Wizard Guide 5e: Spellbooks, Evocation, and Complete Builds

A Wizard wins flexibility before the encounter: collect useful spells, prepare for likely problems, and keep enough resources for what you did not predict. During play, the important choice is often which single concentration effect the party can exploit, rather than which spell has the largest damage number.

This guide uses 2014 D&D 5e, with School of Evocation as the SRD subclass. The three original builds use 27-point buy and 2014 racial bonuses. Revised subclass timing and preparation belong to the separate 2024 comparison.

Wizard quick build

Choose a high elf with Intelligence 16, Constitution 14, and Dexterity 16. Take a dagger, component pouch, scholar’s pack, and spellbook. Choose Arcana/Investigation, Acolyte for Insight/Religion, and racial Perception. Start with Fire Bolt, Ray of Frost, Mage Hand, plus racial Prestidigitation. Put Shield, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Sleep, Detect Magic, and Find Familiar in your first spellbook. At 2 choose Evocation; at 4 and 8 improve Intelligence.

Wizards have a d6 Hit Die and Intelligence/Wisdom saving throw proficiency. Intelligence supports spell attacks and DCs, Constitution supports concentration and HP, and Dexterity supports AC and initiative. You have no baseline armor or shield proficiency. A dagger is a fallback, not a reason to stand on the front line.

Spellbook, preparations, and slots

The spellbook starts with six first-level Wizard spells, with two more Wizard spells added free at each Wizard level thereafter, of spell levels you can prepare. At 5, that is fourteen spells without finding a single scroll. Copying additional suitable Wizard spells costs time and gold; it is a campaign opportunity rather than a guaranteed infinite library. Keep a backup when practical: replacement and recovering known contents have their own costs.

After a long rest, prepare Wizard level + Intelligence modifier, minimum one, from your book at spell levels you can cast. At Wizard 5 with Intelligence 18, that is nine prepared spells. These are options, not expendable cards: you can cast the same prepared spell repeatedly with suitable slots. At 5 you have four first-level, three second-level, two third-level slots. Slots return on a long rest.

Cantrips are separate from the book’s leveled spells and daily preparations: three at 1, four at 4, five at 10. This baseline does not let you freely replace all cantrips each morning. An additional high elf cantrip is racial. Spell attack bonus is proficiency + Intelligence modifier; DC is 8 + that total.

Arcane Recovery works once per day when finishing a short rest. Recover slots with a combined level up to half Wizard level rounded up, with none of sixth level or higher. At 5 that is three slot levels, such as one third-level slot or a second- and first-level slot. It does not restore your entire allotment.

Components, rituals, and survival

A component pouch covers eligible unpriced material components; an arcane focus is the alternative starting choice. Neither bypasses priced or consumed components. Have the necessary hand free for spell components. Shield’s reaction is excellent only when you can cast it and it actually changes the relevant attack result; it also spends your reaction and slot.

An unarmored Wizard has AC 10 + Dexterity modifier. Mage Armor supplies an alternative base of 13 for its duration, costing a slot unless another feature pays for it. It does not stack with worn armor. A racial weapon proficiency is not armor proficiency, and holding a shield without proficiency causes serious problems for casting.

You can ritual-cast an eligible Wizard spell in your book without preparing it. Add ten minutes to its casting time and pay any required components; a ritual saves the slot, not every other cost. Find Familiar still needs its consumed 10 gp materials and the required apparatus. The starting pouch is not free money for priced materials. Do not assume an owl is already present on the first turn of a campaign without arranging the casting.

Wizard progression: levels 1–20

Class level	Milestone
1	Spellbook; three cantrips; first-level spells; Arcane Recovery
2	School of Evocation; Sculpt Spells
3	Second-level spells
4	ASI or optional feat; fourth cantrip
5	Third-level spells
6	Evocation: Potent Cantrip
7	Fourth-level spells
8	ASI or optional feat
9	Fifth-level spells
10	Evocation: Empowered Evocation; fifth cantrip
11	Sixth-level spells
12	ASI or optional feat
13	Seventh-level spells
14	Evocation: Overchannel
15	Eighth-level spells
16	ASI or optional feat
17	Ninth-level spells
18	Spell Mastery
19	ASI or optional feat
20	Signature Spells

Higher spell levels arrive on odd Wizard levels through 17. Advancing character level through another class does not add these book spells or permit high-level Wizard preparations just because multiclass rules create a higher-level slot. At 18, Spell Mastery selects particular first- and second-level book spells for repeatable casting under its conditions. At 20, Signature Spells supplies two particular third-level spells with limited free castings and preparation benefits; it is not free casting of every third-level spell.

Evocation and other schools

School of Evocation (SRD/PHB 2014) starts at 2. Evocation Savant reduces copying costs for the school. Sculpt Spells protects selected creatures you can see in your qualifying evocation, granting save success and preventing damage where a successful save would normally halve it. The protected-creature limit is one plus the spell’s level. This is not a universal exemption from every area spell or from every damaging spell you cast.

Potent Cantrip at 6 helps with successful saves against damaging cantrips; the 2014 feature does not fix missed cantrip attack rolls. Empowered Evocation at 10 improves one damage roll of an eligible spell. Overchannel at 14 can maximize a qualifying lower-level damaging spell, but repeated use before a long rest brings increasingly dangerous self-damage. The school makes careful blasting easier; its drawback is that subclass benefits may do less on a day dominated by investigation or non-evocation control.

Abjuration (PHB 2014) supports a protective identity; Divination (PHB 2014) gives a prediction-oriented playstyle; Illusion (PHB 2014) rewards creative but rules-bounded sensory tricks. These require the named book and their own feature checks. A Wizard of any school can still learn broadly from the Wizard list: choosing Evocation does not ban Web, rituals, or social utility spells.

Three complete 2014 Wizard builds

Scores use STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA. Every base array costs 27 points. All choose Evocation at 2, take a dagger, component pouch, scholar’s pack, and spellbook, and add the Acolyte equipment and 15 gp. The skill choices have no duplicates. No feat, multiclass feature, magic item, copied scroll, free familiar, or purchased armor is included in level-5 figures unless explicitly stated. HP uses fixed increases. All have slots 4/3/2 and Arcane Recovery for three slot levels once per day at 5.

High elf evocation generalist

Sources and role: SRD/PHB 2014; damage with useful control and defense. Base 8, 14, 14, 15, 12, 8; +2 Dexterity/+1 Intelligence gives 8, 16, 14, 16, 12, 8. Class Arcana/Investigation; racial Perception; background Insight/Religion. Raise Intelligence to 18 at 4 and 20 at 8.

Class cantrips at 1: Fire Bolt, Ray of Frost, Mage Hand; Minor Illusion at 4. Racial Prestidigitation is additional. Book at 1: Shield, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Sleep, Detect Magic, Find Familiar. Add Grease/Feather Fall at 2; Web/Misty Step at 3; Mirror Image/Invisibility at 4; Fireball/Counterspell at 5. That is fourteen legal additions without extra purchases.

At 5 prepare Mage Armor, Shield, Magic Missile, Web, Misty Step, Mirror Image, Invisibility, Fireball, Counterspell: nine. Detect Magic and Find Familiar remain ritual options from the book, with components and time. At 5: AC 13 unarmored or 16 with Mage Armor active, HP 32, DC 15, spell attack +7. Mage Armor consumes one of those slots if cast normally.

Turn: cast Fireball as an action, choosing eligible allies for Sculpt Spells, then move toward cover. If Web controls the approach more effectively, cast that instead; only one concentration spell can remain active. Weakness: low HP and concentration vulnerability, plus a real defensive-slot cost. Sculpt Spells cannot protect allies from your non-evocation control effects.

Rock gnome ritualist and controller

Sources and role: SRD/PHB 2014; investigation and non-damage solutions. Base 8, 14, 15, 14, 12, 8; +2 Intelligence/+1 Constitution gives 8, 14, 16, 16, 12, 8. Class Arcana/Investigation; background Insight/Religion; racial tinker’s tools. Choose Evocation for the accessible SRD subclass, while accepting that its early features are less central to this control plan. Raise Intelligence to 18 at 4 and 20 at 8.

Cantrips: Ray of Frost, Mage Hand, Minor Illusion; Light at 4. A rock gnome does not receive the forest gnome’s extra illusion cantrip. Book at 1: Shield, Mage Armor, Grease, Sleep, Detect Magic, Find Familiar. Add Unseen Servant/Comprehend Languages at 2; Web/Misty Step at 3; Invisibility/Rope Trick at 4; Hypnotic Pattern/Dispel Magic at 5.

At 5 prepare Shield, Mage Armor, Grease, Sleep, Web, Misty Step, Invisibility, Hypnotic Pattern, Dispel Magic: nine. The book’s four ritual-tagged options remain available without preparation; Rope Trick is not a ritual and must replace a preparation when needed. At 5: AC 12 raw or 15 with Mage Armor, HP 37, DC 15, spell attack +7.

Turn: place Hypnotic Pattern where it can interrupt several threats without catching allies, then use movement to protect concentration. Do not cast Web and assume both persist. Weakness: charm immunity can defeat the pattern, allies can accidentally undo its control, and many of your best answers need preparation or ritual time. Replace Sleep on a future preparation day when its HP threshold no longer helps.

Mountain dwarf ward specialist

Sources and role: mountain dwarf from the PHB/2014 Basic Rules, Acolyte, SRD Evocation; sturdier support with an eventual armor purchase. Base 8, 14, 15, 15, 10, 8; racial +2 Strength/+2 Constitution gives 10, 14, 17, 15, 10, 8. Class Arcana/Investigation; background Insight/Religion. Raise Intelligence and Constitution by one each at 4, reaching 16/18; increase Intelligence to 18 at 8.

Cantrips: Ray of Frost, Mage Hand, Light; Minor Illusion at 4. Book at 1: Shield, Mage Armor, Thunderwave, Sleep, Alarm, Detect Magic. Add Feather Fall/Grease at 2; Mirror Image/Misty Step at 3; Web/Invisibility at 4; Counterspell/Dispel Magic at 5.

At 5 prepare Mage Armor, Shield, Thunderwave, Mirror Image, Misty Step, Web, Counterspell, Dispel Magic: eight because Intelligence is 16. At 5: AC 12 raw or 15 with Mage Armor, HP 42, DC 14, attack +6. Mountain dwarf gives light/medium armor proficiency, not free armor and not shield proficiency. Buying scale mail later costs 50 gp and gives AC 16 with Dexterity 14, plus Stealth disadvantage; then prepare Invisibility instead of Mage Armor. The background’s 15 gp cannot buy that scale at character creation.

Turn: use Web to protect an approach, then move where allies can intercept attackers. On a later turn, a non-concentration defensive spell can coexist with Web, but it still takes its casting action. Weakness: a lower initial Intelligence means fewer preparations and weaker DCs; armor improves AC without turning a d6 caster into a front-line warrior.

Spell selection, feats, and multiclassing

Pick at least one way to contribute without concentration and one concentration spell the party can exploit. Web or Hypnotic Pattern can create openings; Misty Step can preserve the caster; Dispel Magic answers ongoing spells rather than every supernatural effect. Counterspell is the 2014 version here, with its range, visibility, reaction, and higher-level checks; do not use revised mechanics under the same name.

Casting Misty Step as a bonus action invokes the 2014 bonus-action spell restriction: other spellcasting that turn is limited to a cantrip with a one-action casting time. You can still take a nonspell action such as Dash. It is not permission to teleport and cast a leveled action spell on the same turn.

The examples take Intelligence ASIs. Optional PHB 2014 War Caster, Resilient (Constitution), and Alert support concentration or acting before threats, with different costs and original prerequisites. Check the feat’s version and whether it solves an actual problem before delaying Intelligence. None is built into the figures above.

Wizard multiclassing needs Intelligence 13 plus the other class’s requirements. Starting Fighter can change saves and armor access, but delays spell levels and preparations; taking Fighter later grants a different proficiency package. Cleric also needs Wisdom 13, which these arrays do not have without adjustment. Combined slots do not equal combined spells known: prepare Wizard spells based on Wizard levels. Evaluate the price of reaching Fireball, Counterspell, or an ASI one or more levels later.

Running a Wizard through an adventuring day

An original decision: a narrow doorway separates three enemies from your allies. Web may buy more actions than a damage spell if allies can exploit the restrained targets and hold the route. If enemies are already spread through the party, a badly placed Web may hinder allies. Choose placement and concentration first, then decide whether later turns need cantrips, movement, or another slot.

In exploration, ritual time is a resource. Ten extra minutes may be easy in a secure library and impossible during a pursuit. Use a familiar for information within its actual senses and communication rules; it can be noticed or killed, and replacing it costs time and components. Intelligence checks can supply useful evidence in a social scene even if another character handles persuasion. Ask the DM what your character can establish rather than using an Arcana proficiency as universal detection magic.

2024 Wizard changes

The revised Wizard chooses a subclass at 3 rather than 2, gains Scholar expertise at 2, and Memorize Spell at 5 can replace one prepared spell after a short rest. The revised table fixes the number of prepared spells rather than using the old level-plus-Intelligence formula. Cantrip replacement also changes. Ritual access, spellbook additions, and specific spell wording still need to be checked in that edition.

The revised Evoker receives Potent Cantrip at 3, now covering missed attack-roll cantrips as well as successful saves; Sculpt Spells moves to 6, changing what a level-5 area spell can safely do. Its Savant adds spells rather than merely using the old copying discount. Spell Mastery at 18 has revised casting-time and preparation restrictions, and level 19 offers an Epic Boon.

Build using revised backgrounds, equipment, and spell versions. In particular, the 2014 high elf example can use Sculpt Spells at 5; a revised Evoker cannot borrow that feature early. Counterspell and other familiar spells may operate differently even when both sheets list the same name.

Wizard FAQ

Must a ritual be prepared?

Not for a 2014 Wizard if it is a Wizard ritual in the spellbook. Its components and extra time still apply.

Can I use every spell in my book immediately?

Ordinary casting needs preparation and an available slot. Ritual casting is the specific exception described above.

Do I need to find scrolls to get new spells?

No. You add two qualifying spells on each Wizard level after the first. Copying more is an additional opportunity.

Can an Evoker ignore friendly fire?

Only within Sculpt Spells’ actual school, targeting, visibility, and protection limits. It does not cover every area effect.

Rules sources: SRD 5.1 for the 2014 class, SRD subclass, equipment, and spells; the Player’s Handbook (2014) and 2014 Basic Rules races for named racial options and optional PHB choices; Sage Advice Compendium for relevant 2014 clarifications. The separate comparison uses SRD 5.2.1. Recommendations, builds, and example decisions are original advice.

This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 (“SRD 5.2.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.