5E D&D order of scribes wizard tasha's cauldron of everything

Wizard Like No Other with Order of Scribes from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

June 4, 2021

Wizards portrayed as book nerds is nothing new when it comes to Dungeons & Dragons and more broadly fantasy as a whole. In fifth edition D&D the Order of Scribes from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything takes wizards’ cliche bookishness and cranks the dial all the way up. These 5E D&D wizards invest devote time and energy to their precious spellbooks — so much they imbue those tomes with a magical power of their own! Let’s get into it.

Storytelling through mechanics of 5E D&D

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything includes two Arcane Traditions for 5E D&D. One of them — Bladesinging — originally appeared in Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide but underwent some revision for the reprinted version. Meanwhile the Order of Scribes presents a very wizardly wizard option and provides this arcane masters a trusted companion who understands the importance of magical discovery in a way unlike any other adventuring ally.

“Magic is great and all, but have you smelled a book?” — Tasha, in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

We’ve explored each subclass option in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything here on the website and I’ve determined they fall into one of two buckets. Some like the Fey Wanderer Ranger Archetype, Path of Wild Magic Primal Path and Bard College of Creation lead me to believe 5E D&D is transitioning into a storytelling game, which I don’t fancy very much at all. This feeling is mitigated by character options like the Oath of the Watchers, Circle of Stars and others. Perhaps it’s appropriate then for the final subclass to cover straddles the line nicely.

Order of Scribes comes across as maybe the most wizardly Arcane Tradition of them all, which is saying a lot since there’s 13 of them. This takes into account even the specialists devoted to each individual school of magic. In so many ways 5E D&D wizards are defined by their spellbook and rely on those crucial implements to subtly weave the magic permeating the cosmos. Order of the Scribes wizards exemplify this like no other.

Until now I’ve maintained the Rune Knight as the most interesting subclass from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. I’m a big fan of fighters and if you checked out the post I just linked you’ll see why I really dig the Rune Knight. But I’ve got to say the Order of Scribes makes a strong contender. Not for nothing but the accompanying illustration in the book gives me really strong Firestorm vibes. (Firestorm is a DC Comics superhero with a dual identity one half of which is Martin Stein who exists as a disembodied consciousness.)

Here’s a breakdown of the Order of Scribes features along with commentary:

Order of Scribes features

Wizardly Quill. A wonderful beginning to this Arcane Traditions features. These wizards are on the spot whenever a writing instrument is required since they can magically create one capable of producing any color ink in their hand. Beyond this flavor filled flourish the quill serves a very practical function of reducing the time required to copy spells into a spellbook.
Awakened Spellbook. To accompany their magical quill these wizards imbue their spellbook with arcane sentience and awaken them. Incredible! This very special tome becomes a spellcasting focus, removes the 10 minute additional time needed to cast a ritual spell (wow!) and allows the wizard to replace damage types of their spells when cast, which is phenomenal.
Manifest Mind. Here is where those Firestorm vibes come on strong because now the sentient mind awakened in the wizard’s spellbook manifests as a spectral object capable of hearing, seeing and telepathically communicating with their wizard. The spectral mind can even act as a point of origin for spells cast by the wizard.
Master Scrivener. Another terrific feature with dual utility. An Order of Scribes wizard gleans a bit more magic between rests by instantly creating an empowered spell scroll and if this isn’t juicy enough it costs only half the time and gold to craft spell scrolls.
One with the Word. As far as subclass capstones go this one is tight. If the party wizard wasn’t already the authority on Arcana they almost certainly become so through this feature. With this base covered their very special spellbook continues to give back to the wizard who awakened it by sacrificing knowledge kept within. This part of the feature is costly since it restricts access to some of the spells on its pages but when the benefit makes the wizard invulnerable to all of the damage from a single attack it’s more than worth the cost.

If I’m honest I’m surprised to find myself so enamored of the Order of Scribes Arcane Tradition. It starts with the wonderfully evocative flavor and swells through features not only useful and practical but building on the strong themes at every step of the way. This subclass option really differentiates wizards from their arcane counterparts sorcerers in a profound way by highlighting the nature of a wizard’s magic as a product of intense study and experimentation. I’ll go out on a limb and say Order of Scribes represents without question the iconic D&D wizard from here on out.

*Featured image — A human Order of Scribes wizard as seen in the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. [Image courtesy Wizards of the Coast]