Best race for bruiser Wizard

[Dualswinger]

My next character concept pretty much boils down to a mono class wizard that does it’s best to be on the frontlines, or at worst the sidelines like a rogue or monk. To that end, I’m thinking of playing as one of the races with either natural armour or armour proficiencies. Which do you think is best?

Of the four, Githyanki is actually the least favourable to me since the int bonus isn’t as desirable due to my subclass being War Wizard and intelligence not being as high a priority since I’ll be relying on self buffs.

Lizard folk can work, though it pencils me in as a dex based character rather than strength.

Hill dwarf gives that tasty bonus hit point, essentially making my HD a d8.

Mountain is my current front runner for that double +2.


What’s the forums opinion?

[Aett_Thorn]

I would vote for Mountain Dwarf. Medium Armor, +2 to Con and Str, and damage resistance to a fairly common damage type. Plus, you get access so some pretty decent weapons that you wouldn’t otherwise.

[Grimmnist]

Mountain Dwarf is excellent for the Med Armor prof.

Maybe not quite what you are looking for, but Variant Human with +1 Dex, +1 Con and resilient Con would also be excellent. With Mage Armor you could start with 16 AC for the cost of a spell slot, and proficiency in Con saves is very important for a buff reliant build. I know War Wiz can add some modifier to concentration checks, but this would free you up to save that reaction for Shield (or War Wiz's junior shield).

[RogueJK]

Mountain Dwarf War Wizard or Abjurer is a decent choice.


It's not quite a "bruiser", but High Elf Bladesinger is another strong choice for a melee Wizard. Focus on DEX and INT, with a moderate CON. Wield a Shortsword for 1st level, with your racial proficiency, and then take Rapier proficiency when you go Bladesinger at Level 2 and start wielding a Rapier from there. +INT to AC is nice. With an 18 DEX and 18 INT with Studded Leather, you'll have the same 20 AC as someone with Full Plate and a Shield. A 20 DEX and 20 INT means you'll be at 22 AC. Mage Armor gets you +1 over those, at the cost of a spell slot every 8 hours.

Shadow Blade is a nice melee damage booster, once you get 2nd level spells, and can be upcast for more damage. Booming Blade/Green Flame Blade won't be as much use past 5th level, since you get Extra Attack at 6th, but is still handy when paired with Warcaster for Opportunity Attacks. You'll also lean heavily on defensive spells like Shield, Absorb Elements, Mirror Image, etc.

You'll get +INT to Concentration, which combined with a decent CON plus Warcaster means your Concentration will be rarely interrupted.

As with all melee wizards, your weak point will be your d6 hit points.


I know you said monoclass, but Bladesinger can benefit from taking the 1st level in Fighter, for a Fighting Style (Dueling or possibly Defense), 10 starting HP, and CON proficiency. Then go straight Bladesinger from there.

[Dualswinger]

Thanks for the input, but The problem with bladesinger is that it’s a dodge tank. Good for fighting solo enemies, but when hit by a decent aoe (or even a lucky crit) you’re losing half your health.

That’s why I want a con focussed race.

[Blood of Gaea]

Half-Orc is pretty good, the ability to just not die once is _amazingly_ strong in the early levels when almost anything can put you down with a crit. I'd definitly grab a one-level multiclass for armor and a shield, preferably heavy armor.

[RogueJK]

Thanks for the input, but The problem with bladesinger is that it’s a dodge tank. Good for fighting solo enemies, but when hit by a decent aoe (or even a lucky crit) you’re losing half your health.

That’s why I want a con focussed race.

Compare:

High Elf Bladesinger. Start STR 8, DEX 17, CON 15, INT 16, WIS 8, CHA 8. Go +1 DEX +1 CON at 4th and +2 INT at 8th.

You'll have d6+3 HP per level, plus a 20 AC (Studded Leather), and a +7 to Concentration checks. And you'll be doing 1d8+4 damage with a Rapier, twice per round, when you're not slinging spells. (Or more with spells like Shadow Blade.)


versus


Mountain Dwarf War Wizard. Start STR 17, DEX 10, CON 16, INT 15, WIS 8, CHA 8. Go +1 STR +1 INT at 4th, and +2 INT at 8th.

You'll have d6+3 HP per level, plus a a 15 AC (Half Plate), and +3 to Concentration checks normally (or +7 if using Arcane Deflection reaction). You'll be doing 1d10+4 damage with a two handed Warhammer/Battleaxe, once per round, when you're not slinging spells.


The War Wizard will have -5 to AC compared to a Bladesinger, and will be doing less melee damage each round. The War Wizard will have to spend reactions on Shield and Arcane Deflection to try to boost their middling AC more often. Even once you hit 10th level, the War Wizard still only has a 19 AC while concentrating on a spell with Durable Magic and spending their reaction on Arcane Deflection for AC (meaning it can't be used for boosting Concentration). Whereas the Bladesinger has a 20 AC by Level 8, without spending reactions and not just while concentrating.

The War Wizard can have the same Concentration saving throw bonus as the Bladesinger if they spend their Reaction on Arcane Deflection to give it an extra +4. Starting at Level 10, they have +2 on Concentration compared to the Bladesinger using both Arcane Deflection and Durable Magic, but that still requires using their reaction, which means it can't be used for anything else like an Opportunity Attack, mitigating elemental damage with Absorb Elements, or boosting AC with Shield or Arcane Deflection.

Each will have the same access to spells as the other. And they have the same HP, so each can equally "lose half their health on a lucky critical or AOE". (Although Wizards have other means to help mitigate AOE damage, like Absorb Elements.) Going Abjurer instead of Bladesinger or War Wizard can help a little bit with a melee Wizard's low HP issue, but it doesn't have the AC or Concentration bonuses of War Wizard or Bladesinger.


If a melee Wizard is what you're after, the Bladesinger is a better candidate than the War Wizard from an optimization standpoint. You just have to be okay with being DEX-focused, and you also have to be an Elf, which may or may not fit your character concept.

[LudicSavant]

Hobgoblin+Moderately Armored is a great choice. Save Face gives a whopping +5 to any saving throw (or other d20 rolls, too), after seeing the roll, once per short rest. And a single Dex-boosting half-feat is all it takes to get you to not only medium armor proficiency, but a shield proficiency too as a straight-class Wizard. The Hobgoblin will grab you whatever martial weapon proficiencies you want, too.

[RogueJK]

Hobgoblin+Moderately Armored is a great choice. Save Face gives a whopping +5 to a saving throw, after seeing the roll, once per short rest.

If you can see 5 other allies within 30 feet of you. You get +1 for each ally within 30 feet that you can see.

In a smaller party of 3 or 4, or even in a larger party with several casters and/or ranged attackers and/or sneaky Rogues, that +5 will not always be possible.

[LudicSavant]

If you have 5 other allies within 30 feet of you. In a smaller party of 3 or 4, or even in a larger party with several casters and ranged attackers, that +5 may not always be possible.

Allies includes things like "your familiar" and "the Paladin's steed" too. In practice it's very easy to get the maximum bonus. And even if you somehow can't, even the partial bonus is very potent.

[bid]

Thanks for the input, but The problem with bladesinger is that it’s a dodge tank. Good for fighting solo enemies, but when hit by a decent aoe (or even a lucky crit) you’re losing half your health.

That’s why I want a con focussed race.
Might as well go vuman/tough with 8 16 14 16 10 8. That's 8 hp per level.

Still, starting fighter would offer AC20 with half-plate + shield + defense style, swap to Dex14 Con16 and start with 15 hp at level 1, +9 per level.

[JellyPooga]

Half-Orc is pretty good, the ability to just not die once is _amazingly_ strong in the early levels when almost anything can put you down with a crit. I'd definitly grab a one-level multiclass for armor and a shield, preferably heavy armor.

I recently put this into practice (no dip) and found it to be excellent. AC isn't great, but with the HP buffer from Abjuror, good Con and Mage Armour, I found myself able to mix it on the front line no problem and the one time I got crit and hit zero HP (which no amount of AC will help against) being Half-Orc, I was able to turn the tide of the fight instead of eating dirt like a chump.

[Blood of Gaea]

I recently put this into practice (no dip) and found it to be excellent. AC isn't great, but with the HP buffer from Abjuror, good Con and Mage Armour, I found myself able to mix it on the front line no problem and the one time I got crit and hit zero HP (which no amount of AC will help against) being Half-Orc, I was able to turn the tide of the fight instead of eating dirt like a chump.
If multiclassing isn't an option, I'd definitely be wanting to go ahead and go Dex, even if it doesn't play off the bonus of being an Orc.

Point Buy:
Str: 8+2
Dex: 15
Con: 13+1
Int: 15
Wis: 8 or 10
Cha: 8 or 10

Then your first ASI is +1 Int +1 Dex. 14 Con and 16 AC (with mage armor) are pretty respectable I think.

The big problem is that you'll probably be using a dagger and light crossbow (until level 5 or 11) as your main forms of attack. You'll need to make good use of Greenflame/Booming Blade and Shadow Blade.

[Particle_Man]

If half-orc is worth looking at, maybe goliath is too for the self-healing bit?

Another option is hill dwarf dragonblood sorcerer, but I guess that is not wizard.

But yeah mountain dwarf is hard to beat.

[JellyPooga]

If multiclassing isn't an option, I'd definitely be wanting to go ahead and go Dex, even if it doesn't play off the bonus of being an Orc.

Point Buy:
Str: 8+2
Dex: 15
Con: 13+1
Int: 15
Wis: 8 or 10
Cha: 8 or 10

Then your first ASI is +1 Int +1 Dex. 14 Con and 16 AC (with mage armor) are pretty respectable I think.

The big problem is that you'll probably be using a dagger and light crossbow (until level 5 or 11) as your main forms of attack. You'll need to make good use of Greenflame/Booming Blade and Shadow Blade.

Standard Array;

Str:12+2=14, Dex:13, Con:15+1=16, Int:15, Wis:8, Cha:10

You really want the Con. Need it, even. Your AC is never going to be great, so a Dex focus is kinda "meh". Might as well use that Str bump and whack peeps with your wizard staff (including obligatory knob-on-the-end) two handed for 1d8 instead of a paltry 1d4 dagger. GFB/BB is pretty much a given, yeah.