One thing I noted about the Book replacing feature is it's interaction with several of the Magic Spellbooks. These Magic Spellbooks usually note they contain however many spells, so a Scribes wizard who transfers their spellbook's conciousness turns that book into their spellbook, automatically adding the new spells to their list since those spells are now in their spellbook. For Free. But wait, there's more. If you encounter another Magic Spellbook that you aren't going to use, but contains spells you want (Say if you're already using an Arcane Grimoire +1 but run into a Heart Weaver's primer), If you attune to both You can spend one short rest transferring the Conciousness into the Primer, Absorb the Spells, then another short rest transfering the conciousness BACK into the now Blank Grimoire. Since the Primer's spells were transferred into your spellbook, you just copied a 1st, 2 2nd, a 3rd, 2 5th and an 8th circle spell into your main spellbook, over the course of 2 hours, utterly free.
OMG. I don't think this would work in my current campaign because there's extra stuff going on with my book, but definitely something to keep in mind for the next scribes wizard I play!
I have been forced to erase my writing in combat as a scribes wizard many times. I wrote little "attack me" signs on everyone's back, and I erase them to get enemies to attack the tank.. pull them over to the ranger, ect. It really sucks though having to be within 5 feet. And I would love to misty step to erase the writing but that's also a bonus action. I've started using a costly dimension door spell.
5:53 It is not entirely impossible, if that wizard is level 17 he could have used the wish spell to wish to have a girlfriend, although as a magic practitioner I would not recommend that, there is a 1/3 chance of not being able to cast the spell anymore, or worse it could still work but she could be someone crazy and extremely powerful. And well, a wizard wouldn't say "my girlfriend lives in Canada" I think it would be more like "my girlfriend lives on another plane of existence."
Enlightening yet fun discussion of the features! My reservations about the Order of Scribes are similar to those I have about the new features of the UA Playtest 5 Wizard. Their main features are extremely dependent on loot (gold and spellbooks/scrolls). I would rather rely on self-dependent builds such that I don't risk getting frustrated with the DM or fellow players not helping my PC get the resources that I need for my (sub)class to flourish.
That's fair, but I will say, having played Curse of Strahd, Tomb of Annihilation, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Out of the Abyss, Lost Mines of Phandelver, a completely homebrew campaign, and just started a Tyranny of Dragons campaign, spell books and scrolls pop up a lot. Unless your DM sets out specifically to screw you over, you shouldn't have a problem getting extra spells
I’d also like to add that as a frequent Scribes Wizard player, this is never an issue really. Typically on a level up I pick one spell to always have prepared and then a second spell I pick for damage type if I feel I’ll reliably be able to find spell scrolls when I ask. When money is tight all wizards are gimped somewhat, but you can still build a Scribes Wizard like any other Wizard and be fine. Your ceiling is higher, but the floor didn’t get any lower really.
I think it could be a concern unless you know your DM. I have a level 5 scribes wizard and have found 0 spells and only have 47 GP. There is an option to buy a scroll, but then I would have to pay for the scroll and then pay again to copy it.
Strongly agree! I always have to remind my GMs about dispensing scrolls, and often have to borrow from gold from other party members to scribe spells. Not because all my GMs are pricks (they're not, we're good friends), but because they often simply forget about this. I hate constantly having to remind them and to beg money from other PCs when I'm playing a wizard. I wish this tradition of wizards having to spend extra gold on spell scribing would just go away already. Clerics and Druids have their full spell lists available at a whim; the game won't break if Wizards could do the same. Trim their spell list to get rid of garbage spell bloat and they should be good to go.
I think damage types from a conceptual pov, in a spellbook, are specific ways of writing for each damage type. Scribes can switch that on the fly. So, switching resistances, in this case, is definitely possible, as the spell providing that resistance would have the same wording in terms of its damage type of another spell that would deliver that damage type as damage ( as opposed to granting resistance ). I think summon spells are different. You summon something that does not have its damage type in the spell you cast ( as in, does not include the magical words for that damage type ). It just summons something that does that damage.
Just played one for the first time tonight and it was amazing! Having watched many Treantmonk videos, I felt like I was more than prepared to play a halfling scribes wizard. Cheers, Chris!
Spoiler warning: I found that one of the best possible campaigns to play a scribes wizard is Rime of the Frostmaiden. You're consistently picking up spellbooks or can be, finding scrolls of spells that are essentially only found in this campaign, exploring a cool long lost wizard city full of stuff you'll get a kick out of (staff of power😏), the final boss has vulnerabilities to differnt damage types in each phase
Thanks Chris! Perfect timing haha. My next character is going to be a Battlesmith Artificer who's Steel Defender is a pair of Sunsoul Monk pants... I'm sure that's what you meant write?
I don't know if anyone has already picked this up, but another benefit of the 2nd level Order of Scribes feature Wizardry Quill is that you (practically) never fail to transcribe spells from scrolls into your spellbook. RAW, you have to roll an Arcana check with a DC = 10 + spell level, in order to successfully transcribe a spell from a scroll into your spellbook. It is very disappointing to spend all the transcription costs (50gp/level) and sacrifice a possibly high level spell scroll (thousands of gp) only to fail at this roll! Not so for Order of Scribes: just ask your buddy (cleric, sorcerer, etc.) to cast Enhance Ability (EA) on you. As the maximum transcription time is 2*9 = 18 minutes for you, the task will technically be within the duration of EA (1 hour) and you should have advantage on the check. No more lost spell scrolls for you, which I find very thematic ;)
I like the examples for spells, whose mechanic yearn for another damage type, and the spells to get them from. You could make a short video, just for them.
The best thing about the ability to switch out damage types is that you can combine things that would normally be difficult. So for instance you can 'Necroball' a bunch of creatures you have caught in a Web spell AND NOT BURN UP THE WEB! They'll have disadvantage on Dex saves from being Restrained and instead of burning up the web they will just be stuck taking a bunch of Necrotic damage.
@@Similacrest So you have 1 round where they're taking fire damage but still held in place. Still a net gain as opposed to the damage outright destroying the webs.
One of the more interesting lore-related things about the damage type ability is that it implies something about how magic works. You can only substitute a damage type with a spell of the same level, which means there’s some specific difference when formulating spells between 3rd-level fire damage and 4th-level fire damage. Weird.
I imagine that spells of a certain level have a similar spell nomenclature/order of components so this discerning wizard can isolate the damage type because of it's placement and replace it with the damage sequence of the same level because it can fit in the same place. A different spell level will mess up the pattern too much and would be too risky to try.
Or like the Laws of Thermodynamics, where energy can only decrease from the ideal scenario. If you cast a spell that’s normally fire but want to deliver force, if you use a lower-level force damage spell, you’d get lower-level damage. But the converse, using a higher-level spell for the damage type wouldn’t convey that higher damage level. It would be the same at best, and chaos (entropy, in thermodynamics terms) would spoil things and make it even worse.
Being able to erase what was written with the quill as a bonus action is a real liability if you're wizard gets mind controlled in combat... but only if you've REALLY pissed off the DM recently lol
Our group's perpetual evoker fire wizard made herself a scribes wizard this time, and she's having so much fun with it. Just the damage type changing alone has opened avenues of "there are other damage types beyond fire", but Manifest Mind is wonderful.
The Scribes Wizard is definitely one of my favorites, but I couldn't help but fall in love with the War Wizard. It is so unspecific you can do anything with it
100% agree on how to deal with the damage switching. Type is singular, only one type. Never specifies damage dealt, you can switch a resistance. It makes it so worthwhile collecting multi-type spells, and having a solid blast/resist at each level.
Another great use of the instant ritual is for gentle repose. Ten minutes to cast it means you're too slow to keep the body fresh enough for a revivify.
I play a crystal dragonborn scribes wizard currently, started at level 5. Being able to change damage types on my battlefield control spells has been very useful and fun. Early on, my main spell for controlling the battlefield was Flaming Sphere shifted to cold damage, which at my table is now affectionately known as "Flaming Snowball." It still sets things on fire even when doing another damage type. Also, using the ritual speedcasting feature allows me to set up my Hut in a single minute prior to combat without using a spell slot; excellent for ambushes or premeditated combats that are less than eleven minutes in the future. And since you can cast through the Manifest Mind familiar, I can still cast spells on my turn targeting enemies outside the Hut while they cannot do the same to me (too bad you can't do the same for Counterspell...).
I made a scribes wizard to run for a few sessions as my main character was away from the party. It was really fun. I made her a nerdy fanfic romance novelist with a crush on one of the party members. It was quite a fun subclass that does a good job of creating the fantasy of the character.
@@CanisMythson I'm a patron. I saw the video when it was first created. 😉 Normally, the turnaround time is short. This one was in the queue for a while.
Thanks for making this video, Chris. Scribes is an interesting and evocative subclass and one of my favorites. Even if a DM insisted that damage types can only be switched with spells that specifically deliver a damage type, and you can only apply this switch to spells that deliver damage (so eliminating using protection from energy) it's still a great feature.
Now I really want to run a prison break scene where the party is captured and the warden burns the wizard’s spellbook in front of them, thinking they’ll no longer be a threat, only for the party to bust down his door three hours later with the barbarian carrying the bed from their cell completely inscribed with runes and magical writing because the scribes wizard made that bed their spellbook and cast knock on their cell door 😂
Also, after successfully escaping the Eldritch Knight with Tavern Brawler feat weapon bonds with the bed and can always summon it to hand, massive sleepover top and tailing with the catnap spell...
I'm playing scribes wizard in my current game. I did a little bit of damage type switching at the earlier levels, but it's been more recent that I've really took advantage of it. Our group has been fighting a lot of these homebrew flame cultist guys that the DM had made vulnerable to cold damage, so specifically picked some spells for my last couple levelups that let me switch most of my go-to spells into cold. Now my wizard is blasting out Frost Missiles and Endothermic Fireballs constantly. Makes sense for his backstory too, since he's a bookworm he'd rather not throw fire around willy nilly and possibly destroy precious written knowledge.
Discounting spells that take so long you wouldn't use them in combat, the spells wizards can cast that both require a costly material component and do damage the turn you cast them are: Booming Blade, Green-Flame Blade, Steel Wind Strike, Mordenkainen's Sword, Chromatic Orb, Circle of Death, Dawn, and Draconic Transformation.
For the last bullet point on Wizardly Quill it feels like they took into account something I always overlooked until this video which is you can erase anything you write with the quill. I do find the needing a bonus action bit a little excessive but the 5 feet of you bit I understand. If I am an Order of Scribes wizard I most likely write all of my spells using my quill and this is for this very rare moments where a DM remembers that a wizard's arcane knowledge can be stolen, you don't just get to suddenly erase everything from some obscene distance. Excessive yes, needed probably not, understandable sure.
Oh, I thought based on a misreading of the thumbnail this video would be about damage spells with control elements, such as Rime's Binding Ice or Tidal Wave. Could also be interesting as a video topic one day, perhaps?
glad you're giving the Order of Scribes an in-depth series! i've always loved it for the same reason as you - it's hard NOT to think of it as the most wizardly subclass.
Loved the video. The shtick with forceful hands and book nerd was great! LOL. I have always loved this class, but had never considered using defensive spells to gain access to damage type. Nice work Treantmonk.
This is perfect. As a wizard player, I greatly appreciate this. Although I'd love to see you try your hand with the psi warrior (because we all like the idea of a jedi knight). I've always felt it is comparable to the eldritch knight but I've no idea how to optimize it. My go to idea woud be to try and somehow combine it with the soulknife rogue.
Even though soulknife also has psi-dice, they are to be considered completely seperate resources, imagine one was called psi-dice and the other force-dice or whatever. So there is little mechanical reason to combine them. If you want to do it anyway, it isn't like your character will be bad though. A quick look at psi-knight shows us, that we want a good intelligence. Unlike eldritch knight, who can pick spells that don't care about what your intelligence is, psi-knight features do care. So you probably want strength as your main stat, and int and con as your secondary stats. After that, dex helps initative, and wisdom is an important save, you should probably let others do the talking, so charisma goes last. For feats it is the usual suspects for a fighter: - heavy weapon master (You don't have any inherent boost to accuracy, goes up in value if your party can help you out with a bless spell or similar, also if you plan on multiclassing barbarian) - polearm master (Very strong early game, goes down in value if your reaction and bonus action is going to be used a lot, eg. if you multiclass wizard and pick up the shield spell, and misty step, or if your race gives you a bonus action or reaction) - sentinel (mostly if you chose polearm master) - resilient wisdom (probably never your first feat, but around level 8+, having good wisdom saves is amazing, very sad to run away from the dragon rather than towards it). - fey-touched (Nice way to pick up some spells, and also round up your int, if it was an odd number, bless can be an amazing spell) - telekinetic (Nice way to round up your int if it was an odd number. Especially good if your bonus action is not otherwise spoken for, and also good if you have spellcasters with nice area spells to shove people into.) Obviously you cannot pick all those feats, it depends on what you want to do, and watch your action economy, try to make it so you have some good reactions and bonus actions, but don't overstuck on one of them. Eg. telekinetic and polearm master don't go together, because they both grant you very spamable bonus actions. For multiclassing, you can consider: 3-5 levels of wizard, you already have the good int. Picking up the shield spell is always nice. I like the warcaster subclass when dipping in, but divination is always strong choice as well. 2-4 levels of barbarian: Reckless attack is really good with heavy weapon master, just be aware you cannot wear heavy armor and rage, putting you in medium armor, meaning your probably low dex will hurt you. But you get to use your psi-abilities even while raging, which is cool. (probably don't do this with a wizard dip, pick one or the other.) Really good if you somehow get decent dex. eg rolling for stats. Most other multiclassing you probably won't have the stats to do, but picking up bless is nice if you can. Anyway, all this is just ideas or a starting point. Most advice about building a good fighter will also apply to psi-knight. The biggest difference is your int will be higher. You also do get more flexibility than most fighters, eg. If you pick something like polearm master, that spends a lot of your reactions, use your psi-dice for damage boost. If on the other hand you pick something that doesn't eat reactions, such as the barbarian path, you already have a nice built in reaction for protection and won't miss the shield spell quite as much as another fighter would.
I had an idea to multiclass Psi Warrior 5/Artificer Battlesmith 3/Psi Warrior X. It gives you INT based attacks, Shield and Absorb Elements, and the options to do a version of Treantmonk's "Chuck" build that throws axes. Haven't tried it out yet though.
excellent tips and summary, also with Int high your background and or ancestry you can choose Intelligence skills unlike most warriors which is a nice little lore dump for you and the DM.@@peterrasmussen4428
My favourite spells to change the damage type of are vitriolic sphere and melfs acid arrows, both deal some of least reliable damage types but critically deal their damage in d4s. The key thing about d4s is they benefit the most from the elemental adept feat because turning a 1 into a 2 is best when 1s are rolled more often. D4s go from an average of 2.5 to an average of 2.75. So if you are playing a character really focussed on one damage type which is a fun archetype to play you get the most benefit from this subclass and the elemental adept feat using d4 based spells. I love when class features can make underused spells valuable.
for a maths comparison, the average damage for acid arrow, scorching ray and shatter (all 2nd lvl), with and without Element Adept, assuming a 60% change to hit/fail save. Acid arrow w/o EA: 15 on hit, 5 on miss, average 11. Acid arrow w/ EA 16.5 on hit, 5.5 on miss, average 12.1 (+1.1 from feat) Scorching ray w/o EA: 21 on hit, 0 on miss, average 12.6. Scorching ray w/ WA: 22 on hit, 0 on miss, average 13.2 (+0.6 from feat) Shatter w/o EA: 13.5 on fail, 6.75 on success, average 10.8. Shatter w EA: 13.875 on fail, 6.9375 on success, average 11.1 (+0.3 from feat) also worth nothing that acid arrow scales by 2d4 (1d4 on miss) each spell level (average +4.4 per spell level with EA and 60% chance) which is exactly the same scaling as scorching ray with EA. If you have a lower chance to hit Acid arrow looks better, the tipping point being at 50% where acid arrow deals equal damage to scorching ray with EA at 2nd lvl, with better scaling +4.125 compared to +3.666. obviously higher chance to hit or advantage scorching ray remains the stronger spell. Not that I would recommend upcasting any of these spells really. Regardless it makes Elemental Adept much less of a feel-bad feat for the terrible "treat 1s as 2s" feature. (apologies if I made any mistakes with the maths, put it together pretty quickly)
@@miguelangelus959 To quote D&D beyond "At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the damage (both initial and later) increases by 1d4 for each slot level above 2nd." To me "(both initial and later)" means when cast at 3rd level it does 5d4 on a hit and 3d4 at the end of the next turn. for a total of 2d4 extra damage on a hit.
I love playing my Scribes Wizard, but the true power isn’t in the damage type change, it in the spell scrolls. Creating lots of resources that let you save spell slots is just amazing value.
As a current player of an Order of Scribes Plasmoid wizard, I very much look forward to this series. Knowing that I wanted to have armor that would not interfere with the ability to squeeze through one-inch holes meant I have to go Mage Armor or, whenever I can find them, the Barrier Tattoos from Tashas. I do wish damage types had some more relevance, beyond just "do enemies resist it", but I suppose the current system is generally easy to work around.
Have you considered the Crusher feat? It allows you to push people damaged by bludgeoning damage, so you can get some crowd control for your crowd control spells.
@@normal6483 I had not considered that. I intended to round off my CON mod with Res CON. Reading it, I think Crusher only works with Attack Rolls, not just all bludgeoning damage. Cool idea though.
Looking forward to the next video! My DM and I have had lots of discussions about what I should and should not be able to do with my Manifest Mind. For example: - Can I use it to Misty Step myself to a location 330 ft away? - Can I use it to Counterspell without being Counterspelled in turn? - Can I use it to cast spells through Leomund's Tiny Hut? Fun discussions. 😂
Hey, I had a party get captured and all their stuff taken, and the wizard lost his spell book. It isn't my fault that they decided not to look in the chests down the hall from their cells for their missing gear because "They might be mimics" and instead prioritized escape. They hadn't run into a mimic in that whole campaign.
Just attached your spellbook to a chain so you can release it when you need to access costly/consumed components. You won't be able to transmute those spells, but it's a small price to pay for the added benefit of the shield. The Flava Flav of Wizards. Or if we're staying nerdy, the Wizard equivalent of a retractable badge holder. Also worth noting that Thri-kreen are not affected by this issue due to the extra set of arms.
Currently playing an Eladrin Order of Scribes in Rime of the Frostmaiden. We just hit level 6, and it has already been very fun and potent, and I'm SO ready to make some use of Manifest mind! My first time playing a wizard, and your overview was a big influence in my decision to play this subclass. Haven't regretted it for a moment!
Scribe Wizards are argueably the best students you want. In a wizarding school, their understanding of Spells is beyond normal Wizard's comprehension. And they study, all the time, their book talks to them.
I'm playing a artificer 1/scribes wizard 3 and loving it. I didn't notice the issue with the spell casting focus and the shield until you brought it up and I don't know if I should bring it up to my DM or just let it lie... So thanks for the moral conudrum I guess. :)
You can use the replace your book feature to trade spells with other wizards. You spend an hour together while you copy 30 levels worth of spells from thier book. Then you just give them your book and after an agreed upon amount of time you just take a short rest and your book is back.
I love my Scribes wizard to pieces. The only thing I regret is taking a level of Artificer to get armor proficiency. If you have never played a long lasting campaign before, where your fellow players have adult lives and so do you.... Leveling up sucks. Because you are always one level behind on spell level. It really cannot be overstated HOW PAINFUL THIS IS!
Another way of looking at the ritual feature is that it's similar to the more recent feats and lineages that have something like "You learn X spell, can cast it once per long rest without expending a spell slot, and can also cast it normally using your spell slots". Only while things like Fey Touched or the MOTM Duergar typically give you two spells and one free casting of each, the Scribes feature only gives you one free casting total, but that free casting can be used on any spell from a dynamic curated list that grows as you add more ritual spells to your spellbook.
I’ve heard of people banning this subclass simply because they believe changing damage types is game breaking, in a game where the developers removed 90% of attribute weaknesses.
For the wizardly quill, I interpreted "writing surface" as nearly everything. My wizard would write notes on the dungeon walls with the quill because she had unlimited ink. If she spotted a trap door? Draw a big red outline around it. If there are multiple tunnels to follow, keep a little ink trail going so we'd know if we're going in circles. It was a fun exploration tool. Also giving the party's warforged warrior some neat tattoos to commemorate fallen party members (at his request). One way of using the quill that stands out in my mind is when we were in a wizard's tower, and one of the other PCs had stepped onto a spot and vanished. Since one of my background personality traits was echoing the sentiments of Madam Curie that nothing was to be feared but understood, my scribes wizard decided to go into the teleport second. She handed a few things off to one of the other party members, including the quill. And gave the express instructions to wait a moment and if the quill disappears, do not come through. That way it was a way to send a signal back to the party that this teleporter was not at all safe. Either my wizard would be dead (it would disappear) or she could create a new one (again, it would disappear). Also on the money-grubbing point: I made my scribes wizard a mountain dwarf, and took as part of the subrace the proficiency in Smithing tools, which then made the Fabricate spell a no-brainer spell choice because then with 10 minutes worth of work and the right raw materials, she could craft up a nice suit of Full Plate Armor to sell in any town rich enough to buy such a thing. (Even in poorer places, she could probably even afford to sell it much cheaper as long as it was more than the base materials cost her). It's a much less scummy option than using Disguise Self/Alter Self, selling the spellbook for a good price, then getting a blank spellbook to re-copy all the spells into the new book (which then erase them from the old book), rinse and repeat. Note: I didn't actually do that last one, but I would be lying if I said the idea hadn't occurred to me. Once that idea occurs to you, it'll be an ever-present temptation whether you act on it or not. It will always be there like: "I could use some more gold for copying new spells. What do I have that I can potentially sell for a lot of money, that I either don't need or can recover quite easily?" while holding that awakened spellbook in your hand.
"i'm in canada, she is not here" is fucking hilarious. But no joke, I'm happy to see so many great Canadian dnd RUclipsrs, even if it's Toronto and Alberta. :-p
the bad jokes per minute of this video is insanely high even for Chris, even if I didnt know what a D&D was, it's a video worth watching for the absurd humour alone
From the very moment I read the scribes wizard, I had to make one! I didn't even have a campaign for him yet. They truly are the "most Wizardly Wizard there ever was"!
As a note for you guys who want to do Force Damage 24/7 Lv 1: Magic Missile, Lv 2: Kinetic Jaunt, Lv 3: Pulse Wave, Lv 4: Dimension Door, Lv 5: Steel Wind Strike, Lv 6 Tenser's Transformation, Lv 7: Teleport, Lv 8: Dark Star, Lv 9: Black Blade of Disaster, Though a lot are in different books (mainly the Dunamancy CR book)
I've never understood the costs associated with copying spells. The wizard already has the spell book, so even if they need ink and a quill, the ideal that it costs hundreds of gold to copy what's on a single page scroll onto a single page of a book doesn't really work. Given how gold is generally either too scarce or too plentiful in a campaign it radically changes how many spells a wizard will have. Just make it an arbitrary cost of 1 gold of ink per spell level and make this feature give it for free and be done with it. As a side benefit, instead of a wizard's book being filled with optimal spells picked as they level, wizards will be a lot more open up adding niche spells they find during their adventures and that's a good thing.
I'm planning on playing an Order of Scribes wizard as my next character, going Tortle so that I do not need to take a dip for medium armor. Furthermore, I'm planning on playing him as what I'm calling a "Fist Wizard". I'm going to replace all damage types with Bludgeoning. Fireball becomes Fistball. Practically nothing has resistance to magical bludgeoning damage.
Here’s one very happy Scribes wizard watching your excellent video. Can’t wait for the second one. English isn’t my first language so I’m getting soo much from your vids. Thank you Treantmonk! ❤
My broke level two scribes wizard once traded his spellbook to a traveling merchant for a cloak of protection. That evening he had both a spellbook and a cloak of protection.😅
Honestly, my favorite part of Scribe Wizard is just renaming spells, xD. Like, one of my favorite was the legendary 1st-level spell... KNIFE KNIFE. A knife, that then explodes into smaller knives. Its Ice Knife dealing double Piercing.
A scribes wizard was my first D&D character. My DM let me ignore the spell level requirement for damage type switching so I wasn't forced into taking a bunch of blasting spells to take advantage of switching damage types.
I can see several circumstances where an in combat erase could be necessary. Create a map or report that someone else grabs, you can't retake it but in the fight you erase it and let them escape. Have the party face agree to selling a spell scroll to someone. When they can't cast it offer the Wizard as an option. Quill is a focus and casts the spell (erasing the scroll) "Oh, No. Must be a bad scroll."
I loved my Dwarf wizard in full plate (cleric 1 dip) to utilize the dwarf movement in full plate. Just seems like dwarf wizards would wear armor to me.
I feel like, 9 times out of 10, if the DM told me that something destroyed my spellbook, I would add "And it also killed my wizard. Give me ten minutes to roll up a new character." That said, depending on the context of your campaign, maintaining a backup like the book suggests might be reasonable.
A thri-kreen or simic hybrid can get around the free hands limitations for using a shield. They can main hand a sword and shield, then hold their spellbook and keep a free hand.
I just finished playing a scribes wizard, and I absolutely loved it. I played an Eladrin that was descended from both Feywild Elves and Devils that were all about magical contracts. He was the latest in the family business and often wrote contracts for warlock patrons and the like. Absolutely loved it, Scribes is my favorite wizard by far
I can think of one scenario where erasing something is useful in combat. Erasing your signature from a contract, infernal or otherwise. It's not likely to come up, granted but it's a thing. Or maybe erasing a word(s) of a spell scroll you write to change the spell entirely. Like unfurling a scroll, knowing it won't help in this instance and just erase all of the scroll and spend an action to scribe an entirely new spell... Not efficient, but possible. Actually, if you have a lenient enough DM, it might just take an action with a fail chance because you're scribing the scroll in a rush and might make a mistake on it.
Ok, so this is my argument: We know that copying a spell into the spell book from another wizards source takes 1) time , described as the copying and also time to figure out the spell 2) cost , because of inks and components to figure out the spell. So we also know if you are copying your own spell book that the cost is half and the time is half, now the inks are still required obviously but you don't need components to practice and figure out the spell. Thus the inks are half the cost of the copying, this is also reinforced by the fact that the savant abilities also cost half and half the time you obviously still need the ink and time to copy using the inks but apparently you can figure the spell out easily enough to not need components or time to account. Meaning that half the time and cost is in the inks and half is in the practice and figuring out the spell. Now using 1/60 the time means you cannot reasonably be practicing and figure out the spell. Also the time needed to be switching between different inks using the same quill would even take longer than this time so it must be using the inks it creates. Therefore I contend it doesn't mention cost because there is no cost. You aren't using components or additional inks. There is no cost. Anybody with me here?
Great video! Currently playing through Curse of Strahd with a 3 Scribes Wizard party and loving it! We're already desperately in need of gold to copy each other's level 3 spell picks, and Manifest Mind is a mere 1 level away...
Also, being able to copy your spellbook in 1 hour for free is really useful when you have the other kind of spellbooks you can copy into. Aka that you can transfer everything to a magic spellbook. And, technically, it would allow you to add to all your next spellbooks any spells that previously were in it without spending time and, most importantly, gold
Wait, so you're saying like...If you get an enemy spellbook, then just copy your old spellbook into the new one, and then you've effectively 'learned' all the new spells?
@@rallaa941 Not really. The combo only works if the spellbook is a magic spellbook that requires attunement, because it it isn't you can only copy in it if it's a blank spellbook
I've actually used the quills writing erasure as a trap to uncover a symbol since the color can be any color, i argued that it could be the exact color of the underground where the symbol was placed on, covered it with that ink, then when the need arouse used a bonus action to remove the ink, so the symbol went off. It requires planning and a somewhat lenient dm, but there are certainly SOME uses of it.
One thing I noted about the Book replacing feature is it's interaction with several of the Magic Spellbooks.
These Magic Spellbooks usually note they contain however many spells, so a Scribes wizard who transfers their spellbook's conciousness turns that book into their spellbook, automatically adding the new spells to their list since those spells are now in their spellbook. For Free.
But wait, there's more.
If you encounter another Magic Spellbook that you aren't going to use, but contains spells you want (Say if you're already using an Arcane Grimoire +1 but run into a Heart Weaver's primer), If you attune to both You can spend one short rest transferring the Conciousness into the Primer, Absorb the Spells, then another short rest transfering the conciousness BACK into the now Blank Grimoire. Since the Primer's spells were transferred into your spellbook, you just copied a 1st, 2 2nd, a 3rd, 2 5th and an 8th circle spell into your main spellbook, over the course of 2 hours, utterly free.
OMG. I don't think this would work in my current campaign because there's extra stuff going on with my book, but definitely something to keep in mind for the next scribes wizard I play!
Ingenious. Thanks for the heads up.
5:19 Hardest he’s made me laugh in a video. He’s a hell of an optimizer and as good of a comedian.
👍
💯
Holy crap, for real. I was laughing while walking home when I heard the girlfriend-monk joke
I had to replay what he said after that, missed it the first time laughing!
THAT WAS HILARIOUS KUDOS TO YOU TREANTMONK
Wall of Bludgeoning…
The mental image of conjuring a mostly solid brick wall covered in angry fists on one side is just too hilarious! 🤣
I have been forced to erase my writing in combat as a scribes wizard many times. I wrote little "attack me" signs on everyone's back, and I erase them to get enemies to attack the tank.. pull them over to the ranger, ect. It really sucks though having to be within 5 feet. And I would love to misty step to erase the writing but that's also a bonus action. I've started using a costly dimension door spell.
This is a solid tactic
I don’t understand how this is useful, why would enemies follow this advice/understand the language you wrote it in
@@hitchikerspie They wouldnt! Thats the joke
5:53 It is not entirely impossible, if that wizard is level 17 he could have used the wish spell to wish to have a girlfriend, although as a magic practitioner I would not recommend that, there is a 1/3 chance of not being able to cast the spell anymore, or worse it could still work but she could be someone crazy and extremely powerful. And well, a wizard wouldn't say "my girlfriend lives in Canada" I think it would be more like "my girlfriend lives on another plane of existence."
Yes, BUT, a typical DM would still twist the wish to ensure she's wearing monk pants.
Geralt did that once, see how that worked out for him.
Another plane of existence . . . like Canada!
“Gale used to the Wish spell to have Mystra as his girlfriend” is my new Baldur’s Gate 3 headcanon now.
Joke's on you... My Scribe Wizard *is* the girl.
Enlightening yet fun discussion of the features! My reservations about the Order of Scribes are similar to those I have about the new features of the UA Playtest 5 Wizard. Their main features are extremely dependent on loot (gold and spellbooks/scrolls). I would rather rely on self-dependent builds such that I don't risk getting frustrated with the DM or fellow players not helping my PC get the resources that I need for my (sub)class to flourish.
That's fair, but I will say, having played Curse of Strahd, Tomb of Annihilation, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Out of the Abyss, Lost Mines of Phandelver, a completely homebrew campaign, and just started a Tyranny of Dragons campaign, spell books and scrolls pop up a lot. Unless your DM sets out specifically to screw you over, you shouldn't have a problem getting extra spells
I’d also like to add that as a frequent Scribes Wizard player, this is never an issue really. Typically on a level up I pick one spell to always have prepared and then a second spell I pick for damage type if I feel I’ll reliably be able to find spell scrolls when I ask.
When money is tight all wizards are gimped somewhat, but you can still build a Scribes Wizard like any other Wizard and be fine.
Your ceiling is higher, but the floor didn’t get any lower really.
I think it could be a concern unless you know your DM. I have a level 5 scribes wizard and have found 0 spells and only have 47 GP. There is an option to buy a scroll, but then I would have to pay for the scroll and then pay again to copy it.
Strongly agree!
I always have to remind my GMs about dispensing scrolls, and often have to borrow from gold from other party members to scribe spells. Not because all my GMs are pricks (they're not, we're good friends), but because they often simply forget about this.
I hate constantly having to remind them and to beg money from other PCs when I'm playing a wizard. I wish this tradition of wizards having to spend extra gold on spell scribing would just go away already.
Clerics and Druids have their full spell lists available at a whim; the game won't break if Wizards could do the same. Trim their spell list to get rid of garbage spell bloat and they should be good to go.
I think damage types from a conceptual pov, in a spellbook, are specific ways of writing for each damage type. Scribes can switch that on the fly. So, switching resistances, in this case, is definitely possible, as the spell providing that resistance would have the same wording in terms of its damage type of another spell that would deliver that damage type as damage ( as opposed to granting resistance ). I think summon spells are different. You summon something that does not have its damage type in the spell you cast ( as in, does not include the magical words for that damage type ). It just summons something that does that damage.
So damage type is a "key word". And you can switch them on the fly.
As a scribes wizard, i appreciate this
Just played one for the first time tonight and it was amazing! Having watched many Treantmonk videos, I felt like I was more than prepared to play a halfling scribes wizard. Cheers, Chris!
As a turbo nerd, I also appreciate this
Spoiler warning: I found that one of the best possible campaigns to play a scribes wizard is Rime of the Frostmaiden. You're consistently picking up spellbooks or can be, finding scrolls of spells that are essentially only found in this campaign, exploring a cool long lost wizard city full of stuff you'll get a kick out of (staff of power😏), the final boss has vulnerabilities to differnt damage types in each phase
DUDE I am experiencing this right now. I feel so powerful.
Thanks Chris! Perfect timing haha. My next character is going to be a Scribes wizard.
Thanks Chris! Perfect timing haha. My next character is going to be a Battlesmith Artificer who's Steel Defender is a pair of Sunsoul Monk pants...
I'm sure that's what you meant write?
I don't know if anyone has already picked this up, but another benefit of the 2nd level Order of Scribes feature Wizardry Quill is that you (practically) never fail to transcribe spells from scrolls into your spellbook. RAW, you have to roll an Arcana check with a DC = 10 + spell level, in order to successfully transcribe a spell from a scroll into your spellbook. It is very disappointing to spend all the transcription costs (50gp/level) and sacrifice a possibly high level spell scroll (thousands of gp) only to fail at this roll! Not so for Order of Scribes: just ask your buddy (cleric, sorcerer, etc.) to cast Enhance Ability (EA) on you. As the maximum transcription time is 2*9 = 18 minutes for you, the task will technically be within the duration of EA (1 hour) and you should have advantage on the check. No more lost spell scrolls for you, which I find very thematic ;)
I like the examples for spells, whose mechanic yearn for another damage type, and the spells to get them from.
You could make a short video, just for them.
The best thing about the ability to switch out damage types is that you can combine things that would normally be difficult. So for instance you can 'Necroball' a bunch of creatures you have caught in a Web spell AND NOT BURN UP THE WEB!
They'll have disadvantage on Dex saves from being Restrained and instead of burning up the web they will just be stuck taking a bunch of Necrotic damage.
Oh this is an insane combo I love it
RAW Necroball still "ignites flammable objects in the area" even though the damage type is not fire.
@@Similacrest So you have 1 round where they're taking fire damage but still held in place. Still a net gain as opposed to the damage outright destroying the webs.
One of the more interesting lore-related things about the damage type ability is that it implies something about how magic works. You can only substitute a damage type with a spell of the same level, which means there’s some specific difference when formulating spells between 3rd-level fire damage and 4th-level fire damage. Weird.
I imagine it like the magic version of particle physics and how you have different energy levels of electrons or something.
I imagine that spells of a certain level have a similar spell nomenclature/order of components so this discerning wizard can isolate the damage type because of it's placement and replace it with the damage sequence of the same level because it can fit in the same place. A different spell level will mess up the pattern too much and would be too risky to try.
Or like the Laws of Thermodynamics, where energy can only decrease from the ideal scenario. If you cast a spell that’s normally fire but want to deliver force, if you use a lower-level force damage spell, you’d get lower-level damage. But the converse, using a higher-level spell for the damage type wouldn’t convey that higher damage level. It would be the same at best, and chaos (entropy, in thermodynamics terms) would spoil things and make it even worse.
Being able to erase what was written with the quill as a bonus action is a real liability if you're wizard gets mind controlled in combat... but only if you've REALLY pissed off the DM recently lol
Our group's perpetual evoker fire wizard made herself a scribes wizard this time, and she's having so much fun with it. Just the damage type changing alone has opened avenues of "there are other damage types beyond fire", but Manifest Mind is wonderful.
_Makes Eye Contact; Turns Magic Missile into Fire Damage_
You can tell Treantmonk missed telling jokes on his videos. I normally watch the videos for the D&D rules analysis, but this one was hillarius!
The comedy was on point for this one, I laughed out loud multiple times. It's as if I was being tickled by some sort of forceful hands.
We’ve all probably taken damage from Tasha’s (or Bigby’s) Piercing Laughter on an airplane or in a restaurant before…
The Scribes Wizard is definitely one of my favorites, but I couldn't help but fall in love with the War Wizard. It is so unspecific you can do anything with it
100% agree on how to deal with the damage switching. Type is singular, only one type. Never specifies damage dealt, you can switch a resistance. It makes it so worthwhile collecting multi-type spells, and having a solid blast/resist at each level.
Treantmonk this is the funniest and most entertaining script you've ever written. I was wheezing the whole time, thank you and keep it up!
Another great use of the instant ritual is for gentle repose. Ten minutes to cast it means you're too slow to keep the body fresh enough for a revivify.
I play a crystal dragonborn scribes wizard currently, started at level 5. Being able to change damage types on my battlefield control spells has been very useful and fun. Early on, my main spell for controlling the battlefield was Flaming Sphere shifted to cold damage, which at my table is now affectionately known as "Flaming Snowball." It still sets things on fire even when doing another damage type. Also, using the ritual speedcasting feature allows me to set up my Hut in a single minute prior to combat without using a spell slot; excellent for ambushes or premeditated combats that are less than eleven minutes in the future. And since you can cast through the Manifest Mind familiar, I can still cast spells on my turn targeting enemies outside the Hut while they cannot do the same to me (too bad you can't do the same for Counterspell...).
I made a scribes wizard to run for a few sessions as my main character was away from the party. It was really fun. I made her a nerdy fanfic romance novelist with a crush on one of the party members. It was quite a fun subclass that does a good job of creating the fantasy of the character.
Good content paired with good humor. 😄👍🏻
How in the *world*... Was this video member only for 4 months?!
@@CanisMythson I'm a patron. I saw the video when it was first created. 😉 Normally, the turnaround time is short. This one was in the queue for a while.
This is honestly the most entertaining video you've ever made! Loved it.
Thanks for making this video, Chris. Scribes is an interesting and evocative subclass and one of my favorites. Even if a DM insisted that damage types can only be switched with spells that specifically deliver a damage type, and you can only apply this switch to spells that deliver damage (so eliminating using protection from energy) it's still a great feature.
Very nice, this video is so hilarious! The best part is comparing Stephen King and George R. R. Martin 😂
Priceless!
Now I really want to run a prison break scene where the party is captured and the warden burns the wizard’s spellbook in front of them, thinking they’ll no longer be a threat, only for the party to bust down his door three hours later with the barbarian carrying the bed from their cell completely inscribed with runes and magical writing because the scribes wizard made that bed their spellbook and cast knock on their cell door 😂
Also, after successfully escaping the Eldritch Knight with Tavern Brawler feat weapon bonds with the bed and can always summon it to hand, massive sleepover top and tailing with the catnap spell...
This is beautiful!😢
Leave it to Treantmonk to explain non-Deception based, mechanically viable gaslighting. An excellent feature for a low Charisma class like the Wizard.
Reason to track when you can erase ink.
NPC: "I cast Suggestion on the Wizard and tell them to erase their whole spellbook."
I'm playing scribes wizard in my current game. I did a little bit of damage type switching at the earlier levels, but it's been more recent that I've really took advantage of it.
Our group has been fighting a lot of these homebrew flame cultist guys that the DM had made vulnerable to cold damage, so specifically picked some spells for my last couple levelups that let me switch most of my go-to spells into cold.
Now my wizard is blasting out Frost Missiles and Endothermic Fireballs constantly. Makes sense for his backstory too, since he's a bookworm he'd rather not throw fire around willy nilly and possibly destroy precious written knowledge.
the Wizardly Quill section had me laughing out loud. thanks for your constant great work on this channel!!
Okay, 500 bonus points for the Canadian Girlfriend joke from a Canadian. 😂😂😂
Discounting spells that take so long you wouldn't use them in combat, the spells wizards can cast that both require a costly material component and do damage the turn you cast them are: Booming Blade, Green-Flame Blade, Steel Wind Strike, Mordenkainen's Sword, Chromatic Orb, Circle of Death, Dawn, and Draconic Transformation.
For the last bullet point on Wizardly Quill it feels like they took into account something I always overlooked until this video which is you can erase anything you write with the quill. I do find the needing a bonus action bit a little excessive but the 5 feet of you bit I understand. If I am an Order of Scribes wizard I most likely write all of my spells using my quill and this is for this very rare moments where a DM remembers that a wizard's arcane knowledge can be stolen, you don't just get to suddenly erase everything from some obscene distance. Excessive yes, needed probably not, understandable sure.
Oh, I thought based on a misreading of the thumbnail this video would be about damage spells with control elements, such as Rime's Binding Ice or Tidal Wave. Could also be interesting as a video topic one day, perhaps?
30 minute Treantmonk video? My day is saved!
glad you're giving the Order of Scribes an in-depth series! i've always loved it for the same reason as you - it's hard NOT to think of it as the most wizardly subclass.
I love this wizard, looking forward to see your deep dives on his other abilities
Loved the video. The shtick with forceful hands and book nerd was great! LOL. I have always loved this class, but had never considered using defensive spells to gain access to damage type. Nice work Treantmonk.
Great video! It was nice to see one of my least favorite rules (the somatic component thing) mentioned and to see you are also dissatisfied with it!
This is perfect. As a wizard player, I greatly appreciate this. Although I'd love to see you try your hand with the psi warrior (because we all like the idea of a jedi knight). I've always felt it is comparable to the eldritch knight but I've no idea how to optimize it. My go to idea woud be to try and somehow combine it with the soulknife rogue.
Even though soulknife also has psi-dice, they are to be considered completely seperate resources, imagine one was called psi-dice and the other force-dice or whatever. So there is little mechanical reason to combine them. If you want to do it anyway, it isn't like your character will be bad though.
A quick look at psi-knight shows us, that we want a good intelligence. Unlike eldritch knight, who can pick spells that don't care about what your intelligence is, psi-knight features do care.
So you probably want strength as your main stat, and int and con as your secondary stats. After that, dex helps initative, and wisdom is an important save, you should probably let others do the talking, so charisma goes last.
For feats it is the usual suspects for a fighter:
- heavy weapon master (You don't have any inherent boost to accuracy, goes up in value if your party can help you out with a bless spell or similar, also if you plan on multiclassing barbarian)
- polearm master (Very strong early game, goes down in value if your reaction and bonus action is going to be used a lot, eg. if you multiclass wizard and pick up the shield spell, and misty step, or if your race gives you a bonus action or reaction)
- sentinel (mostly if you chose polearm master)
- resilient wisdom (probably never your first feat, but around level 8+, having good wisdom saves is amazing, very sad to run away from the dragon rather than towards it).
- fey-touched (Nice way to pick up some spells, and also round up your int, if it was an odd number, bless can be an amazing spell)
- telekinetic (Nice way to round up your int if it was an odd number. Especially good if your bonus action is not otherwise spoken for, and also good if you have spellcasters with nice area spells to shove people into.)
Obviously you cannot pick all those feats, it depends on what you want to do, and watch your action economy, try to make it so you have some good reactions and bonus actions, but don't overstuck on one of them. Eg. telekinetic and polearm master don't go together, because they both grant you very spamable bonus actions.
For multiclassing, you can consider:
3-5 levels of wizard, you already have the good int. Picking up the shield spell is always nice. I like the warcaster subclass when dipping in, but divination is always strong choice as well.
2-4 levels of barbarian: Reckless attack is really good with heavy weapon master, just be aware you cannot wear heavy armor and rage, putting you in medium armor, meaning your probably low dex will hurt you. But you get to use your psi-abilities even while raging, which is cool. (probably don't do this with a wizard dip, pick one or the other.) Really good if you somehow get decent dex. eg rolling for stats.
Most other multiclassing you probably won't have the stats to do, but picking up bless is nice if you can.
Anyway, all this is just ideas or a starting point. Most advice about building a good fighter will also apply to psi-knight. The biggest difference is your int will be higher.
You also do get more flexibility than most fighters, eg. If you pick something like polearm master, that spends a lot of your reactions, use your psi-dice for damage boost. If on the other hand you pick something that doesn't eat reactions, such as the barbarian path, you already have a nice built in reaction for protection and won't miss the shield spell quite as much as another fighter would.
I had an idea to multiclass Psi Warrior 5/Artificer Battlesmith 3/Psi Warrior X. It gives you INT based attacks, Shield and Absorb Elements, and the options to do a version of Treantmonk's "Chuck" build that throws axes. Haven't tried it out yet though.
@@jacobstevens7548 I can see this working rather well. Sounds like fun.
excellent tips and summary, also with Int high your background and or ancestry you can choose Intelligence skills unlike most warriors which is a nice little lore dump for you and the DM.@@peterrasmussen4428
Check out Coby from D4 Deep Dive. He has a video on this exact combination.
My favourite spells to change the damage type of are vitriolic sphere and melfs acid arrows, both deal some of least reliable damage types but critically deal their damage in d4s.
The key thing about d4s is they benefit the most from the elemental adept feat because turning a 1 into a 2 is best when 1s are rolled more often. D4s go from an average of 2.5 to an average of 2.75.
So if you are playing a character really focussed on one damage type which is a fun archetype to play you get the most benefit from this subclass and the elemental adept feat using d4 based spells. I love when class features can make underused spells valuable.
for a maths comparison, the average damage for acid arrow, scorching ray and shatter (all 2nd lvl), with and without Element Adept, assuming a 60% change to hit/fail save.
Acid arrow w/o EA:
15 on hit, 5 on miss, average 11.
Acid arrow w/ EA
16.5 on hit, 5.5 on miss, average 12.1 (+1.1 from feat)
Scorching ray w/o EA:
21 on hit, 0 on miss, average 12.6.
Scorching ray w/ WA:
22 on hit, 0 on miss, average 13.2 (+0.6 from feat)
Shatter w/o EA:
13.5 on fail, 6.75 on success, average 10.8.
Shatter w EA:
13.875 on fail, 6.9375 on success, average 11.1 (+0.3 from feat)
also worth nothing that acid arrow scales by 2d4 (1d4 on miss) each spell level (average +4.4 per spell level with EA and 60% chance) which is exactly the same scaling as scorching ray with EA.
If you have a lower chance to hit Acid arrow looks better, the tipping point being at 50% where acid arrow deals equal damage to scorching ray with EA at 2nd lvl, with better scaling +4.125 compared to +3.666. obviously higher chance to hit or advantage scorching ray remains the stronger spell.
Not that I would recommend upcasting any of these spells really.
Regardless it makes Elemental Adept much less of a feel-bad feat for the terrible "treat 1s as 2s" feature.
(apologies if I made any mistakes with the maths, put it together pretty quickly)
Acid arrow does not scale by 2d4 each spell level. It only scales by 1d4
@@miguelangelus959
To quote D&D beyond
"At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the damage (both initial and later) increases by 1d4 for each slot level above 2nd."
To me "(both initial and later)" means when cast at 3rd level it does 5d4 on a hit and 3d4 at the end of the next turn. for a total of 2d4 extra damage on a hit.
I love playing my Scribes Wizard, but the true power isn’t in the damage type change, it in the spell scrolls.
Creating lots of resources that let you save spell slots is just amazing value.
As a current player of an Order of Scribes Plasmoid wizard, I very much look forward to this series. Knowing that I wanted to have armor that would not interfere with the ability to squeeze through one-inch holes meant I have to go Mage Armor or, whenever I can find them, the Barrier Tattoos from Tashas.
I do wish damage types had some more relevance, beyond just "do enemies resist it", but I suppose the current system is generally easy to work around.
Have you considered the Crusher feat? It allows you to push people damaged by bludgeoning damage, so you can get some crowd control for your crowd control spells.
@@normal6483 I had not considered that. I intended to round off my CON mod with Res CON. Reading it, I think Crusher only works with Attack Rolls, not just all bludgeoning damage. Cool idea though.
Looking forward to the next video! My DM and I have had lots of discussions about what I should and should not be able to do with my Manifest Mind. For example:
- Can I use it to Misty Step myself to a location 330 ft away?
- Can I use it to Counterspell without being Counterspelled in turn?
- Can I use it to cast spells through Leomund's Tiny Hut?
Fun discussions. 😂
I love the scribes wizard, and digging into it this deeply really has me wondering who in their right mind wrote this subclass.
Hey, I had a party get captured and all their stuff taken, and the wizard lost his spell book. It isn't my fault that they decided not to look in the chests down the hall from their cells for their missing gear because "They might be mimics" and instead prioritized escape. They hadn't run into a mimic in that whole campaign.
Just attached your spellbook to a chain so you can release it when you need to access costly/consumed components. You won't be able to transmute those spells, but it's a small price to pay for the added benefit of the shield. The Flava Flav of Wizards. Or if we're staying nerdy, the Wizard equivalent of a retractable badge holder.
Also worth noting that Thri-kreen are not affected by this issue due to the extra set of arms.
Chris coming into his stride here! Keep it up, you had me loling!
Currently playing an Eladrin Order of Scribes in Rime of the Frostmaiden. We just hit level 6, and it has already been very fun and potent, and I'm SO ready to make some use of Manifest mind! My first time playing a wizard, and your overview was a big influence in my decision to play this subclass. Haven't regretted it for a moment!
Scribe Wizards are argueably the best students you want. In a wizarding school, their understanding of Spells is beyond normal Wizard's comprehension. And they study, all the time, their book talks to them.
Perfect perfect perfect timing I’ve been obsessing over building a scribe wizard for the last week
I'm playing a artificer 1/scribes wizard 3 and loving it. I didn't notice the issue with the spell casting focus and the shield until you brought it up and I don't know if I should bring it up to my DM or just let it lie... So thanks for the moral conudrum I guess. :)
The intro comedy section had me rolling, dude. I had to reply some parts because I laughed over the important bits.
You can use the replace your book feature to trade spells with other wizards. You spend an hour together while you copy 30 levels worth of spells from thier book. Then you just give them your book and after an agreed upon amount of time you just take a short rest and your book is back.
i played only from level 9 to 11 but i fall in love with this subclass, its the one that get insane value out of downtime
Chris' Forcing Hands: The Caster must make a Persuasion Check or all targets within 30ft gain the Frightened Condition.
Your videos have always been interesting, instructive, and insightful. They continue to also get even more entertaining and amusing. Well done!
I love my Scribes wizard to pieces. The only thing I regret is taking a level of Artificer to get armor proficiency. If you have never played a long lasting campaign before, where your fellow players have adult lives and so do you.... Leveling up sucks. Because you are always one level behind on spell level. It really cannot be overstated HOW PAINFUL THIS IS!
except I bet you passed many concentration checks due to your higher AC and constitution proficiency...swings and roundabouts and all that.
Another way of looking at the ritual feature is that it's similar to the more recent feats and lineages that have something like "You learn X spell, can cast it once per long rest without expending a spell slot, and can also cast it normally using your spell slots". Only while things like Fey Touched or the MOTM Duergar typically give you two spells and one free casting of each, the Scribes feature only gives you one free casting total, but that free casting can be used on any spell from a dynamic curated list that grows as you add more ritual spells to your spellbook.
I’ve heard of people banning this subclass simply because they believe changing damage types is game breaking, in a game where the developers removed 90% of attribute weaknesses.
For the wizardly quill, I interpreted "writing surface" as nearly everything. My wizard would write notes on the dungeon walls with the quill because she had unlimited ink. If she spotted a trap door? Draw a big red outline around it. If there are multiple tunnels to follow, keep a little ink trail going so we'd know if we're going in circles. It was a fun exploration tool. Also giving the party's warforged warrior some neat tattoos to commemorate fallen party members (at his request).
One way of using the quill that stands out in my mind is when we were in a wizard's tower, and one of the other PCs had stepped onto a spot and vanished. Since one of my background personality traits was echoing the sentiments of Madam Curie that nothing was to be feared but understood, my scribes wizard decided to go into the teleport second. She handed a few things off to one of the other party members, including the quill. And gave the express instructions to wait a moment and if the quill disappears, do not come through. That way it was a way to send a signal back to the party that this teleporter was not at all safe. Either my wizard would be dead (it would disappear) or she could create a new one (again, it would disappear).
Also on the money-grubbing point: I made my scribes wizard a mountain dwarf, and took as part of the subrace the proficiency in Smithing tools, which then made the Fabricate spell a no-brainer spell choice because then with 10 minutes worth of work and the right raw materials, she could craft up a nice suit of Full Plate Armor to sell in any town rich enough to buy such a thing. (Even in poorer places, she could probably even afford to sell it much cheaper as long as it was more than the base materials cost her). It's a much less scummy option than using Disguise Self/Alter Self, selling the spellbook for a good price, then getting a blank spellbook to re-copy all the spells into the new book (which then erase them from the old book), rinse and repeat. Note: I didn't actually do that last one, but I would be lying if I said the idea hadn't occurred to me. Once that idea occurs to you, it'll be an ever-present temptation whether you act on it or not. It will always be there like: "I could use some more gold for copying new spells. What do I have that I can potentially sell for a lot of money, that I either don't need or can recover quite easily?" while holding that awakened spellbook in your hand.
"i'm in canada, she is not here" is fucking hilarious.
But no joke, I'm happy to see so many great Canadian dnd RUclipsrs, even if it's Toronto and Alberta. :-p
A single dip in tempest wizard... is insane with this subclass. maximise your thunder/lightning damage... from a fireball.
finally, stoneskin is useful!
Also could be funny to change scorching ray to bludgeoning to trigger Crusher
The King vs GRRM reference had me in stitches. Still waiting for those Winds, George...
the bad jokes per minute of this video is insanely high even for Chris, even if I didnt know what a D&D was, it's a video worth watching for the absurd humour alone
From the very moment I read the scribes wizard, I had to make one! I didn't even have a campaign for him yet. They truly are the "most Wizardly Wizard there ever was"!
Still taking my knowledge cleric dip with this. I gotta have 2 expertise ( arcana and history) over other people, it’s a bookworm must have
I took arcana expertise via Skill Expert. (And Acrobatics Proficiency and INT+1).
As a note for you guys who want to do Force Damage 24/7
Lv 1: Magic Missile,
Lv 2: Kinetic Jaunt,
Lv 3: Pulse Wave,
Lv 4: Dimension Door,
Lv 5: Steel Wind Strike,
Lv 6 Tenser's Transformation,
Lv 7: Teleport,
Lv 8: Dark Star,
Lv 9: Black Blade of Disaster,
Though a lot are in different books (mainly the Dunamancy CR book)
This is one of your funniest vids ever. “Prepare to be Forceballed!”
So glad to see a video more focused on Scribes! I'm playing one now, and just hit level 6 at the end of last session, so can't wait for the next vid!
I've never understood the costs associated with copying spells. The wizard already has the spell book, so even if they need ink and a quill, the ideal that it costs hundreds of gold to copy what's on a single page scroll onto a single page of a book doesn't really work.
Given how gold is generally either too scarce or too plentiful in a campaign it radically changes how many spells a wizard will have.
Just make it an arbitrary cost of 1 gold of ink per spell level and make this feature give it for free and be done with it.
As a side benefit, instead of a wizard's book being filled with optimal spells picked as they level, wizards will be a lot more open up adding niche spells they find during their adventures and that's a good thing.
I'm planning on playing an Order of Scribes wizard as my next character, going Tortle so that I do not need to take a dip for medium armor.
Furthermore, I'm planning on playing him as what I'm calling a "Fist Wizard". I'm going to replace all damage types with Bludgeoning. Fireball becomes Fistball. Practically nothing has resistance to magical bludgeoning damage.
Thanks Treantmonk! Great video, as always ❤
Here’s one very happy Scribes wizard watching your excellent video. Can’t wait for the second one. English isn’t my first language so I’m getting soo much from your vids. Thank you Treantmonk! ❤
5:55
“Don’t tell me she’s in Canada, I’m IN Canada. I will tell you she is not here.”
Chris I’m dying bro that’s so good.
My broke level two scribes wizard once traded his spellbook to a traveling merchant for a cloak of protection. That evening he had both a spellbook and a cloak of protection.😅
Honestly, my favorite part of Scribe Wizard is just renaming spells, xD. Like, one of my favorite was the legendary 1st-level spell... KNIFE KNIFE. A knife, that then explodes into smaller knives. Its Ice Knife dealing double Piercing.
Ha you didn't trick me into watching this video.
I always listen to them as soon as they drop 😊
I had a great time with this one. Great jokes, made with love for your favorite class. Loved it.
A scribes wizard was my first D&D character. My DM let me ignore the spell level requirement for damage type switching so I wasn't forced into taking a bunch of blasting spells to take advantage of switching damage types.
I love this subclass, it’s my favorite.
I’m very happy to see it getting the props it deserves.
This channel have one of the most insane view/like ratio... And that's well deserved !
I can see several circumstances where an in combat erase could be necessary.
Create a map or report that someone else grabs, you can't retake it but in the fight you erase it and let them escape.
Have the party face agree to selling a spell scroll to someone. When they can't cast it offer the Wizard as an option. Quill is a focus and casts the spell (erasing the scroll) "Oh, No. Must be a bad scroll."
My first scribes wizard session is this Monday, talk about perfect timing
I loved my Dwarf wizard in full plate (cleric 1 dip) to utilize the dwarf movement in full plate. Just seems like dwarf wizards would wear armor to me.
I feel like, 9 times out of 10, if the DM told me that something destroyed my spellbook, I would add "And it also killed my wizard. Give me ten minutes to roll up a new character."
That said, depending on the context of your campaign, maintaining a backup like the book suggests might be reasonable.
A thri-kreen or simic hybrid can get around the free hands limitations for using a shield. They can main hand a sword and shield, then hold their spellbook and keep a free hand.
I just finished playing a scribes wizard, and I absolutely loved it. I played an Eladrin that was descended from both Feywild Elves and Devils that were all about magical contracts. He was the latest in the family business and often wrote contracts for warlock patrons and the like. Absolutely loved it, Scribes is my favorite wizard by far
One of my favorite videos from you ever
I can think of one scenario where erasing something is useful in combat. Erasing your signature from a contract, infernal or otherwise. It's not likely to come up, granted but it's a thing. Or maybe erasing a word(s) of a spell scroll you write to change the spell entirely. Like unfurling a scroll, knowing it won't help in this instance and just erase all of the scroll and spend an action to scribe an entirely new spell... Not efficient, but possible. Actually, if you have a lenient enough DM, it might just take an action with a fail chance because you're scribing the scroll in a rush and might make a mistake on it.
Ok, so this is my argument:
We know that copying a spell into the spell book from another wizards source takes 1) time , described as the copying and also time to figure out the spell 2) cost , because of inks and components to figure out the spell. So we also know if you are copying your own spell book that the cost is half and the time is half, now the inks are still required obviously but you don't need components to practice and figure out the spell. Thus the inks are half the cost of the copying, this is also reinforced by the fact that the savant abilities also cost half and half the time you obviously still need the ink and time to copy using the inks but apparently you can figure the spell out easily enough to not need components or time to account. Meaning that half the time and cost is in the inks and half is in the practice and figuring out the spell. Now using 1/60 the time means you cannot reasonably be practicing and figure out the spell. Also the time needed to be switching between different inks using the same quill would even take longer than this time so it must be using the inks it creates. Therefore I contend it doesn't mention cost because there is no cost. You aren't using components or additional inks. There is no cost.
Anybody with me here?
Wizards refusing to address spell components is one more nail in the coffin for me.
Praying for DC20 to be a hit :D
Great video! Currently playing through Curse of Strahd with a 3 Scribes Wizard party and loving it! We're already desperately in need of gold to copy each other's level 3 spell picks, and Manifest Mind is a mere 1 level away...
Also, being able to copy your spellbook in 1 hour for free is really useful when you have the other kind of spellbooks you can copy into.
Aka that you can transfer everything to a magic spellbook. And, technically, it would allow you to add to all your next spellbooks any spells that previously were in it without spending time and, most importantly, gold
Wait, so you're saying like...If you get an enemy spellbook, then just copy your old spellbook into the new one, and then you've effectively 'learned' all the new spells?
@@rallaa941 Not really. The combo only works if the spellbook is a magic spellbook that requires attunement, because it it isn't you can only copy in it if it's a blank spellbook
A spell I always look at adding for a Scribe wizard is Spirit Shroud. Gives you access to Radiant on Fireball.
I've actually used the quills writing erasure as a trap to uncover a symbol since the color can be any color, i argued that it could be the exact color of the underground where the symbol was placed on, covered it with that ink, then when the need arouse used a bonus action to remove the ink, so the symbol went off. It requires planning and a somewhat lenient dm, but there are certainly SOME uses of it.