Enchantment wizard

[Stormtrooper666]

Hey

I have a few questions about enchantment wizards.

For those that have played one what are the pros and cons of that school of magic?

What could help me make it stronger if anything?

Are there any examples from movies, tv, books that have enchantment wizards?

[RogueJK]

Enchanter is still a Wizard, one of the stronger classes in the game. And they have better abilities than many of the other Wizard subclasses, though not as strong as the top tier subclasses.


Hypnotic Gaze is not a spell, doesn't require Concentration, and has unlimited uses. It even has noncombat uses, if you can afford a decent CHA too, since you can use it to Charm someone and then have Advantage on CHA skill checks. Plus, unlike a number of other Charm effects, the target doesn't know it has been Charmed and doesn't turn hostile afterwards. The downside in combat is that you have to be adjacent to an enemy, and it eats your Actions, so it's not consistently useful in fights. But dropping a big Concentration spell to lock down one group of enemies, and next round using Hypnotic Gaze to lock down another, is a good combat tactic. One way to mitigate some of this is by dipping a level into Artificer, which gets you armor and shield proficiency so you can better survive being closer to enemies, plus lets you access the INT-based Sanctuary spell, which gives you another line of defense and is also a Bonus Action to cast so can come online the same turn your activate Hypnotic Gaze. (And since Hypnotic Gaze isn't a spell, using/renewing it doesn't break Sanctuary.)

Instinctive Charm is a solid defensive ability, allowing you to redirect attacks to other enemies (or at least towards tankier allies).

Split Enchantment is free "Twin Spell metamagic", which is great. Good for use with any of your single-target Enchantment spells, and gets even more mileage if you use the Fey Touched feat to pick up another non-Wizard single-target Enchantment spell like Dissonant Whispers.

Alter Memories eliminates many of the drawbacks for certain Charm spells, and also adds some useful roleplaying abilities by having them forget their time while Charmed.


The big downside to Enchanter is that 3 out of 4 of your subclass abilities don't function against enemies that can't be Charmed, of which there are a fair number. You're also likely to load up to Enchantment spells to take advantage of Split Enchantment, many of which are also Charm effects. So you have to be deliberate with your other spell picks to ensure you still have options even when confronting Charm-immune enemies.

[Psyren]

Enchantment is honestly slept on in my opinion. It's great purely by virtue of being a wizard of course, but I feel Hypnotic Gaze is often overlooked due to more dramatic and direct features like Arcane Ward, Portent, and Sculpt Spells, despite its potency and resourcelessness.

Yeah it's subject to charm immunity (and so is their next feature) but at low levels when your ammunition is at its lowest and needs supplementing the most, that's pretty rare. Once you hit high levels and it becomes more common, you've moved on to Twinning enchantments for free, letting you pull off tactics few other wizards can.

[Xihirli]

Hypnotic Gaze is the main subclass feature you can rely on, and frankly it’s better than it looks.

It takes an action but I see that as almost a plus. Wizards, at least the ones I’ve played, often have a standard game plan of dropping one dramatic concentration spell and then having very little to do with their action other than cantrip spam. Enchantment wizard can do this and then turn off a problem enemy for the rest of the fight. they’re largely out of the fight too but they already did their job.

Split enchantment roughly doubles the power of every single-target enchantment spell you’re going to cast in combat. With a first level spell (hideous laughter) which you can eventually cast for free and your unlimited-use (but only one try per target) Gaze, you can take 3 enemies out of a fight with very little j in the way of spent resources.

[Psyren]

Hypnotic Gaze is the main subclass feature you can rely on, and frankly it’s better than it looks.

It takes an action but I see that as almost a plus. Wizards, at least the ones I’ve played, often have a standard game plan of dropping one dramatic concentration spell and then having very little to do with their action other than cantrip spam. Enchantment wizard can do this and then turn off a problem enemy for the rest of the fight. they’re largely out of the fight too but they already did their job.

Split enchantment roughly doubles the power of every single-target enchantment spell you’re going to cast in combat. With a first level spell (hideous laughter) which you can eventually cast for free and your unlimited-use (but only one try per target) Gaze, you can take 3 enemies out of a fight with very little j in the way of spent resources.

There are some nasty mid/high enchantments that can benefit from this free twinning too, e.g. Irresistible Dance, Hold/Dominate Monster, Psychic Lance, Feeblemind, Power Word Stun...

[Sorinth]

Artificer or Cleric dips can be quite good, you get armor & shields to pump up your AC which helps make Hypnotic Gaze less risky, and they also gain the Sanctuary spell which combos very nicely with Hypnotic Gaze and doesn't interfere with the big concentration spell.

[Bobthewizard]

I love enchantment wizards.

Hypnotic Gaze can be effective almost every fight. You don't use it right away in every fight, though. It's great when you have the enemy outnumbered, which, even if it doesn't start that way, if the party is focusing their fire, you'll get there eventually every time.

If you walk into a room and there are one or two big creatures, use it to shut one of them down. If there are more, wait until you get it down to two, maybe three, enemies before you use it. At that point, it's much better than a cantrip and worth the risk of putting yourself in danger.