Wizards are masters of magic in Baldur’s Gate 3, manipulating the elements and bending arcane forces to their will. Here’s our Wizard class guide to help you out.
Note: For more information, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 guides and features hub as well as our character creation guide. Likewise, please be reminded that this guide is intended for the game’s Early Access stage. Some information and mechanics might change in due course.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Wizard class and spells guide
Are you ready to burn enemies to a crisp, freeze them to death, or zap them with lightning? Then the Wizard class in Baldur’s Gate 3 will offer you a lot of options in this regard. Here are the class’ features:
- Spell Slots Unlocked — Gain two level 1 spell slots; restored on rest.
- Saving Throw Proficiency: Intelligence, Wisdom
- Weapon Proficiency: Dagger, Dart, Sling, Quarterstaff, Light Crossbow
- Action: Arcane Recovery — Once per day out of combat, replenish extended spell slots which allow you to cast spells.
Note 1: Each time the Wizard class levels up, it gains HP based on its Constitution stat plus a d6 (6-sided) dice roll. Yep, out of all the starter classes in Baldur’s Gate 3, the Wizard will have the lowest dice roll coefficients when it comes to extra HP each level-up.
Note 2: The Wizard does not have subclasses available at character creation. Instead, you can choose to become part of the Abjuration School or the Evocation School once you reach level 2.
Cantrips
The Wizard class in Baldur’s Gate 3 has 12 cantrips available. You may choose three during character creation:
| Cantrips | Effect |
| Acid Splash | 1d6 Acid to each creature it hits. |
| Blade Ward | Resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from weapon attacks. |
| Chill Touch | Deals 1d8 Necrotic damage; target cannot regen HP; Undead creatures are disadvantaged when it comes to attack rolls. |
| Dancing Lights | Create wisps of light that illuminate a 12m radius. |
| Fire Bolt | Hurls a fireball; deals 1d6 Fire damage and creates a flammable surface. |
| Friends | Enchant a non-hostile creature to gain an advantage on Charisma checks against it. |
| Light | Infuse an object with an aura of light. |
| Mage Hand | Conjures a spectral hand that can manipulate and interact with objects. |
| Poison Spray | Deals 1d12 Poison damage. |
| Ray of Frost | Deals 1d8 Cold damage; reduces target’s speed by 3m. |
| Shocking Grasp | Deals 1d8 Lightning and prevents the target from taking reactions. |
| True Strike | Gives you an advantage on attack rolls vs. a target. |
Note: My choices here are Chill Touch, Fire Bolt, and Shocking Grasp.
Spells
The Wizard class in Baldur’s Gate 3 has a whopping 19 spells available. You may select up to six of these. From these choices, you get to pick three which are considered “prepared spells.” Anyway, here they are:
| Spells | Effect |
| Burning Hands | Ignites anything flammable; deals 3d6 Fire damage. |
| Charm Person | Charms humanoids |
| Color Spray | Blinds creatures. |
| Disguise Self | Change all aspects of your appearance with magic. |
| Expeditious Retreat | Dash becomes a bonus action; move at an incredible pace. |
| False Life | Gain 5 temporary HP. |
| Feather Fall | Immunity to fall damage. |
| Find Familiar | Gain a Fey spirit that takes an animal form of your choosing. |
| Fog Cloud | Targets within the cloud are obscured and blinded. |
| Grease | Covers the ground in grease; those moving within this patch of land can fall and become prone. |
| Jump | Triples the target’s jumping distance. |
| Longstrider | Increases the target’s speed by 3m. |
| Mage Armor | Target’s armor class increases by +3. |
| Magic Missile | Three darts will hit your target for 1d4+1 Force damage each. |
| Protection from Evil and Good | Target cannot be charmed or frightened; enemies that attack the target do so at a disadvantage. |
| Ray of Sickness | Deals 2d8 Poison damage; chance to Poison target. |
| Sleep | Puts a creature to sleep. |
| Thunderwave | Deals 2d8 damage and pushes away targets. |
| Witch Bolt | Deals 1d12 Lightning damage; links you to the target; lightning arc can be activated each turn. |
Note: I honestly found the Warlock’s spellcasting capabilities more straightforward (and damaging to boot). Still, I guess you could go with Magic Missile as one of your choices here because it’s one of the more “iconic” spells.
Wizard skills and abilities/attributes
Certain skills here will be active depending on your character’s background. In general, however, you should see the following for the Wizard class (you can pick up to two):
- Arcana – The knowledge of magic; interacting with enchanted items or powerful spells.
- History – Everything you know about Faerûn’s past, allowing you to recognize notable names and unusual items.
- Insight – Read people and certain situations; pierce through lies and deceit.
- Investigation – Extracting information from objects or people.
- Medicine – The knowledge and training that can be used to heal wounds or cure diseases.
- Religion – Knowledge of deities, domains, clergy, and holy rites.
When it comes to your abilities/attributes, INT is your primary stat. It determines your spellcasting capabilities and the likelihood that your magic will actually hit targets. In fact, barring subclass picks for others, the Wizard is probably the only one where INT isn’t considered a dump stat.
Anyway, DEX and CON are also important. The former is because you want to gain just a bit of initiative (to ensure that you can cast your spells before opponents take their turns). The latter, meanwhile, is because you’re severely gimped already when it comes to HP gained per level-up.
The actual dump stat for this class is STR. You’re a flimsy caster, a glass cannon of sorts. There’s no way you’ll want to bonk people in the head at close range.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is available via Steam’s Early Access program. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.
