Chronurgy Wizard 5E Guide | Chronurgist Rules and Features

Welcome, friends, to Wildemount! As part of the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, players now have access to the magic of Dunamancy, and therefore control over the powers that hold the universe together. One such iteration of this new magic is the Chronurgy Wizard. (The other, Graviturgy Wizards, has also been covered extensively on our site!) Wizards have always had some level of control over time, but this new arcane tradition lets Chronurgists take it to the next level! Through intense training, some knowledge of time, and a bit of luck, you too can manipulate the pace of the world to your liking. Let’s see what that may look like with our Chronurgy Wizard 5E Guide.

Flip the Hourglass: Chronurgy Wizard 5E

The Chronurgy wizard is somewhat unique, though it does take some ideas from previous Arcane traditions. Its main use is as a support, using its abilities to alter time for your allies; it specializes in preventing damage, but it does have interesting utility options later on. It’s a critical subclass for parties where the party is made up of squishy characters with no real frontline. Even in parties where there is a frontline, everyone will love your ability to just mess up enemy plans without spending spell slots.

Chronurgy Spells

VERY interesting stuff. And some of it is very powerful. There are some excellent support options like Gift of Alacrity, that boosts a willing party member’s initiative rolls. (This would be great to help the Draconblood Dragonborn swashbuckler build we came up with!)

Chronurgy Wizards are great in combat, too. Temporal Shunt allows you to make an attacking enemy vanish into another point in time briefly, only to return unaware you cast the spell.

Tether Essence might have the most interesting options, however. It binds two characters together, and each receives the same damage and hit point boosts as the other.

Looking for something truly nasty? Time Ravage is it. This spell devastates the target through rapid aging. If the target fails a throw, it takes 10d12 necrotic damage. It takes half that much damage if the saving throw is succesful. If the save fails, the spell ages the target instantly so that they are 30 days from death from old age. They become physically frail and have disadvantage for all saving throws and ability checks. The target dies within 30 days without the help of the spells wish or greater restoration.

Chronal Shift

The first ability offered to the Chronurgy Wizard is a reaction reroll effect, within 30 ft of the mage. This can be for enemies or allies on attack rolls, ability checks, or saving throws. You get to make it after the roll succeeds or fails, they have to take the second roll, and you can only use it twice per rest.

So, let’s make the obvious connection; this ability is very similar to Portent, the Divination Wizard ability. It is much more flexible than Portent, since you get to choose after the roll is a success or failure, but you don’t know the result of the reroll. Realistically, there are pros and cons to taking one or the other. Portent is probably just a bit better, since the range is… sight, there’s no reaction required to use it, and you know the roll.

Don’t get me wrong, though; this ability is bonkers. This lets you turn an enemy’s crit into – hopefully – not a crit. You can also use it to save an ally from a bad saving throw, or turn the Paladin’s smite roll into a great success and deal a lot of extra damage. Out of combat, this ability can turn a Face’s Persuasion roll from an “everybody hates you” into a “beloved by all.” The usefulness cannot be understated.

The “have to take the second roll” clause is interesting amongst reroll effects. This means that, even if the second roll is worse for you, they take it. This ability is then only useful in the most desperate of times; you wouldn’t want to turn an enemy’s glancing blow into a critical hit by mistake, for example. This is a risky effect, so use it wisely… This could definitely “butterfly effect” out of control.

Temporal Awareness

A boost to initiative is always nice. A boost to your initiative equal to your Intelligence modifier is a game-changer.

As a magic user, your initiative is highly influential over how a fight could end up going. It was one of the main reasons a Wizard would consider taking Dexterity. With a boost equal to your main casting stat, you can now invest in Constitution much more flippantly. Or, you could get really good in both stats, take the Alert feat, and always go first. This bonus is kinda crazy, and really flavorful!

As a caster, going first is actually crucial. You’ll be able to take enemies out of fights instantly, rather than after they’ve had a turn to attack, or buff. You could also buff yourself or prepare an action to Counterspell, if there are enemy mages on the field. With a spellbook full of options, you can really prevent so many problems right off the bat, so your high initiative will really, really help.

Momentary Stasis

Speaking of preventing problems, how about a one-round Hold Monster? With a Constitution save, you can force something – Large or Smaller – within 60 ft to become incapacitated with a speed of 0 until it takes damage or your next turn ends. And you get to do this a number of times equal to your Intelligence mod until you rest.

First of all, the flavor is absolutely astounding here. You can literally freeze people in time at level 6! That’s both hilarious and concerning. It seems like they can still see and sense things outside of their temporal casing, and talk, but they can’t move their bodies… Yeesh.

Mechanically, this is not exactly going to win you an encounter by itself, but it is oh-so useful. Rather than the Wisdom save of the traditional Hold spells, this ability targets Constitution. That means it’ll be more useful against magic users and creatures that traditionally have good Wisdom scores. It also seems like it is in no way mind-affecting, so monsters like Mind Flayers will be easier to effect. Preventing a Wizard from casting spells until your allies are in range to prevent it sounds quite good.

However, it is much weaker than a “Hold” spell. Paralyzed is Incapacitated, with penalties against saves and attack rolls… This ability won’t give you free critical hits for melee allies. It’s also a little bit shorter ranged, and can only affect things of a specific size. Damage also cancels it out, meaning an overeager ally can prevent this ability from reaching its full potential quite quickly.

Despite these downsides, it’s a great ability which makes good use of your high initiative to push back problems until you’re ready to deal with them. Use it often and well.

Arcane Abeyance

Somewhat breaking from the themes set up by Temporal Awareness and Momentary Stasis is a preparatory ability. At level 10, you can make a mote whenever you cast a 4th level or lower spell slot. It’s a gray bead that lasts an hour. If it’s destroyed – it has 1 hit point and 15 AC – or if you don’t use it within an hour, the spell is lost. A creature can use their action to “cast” the spell, using your DCs. This can be used once per short or long rest.

This is, for all intents and purposes, a better scroll. It’s a little bit easier to target and destroy, but much easier for a non-caster to use. Most enemies won’t have a reason to target a bead, since it’s not like all enemies have seen a Chronurgy Mage.

1 hour is a long time, so you can prepare some generically good spells for your allies to cast on their turn. 4th level spells can be rather strong. They include Dimension Door, Phantasmal Killer, Polymorph, Stone Shape, and Greater Invisibility; and that’s just 4th level spells, raw. An ally can also cast a 4th level version of your Fireball, or Fly, so that you can focus on casting reactive spells on your turn. That’s pretty fantastic, and maybe the Rogue will stop pestering you to cast Greater Invisibility on them if you just give them a bead of it.

The downsides are pretty minimal. You can only make one bead per short rest, so only one ally can benefit. Plan accordingly, since the spell can be a huge boon for a quick ally or one that isn’t useful in these kinds of situations normally; maybe before you enter a bug-infested mine, you give the Fighter Fireball. Or before you enter the Elemental Plane of Air, you give the Barbarian Fly. The spell level restriction is kind of a problem, but like I said… 4th level spells are really good. You don’t really need this ability to be any higher. Prepare a bead of a good spell whenever you can, and reap the benefits of helping your allies without even spending an action.

Convergent Future

The last tradition-based ability for the Chronurgy Wizard takes the upsides of Portent and scales it… In a weird direction.

At 14th level, you can spend your reaction to cause a roll that can be affected by Chronal Shift within 60 ft of you to instantly fail or succeed. This “fail or success” is either the minimum value to succeed, or one less than the DC. If you use this, you become exhausted by one level, which can only be removed with a long rest.

Okay, so… Not amazing. This is a slightly better Chronal Shift that lets you choose the rewards; you basically have 3 Chronal Shifts now. That’s good, and it’s a really, really good upgrade of both Chronal Shift and the Divination School’s Portent. You can literally choose the fate of someone else.

But, the downsides are myriad. Not only do you get to use this only once per rest, but you’re penalized for using it at all. Exhausted 1 is penalties on ability checks, which is actually only a small penalty in combat; Saving Throws are not Ability Checks, after all. As your exhaustion increases, however, the penalties stack up REALLY fast. Do be careful about using this ability in hot or cold environments, because at Exhaustion 6, you actually die. This ability could literally kill you. Once again, comparing this to Portent, and the downsides are somewhat abrupt. Portent usually just gives you such better options – with some abilities, you can guarantee crits or crit failures – that this ability could be seen as just a sidegrade, rather than an upgrade.

However, because you know whether or not the roll you’re canceling out would have succeeded or failed, you do get extra flexibility in saving lives. Use this if the roll you’re ally is making is, quite literally, life or death. Or if you’re out of Chronal Shifts.

Best Race for Chronurgy Wizards

Like many Wizards, Intelligence is crucial to understanding space and time the best you can. Afterwards, the paths diverge a bit. Dexterity is no longer necessary, per say, since Temporal Awareness grants you a massive boost in Initiative. The Constitution becomes a little more important, unless you want to go as fast as possible.

Rock Gnome

The high boost to Intelligence and the bonus to Constitution makes the short and quirky Gnome a wonderful option. While they are slow, Gnome Cunning is a rather incredible boon that will let you easily cast magic when you’d otherwise be incapacitated. Tinker is a rather specific ability, but is cute and can lead to a lot of adorable roleplay opportunities within the party. Artificer’s Lore is rather specific, but you’ll destroy any and all Intelligence (History) checks for artifacts and tech, so that’s a plus.

High Elf

For those who would rather get some height, the High Elf has never been a bad choice for Wizards. An extra skill, with doubled proficiency modifier, means that you’re the best at one thing in your party. A bonus cantrip on the Wizard spell list is somewhat overkill, but rather potent, since Wizards have so many good cantrips. The flavor of an elf controlling space and time is also not lost on me; now you can literally become the center of the universe.

Draconblood Dragonborn

A Draconblood Dragonborn becomes an excellent option given the +2 to intelligence. While there is no bonus to constitution, there is no reason not to make that the second-highest skill behind intelligence. The +1 in charisma might not be that useful, but it is a small price to place. Plus, you breathe fire. That’s cool.

Race Notes: Everyone Has Time

While boosting Intelligence should be the goal of any and all Wizards, starting with 15 is not horrible. Be whatever race you’d like to be. Flavorwise, a Goliath might have some connection to ancient history. A Tortle who controls time is thematically hilarious, bringing everyone to his speed – and they at least have some extra Constitution! Hobgoblins are another wonderful race to choose, if you don’t mind wearing some armor. Consider a race that has a bonus to Intelligence, but remember that all races can get to 20 Intelligence eventually… At some cost.

Best Feats for Chronurgy Wizard

The Chronurgy Wizard, like most Wizards, likes to have a handful of ways to access higher health totals, better concentration checks, and versatility with their spellcasting. However, the Chronurgy Wizard’s extremely high initiative gives it a unique edge on the battlefield.

We recommend getting to 20 Intelligence immediately, since that is how you pump Momentary Stasis as well as all of your spells. However, while you do that, there are a handful of options that can make your mid and lategame adventure more appealing.

Fey Touched

The Chronurgy Wizard usually has answers to everything, but nobody can be prepared for any situation. Fey Touched offers a few additional spells known, which might not seem that appealing to a Wizard. However, for Chronurgy – and less so for other Wizards – the ability to permanently learn a handful of impactful, lower-level spells is really nice.

Fey Touched begins with a +1 to Intelligence, which is a fantastic way to start. This aspect of the feat is usually only important at exactly level 4 – or level 1 with a Custom Lineage start. That’s because you usually start your Wizard’s adventure at 17 Intelligence and can use this feat to boost up to 18. Then, your next Ability Score Improvement can get you to 20, maxing out your Wizard’s spell DCs and Momentary Stasis charges without a problem.

The other aspect of this feat is that you permanently learn two low-level spells and get to cast each of them once per day for free. One of them is Misty Step, a level 2 bonus action teleport. This spell does everything you could want; moves you to a more strategically sound position, solves puzzles that rely on mobility, and gets you out of arm’s reach or even a grapple. As fights get more and more dangerous, being able to get out of dodge becomes more and more relevant. 

The second spell is a 1st-level spell that you pluck from any divination or enchantment pool. As hilarious as it is for a Wizard to learn another class’s spells, like Hex or Hunter’s Mark, you’re probably going to end up on something like Command or Silvery Barbs – highly efficient 1st-level spells that you want to spam. We recommend Silvery Barbs, as it goes with Chronal Shift’s flavor extremely well.

Metamagic Adept

While a Sorcerer will always be the master of Metamagic, you’re not exactly far off from being a Sorcerer yourself. So, there’s some meat to these potatoes. 

Metamagic Adept improves your character by giving you two Metamagic options and two Sorcery points to cast them with. There are 10 Metamagic options of varying intensity and potency. Our personal favorites for this feat are Quickened Spell, Distant Spell, and Extended Spell. Quickened Spell is great for when you have intense turns that need your action and bonus action. Distant Spell works for when something is too far away for a move action to get to and you just need to get the effect off now. Extended Spell functions for buffs and debuffs, extending how long they last to better control the fight.

Now, there is a minor issue with this feat; your limited supply of Sorcery Points means that this feat will be only useful once or twice per day. You can only Distant or Extended spell twice in a day, and only Quickened Spell once.

However, it is very important to note that those two times will be ungodly useful. You’ll usually save an entire turn’s worth of actions with the use of these metamagic abilities. If a feat said “gain two actions per day,” I’d certainly consider it.

If you’re deciding between a feat like Lucky or something like this, sincerely give Metamagic Adept a try. They can make your spells feel so much more impactful. And Wizards are nothing except a gigantic pile of spells.

Telekinetic

Telekinetic and its sister feat Telepathic are both fascinating feats. However, Telekinetic usually offers its utility in ways that Telepathic can’t, so we tend towards this option.

Telekinetic begins much like Fey Touched. You get a +1 bonus to your Intelligence, potentially turning an odd ability score number into an even one. That can be arranged at level 1, through making your Intelligence 17.

Then, you’ve got some alternative benefits that, unlike Fey Touched, don’t play into the Wizard’s biggest strength. To begin, you learn the Mage Hand cantrip. But, it’s improved; the Mage Hand is invisible and can be cast without showing anything. This is great for sneaking around, but also makes your Mage Hand significantly less vulnerable to attacks during dangerous scenarios.

Perhaps more interesting, though, is the second benefit. As a bonus action, you can push people around. Specifically, a target within 30 feet must make a Strength save or move 5 feet towards or away from you. Allies get to ignore the saving throw if they want to.

This might sound a bit tiny. However, if you’ve ever played a Paladin or melee Fighter, you’ve run into the situation where you ended up 5 feet outside of the ranger of an enemy and just had to stare at them, or awkwardly chuck a Javelin. This 5 feet can fix that. It can also get an ally out from melee range, potentially saving them from the damage of an opportunity attack.

You can push enemies, too, but they get a save to resist. This can still lead to improved Fireball turns or better Lightning Bolts, but try not to rely on this part. Pushing allies around is guaranteed utility, while shoving enemies can lead to disaster.

FAQ for the Chronurgy Wizard

What is good about Chronurgy Wizards?

The Chronurgy Wizard’s class features are all inherently very strong. Forcing rerolls on d20s is great, adding Intelligence to Initiative is amazing, a weakened version of Hold Person comes in handy consistently, and even Arcane Abeyance offers some unique ways for allies to spend actions on your magic. Convergent Future is icing on the cake, giving guaranteed successes or failures on very important checks. No subclass can offer this level of utility, and especially this often.

What Book is Chronurgy Magic In?

Chronurgy Magic was introduced in Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount. You can find it on page 184, right before Graviturgy Magic. It is also right before a write-up of all Wildemount spells, such as Time Ravage or Dark Star, that was introduced in this book.

Are Dunamancy Spells Available to all Wizards?

By default, Dunamancy Spells are only available to Chronurgy Wizards or Graviturgy Wizards. However, you can ask your DM if you are interested in any spells available to either subclass, if one catches your eye.

Example Chronurgy Wizard Build

Before we can start our build, our DM has a handful of restrictions for us. We might also want to adjust our character based on party composition, so let’s give them some time to lay the groundwork.

• No multiclassing. A pure Chronurgy Wizard it is. That’s fine by us. Wizards are fantastic spellcasters with a lot of opportunities to change things up as they level. We definitely want a handful of max-level options, after all. If you are interested in this option, see our multiclassing guide.
• No lineage rules. That’s a shame. A handful of races are lost to us with this rule in place, and we can’t make a build with just any goober on the Race list. Thankfully, it isn’t too hard to follow a build with any race if you have lineage active in your own campaign.
• Can use any book. Unsurprising, since we are using Wildemount for our subclass. We can grab any non-lineage race or background, provided they’re from official sources. This opens up a few options.
• Standard Array. So, our ability scores have locked-in values at 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8. This isn’t the end of the world, but it does limit our ability to have 16 in two stats and 15 in the third. Oh well!
• Standard Equipment. The Chronurgy Wizard follows every other Wizard build, in that it doesn’t give a hoot about equipment.
• Our party includes a Barbarian, Bard, and Monk. We’re going to be very important for arcane problem-solving, so keep an eye out for strong spells as you explore.

Race, Background, and Ability Scores for the Chronurgy Wizard Build

Our build will be prioritizing Intelligence, potentially to an unhealthy degree. In our case, unhealthy means getting it to 17 at level 1, letting us get either Fey Touched or Telekinetic at level 4. That’s going to be very fun! 

As a result, we’ll start by being a Rock Gnome. Gnomes are one of the very few races that begin play with a +2 to Intelligence, but also have Darkvision and advantage on mental saving throws. As a Rock Gnome, we’ll have very high History checks and the ability to build a handful of tiny devices, which are very slightly cooler than Prestidigitation.

Our Rock Gnome will have the Investigator background. This gives them a handful of strong proficiencies, including Perception, Investigation, and Thieves’ Tools. It’ll also let them be a dirty cop. A dirty time cop!

Finally, when considering ability scores, we’re going to prioritize Intelligence, then Dexterity and Constitution. No other ability score really matters for Wizard, so we’re going to be very aggressive with how we divvy these up. 14s in our defensive stats is a bit low, but will be compensated with magic and strong class abilities. Well, hopefully.

5E Chronurgy Wizard Build

Race: Rock Gnome Ability Scores: STR 8, DEX 14, CON 14 (13 + 1), INT 17 (15 + 2), WIS 12, CHA 10 Proficiencies: Arcana, Religion, Investigation, Perception, Disguise Kit, Thieves’ Tools Starting Equipment: Dagger, Component Pouch, Explorer’s Pack, Spellbook, Magnifying Glass, Broken and Bloody Dagger, Common Clothes, 10 gp Languages: Common, Gnomish

Level	Class Benefits	Choices
1	-Arcane Recovery -1st Level spells	Our spell list offers a handful of additional choices that we will constantly be making as our Wizard grows stronger. However, these choices will be simplified slightly. For the purposes of this guide, we will not be adding spells to our spellbook through scrolls or other spellbooks. This is a very important aspect to being a Wizard that we are skipping over, since we don’t know what spells our Wizard will encounter over their hypothetical campaign. As a result, our Chronurgy Wizard will be getting the bare minimum magic. This is okay, but make sure you do your diligence and learn as many spells as you can during your run.  Cantrips. Our Chronurgist has much higher Intelligence than Dexterity, reducing the usefulness or ranged options like Slings. So, we’re going to want at least one offensive cantrip. Fire Bolt will fill that role just fine, dealing less damage at a higher range than Toll the Dead, though Mind Sliver might be good for our Bard. Worth considering eventually. We’ll also take Mage Hand for manipulating objects from a safe distance and Shape Water for messing with our environment in a beneficial way.  Spells. We have limited options, so we want to choose 1st level spells that are impactful early on and are valid combat selections later on. To start, let’s learn a few rituals: Alarm for sleeping and Find Familiar for day-to-day activities. Then, let’s grab Identify for actually finding the magic on magic items. Magic Missile is a very efficient damage option for level 1, Shield can keep us safe and is a very valid reaction this early, and Sleep can quite literally end an encounter by itself right now.
2	-Chronal Shift -Temporal Awareness	It’s very difficult to explain how strong both Chronal Shift and Temporal Awareness are in the context of Wizards. Chronal Shift can force rerolls on things that already had advantage or disadvantage, making it so useful in all situations. Reroll allies’ failed attack rolls or saving throws, or even an enemy’s fantastic Deception check that you’d rather not contend with. You only get this twice per day, though, so try and focus on saving throws or attack rolls that would change the tide of battle if the reroll goes your way. Temporal Awareness simply means we’ll go early in combat quite often, making it more important than ever that we learn a few fantastic crowd-control spells that takes enemies off the board before they can even blink.  Spells. Woo, that was a lot of talking. Let’s put our money where our mouth is. Tasha’s Hideous Laughter will lock down an enemy immediately, potentially causing a fight to become a lot more difficult for a DM. Absorb Elements will let us survive spellcaster encounters a bit easier.
3	-2nd Level Spells	Welcome to the third level. 2nd level spells are not huge for us, offering mostly slight bumps in utility. However, there are a few spells that our Chronurgy Wizard is interested in. Mainly… Spells. Scorching Ray is normally not super important for a build, but our limited spell list will lack very impactful single-target damage. Scorching Ray can change that quickly, and it’s one of the few spells that scale efficiently at higher spell levels. Our other second level option will be Maximilian’s Earthen Grasp, basically Hold Person but deals damage and moves around. Of course, we aren’t paralyzing, but it’s hard for us to guarantee that we’ll fight humanoids, even this early on. Definitely worth considering when we have scrolls and enemy spellbooks.
4	-Ability Score Improvement	Slightly more complicated level here, with a hefty decision to make.  Feat. Fey Touched will be our choice here. With such a limited spell pool as we have chosen here, Misty Step is a sadly required defensive spell. Taking a mere bonus action to activate is a huge boon. You can teleport and then dash, hide, or do anything else your heart desires. Well, except cast another spell. Speaking of other spell, Silvery Barbs is an excellent reaction, especially for a time-based character. Manipulate those rolls. Oh, and make sure that +1 goes into Intelligence.  Cantrip. Prestidigitation works fine for us. We want the multifaceted aspects of the spell. Being able to solve all of the problems that Presti can handle is something that our Wizard can’t do without.  Spells. With Misty Step and Silvery Barbs in the spell book, we can still manage a few 2nd level spells that influence fights. Mainly, Web for locking down many different opponents and See Invisibility since our party doesn’t have many convincing outs for invisible creatures.
5	-3rd Level Spells	The third level is where about one million spells come around that we want. And we’re going to continuously come back to this level of spellcasting.  Spells. Ugh, we have too many options. Haste is going to go well with the time theme and work very well with our Barbarian. But, it’s just something we can’t afford. We have to get Fly ready as a defensive option or a way to get our Monk into fist-fighting range. And, since our party has an abysmal area-of-effect loadout, Fireball is a necessary evil. Don’t worry, we’ll be back for Haste and other options soon.
6	-Momentary Stasis	Momentary Stasis is a great way to get a supportive caster or annoying add out of a fight, or potentially cause a Legendary Caster to blow Legendary Resistance. Coordinate with your party to guarantee lost turns.  Spells. Counterspell is an almost required combat option for the Wizard. Countering an enemy Wizard’s spell is far too critical in fights, especially with our party of Barbarians and Monks. We’re fairly susceptible to magic overall. Dispel Magic is exceptionally important out of combat or for if you can’t counter something important. Save your Bard from being petrified.
7	-4th Level Spells	Alright, we’ve moved past level three for right now. Each level after this has very strong options, but we’ll eventually be back to three. We have a few other must-haves to find.  Spells. Since we’re still the group’s minion-slayers, we’re going to need Wall of Fire. It’s a huge amount of damage, cuts an encounter in half, and can provide anti-targeting through just being a massive wall of flame. Banishment targets the weak saving throw of Charisma, scales well with spell levels, and prevents easy dispeling.
8	-Ability Score Improvement	Alright, back to a feat. Thankfully, this feat is a lot easier to handle. Feat. Our feat choice is a lot easier than usual. +2 Intelligence. Just get that thing to 20. It’s more important for us than usual, since our Momentary Stasis uses Intelligence for number of uses per day.  Spells. Fire Shield lasts forever, doesn’t take concentration, halves damage from two very common elemental effects, and disincentivizes attacks. Greater Invisibility will help keep our poor Monk alive while also giving us a decent defensive option. They cannot punch us in the face without some extra senses while this is online.
9	-5th Level Spells	Level five will be impactful for us, but still will require a bit of sacrifice if we want to serve our party well.  Spells. Creation is one of the strongest problem-solving spells in the game, potentially making whatever your heart desires real. Hold Monster is a big save-or-die effect, especially with our angry Barbarian getting to enemies. Forcing saving throws or putting people into terrible situations will be our basic M.O. at this point.
10	-Arcane Abeyance	What a fun little ability Arcane Abeyance is. Good luck using it in traditional situations. Our Barbarian was probably not using that action against a swarm of bees anyways.  Cantrip. Our final cantrip will be Mind Sliver. It’s good damage, targets a basically completely ignored saving throw in Intelligence, and reduces the target’s save. Perfect for future turns of follow up or for setting our Bard up for success.  Spells. Bigby’s Hand is an excellent use of concentration that provides a very wide variety of distinct spell effects. Perfect for our low-knowledge Wizard! Synaptic Static doesn’t use concentration, deals a Fireball of damage which targets Intelligence, and debuffs those who survive. A good, all-around spell for when we’re already concentrating.
11	-6th Level Spells	6th level and beyond is the point where it’s smart to look back on past spell levels and fill in the gaps. You get limited spells of these levels and can’t refuel with Arcane Recovery, making them more likely to be one-and-done.  Spells. Eyebite is a potent concentration effect that can put enemies to sleep every turn. A good, consistent use for 6th level slots. Our other big option is going to be Globe of Invulnerability. This ability alone makes fighting mages a lot more tolerable. Just make sure you understand it’s aura and keep your important allies safe and sound. These both use concentration, so choose wisely.
12	-Ability Score Improvement	We’re at an interesting point with our feats where our goal is to pivot to durability. There are a few ways to do that. Feat. We’ll start with Resilient. This provides a +1 to Constitution on top of a high boost to our Constitution saving throws. Chronurgy Wizards are naturally concentration heavy, so we want to make sure our saving throw is up to the task. This’ll also help us survive against strong magic in the future, since Constitution is constantly targeted by endgame death-or-dying effects.  Spells. We’re going to, at long last, scoop up Haste at this point. Our Barbarian can start to put out real numbers during turns, making this easily 20-40 damage per turn. Great for single-target encounters where our Barbarian or Monk can theoretically shine. However, we’ll grab one last 6th level spell in Mass Suggestion, a spell that can clear out encounters that roll poorly enough on Wisdom.
13	-7th Level Spells	Like 6th level, there are some great spells at 7th level. But, we’ll likely only want two or three options. We only have so many spell slots, after all.  Spells. Simulacrum is extremely expensive but, theoretically, allows you to play with two barbarians at once. Repairing it can be annoying, but it has so many abilities that it’s almost always worth the cost. Plane Shift can force a pesky creature to take an impromptu vacation or allow for the party to have a quick and easy method of instant teleportation.
14	-Convergent Future	Convergent future is a very powerful and very difficult to use effect. Use it a maximum of twice per day, or have Greater Restoration on hand. The ability to guarantee success or failure on rolls is completely and utterly broken, so you can’t be afraid to get a bit exhausted for it. But, do not let yourself get to halved HP or worse without good reason. Like, dying, for example.  Spells. Forcecage is a great way to potentially lock dozens of enemies out of a fight, or keep your party very safe for the amount of time needed to Short Rest. We’ll also grab the Temporal Shift spell. This is a great way to force a Wisdom save on a spellcaster or force them to waste a spell.
15	-8th Level Spells	We can only ever cast these spells once per day. But, it’s nice to have a good spread of options here.  Spells. Maze is one of the meanest spells in 5E, occasionally requiring a critical 20 to save against. Removing someone from a fight like that is messed up. Power Word Stun prevents saves in a similar way. However, this one allows for a quick kill of a low health enemy, while Maze keeps them alive the whole time.
16	-Ability Score Improvement	We’re going to take a new direction with this feat, using the new Sigil and the Outlands book to our advantage. To start, though, we have to take a bit of a beating.  Feat. Scion of the Outer Planes (Lawful Outer Plane) is going to be our choice. This gives us Guidance as a bonus cantrip, which is still good at this high level. It’s also not something we had prior access to, hilariously enough, so we can help our Bard out of combat. Our plan is to get Agent of Order at the 4th level, since it both goes with our build, rounds out our 15 Constitution, and provides a strong crowd-control benefit. But, we have to get there.  Spells. To help us get to level 19, we’ve got some utility spells to consider. Teleport gets us out of a terrible situation and is much more valid now that we’re in endgame and moving across the continent more often. Tongues is also more important, allowing us to talk to whoever needs talking to, no matter the language barrier.
17	-9th Level Spells	We do technically have some options for 9th level spells. The keyword being technically.  Spells. Wish is by far the strongest spell in DnD 5E. We need it. No spell in the entire game can come even close to replicating its strength. However, True Polymorph has some very minor utility outside of Wish’s purview. It’s also a good idea to have another spell in case we lose the ability to cast Wish.
18	-Spell Mastery	This is a level rarely reached by Wizards, but it’s a welcome one. Especially since we get to play around with some hilarious magic.  Spells. We’re going to learn some magic very quickly first. For flavor purposes, Fortune’s Favor provides a 1 hour buff that rerolls dice. Great for our time theme, but also very strong if we can permanently cast it. Our other spell will be Contingency, a strong magical ability that is quite expensive, but allows for something like Misty Step to be casted when we’re in danger. This’ll let us survive dangerous situations.  Spell Mastery. We get to cast a 1st and 2nd level spell for free. Silvery Barbs is an easy choice for 1st level. It technically wastes a tiny slice of Fey Touched, but it also lets us have a permanent reaction that rerolls d20s. Great for our spellcasting. As for our 2nd level option, Fortune’s Favor lets us reroll d20s on attacks, ability checks, or saving throws. A d20 on a saving throw can be the difference between life or death, so set this up before a hard fight. It’ll be costly to do this every day, but it’s an impressive pre-fight tool if you’re willing to spend 400-600 gold.
19	-Ability Score Improvement	Our plan has come to fruition.  Feat. Agent of Order gives us a +1 to Constitution and, 6 times per day, lets us freeze enemies that we damage in time. More chances to restrain are great! Restrained is still a powerful effect that can lead to huge damage on enemies.  Spells. Clone is now very possible, since endgame campaigns can easily last years. Wall of Stone lets us theoretically build magical fortifications as well as stall enemies. Even at level 20, these walls can block upwards of 2,000 damage. That’s not easy to burn through, and can give you a few turns to prepare your party with consumables.
20	-Signature Spells	Level 20! Congratulations.  Signature Spells. Two third-level spells that we get to prepare automatically and cast once for free. There are a few options here, but Haste and Counterspell come to mind. Haste is in theme with our time shenanigans while Counterspell is just too potent to ignore. Even having the chance to nuke a high-level spell is great.  Spells. Our last few spells are largely a victory lap. Rary’s Telepathic Bond is a good way to communicate with long distance allies. Polymorph is way too late now, but it’s sometimes nice to turn enemies into a sheep and then just turn them to dust with damage.

Conclusion – Our Chronurgy Wizard 5E Hot Take

That wraps up our Chronurgy Wizard 5E Guide. Verdict: a really interesting subclass. While I may consider the Chronal Shift and Convergent Future abilities to be slightly weak, that’s most likely an overreaction. Any reactionary reroll effects can, quite literally, save lives. And this class will be just in time to make your DM groan as they freeze important enemies and always go first. This is a really potent subclass, and I highly recommend making one… Just be quick about it. You can also learn more about what this release offers in our review of the new Wildemount Subclasses.