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Tiefling Wizard Build Guide: 2024 Rules and Fiendish Legacies

2024 D&D Tiefling species and Wizard class; 2014 comparison only

From the Ceramic Dice editorial team. Rules references, corrections, and our use of assisted drafting are explained in our editorial standards.

Rules edition: This build uses the 2024 Tiefling species and 2024 Wizard class. Ability score increases come from your background, not your species. The 2014 Tiefling has different ability increases and Infernal Legacy rules; do not combine that older package with the 2024 traits. This page focuses on the current core-rules character.

A Tiefling Wizard pairs a versatile species with the Wizard’s spellbook and broad spell selection. The Tiefling’s Fiendish Legacy adds a damage resistance, a cantrip, and two always-prepared spells. Choose a legacy that gives you useful tools for the campaign, then build your ability scores and prepared spells around the Wizard’s Intelligence-based features.

Build the 2024 character correctly

Intelligence is your Wizard spellcasting ability. It affects your spell attack rolls and spell save DC, so make it your highest score. Dexterity improves initiative and helps with Armor Class, while Constitution supports hit points and concentration saves. Wisdom is valuable for common saving throws and Perception; Charisma is useful when the character concept calls for it, but it does not improve Wizard spells.

In the 2024 character rules, your background supplies ability score increases and an Origin feat. Choose a background whose ability options can raise Intelligence, then place your remaining increases where they support the character you want to play. For example, a Scribe background can support an Intelligence-focused scholar, while Sage can frame a researcher with a different secondary ability. Check the exact background text and choose its allowed increases during character creation.

The Wizard gets Spellcasting, Ritual Adept, and Arcane Recovery at 1st level. You keep a spellbook, prepare Wizard spells from it, and can add eligible Wizard spells as you advance or discover them. Your subclass arrives at 3rd level, so choose a school based on the role you want: Abjuration for defensive magic, Divination for information and control, Evocation for direct area effects, or Illusion for deception and creative problem-solving.

Choose a Fiendish Legacy for its actual benefits

All 2024 Tieflings have 60-foot Darkvision and Otherworldly Presence, which grants the Thaumaturgy cantrip. You also choose Abyssal, Chthonic, or Infernal legacy. That choice gives you a resistance and an additional cantrip at 1st level, then spells at character levels 3 and 5. Those spells are always prepared; you can cast each once without a spell slot after a Long Rest, or cast it again with an appropriate spell slot. Choose Intelligence as the legacy’s spellcasting ability to keep these spells aligned with your Wizard.

  • Abyssal: poison resistance and Poison Spray, followed by Ray of Sickness at 3rd level and Hold Person at 5th. This package brings poison damage and a control spell.
  • Chthonic: necrotic resistance and Chill Touch, followed by False Life and Ray of Enfeeblement. This option emphasizes necrotic magic and added durability.
  • Infernal: fire resistance and Fire Bolt, followed by Hellish Rebuke and Darkness. Choose it if those spells and fire resistance suit the foes and situations your campaign uses.

These legacies do not raise your Intelligence or Charisma. The background handles ability increases, and the selected spellcasting ability only sets the spellcasting ability for Fiendish Legacy and Thaumaturgy. Resistance reduces damage of its type; it is not immunity, so a fire-resistant Tiefling can still be hurt by fire.

Choose spells to cover different jobs

Your Wizard spellbook can hold more options than you can prepare at once. Keep a mix of defense, control, mobility, and damage so you can adapt after a Long Rest. Shield and Mage Armor support defense; Find Familiar can assist with scouting and other tasks allowed by its rules; Web can hinder groups; and Counterspell can answer hostile magic. Fireball is a strong area-damage option when you need it, but a Tiefling’s fire resistance does not protect allies caught in the spell.

Your legacy spells broaden that list rather than replacing the Wizard’s choices. For example, Infernal Hellish Rebuke uses your reaction, so it competes with other reactions you might want in the same round. Darkness can block sight for your allies as well as enemies; coordinate before casting it. Poison Spray, Chill Touch, and Fire Bolt are cantrips with different ranges and effects, so choose your Wizard cantrips to cover gaps instead of assuming every racial cantrip will be ideal in every encounter.

At 5th level, Memorize Spell lets you swap one prepared Wizard spell for another from your spellbook when you finish a Short Rest. That flexibility helps you respond to the day’s challenges. Your Tiefling legacy spells remain always prepared under their own feature, so they do not take one of the Wizard spells you prepare from your spellbook.

Pick a school for your play style

  • Abjurer: choose this if protection and magical defense are central to the character.
  • Diviner: choose this if you want information, prediction, and control over important rolls.
  • Evoker: choose this if you want to specialize in damaging spells. Tiefling fire resistance does not replace the Evoker’s own feature for protecting creatures in an area effect.
  • Illusionist: choose this if you enjoy disguises, misdirection, and using spells creatively outside combat.

Your species does not lock you into fire magic or an evil personality. A Tiefling can study any school and hold any outlook. Give the character a personal reason for studying magic—curiosity, service, ambition, family history, or simply the desire to understand the strange legacy they inherited.

Keep the 2014 Tiefling separate

The 2014 Player’s Handbook Tiefling has different rules: its base ability increases are +2 Charisma and +1 Intelligence, and Infernal Legacy grants Thaumaturgy, Hellish Rebuke at character level 3, and Darkness at character level 5, each with its own once-per-Long-Rest casting. Later legacy variants from other 2014 books have their own traits and spells. If your campaign uses those older rules, use the source that matches the selected Tiefling option and background; the 2024 lineages above do not replace those older options in an ongoing 2014 campaign.

Official Rules Sources