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School Of Transmutation Wizard Features
Best Species For A School Of Transmutation Wizard
Best Ability Scores For A School Of Transmutation Wizard
Best Starting Equipment For A School Of Transmutation Wizard
Best Spells For A School Of Transmutation Wizard
Character growth is an integral part of . As you adventure with your party, your character learns, adapts, and becomes the hero that they were always meant to be. Normally this sort of growth is figurative, but as a School of Transmutation wizard, it can be literal too.
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As a student of the School of Transmutation, you can turn yourself into an enormous monster capable of crushing your enemies with a giant foot, or you can start small and just learn how to change iron into gold. If you're looking to change the world, here's how you can enroll in the School of Transmutation.
School Of Transmutation Wizard Features
Being in the School of Transmutation is all about learning to change things. Starting at level two, Transmutation Savant halves the time and gold cost of copying transmutation spells into your spell book. Minor Alchemy lets you perform an alchemical procedure to turn wood, stone, iron, copper, or silver into a different one of those materials for one hour.
This is a great way to trick NPC vendors into parting with goods for your temporary silver, but remember that this trick works only once.
Transmuter's Stone at level six gives a creature one of four benefits: Darkvision, 10 feet of increased move speed, proficiency on Constitution saving throws, or resistance to an element of your choice. You can also change the effect every time you cast a transmutation spell of first level or higher.
Shapechanger at level 10 teaches you the Polymorph spell and lets you cast it without spending a spell slot so long as the beast you transform is challenge rating one or lower. You can do this once every short or long rest, though you can still cast Polymorph using actual spell slots for a more impressive creature.
At level 14, Master Transmuter lets you consume your Transmuter's Stone for one of four effects. Major Transformation lets you transform one nonmagical object into another of equal or lesser value and similar size permanently. Panacea removes all curses, diseases, and poisons, and causes a creature to regain all its hit points. Restore Life casts the Raise Dead spell without spending a spell slot, and Restore Youth reduces a creature's apparent age by 3d10 years, but it doesn't actually extend their lifespan.
To be honest, there's very little you get out of a School of Transmutation wizard that you couldn't already approximate through spells most wizards should already learn. The biggest reason to join this school is for the flavor of a mad scientist.
Best Species For A School Of Transmutation Wizard
Anyone can be a wizard, so feel free to play as any species and expect to be reasonably effective. There are a few species that offer benefits to wizards, however. Here are a few suggested species to get you started.
Autognome | Wizards have trouble getting armor class, so having a base 13 AC is a big deal. Built For Success gives you a d4 to a few rolls, and resistance to poison and advantage against being paralyzed and poisoned are good defensive buffs. |
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Dwarf | Hill dwarf will give you some extra hit points per level, which can really help a wizard's fragility. Mountain dwarf offers medium armor proficiency. |
Fairy | Faerie Fire isn't on the wizard spell list and can help your team find invisible creatures. Being able to fly without using a spell slot is great, but not crucial to your success as a wizard. Enlarge/Reduce is a nice spell to have too, but again, not crucial. |
Githzerai | You can generally learn all the spells taught through Githzerai Psionics, but they're still nice to have, and they free up your studies to focus on other spells. Mental Discipline and Psychic Resilience help keep your wizard safe from charms, fright, and psychic damage. |
Goblin | You can give yourself Darkvision through your Transmuter Stone, but having it innately means you can take a different buff. Charm resistance and being able to disengage and hide as a bonus action frees up your action to do spells. Fury of the Small is a good way to shore up your damage. |
Hadozee | Hadozee Dodge is effectively like having more hit points, which is very helpful for a frail wizard--even if you Polymorph into a stampeding rhinoceros. |
Human | You could go standard human to have a lot of stats (could be helpful to keep your Constitution and Dexterity up), but you could also go variant human for a free starting feat. Medium Armor Mastery of Toughness could help here. |
Owlin | Flying, Darkvision, and stealth proficiency are always good things, although you could just turn into a mouse if you need to be stealthy. |
Shifter | A species that can change playing a transmutation wizard seems very appropriate. It's also effective. Shifting gives you temporary hit points, potential bonuses to your AC, movement speed, or advantage on Wisdom saving throws, and Darkvision frees up your Transmutation Stone. |
Tortle | Having 17 armor class is probably better than most wizards will ever get, even with Mage Armor. Being able to hold your breath is also useful since your skeletons don't need to breathe at all, making underwater combat a real possibility. |
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Best Ability Scores For A School Of Transmutation Wizard
Your spells are your life, and those are empowered by your Intelligence. Focus on bringing this ability score to 20 as soon as possible.
Constitution and Dexterity are next in line. Constitution helps with your concentration saving throws and hit point total, while Dexterity provides you with some armor class.
Strength, Wisdom, and Charisma can all be safely ignored, although they can be helpful with saving throws.
If you're using D&D's point buy system, a good starting ability score spread might look something like this:
Strength | Dexterity | Constitution | Intelligence | Wisdom | Charisma |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
8(0) | 14(+2) | 16(+3) | 16(+3) | 10(0) | 10(0) |
Best Starting Equipment For A School Of Transmutation Wizard
With a focus on magic, wizards don't start with much in terms of equipment. A quarterstaff will deal more damage than a dagger, but you're not likely to have much strength to wield it effectively. Pick the dagger, but use it as a last resort.
Focus on your spells for damage. We'll talk spells in the next section below.
An arcane focus is way more convenient than a component pouch, so pick that. A scholar's pack and an explorer's pack offer some provisions, but neither will give you everything you need to immediately start adventuring. Pick the scholar's pack for the ink and parchment, but prepare to spend some money on a bedroll.
Your spellbook is your most important possession. Keep it secret. Keep it safe.
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Best Spells For A School Of Transmutation Wizard
Your spells are your most important resource as a School of Transmutation wizard. You're likely to pick up a lot of them over the course of your campaign. Here are a few spells to keep an eye out for, or spells that you should choose whenever you level up.
Try to get the most out of your Transmutation Savant feature by paying to learn those spells and learn other spells through leveling up.
Spell Level | Spell Name |
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Cantrip |
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First Level |
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Second Level |
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Third Level |
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Fourth Level |
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Fifth Level |
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Sixth Level |
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Seventh Level |
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Eighth Level |
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Ninth Level |
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