Hedge Wizard

Version 0.28: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

This page is about the player background formerly known as Wizard. For the monster, see wizard (monster). For the playing mode, see wizard mode.

A Hedge Wizard is a magician who does not specialise in any area of magic. Hedge Wizards start with a variety of magical skills and with Magic Dart memorised, from a large library of varied low-level spells. They also get a wizard hat.

Hedge Wizards are magicians who do not specialize in any area of magic, making them a jack of all trades, master of none when compared to more focused spellcasters.

Preferred Races

Human, Deep Elf, Naga, Draconian, Djinni, and Octopode are the recommended races if you pick a Wizard Background.

Starting Equipment

Some species may receive different items based on their unique restrictions.

• +0 robe
• +0 hat
• +0 dagger

Available Spells:

• Magic Dart
• Slow
• Blink
• Call Imp
• Conjure Flame
• Mephitic Cloud

Hedge Wizards start with the Magic Dart spell already memorised, and can memorize Slow from turn 1.

Starting Skills and Stats

These are adjusted by your species' aptitudes.

• Dodging: 2
• Stealth: 2
• Spellcasting: 3
• Conjurations: 1
• Summonings: 1
• Translocations: 1

Choosing Hedge Wizard adds 1 to your starting Strength, 6 to Intelligence, and 4 to Dexterity.

Strategy

Hedge Wizard is probably the most versatile spellcaster background. What they lack in initial firepower, they more than make up for with high Spellcasting and access to some very good utility spells. On the downside, Hedge Wizards are forced to invest heavily in Conjurations and elemental magic to boost their offensive repertoire. Perhaps ironically, these utility spells make wizards the most well suited to transition into melee combat.

Spell Details

Mephitic Cloud is one of Wz's stronger spells. Confusion is extremely deliberating to monsters, and most things in the early-mid Dungeon can't resist it. Depending on your Intelligence, you'll probably need only 2-4 points in each of its three schools: Poison, Air, and Conjurations.

None of the other spells should be sneezed at, either. Slow both increases your combat prowess while allowing escapes. Blink creates space between your enemies, such as when your surrounded. Call Imp creates an imp, which tanks shots and is effective at dealing damage. Conjure Flame creates a deadly cloud of fire, mostly to keep control of hallways.

While you initally won't have the spell levels (or casting prowess) to memorize every one these spells, they are all useful in their own right. Typically, Blink is saved until later -- it doesn't do much against standard monsters. It's preferable to train spells one at a time, get them castable, then switch to the next spelll on your list.

Tips and Tricks

• The Spellcasting skill boosts success rates of all of your spells, though with 1/4 potency. You'll want to train it eventually, but it's not a subsitute for investing in spell schools.
• If you come upon an awesome melee weapon early in the dungeon, there's nothing to stop you from becoming a hybrid (a warrior-mage) character, despite your wizardly background. In that case, depending on your species you should consider picking some strength at level-ups, especially if you have less than 10.
• Wizards desire some sort of focus, at least once your starting spells start to faulter. Early spellbooks that contain mid to late game spells should be considered earlier rather than later (especially if they boost a starting spell to begin with).

History

• Prior to 0.27, Hedge Wizards started with the Book of Minor Magic. Wizards recieved no changes in their starting spells.
• Prior to 0.26, hedge wizards were called Wizards. They had the highest starting intelligence bonus and didn't start with a dagger. Their starting intelligence was reduced from +10 to +6, strength was increased from -1 to +2, dexterity was increased from +3 to +4.
• Prior to 0.14, wizards started with 20 gold.

External Links

0.21 guide for playing an Octopode Wizard by Ultraviolent4