Wizard
At 2nd level, a wizard gains the Arcane Tradition feature, which offers you the choice of a subclass. The following Theurgy option is available to you when making that choice.
Theurgy
Most often, divine magic is wielded by clerics and paladins who demonstrate extraordinary devotion to a particular god's ideals. However, some spellcasters choose to blend their reli-gious devotion with arcane study, leading them to follow the path of wizardry in an effort to better understand the nature of divine magic.
These religious magic-users follow the arcane tradition of Theurgy, and are commonly known as theurgists. In many cases, theurgists double as trained theologians who ask ques-tions about the nature of the gods and their relationship to mortals. Where these questions lead can be just as varied as any other religious spellcaster, forever shaping theurgists' philosophical views and the nature of their magic.
Student of Faith
2nd-level Theurgy feature
Your blend of arcane study and religious devotion grants you the following benefits:
- You gain proficiency in one of the following skills of your choice: Insight, Medicine, or Religion.
- You learn two cleric cantrips of your choice. These cantrips count as wizard cantrips for you, but they don’t count against your number of cantrips known.
- You can use a holy symbol as a spellcasting focus for your wizard spells.
- You can read and cast spells from spell scrolls inscribed with spells from the cleric spell list (see the "Treasure" chapter in the Dungeon Master's Guide for a description of spell scrolls).
Divine Affinity
2nd-level Theurgy feature
Choose an affinity for the source of your divine power: good, evil, law, chaos, or neutrality. You gain a feature based on that affinity.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a long rest.
Good. When you cast a spell of 1st level or higher that targets only one creature, you can choose to have the target regain a number of hit points equal to the spell's level + your proficiency bonus.
Evil. When you cast a spell of 1st level or higher that targets only one creature, you can choose to have the target take necrotic damage equal to the spell's level + your proficiency bonus.
Law. When you cast a spell of 1st level or higher that targets only one creature, you can choose to grant the target advantage on saving throws against the charmed and fright-ened conditions until the start of your next turn.
Chaos. When you cast a spell of 1st level or higher that targets only one creature, you can choose to give the target
disadvantage on its next attack roll.
Neutrality. When you cast a spell using a spell slot of 1st level or higher that targets only one creature, you can choose to have the target gain a number of temporary hit points equal to the spell's level + your proficiency bonus.
Channel Divinity
6th-level Theurgy feature
You learn how to channel divine energy to fuel magical effects. You gain two Channel Divinity options: Divine Arcana and an option determined by your chosen Divine Affinity.
When you use your Channel Divinity, you choose which option to use. You must then finish a short or long rest to use your Channel Divinity again.
Some Channel Divinity effects require saving throws. When you use such an effect from this class, the DC equals your wizard spell save DC.
When you reach 14th level in this class, you can use your Channel Divinity twice between rests. You regain any expend-ed uses when you finish a short or long rest.
Divine Arcana. You can use your Channel Divinity to empower your spells. When you cast a spell that has an attack roll or forces a creature to make a saving throw, you can use your reaction to add a +2 bonus to any attack roll you make for it or to its saving throw DC, as appropriate. You can choose to use this feature after you make your spell attack roll or a creature makes its saving throw, but must decide before the DM determines whether the attack roll hits or misses or whether the saving throw succeeds or fails, as appropriate.
Good: Restore Life. You can use your Channel Divinity to heal wounds. As an action, choose a number of creatures equal to or less than your proficiency bonus that you can see within 30 feet of you. You speak a prayer and the targets regain a number of hit points equal to 2d6 + your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1 hit point). You can’t use this feature on an undead or a construct.
Evil: Invoke Curse. You can use your Channel Divinity to inflict curses. As an action, choose one creature you can see within 30 feet of you. You speak a curse and the target is cursed until the end of your next turn. The next time you or an ally of yours hits the cursed creature with an attack, the creature has vulnerability to all of that attack’s damage, and then the curse ends.
Law: Create Order. You can use your Channel Divinity to command others. As an action, choose a number of creatures equal to or less than your proficiency bonus that you can see within 30 feet of you. You speak a prayer and each target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you until the end of your next turn or until the charmed creature takes any damage. You can also cause any of the charmed creatures to drop what they are holding when they fail the saving throw.
Chaos: Invoke Disorder. You can use your Channel Divin-ity to disorient others. As an action, choose a number of crea-tures equal to or less than your proficiency bonus that you can see within 30 feet of you. You speak a curse and each target must succeed on a Charisma saving throw or be cursed by you for 1 minute. Whenever a cursed creature makes an attack roll or a saving throw, the target must roll a d4 and subtract the number rolled from the attack roll or sav-ing throw. A cursed creature can repeat this saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Neutrality: Abjure Evil and Good. You can use your Channel Divinity to abjure otherworldly creatures. As an action, you speak a prayer and each aberration, celestial, elemental, fey, or fiend within 30 feet of you that can hear you must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is turned for 1 minute or until it takes damage. A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can’t willingly end its move in a space within 30 feet of you. It also can’t take reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there’s nowhere to move, the creature can take the Dodge action.
Exalted Mind
10th-level Theurgy feature
Your religious devotion helps you achieve an enduring state of divine bliss. When you fail a Constitution saving throw to maintain concentration on a spell, you can use your reaction to succeed instead.
You can use this feature twice, and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a short or long rest.
Divine Intercession
14th-level Theurgy feature
You can implore an otherworldly being to assist you: you add an additional spell to your spellbook based on your chosen Divine Affinity, as shown below. If the spell is already
in your spellbook, add a wizard spell of 6th level or lower of your choice to your spellbook instead. If the spell doesn’t appear on the wizard spell list, the spell is nonetheless a wizard spell for you.
You can cast the spell once at 6th-level without a spell slot and without a material component, and you regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. If the spell doesn’t appear on the wizard spell list, other wizards can’t copy it from your spellbook into their own spellbooks unless they also have this feature and the same chosen Divine Affinity.
Whenever you start casting the spell, you can modify it so that it doesn’t require concentration. If you do so, the spell’s duration becomes 1 minute for that casting.
| Affinity | Spell |
|---|---|
| Good | summon celestial |
| Evil | summon fiend |
| Law | summon construct |
| Chaos | summon fey |
| Neutrality | summon elemental |
Credits
- Created by Reddit user /u/jldixon1 using GM Binder
- "White Mage FFXV" by Ryan Alexander Lee
- "Orzhov Guildgate" by Cliff Childs
- This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
Changelog (v2.1)
For full context, click this link to see version 1.0 of my Theurgy wizard subclass.
Student of Faith
- Added the option to use a holy symbol as a spellcasting focus.
- Added the ability to cast cleric spells from spell scrolls.
Design Notes
I had worried that adding the ability to copy cleric spells from spell scrolls into the theurgist's spell-book could either make other divine spellcasters feel redundant or be too potent in the wrong hands, if not both. This is why I decided to try out a reviewer's suggestion to grant the still-flavorful but more limited option of simply being able to read and use spell scrolls with cleric spells.
By comparison, allowing the use of a holy sym-bol as a spellcasting focus felt flavorful without being abusable, given that wizards don't have proficiency with shields by default and thus wouldn't be able to (easily) get around the issue of needing a free hand for material components in the same way that clerics and paladins can.
Divine Affinity
- Removed free 1st-level cleric spell from affinities.
- Added new specialized features for each affinity.
Design Notes
Many reviewers argued that a single free 1st-level cleric spell was an underwhelming feature, but also believed that adding more cleric spells (in the form of an expanded spell list, for example) would be too much. Thus, I chose to completely overhaul the feature.
This iteration is designed to encourage players to use spells that buff, debuff, or damage single targets by granting bonuses that reflect the flavor of the player's chosen affinity. My hope is that this better captures the feeling and image of a wizard who uses divine magic to enhance their spells, rather than a wizard who got the Magic Initiate feat for free.
The 2.0 iteration of this feature didn't have a limited number of uses because I had imagined that "a non-cantrip spell that only targets one creature" was enough. However, a reviewer pointed out that the good affinity feature could be abused with Spell Mastery by infinitely casting a single-target 1st-level spell. I then considered limiting the bonuses to spells cast using a spell slot, but realized that a good affinity theurgist multiclassed with a class with healing spells could result in healing only paralleled by the Life Domain cleric (and could stack with the Life cleric's increased healing, no less). So the ultimate solution was a limited number of uses, to prevent these issues.
Channel Divinity
- Changed Divine Arcana to use a reaction instead of a bonus action.
- Made Restore Life specific to "good" Divine Affinity.
- Changed Restore life to use an action instead of a bonus action, but also increased the number of potential targets.
- Added new specialized options for "non-good" Divine Affinities.
- Increased number of uses to twice per short rest at 14th level.
Design Notes
Many felt that Restore Life didn't feel especially appropriate for evil or chaos affinities, so I made specific options for each affinity that better fit their flavors. This also resulted in a player's chosen affinity feeling more relevant beyond 2nd level.
An early reviewer pointed out that, with the addi-tion of Chaos: Invoke Disorder, there would be little motivation for a chaos affinity theurgist to use Divine Arcana in most cases. Changing the latter to use a reaction solved this issue by creating new, unique situations in which that option might be more desirable for all affinities, chaos or otherwise.
I also decided to grant another use of Channel Divinity at 14th level to balance out the fact that most of the spells granted by Divine Intercession are already available to wizards by that level.
Exalted Mind
- Increased number of uses to twice per short rest.
Design Notes
This seemed like a good way of granting more uses without ending up with several uses per combat.
Divine Intercession
- Made summon celestial specific to "good" Divine Affinity.
- Added new granted spells for "non-good" Divine Affinities.
Design Notes
Similar to Restore Life, many felt that summon celestial didn't feel especially appropriate for evil or chaos affinities, so I switched to granting specific spells for each affinity that better fit their flavors.
To keep things balanced, I decided to have the free casting of the granted spell always be at 6th-level since summon fiend is a 6th-level spell. I also opted to allow players to pick a different wizard spell if they already had the granted spell, since all the granted spells except summon celestial would already be available to a wizard by 14th level and I didn't wanna punish non-good affinity theurgists who decided to learn a thematically appropriate spell sooner.