Which Race to Pick for Wizard?

[Zorahai]

I recently joined in a 5e game where I want to play a wizard. It's a homebrew setting were all races are allowed, but the aquatic ones are mysterious to the rest of the world.

My rolled stats are: 17, 16, 15, 13, 13, 10
We are starting at 4th level
I'm thinking of taking: War Caster as a feat at 4th level

I currently am juggling between: Triton, Hobgoblin, Human Variant, and High Elf

Also, I haven't played in a long while. I don't know what type of wizard to play and I'm not sure if I should focus more on RP or optimization.


P.S.

The other players are:

Goliath Arcane Archer
Crystal Gem Dragonborn Bard
Amethyst Gem Dragonborn Rogue

[Bobthewizard]

Hobgoblin or variant human can get you light armor at 1 and moderately armored at 4. The party needs a tank, so maybe Ludic's Iron Wizard would be a great choice here. It's well optimized and I think it would still be fun to role-play.

[P. G. Macer]

I recently joined in a 5e game where I want to play a wizard. It's a homebrew setting were all races are allowed, but the aquatic ones are mysterious to the rest of the world.

My rolled stats are: 17, 16, 15, 13, 13, 10
We are starting at 4th level
I'm thinking of taking: War Caster as a feat at 4th level

I currently am juggling between: Triton, Hobgoblin, Human Variant, and High Elf

Also, I haven't played in a long while. I don't know what type of wizard to play and I'm not sure if I should focus more on RP or optimization.


P.S.

The other players are:

Goliath Arcane Archer
Crystal Gem Dragonborn Bard
Amethyst Gem Dragonborn Rogue

Is your group using the “Optional” rule from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything where you aren’t bound by your racial Ability Score Increases? If so, that greatly expands the range of optimal options. Additionally, while all subclasses enjoy a high Intelligence and good Constitution, a few also appreciate other high scores; Bladesinging likes a high Dexterity (or if you’re a Tortle, Strength), while wizards of the School of Enchantment want above-average Charisma.

IMO the simplest of the Wizard subclasses is the School of Evocation, in which case any of the options you presented other than possibly the Triton are optimal. If you’re using the Volo’s/Eberron hobgoblin, you’re proficient in Light Armor and two Martial Weapons, while V-Human and High Elf are classic choices.

Hope this helps!

[NaughtyTiger]

there are a lot of odd number stats in that roll...
boring human aint so bad either.

[Gale]

Wizard is pretty easy to optimize in the sense that all of the subclass choices are viable and it's hard to make mistakes other than choosing bad spells; but even if you do that you can always change them out later. So in general I wouldn't worry too much about making the character optimal.

I will however suggest taking your first level as Artificer. This will give you proficiency with medium armor, shields, and constitution saves. This will make your life as a Wizard much easier, especially if you haven't played in awhile. Additionally, Artificer levels are rounded up for the purposes of determining your spell slot progression. Or in other words, you will have the same number of spell slots available to you as if you hadn't chosen to multiclass. The rest of your class levels would obviously be Wizard.

As for your Artificer spells, I would recommend preparing Absorb Elements, Cure Wounds, and Detect Magic. Absorb Elements and Detect Magic are already on the Wizard's spell list, but picking them as an Artificer frees you to learn and prepare other spells. I believe you will have one or two more spell choices leftover, so feel free to choose whichever you like.

Any subclass will work, but if you want my recommendation I would choose War Wizard. They get Arcane Deflection at level 2, which when combined with your armor proficiencies will help ensure you aren't taking damage very often and are making all of your saving throws. It is a very solid subclass with simple but strong abilities.

I don't think I have a race recommendation. If you're allowed to customize your racial abilities score then any of them work well. Variant Human is probably still the best though, as the free feat is really hard to pass up. Speaking of feats, any of them would work well. I don't think you need Warcaster with the build I'm suggesting, but it's still nice to have. Personally, I would take Telekinetic first to shove enemies away who get too close, and to increase my INT. Afterwards I would consider Warcaster as my next feat.

However, if you do end up taking Variant Human and have a free feat to spare then I would consider taking a look at Metamagic Adept. Subtle Spell twice per day can be really useful. It will allow you to avoid being counterspelled when you need it, or simply let you to cast a spell like Charm Person during a social encounter without it being obvious. Twinned Spell can be surprisingly good too. Tasha's Hideous Laughter is suddenly much scarier of a spell when you can hit two targets with it; and that remains a relevant option even at higher levels. Potentially incapacitating two targets for the cost of one sorcery point and a 1st-level spell is a seriously good use of resources.

[KorvinStarmast]

I recently joined in a 5e game where I want to play a wizard. It's a homebrew setting were all races are allowed, but the aquatic ones are mysterious to the rest of the world.

My rolled stats are: 17, 16, 15, 13, 13, 10
We are starting at 4th level
I'm thinking of taking: War Caster as a feat at 4th level

I currently am juggling between: Triton, Hobgoblin, Human Variant, and High Elf

I'll suggest Triton. Starting with 18 16 16 14 13 10 gives you a lot of latitude with feats.
War Caster is a great choice, but you could just bump your INT to 20 at 4... either is a fine choice.

Also, I haven't played in a long while. I don't know what type of wizard to play and I'm not sure if I should focus more on RP or optimization.

You can do both.

[stoutstien]

Goblin is a fun and effective choice for wizards. Having a bonus action that allows movement and a way to remove yourself as a target is a big boon. A little mini smite is fun as well.

[Zorahai]

Hobgoblin or variant human can get you light armor at 1 and moderately armored at 4. The party needs a tank, so maybe Ludic's Iron Wizard would be a great choice here. It's well optimized and I think it would still be fun to role-play.

Thanks for the share! It definitely looks interesting! I was considering being a little more tanky, and this does fit the description.

[Zorahai]

I will however suggest taking your first level as Artificer. This will give you proficiency with medium armor, shields, and constitution saves. This will make your life as a Wizard much easier, especially if you haven't played in awhile. Additionally, Artificer levels are rounded up for the purposes of determining your spell slot progression. Or in other words, you will have the same number of spell slots available to you as if you hadn't chosen to multiclass. The rest of your class levels would obviously be Wizard.

I hadn't considered using Artificer as a multiclass option. Briefly I though maybe Arcana/Knowledge cleric which would give armor proficiencies and some minor heals/buffs. I'll consider your build with great interest as it seems pretty good. Thanks!

[da newt]

Is Tortle allowed?

[CTurbo]

I recently joined in a 5e game where I want to play a wizard. It's a homebrew setting were all races are allowed, but the aquatic ones are mysterious to the rest of the world.

My rolled stats are: 17, 16, 15, 13, 13, 10
We are starting at 4th level
I'm thinking of taking: War Caster as a feat at 4th level

I currently am juggling between: Triton, Hobgoblin, Human Variant, and High Elf

With those stats, I'd take 1 level of Cleric for heavy armor, shield, and Cleric spells. War, Life, Tempest, Forge, Order, Twilight, and Nature. Out of those options, I like Forge best because you can get +1 extra AC, but Order and Twilight both have interesting things to offer. Twilight gets you 300ft darkvision and Order lets your allies make reaction attacks when you cast a 1st level spell on them.

Warforged Wizard with a level of Forge Cleric would be a lot of fun. 15 Str, 13 Dex, 18 Con, 18 Int, 13 Wis, 10 Cha. You'd have 22AC with Plate + shield.
Fire Genasi Wizard with a level of Forge Cleric would be fun too. 15 Str, 13 Dex, 18 Con, 18 Int, 13 Wis, 10 Cha. Fire Genasi gets you Fire resistance and extra spells.

Other uncommon race ideas would be

Yuan-Ti. +2 Cha, +1 Int. Advantage on saving throws, poison immunity, and darkvision.
Teifling. There are MANY subraces(many offer +1 Int), but they all offer bonus spells, fire resistance, and darkvision. Feral Teifling (+2 Dex, +1 Int) gets you 30ft flying speed.
Vedalken. +2 Int, +1 Wis. These blue guys gets advantage on mental saving throws like Gnomes. They can hold their breath underwater for 1 hour.
Githyanki. +2 Str, +1 Int. They get Light and Med armor proficiency as well as some weapons you probably don't care about.

For Wizard subclasses, I like Abjuration the best. Cleric adds several decent Abjuration spells to your list too.

If you want to stick to medium armor, just go with Knowledge for the Expertise in two Int skills. Arcana isn't terrible for extra Wizard spells.

[Sigreid]

Variant human with the invocation feat. Abjuration wizard. Easily rechargeable forcefield.

[Naanomi]

Needing less sleep is nice on a wizard (time to scribe spells without bothering the party, and makes timing on Animate Dead a bit easier if that is your thing); so Reborn is one of my preferred Wizard choices

[diplomancer]

If you want tankyness, I think a Mark of Warding Dwarf Abjurer (with one level of either Cleric or Artificer) is hard to beat.

[Leon]

Given any race works great for any class, What best fits a character concept you see yourself playing. My suggestion from your listed ones: play the Triton and be mysterious.

I'm not sure if I should focus more on RP or optimization.

Always RP, make a good character sure but keep it with some flaws.

[JLandan]

You might look at tortle Bladesinger for a tanky wizard.

[sambojin]

Variant Human with Alert for simplicity. There's nothing better than going first, and never being surprised, as a wizard.

Fey Touched as your lvl4 ASI, with Bless as your lvl1 enchantment spell (it never gets old). Free misty step for escapes.

10Str/ 16Dex/ 15+1Con(vhuman)/ 17+1Int(fey)/ 13+1Wis(vhuman)/ 13Cha. Good stats, easy to use. Decent +8init, decent perception. Go for War Caster or Resilient(Con) at lvl8.

Choose a wizard subclass, any wizard subclass. You actually can just cast Bless and blast/ instant away, and still contribute meaningfully, or do real wizard stuff. Chronurgy Magic gives you a silly +12 to initiative, lets you buff/debuff even more with a reaction, and at lvl6 totally breaks BBEGs/ hard encounters (incapacitated is one of the most hideous conditions to have inflicted upon the DM's baddies. No actions = not actually relevant as a creature).

Metamagic is nice, but free Bless and de-rolls are better. And incapacitated condition placings at lvl6 (it'd be about 3 castings of a lvl2-3 spell at the point you get it, that's real slot economy). Plus all the other nice wizard stuff. The massive +initiative is amazing on choosing what you want to do, and Wizards can do so very many things, it's nice to be able to pick what, but to pick first, almost every single time.

((If the party has a cleric, *they* will start calling you God by lvl5 for the blesses. And they know about this sort of stuff. They can SW/SG blend, while you do an encounter or two a day with bless+Wiz spell/ class feature awesomeness. It's nice to cross over roles sometimes, and in theory, the godbotherers are keeping you safe for the cost of a lvl1 spell slot as well, and you help them with your owl and bless to do it properly))