characters. Any character I make is looking for that. There are adventures for any tier, and you could use the same character for them.

Also with STR 8 be careful you could get into encumbrance troubles.

[Trustypeaches]

But you lose the WIS save proficiency, so you have a weak point in any case.
As a Gnome I'd already have advantage on most Wisdom saves, outside of traps.


The tier 4 abilities are for long-term characters. Any character I make is looking for that. There are adventures for any tier, and you could use the same character for them.Suit yourself, but I have never played a campaign that passed level 15 so.

[Dark Schneider]

Suit yourself
Exactly. IMO the use and throw characters, AKA creating characters other than lvl 1, is one of the worst things in RPG (role-playing games). It grants some kind of savegame like on videogames, and reduces greatly your link with your character.

There are adventures for any tier level, so is better to have multiple characters and use the one that fits better. But all created at level 1. You usually create a new character when want to play a low tier campaign and you others characters are too powerful for that adventure.

The level 20 is not the last one, as you can even continue getting Epic Feats beyond that. Saving the world from an incredible powerful menace on an epic campaign with the same character that at the beginning had trouble with goblins must be wonderful. You lived his entire life.

I forgot to mention. You probably don't want to use a shield. You need a free hand for the S or M component (can be the same hand), so you probably prefer to have one free hand and the other one with a wand or staff instead a shield.

[CTurbo]

Fighter 1 is a strong if you need your wizard to be tougher than normal, but I prefer a single level Cleric instead.

With Cleric, you can keep your spell progression, grab a couple new Abjuration spells, great cantrips, and get medium or heavy armor and shields depending on which domain you choose.
Knowledge is a top choice for mechanics as well as flavor. Dump Str, put 14 in Dex and use med armor an shield.
Tempest gets you heavy armor and a fun damaging reaction ability. I'd be tempted to go Cleric 2 here.
Life is decent if you want to be a secondary healer too. Heavy armor!

[Vogie]

If you swap your Wisdom and Strength, you could go 3 levels in to fighter for Cavalier... You'd be able to strike targets in melee to give them disadvantage on everyone but you, and gives you Attacks of Opportunity that don't use your reaction.

Also, you'd need to have enough Strength to actually wear Heavy Armor outside of Ring Mail if you're intending to use Heavy Armor Master... If you have a 12 Str base, picking up HAM will give you a +1 to 13, allowing you to wear Chain Mail

[Willie the Duck]

Everything is based on your spell DC and intelligence. I might wait on HAM, and you will need war caster with a shield.

Why? What are you intending to put in your other hand? A weapon you won't be using?

[Trustypeaches]

If you swap your Wisdom and Strength, you could go 3 levels in to fighter for Cavalier... You'd be able to strike targets in melee to give them disadvantage on everyone but you, and gives you Attacks of Opportunity that don't use your reaction.

Also, you'd need to have enough Strength to actually wear Heavy Armor outside of Ring Mail if you're intending to use Heavy Armor Master... If you have a 12 Str base, picking up HAM will give you a +1 to 13, allowing you to wear Chain MailI was planning on using Medium Armor, I was just wondering how exactly Heavy Armor Mastery worked with Arcane Ward.


Fighter 1 is a strong if you need your wizard to be tougher than normal, but I prefer a single level Cleric instead.

With Cleric, you can keep your spell progression, grab a couple new Abjuration spells, great cantrips, and get medium or heavy armor and shields depending on which domain you choose.
Knowledge is a top choice for mechanics as well as flavor. Dump Str, put 14 in Dex and use med armor an shield.
Tempest gets you heavy armor and a fun damaging reaction ability. I'd be tempted to go Cleric 2 here.
Life is decent if you want to be a secondary healer too. Heavy armor!
It's nice, but I'm saving my cleric / wizard for when I can play my Kenku Oracle. Constitution proficiency is also just really valuable, and I'll probably go to 2 to grab action surge at some point.

[stoutstien]

Action surge was the goal of most fighter dips I thought? Fighting style is nice and second wind is a free mini heal but 2 actions once per short rest is amazing

[Trustypeaches]

Action surge was the goal of most fighter dips I thought? Fighting style is nice and second wind is a free mini heal but 2 actions once per short rest is amazing
The other big benefit is proficiency in Constitution saving throws for spellcasters. Also, a clean 19 AC.

I'll definitely grab the second level in fighter eventually, but not until I get the spell slots to abuse it.

[Vogie]

I was planning on using Medium Armor, I was just wondering how exactly Heavy Armor Mastery worked with Arcane Ward.




While you are wearing heavy armor, bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage that you take from non-magical weapons is reduced by 3.



So when taking bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from non-magical weapons, reduce it by 3, then apply the damage to the ward, then apply resistances, and send remaining damage to THP, and lastly apply any further remaining damage to hit points.

Per Crawford, this:

Resistance, and then vulnerability, are applied after all other modifiers to damage
means that resistance is applied after the ward takes damage.

Temp HP acts as just additional Hit Points.

It also wouldn't work unless you're wearing heavy armor.

[djreynolds]

The other big benefit is proficiency in Constitution saving throws for spellcasters. Also, a clean 19 AC.

I'll definitely grab the second level in fighter eventually, but not until I get the spell slots to abuse it.

Its good build if decide to go and wear heavy armor that's fine, you can use HAM and use arcane ward at 6th for a friend.

If you go deep gnome medium armor is just fine. You will need warcaster for a shield, unless you go weaponless and spam shocking grasp.

Deep gnome abjurer is just fine, and perhaps with advantage on int/chr/wis saves you'll get by.

Just remember your still a wizard, max out intelligence sooner than later

[Citadel97501]

Its good build if decide to go and wear heavy armor that's fine, you can use HAM and use arcane ward at 6th for a friend.

If you go deep gnome medium armor is just fine. You will need warcaster for a shield, unless you go weaponless and spam shocking grasp.

Deep gnome abjurer is just fine, and perhaps with advantage on int/chr/wis saves you'll get by.

Just remember your still a wizard, max out intelligence sooner than later

Just so it's clear, Lightning Lure is a better spell in 90% of those cases as it always hits, doesn't include a saving throw against the damage & does the same type of elemental damage. Although the lack of an attack roll can make the damage spike higher on shocking grasp with a critical hit, it is likely going to be much higher as its always hitting if they are in melee range.

[stoutstien]

Just so it's clear, Lightning Lure is a better spell in 90% of those cases as it always hits, doesn't include a saving throw against the damage & does the same type of elemental damage. Although the lack of an attack roll can make the damage spike higher on shocking grasp with a critical hit, it is likely going to be much higher as its always hitting if they are in melee range.
Wait. Yep it has a str ST to avoid all of it.

[Citadel97501]

Wait. Yep it has a str ST to avoid all of it.

Your right, I still think those two cantrips LL & SG are going to be a lot more fun since you won't need to take Warcaster.

[djreynolds]

Just so it's clear, Lightning Lure is a better spell in 90% of those cases as it always hits, doesn't include a saving throw against the damage & does the same type of elemental damage. Although the lack of an attack roll can make the damage spike higher on shocking grasp with a critical hit, it is likely going to be much higher as its always hitting if they are in melee range.

I'm so sorry, lightning lure didn't exist when I played my wizard.

Shocking grasp is great, hit and walk away. As it eats resistance up

Lightning lure is an excellent spell, IMO for an eldritch knight with war magic.... for my little wizard I don't want the enemy any closer.

[Citadel97501]

I'm so sorry, lightning lure didn't exist when I played my wizard.

Shocking grasp is great, hit and walk away. As it eats resistance up

Lightning lure is an excellent spell, IMO for an eldritch knight with war magic.... for my little wizard I don't want the enemy any closer.

Yeah one of the best cantrips for an EK, and a lot of fun for a two handed play style, as you drag, zap then cut to ribbons.