The Player’s Handbook covers all 8 schools of magic, so it makes total sense that at least one has to be left in the dust. The School of Transmutation has never quite been the Wizard’s forte. Transmuters are beings that craft the world as they see fit. Unlike Conjurers, they find that changing living beings is much easier than creating new things. They might be smugglers or schemers, letting them get money or items past whoever they need to. Or, they might be legitimately wanting to become a master of their craft. Does mastery of Transmutation lead to a good Wizard? Let’s find out in our Transmutation Wizard 5e Guide.
Table of Contents
Craft Your Form: Transmutation Wizard 5E
The Transmutation Wizard is the most oddly designed wizard archetypes in this class. It has a single ability that relies on casting transmutation magic – other than the Savant feature, which barely qualifies as part of the subclass. The rest are utility abilities whose power level varies from pathetic to fantastic. Unfortunately, this doesn’t do a good job ensuring that you’ll be better at Transmutation than any other Wizard… So, you might want to consider choosing any other school and selecting some Transmutation wizard spells.
Transmutation Savant
This is it; the only ability that relies on Transmutation spells. And…
Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, the gold and time you must spend to copy a Transmutation spell into your spellbook is halved.
Yup.
So, there are quite a few bright sides here. Transmutation is one of the most numerous schools for spells in the entire game, especially for Wizards. Transmutation is also home to the most buffs, from Fly to Haste. A lot of those buffs are extremely important for you to get, so you might find a higher-level spellbook and get them at a discount!
But, for the same reasons, you need to guarantee that you get some of those really important buffs. Fly is essential to any adventuring party, and you’ll be the one getting rid of problems with Flesh to Stone or Reverse Gravity. Make sure you naturally learn the spells that are really essential for you, and then hope that you can find spellbooks or libraries in the future to save a few spells known.
This ability is exactly as good as the GM lets it be. So… Hope you fight someone who knows Fly before level 5.
Minor Alchemy
I don’t like the sound of this name; it sounds like your 2nd level ability is just a cantrip or something…
Starting at 2nd level when you select this school, you can temporarily alter the physical properties of one nonmagical object, changing it from one substance into another. You perform a special alchemical procedure on one object composed entirely of wood, stone (but not a gemstone), iron, copper, or silver, transforming it into a different one of those materials. For each 10 minutes you spend performing the procedure, you can transform up to 1 cubic foot of material. After 1 hour, or until you lose your concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell), the material reverts to its original substance.
Oh boy…
So, the problem with this is myriad. At level 2, Wizards are looking for either different ways to deal damage or something defensive; you usually have between 7 and 12 health at this level, so you want ways to either take out threats or make things less threatening. Unfortunately, a 10-minute ritual to transform 1 cubic foot of material is neither defensive nor offensive.
Instead it’s not that useful.
Because of it’s gigantic casting time, you can only use this during long periods of out-of-combat time. It’s tricky to use this in a dungeon at all, since it’s such a massive pain to concentrate on it – too many of your good buffs take up Concentration. The only time this is useful in a dungeon is when 1) you’re guaranteed not to get ambushed and 2) you need to transform a non-magical object to something easier to break or something. You could theoretically use it on a wall in order to make it easier to cut through… if you can keep yourself away from enemies for an hour or so.
You could also use this to make some money by transforming copper into silver. If you are attempting to escape chains or a cell then turning metal into wood could be useful. The combination of casting time, concentration, and time limitations make this so hard to use. Your level 2 lifestyle is gonna be really rough unless you have a cool DM and find yourself in some pretty specific circ*mstances.
Transmuter’s Stone
Thankfully, at level 6, you finally get something great! You can craft a transmuter’s stone which you can give to anyone; Only one (of yours) can be in existence at a time. Whoever holds it benefits from one of these options;
- Darkvision out to a range of 60 feet
- An increase to speed of 10 feet while the creature is unencumbered
- Proficiency in Constitution saving throws
- Resistance to acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage (your choice whenever you choose this benefit)
This is the only ability other than the Savant skill that relies on transmutation spells. Every time you use a Transmutation spell, you can change the buff… If the stone is on you.
This is a pretty fantastic ability. You’re going to want to keep it on yourself most of the time, unless an ally plans on doing a duel or something. That’s because the buffs help you so much. Darkvision is great, unless you already have it. 10 ft movement speed is rare to find on a Wizard, and can be granted to Fly speed. Proficiency in Constitution saves normally takes a feat to get, and here you are, getting it for free. And the resistances are situational, but when the situation comes, they essentially double your health.
All of these can be gotten simply through Transmutation spells, but that means you get a spell slot on you permanently. That’s a big deal!
You’re going to want to choose something that isn’t Darkvision; magical lights, your race, or something else should be able to handle the lighting of the battlefield. Constitution saves are just so nice to have high. A lot of Con-based effects deal big damage, or stop you from acting through debuffs. It also lets you more easily concentrate on your buff spells.
Casting transmutation spells isn’t hard. There’s a few Transmutation spells – like Catapult – which are just simple damage spells. And some of your buffs are pretty easy to swap in and out of, too. You’ll want to switch to Resistances if you’re fighting dragons, elementals, or casters (that are specializing!). Movement speed looks nice, but you should be using Misty Step or other teleportation skills to get out of bad situations. You can still use a Transmutation spell to swap to movement speed if it’s critical to do so.
Feel free to give this to an ally if you think you won’t be hit at all in the fight, such as against swarms of enemies that don’t have ranged attacks or magic. That’ll be rare, though; default to yourself whenever possible.
Shapechanger
Back to mediocrity!
At 10th level, you add the Polymorph spell to your spellbook, if it is not there already. You can cast Polymorph without expending a spell slot. When you do so, you can target only yourself and transform into a beast whose challenge rating is 1 or lower.
Once you cast Polymorph in this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest, though you can still cast it normally using an available spell slot.
So, learning Polymorph for free isn’t bad. It’s an important, versatile spell that can stop enemies and turn allies into threats. You’d want it at level 7, but if you’re willing to wait three levels, then here it is!
So, you get to cast Polymorph (an offensive spell) on yourself for free once per rest… there’re a few problems. CR 1 creatures are a little bit weak, but a lot of them are small and stealthy. That means you can be pretty good at sneaking around. Do you know what else would have been good for gathering information? The Divination school. And that doesn’t put you in danger…
Nor does it reduce your Intelligence to 2. Depending on your GM, dropping your Intelligence that low could make it hard for your allies to convince you to scout. You could use it as a health shield; a Tiger or Brown Bear gives nearly 40 HP. But, every hit forces you to make a Concentration check. Make sure your Stone is on Constitution saves! Also, make sure your GM doesn’t use the low Intelligence argument against you during combat.
Polymorph is one of the best Wisdom-based saves in the game; turning an enemy demigod into a newt just feels powerful, and it is powerful in practice. Using it on yourself is less impressive, especially when you replace your mental stats – The power of this ability can be weakened by your GM, and honestly… Druids do this so, so much better.
Master Transmuter
Your final, level 14 ability allows you to break your stone to gain one of the following effects.
- Major Transformation. You can transmute one nonmagical object – no larger than a 5-foot cube – into another nonmagical object of similar size and mass and of equal or lesser value. You must spend 10 minutes handling the object to transform it.
- Panacea. You remove all curses, diseases, and poisons affecting a creature that you touch with the transmuter’s stone. The creature also regains all its hit points.
- Restore Life. You cast the Raise Dead spell on a creature you touch with the transmuter’s stone, without expending a spell slot or needing to have the spell in your spellbook.
- Restore Youth. You touch the transmuter’s stone to a willing creature, and that creature’s apparent age is reduced by 3d10 years, to a minimum of 13 years. This effect doesn’t extend the creature’s lifespan.
Holy crap, imagine breaking your buff stone and spending 8 hours of your life, just to use your level 2 ability faster…
Breaking your Transmuter’s Stone is pretty rough. It means that you’re dedicating yourself to 8 more hours of sitting there, building something. Pretty high punishment! Thankfully, there’s 2 effects here that are super worthwhile.
Panacea is incredibly strong. It casts Heal and removes more than Greater Restoration on a target of your choice. Realistically, you’re probably using this to remove just 1 curse, 1 disease, or 1 poison on someone… But, sometimes your Barbarian just has a really rough day. In which case, you’ll be super happy! The potential healing value on Panacea is ridiculous.
Restore Life isn’t great, but it isn’t terrible. It lets your Cleric save a single spell slot per day, since you still need to have the money to resurrect the person. Raise Dead is also an awful combat spell, since it reduces the target’s ability to fight by so much. If your cleric just has to save that slot for something more important, or just forgot to bring Revivify or something, then you have a good emergency option.
As I joked earlier, Major Transformation is garbage. It’s almost worse than your level 2 ability. Why they force you to hold it for 10 minutes is staggering to me. You’re already dedicating yourself to 8 hours of work to restore the transmuter’s stone. Why not just spend 50 minutes to use your Minor Alchemy? There’s some upsides, like transmuting a diamond door to have a wooden hole in it, but… Good grief. Your transmuter’s stone deserves better!
Restore Youth should be pretty obviously bad. It doesn’t even reverse magical aging; it just makes the person look younger. That’s abysmal! There’re so few situations where that could even possibly matter. If it does, just use Alter Self, or a Disguise check!
Save this for Panacea, or an emergency heal. This costs 16 hours to get back, so make it worth your while.
Best Race for Transmutation School Wizards
If you’re going through with this, make sure you have high Intelligence. Then, make sure your defensive stats are high; Dexterity and Constitution will keep you afloat.
Fire Genasi
The Elemental Evil Player’s Companion has a decent option for you. Fire Genasi gain +2 Con, +1 Intelligence, some fire-based utility spells, Darkvision, and Fire resistance. That narrows down the direction of your buffs from your Transmuter’s stone, meaning you can save some spell slots if you just needed to switch your buff. That’s just pure efficiency!
Best Feats for Transmutation Wizard
Like most Wizards in 5E, feats largely serve as very minor boosts to utility or improvements to your durability. Ability Score Improvements are so incredibly important for a standard Wizard build that we only recommend taking feats at level 12 or later.
That being said, feats can be useful for a Wizard once you reach that point. Instead of multiclassing, feats can add more expansive utility for your standard Wizard build, augmenting spells. Alternatively, instead of just pumping Constitution, you can grab important defensive stats like more HP.
Cartomancer
Cartomancer is a brand-new feat, introduced in Book of Many Things, which has two major benefits.
The first is Prestidigitation. This version of Prestidigitation is a bit stronger, covering the general uses of “stage magic” while also not requiring any casting components. This makes it a bit easier to use during stealthy situations, though you do need to conceal the Prestidigitation as a conversation with some cards in your hand. Definitely easier to use, though, and offers a bit of extra utility as a result. Especially since Wizards only come with 5 cantrips by endgame! A free cantrip is definitely appreciated.
The other benefit is a bit more enticing. Once per day, you get to put a spell on a card. The spell comes from your entire spell list, must have a casting time of 1 action, and can be cast as a bonus action.
At the moment, there is quite a bit of discourse about whether or not Cartomancer’s card spends spell slots or not. Even if your DM thinks it does, this part of the feat is a slightly better version of Quickened Spell which locks you into a single, specific magic. Make sure it’s something you want to cast for most combats, or make sure you plan ahead using spells like Augury or Divination to see what you might need to cast in the future.
Wizards don’t benefit quite as much from Cartomancer as other arcane casters like Bard or Sorcerer, since they can learn most spells on their spell list without much problem. However, if your DM is tight-fisted on feats, this works quite well for filling in the gaps on your spell list. Even if you’ve learned most Wizard spells, it can still help you out.
Metamagic Adept
Metamagic Adept and Cartomancer are somewhat similar feats, in that both augment the way you cast a spell. However, Metamagic Adept is all-in with magic adaption. Metamagic Adept is a feat which grants 2 Sorcery Points, which must be used on Metamagic. Thankfully, you get two Metamagic options to use.
For a Transmutation Wizard, Metamagic Adept is especially potent. All Metamagic Adepts should have Quickened Spell for efficiency’s sake. Quickened Spell allows the Wizard to quickly cast important spells during desperate situations. Usually, this allows the Standard Action to be used on a damaging cantrip to slowly chip away at an enemy or go for the Mind Sliver plus Spell combo. That standard action can also be used on anything from a Dash to close distance to a Hide to keep yourself out of line of sight, making Quickened Spell excellent for utility purposes.
Transmutation Wizards have a uniquely potent option in Extended Spell. Transmutation Spells are largely buff magic which last for at least a minute. Extended Spell doubles the amount of time those spells last, occasionally improving buffs to last multiple fights. A Paladin with Haste is scary, so for one point, you can double the amount of time they’re hasted.
There are a few other options, like Distant and Subtle Spell, which are useful in specific situations. But, we can’t help but love Quickened and Extended for their uses with Transmutation Wizards in particular.
Resilient (Constitution)
Resilient is a simple feat from the Player’s Handbook which improves a stat by 1 and then grants proficiency in the saving throw of the improved stat. For the Wizard, the only ability score worth considering is Constitution. Constitution saving throws are exceptionally dangerous in DnD 5E, leading to deadly crowd control effects or high-damage effects. Constitution saving throw proficiency can provide a bit of leeway for that while also buffing out your Constitution saving throws.
Resilient is only very worth it if your Wizard has an odd Constitution score to begin with. It’s not uncommon for Wizards to start play with 13 or 15 Constitution, depending on your build. Resilient then serves as a boost to your Constitution modifier while also providing between +2 and +6 to an important saving throw. That’s quite strong!
However, it is important to compare Resilient to Tough or a simple +2 to Constitution. Those two feats are more likely to improve your health significantly. And a +2 Constitution is a guaranteed health boost as well as a boost to your Constitution saving throws. Resilient really wants prior planning to work well, but rewards that planning with a gigantic improvement to your Wizard’s durability against enemy casters.
It’s important to note that Resilient is less useful if you plan on keeping your Transmuter’s Stone on your person at all times. In that case, you can consider War Caster if you really want to keep Concentration, or consider Tough for a boost to health. That being said, just handing your Transmuter’s Stone out like candy is very beneficial.
FAQ for the Transmutation Wizard
How Good is Transmutation Wizard in 5E?
The Transmutation Wizard suffers a bit from the limited abilities of Transmuter’s Stone and Shapechanger. Minor Alchemy is a strong ability, but depends on your Game Master’s creativity to become a truly powerful force in your kit. Overall, Transmutation is far from the worst Wizard subclass, but requires a bit of creativity with Minor Alchemy to show itself as above par.
How Does the Transmuter’s Stone Work?
You make a Transmuter’s Stone during a long rest, which has one of four effects by default; Darkvision, a speed boost, proficiency in Constitution saving throws, or resistance to a single elemental damage type. Whoever holds this stone gets the benefits, and you can change the stone’s bonuses if you ever cast a Transmutation spell which has a spell slot requirement. Once you reach level 14, you can blow up your Transmuter’s Stone, no matter where it is, to gain a magical effect.
What is the Difference between Polymorph and Shapechanger?
As a Transmutation Wizard, you learn Polymorph for free at level 10. However, when you cast it for free with Shapechanger, you can only Polymorph yourself, and you are restricted to only beasts whose Challenge Rating is 1 or lower, rather than any beast whose challenge rating is equal to or lower than yours. This means Shapechanger is more a tool for scouting or flight than anything else, though you get this free cast once per any type of rest.
Example Transmutation Wizard Build
Before we make our Transmutation Wizard build, we have to put some restrictions on the build. DMs can range from extremely open to different legal options to very limiting of them. As we are playing a subclass which comes from the Player’s Handbook, we’ll also have one of the most restrictive DMs to showcase how flexible Transmutation Wizards can be.
- No Multiclassing. While this is a level 20 Wizard build guide, multiclassing is going to be off the table. That means no dips into Fighter or Artificer to get armor proficiencies. A bit rough, but nothing we can’t handle.
- No Lineage Races. This limits our choices for Intelligence considerably. Not many species gain access to Intelligence-boosting abilities, so we’ll have to pick carefully. Even with other books, you don’t get many options for +2 Intelligence at all.
- Feats and Backgrounds from Other Books are Fine. Our DM will let us play with other books’ feats, but that won’t be for a while.
- Standard Array. The most restrictive Ability Score calculator works fine for a Wizard. We can put 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8 into any stat we like. And I have a feeling we know exactly where that 15 is going.
- Standard Equipment. The standard Wizard starting equipment work just fine. As long as you have a Spell Component Pouch, you couldn’t care less about anything else in your pockets.
- Our Party contains a Paladin, Druid, and Ranger. What a fun party! A Transmutation Wizard will have a great time here. However, we can’t just be buffs, since our Druid’s answers to a lot of different enemies is a bit limited. We’ll also need to grab a few area-of-effect spells.
Our species is a big factor in how our build starts. There aren’t too many options for a Wizard, even with every book available to us. Thankfully, one of the best options sits right in the Player’s Handbook. A High Elf will serve our purposes quite well, providing some weapon proficiencies for early game, proficiency in Perception, and a bonus cantrip to help us along. Wizards get 1 less cantrip than most spellcasters, so this will help us out a bit. We’ll grab Mind Sliver, a great damaging cantrip that we’ll use for the entire game.
For a background, we can go with the standard Sage. With Perception under our belt, we don’t really need to get overcomplicated backgrounds. Sage grants us a few solid Intelligence-based proficiencies so we can do our job as monster identifier and storyteller a bit better. That feature is quite fun, too! It isn’t necessarily optimal, but it’s rather close.
For languages, always talk to your DM about what’s best. Our DM tells us we should get Dwarven, Orcish, and Draconic, so let’s grab those. While our Paladin will do most of the talking, having a good spread of languages tends to be a good idea.
Equipment doesn’t matter much for a Wizard, though we can’t start with a Longbow for this build. We highly recommend getting the Spell Component Pouch so you don’t have to worry about material components. For our Standard Array stats, that 15 must go into Intelligence, but the 14 and 13 can be spread between Dexterity and Constitution as you see fit. We plan on taking Resilient at level 8 or 12, so we’ll go with slightly less Constitution.
| 5E Transmutation Wizard Build |
| Race: High Elf Ability Scores: STR 8, DEX 16 (14 + 2), CON 13, INT 16 (15 + 1), WIS 12, CHA 10 Proficiencies: Investigation, Religion, Arcana, History, Perception Starting Equipment: Dagger, Component Pouch, Scholar’s Pack, Spellbook, Bottle of Ink, Quill, Knife, Letter from a dead colleague, Common Clothes, 10 gp Languages: Common, Elvish, Draconic, Dwarven, Orcish |
| Level | Class Benefits | Choices |
| 1 | -Arcane Recovery -1st Level spells | We’re not quite finished with choices for our build yet. As a Wizard, we have to fill out that spellbook early on. For the purposes of our build, we can’t assume we’ll find any specific spells while exploring the world. That means we only get the 44 spells a Wizard gets for leveling up. That’s enough to make a strong build, but if you’re a Wizard, please make sure you learn as much as possible. Wizards get a lot worse if you don’t scribe spells. Cantrips. Our three cantrips are going to focus on utility, since we’ll use a Longbow for damage purposes. We’ll fill in our other spells with Mage Hand for interacting with items from a safe distance, Message for communicating with your allies, and Mending for repairing broken objects and ensuring a steady supply of arrows for our friendly Ranger. Spells. The first six spells to learn for our Wizard are going to be important, since this is where we learn many of our rituals. Our two rituals we want to learn early are Alarm and Find Familiar. Alarm is important to prevent attacks at night while Find Familiar is critical for safely scouting regions and having a buddy to mess with fights. Our actual spells are going to have to be useful for combat. They’re going to be Mage Armor, Silvery Barbs, Sleep, and Magic Missile. These are amazing defensive spells, a strong offensive option that guarantees damage, and Sleep can win fights by itself. |
| 2 | -Transmutation Savant-Minor Alchemy | We’re now a Transmutation Wizard, congratulations. Savant is a great spell for us, since many other Wizards will have magic like Haste and Fly. Try your best to get those at the reduced price whenever possible. Minor Alchemy can be a great boon, but you have to work with your DM to make it count. Spells. Two more first level spells. Absorb Elements can be life-saving against specific enemies, like Elementals or Dragons. Shield is also a great defensive spell, offering more defense than Silvery Barbs for if you get dog-piled. We recommend it later-on, since Silvery Barbs and Mage Armor should be enough to keep you safe for a long while. |
| 3 | -2nd Level Spells | We have a few things to do to make sure our 2nd level spells are well-sorted, but it’s overall not the most impactful spell level. Spells. Misty Step lets you get away from a dangerous situation without much effort, which can be great at any point in the game. Scorching Ray is an intensely potent single-target option which scales wonderfully with spell level, so we’ll grab it just to tap down enemies. |
| 4 | -Ability Score Improvement | This is the single busiest level for a Wizard outside of character creation, which is kind of funny. Thankfully, our choices are rather simple. Feat. Our feat is going to be +2 to Intelligence. We need to pump our Intelligence quite a bit to keep up with our expected Difficulty Scores. This is a bit boring, but it’s unfortunately quite optimal for a Wizard. Spells. While the Longbow is going to remain quite strong, we should probably get a good long-ranged option. Fire Bolt deals 2d10 damage by next level and uses our Intelligence, making it a good damaging option for our Wizard. Just remember that Mind Spike is basically guaranteed damage and helps the Druid do their job. Spells. Maximilian’s Earthen Grasp should be learned through scrolls if possible, but is a Transmutation spell with legitimately fantastic long-term effects. It’s like Hold Person, but for anything! Mirror Image is one of the strongest defensive options in the game against any enemy that targets. Once you get enough spell slots, try to set these up early and often. |
| 5 | -3rd Level Spells | 3rd level is where the Wizard really shines. We’ll be coming back to this level often. Spells. Fireball decimates enemy squadrons and is just a bit too efficient not to scoop up immediately. Counterspell is one of the best spells ever, canceling out enemy magic at the low cost of your reaction. Prepare it if you even think you’ll be tangoing with enemy Wizards. |
| 6 | -Transmuter’s Stone | The Transmuter’s Stone is a great ability to hand out to our allies. I’m sure our Druid wouldn’t mind finally being proficient in Constitution saving throws, for instance! Keep this buff mobile and remember to change it when necessary, and you’ll reap the rewards. Spells. Fly is immensely powerful, basically making our Wizard immune to melee combat while allowing them to reposition very easily. Haste is great for buffing our Paladin, letting them smite three times in a turn. Both of these use our concentration, so it’s up to you to either buff your party’s damaging capabilities or keep yourself safe by taking to the sky. |
| 7 | -4th Level Spells | 4th level magic isn’t quite as big a bump in quality as 3rd level spells were. However, we still have several highly potent options which we must consider as a Wizard. Do remember that Polymorph is obtained for free at level 10, so hold off until then if possible. Spells. Wall of Fire is a massive area of effect which cleaves a fight in half while also providing some good damage. Greater Invisibility keeps you safe from others while you cast your spells. Alternatively, you can cast it on your party members to give them advantage on basically all combat. |
| 8 | -Ability Score Improvement | Another feat level. This one doesn’t come with a cantrip, at least, so that’s good. Feat. Sadly, we’re going to be boring once again and go with +2 to Intelligence. That’s it, though! We’ve reached 20 Intelligence and no longer have to just focus on boosting stats. This is where the fun begins. Well, four levels from now. Spells. There are a few more level 4 options to consider. Fire Shield is a great defensive buff to grant you resistance to the most common damage type in the game, or the second-most common one. Dimension Door gets you and some allies out of dodge, making it one of the earliest ways to save allies from death. |
| 9 | -5th Level Spells | 5th level magic is the last point where you’ll get to 3 spell slots. Even then, you won’t get those slots for a while. So, let’s fill them out with good options, but keep in mind that these spells are a bit less commonplace than the rest of the list. Spells. Creation is a really good Wizard utility spell which brings something to life. Sadly, it’s an Illusion, but that doesn’t make it any worse in problem-solving scenarios. Hold Monster is a great way to tell someone to make a Wisdom save or die to guaranteed crits from the Paladin. |
| 10 | -Shapechanger | We finally get Polymorph, which is an excellent option for an aggressive force. The free Polymorphs that you get are best used for emergencies or scouting purposes, since 1st level beasts aren’t big threats at this point. They can, however, fly or swim relatively well. Cantrip. Shape Water is perfect for a creative player, since freezing locks or changing the flow of water is actually quite powerful. Spells. Wall of Stone is the king of stall spells, with nearly 2,000 health that you can just throw in front of enemies without an issue. Telekinesis is a great way to lock down foes over the course of 10 minutes. Finding Telekinesis in the wild is preferable, but it’s strong enough that you should grab it if you can. |
| 11 | -6th Level Spells | 6th level magic is quite powerful but hard to spam. Make sure each of your 6th level spell slots are impactful in some way. Thankfully, Wizards have some of the best high-level spells in the game. Spells. Eyebite is an excellent Concentration spell. Forcing enemies to make a Wisdom save or pass out every single turn is brutal. Globe of Invulnerability is a great option for if you fight multiple casters, since they need to spend a lot of cash to harm you while the Globe is active. |
| 12 | -Ability Score Improvement | Feat. We have quite a few feat options. We’ll go with Resilient (Constitution). That brings our Constitution to 14, which is a small increase in health. Constitution saving throws are very important to us, too, so now we can more freely use the Transmuter’s Stone to buff our Resistances or movement speed. Spells. Mass Suggestion is a perfect way to quickly and effectively win a fight. Contingency is a really fun Wizard spell which lets you cast any lower-level spell as a reaction with a fun trigger, getting you out of danger before the danger could even begin. |
| 13 | -7th Level Spells | 7th level magic can be quite powerful, but it’s even harder to cast consistently than 6th level spells. Spells. Plane Shift is either a fantastic way to stylishly leave a conflict with your friends or a great way to force an enemy to explore a new plane without any assistance. Simulacrum makes a second hero for the low cost of 1,500 gold. We recommend using your Ranger or a Wild Shape Druid as your model, since those characters are less reliant on spells than anyone else. Then, you have a 5 person party. |
| 14 | -Master Transmuter | Master Transmuter gives quite a few strong options, such as Raise Dead and Heal, which our party was kind of lacking. Now our Druid can relax just a little bit. Spells. Forcecage is an excellent way to lock several enemies out of a fight. They can’t even reliably teleport out, so you usually have some time to think of a plan. Dispel Magic is necessary for if you miss a Counterspell and need to save a key ally, such as our Druid, so let’s learn it now. |
| 15 | -8th Level Spells | 8th level magic is very impactful. But, like 7th level, this is around the point where you should go back and learn a handful of important early-game spells if you need them. You only need a handful of them, since you’ll only ever have 2 slots to work with! Spells. Maze guarantees a skipped turn and also forces enemies to roll Intelligence checks, instead of saving throws. No Legendary Resistance allowed. Dominate Monster forces enemies into an awkward situation, since you can very easily make a big bad Wizard into your personal servant. Use this alongside Silvery Barbs to be a real nuisance to your DM. |
| 16 | -Ability Score Improvement | Finally, we’re at a feat level, 20 Intelligence, and 14 Constitution. Time to have some fun. Feat. Metamagic Adept (Quickened and Extended) works perfectly for our build. Augmenting spells is so immensely powerful that we can really afford to use this feat only once or twice per day. Double the length of impressive options like Eyebite or Haste and watch your characters walk all over fights. Spells. Illusory Dragon is a great way to consistently damage foes while also applying Frightened quite easily. Teleport is a handy spell to have with the campaign reaching such a high level, so let’s have that in our pocket. |
| 17 | -9th Level Spells | Spells. Wish is the only 9th level spell you’ll want to cast in 5E, since it encompasses almost all spells in the game. One spell that it doesn’t cover is Foresight, a spell which can be more useful than Wish if you plan on fighting for about 8 hours in a row. |
| 18 | -Spell Mastery | Wizards very rarely reach Spell Mastery levels. Which is a shame, since this feature is actually incredible. Permanent 1st and 2nd level spells are pretty fantastic, so let’s choose carefully. Spell Mastery. Our choice will be Silvery Barbs and Mirror Image. Having a permanent reaction which nukes saving throws and attack rolls is very funny. Mirror Image is both spammable and keeps us safe from attack rolls, making it a double-whammy that most enemies will need True Seeing to get past. And if someone has to cast True Seeing in combat to handle your completely free spell? That’s a huge win for you. Spells. A few spells to consider as we get deeper and deeper into the late game are Scrying and Rary’s Telepathic Bond. Scrying would normally be handled by our Druid, but we can now help out with gathering information for our party. Rary’s Telepathic Bond is a great way to securely send information across the entire plane. |
| 19 | -Ability Score Improvement | Our final feat! Feat. Cartomancer comes in clutch here. A free bonus action spell is great, especially since our Wizard didn’t scribe any bonus spells. As fights get more and more complex, we really value the Mind Sliver + Spell combo, so doing it twice per day is huge. Spells. As for magic, Clone is great over the course of a year. It’s basically True Resurrection, but the caster doesn’t need to be alive when the spell is cast. Etherealness is a fantastic way to prevent damage while also giving you a utility option for travel and exploration. Even if they can see you, it’s hard to interact with those in the Ethereal Plane. And it’s not like you can’t fight the one or two enemies that can go there, either! |
| 20 | -Signature Spells | Signature Spells is a significantly weaker mechanic than Spell Mastery, but we can still make it work fantastically. Signature Spells. We recommend Counterspell and Haste for your Signature Spells. You’ll be spamming Counterspell a lot in most scary combats in 5E. And Haste is mostly here because Paladins do a lot of damage on each and every weapon swing. Spells. Hallucinatory Terrain is a cheap way to prevent massive amounts of movement for something like a mass army type of campaign. Programmed Illusion is similarly handy for confusing targets and getting what you want out of mid-level spell slots. |
Conclusion – Our Transmutation Wizard 5E Guide
The Transmutation Wizard is so strangely designed. It doesn’t make transmutation more effective when used on yourself, it doesn’t really do anything that spell slots give you… It’s just slight spell efficiency. The only really useful abilities are focused around your Stone. In all other senses… You’re just like any other wizard. If you’re a big rock fan and don’t mind being a bit weaker than most other subclasses at the level 2 and 10 spikes – and still a bit weaker at the 6 and 14 spikes – then go for it.
