Editing Wizard (section)

===In 5th Edition===
In 5th edition, wizards changed drastically yet again. They still learned spells and filled out their spellbooks, picking spells memorized to determine what they could cast. However, not only did cantrips remain "cast at will", like in 4th edition, but the 5e wizard now functioned like a 3e sorcerer, in that it no longer forgot its spells after casting them. The spellbook was essential to switch around what spells the wizard was physically capable of casting, but it was no longer rendered unable to cast just by stealing the spellbook and having it use its magic.

Another change, perhaps more dramatic, was the idea of Arcane Traditions. All classes in 5e now take a subclass early in their career, and for wizards, this swallows up the old idea of "school specialization", to the point that the first wave of subclasses were based on the traditional specialist wizards. This resulted in (until we got the Lore Master) forsaking the idea of both the generalist wizard (in theory at least, the 5e necromancer makes a pretty good generalist) and of "forbidden schools".

Finally, the very nature of 5e casting, with its ability to cast spells in higher-level slots, and with at-will cantrips that effectively replace weapons for casters, provided the wizard with a great deal of flexibility and endurance compared to the olden days. First level Wizard spells also got some good buffs, with spells such as Shield and False Life keeping a 1st-level Wizard from being goblin-knived.

Regardless of their Tradition, all 5e wizards get the Arcane Recovery class ability to start with (once per day, you can regain a small number of spell slots with just a short rest), the usual increases to their ability scores (either +2 to one score, or +1 to two scores) at levels 4/8/12/16/19, and gain the abilities Spell Mastery (can freely pick one 1st level and one 2nd level spell and can cast these mastered spells at their lowest level without using any spell slots as if they were cantrips, takes 8 hours to replace these) at level 18 and Signature Spells (pick two level 3 spells; you always have them prepared, they don't count towards your number of spells prepared, and each can be cast at its basic level without using up a spell slot once before needing a short rest to recharge) at level 20.

All of the "classic" subclasses also get the "[Tradition] Savant" feature, which halves the time and gold it takes to copy a spell of their tradition into their spellbook. For details, see [[Abjurer]], [[Conjurer]], [[Diviner]], [[Enchanter]], [[Evoker]], [[Illusionist]], [[Necromancer]] and [[Transmuter]]. Of note is that these subclasses are in no way even in terms of power or utility, especially at 2nd level.  Some, like the Abjurer and Diviner, have strong abilities with obvious use right out the gate.  Others, like the Illusionist and Enchanter, get middling sidegrade powers that are nice but not worth writing home about.  And some, like the Transmuter and Conjurer, have abilities that are so fundamentally broken it's worth talking to your DM before even rolling these characters up. Their basic abilities have been aggressively pre-nerfed to the point where how they were ever intended to function is lost. 
                       
With 5e's fairly slow output of non-adventure sourcebooks, the Wizard has grown quite slowly. A handful of other traditions have been released in [[Unearthed Arcana]], but so far, only five further official Traditions exist:
* Firstly, there is the '''[[Bladesinger]]''', an [[elf]]-orientated [[gish|warrior-wizard]] that was the original inspiration for 4e's [[Swordmage]] and is the wizard's answer to the [[Fighter]]'s Eldritch Knight. This was provided in the ''Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide'' and later reprinted in ''Tasha's Cauldron of Everything''.
* Secondly, there is the '''War Magic''' tradition, a unique blending of evocation and abjuration to create a more tactically inclined, "tanky" sort of wizard, a 5e adaptation of the [[Warmage]]. This was provided in ''Xanathar's Guide to Everything'' and had first appeared in Unearthed Arcana.
* Thirdly, there's the [[Dunamancy]] traditions of '''[[Chronomancy|Chronurgist]]''' and '''Graviturgist''', both of which appeared in ''[[Exandria|Explorer's Guide to Wildemount]]''.
* Finally, there is the '''Order of Scribes''', which gives you bonuses related to calligraphy, your spellbook, and spell scrolls. The ability to basically download a backup of your spellbook if it gets destroyed is a godsend.

Unearthed Arcana Arcane Traditions consist of:
* The '''Technomancer''', an [[Urban Fantasy]] wizard who can use technology as a medium for spells.
* The '''Theurge''', a [[Mystic Theurge|wizard-priest]] who combines arcane studies and religions studies to add divine magic to their arsenal.
* The '''Lore Master''', a generalist wizard slash arcane scholar whose studies grant them unparalleled versatility, soundly hated for their effortlessly defeating the [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|Sorcerer]] in the arts of [[metamagic]].
* The '''Inventor''' (School of Invention AT), a weird sort of [[Artificer]]-[[Wild Mage]] hybrid who manages to be more fun to play and/or less annoying than the ''[[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|actual]]'' 5e [[Wild Mage]].
* The '''Onomancer''', a 5e take on the [[truenamer]] that is yet another metamagic wizard that outclasses the sorcerer, only with a janky and weaksauce first-level power that literally every other class feature needs to go off in order to work for that authentic truenamer experience.  
* The '''Archivist''', a reworked version of the Artificer subclass, because Wizards will never stop peeling support away from newborn babe classes that desperately need it to feed the squealing spoilt brat of the class that bears its name.  Comically-overpowered, it ''starts'' with a better version of every core wizard class's starting ability in the form of a pen that can half all costs for scribing spells, and yet another power that lets them turn all damage they deal into irresistable force damage for free as often as they want, so long as they're taking the admittedly-hefty risk of using their spellbook as an implement.  Later abilities include free ritual castings, a familiar that spells can be arced through, for a better version of the Pact of the Chain Warlock while we're at it, and a capstone that lets them resist death in favor of permanently losing the ability to ever cast 3d6 spell levels' worth of spells ever again.  An incredible exercise in having almost literally every single power be poorly designed in some way, and the weakest and worst of an already-stinky lot in that particular UA.  


Additionally, with the lack of an [[Eberron]] sourcebook for 5e, WoTC's first thought for tackling the '''[[Artificer]]''' was to shoehorn it in as a wizard tradition. Its specialty was basically burning spell-slots to create one-use magical potions and scrolls or temporarily buffing arms & armor. At level 14, they could finally make 1 permanent magical item per month after spending a week of solid work to do so. This version was pretty resoundingly panned as the most awful attempt at converting it that WoTC could have come up with, especially since the level 14 feature created only some of the weaker magic items on the list, which would be long obsolete by that point. When a draft Artificer base-class came out in 2017, pretty much everyone forgot that this version existed.

[[Mike Mearls]] also stated on his stream that, rather than come up with a new subsystem and individual classes for [[psionics]], he'd personally use a '''School of Psionics''' Arcane Tradition to turn a wizard into a [[psion]]. The resultant rules can be found on the 5etools website.

[[Blackstaff's Tome of Wizardry]] is a "quasi-official" splatbook from the DM's Guild that contains a massive array of new Wizard subclasses.

====Class Feature Variants====
In the November 2019 UA, a UA dedicated to providing enhancements and replacements to every single class, the Wizard hilariously got the least robust
changes of any class in the UA. All they got was the ability to swap out their cantrips for free every level, and a paltry sum of bonus spells to add to their spell lists. Perhaps this a recognition that the Wizard was a bit overtuned, but it is still very funny to compare the changes the Wizard got compared to the [[Sorcerer]], or really any other class.