When Dungeons & Dragons players thinks about a traditional Wizard, they probably think about spell books, wands, and robes. Wizards in D&D begin with no armor proficiencies, meaning most of their protection generally comes from their magic. However, if a player carefully plans out their build, it is possible to make a D&D Wizard that can use Heavy Armor while remaining an effective spellcaster.
Although any Wizard could technically equip some chain mail, D&D's rules make this unadvisable. Characters are unable to cast spells unless they are proficient in the armor they are wearing, and a Wizard without spells is essentially useless in combat. In order to gain proficiency in Heavy Armor, a player should first ensure their Wizard is a Mountain Dwarf. Mountain Dwarves have a racial ability that makes them proficient in both Light and Medium armor, a big step up from regular clothes and an important step towards using Heavy Armor.
Feats in Dungeons & Dragons are a great way to customize characters even further, and one is necessary in order to build a Wizard clad in Heavy Armor. The Heavily Armored feat provides proficiency with Heavy Armor, along with a 1-point increase to a character's Strength score, but it does come with an important requirement: Characters must be proficient with Medium Armor before taking the Heavily Armored feat, meaning it would be much more difficult for a non-Dwarven Wizard to access it. Additionally, a Dwarven Wizard would not not actually need to worry about having a specific Strength score to wear armor, as Dwarves have a racial feature that allows them to ignore the speed penalty of not having an armor's required Strength.
Why An Armored Wizard Build Is Powerful In Dungeons & Dragons
Building a Wizard that uses Heavy Armor in Dungeons & Dragons opens up the possibility of some very strong builds. A Wizard's standard protection spell, Mage Armor, grants them an Armor Class of 13 + their Dexterity Modifier. Assuming their Dexterity is a decent, they likely spend most of their time with an Armor Class of around 15. Chain Mail, Splint, and Plate Armor all surpass this number, with Plate being the strongest, at a whopping 18. Having an armor class of 18 would make a Wizard formidable in D&D's combat, and combining this with the defensive Abjuration subclass could make the Wizard very difficult to take down.
An important drawback to this build is that, in order to gain the Heavily Armored feat, the Wizard has to sacrifice an Ability Score Increase that could go towards Intelligence. Unless the player's campaign is using the alternate race rules introduced in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, the Mountain Dwarf attribute increases do not include Intelligence, hindering the Wizard's spellcasting abilities even further. The costly investments needed to create this build, along with Wizards' naturally low health pools, could mean the Wizard is less capable of making an impact during encounters. While it is possible to multiclass in D&D in order to gain Heavy Armor with less investment, there are many campaign that don't allow multiclassing at all.
The priority in Dungeons & Dragons should always be to have fun, though, and creating unique builds is great way to do exactly that. Although making a Heavily Armored Wizard might have a number of drawbacks, playing as this type of character will open up new opportunities, both in roleplay and in combat. For veteran Dungeons & Dragons players, niche builds such as a Heavy Armor-wearing Wizard are also a good way to stay interested in a campaign.