Multiclassing: Dip Out of Wizard - What Spells Should You Choose?

May 1

Wizards in Dungeons & Dragons 5e have the most extensive spell list in the game, but with that said, there are some holes in their knowledge. They have no healing spells, their list of spells that do radiant damage is really short, and interactions with woodland creatures can be quite limited.

This will only be about doing a dip into another spellcaster class. A dip is only one or two levels of a new class, so we’ll only look at cantrips and first-level spells that are made available. We’ll focus on the full casters and not the half-casters, since multiclassing into a half-caster can seriously damage your character’s spell slot acquisition. With Wizard being your primary character class and spellcasting is the wizards primary ability, nerfing their spells slots is not the best idea. Rangers and Paladins do not pick up spellcasting until second level so it would require a two-level dip if you went that route.

Given the multiclassing rules, you will have to design your character with a thought to how you place your character stats. You need a 13 in the main stat of the character class you are in and the one you want to move into. So, a Wizard will need a 13 Intelligence to begin with, then will need a 13 in the class they are multiclassing into, Wisdom (for Druid and Cleric) or Charisma (for Bard, Sorcerer, and Warlock). Artificers use Intelligence for their spellcasting, so no special stat placement is needed to multiclass into it.

From the point of view of pure numbers, dipping into Cleric opens up the most spells to choose from. Mechanics-wise, the Artificer is the easiest to dip into since they share the same prerequisite of Intelligence. If you don’t want to have to deal with the multiclass spellcaster spell slot table then Warlock makes the most sense, since Warlock and Wizard spell slots are generated differently.

If you choose your spells carefully, then your spell DC for your new class won’t matter. If you keep your offensive spells in Wizard and use your multiclass to pick up more utility-type spells then it won’t matter if the spellcasting ability score is only the minimum.

I am not going to tier list each of the spells since the reason for the dip will be either story-based or you are trying to shore up a deficiency of the party. I am going to call out whether or not the spell allows a saving throw, requires a spell attack, or the spell modifier has an effect on the spell. This should help you decide which spells will work best with your character or give you some insight on how to allocate your ability scores to maximize the dip.

Here is the key for the spells below:

1 Target allowed a saving throw

2 Requires a spell attack roll

3 Add your spellcasting ability modifier to the result

Bolded spells and cantrips require no saving throws or spell attack rolls

Artificer Spells and Cantrips: (4 cantrips & 5 spells):

Guidance
Poison Spray 1
Resistance
Thorn Whip 2
Cure Wounds 3
Faerie Fire 1
Purify Food and Drink
Sanctuary 1
Snare 1

Artificer does not open up too many spells, but, again, they share the same spellcaster ability score. Guidance is a very useful cantrip and Cure Wounds is always needed especially if your party lacks a primary healer.

Bard Spells and Cantrips: (1 cantrip & 9 spells):

Vicious Mockery 1
Animal Friendship 1
Bane 1
Command 1
Cure Wounds 3
Dissonant Whispers 1
Faerie Fire 1
Healing Word 3
Heroism 3
Speak with Animals

Only one spell from the Bard list is not affected by a low spellcaster ability score. I am a big fan of both Vicious Mockery and Dissonant Whispers, but if your Charisma score is the minimum then this will hamstring their effectiveness. The option to pick up two healing spells is very useful.

Cleric Spells and Cantrips: (6 cantrips & 17 spells):

Guidance
Resistance
Sacred Flame 1
Spare the Dying
Thaumaturgy
Word of Radiance 1
Bane 1
Bless
Ceremony
Command 1
Create or Destroy Water
Cure Wounds 3
Detect Evil and Good
Detect Poison and Disease
Faerie Fire 1 (Light Domain Cleric)
Guiding Bolt 2
Healing Word 3
Heroism 3 (Light Domain Cleric)
Inflict Wounds 2
Purify Food and Drink
Sanctuary 1
Searing Smite 1 (Forge Domain Cleric)
Shield of Faith

There is so much that is appealing about dipping into Cleric. Your Wisdom is probably relatively good since Wizards are proficient in Wisdom saving throws. Clerics provide the most options for spells that you can choose from and they get to pick their subclass at first level. Even if you don’t have the most impressive Wisdom ability score there are still plenty of spells to choose from that are unaffected by a low modifier or spell DC.

Druid Spells and Cantrips: (8 cantrips & 12 spells):

Druidcraft
Guidance
Magic Stone 2
Primal Savagery 2
Produce Flame 2
Resistance
Shillelagh 3
Thorn Whip 2
Animal Friendship 1
Beast Bond
Create or Destroy Water
Cure Wounds 3
Detect Poison and Disease
Entangle 1
Faerie Fire 1
Goodberry
Healing Word 3
Purify Food and Drink
Snare 1
Speak with Animals

Similar to the Cleric, there are several spells to choose from, but Druids don’t choose their Druidic Circle until second level so you’ll want to think about taking two levels. In a campaign that spends most of its time in the wilds of the world, then Druid can offer some very good spells to help, for instance, Goodberry and Speak with Animals.

Sorcerer Spells and Cantrips: (3 spells):

Arms of Hadar (Aberrant Mind) 1
Chaos Bolt (Aberrant Mind) 2
Dissonant Whispers 1

Unless you pick the Sorcerer Origins of the Aberrant Mind, then you only get one additional spell to add to your spell list. You would not choose Sorcerer unless you wanted the metamagic ability, but that would be more than a dip. Unless you picked up the feat Metamagic Adept and take two levels of Sorcerer to get two more sorcery points. The earliest this would come online would be sixth level, unless you are a variant human, then it would be fourth level.

Warlock spells: (2 cantrips & 4 spells):

Eldritch Blast 2
Magic Stone 2
Arms of Hadar 1
Hellish Rebuke 1
Hex
Sanctuary 1 (Otherworldly Patron - The Genie - Dao)
Snare 1
Wrathful Smite 1 (Otherworldly Patron - The Hexblade)

Warlock only opens up six additional spells with only one of them not being affected by the minimum spellcasting ability. I would suggest taking two levels if you took this option since you would have two first level Warlock spell slots plus two Invocations.

Let me know about any dips you’ve taken as a Wizard in the comments below. My Wizard, Hops, nearly dipped into Warlock after helping a powerful fey, but his Charisma was too low to multiclass and he was about to pick up his first fifth level spell slot, so I decided not to go that way.

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