New Arcane Tradition: War Wizard

Trained to be living siege engines and weapons of mass devastation, War Wizards have developed skills to lay waste to vast tracts of a battlefield. Unlike other combat-focused spellcasters, such as bladesingers, battlemages, or even eldritch knights, warlocks, and sorcerers, War Wizards spend no particular time training in close combat. Instead they rely on their spells to devastate their foes from afar. They achieve this through the application of metamagic, twisting the arcane forces at their command to greater potential. While this tool is similar to that used by Sorcerers, its expression by these weavers of devastation is far more formulaic in its development and use.

War Wizard Summary:

Wizard Level; Feature

2^nd; Metamagic Points, Metamagic Option (Distant Spell)

6^th; Metamagic (Empowered Spell)

10^th; Metamagic (Sculpted Spell)

14^th; Metamagic (Enlarged Spell)

Metamagic Points

Starting at 2nd level War Wizards receive training to modify their spells to suit their particular needs, gaining a pool of Metamagic points. A War Wizard’s maximum number of Metamagic points are equal to their level in the Wizard class and they regain all expended Metamagic points when they complete a long rest. They may spend these points whenever they cast as spell, but may only use one Metamagic option on a spell unless otherwise noted.

Metamagic Option (Distant Spell)

The first trait a War Wizard learns is to increase the range between themselves and their devastation. At 2nd level War Wizards they gain the Distant Spell Metamagic Option;

Distant Spell

When you cast a spell that has a range of 5 feet or greater, you can spend 1 metamagic point to double the range of the spell. When you cast a spell that has a range of touch, you can spend 1 metamagic point to make the range of the spell 30 feet.

Metamagic Option (Empowered Spell)

Starting at 6^th level War Wizards begin enhancing the devastation they can cause on a battlefield. They gain the Empowered Spell metamagic option;

Empowered Spell

            When you roll damage for a spell, you can spend 1 metamagic point to reroll a number of the damage dice up to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of one). You must use the new rolls.

            You can use Empowered Spell even if you have already used a different metamagic option during the casting of the spell.

Metamagic Option (Sculpted Spell)

While War Wizards focus their studies on broad scale destruction, they also learn to shape the devastation they wreak to greater effect. Starting at 10th level, they gain the Heightened Spell and Careful Spell metamagic options.

Heightened Spell

When you cast a spell that forces a creature to make a saving throw to resist its effect, you can spend 3 metamagic points to give one target of the spell disadvantage on its first saving throw made against the spell

Careful Spell

When you cast a spell that forces other creatures to make a saving throw, you can protect some of those creatures from the spell’s full force. To do so, you spend 1 metamagic point and choose a number of those creatures up to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of one creature). A chosen creature automatically succeeds on its saving throw against the spell.

Metamagic Option (Enlarged Spell)

On reaching 14th level you reach the crowning achievement of the War Wizard philosophy, not only shaping the spells within their normal area of effect, but extending them beyond that.

Enlarged Spell

            When you cast a spell that has an area of effect of 5 feet or greater, you can spend 3 metamagic points to double one measurement for the spell. For example, a Fireball effected by this ability would produce a 40 foot radius sphere, while a Lightning Bolt could be either 200 feet long and 5 feet wide or 100 feet long and 10 feet wide.

You may use Enlarged Spell if you have already used the Distant Spell metamagic option during the casting of the spell.

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I designed this based off of an old concept of the wizard in war, especially as envisioned in some Forgotten Realms products, and the 4e "Controller." What it became was a marriage between the metamagic that had been drawn into the Sorcerer class with a hardened structure to make it more wizard-y. Overall, it feels very much like an alternate evoker-specialist to me. I suppose, given the conceptual source material that is pretty reasonable.