First Time Playing 5e Wizard, HELP

[SpicyBoi_Nezu]

I have just joined my school's D&d group, and they primarily play 5e. I have only ever played 3.5e, and occasionally 4e, but never 5e. I was just asking around for any recommendations as to what to play for my first character. I chose wizard because I heard that they are more fun and easier to manage in 5e, than in 3.5, but I have no clue how they advance, and what it means with the school specialization. I don't think it's the same as it is in 3.5, where you can specialize in one school, and still cast spells form the other schools. And do spells in 5e still all fall under the different schools? I'm not even a moderately experienced player in 3.5 yet, and I don't understand the differences in 5e.

[Unoriginal]

I have just joined my school's D&d group, and they primarily play 5e. I have only ever played 3.5e, and occasionally 4e, but never 5e. I was just asking around for any recommendations as to what to play for my first character. I chose wizard because I heard that they are more fun and easier to manage in 5e, than in 3.5, but I have no clue how they advance, and what it means with the school specialization. I don't think it's the same as it is in 3.5, where you can specialize in one school, and still cast spells form the other schools. And do spells in 5e still all fall under the different schools? I'm not even a moderately experienced player in 3.5 yet, and I don't understand the differences in 5e.

First step is: forget everything about 3.X when you play 5e. 5e is a different game entirely, it's not "3.X but different", and holding assumptions of past editions just make handling 5e much harder.

Second: have you read the PHB? If you didn't, then do so. Everything you need to start making your character is clearly explained in it.

[Man_Over_Game]

I have just joined my school's D&d group, and they primarily play 5e. I have only ever played 3.5e, and occasionally 4e, but never 5e. I was just asking around for any recommendations as to what to play for my first character. I chose wizard because I heard that they are more fun and easier to manage in 5e, than in 3.5, but I have no clue how they advance, and what it means with the school specialization. I don't think it's the same as it is in 3.5, where you can specialize in one school, and still cast spells form the other schools. And do spells in 5e still all fall under the different schools? I'm not even a moderately experienced player in 3.5 yet, and I don't understand the differences in 5e.

Hiya, noobie! Welcome to 5e!

Each spell does belong into a School, but Schools only matter for Wizards, and even then it doesn't matter all that much.

Each Wizard School subclass has some sort of specific benefit when casting spells of that School.

Evocation Wizards, for example, deal more damage when casting Evocation ("Energy") spells and can cause their explosives to not hurt their allies (basically creating a shield around their allies).
Abjuration WIzards can shield their allies when they cast Abjuration (Shield) magic, allowing them to be a "support" for their team.
Divination Wizards regenerate Spell Slots when they cast Divination (Scrying/scouting) spells, and can also force a roll to be a specific outcome of their choosing.

Every single Wizarding School also learns spells of that school for a reduced cost. Diviners, for example, have a 50% discount to write Divination spells into their spellbook. Every Wizard can learn every Wizard spell and cast them, but Diviners have a benefit to learning and casting Divination spells. It's also important to note that Wizards also can automatically learn spells when they level up for free; the discount is applied only to spells that they find and want to memorize.

Figure out how you want to play your Wizard, and pick the School that best matches that. A Diviner can always learn Fireball, but they're going to use Divination magic better than anyone, so only pick Divination if that's the playstyle you want.

A brief rundown on each Wizard School:


Abjuration: Shields, Counter-magic, and blocking planar travel. An Abjurer Wizard supports the team with magical shielding. Protects the team.
Conjuration: Summons, Teleporting, and creating physical barriers. A Conjurer Wizard is extremely versatile and works well with melee allies. Versatile problem solver.
Divination: Scouting, Scrying, and foreseeing the future. A Diviner Wizard can force rolls to be a specific value of their choosing, and also are incentivized to cast scouting spells out of combat. Scouts for the team.
Enchantment: Manipulation and battlefield control. An Enchanter can cripple targets and force them into obedience, and are good at turning the tide of battle. Manipulates social environments and combatants.
Evocation: Energy creation, explosives and some barriers. An Evoker Wizard can blast the battlefield with powerful area magic without hurting their allies. Eliminates swarms of enemies in seconds.
Illusion: Illusions, manipulation, out-of-combat utility. An Illusion Wizard can fluidly manipulate illusions as needed, and can even turn the illusions real at high levels. Manipulates out-of-combat, getting enemies to waste their turns.
Necromancy: Life manipulation, regenerating health, creating the Undead. A Necromancer Wizard can draw health from their enemies and create powerful undead to fight for them. Self-reliant and sustainable powerhouse.
Transmutation: Matter manipulation, creation of object or tools, and using the local elements for combat. A Transmuter Wizard can convert materials into other types (iron, to wood, to silver, to copper, or any variant thereof), and gets several powerful Philosopher's stones that can be altered to provide different benefits. Versatile problem solver.

[Blood of Gaea]

Spells fall under different schools, but it matters much less than previous editions. Just pay attention to your class abilities, they'll tell you if the type matters.

For a first time Wizard, I would suggest a High-Elf Abjuration Wizard. Control spells tend to be the best choices. I'll give my personal list of best control spells:

Cantrip: Minor Illusion
1st: Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Shield
2nd: Web, Mirror Image
3rd: Slow, Hypnotic Pattern
4th: Watery Sphere, Polymorph
5th: Bigby's Hand, Wall of Force
6th: Mass Suggestion, Otto's Irresistible Dance
7th: Forcecage, Mirage Arcane
8th: Maze
9th: Wish

That still leaves you with plenty of room to fill in with stuff like Counterspell, Tiny Hut, and Fireball if you want.

[SVamp]

Make sure you choose mage armour and sleep at level 1. Sleep becomes useless after lvl 4 but it’s godly at lvl 1, and mage armour will keep you alive throughout our career. I’d make sure to choose find familiar as well, and choose an owl cause it’s a cool familiar and it has the flyby ability so it can swoop in, provide the help action, and gtfo. They are also pretty good scouts. And if they get shot, that’s one attack not hitting you so it’s not so bad.

You also want decent damage cantrips, say fire bolt and toll the death. Vs creatures with high AC or resistant to fire, use toll the death.

Lastly, the lvl 2 spell dragons breath is fun to use with your familiar. Familiars usually can’t attack, but they can totally breathe at enemies, making nuisances of themselves. Useful vs enemies without ranged attacks.

[ImproperJustice]

Googling the 5e wizard guide here on the forums will also help you a great deal via the color coded spell ratings and discussion.

Wizards tend to fall into certain “themes” or roles they can provide in the party.

1. Fewer classes incentivize intelligence. Grab some proficiencies in arcana, history, and investigate as you can easily be the team scholar.

2. Ritual spells don’t use spell slots, and can basically be cast for free if you have the time. Devote some of your starting spells to these.
Some great and useful early picks are detect magic, comprehend languages, find familiar or unseen servant, and tenser’s floating disk. These will help you contribute heavily during exploration which is a real strength of the Wizard.

3 Regarding roles: you may be a blaster, a controller, a buffer, a summoner, a utility mage, or some combination thereof. Decide what would be most fun for you, and organize about 75% of your spell and cantrip picks around that theme. Then devote 25% to a back up role. As you learn more spells from your adventures and get some RL experience you will be able to readjust your list of prepared spells each day to better fit the needs of the party at the time.

4. Run a cost benefit analysis of your spells and spell slots. Sure, Chromatic Orb looks nice at low levels, but maybe Tasha’s Laughter can do more “damage” by incapacitng a foe, while your heavy hitters wail on them with advantage for a round for instance.

[Willie the Duck]

I chose wizard because I heard that they are more fun and easier to manage in 5e, than in 3.5

Probably, although the package, on page, looks more complex because you get things at every even level. Overall, playing a wizard is simpler, because of the limitations. 5e has something called concentration (not the same thing as in 3e), which limits how many ongoing spells you can have up at once (usually only one, but Mage Armor, Mirror Image, Blink, and some other oft-used defensive ones don't count). This means that you have less things to manage.

I still wouldn't choose a wizard as my first class, as a Champion Fighter is great if you don't want to have to figure out any class-specifics, and just want to learn the non-class-specific rules. However, a nice simple wizard like a blaster evoker is actually pretty easy to pick up. After that, adjurer and diviner have very straightforward benefits. Necromancers, Illusionists, and Enchanters are fun (and in the right hands quite powerful), but require extensive inventiveness and system master, so I would hold off on those for now.

Hope it goes well! :smallsmile: