Harry Potter D&D Characters: The Ravenclaw Wizard

This one is actually a wizard!

Other Harry Potter D&D characters can be played as warlocks, bards or clerics. But if there was one House who deserves to field the wizard character in a Harry Potter D&D game it’s Ravenclaw. This Ravenclaw character uses their intelligence so keenly that it borders on divination.

The ground rules for Harry Potter D&D characters

Remember that this characters is a D&D expression of a Harry Potter character. The goal is not to simulate the perfect Harry Potter character. It is instead to build interesting, fun, and effective D&D characters which can be used in a Harry-Potter-themed D&D game. . (We have done something similar previously with the Suicide Squad D&D party.)

The Harry-Potter-themed character build for a player character from House Ravenclaw below, and any other Hogwarts D&D characters in this series, start at character level 3. This is so they unlock features of their subclass, as well as the Spellcasting feature, if they have one.

No race is specified for the Slytherin character build because there could be many different races in a D&D version of Hogwarts. We could play a Harry Potter D&D game with all humans, but we could also assume that in our version of Hogwarts, humans walk the hallways alongside elves, centaurs, goliaths, and many other races.

The Ravenclaw wizard

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you’ve a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind.
The Sorting Hat

Ravenclaw values wit, learning, and intelligence. Among all of the D&D classes, the wizard is destined to fit this niche. We can reskin a divination wizard so that instead of foreseeing the future, the Ravenclaw wizard is simply too smart to be surprised by anything. They are the strategic chess master among the D&D characters.

Level 1 Ravenclaw wizard: Spellcasting wunderkind

As a first-level wizard, our Ravenclaw D&D character shows an unequaled talent for spellcasting. They know more spells, and can cast more spells than any other class at first level. Here’s how we can reskin the abilities of a wizard to make a Ravenclaw character:

Spellbook. This character is a spell nerd. They carry a little book where they constantly tweak and record new spells they want to learn.
Arcane Recovery. Our magical powers are already so finely tuned that they are expended more slowly than those of other characters, allowing our Ravenclaw wizard to cast more spells!

Level 2 Ravenclaw wizard: Too smart for this world

At second level, we choose a wizard subclass. The School of Divination can work well for the braniac character archetype of a Ravenclaw wizard. Here’s how:

Divination Savant. Many of the spells from the school of divination fit right into the toolkit of a clever Ravenclaw. Copying them faster and cheaper into our spellbook is useful.
Portent. Our Ravenclaw wizard thinks ten steps ahead. They plan a situation out so fully in their mind, that it can almost seem uncannily prescient. Two times per day, we can change an outcome to our wishes, but narratively, our character knew all along how those die rolls would work out.

Level 3 Ravenclaw wizard spell selection

At third level, we gain access to second-level spells. The following spells fit well with the theme of wit, intelligence, and learning. Here is the list along with some tips on reskinning the spells to fit a Harry Potter D&D game. Keep in mind that we need to prepare some of these spells, while some we can cast as rituals, without having to prepare them.

Cantrips

Prestidigitation. Little wand tricks are nothing but play for our Ravenclaw wizard.
Mind Sliver. A first simple step into the vast field of Legilimency—the power of reading and even influencing minds.

1st-level ritual spells

Comprehend Languages. A simple but fitting incantation to understand foreign tongues.
Detect Magic. A wizarding wunderkind like our Ravenclaw character can sense traces of magic around them.
Identify. A spell which reveals the abilities of an item.

1st-level prepared spells

Mage Armor. A smart wizard never leaves the Ravenclaw common room without some magical protection.
Shield. Deflect incoming attacks with a flick of the wand.
Catapult. We can reskin this spell as an expertly cast vingardium leviosa, lifting an object and hurling it at a target.

2nd-level prepared spells

Detect Thoughts. This Ravenclaw wizard begins experimenting with Legilimency.
Locate Object. A lesser version of the accio spell, which doesn’t transport the object to us, but at least tells us where it is.
Web. Summoning spider webs is a useful spell to learn, allowing us to catch multiple enemies in it.