Abjuration Wizards are hard to kill in Dnd 5e! - Advanced guide to Abjuration

[@PackTactics]

Thank you Drakkenheim for sponsoring this video! Link to the Drakkenheim kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/2144996758/sebastian-crowes-guide-to-drakkenheim?ref=ag0e95 Link to the Tabletop Builds article about The “Squishy Caster” Fallacy: tabletopbuilds.com/the-squishy-caster-fallacy/

[@oldsoldier4209]

Unlike you cowardly, skittering dog-lizards, we Gnomes are honorable beings. To uphold that honor, it is only fair to warn you that my tinker brethren and I have made certain inconspicuous alterations to the pitiful traps protecting your lair. Good luck getting out in one piece. 😁👍

[@kanlith7205]

Hello Kobold!! Love your videos, especially the Gunk!! Could you make a video on Dragonmarked races and what cool combos you can get combining their spells with a class that doesn't get them? Like a Mark of Sentinel Human Druid being able to add Counterspell, Bigby's Hand & Death Ward to the Druid spell list!

[@Smite_Sion]

Funny thing, you got spell levels wrong for multiclassing at 3:12 8 levels wizard + 1 level artificer = 8.5 spell casting level, according to the rules for multiclassing it is always rounded down which makes it lv 8 and thus you don't have a 5th level spell slot. The rules are quite bad, because a 5th level half caster would be spell casting lv 2 after rounding it down, meaning they should not have access to 2nd level spells...

[@LucanVaris]

Is this video because of that one Abjuration Wizard/Battle Smith build I mentioned on the previous video? If so, awesome. :D Hey, what are your thoughts on using Custom Lineage in order to create a Cast-Bold? Specifically, a small race that gains Darkvision, +2 to a caster stat, and access to the Magic Initiate feat? Would it be considered an "Imposter-Bold," or would it be considered just another new version of Kobold?

[@ledhyper4282]

@@Smite_Sion artificer levels round up instead of down, which makes sense, they get spellcasting at lv 1

[@-nav-398]

Gator's far off "NO!" at the hexblade is hilarious!

[@KarmaSangheili]

There a story behind Gator's hate for it? Not having much luck finding it. :P

[@yoursenpai7542]

@@KarmaSangheili Gator is the voice of non-optimizer. and hexblade is famous for it`s optimizing purpouses in way too much builds over the years

[@megashark1013]

Hexblade damn near renders every other Gish build irrelevant simply by existing.

[@xaelsstuff4671]

Kobold hates gnomes? Where did Garl Glittergold hurt you?

[@MegaPokefan97]

He trapped Kurtlmak in a cave

[@mast3rharo]

Everywhere

[@kingchaos1084]

Nah, Gnomes deserve it.

[@gormold4163]

It’s a kobold thing.

[@thornangel16]

Even worse, they all use suboptimal builds!

[@oscario7644]

I always liked abjuration wizards, I always loved the idea of a build stacking temp hp with it

[@tibot4228]

An Abjuration wizard who takes a two-level warlock dip to get Armor of Shadows and Fiendish Vigor. The latter is useless at high levels, but at low levels you're the party's tank.

[@digifreak90]

@@tibot4228 Another option that's more useful at higher levels is to take Armor of Agathys with those Warlock levels. Then you can use you higher level wizard spell slots to upcast gaining more temp HP and counter damage. (which the counter damage still applies even if your Arcane Ward takes the hit.)

[@eainjones9509]

@@digifreak90 this is a really good option, and it gets better the higher level spell slot you use. Doing it right, you'll basically get double the use out of AoA

[@nickmojo3697]

@@digifreak90 I’ve done a build like that and it’s going great. Bonus points if you also take hellish rebuke and/or gift of the metallic dragon for added punishment.

[@broutefoin]

@@digifreak90 my go-to wizard tank build is Mark of warding Dwarf (for AoA), Armorer Artificer 3, Abjuration Wizard 16, Peace Cleric 1 (or take a 4th level of artificer if you need the ASI/feat), upcast AoA + Ward + Plate armor + shield + thunder gauntlets + booming blade (and throw in spell buff or two!)... you are stacking so much, they either try to hit you and miss, hit you and it sucks for them, or try to go hit a party member and it sucks for them. with Con save proficiency, Warding Bond and Warcaster, you arent failing concentration checks anytime soon either! Feats i usually grab are Telekinesis (int up to 18), Warcaster, +2 INT, Heavy Armor Master... behold my dwarven rune priest :D

[@adenkhan5071]

I played an Abjuration wizard with the tough feat. During tier 1 play I had better survivability than our fighter and basically ended up on the front lines most of the time.

[@Razdasoldier]

Fun tanking is to drop the ac. Especially in one DND when healing is Abjuration and you can take healing word at level 1

[@nickgerstenlauer4111]

What are your thoughts on what my friend should do with his abjuration wizard as he's turning 8. He's always dying. Should he take artificer dip for 3ac, or +1dex, +1con to get them both up from odd number stats?

[@TheHammockProduction]

11:51 LMAO you must hear this a lot but i'm really glad you're making compact videos about 5e with a lot of humor and style thrown in. theres far too many videos for these topics that are just unedited 40 minutes rambles and this style really helps me with my attention span. also gators are cute :V

[@catastropheoverclock]

Therapist: Kobold Peterson isn't real and can't hurt you Kobold Peterson: 11:51

[@LukeStrife]

This was so unexpected, that actually had me burst out laughing

[@timworsley2394]

I got invited to play with some much less experienced players, and used Abjuration Wizard to play a Muscle Wizard. I walked around tanking with Shield spell and Arcane Ward and punched stuff. When someone made a rookie mistake and got bailed out with a well placed Web or other shutdown spell, they said "Oh right. You're a Wizard". It was fun. It was also a very unoptimized table. With a more serious build the dungeons could be soloed, so the suboptimal strategy created space at the table for the new players to do stuff.

[@tylernorman7896]

I like this, a lot actually...

[@BowlinFool]

My friend ran a high level one-shot with a spellcaster BBEG, so I rolled a mark of warding dwarf abjuration wizard and dipped sorcerer to get subtle spell. Can’t counter my counterspell if you don’t see me casting it! The best one was when the BBEG tried to true polymorph himself into a tarrasque and got counterspelled. We had a blast and I really enjoyed playing a abjuration wizard. TL;DR - Subtle spell is also a fun combo with abjuration wizard when you’re fighting other spellcasters. They can’t counter your reaction, and it refills your ward!

[@scottparsons829]

I like the Deep Gnome for this: "Gnomish Magic Resistance. You have advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws against spells." Although, I like Vedalken better: "Vedalken Dispassion. You have advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws." b/c MotM did not touch them. :)

[@LucanVaris]

Probably better to go Vedalken for this. Otherwise, you'll have to be a gnome.

[@torunsmok5890]

@@LucanVaris plus the vedalken feature covers more situations

[@jamesbolt1003]

I'd rather play the nerfed Yuan-Ti than a gnome, I believe in Yuan-Ti superiority. They'll bathe in the sun again soon.

[@LucanVaris]

@@torunsmok5890 Oh yeah. That too, I guess. Whatever.

[@ExeErdna]

@@jamesbolt1003 With all the newer races being quite potent the Yuan Ti need to show up more.

[@migueldelmazo5244]

I'm so old that I played D&D when the fallacy of squishy casters wasn't a fallacy. D&D used to be balanced around the idea that spellcasters were insanely powerful at higher levels, but it was really hard to get there for reasons like arcane casting couldn't happen in any armor, proficiency or no: d4 hit dice and more experience points needed to gain levels. Optimized 5e parties can easily be played with no martial and that makes me sad. Oh well, I'm off to roll another god-wizard.

[@thetruegavinator]

It does suck haha. I optimized my martial and still barely keep up with my purposely crappy caster friends' damage.

[@TheEpicWin126]

depends on your optimization; you have to pick very specific builds to keep up with good casters past 5th level. Echo knight, Battle-Master, generally any paladin, or good barbarians like Totem Bear, or some more odd picks like Beast Barbarian (only if you can get an Insignia of Claws so that's more of throw the player a bone scenario) can keep up; I joined two games that are currently at level 7, and in both of the campaigns so far my echo knight and my beast barbarian has been outperforming the casters with the amount of damage and damage soaking they bring; my echo knight sometimes does less than the casters, but GWM builds help physicals stay competitive, or builds where barbarians are making more than max two attacks a turn are good. Unfortunately, monk, ranger and rogue will always lag behind in usefulness or damage compared to a caster, but rogue has the advantage of good skill checks and ranged attacking, so if you're playing like a melee martial you're never going to be as useful as better fighters, barbs or paladins.

[@shenpai1566]

@@thetruegavinator If your friend is dealing "purposefully crappy" damage, they're not picking spells like Conjure Animals or Animate Objects, and without those spells, an optimized martial will be dealing far more damage than the caster. It sounds like you're not actually optimized.

[@migueldelmazo5244]

@@shenpai1566 to be the grammar nerd, Gavin said his friend was a purposely crappy caster and not that the damage is purposely crappy. His friend might be (or be playing) a complete gut who still has good spells. :)

[@oggolbat7932]

3.5 edition really made casters squishy

[@nerfherder5211]

"This is pack tactics where everyone uses protection"

[@Synetik]

lol

[@Drekromancer]

"THIS IS GATOR AND I SUPPORT RAW DOGGING"

[@cyruscrompton8221]

"But kobold, I cant feel anything!"@@Drekromancer

[@Nexsusthepro]

I keep returning to evocation wizard, love the friendly fire turned off. I did try to make an illusion wizard who would conjure battlefield strategies but it's really lackluster and takes a while to get the "you can change you illusions easy'

[@yarchowschannel]

The big issue with illusion is your dm has to be willing to play along. It isn't that it isn't strong, but it can be hard to make it matter without making it invalidate many things. Illusion tends to be the most open ended spells, meaning that it can have huge or no impact based on hiw the dm decides to respond to it.

[@megashark1013]

Illusion Wizards get busted at higher levels if you use their features creatively, but of course people rarely play long enough campaigns to reach those levels.

[@lordzaboem]

Evocation Wizards are great in the Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Many of the encounters are just swarming the party with a bunch of low HP monsters, so a controlled area of effect spell often becomes like playing the module in easy mode. (Yeah, it's not actually a well designed dungeon.)

[@BouncingTribbles]

Yeah, evocation wizards just do what wizards do the best. Crowd control and aoe damage without friendly fire is to strong. Any time I'm looking for an aoe caster Evo wizard is just to good to pass up

[@revivalfromruins]

Evocation makes Rime's Binding Ice REALLY good.

[@thepurehealer1279]

*"Whenever you take damage, the ward takes the damage instead.* If this damage reduces the ward to 0 hit points, you take any remaining damage." The damage is calculated against you, then reduced properly: meaning it WOULD count any resistances, Immunities, and vulnerabilities before the ward takes it Otherwise if you were Immune to a type of damage the ward would take damage anyway (which is... dumb)

[@micropirate12]

How does Arcane Ward interact with temporary hit points and damage resistance that an abjurer might have? An Arcane Ward is not an extension of the wizard who creates it. It is a magical effect with its own hit points. Any temporary hit points, immunities, or resistances that the wizard has don’t apply to the ward. The ward takes damage first. Any leftover damage is taken by the wizard and goes through the following game elements in order: (1) any relevant damage immunity, (2) any relevant damage resistance, (3) any temporary hit points, and (4) real hit points.- Sage Advice Compendium

[@thepurehealer1279]

@@micropirate12 Sage Advice has made statements that completely go against how the rules actually work, they're not really as much of a reputable source as people think... Yes, the item taking the damage is different but notice: "when you take damage" The damage is calculated at the point you are about to take it, which would apply the amount of damage you would take from it: the ward would not shelter you if you wouldn't take any damage of course, which implies the other methods of damage calculation would have already been done prior to the moment of damage being transferred to the ward In essence, it takes damage from you, in the full number it would be: and transfers said damage to the ward first, so yes it is different but the catalyst is the damaging of yourself so any variables to the damage you take alters well: the damage you take, and since the ward takes the damage you would take: it takes the relevant items into consideration

[@micropirate12]

@@thepurehealer1279 Listen you can run it how you like but I don't think its unreasonable to have the ward take full damage since it has no resistance then apply as normal to the wizard with relevant resistances. Sage advice is just there for official rulings as a reference

[@DemonKing19951]

@@micropirate12 I'd argue considering wizards have the lowest HP pool in the game that nerfing their 'tank' subclass like that really isn't necessarily fair. I understand some of the reason for it, considering using their 6th level class feature means if they shield a spirit of the bear barbarian their ward goes a lot further. Though I'd argue that the wizard likely already had the ability to give them false hit points and increased AC, so this really isn't that different to what their spells could already do. Realistically the main unique benefit of that maybe 20 extra hit points maximum is the reduced concentration checks. Which most other classes wouldn't care about, and refilling the thing in battle is a uniquely expensive proposition so just from a balancing side of things I'd say damage is calculated as it would be against temporary hit points.

[@micropirate12]

@@DemonKing19951 Last thing Wizards need is a buff and that's the last I'm gonna reply to people about arcane ward. Its a good feature but it doesn't need improvement by having resistances the wizard MIGHT have. If you wanted a lot hp play a barb or a fighter. The fact that it stacks with temp hp also makes it plenty strong.

[@syndeth]

Bonus effect: The ward is a separate effect with it's own hit points. A DM might rule that if the ward absorbs all the damage from an attack that additional effects such as poison saves, lycanthropy saves, etc are not triggered.

[@Drekromancer]

If the ward stops the lycanthrope's teeth from touching your skin, then I don't see why you'd have to make lycanthropy saves. Makes sense to me.

[@tylernorman7896]

Also, concentration checks, so, there's that. It specifically says the ward takes damage before you do, as in you're not getting hit

[@spoopyghost2683]

i like how you incorperated the kobolds hatred of gnomes

[@Rubidius]

The gnome vs kobold animosity is palpable.

[@fireballloadout]

I had played this with a character that was also the turtle race so I had 17 ac and using an unearthed arcana ( with permission from the DM) to have proficiency in shields, I became sort of a tank for the party especially with blur. Probably not the best combination of class and race but it was definitely fun and a different play style than a normal wizard

[@Etropalker]

First character i ever statted out is one, though i never got to use him. Love the subclass concept, though i kinda hate how it gets nerfed by the new totally-not-spells-design.

[@Lurks-a-lot]

If there is another subclass I would love to have an in-depth video like this on, it would have to be the necromancy wizard. I think getting super specific insights into how the different features interact with your staple spells as a necromancer could be very nice. A few points you could bring up is that animate dead when used at the end of a day could give you ludicrous amounts of minions, as well as all your spell slots the next day. Obviously, both Summon Undead from Tasha's and more importantly, Danse Macabre are amazing spells for you, because those undead are also buffed from your 6th level feature (however the Skeletal version of Summon Undead doesn't actually get the damage bonus). As for other notable spells that could be good for combination is Invisibility, so you can run around almost untargetable and micromanage your zombies as a bonus action, or simply having them all dogpile and grapple targets while you drop a cloudkill on them. And then talking about the potential of Comman Undead, especially with stuff like Nightwalkers, would be really cool

[@Star.G227]

Hope you do Chronology wizard soon. One of the best wizards imo

[@vagabondflow]

Seems like the Abjuration Wizard would be an amazing team with an Ancestral Guardian Barb and the Psi Warrior, the other subclasses with reaction-based damage reduction abilities. It's like healing but better.

[@TheHorribleCreature]

I kinda want to make an abjuration wizard with a dip in life cleric. Heavy armor, Shield and a bunch of temp HP ? Why not.

[@NobodyDungeons]

So, I often alter the spell school based second level ability to allow you to cast a spell of said school proficiency modifier times per long rest without consuming a spell slot chosen when you prepare your spells. This gives the older wizard subclasses a bit of a bump that they need to be especially powerful.

[@zenith468]

I'm currently playing a Hobgoblin Abjuration Wizard at a no-multiclassing table, planning on taking moderately armored at level 4 for medium armor and shields to build off hobgoblin's racial light armor. Really enjoying the subclass so far, it's always funny to be a wizard able to frontline decently well in early levels.

[@obeastness]

pretty huge thing here I feel like was missed, Crafting scrolls, over time you can craft up plenty of mage armor scrolls and shield scrolls, it can get pretty out of hand. but realistically using mage armor at the beginning of the day and then using arcane recovery to just get the spell slot back with arcane recovery, and fill you scroll case with dozens of shield spells for if things ever get super hairy.

[@BeaglzRok1]

Projected Ward was the inspiration for a homebrewed shield item I made. You can expend 1-3 charges to boost the AC of someone within 30ft by that much, in response to them being hit with an attack (this technically applies to the shield-wielder themselves, as it's a creature they can see, and not another creature, felt I might as well let the martial have something nice and caster-y). If the boost isn't enough to force a miss, it still reduces the damage by 1d6 per charge.

[@sutoriimmortal2177]

Love this subclass, and I still debate between this, my Chronurgist build, and War Magic for the role of "bulkier wizard".

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

War wizard is the ideal frontline wizard if you are adding only a few levels of wizard to a powerful melee class/subclass. Like echo knight, swarmkeeper, and most paladins and barbarians. Abjurer is the ideal frontline wizard if you're single classing, or taking small dips into melee classes to pick up Con save proficiency and a fighting style or other tricks. Chronurgist may be more powerful and defensive than both, but it doesn't lend itself to standing on the frontline like war and abjuration do. Too many "you get X charges then the enemy swings will start hitting you" abilities.

[@KylenKiomaka]

I've run the warlock/wizard for this kind of build before, but didn't realize that Arcane Ward would affect concentration spells that way! Thanks man!

[@gabeverk]

Abjuration wizard was one of my favorite classes to play. Many overlook it because it doesn't have too much flare but I don't want to die of 1d4 *insert damage*

[@tylernorman7896]

You can't be a Wizard casting world breaking spells if you're focused down and dead after all, I second this

[@GeorgisTrying]

Arcane Ward is the bomb, I gave a kinda weaker version to my table's homebrew Paladin subclass that allows him to move it from ally to ally as need be. It's super fun to see him place the ward on the wild shaped Druid and keep their animal up longer, or protect the wizard when he's concentrating on a big important spell.

[@TheBuugeng]

I am currently playing a mark of warding Dwarf abjuration wizard and I am loving it! We've reached level 7 and my DM is starting to respect my tank wizard. Though my DM and I both agree that the ward takes damage in place of you, therefore Armour of Agathys doesn't proc until your ward is depleted. It makes your projected ward feature a little more useful in my opinion too. The rule you quote at 8:14 supports this too. Thanks for the video! *edit - changed timestamp*

[@meachamator101]

That is how I interpreted the wordings.

[@noblesseoblige319]

Interesting... both agathys and arcane ward proc on the same condition "when you are hit", so I interpret that as saying that the condition is true for both. But I see how the resistance quote might muddy the water for that interpretation

[@gloomreaperscythe333]

@@noblesseoblige319 No, actually. Did you read the feature? It activates "whenever you take damage", not when you're hit. Otherwise it wouldn't work against, e.g., saving throws. nd since it absorbs damage and not the attack, it very much does work with _armor of Agathys_

[@noblesseoblige319]

@@gloomreaperscythe333 you are right, that's my mistake. They both don't activate upon hit, just armor of agathys. "If a creature hits you with a melee attack while you have these hit points, the creature takes 5 cold damage." But even if the ward is taking the damage, aren't you still being hit?

[@sammartin8746]

Loved the video, all these features are what drew me to make my own Metallic Dragonborn Abjurer, I decided to take the gift of the metallic dragon from FToD for extra theme, ally protection, and access to cure wounds (The character is sort of filling a Paladin/Wizard role within the party, buffing and protecting whilst also doing a bit of debuffing/damage against enemies)

[@Known-Cheater]

Nice to see a Dungeon Dudes ad. Love those guys!

[@aarons.8161]

Perhaps worth pointing out, as the second Sage Advice says that the Ward does not share any of the casters Immunities or Resistances, that would mean even if you cast Resist/Protection from Elements and choose Fire for example, and then take Fire damage, the Ward takes the full damage as it does not share said resistance. However, excess damage after the Ward falls is then resisted by the Wizard. Also, I am kinda wanting to make an Eldritch Knight/Abjuration Wizard multiclass build. I'd say about 6-8 Fighter (for ASI/Feats) and the rest Wizard. Effectively, and Abjuration Wizard in Full Plate with the Shield Spell, and possibly a physical shield too. Maybe use one of the Fighters Feats to get Magic Initiate for the Warlocks Armor of Agathys, and use your high level spell slots to cast it. Thus not only restoring your Ward with the High level/Up-Casted Abjuration Spell, but being the Front Line Mage/Tank as it were, any who attack you in melee takes damage.

[@bardthestoryteller]

I have a Mark of Warding Dwarf multiclass that has quite quickly become my favourite I have ever played. The Abjurer Armourer! 3 levels of Artificer with Armourer subclass, then the rest going into in Abjuration Wizard. Obviously picked up Eldritch Adept to recharge my Ward. I haven't planned out later feats yet but the setup let's me play party tank super well while keeping all the power of a Wizard (though a little delayed). I am able use Int for melee attacks, force people to target me lest they have disadvantage on their attacks against my allies but upon hitting me in melee get chunked by Armour of Agathys, and still get really high ac with little stat investment by using heavy armour and a shield (no str needed because Arcane Armour and no dex needed for obvious reasons, though dex is still really useful for saving throws). I get the high ac may seem counter productive to Armour of Agathys but I let my allies get ac boosting stuff first to keep me more likely to get hit while still keeping relatively safe from ranged attacks.

[@kaiyamazaki1684]

If we go with a couple of levels of Warlock using this, another spell worth picking up is Hellish Rebuke to compliment Armor of Agathys. When combined with the defenses the Abjuration Wizard gives you and updating these spells then you can use your reaction to take a little damage and punish them with with a ton of fire and ice damage to finish them off while taking very little actual damage to yourself. Not a combo to abuse but it can be awesome for finishing off a big boss in glorious fashion lol

[@FlashOfSonic]

Tulok the Barbrarian once did a build of Naofumi from Rising of the Shield Hero. It included one level of Fighter and two levels of Cleric, but most of the levels were in Abjuration Wizard. And it was SUPER tanky, befitting the source material.

[@greyscaleadaven]

I will say that as someone who's played a DEX Goblin abjuration wizard, the combination is so strong. Like, Hiding or disengaging on a bonus action is insane, because you can pair that with an action spell with an attack roll for advantage (I preferred to use Scorching ray, because it scales very well with spell levels and is super spammable). Fury of the Small was also always great as a damage bonus too in combination with spells that are super likely to hit. I also liked using Greater Invisibility to grant myself infinite advantage on stealth, and while it doesn't always work due to true sight and the like, it works enough to justify defaulting to it as a concentration spell in combat. Counterspell and Dispel Magic get such a huge buff from adding proficiency to their checks too. Like it cannot be stated enough how having an extra few points in that calculation skews it so heavily. like on average, you could roll like a 10 and still get 19 at that level if you're maxed in intelligence. That's enough to dispel a 9th level spell effect. You know, just the strongest spells in the game. In fact, if you really wanted to be crafty, you could pair this feature with the Rogues Reliable talent skill to ALWAYS dispel or counterspell outside of a higher level. Albeit that would be silly unless you were playing a level 20 game because a 10/10 split is the only way to do it really. Still cool though. The ward scales really well, and getting advantage against spells is so big as a capstone. With my build, I also got a very high AC with mage armor because I was running high DEX and INT. I didn't use any of the cool (and broken) stuff talked about in this video, and if I did I'm not sure how my table would have taken it lmao but still very cool to see that this already awesome subclass has even more optimization to it.

[@zz8az]

Great stuff, I didn't know about the deep gnome thing. Big shame about the material cost but hey at later levels that could be a negligible cost. I think armor of agathys *is* as good as people say it is with arcane ward, only because (especially until later) abjuration spell options suuuuck. So many of them are way situational or not useable during combat. Even the best ones, Counterspell and Dispel Magic, require you to be fighting spellcasters, and a lot of dnd monsters just have magical features instead of innate casting that would even be worth countering. Meanwhile armor of agathys gives you temp HP which is always nice, since just about every dnd monster deals damage to win, with the added bonus of messing up melee attackers. Even if it takes your whole action, you still have your reaction available for counterspell, shield, or to throw out a projected ward with those new ward points you just got back.

[@williamsmith1741]

Gnomes rule, kobalds drool! That said, great video on arcane ward. I'd add that when min/maxing your stats as a wizard, Arcane Ward also allows you to minimize the amount of points you put to constitution (so they can be spent on Int, Wis, or Dex instead), as the Ward makes up for a significant portion of the lost hit points while also significantly reducing the importance of constitution when it comes to maintaining concentration. HOWEVER, it's also really important to remember that Arcane Ward hit points are not your character's HP, so spells that are based on a targets HP, like power word kill, would completely ignore the ward and kill you dead if you nerfed your Constitution and have less than 100 HP. However, one critique that I'd offer is that you make it seem like you're only taking Svirfniblin magic to get Mage Armor at will, but you also get a few other daily cast spells, which (while not at will casts) are free in that you don't have to select them when leveling and you don't have to prepare them in your spellbook to cast. You also say that Arcane Ward is why you pick this sub-class. While it is a MAJOR reason, the abjuration sub-class also has spell resistance and a bunch of other features which make it very powerful against outsiders like devils, fey, etc. (banishments/long-term summons binding) and against other magic users. Average Magic Caster or Magic Using Creature: "I will use my power to reshape the material world and bend it to my will!" Abjuration Specialist: "And I will use my power to reshape your spells and bend you to MY will!" Abjuration = School of Domination Over Magic

[@alanschaub147]

• Moon Druid • Action = Cast Concentration spell • Bonus Action = Wild Shape into Giant Badger • Movement = Burrow straight down You now have Full Cover and can use spell slots to heal yourself, if an enemy manages to hit you. Add Silvery Barbs through a feat or other means to gain a useful Reaction to protect your Concentration.

[@nonamegiven202]

yep Abjuration are just really solid subclass, nothing to actually add here I just know commenting helps with the eldritch entity that decides what videos KZbin recommends.

[@OrionVA]

11:20 i didn’t know that about Jack of All Trades. oh all the times i failed my counterspell checks with my bard… i feel so much pain but redemption at the same time.

[@HazedRodox]

Dang the dip to Hexblade to get proficiency with shields and medium armor is tempting. I kinda like taking a 2 dip to warlock Genie and going with Dao. You get "detect evil and good" and "Sanctuary". Both spells wizards don't normally get

[@shogunbirds6589]

I play a warlock on monday nights and we are a group of 4 level 1 adventurers. We are running Rime of the frost maiden and were facing a grell in a mine. We weren't doing the best and the grell had a party member grappled and was taking it away, so I cast armor of agathys and then entered its space, forcing it to make an attack of opportunity (which it succeeded in hitting me) and it took an automatic 5 cold damage, then our wizard cast ray of frost, freezing the beast and killing it. It was a very long fight, but it proved that armor of agathys does in fact come in handy. Btw, at the end of the battle, only the wizard was left standing and had just a single hit point left. Wizards save the day.

[@jaakkosippola7191]

I am not sure that you meant it like this. Sorry if I am wrong in my assumption. Warlocks do not get the extended spells automatically. They have to choose them as there spells when they lvl up. Not that shield wouldn’t be a good pick for your first lvl spell choice.

[@TheRobversion1]

One of my top 3 fave wizards along with scribe and bladesinger. had a clock sorc/abjurer revenger type built around armor of agathys. it was so fun to have so many layers (bastion of law, arcane ward, armor of agathys, fire shield and blade ward) then punishing opponents with tons of dmg.

[@BeaDSM]

You sold me on the kickstarter when you mentioned mutagens.

[@liamblack3001]

good to know

[@iPlayGamesX]

I agree

[@iddosapir5133]

Yhe

[@liamblack3001]

As son of the Gnome King i worry about your future after these anti gnome comments

[@silverthedruid4754]

@@liamblack3001 *racial slurs against the gn()mes*

[@dumbwaki5877]

so true

[@MagicSandwichMan]

This was good timing, I rolled terribly for constitution, dexterity and strength so I made a wizard, and I wanted some extra health, so this definitely helped me

[@Caiphex]

Flow armor class from dexterity and low hip points from Constitution as well as more difficulty making Constitution saving throws is going to be rough. Are you planning on dipping for an armor proficiency?

[@MagicSandwichMan]

My plan was to get the heavily armored feat if it fits and then the tough feat right after to beef me up

[@WolfHreda]

The Arcane Ward is like the perfect companion to your morning casting of Mage Armor. More AC and an HP buffer? Awesome.

[@thornangel16]

Another great video Kobold! Wondering if you’re gonna cover Transmutation Wizards at some point, discuss the problems with the subclass and how it can be fixed or reworked. I know of such a rework by flutesloot that I like a lot and want to play in a D&D game someday.

[@laquishaadams1854]

I played an abjuration wizard hobgoblin as a frontline tank and it was super effective. I have to give my life cleric credit for catching on and prioritizing me for her healing, but even after I got up after going down - losing my class ability due to being temporarily unconcious - I was disgustingly difficult to take down. 10/10 would recommend 👌

[@crazy36069]

Take vhuman, get eldritch adept at level 1, and then take armor of shadows with the feat, which allows you to cast mage armor at will. No need for gnomes!

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Ah, the Abjurer, the "All my friends are dead" Wizard. No number of hoodies can keep the abjurer safe then.

[@FBI_Agent21]

I feel like "Whenever you take damage, the ward takes the damage instead." would cause the ward to benefit from your resistances would it not?

[@giordihero]

yeah, i feel the same way. You are dealt 20 fire damage, but you take half because of fire resistance, which means the ward takes it instead of you.

[@ShadowGeek12]

Well atleast gnomes get superior darkvision without being cripled OUTSIDE by the sun

[@FinalParadox]

I made an abjuration wizard using Leviastus Tiefling. You can cast armour of Agathys at 2nd level once per long rest, when you hit level 3.

[@ClericOfPholtus]

Hexblade really is easily one of if not the best single level dip of any class

[@peterrasmussen4428]

peace cleric is up there too, but yeah, hexblade is number 1 or 2.

[@ClericOfPholtus]

@@peterrasmussen4428 I also put Twilight up theres

[@peterrasmussen4428]

@@ClericOfPholtus certainly a strong one, but for just a 1 level dip, I think I would prefer peace in most cases.

[@stephanshaw6201]

I've been buffing myself since 2019 😅 that said, this is my favorite wizard subclass primarily because ofthe 10th level ability, if I ever play a wizard it'll be an abjurer... but first I must play all the druid subclasses 😅

[@dxjxc91]

Abjuration is one of my favorite wizard subclasses. I basically don't even consider playing subclasses other than this, evocation, bladesinger, and scribe.

[@vforvenom9337]

Kobold is the kind of person to pull out "Tabletop's concept called the squishy caster fallacy" at a dinner date.

[@An0therAn0n]

First abjur wiz I played was my first character, they were a kobold too! Figured if I was going to play dnd I was going to commit, it was a wonderful game I kinda miss it.

[@belicose9]

11:56 Just hit lvl 14 as an Abjuration wizard and I can confirm, Spell Resistance is EXTREMELY good!

[@Rannulfus]

The other thing about armor of Agathys is that your dm can do what my dm did. Concentration rules as written says that you must make a constitution saving throw in order to maintain concentration when YOU take damage, armor of Agathys rules say if a creature hits YOU with a melee attack, that creature takes the cold damage from armor of agathys. My dm ruled that since arcane ward blocks damage for the sake of a concentration save, it takes damage INSTEAD of me, and thus does not trigger armor of agathys damage because I am not technically being hit by a creature with a melee attack, the ward is.

[@FinalParadox]

Hide this knowledge. It's too dangerous to be known. You made a really interesting point though. It kinda hurts my brain.

[@shenpai1566]

This is a bad ruling that falls apart under any kind of scrutiny. What happens when the damage to Armor of Agathys is dealt at range, thus not inflicting damage on anyone? Does it just magically revert to the actual rules instead of whatever this is? The rules for temporary hit points make it clear that when the temporary hit points are damaged, it's still you taking the damage. Armor of Agathys just also has a secondary effect that causes damage to enemies.

[@Rannulfus]

@@shenpai1566 I think there may have been a miscommunication here. Rules as written, this IS how the interaction between Armor of Agathys and Arcane Ward work, because, even as kobold pointed out in this video, damage to Arcane Ward is not counted as the Wizard, or whoever the ward is projected onto taking said damage, the Arcane Ward is counted as a separate entity all together. As a result, Arcane Ward doesn't count as temporary hit points at all, which is why the effect stacks with Armor of Agathys to begin with (you can't have two effects of temporary hit points going at the same time). Armor of Agathys still works if it takes damage from the source of "Melee attack being made by a creature". If my arcane ward is 14, and I have armor of Agathys active, and the creature makes a melee attack that deals 15 damage, that 1 damage is still triggering Armor of Agathys's retaliation damage, but if a melee attack does not break my Arcane Ward, then there is no retaliation damage on Armor of Agathys, because no damage was done to ME, thus no melee attacks hit me, and that's Armor of Agathys's qualifier.

[@gloomreaperscythe333]

​@@Rannulfus _Armor of Agathys_ triggers when you're hit with a melee attack. Nowhere does it say that you have to take damage. If you're hit by a melee attack and take no damage from it, _armor of Agathys_ still activates. The ward triggers when you take damage. Taking damage takes place *after* the roll to hit succeeds, so you're still hit with the attack. Concentration saves are affected because they happen explicitly when you take damage, as opposed to when you're hit with an attack, because being able to say "Oh, yeah, I fell down a few stories and lost most of my hit points to fall damage, but since it wasn't an attack I maintained concentration" would be ridiculous.

[@Rannulfus]

@@gloomreaperscythe333 ​Right, with all that I agree, 100%, but you guys are focusing way too much on the Armor of Agathys rules, and not enough on the Arcane Ward rules, which basically say that whenever you take damage, the ward takes the damage instead of you. It can be read as making a distinction that the ward is a separate entity to you as a wizard, and thus even if whatever is attacking you would have hit you, it's not you being hit, but your ward, so whatever effects that creature would have experienced by hitting you, like the effects of an active Armor of Agathys, for example, are negated by that reading of Arcane Ward, until the ward breaks and the damage is dealt to you or your temporary hit points. Although I myself don't like this reading, there are things to back it up, such as the arcane ward not sharing your resistances. You can make the claim that "well, attacks to arcane ward count for the sake of the armor of agathys ruling because the arcane ward can't take a hit if the hit doesn't beat your AC, so it's reliant on your stats to even do anything", which is fair, but there are ways to read around those rules as well.

[@drasil5242]

If you follow Pack Tactic's interpretation of Spellwrought Tattoo, you can refill the ward in an 8 hour timeframe with a 2 level Artificer dip, allowing you to dump CHA, gain medium armor+shield proficiency, and improve your spell prep situation.

[@rudinipl4012]

I am very cuirius to hear your opinion on enchantment wizards. I see it as mostly RP subclass so looking at it throu the lense of optimiliziation whould be fun.

[@gerardkeiper2235]

i played an abjuration wizard a while ago, easily my favorite type, its fun to use 3rd level counter spells to counter 7th level spells and make the evil caster piss himself

[@pmc0502]

Woah woah woah, what’s all this gnome hate for. I’m currently playing a forest gnome arcane trickster and I find the Gnome Cunning feature very useful alongside knowing minor illusion to make cover for bonus action hide.

[@johannesstephanusroos4969]

It's a canonical Kobold thing, they hate gnomes as a race

[@pmc0502]

@@johannesstephanusroos4969 I know, I was just poking some fun. We need a Gnome Gang uprising

[@dragonhearthx8369]

So here is an idea for a high level character. Get a high enough level for spell storing item from the artificer. Go mark of warding dwarf. Add AoA to the spell storing item. Then dump the rest of the levels into abjuration wizard

[@tyleremery7088]

That's a _really_ long delay for not much payoff. At level 20 (artificer 11/wizard 9), your ward would only have 23 hp, and blowing every single use of your spell-storing item would only restore 20 hp to the ward. Additionally, that's a pretty big cut to your spellcasting progression - you would only have up to 8th level slots, and you could only cast up to 5th level spells.

[@willmena96]

I have a player that uses an Abjurer. Even if he doesn't optimize, his character is very resilient. I don't remember the last time I dropped him to 0 HP and they're level 10 now. Everyone else in the party goes down at least once per boss battle

[@zacharysmith4375]

Hi kobold, I would love to see a video explaining any of the artificer classes. Especially your opinion on the artillerist.

[@Rugghio]

I'm playing a abjuration wizard. It's fun. I have like 2 spells that deal damage (Magic misiles and fireball), the rest is crowd control, support and utility spells. We are triying to win without killikg people. It's fun

[@tylernorman7896]

This is honestly one of my favorite subclasses for Wizard, simply because I absolutely LOVE the concept of wards and protectiveness towards others. One thing that I've always been curious about is the recharge mechanic for the Ward. Does it go off the level of the spell or the spell slot you use? Say I decide to Counterspell at 6th level, would I still get 6 ward health back for it being a 3rd level spell or 12 for deciding to use a 6th level slot on it?

[@ChickenSoupMusic]

Mark of Warding Dwarf is imo the best option. Extra spells / free armor of agathys. Just use alarm to heal your ward on short rests.

[@Frank-ci2ce]

I am currently playing an abjuring wizard with 1 undead warlock level(immunity to fear and another source of temporary hit points)As a mountain dwarf race for medium armor. Having the versatility of a wizard and the resilience of a barbarian is giving me a lot of satisfaction 😁

[@kevingriffith6011]

My biggest problem with Abjuration wizard is that there just are just... so few generally-useful abjuration spells. Don't get me wrong, I understand *why* the school isn't as populated as Evocation, but still... There are 28 spells in the school, but really only ~7 are worth casting. The rest are housekeeping spells like Arcane Lock, scrying interference spells like Nondetection, hyper-specific like Magic Circle, or actively terrible like Stoneskin... and of those 7 spells that are worth casting, 3 of them are only valid against spellcasters, and most of the remaining spells are 1st level. Edit for clarity: The only number I can say for certain is exact here is the 28. Everything else is a lot of hasty counting so I probably missed one or two here or there, and yours and my definition of "generally useful" may be different.

[@tylernorman7896]

Giving a martial Stone Skin while you have a big ward to negate concentration checks seems nice to me, at least. I personally love this subclass, I just haven't figured out enough interesting ideas yet

[@kevingriffith6011]

@@tylernorman7896 The big problem with Stoneskin is the 100gp cost every time you cast it and the fact that it hogs your concentration for a whole hour. The protection the spell provides is solid but all it does is give intelligent monsters incentive to attack anyone else in the party but your target, including you.

[@tylernorman7896]

@@kevingriffith6011 fair, didn't quite factor in the material cost. Our DM's a little iffy with that at the moment

[@karinawestmoreland8268]

I’m currently playing an Agathys Abjurer in my campaign, and finally at level 4 my build has come online (I went 1 warlock/2 wizard/2 warlock and will continue with only wizard from here). I ended up going Genie Dao warlock because the vessel is a cool feature, like a private wizard library, and the extra guaranteed damage on my cantrips just feels nice even if it isn’t that much. The only problem with going Hexblade I feel is that you can’t actually use the Armor of Shadows invocation while wearing armor, so you’d have to take a few minutes donning and doffing armor. It isn’t really a big issue but it was enough for me to not. And for my Warlock spells, I took Hex, Armor of Agathys, and Comprehend Languages. I wanted to avoid anything that would use my Charisma score, and Hex has really helped keep my damage relevant as everyone else got second level spell slots. All in all, the build feels okay at level 4, but I can’t wait for bigger spell slots and bigger Agathys casts, as I’m our second frontline type character and ten is a lot of damage per hit even at level 5!

[@gloomreaperscythe333]

If you get _find familiar_ , you can cast _mage armor_ at any time.

[@sebastianhoesing1749]

I play an abjuration Wizard in our Campaign and my DM gave us a book, where we could take mini feats every few levels. One of them boosted my ward to a bit more hp. I then took the eldritch adept feat with shadow armour feat. So now I can refill the ward after every combat. He then proceeded to give me magic items to increase my AC to 21. Additional I now have access to contingency, which makes me even more unkillable😂

[@pedro_h7790]

Now I want to try out a abjuration wizard/Hexblade warlock multiclass

[@logangraham3689]

The Aabria Iyegar Special

[@justfrankjustdank2538]

i love ur bagpiping :)

[@JHJB97]

Okay, we looked at Bladesinger and Abjurer. Why not cap off the tank mages with War Magic? I'm curious how they stack up with each other

[@jackjazzhands2357]

So please tell DnD Shorts, that the ward gets only 1 hp if its already active EVEN if you cast Magic Armor with the eldritch evocation for free every round. He isnt belieivng me XD

[@nicholass5621]

You mean 2hp?

[@jackjazzhands2357]

@@nicholass5621 As long as its not the full HP with each cast XD

[@FinalParadox]

This sounds amazingly broken. Love it.

[@nicholass5621]

@@jackjazzhands2357 true

[@gloomreaperscythe333]

Firstly, 2 hp per level not 1. Secondly, where does DnD shorts use this incorrectly? I checked the one video I know of where this is brought up (Juggernaut Wizard), and it seems to be used correctly.

[@knate44]

Fitting kobold hates gnomes, because kobolds canonnically have serious beef with the gnomes after Glittergold trapped Kurtulmak.

[@Uranium_Diet]

3:11 although in that constellation you wouldn't have access to Armor of Agathys, or am I missing something?

[@elmsigreen]

War Mage Wizard is kinda underappreciated in my opinion. Maybe because people forget that their +2 to AC or +4 to saves works outside of battle AND it is only applied IF you are hit or fail the saving throw. I played one in a very roleplay heavy campaign. It didn't come up very often but it was very clutch in those situations... except when I just rolled very poorly, lol

[@estebanramirez1178]

Me: I like gnomes. Kobold: I hate gnomes! They hate me! Me: I guess I hate Kobold now. 🤷‍♂️

[@charleswatson4549]

Kobold is just salty because his God is stuck in a maze.

[@austinsetser6081]

Armorer artificer + gnome cunning goes stupid though

[@ledhyper4282]

The apothecary sounds really cool, I want to know how multiclassing work

[@bryleach18]

*turns on captions* Ah yes the wizard school app duration.

[@SneakingMOUSE]

Kobolds are hard to kill too, because they're just so dang cute.

[@cheetawilliam]

The best way to replenish your shield is by counterspelling and dispelling all your enemies clearly. Oh and banishing all their summons.

[@jordanpickering6912]

I played with a level 3 abjuration wizard that tried to use the agathys combo and the 2 giant spider we were fighting just chopped straight though both in one turn and nearly killed him, even at higher levels things tend to ignore it or one shot it unless you have 20-30 extra hit points

[@lloydlineske2642]

Yeah! Gnomes Bad! But what do we think about dipping Abjuration Wizards? If you get the ability to refill it at no cost then is it worth taking like 2-4 levels of this subclass? Let's say you take this dip and have a 14 intelligence? That gives you 6 HP extra that you can refill for free after every battle. I'm just thinking about a build here so ignore if you desire. You could go Turtle race. This gives you a 17 AC. Take the first two levels in Hexblade Warlock. This gives you access to shields. Your base AC is 19, and you can dump Dex. You can take Armor of Aggy. Then take 2 levels in Wizard. If you took the points that you'd usually put from dex and put in Int you'd probably have a 14 or so. Maybe can do 15 and at some point take a half feet to get to 16. But for now you'd have a 19 AC with Armor of Agathis cast and your 6 point arcane ward. So effectively 11 point Armor of Agathis. Wizard also gives you the Shield spell to further control what hits you take. Then I'd like to take something like Swords Bard, and go the rest of the way there. Flourishes can raise your AC to a max of 30 wth good die rolls. Average would be 27.5 when you definitely don't want to be hit... This character likes being hit, but some attacks just deal too much damage or you could be in a critical situation. Thoughts?

[@abnegazher]

"BLOCK BLOCK BLOCK BLOCK BLOCK BLOCK BLOCK!!!" -Terry Crews, The Mage

[@KobiPoage]

Can you please do a video on Order of Scribes? I'm curious to see what you think about it!

[@skoomatroll]

What a crazy capstone, is there a martial equivalent where you get resistance against the damage of non spells

[@jacobweatherford4696]

The apothecary sounds great