War Magic
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
The Arcane Tradition of War Magic was created in a world that already saw the consequences of Bladesinger. It took a different approach from the nimble, ludicrously high AC multiattacking martial hybrid, opting instead to deliver a different style of frontline caster whose objective is to be resilient, but not invincible.
What resulted from this is an insane multiclass defensive option that lacks much actual flavor or payoffs for building in any particular way. You’re left with some features that are a bit more complex than they need to be for little payoff and passive buffs that leave me wanting more. There just isn’t that much to get me really excited about War Magic unless you’re taking a two-level dip in barbarian, rogue, monk, or fighter.
See Also: Best Feats for War Wizard
2nd Level: Arcane Deflection, Tactical Wit
Arcane Deflection, on non-casters, is one of the best reactions in the game. +2 to your AC or +4 to a save at will is crazy. The limiting factor only applies to characters actively looking to repeatedly cast higher level spells… which is the entirety of Wizard’s play pattern. Oftentimes this is a reaction you can take against sudden, but not unforeseen, hostile parties engaging you. In the early tier, when you’re happy using cantrips for a few rounds in combats, it’ll feel like a great little defensive tool that compensates for a lackluster AC. Past 5th level, Shield replaces your need for this, with there only being a few situations where you’ll want the save bump over getting to cast spells next turn, especially when you can cast Counterspell which prevents saves from occurring outright.
Tactical Wit lets you act slightly sooner in combat, which has its advantages, but isn’t that powerful of an ability. Alongside Arcane Deflection, which drops in utility as you want to cast higher and higher level spells, this helps maintain some semblance of power in the upper tiers while you’re more focused on your higher-level slots and abilities.
6th Level: Power Surge
Power Surge pushes three extra damage three to four times per long rest with extra uses when you successfully dispel something or Counter a spell, or when you finish a short rest without any uses. Got all that?
This feature has so many words for such an impactful effect. It totals a glorious twelve bonus damage over four rounds with a +4 Int at 6th level. It gets +1 damage every other level, and can increase slightly in uses, but I’m not particularly impressed. When you promise me “Power Surge”, I expect more than 3 dinky bonus damage to a single creature that failed my Fireball save.
10th Level: Durable Magic
Durable Magic is a conditional shield that also applies to saves, including the Constitution saves you make to maintain concentration on spells. +2 AC and +2 to all saves is great, especially when you factor in 5es design philosophy of reducing added modifiers. This is a rare way to get higher mods to a lot of stuff at once. Now, is it an interesting ability? Certainly not. But this is the first particularly compelling ability from a power perspective the class offers.
14th Level: Deflecting Shroud
Deflecting Shroud takes a feature you already don’t want to be using and empowers it. Oof. Forgoing casting 1st-level or higher spells, when you want to be slinging out 5th, 6th, and 7th-level explosive magic, is rough. You’re not regularly using Arcane Deflection by this stage, making this feature deal a pitiful amount of damage between rests.
All Together
War Magic reads like it's got powerful stuff to do, but in practice, it’s working against the core gameplay loop wizards are used to following. The Shield spell’s mere existence makes Arcane Deflection fall flat in the mid to upper tiers, and the restrictions Deflection places on you make the scaling 14th-level ability entirely obsolete. Power Surge scales with the game at least, and does offer you a bit of extra damage and some neat incentives, but I don’t know if the juice is worth the squeeze.
If there was a better cohesive fantasy presented here, I could forgive the mediocre abilities, because at least you’re still a wizard and have all the perks that come with your base class. Without anything to grab onto besides “I do magic, but better”, I’m left disappointed and seeking more interesting alternatives.
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