How to learn Armor of Agathys as a wizard?

[ChaseC311]

I'm currently building a level 3 character for a strixhaven campaign, and my whole idea is to play a goliath abjuration wizard who was the metaphorical runt and had to rely on magic to support himself in close quarters combat (tank wizard build). They were kicked out of the house but found a way to pay for tuition by joining the settings equivalent to the army. Essentially imagine a punk rock military brat who casts spells by punching sigils into the air. Arcane Ward to help give him more hp, mage Armor for AC, stone endurance/shield/absorb elements for damage mitigation, etc

The last piece of the puzzle though is Armor of Agathys, which would not only help replenish my ward and pad out my d6 hp, but would also give recoil damage to melee attackers. The only problem is that it's not a wizard spell

Any ideas to circumvent this? I don't think I can add non wizard spells to my spellbook unless there's an errata I'm not familiar with, and I'm already planning on making my 4th level feat eldritch adept (armor of shadows) for quick ward regeneration. Do I bite the bullet and take a level dip into warlock? If so, which subclass would best work for this build? I also know my dms okay with homebrewing since our aasimar tempest cleric was allowed to switch their radiant and necrotic damage resistances for lightning and thunder damage resistances. Do I ask if she'll allow armor of agathys to be a wizard spell for me?

Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated!

[gloryblaze]

If you have an Evil alignment and take the Divinely Favored feat from Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen, you get one 1st-level warlock spell of your choice, which you can cast once per day for free and also with your spell slots as normal.

(You also get a cleric cantrip and the augury spell, which you can cast once per day for free and also with slots as normal).

[Sorinth]

Given that it's Strixhaven where the backgrounds give you access to spells it wouldn't surprise me if your DM allowed AoA as a swap in the background feature. It's also fairly normal to revise the Magic Initiate feat to follow the newer standard of allowing the spell to be cast with a regular spell slot.

Outside of the homebrew though 2 levels of Warlock is probably your best option, you can grab Eldritch Mind as your other Invocation which overall makes it quite nice and Hexblade is of course a great subclass for your build. There's Clockwork Soul Sorcerer that can gain access to since they can swap out their extra spells but I don't see it as being better then Warlock option.

[OptimizedAC]

(Bad advice for you, but maybe good advice for someone that ends up reading this thread:

The Eberron-specific dwarf-race Mark of Warding expands one's spell-list with Armor of Agathys, and can be decent on an abjurer.)


There's Clockwork Soul Sorcerer that can gain access to since they can swap out their extra spells but I don't see it as being better then Warlock option. It's worth noting that the Sorcerer progresses your regular spell-casting, which the Warlock doesn't. Getting extra 3rd, 4th or 5th level spell-slots is better for your AoA than extra 1st level ones, and probably better for your casting in general. The Clockwork also gets 2 more spells known, 2 more cantrips, con-saves. You really want medium armor and shield if you want to leverage AoA to it's fullest, so Sorinth nonetheless has justification for their advice.

If you go Warlock, you might want to continue wizard a few levels before going for the second level. While free casting of Mage Armor works well to pad out AoA with multiple encounters, but at low levels you'll at least often be able to top off the Ward by ritual-casting Alarm while the rest of the party short-rests. There's probably more value to bee-lining higher spell-slots, which also increases the HP of your ward.

[Ganryu]

Honestly, might have more luck just straight up asking dm in some cases.

Failing that:

Same concept as Clockwork sorcerer works .

Single dip as warlock is obvious one I figure don't wabt to do.(hexblade is regular op dip here with medium armor)

Other options listed in thread

[Reynaert]

Maybe could just swap out that lvl4 feat for Magic Initiate: Warlock ?
Your DM will probably dislike, and might nerf, that armor of shadows ward-regeneration trick anyway (it's quite cheesy).

Edit: If you then take booming blade as one of the cantrips you can incentivize opponents to stay near you.

[JackPhoenix]

Maybe could just swap out that lvl4 feat for Magic Initiate: Warlock ?

Doesn't work, because you can't cast MI spells from your slots, which means it'll be stuck at level 1 and only 1/day.

[Quietus]

Several people have mentioned it as a possible dip option, but... is going straight Clockwork Soul Sorc viable for you? You'd lose the abjuration ward, but could end up with a cleaner progression, and "oops I magic'ed" sorcerer casting might have it's own appeal over book studying.

[RogueJK]

Do I ask if she'll allow armor of agathys to be a wizard spell for me?

That's where I'd start.


Do I bite the bullet and take a level dip into warlock? If so, which subclass would best work for this build?

Hexblade Warlock 1/Abjurer X would not only get you Armor of Agathys, but also gets you medium armor, shield, and weapon proficiency (which meshes well with their military service backstory while also increasing their AC to allow the "frontline tank wizard" playstyle).

From there, Hexblade Warlock 2/Abjurer X would then also obviate the need to spend a feat on Eldritch Adept for Armor of Shadows, along with getting you another useful Invocation like Eldritch Mind or Devil's Sight, as well as a second 1st level Pact slot.

I'd start Hexblade 1/Abjurer 2, then get Abjurer to 5 or 6 before considering going back for the 2nd Warlock level.


You don't need any higher than a 13 CHA for this 1 or 2 level Warlock dip, since nothing about AoA relies on CHA, and you can just take non-CHA-dependent cantrips like Booming Blade or utility cantrips, along with other non-CHA-dependent spells like Shield and Protection from Evil and Good.

Stats would look something like:
STR 9
DEX 14
CON 13+1
INT 15+2
WIS 8
CHA 13

[Reynaert]

Hexblade Warlock 1/Abjurer X would not only get you Armor of Agathys, but also gets you medium armor, shield, and weapon proficiency (which meshes well with their military service backstory while also increasing their AC to allow the "frontline tank wizard" playstyle).

It also gets you a short-rest recharging 1st level slot which is great for casting shield with.


Doesn't work, because you can't cast MI spells from your slots, which means it'll be stuck at level 1 and only 1/day.

True, I forgot about that. However, it seems more likely that the DM would allow casting MI spells from slots, than that they would allow adding AoA as a wizard spell so that might be an option.

[Corlindale]

If your GM allows the Rune Carver background you can get the Rune Shaper feat free at level 1 and pick up AoA (but note that the book calls out how strong the background is and recommends buffing other backgrounds if it is allowed, so may not be an option). If not, you could grab the feat at lvl 4 instead of that cheesy Mage Armor trick which your gm might ban anyway (do make sure to clear it with your gm in any case).

[JLandan]

Perhaps your DM will allow you downtime activities in which you may Research such a spell per the downtime activities rules in Xanathar's.

[ChaseC311]

Hey guys! I just heard back from the DM and she's allowed me to learn Armor of Agathys as a wizard spell without multiclassing!

She also was made aware of the eldritch adept/armor of shadows exploit when I originally pitched the character concept to her a couple weeks back and she approved of it.