"Strategist" Archetype Diviner

[Laevatein]

Okay, I normally play melee characters, but I have an idea that I'm toying with for a change of pace, inspired by the following video:



The host mentions that some of the early examples of the strategist archetype were depicted as performing divinations, so I had the idea of a character based on said archetype who was a diviner who also had a lot of battlefield control spells. What suggestions for spells, feats, etc can you give me for this character?

[kazaryu]

Okay, I normally play melee characters, but I have an idea that I'm toying with for a change of pace, inspired by the following video:



The host mentions that some of the early examples of the strategist archetype were depicted as performing divinations, so I had the idea of a character based on said archetype who was a diviner who also had a lot of battlefield control spells. What suggestions for spells, feats, etc can you give me for this character?

well, obviously any 'wall of...' spell would fit this role.

swarm conjure spells would also make sense as they can easily function as battlefield control spells that you can move around after summoning. although they come with some fairly extreme downsides on the meta side of play...or they can anyway.

sleep is great for low level control (crowd control though, not battlefield control). but falls off quickly as you level.

hypnotic pattern is extremely good, and even scales very well

not specific to combat, but some other thematic options for the various levels can include....well basically any divination spell for information gathering. rory's telepathic bond would make sense for such a character once you reach that level. alongside sending and message at lower levels.

for feats it can depend on what you really want to lean into in terms of the 'strategist' archetype.

alert/observant are great for the general aura of 'im in control of my surroundings', ntohing happens that i didn't expect' type feel

things like chef/inspiring leader to lean into the more 'leadership' aspect of the archetype (specifically if your DM allows you to reflavor chef. the mechanics fit the theme)

skill expert/prodigy to get expertise with key skills (like insight, perception, any of the knowledge skills...whatever skills you particularly want to focus on for your strategist).

you might even think about multiclassing at some level. likely a small dip if you do it at all.

a single level in bard gets you some bardic inspiration dice, helpful if you wanna be a battlefield tactician.

a single level of cleric or paladin or DS sorcerer can get you bless, which can be flavored as you magically sharing your expertise with your party, the exact MC you take depends on what else you want out of it as all three have other non-insignificant features at level 1.

a bit unorthodox, but even a 3 level dip in fighter, to get battlemaster, could be interesting. specifically for maneuvers like commanders strike or bait and switch, if you wanted to get into battlefield tactics (not technically the same archetype, but they're often conflated).

[Laevatein]

a single level of cleric or paladin or DS sorcerer can get you bless, which can be flavored as you magically sharing your expertise with your party, the exact MC you take depends on what else you want out of it as all three have other non-insignificant features at level 1.

Definitely considering Knowledge domain Cleric (probably taking 1 level of that then switching to Wizard).

[kazaryu]

Definitely considering Knowledge domain Cleric (probably taking 1 level of that then switching to Wizard).

that definitely works as an alternative to prodigy or skill expert

[Sorinth]

Order cleric would be a solid dip even though if you just want Bless fey-touched might be more straight forward.

[RogueJK]

If you've never played a Diviner before, learn to embrace the "Mind Spike Cascade".

Once you hit Divination Wizard 6, you gain the Expert Divination ability. With this ability, when you use a Level 2+ spell slot to cast a Divination spell, you regain a spell slot of the level below.

Mind Spike is a 2nd level Divination spell that deals 3d8 psychic damage, +1d8 for each level upcast. (It's also the only damaging Divination spell.)

So putting the two together, a 9th level Divination Wizard who is partway through their adventuring day and has already expended several slots could do something like this:

-Cast a 5th level Mind Spike for 6d8 damage, and regain a 4th level slot.
-Use that "free" 4th level slot to cast a 4th level Mind Spike for 5d8 damage, and regain a 3rd level slot
-Use that "free" 3rd level slot to cast a 3rd level Mind Spike for 4d8 damage, and regain a 2nd level slot
-Use that "free" 2nd level slot to cast a 2nd level Mind Spike for 3d8 damage, and regain a 1st level slot
-Have a "free" 1st level slot for a Shield/Absorb Elements/Silvery Barbs/etc.

That's up to 18d8 damage plus a Shield/Absorb Elements/Silvery Barbs/etc., for the cost of one 5th level slot.

Then take a Short Rest to use Arcane Recovery to regain that 5th level slot, and do it all again.

It's a solid alternative to plinking with cantrips when you want to apply single-target damage, especially since it's still half damage on a save. The only real downside is that Mind Spike is technically a Concentration spell (though there's typically no need to maintain Concentration on it past the instant damage application), so you couldn't do that while also maintaining Concentration on a Control spell.

[Laevatein]

I mentioned a 1-level dip in Cleric earlier. That would also allow me to take Guidance, which feels thematically appropriate.