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The most ancient desires of magic were to transmute one substance into another. InBaldur’s Gate 3, this form of magic is known as transmutation, and wizards of the School of Transmutation specialize in turning mundane items into useful alchemical products.
Fans of Dungeons & Dragons might recognize the Transmutation wizard as heavily influenced by the Alchemist, a sub-class in the tabletop game that specializes in brewing useful potions. Students of the School of Transmutation are very similar, offering support to their party with both magical spells and more mundane concoctions that nevertheless provide a substantial benefit. If you want to learn how to support your squad with potions galore, the School of Transmutation is the course for you.
4 plus Constitution modifier
Spellcasting Ability
Intelligence
While potion brewing is the major selling point to becoming a School of Transmutation wizard, it’s important to remember thatyou’re still a frail spellcaster with few hit points. Potion distribution should generally be performed out of combat when it’s safe, andfocus on casting spells while in combat.
Throwing healing potions is a great way to double or even triple their healing capacityas they can heal multiple party members at once. Just group up the party members in need of healing and carefully throw the potion at their feet so the healing affects everyone.
Your defining feature is Experimental Alchemy, which allows you to potentially brew two potions for the price of one by succeeding on a DC 15 Medicine check. As such, you need tochoose Medicine as one of your skill proficiencies.
There are a lot of extremely useful potionson Baldur’s Gate 3, and best of all,drinking one is just a bonus action. This can ensure your party can heal themselves using only their bonus action, or activate a powerful buff such as Invisibility, Haste, or Enlarge.
Your level six and 10 abilities are less useful overall.Transmuter’s Stonecan provide a beneficial resistance to a key party member prior to a boss battle, but more often than not, you’ll just use it to provide proficiency in Constitution saving throws so you may maintain your concentration on spells.
Shapechangerat level 10 just lets you turn into a bird and fly. It doesn’t cost any spell slots or materials, so it can be useful for exploring the map, but not much else. Stick to potion brewing to feel impactful.
8(-1)
14(+2)
16(+3)
10(0)
Intelligence isyour primary spellcasting attribute andyour most important ability score. Starting with 16 gives you a +3 modifier to ensure your spells land.
Constitution is your next most importantattribute. You’re a frail wizard in need of hit points, which 16 Constitution provides. It also helps your concentration saving throws when you inevitably get hit with an arrow while trying to cast Confusion.
Dexterityis in third place, and as such, is at 14. This is mostly to improve your armor class. Although you’ll be decent with a bow, your cantrips should be your primary method of damage dealing without using a spell slot.
Wisdom and Charisma at 10are just to help your skill checks and mental saving throws.Strength at eight is the bare minimumfor making a few early game jumps, but feel free to learn Enhance Leap to make jumping a little easier.
Besides picking spells, your only choices are what feats or ability scores to improve at levels four, eight, and 12.Improve your Intelligence by two at levels four and eight, andpick Warcaster at level 12to improve your chances of maintaining concentration on certain spells.
Transmutation wizards are able totranscribe transmutation spells for half the price, sofocus on taking the highest-level non-transmutation spells with each level up. This will save you gold in the long run, and transmutation spell scrolls are fairly easy to find.
You start at level one as a regular old wizard.Fire Boltis your bread-and-butter damage cantrip,Mage Handcan help complete some side quests, andFriendshelps pass conversation checks. Your level one spells are an assortment of damage, crowd control, and defensive spells, includingTasha’s Hideous Laughter,Chromatic Orb,Magic Missile,Grease,Shield, and the all-importantMage Armor(unless you’re a human or half-elf and wearing armor, in which case you can choose something else).
Grease works great with Fire Boltto become both crowd control and area damage.
Also,Keep an eye out for Enhance Leap, Feather Fall, and Longstrider. These level-one transmutation spells are rituals that can be cast for free outside of combat.
At level two,Ice Knifeprovides more damage options, andSleepprovides a non-violent way of ending fights when necessary. Level three bringsCloud of Daggersfor shutting down areas of limited space, andScorching Ray, which is an excellent damage spell for dealing with anything that doesn’t resist fire.
Level four brings utility inMisty StepandInvisibility. Misty Step lets you teleport short distances as a bonus action, and Invisibility is a great combat buff in addition to trivializing most stealth checks.Shocking Graspprovides a melee cantrip for when enemies manage to close in on you.Fireballat level five is your big bang, andCounterspellshuts down opposing mages at the cost of a third-level spell slot and your reaction.
Hasteis just such an important and powerful spell that we’re going to ignore the fact it’s a transmutation spell and thus cheaper to learn via scrolls. Grab it at level six alongsideGlyph of Warding, which provides another source of various damage types similar to Chromatic Orb, but over a much wider area.
At level seven,Greater Invisibilityprovides all the benefits of Invisibility but for your entire party, andConjure Minor Elementalhelps vastly improves your damage per turn. Level eight bringsDimension Doorand another damage-over-time spell inPhantasmal Killerthat also comes with a potent debuff effect.
Conjure Elementalat level nine replaces the Minor Elemental, andCone of Coldprovides another AoE spell with a different damage type to fire. Level 10 bringsHold MonsterandDominate Person, two spells that can totally disable enemies, and Minor Illusion as a somewhat useful cantrip.
Finally, level 11 bringsDisintegrateandChain Lighting, two of the best damage-dealing spells in the game, and level 12 bringsOtto’s Irresistable DanceandGlobe of Invulnerability. Don’t sleep on the Globe as it can allow a party full of ranged-attack character to decimate an enemy force without taking any damage.
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.
Potions To Craft
Baldur’s Gate 3 has an extensive alchemy system that only gets better when you’re a Transmutation wizard. Just remember toboost your Medicine skill before brewing to increase your odds of making two potions.
As for what potions to focus on,here are some of the more useful potionsto always have on hand.
Healing Potions
These are obviouslythe most important potions to have in stock. Healing potions restore hit points, and you’ll want to brew the largest type you may (Supreme, Superior, or Greater)
Elixirs of Damange Resistance
Extremely helpful for certain areas, elixirs of this type cut the damage you receive from a particular non-physical damage type in half. Take these at the beginning of the fight.
Potion of Speed
You’ll eventually be able to cast Haste yourself, but why nothave your fighter cast Haste on themselvesusing their bonus action?
Potion of Gaseous Form
You’d be surprised how manytiny openings you can fit through as a gaseous cloud. Save your rogue from using a lockpick, or go through gaps that can’t be traversed normally.
Potion of Flying
This becomes useless for yourself at level 10, butyour friends could still use a pick-me-up.
Elixir of Arcane Cultivation
Give yourselfmore spell slots with these potions. Helps keep you from having to long rest like a narcoleptic magician.
Elixir of Guileful Movement
Give these elixirs to your fighter/paladin/barbarian tokeep them from being paralyzed or restrained.
Elixir of Cloud Giant Strength
Give these elixirs to your melee fighters to give them 27 Strength—a huge damage and attack boost.
Elixir of Viciousness
This elixir just reduces the number required for critical hits by one, but it’s ahuge benefit for certain builds that focus on landing critsand is one of the big reasons to be a Transmutation wizard.
There arenumerousother potions and elixirsavailable, so be sure tocraft one of everything. You never know when it might come in handy.
Best Races For A School Of Transmutation 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.Light armorandshield proficiency,25 percent more carrying capacity(handy when you’re a frail wizard), and askill proficiencyof your choice. Make itMedicineif you haven’t already taken it elsewhere.
Elf
Go high elf and you get afree cantrip. Go wood elf and you getfaster movementandStealth proficiency. Both haveDarkvision,Perceptionproficiency,advantage against being charmed,andimmunity to sleep. You also getshortbow proficiency, which can provide some useful buffs even if you never fire a shot with them.
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 Luckhelps avoid critical failures, but it’s not a guarantee of success. 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, butIntimidation proficiencyisn’t all that useful given 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.
+1 to AC and saving throws.
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.
Your early game isn’t going to be too exciting from an equipment standpoint.Melf’s First Staffin the Underdark will give you +1 to spell attack and spell save DC, while your armor class is improved withBracers of DefenseandRing of Protection(provided you steal the druid’s idol forMol).
Silver Pendantwill help with your early skill checks as well as your Medicine rolls for crafting potions. Be sure tocast Guidance on yourself before brewing potionsto maximize your odds of success.
Robe of Summeris a nice damage resistance, whileBoots of Speedprovides plenty of movement to get you out of trouble before learning Misty Step.Ring of Color SprayandCirclet of Blastingare two nice spells that won’t require a spell slot.
If you’re a half-elf wizard as recommended, you’ll be able to equipBow of Awarenessfor +1 to your initiative rolls, but keep using your cantrips for damage.
If you’re either ahalf-elf or human, you may forego the Robes of Summer forPadded or Leather Armor, replace the Bracers of Defence withGloves of Missile Snaring, and throw on theSafeguard Shieldfor an additional +2 to your armor class and +1 to all saving throws.
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.
Once you reach Act 3, you’ll start collecting theWeave setof items to really kick your spellcasting into overdrive.Hood,Cloak, andRobe of the Weaveall increase your spell attack and spell save DC rolls, while Cloak and Robe of the Weave also provide useful defensive benefits like armor class and a free Absorb Elements (a spell that wizards aren’t normally able to cast).
Not having a consistent bonus action can be frustrating, but that’s alleviated somewhat with the help ofQuickspell Gloves, which let you cast a cantrip as a bonus action once per short rest.Helldusk Bootsalso provides a free teleport bonus action, allowing you to retire Misty Step.
Spellcrux AmuletandMarkoheshkirboth effectively let you cast a spell for free whileShifting Corpus Ringprovides two useful spells that also won’t use a spell slot.Ring of Protectionstays on since you’ll need all the defensive buffs you may get.
If you’re a half-elf or elf character, equipDarkfire Shortbowfor fire and cold resistance as well as a free Haste spell. Just don’t fire it as you’ll do far less damage than you would with a cantrip.
Human and half-elf characterscan also equipViconia’s Walking FortressorKetheric’s Shieldto further improve their defenses.
