Creating WandaVision's Wanda in Dungeons and Dragons 5E

Marvel's WandaVision has just come to a close on Disney+ finishing its nine-episode season. Combining mystery and sitcom plot hooks with the ever-growing expansion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, now on the small screen, it's no surprise you want more Wanda in your life. While we know Wanda is slated to return for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we're still over a year from its release. If you want to create your own stories with Wanda and are interested in Dungeons and Dragons, then it's not too difficult for you to create your own Wanda Maximoff.

We'll go over how to build your own level one Wanda to take adventuring through official Dungeons and Dragons campaigns—the upcoming Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft might be the perfect part of the DnD Multiverse to start her adventure. If you enjoy creating your own homebrew worlds you can even take a look at DnDBeyond's suggestions for how to create a WandaVision-like world.

What is Wanda anyway?

There are a lot of great races in Dungeons and Dragons to pick from, but only two that were able to really fit. The choices I was stuck between were Human and Half-Elf. Human as a selection is obvious because... well that's what she is, but it just doesn't give Wanda enough firepower I find. For Half-Elf, the logic behind the choice would be because of her magical influences; whether it be because of her Mutant origin in the comics canon or her power boost from experimentation with the Mind Stone prior to Age of Ultron, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch. Making Wanda a Half-Elf would give her the added benefits of the Fey Ancestry, and protection against being charmed, but she is meant to still be a human so it wouldn't make much sense for Wanda to have Darkvision, especially when we know The Vision is a good guy (I'm sorry).

Ultimately for this, I picked Half-Elf. While the Scarlet Witch is a Human, it's really important in her character to show off just how impressive a spellcaster she is. As a Half-Elf, you can enjoy the benefits of +2 Charisma, and +1 to two other Ability Scores, like Constitution, for her ability to hold her own in a battle, and Wisdom, which will be important for Wisdom checks or Animal Handling in case there's a cat or toad in your Wanda's future.

For your Half-Elf proficiencies, there are a number of options to pick from that can flavor your Wanda a different way. I've listed some of the more interesting ones below:

• Insight - Hand in hand with Wanda's abilities is the power to read minds. While Insight isn't exactly that, it's enough for you to be able to root out the truth when you're suspicious of other motives.
• Intimidation - If you've read comics, or enjoyed watching Wanda hold back and pressure Thanos single-handedly, then you know that she's got a lot of power and knows how to use it. Intimidation when mad is also something we see a fair bit of in Wandavision, so why not let your Wanda also have a bit of a bad streak?
• Perception - Being a kickass Super Hero isn't just about the spandex and landings, it's also about knowing your situation and being ready for anything. By picking Perception you'll help Wanda detect what's around her.
• Sleight of Hand - Any good magician knows you need to have sleight of hand. While this likely won't add too much in terms of character abilities, it can be great for roleplaying sections of the game, or if you want to try magic a key item away from someone.

Language selection after having Human and Elvish isn't really that important. You could go with one that might reflect the idea of the Southeastern Sokovia with Dwarvish or just go full mythical with Primordial, Celestial, or Deep Speech.

Creating a Wanda with Real Class

When it comes to what Class Wanda should have, you might almost think that being a Wizard is the way to go, being that she is the Scarlet Witch, but look no further than a Wild Magic Sorcerer. With plenty of tricks up her sleeve and the chance for something to always get a bit strange, it's obvious why this is the best choice. Being a spellcaster and one who enjoys conjuring reality-bending illusions, the only picks for your two skill proficiencies are Arcana and Deception. Arcana is obvious as you want to be all-knowing with your magical abilities, but Deception plays off the mystery surrounding Wanda's abilities and the town of Westview.

After rolling a Sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher, you'll roll another D20. If it lands on a 1, then you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table. Not only that, you can use Tides of Chaos to affect the probability of an outcome by giving yourself Advantage on one attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. This ability is an absolute match for Wanda's original powers in the comics, the power over probability. It will also automatically trigger a Wild Magic Surge the next day that's going to quickly teach your Wanda that big moves can have some pretty disastrous effects.

Let Me Spell It Out for You

Here's where we get to the most important part for any new spellcaster: What can they do with their newfound magic abilities? As a level one Sorcerer, players are able to learn four cantrips and two 1st-level spells. While there are a lot of cantrips and spells to pick from, there were a few stand-out choices. Starting with the non-combat cantrips, we've got Wanda picking up Minor Illusion and Mage Hand. These work to give your Wanda the ability to create objects in range as well as Mage Hand as a stand-in for any kind of telekinesis.

For damaging cantrips, the pick was a bit more difficult. Wanda's ability to psychically attack enemies making them relive past trauma or giving them visions of a dark future meant that Mind Sliver was a shoe-in. The big downside is that while it has the added effect of subtracting 1d4 from an opponent's next saving throw, at 1d6 damage, it's just not that great. A big part of Wandavision, especially later episodes, is magic beams and clash battles. What felt the most genuine here would be for Wanda to have Lightning Lure. This in part does damage but also throws around your enemy.

Some contenders in the area of Cantrips were spells like Message for telepathy, Friends for added mental powers, or Blade Ward as magical protection. Prestidigitation lost out to Minor Illusion as it just doesn't mesh as well with her abilities.

For 1st-level spells to keep Wanda balanced, I wanted to get one damaging spell and one support spell. There were two damage spells that fit the profile almost too well, Chaos Bolt and Witch Bolt, but Chaos Bolt was just too perfect. Chaos Bolt really falls in line with who Wanda is as a spellcaster. With a 2d8 +1d6 roll of damage where the d8 rolls have you choose what type of damage you do, Chaos Bolt is exactly the kind of random spell you want to be doing damage with. This chaos is further compounded when identical damage-type rolls allow you to arc this attack to another creature. No one would blame you for picking both of these spells, they both absolutely scream Scarlet Witch.

For a non-damaging spell, the choices are between Charm Person, Detect Magic, Silent Image, or Sleep. Due to its versatility in and out of combat, and how quickly it can scale in battles, I went with Sleep. While Wanda doesn't do much to turn people to sleep in WandaVision, her widespread effects on Westview—suppressing the personalities and thoughts of an entire town—they may not be asleep, but they're certainly not conscious.

How Do the Stats Tally Up?

For the purposes of making life easy, Wanda will be made with the standard array but the basic premise will be the same if you roll for her stats too. Listing from highest to lowest, here is where you should allocate your Ability Scores. If you've been following the above instructions the totals will be listed after.

• Charisma - 15 (17)
• Dexterity - 14 (14)
• Constitution - 13 (14)
• Wisdom - 12 (13)
• Intelligence - 10 (10)
• Strength - 8 (8)

These will maximize Wanda's spellcasting abilities while also ensuring a better chance in the Initiative order and AC, while not leaving anything in particular in the dust. Your strength will always be low, but welcome to casting spells.

You spent years learning the lore of the multiverse. You scoured manuscripts, studied scrolls, and listened to the greatest experts on the subjects that interest you. Your efforts have made you a master in your fields of study.

For a Background, none are too exact. The description for a Sage does include references to the Lore of the Multiverse, but backgrounds in Folk Hero, Haunted One, or Outlander might all be as relevant. This is really where you feel Wanda is in her stage of life. For Alignment, we're once again doubling down on her Chaos Magic abilities, but leaning towards Chaotic Good. Even when she was working with Hydra, it was for something she believed was right. With her own consciousness as her driving force, she embodies Chaotic Good the best.

With all of that completed, you should now have a ready-to-play Scarlet Witch of your very own. If you liked the sound of mine and want to see how she looks then you can check her out on DnDBeyond.

Where Does Wanda Go From Here?

While all of the above is great for Wanda as a budding new Sorcerer at Level 1, there's plenty of ways to expand her magical abilities as she levels up. For your Metamagic options at Level 3, Empowered Spell's use of rerolling damage plays with probability/chaos once again. Reaching 4th Level will open up a chance for your spells to have an even better chance to hit, or you can pick from any number of feats.

Some recommended feats for this Wanda build would be:

• Fey Touched - This increases your Charisma by one, but also allows for teleportation via Misty Step and one other 1st level spell of your choice.
• Lucky - You have three luck points you can use on attack rolls from and against you, ability checks, and saving throws
• Telekinetic - In case you didn't want to pick Mage Hand up early, you can get this feat now that lets you learn Mage Hand, or just increase its range
• Telepathic - For similar reasons as above, this will allow you to make a Wanda that has less in the way of witchy limitations.

Some fun spells for Wanda to learn as she levels would also include Detect Thoughts, Tasha's Mind Whip, Enhance Ability, Levitate, and that's only 2nd level spells. The list continues to go on for fun effects and attacks your Wanda can learn.

Do you think I made a faithful Wanda? Are there any other members of the WandaVision cast you'd want to have a Dungeons and Dragons character for? What about any of the other Avengers?