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Just as with Dungeons & Dragons, rolling dice is an integral part ofBaldur’s Gate 3. They may be digital dice, but they fulfill the same purpose of adding a random chance to every action the player performs, whether that’s conversing with a potential ally or slinging fireballs at deadly foes.
But what if you didn’t have to roll dice? What if you already knew the outcome of the roll and could plan your actions around such certainty? Only wizards of the School of Divination can provide such assurances, which makes them extremely powerful spellcasters. If you’d like to take the sure path to success, this is the wizard subclass for you.
4 plus Constitution modifier
Spellcasting Ability
Intelligence
Divination wizards are, first and foremost,wizards, which means you’ll haveaccess to awide variety of spellsand havevery few hit points. Like most wizards, you’ll want tostay out of danger while lobbing spellsat your opponents.
What sets the School of Divination wizard apart from other wizards is thePortentability. Thissubclass-defining featureprovides you with two Portent Dice which can be exchanged with any attack or saving throw made by any creature as a reaction. This means that twice per long rest, you canguarantee the outcome of a dice roll.
One of the problems with being a wizard (or any spellcaster for that matter) is casting spells is often an all-or-nothing affair. Martial classes get multiple attacks, but if you miss on your save-or-suck spell, it’s like you did nothing for an entire turn. With Portent, you canensure your save-or-suck spell lands.
Or you can ensure your opponent’s attack misses, depending on what your Portent Dice rolls are.
Later, yougain more Portent Dice by completing prophecies—mini-quests that unlock more Portent Dice per short rest. This allows you tocompletely dominate battles by ensuring key rollsgo your way.
8(-1)
14(+2)
16(+3)
10(0)
As with all wizards,Intelligence is your primary attributeas it defines the potency of your spells. You’ll want to start with 16 in Intelligence for a +3 modifier, which will help ensure your spells land.
Next is Constitution. Wizards are frail, so16 Constitution provides a significant hit-point boostto keep you safe. It also improves your Constitution saving throws, which will help you maintain concentration on important spells like Tasha’s Hideous Laughter.
Dexterity is at 14 mostly to improve your armor class. You’ll be more effective with cantrips for ranged damage than bows or crossbows, so stick with your spells for combat. It also provides a boost to your Dexterity saving throws.
WisdomandCharismaare bothat 10as they don’t affect much beyond skill and saving throws.Strength at eight is the bare minimumrequired to make a few jumps without magical assistance, but you could go even less here if you were willing to have something like Enhance Leap prepared.
Besides deciding on what spells to learn, there aren’t too many decisions for you to make. You’ll beimproving your Intelligence ability at level fourandeight, and then take theWarcaster feat at level 12to improve your ability to maintain concentration on some of your most powerful spells.
Divination wizards get to transcribe divination spells for half the price, so focus on taking the highest-level non-divination spells with each level up. This will save you the most gold in the long run.
At level one,Fireboltis your bread-and-butter damage cantrip, withFriendshelping a ton in conversation checks andMage Handhelping out with a few quest objectives (namely the Grymforge).Tasha’s Hideous Laughteris your best save-or-suck spell that maintains potency throughout the game.ShieldandMage Armorare staple defensive spells, whileChromatic Orb,Magic Missile, andIce Knifeprovide offensive damage.
At level two,Longstrideris an incredibly useful ritual spell that will enhance your party’s movement for free every long rest.Sleepis also useful for disabling certain opponents you don’t necessarily want to kill.
Hold Personis your next save-or-suck spell at level three that can pair well with Portent to ensure your teams ability to wail on certain bosses with impunity.Misty Stepis a bonus action that has myriad uses but mostly keeps you out of trouble.
Level four is about damage withScorching Ray,Cloud of Daggers, andShocking Graspto provide you with a melee damage ability when enemies get too close. Fireball improves that damage immensely at level five, and Counterspell is another must-have reaction spell.
Level six bringsHastefor improving your martial characters, andHypnotic Patternfor crowd control.Banishmentat level seven is another great save-or-suck spell that can turn the tide of battle, andGreater Invisibilityis just too useful to ignore.
Level eight bringsDimension DoorandConjure Minor Elementalwhile Level nine bringsDominate PersonandHold Monster—two absolutely crushing spells when you can ensure your opponent’s failure. Level ten bringsConjure Elemental(making Minor Elemental obsolete) andBlightfor killing plants.Minor Illusionis another useful cantrip for stealth play (or if you’ve got a rogue in the party).
Level 11 bringsDisintegrateandChain Lightning, two spells that deal incredible damage when you’re able to ensure the enemy fails their saving throw. Finally,Otto’s Irresistable DanceandFlesh to Stoneare dominating spells when you control your enemy’s dice rolls.
As you can basically learn every spell (given enough time and money),feel free to learn a different spellthan the ones suggested aboveif you’ve already learned it from a scroll.
Best Races For A School Of Divination Wizard
Several races provide beneficial bonuses to a School of Divination wizard. Below we have thepotential races ranked best to worst.
Half-Elf
All the benefits of human and elf in one place. You get thelight armorandshield proficiencyof being part human, and either theskills or magic or being an elfdepending on your particular flavor.High elf ordrow provide the mostbenefits here.
Human
Humans are next best to half-elves. You getone skill proficiencyof your choice,light armor and shield proficiency, and you get25 percent more carrying capacity—handy when you have a negative Strength modifier.
Elf
Go high elf and you get afree cantrip. Go wood elf and you getfaster movementandStealth proficiency. Both haveDarkvision,Perceptionproficiency,advantage against being charmedandimmunity to sleep. Theweapon proficiencies are largely irrelevant, but there are a few shortbows that provide buffs even if you never fire an arrow.
Drow
Drow provides several spells, includingFaerie Fire,Dancing Lights, andDarkness. You also have the samecharm and sleep advantagesas regular elves,Perception proficiency, andsuper Darkvision. The weapon proficiencies aren’t particularly helpful.
Dwarf
You’ve got a few options here.Shield dwarfofferslight and medium armor,gold dwarfoffersmore hit points, but thebest is probably Duergarforadvantage against illusions, charm, and paralysis effects,super Darkvision, and both theEnlargeandInvisibilityspells.
Githyanki
Githyanki offers bothlightandmedium armor,Astral Knowledgefor whatever skill you need at the time, and all ofMage Hand,Enhance Leap, andMisty Step. Not bad overall.
Gnome
Forest gnomeoffersSpeak with Animals, although you can get that from alchemy.Rock GnomeoffersHistory Expertise, andDeep GnomeoffersSuper Darkvisionandadvantage on Stealth rolls. All three haveadvantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws, which can be very helpful.
Halfling
Halfling Luckis great to add to Portent for controlling dice. Bravery providesadvantage against being Frightened, and then you have your choice ofadvantage on Stealth rollsor against being poisoned. Both are fine.
Tiefling
Tiefling offersfire resistance,Darkvision, anda few spells, althoughthose spells aren’t the best for a wizard. Asmodeus offers Produce Flame, Hellish Rebuke, and Darkness, but you’ve already got a better cantrip in Fire Bolt and Hellish Rebuke is competing with Shield.
Half-Orc
Savage Attacksonly works with melee weapons, which you won’t be using.Relentless Enduranceis nice, but ideally, you’re staying out of direct combat.Darkvisionis fine, butIntimidationdoesn’t jive with your lack of Charisma.
Dragonborn
You getone elemental damage resistanceanda breath weapon, which is generally worse than your spells.Don’t pick Dragonbornunless you’re looking for a challenge.
Ring #1
Bracers of Defence
+2 AC so long as you’re not wearing armor or wielding a shield.
Ring #2
Boots Of Speed
As a bonus action, double your movement speed and inflict disadvantage on opportunity attacks made against you.
Ranged Weapon
Melf’s First Staff
1d8 + Strength Modifier bludgeoning, +1 to spell attack and spell save DC. Cast Melf’s Acid Arrow once per long rest.
Bow of Awareness
1d6 + Dexterity Modifier piercing damage, +1 to initiative rolls.
There aren’t too many key pieces of equipment in the early game for a Divination wizard.Melf’s First Staff(available at the Myconid Colony in the underdark) is probably the best early-game weapon for its buff to your spell save and spell attack rolls.Bracers of Defenceare crucial for a robe-wearing wizard to have any armor class at all. And theSilver Pendantcan help hit some early-game skill checks.
But a lot of these choices are either optional or the best you can do in the slot.Circlet of Blastingoffers a free Scorching Ray, which is generally better damage than a cantrip.Ring of Color Sprayoffers a free spell, andCrusher’s Ringgets you into or out of danger a little faster alongsideBoots of Speed.
You’re not actually going to be firingBow of Awareness, but if you have shortbow proficiency as part of your chosen race, a plus one to initiative rolls can get you first in line to Fireball, which is pretty handy.
If you’re a human or half-elf,equip the Safeguard Shieldand replace the Robe of Summer with Padded Armor +1 for far greater defenses. Replace the Bracers of Defence with Gloves of Missile Snaring or the gloves of your choice.
Gain +2 to spell save DC and spell attack rolls
Cloak Of The Weave
Gain +1 to spell save DC and spell attack rolls. Cast Absorb Elements once per short rest.
Amulet
Robe of the Weave
12 AC Clothing. Gain +1 to spell save DC and spell attack rolls. Regain 1d6 hit points whenever you successfully succeed in a saving throw against a spell.
Spellcrux Amulet
Restore any expended spell slot as a bonus action once per long rest.
Quickspell Gloves
Cast a Cantrip as a bonus action once per short rest.
Helldusk Boots
You cannot be forcibly moved, and you ignore difficult terrain. You may use your reaction to succeed on a failed saving throw. Once per short rest, teleport to an area and deal 2d8 fire damage in a 10ft blast zone as a bonus action.
Shifting Corpus Ring
Cast Invisibility or Blur at level two once per long rest.
Markoheshkir
Gain +1 to spell save DC and spell attack rolls. Arcane Battery: Once per long rest, the next spell cast doesn’t cost a spell slot. Kereska’s Favour.
Darkfire Shortbow
1d6 + 2 + Dexterity Modifier pricing damage, resistance to fire and cold damage. Cast Haste at third level once per long rest.
Things really come online later in the game after you’re able to assemble all of the Weave items.Cloak,Hood, andRobe of the Weaveadd four to your spell attacks and spell save DC as well as improve your resilience with health regeneration and the Absorb Elements spell.Darkfire Shortbow(provided you have shortbow proficiency) also provides cold and fire resistance, although you’ll likely never actually use it for anything else.
BothSpellcrux AmuletandMarkoheshkirprovide a free spell slot, letting you use Disintegrate a potential three times in a single combat.Quickspell Glovesfurther adds a bonus action cantrip to that damage.
Helldusk Bootsare mostly there for the free bonus action teleport and immunity to difficult terrain. It’s not recommended to go teleporting into groups to get the most out of that 2d8 fire damage.
Finally,Shifting Corpus RingandOrphic Ringprovide three useful spells, but feel free to replace this ring with your personal preference (such as Killer’s Sweetheart).
Humans and half-elf wizardsshould definitelylook for Viconia’s Walking Fortress or Ketheric’s Shieldto further improve their defenses.
