Fantastic idea for a build. One of the great things about Artificers is that they don't need War Caster to cast spells with their hands full provided they are wielding an infused weapon or shield. Mending has a casting time of 1 minute so is not possible to use in combat usually. Two lances at once seems a bit ridiculous but then again there's no reason you couldn't have one of your lances affixed on your mount, like a unicorn on steroids, although it probably should be retractable in that case to keep it from always hitting things when just walking around. I like the idea of using Enlarge/Reduce with the spell-storing item to enable a medium character to ride a large steel defender in combat provided there is room. The Steel Defender could activate the spell-storing item themselves.
Thanks for the catch - you know, I hadn't really considered letting the Steel Defender use the item... Hm... I guess there's technically no prohibition against it, so a great idea if the DM is ok with it, especially since, with Mounted Combatant, you can force attacks against them to target you, making it *really* easy for them to maintain concentration...
@@DnDDeepDive Not to mention the evasion like you said in the video. It was a great change they made in Tasha's to allow the Steel Defender and also your Homunculus Servant to take other actions not listed in their stat blocks.
So correct me if I'm wrong but if you gave the mount the invisibility spell with spell storing. You are a part of what it's currently carrying so you yourself would also turn invisible. You yourself should be able to attack without getting rid of the visibility. So a budget greater invisibility with a level two spell
@@kamerensmith4211 ha ha - sneaky :). I think it could possibly work RAW, but of course you DM may also overrule you as being against RAI and/or too powerful :P.
Currently playing a similar build, but I am the mount. I ran a homebrew race from 2nd edition (Bariaur from Planescape) cleric of the war domain and act as a mount for my daughter who is playing a Gnome Cavalier. One custom made saddle with pooled gold from both our characters and we are the tank for our party. It has been a blast so far!
@@ovbrook3057 it isnt heavy ever it is two handed while unmounted so a small race can use the lance for a 1d12 weapon but while mounted it is onehanded so you can use a shield, or a second lance
I’ve always viewed this channel as a collection of YOUR build ideas, not necessarily what you think is the best, just a crazy build you had in your head. I wonder if some people come here seeing “D&D Optimized” and expect everything to be perfect in their eyes, and are over critical? I know I myself enjoy leaving comments/opinions to see what you yourself think, though I don’t mean for them to be an attack on the content you present. I know some when arguing make it that: an argument, often to the point where it becomes not fun, but as long as it’s all theorizing fun, and doesn’t jump into just attacking people and their opinions, I think that leaves for a healthy community/comments section ha
I appreciate *all* feedback :). And no, most people here don't argue, in my experience. Sure, sometimes they may come off as blunt, but a lot of that is just our perception when we read something someone wrote when they can't add tone, inflection, and body language to help convey their intent :).
Id like to add this. With magical and infused weapons as a battlesmith you can use intelligence modifier instead of strength/dexterity for attack and damage modifiers. So, once 6th level could infuse both lances and have no need for any strength. Also can use a feat for the fighting style instead of taking piercing and go pure Artificer...getting spells and infusions earlier.
@@baronghastly6371 You're right, what I meant is that in this case you can't replace the Piercer feat with the fighting style one since you wouldn't have the proficiency at level 1.
Colby, page 156 of the Player's Handbook there is a table "Mounts and Other Animals" which lists the Mastiff as a mount with cost, movement amount, and a carrying capacity.
There's also a dndshorts video where he talks about getting a mastiff for dirt cheap and giving g a bunch of movement and tracking buffs to the party. Think they're a few gold to buy
I just came back from a mission, and I'm so glad you're still going strong. This build seems really powerful, and unique for a party with a mounted fighter. My pals did something hilarious recently with my D&D group that would have made this build even more fun. We had a Warforged Barbarian ride into battle on top of our Druid who was a large-sized beast. I feel like this build with any Druid who can turn into large-sized beasts make this amazing. As for constructive criticism, I feel you do great with what you have to work with. You're very humble, and you know that you're trying to just make fun optimized builds focusing on characters and variety rather than the same old thing you'd expect. It's always great seeing you make these, and if I had to add something I'd say to make a detailed list of what you would do/add at specific levels so these lists are more intuitive for those who'd wanna follow them more directly. My friend is deaf, and I introduced him to your channel to explain a build he found interesting. I'm sure they'd appreciate a full document on your builds for the hearing impaired. I know, I know, that sounds very pedantic since my friend is deaf trying to watch a RU-vid video, but he does watch videos with custom subtitles or an interpreter by his side. He enjoys your sense of humor as well and so far his favorite build has been the Support Lore Bard.
ha ha - sounds awesome. Welcome home! And thanks for the feedback and suggestion. One day I'll get to writing up all of my builds in a condensed, readable format!
Note on somatic casting, the artificer has this requirement for spellcasting Tools Required. You produce your artificer spell effects through your tools. You must have a spellcasting focus-specifically thieves' tools or some kind of artisan's tool-in hand when you cast any spell with this Spellcasting feature. You must be proficient with the tool to use it in this way. See chapter 5, "Equipment," in the Player's Handbook for descriptions of these tools. After you gain the Infuse Item feature at 2nd level, you can also use any item bearing one of your infusions as a spellcasting focus. If you put enhanced defense on a weapon you can use it as a spellcasting focus and you must use a focus to cast an artificer spell in addition you can use a focus to make somatic components should you be using a spellcasting focus I don't have the book in front of me but I think its found in chapter 9 or 10 of the PHB Edit: Page 203 of the PHB under material components. "The spellcaster must have a free hand... but it can be the same hand that he or she uses to perform somatic components"
Oooh, fun. I've been playing a deep gnome mounted battlesmith for a year or so now, and I love it. Still only at level 5 though. Before listening: I'm mainly using a lance on birdback (it's a mechanical cassowary) and running around the battlefield to avoid melee attackers. Right now we're in a labyrinth with tight corridors, and I've dismounted and been standing behind the cassowary wielding the lance two handed. It's been very effective so far. The main issue is the lack of infusions. I have one bag of holding and one infused lance, and can't really afford to switch away from either of them. I'm thinking about getting rid of the bag and maybe see if the cassowary can carry some stuff in saddlebags or something. PS: it should be noted that I made a few rule changes about mounted combat with my DM beforehand. Basically we simplified everything by having my turn and my steel defender's turn happen simultaneously. So my mount can do its attack with my bonus action, run 20 feet, I can do my attack, and then we can run another 20 feet. It's very smooth and as far as I can tell doesn't really break anything.
My version of this build uses Warding Bond for the Spell Storing Item, and via DMG p.141, casting a spell through the Spell Storing Item "requires no components". Give it to the Steel Defender to use the item up to 10 times a day on [whoever], leaving [the castee] getting resistance to ✨all✨ damage up to 10 times per day, for 1 hour each, no concentration, at the cost of the health of the Defender that can be healed with a ✨cantrip✨ :) (Also, you're one of my favourite channels on RU-vid, I love your channel, I look forward to your videos every week!)
I commented the same, but I figured it was here somewhere. I think they did one minute to prevent some shenanigans where you make some kind of manacles with no open/closing device and then break them open and then mend them onto enemies. Or possibly some other "mend metal to the serious detriment of anyone who needs to re-break it" effect.
I've got a build for you to check out. I've had my friends look at it to try to puck it apart, but the cant really find anything wrong with it (not saying that means its foolproof). I call it the Roguarian. It's 17 soulknife rogue, 3 bear totem barbarian. You are going to end up being a monster. So at level 1, you start with rogue. You start with rogue because it has more skill options, better skill options, and imo better saving throws. You're also going to be taking human variant. But this time not just for the free feat. Rather because of the skill profisciency (although I fully plan on taking advantage of the feat). As your background, you're gonna take one that gives you 2 skills. I believe the courier does such. With those 3 plus the 4 from rogue, you should have 7 out of the 18. And that's necessary because you're not really going to be able to use the soulknife's psychic blade for combat. As for starting equipment, it kind of depends on whether your dm makes you pick from the list or lets you do starting gold. But it is absolutely crucial for you to have a rapier and a shield. Anything else you get is up to you, but don't waste your time worth ranged weapons. If your dm doesn't allow rapiers lvl 1 or something, any finesse weapon will do. Also, you can't use your shield at level 1, but you will be starting at level 2. For the feat, pick what you want of course, but from number crunching, the are some stand outs. 3rd place is the alert feat. It does its job in any build. Although danger sense from barb kind of clashes. 2nd is tough. With thus build, you are going to be borderline impossible to hit. And when you do get hit, you are going to not only cut damage in half, but in quarter. So being able to boost your health pool up is going to go a long way. My 1st place and the one I will be talking about will be Defensive Duelist. Your stats, assuming standard array, should be 15 dex, 14 con, 13 str, 12 cha, 10 wis, 8 int. With the points from human variant, I would put 2 points into con and 1 point into dex bringing them both to 16. Start with light armor which you will soon be shedding. At level 1, you go rogue and do your roguishproficiencies. evel 2, you take your first level of barbarian. Discard the armor and don the shield. Your ac should now be 18. At level 2. And if you're about to get hit, you can use your reaction to get it to 20. At level 2. You can also now rage and use reckless attack. For most characters, this is going to be a drawback, but you give yourself advantage for reckless attack and you are borderline impossible to attack back. This only gets better later. The significance of this is your reckless attack advantage is a free way to get your sneak attack since advantage guarantees sneak attack and you give yourself advantage at will. Also, you are using a rapier. This does multiple things. For 1, it is a finesse weapon which let's you take your extra attack. It also being a finesse weapon let's you use your strength thereby fulfilling the requirements for reckless attack and your flat rage damage. At level 3, you get another level in barbarian. With this, you get danger sense which let's you get advantage on dex save aoe attacks. At level 4, you get your 3rd and last level of barbarian. And of course you go for the best. You take the bear totem barbarian subclass. This allows you to cut damage in half. At level 5, you take your 2nd level in rogue. This gets you cunning action as rogue. Which as a barbarian who normally doesnt have many options to use their bonus attack, now you do. You can now dash as a bonus action. If your back liners need help, you can disengage and go help them without fear of repercussion. If you need to get to the pesky mage, same thing. You are a different kind of rogue. For your playstyle in combat, you're going to be attacking people and instead of hiding in the shadows, you're going to stand there, look them in the eyes and dare them to hit you. At level 6, you are a level 3 rogue. Your sneak attack dice is going to be 2d6. For your subclass, I would recommend either swashbuckler, phantom, or soulknife. Since you have all those skill proficiencies, soulknife will come in clutch. At level 7, you get an asi and you're going to take the points. Put it in dex. It's going to give the most benefit overall. And bring your ac to 17 and 19 with your shield. At at level 8, you are now 5 in rogue. This is where things start getting crazy. You now have 3d6 sneak attack dice which you will be using every turn with reckless attack. You also get uncanny dodge. With this power, you can live forever. You have opened up a wormhole. Using your opportunity attack on reaction is going to be your worst option. So now you have a base of 19 ac. Sure you're going to be giving enemies advantage, but you're not even worried. So if they hit you, you can use your defensive duelist reaction to bump hop your ac to 22. And if a 22 wasnt going to save you, you can use uncanny dodge to cut the damage in...1/4. That's right. You already have bear barb cutting it in half. So for 1 attack a round, you can quarter something's attack if you don't outright negate it. At level 9, you're getting expertise. I forgot to talk about expertise at level 1 and I am too lazy to go back. Expertise isnt crucial, but something to keep in mind is basically everything you put expertise into, you are going to succeed in unless you crit fail because of your soulknife dice. Which is also why I had you get so many skill profisciencies. The soulknife first feature set let's you use a dice (that scales) on any skill check that you fail in a skill in which you have proficiency. And that dice just upgraded to a d8 last level. but more importantly, you have reached your next profisciency point. Which means 1 more AC with defensive duelist putting you at 23 it also means you get 2 more soulknife dice. At level 10, you are now at level 7 in rogue. With your 4th sneak attack dice. You have evasion. This let's you cut any damage from an aoe dex spell in half. And that's a lie because it cuts it in... you guesses it. Quarter again. Thanks to bear barb again. But that's not even the end of that one. So not only do you quarter any damage from aoe dex save spells, but you have proficiency in dex saves from starting as rogue. AND you get to add advantage from danger sense. So for the most common saving throw in the game, you get advantage, proficiency, AND you can quarter the damage. Anyway next one. Level 11, you are 8th level rogue and get another asi. Again, I would put both points into dex and max it out. Your base asi is now 20 after your 2 from a shield. Maybe you could have a shield+1 or something. But I'm not going to account for that. Although end game hopefully you can get a shield+3. At level 12, you get your 5th sneak attack dice. At this level, you get another soulknife feature set. Yet again regrettably, you lose out on the soulknife psychic blade stuff. But the teleportation one can be used outside of combat. So theres that I guess. Also you get your 4th proficiency point and another potential AC putting your max at I believe 24. Also 2 more soul knife dice added to the pool. At level 13 you get another asi and will put the points into con. Not only is that more health, but that is another AC bringing your base up to 21 and your defensive duelist AC to 25. At level 14, you're 11 in rogue. Your soulknife die are now d10. Also you now have 6d6 every attack. Also with reliable talent, you're minimum you can roll on one of your 7 skills is is 10. So with your proficiency bonus, you get a minimum of 14 and then you can add your soulknife dice to them. Also with expertise and if it's a dex skill you maxxed. You get it. From this point it's pretty repetitive. At level 12 you will max out your con. For your last asi at level 16, you can put a point in strength to bring up your chance to hit by one and your flat damage by 1. It's kind of negligible. I would probably get the tough feat since it has scaling benefits. At this point I will just give highlights for level 20. You should have a base AC of 22 and with a defensive duelist cap of 28. (If you get a shield+3, they are 25 and 31). Your sneak attack dice is 9d6. Your soulknife dice are 12d12. You are cutting damage in 1/4. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.
After talking to a friend, there are 2 more ways to optimize it. One makes you an out of combat god. The other makes you an in combat god. To be an out of combat god, you stay as a human variant and at level 7 total, 4 as rogue, you get the feat Skilled. This will open up 3 more skills for a total of 10 out of 18 skills you are proficient in and can add your soulknife dice in. You can basically do everything for your party. And all this does is delay your ac a bit from the Asi's you will be taking later. You will still reach your full potential, it's just a matter of getting your feats to actually use before the end of the game. The other option is to go tashas custom lineage option and use elf as the humanoid race you take after. You also take the skill proficiency as opposed to dark vision. This way you keep your base 7 proficiencies. But now you have every crit fisher's favorite feat. So now you have a choice to make. Youre still going to take defensive duelist, and now you're going to take elven accuracy. The choice you have to make is which you want to wait on and which you want at level 1. I personally am torn. Both are more for scaling than they are needed for the early game. You are going to be getting advantage every attack, so you will be hitting fine. And your starting AC is 18 with the shield, so you will be pretty hard to hit for the early game thing you will be fighting. They are more useful for the later levels with defensive duelist making you harder to hit and with elven accuracy giving you a higher chance to hit (let alone crit) because of you wont be buffing up your strength that you are using to hit and wont reach a max hit bonus. So either are fine early game. I would probably take elven accuracy just so that maybe I can crit more often.
Thank you so much for doing this build, I've been waiting in anticipation for this! I'm definitely looking forward to the knight in shining armor when you get to it. This channel is awesome, and I'm glad to see it grow!
I'm running a Gnome Battle Smith who I talked me DM into allowing him to be mounted on his Steel Defender (which happened to be a magic-infused semi-living steel boar). His primary weapon was a crossbow with the repeating shot infusion. I use him a lot like light cavalry, staying mobile and making 2 or 3 attacks at a time every turn. It's pretty fun.
Illuminating and exploring the possibilities is always good. Your builds spark ideas in the audience's minds that they might not have thought of - hopefully. Keep doing what you do!
yep, the only real difference is to go Beast Master instead of Battle Smith - you could even skip the Fighter level since you get a Fighting Style already, if you want, and look for other ways to potentially multi-class :)
I love your comment about building your character so it's fulfilling and fun for you. Too often (on reddit especially) I see comments along the lines of "that spell/feat/subclass is terrible because of x,y,z you should build your character this way instead" It can be disheartening for newer players to see that. Rather than building their characters so that they're having fun, they're now stressing about what they're doing wrong. And yes, I've definitely made bad decisions in character building, but that's part of what makes this game fun. Learning. Making those mistakes. And in my experience, most DMs understand that. If you mess up on a level up and suddenly find that you're not having fun anymore because you made a bad choice, they'll work with you. Because most DMs want everyone to be having fun at their table. When it comes down to it, this is a game, and the main purpose of it should be to have fun.
So my convoluted train of thought shall not be revealed because it doesn't make much sense but when you mentioned the Cavalier I remembered - I came up with a promising Dwarven Battlemaster who specializes in throwing Light Hammers. Idea is to make distance with Crusher then hurl hammers from afar, or push around targets from afar with the Crusher feat (it doesn't need a melee hit to trigger!) and control the battlefield from afar, augmented further by various Battlemaster maneuvers. RP idea is that a Dwarf is trying to win a bet with an Elf about Elves not being the only ones who can slay a goblin from the far end of the dungeon, and then decided he liked the strategy enough to stick with it. Uses the Dueling + Thrown Weapon Fighting fighting styles, apparently both can apply to thrown weapons, which brings the average damage of d4 Light Hammers to match attacking with a d8 weapon :D Side note, it can scale pretty effectively with low-level players too.
Grung would be pretty cool for a battlesmith who uses their defender as a mount. Grung gets to add a chance for poison damage with every piercing weapon attack. The defender is also immune to the poison damage and condition. Tashas lets you switch your language around now too, so you are free to choose common. The haste spell is important for an artificer as one of the options is “use an object”. The spell storing item makes use of that action, and so your haste action can make use of that spell storing item.
I'd love to see the cavalier/paladin build! (I've wanted to play this character maybe as an oath of ancients riding on a moon druid party member) Great video
@@DnDDeepDive Hi i would love to second this! Just not especifically a Moon druid mount haha Also, I have a suggestion myself: a *Saving Throw* focused character The simplest way i have done it was called "The Saint" - a paladin 6/monk 14 halfling Lately, i have been designing it with Paladin 6 + Peace Cleric 1 at least, so it isn't a lvl20 build, so actually playable. Aura of Protection + Emboldening Bond + Bless = fun times Love your content, i have been binging it as a podcast. Thank you and keep up the great work, greetings from Brazil!
Great video. Would be cool if you did the build the other way with an Eldritch Knight/Paladin multiclass that could eventually fly a Griffon while hurling spears and calling them back with weapon bond.
I've played this build before and here are my suggestions: Go full intelligence over strength. Keep dexterity at 10. Go full plate armor asap and take the movement penalty off mount for lack of strength. Put first infusions into weapons to ensure they are magic. Skin your mount to be a battle wheelchair. Infused weapons also count as spellcasting foci so you will be able to cast spells in combat
Hey Colby I like the video, just some constructive criticism and alternate options for people in the comments. My main problem with the build is that you decided to focus on strength with a class that is designed to dump strength and use Int for attacks. You want dex with this build for your acrobatics saves when being knocked off. The way I would play this character, I would allow the mount to act independently. I would start with PAM and get War Caster ASAP and focus on a pseudo dual-wielder build. Lance in one hand, spear in the other - use one infusion to make your lance magic and hope/beg your dm for a magic spear (but not a huge deal if you dont). I would never use my bonus action to melee attack, so I wouldn't be limited by the two weapon fighting rules even though I am technically carrying 2 weapons. The basic premise is get within optimal lance range, attack with lance. When the enemy moves up use your PAM/War Caster reaction to use booming blade with the spear. Then your next turn move/use your reaction to get your mount to disengage, causing enemy to move up and trigger the booming blade effect. Edit: this is not a DPR class in general you are never going to compare to rogue or paladin damage , I would play this as a battlefield control/tank character
If your Beast Master Ranger is a Hafling, they should have no problem finding a trained mastiff or war pony. A lot will depend on your campaign. Most large mounts can't go into a dungeon setting, based on ancient D&D lore. If you leave them tied up outside, most DMs I have played with will kill them or steal them by the time you exit the dungeon. That is why most players walk everywhere, except for water travel. *I should have waited to make this comment as war dogs or other medium mounts would be able to go into a dungeon, saving the Paladin from having to ride a mule! Well trained swordsmen, especially of the mounted variety. tied a sword knot around the wrists so that they wouldn't lose their swords in battle. The sword knot was usually a leather thong (although Mongols preferred silk) fastened to the hilt of the sword that was tied around the swordsman's wrist. If you were to use that, you could drop the sword, cast your spell and then grasp the sword once more after the spell was cast. If the Steel Defender takes the Dodge action, does that apply to you as well when you are riding it? The same question with Disengage. Obviously, if it Dashes and you are mounted on it, you will benefit. I find it very hard to believe that the Steel Defender can be put to sleep. That is a major weakness, especially at low levels. Our hero prepares to charge when his construct starts to snore! Can Steel Defenders be repaired and/or healed? How much damage would a mending cantrip repair? 2d6, great, where did you find that? Lances are one handed weapons while mounted so the rider can use a shield in the other hand. The lance and shield horseman was a staple of mounted combat at lest since the introduction of stirrups. This build violates my sense of how things were done. There is a reason that lance attacks were called a pass; you gallop toward your enemy, hit or miss once, and then continue beyond them (sort of like the fly-by ability, although you could be, and often were, attacked back). Likewise, nobody that I have found, EVER wielded two weapons at the same time while mounted. You certainly did not get three or four attacks at one time, and nobody EVER wielded two lances at the same time. I don't ever see myself playing this, although there are some interesting ideas here. What tier did it end up being in?
For the problem with the weapons in both hands while mounted i have the solution (at least for lower levels): Get a hold on a Ruby of the Warmage. When atuned to this item it lets you use your weapon as a spellcasting focus. Item can be found in XGtE. And since somatic components can be made with a hand that holds your spellcasting focus you no longer need that free hand if you don't want to use the War-Caster feat
I recently came upon the channel and binged a whole bunch of builds. Great content! May I suggest a pure controller build? Something along the lines of an Illusion wizard that knows no offenssive spells (maybe a cantrip) but uses combinations such as seeming with malleable illusions to create utter chaos on the battlefield, illusory reality with silent image to create walls on demand, hypnotic pattern, fear, phantasmal force, upcast major image, etc. The idea is to keep your opponents confused, blocked, scared, attacking each other, unable o differentiate friend or foe and drooling while your comrades do the actual damage. Hilarious and the limit is your imagination. (Make sure to speak to the DM about the plan for the character though.). One example of the idea I'm proposing: at level 3 use the spell phantasmal force on a enemy with the illusion of one of his comrades attacking him while you as the wizard shout something like "if you want to get paid, its time to execute the plan!". He might attack back as an instinctive reaction before bothering to check if it is an illusion (if I was betrayed by a comrade, I would defend myself first before trying to understand if that sword coming my way is an illusion, I wouldn't risk it). At the very least, the target takes some minor damage and wastes some time figuring out the reality, on a better situation the target may attack a comrade of his, plummetting the opposing bandits into chaos.
Love the vid. Im actually working on a battlesmith for an "icewind dale rime of the frost maiden" campaign. Problem is we are only going to have two players with an occasional 3rd. The character i have in mind will be a rogue scout, wizard (war magic), battlesmith. Race is Goliath. Frostmaiden is all about the environment being your enemy. My character is a war veteran running from his past. He was part of an elite military unit that used artifice and many tactics that are employed by todays elite operatives. His steel defender is actually a live wolf that had been trained as part of their unit. An event happened that left them both badly injured. He used artifice to replace his own arm and leg, and "rebuilt" "Ditta" the wolf. She functions like the defender, but being alive means she loses alot of the immunities that steel defender gets. In exchange she keeps wolf keen senses and pack tactics. My character also has to pass a medicine check to repair. All this being said, our campaign will level much faster then normal since we have to cover many roles with just two characters. So again, scout for nature and survival proficiency and that nice movement as reaction. Wizard war for more cantrips, spell slots, that nice minor shield reaction, and the initiative buff from intelligence. Then artificer till probably level 12. What im having a hard time with is keeping my characters...power?...or usefulness consistent. Right now the plan is artificer to lvl 3. Then wizard 2. Then rogue3. Then back to artificer. Not sure if thats the best way. Ultimately i end up having proficiency in perception, medicine, nature, survival, investigation, arcana, stealth. And expertise on two of those...(medicine and survival). Character will use firearms with pet taking advantage and giving disadvantage. Other player is more melee focused. Not 100% on their build. Any advice or things to think about?
Absolutely love the channel. Trying to optimizing weird idea is what make your channel different. It's really easy to find ''meta'' build that everybody mostly agree are powerful. I would be interested to see what your take on Alchemist is. It's such a fun concept, but you usually end up using your spell slot for elixirs and giving those elixirs to your party, leaving you little to do. I tried to theorycraft with it, but the best I could do is using the elf trance and Warlock spell slot to start the day with a couple of free elixirs allowing me to use my spell in combat. Not really close to the Witcher style I was looking for when I first saw the Alchemist.
Nice videos man! Like your in depth talks. I’m doing a similar build, but I feel it’s too good to just max intelligence. Frees up points for a better CON score, and just get 14 in DEX so your medium armor is maxed (half plate is great, with a shield that’s 19 AC). Maxing INT gives you better attack and damage bonuses from the start, and gives you more uses of spell storing item, and better spell save DC. But also you can take the Repeating Shot on a hand crossbow or pistol. So not only are you a badass mounted fighter with a lance and shield (and dog attacking), but also you can zoom around the field shooting from range very well. Just my thoughts, overall great vid and gives me all kinds of ways to improve my character!
I did a similar build to this. I played in a homebrew setting that is sort of dieselpunk fantasy so my Steel Defender was a Magic Motorcycle and I did Gunner/Sharpshooter/Piercer with a Rifle (musket stats). I also used a homebrew fighter subclass that was a combat alchemist. I was an Inquisitor/Religious Assassin for the god of War, Knowledge, and Magic, whose church invented firearms and treats them as holy weapons.
My friend the static to signal ratio seems a bit off. I absolutely enjoy your content. I like your content and I think that your ideas are clever. I can also appreciate you are growing the channel at an impressive rate. I say all of that to explain why I understand if this constructive feedback has no effect on your work. Your videos are getting longer and longer but you are not providing more info. This video took 17 min to get started!!! I think you would be well served if you could sharpen your focus and break down ideas succinctly. To me the gold standard is treantmonk. Look at what that guy can get done in 20 min. Stay awesome and keep the great ideas coming. Maybe just get it done faster than an episode of the expanse ;)
Thanks for the feedback :). I appreciate what Treantmonk does, though I do like to take a slightly different approach - I enjoy the ruminating/exposition/theorycrafting/explanation bit before I jump into a build, just to set the stage, explain where I'm coming from, and hopefully engage people in the though experiment/debate, though I do appreciate I can be long-winded and, for some people, boring :). It's why I always figured the stuff I wanted to do would be better suited for podcast format... Hopefully the addition of time stamps (which I finally got added to all of my older episodes) will help people who want to skip some of the conversational aspect of what I do, though they'll still be subjected to some as I get to key parts in the build :).
Great video, just discovered your channel recently and as you say, I found home. I love me some theorycrafting almost as much as playing to see my theorycrafting come to fruition. I didn't see anyone mention this, but in the case of independent versus controlled mounts, you're really not waiting for your Steel Defender: "In combat, the defender shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours." With a little tactical maneuvering, you'd be setting up your next action with your Defender's turn of movement right after you take your current action and wouldn't even need to use your reaction to to do a Ready action. EDIT: Additionally, if you're using XGTE Tool Proficiency rules from the DM's Tools in chapter 2, "Vehicle Handling. When piloting a vehicle, you can apply your proficiency bonus to the vehicle’s AC and saving throws." I believe it has been confirmed that Tool Expertise at level 6 Artificer does apply to all tools, even vehicles, because "artisan" was left out of the feature definition. Now, I see a lot of debate on whether or not a mount is considered a Land Vehicle, so discuss with your DM. But if it is, that means double your proficiency bonus to your mount's AC and Saving Throws, when combined with the Mounted Combatant Feat, it makes the chances of you and your mount to be swallowed by a fireball much less. EDIT 2: Found a sage advice article where Jeremy Crawford states that Mounts use Animal Handling, and Vehicles use Land Vehicle proficiency. So while Tool Expertise would apply to a carriage or wagon, it wouldn't apply to a mount sadly. (ref: www.sageadvice.eu/2016/06/17/does-land-vehicles-proficiency-apply-to-mounts/)
Custom lineage is, of course, neat, but Mark of Hospitality or Mark of Healing Halfling get so many extra useful spell options which are great for an artificer and Lucky is so clutch if you're playing with a DM who gives consequences for crit fails and uses them for abity checks and/or saves too.
So even before watching this and your bladesinger video I pretty much combined your two builds going small custom lineage but full Int with the Fey touched feat. I start artificer and took hex as the spell to be a cantrip + hex caster for the first two levels. Level 3 go battle smith and start riding into melee with a one handed weapon and shield. From there all wizard and bladesinger using the mount as you suggest here. Later using summon Fey has a lot of flavour considering we're Fey touched already - I added this after watching that video
Really think the mounted battlesmith works great as an AC tank. The infusion shield, armor, warding bond, mounted combatant feat, shield spell, defense infusions... Just pick up some sticky power via Sentinel or some such and I think it would work very well!
Super cool. But you need 2 Magic items to make this work. Your Int Modifier only applies to magic items. So youd probably need both the +1 weapon infusesions.
Interesting build. I think I prefer the mounted double-lance on a medium character on a large or huge mount, as you can more easily avoid the disadvantage by occupying the "back" spaces, though in either case mount survivability is a major concern. I would recommend taking Mounted Combatant earlier since this build is more reliant on the mount being alive, and overall I think the Lance disadvantage is at odds with the Steel Defender abilities, which all require being within 5 ft. It's also important to consider that the off-hand Lance isn't a "bonus attack", it's replacing the Steel Defender's rend, so you're not getting that much of an upgrade, while also sacrificing a guaranteed magical shield. It's also much easier to dump STR, have 14 DEX, and not multiclass, unless your DM has already promised amazing magical plate coming your way. It's difficult to really compete damage-wise with other builds but it can be near top-tier defensively without needing good gear, especially with the Mounted Combatant/Deflect Attack synergy.
Hm... only problem is, I don't know that we can always assume that every DM would allow the Steel Defender to make a Bonus Action attack if you were riding it as a mount (many would say - it is a mount and operating under mount rules, and thus no longer functions otherwise as a Steel Defender would. Thus, you can't use a BA to have it make an attack while you're riding it. I'm not saying that either interpretation is right or wrong, only that some would see it one way, and some another, and it's hard for us to then make assumptions.)
@@DnDDeepDive Riding a mount doesn't prevent it from making attacks if the mount is allowed to act independently. If the DM ruled Mounted Combat rules took complete precedence then the Defender would roll its own initiative, and you actually get BOTH the rend AND the off-hand attack, because for an independent mount "Bearing a rider puts no restrictions on what actions the mount can take, and it moves and acts like it wishes", and thus it doesn't require a bonus action to rend anymore. Maybe you could convince your DM of this and get the best of both? ;-) I suspect most DMs would rather you pay the cost of commanding it and use the Steel Defender text as is, mounted or not. You are right that some interpretations are needed in general, such as the other questions like "Can a 4 INT Construct be considered intelligent?", "Does the fact it obeys your commands count as being trained to hold a rider and be eligible as a controlled mount?", etc., that allow for some DM fiat. I've seem some comments that say RAW it can't be a controlled mount at all, and others that say the bonus action attack is a specific exception to the controlled mount action limitations, or any number of other permutations. I suppose a bigger question would be, if your build focuses on STR, and isn't using the Steel Defender's action options, why even choose this subclass? You could just buy a mount and play anything else, since you don't need the INT mod attacks. It's not really "Battle Smith-y".
@@Maxbeedo2 yep! Tried to address all those points in the vid - in the end, I still like the sub-class for the easy mount healing, the spell list, the free/easy access to the mount, the awesome reaction from the Defender to impose disadvantage (and, later, damage), the fantastic infusions, etc. But no question, if you were trying to just go straight DPR and wanted to dual-wield lances, you'd probably be best off just going fighter for the extra attacks/fighting style (or maybe Barb if it was a pre level 11 campaign) and buy a medium sized mount - assuming you could find one. But that's boring :P.
Just found your content, LOVE IT! Would love to see what you can do with Psionic Sorcery for Aberrant Mind. Remember the psionic spell list can be swapped with whatever spells you desire from Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard Spell list if they are Divination, or Enchantment. Lots of potential with casting cheaper spells with subtle, and (1 or 2) other metamagics.
Fun extra way to gain a mountable companion is the Bard class. Because Bards can steal spells from any other class, they can steal the Summon Steed and Summon Greater Steed spells from the Paladin far earlier than the Paladins are actually supposed to even have them. Speaking of which, it'd be really cool if you made a Bard (most likely Lore Bard) that's designed to basically just steal all the best spells to deal massive damage in combos that normal spellcasters can't do because the spell lists are purposely separated. For instance, the Paladin and Ranger classes have spells specific for them as half-casters. These spells are incredibly powerful when put up against similar level spells from a full-caster, but are balanced due to the fact that half-casters take longer to reach the ability to cast at that level. But when you're a Bard, you can steal them much earlier and have more spell slots to use them.
Some advice having played a Battle Smith (non mounted): Your Steel Defender can use items, just design a slot in it to put the Spell-Storing Item in. Using the Spell-Storing Item only produces the spells affect, you or whoever isn't actually casting it. Which means, RAW, your raging barbarian friend can use it. Enjoy!
After like 4 days, I've finally done it. I've caught up on D&D optimized! I would like to make two build suggestions now that I've seen everything you've made: 1. A nova Paladin/Warlock who uses Divine and Eldritch Smite 2. The REAL Bearbarian, a tank build of Barbarian/Druid (Don't forget that your wildshape can use unarmored defense if you do that build)
Booming blade + divine smite + eldritch smite + a spell smite on a single hit = an absolute ton of damage xD One bonus action level spell and one action cantrip.
Spell storing item has a number of neat quirks that allow it to be used in very interesting ways. The item produces the effects of the spell, it doesn't actually cast it. This means it can be used even by a raging barbarian. It also has the effect of not requiring material components, since the items simply "produces the effects of the spell", bypassing requirements of casting since no spell is cast. Any creature that can use an item can use the spell storing item to produce spell effects, such as your steel defender. Warding bond isn't normally on the artificer spell list, but as a battlesmith you get access to it and "it counts as an artificer spell for you". Since it's a second level spell, it can be stored in the item. With a duration of an hour, it's easy enough to give the item to your steel defender and have it produce the spell effect on you while out of combat. You now share all damage with your steel defender. If you also took the mounted combatant feat, you can make sure all attacks target yourself instead of your steel defender. This effectively gives you and your defender one shared HP pool instead of 2 separate ones. Also if you'd rather just use enlarge/reduce still, the steel defender can use the spell storing item to enlarge itself on round 1 while you haste yourself
I enjoy the concept of pushing the boundaries of the system. I made many of these type of characters in 2e under skills and power rules. I would never seriously play one of these though, unless there was an actual character reason to obsess about min-maxing. And would have to be compelling. The play is the thing.
Super cool build, although I can’t say I’m a fan of purely mounted combat. One thing to think about that makes the steel defender so cool RaW is that it can move and dodge/dash/disengage etc. freely and can take a stat block action or another action if you use a bonus action. That paired with the amulet of spell storing can be SO MUCH FUN if you give it to your steel defender, bonus action enlarge it with its action, and then ride as a medium character. That’s one way I prefer to do mounted combat, transform into megazord lol. That, or you can put cure wounds in it and have your steel defender be a roaming heal bit, which is also super cool.
Hey there! I've watched all of your builds at this point. Kudos to you btw. :) I would love to see a future video where you cover something like your "top 10 favorite builds." Obviously you could base that simply on DPR or a combination of DPR, character concept, support, etc. As I've watched your build videos I've grown to wonder which ones you'd actually really like to play. Cheers!
Thanks for watching :P. Yes, I think at some point I'm going to need to, at the very least, split my builds into two groups because that "comparison" spreadsheet is becoming difficult to read ha ha. Maybe making a "short" vid where I delineate my favorites at the same time is a good idea... thanks for the suggestion!
I did some math (maybe a wrong math) and found out that a Lance + Shield + Homunculus for the BA attack is just as good (and on levels 5 and 9, a lot better since they get power spike 1 levels early). Here's the pros and cons: PROS: * 1 level earlier power spikes (Extra Attack, Arcane Jolt, and Haste specficially) * Slightly better AC * Raw DPR is 1-2 lower at most levels but is significantly higher at levels 5 and 9 * If you cast a spell as an action, you'll still have one attack via your homunculus * Better chance to hit (+1 higher since you'll bump your ASI instead of getting a feat at level 4. * BA attack is ranged CONS: * Homunculus can die if you're not careful which will lower the DPR by quite a lot * Doesn't look as cool as dual-wielding lances. The second con is fixable. Just land your homunculus on your shoulder and pretend it's a mounted cannon which IMO is a lot cooler than dual-wielding lances.
Not sure if this has been pointed out The tools required component of artificer implies to me that all alchemist spells require material component which a focus replaces If a spell requires a focus you can use the hand with the focus to preform the somatic component Battle smiths can use magical or infused weapons as foci. Put enhanced weapon in one of your poky sticks and shield away.
Thanks! tbh... me either :P. BUT I did play my Armorer build in a one shot a couple of weeks ago (with a couple little tweaks) and... it was a blast. So I'm coming around...
Two things Mending takes a minute to cast so there’s no way you can do that in combat The text on artificial implies that the steel defender can only take the Dodge action if you don’t command it with your bonus action.
I think this is a really great idea, however think I will be using a spear which is not much of a loss of damage and you can always throw it using the Returning Weapon Infusion. Can do drive bys.
I was under the assumption that you and your mount have separate turns. This means your mount can move in, but once you attack, it's turn is over and your turn begins, so you won't be able to have your mount move back out of range.
I think it all depends on how your DM interprets the mount - is it functioning as a Steel Defender, or as a controlled mount? Or, for that matter, as an independent mount? If it's a controlled mount, you essentially get to use its movement on your turn. We have a veerrrry long discussion about it all in one of my DMs episodes if you want to check it out :). ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Wj3SRGUFOwA.html
Cob Loosegear and Legs the Mechano-spider will one day see a table I sit at, this I swear. Very neat concept! I love mounted character archetypes. I'd be very interested in the Heroic Horseman you mentioned.
Ok I have some issue with this build: 1- artificers can use their infussions as a spellcast focus, so you are perfectly fine casting spells while holding your infused weapon. 2- if your going battlesmith make int your main statistic dude. You need that to prepare more spells, spell attack/dc, weapon attack, flash of genius, arcane jolt and spell store item depends on your int. You want to max out this stat. 3- the steel defender as raw consumes a bonus action to do anything but move or dodge, so if you wanna use that disengage action you will be using your bonus action, most of the time, making dual wielding almost pointless for this build. 4- taking a lv of fighter might be cool at lv 1 but it slows your progression. Again battlesmith needs to stack all those cool features. 5- when you get haste (lv 9) the mount loose almost all of its shine.
Agreed with most except #4. he won't care too much about progression as hes a gish. not a caster. Spells are there to supplement his martial ability and he should be picking up features from other classes that supports his concept: dual wielding lancer. he should actually take at minimum fighter 2 for action surge and tbh nothing from the early battlesmith levels outclass the action surge + fighting style combo he gets from that dip. There's no powerful/build around ability anyway on the battlesmith until level 11. around that time games are ending very soon as most tables dont play far into tier 3/reach tier 4. The key battlesmith ability is at 3 so everything else between 4-10 is "replacement level" abilities that he can get from other classes or even get something better.
I'm currently playing an auto gnome (without the gnome flavor) with plans to be a musket wielding cavalier. Think almost like a Jawa from starwars mixed with the Iron Giant. A scrappy amnestic trying to discover itself. Mechanically the synergies are beautiful, but I'm most excited for the flavorful RP. I digress, it's been interesting hearing your thoughts!
Me: having an idea for a kobold battlesmith who rides his defender. Racial Alternative: Kobold. I was very pleased. That being said I am making him with a battle axe and shield because I found that more appealing for the character. He is probably going to be quite unoptimal from a damage standpoint, but I really liked the idea.
Gonna be playing a Gnome Cavalier/Battlesmith in a campaign starting a week from now. Based on what I got from this video, the plan is to have high ac and defend nearby allies whilst remaining a mobile threat. Thanks for the tips and build!
You don't need a free hand in order to cast spells with somatic components as an artificer as long as one of your weapons(or shield) are infused(since you can use them as foci, and somatic gestures can be done with the same hand that's holding a focus). So shield is 100% a good spell pick, as are all other good combat spells that do not require a specific material component. So warcaster on an artificer is unnecessary in most cases.
Let's say you specify that your Steel Defender is a six foot tall robo-ape. It has hands, so can hold and carry your lances for you out of combat. It's capable, like all apes, of bipedial and quadrupedal movement; so it's a (potentially) legit mount.
I just have a tiny issue with rules interpretation in this build. On one hand, there's the consideration that the defender acts at your initiative, but after your turn. So you'd have to ask your DM if controlled mount rules allow for your mount and you to go simultaneously. To avoid this situation completely, you could make a beastmaster ranger instead, since the beast goes during your turn. On the other hand, controlled mounts can take the Dash, Disengage or Dodge actions, but the defender can only take Disengage unless you take a bonus action to command it to take a different action.
I don't think you've come across as knowing better than other people or come across as saying that this is the only way to play or anything like that. Your videos are great and are seem to me to just be a tool to give people insight on one metric at a time. Between different DM's, campaigns, and party compositions there are always different builds that are best in different situations. Anyone looking for a one-size-fits-all build shouldn't be critical of your videos. There are no one-size-fits-all builds. Except clerics. (Jk) You keep doing you. I also appreciate that you responded to criticism non-condescendingly, something not all content creators can do.
The mounted combat rules were clearly not designed with this interaction in mind, so at my table I'd likely work with whatever the player wanted to do. I think RAI is you shouldn't be able to get an extra attack on your turn for the cost of 50g on a horse, but that's not what's happening here. I'd be inclined to allow the steel defender to use its whole turn and encourage the player to make use of the Ready action whenever they want to do something like charge in and attack.
Yeah, I think I agree with you here. I need to have a chat with my GM about how he'll run it. I have a battlesmith who might want to ride around on his steel defender sometimes (medium size so needs to enlarge it). So just need to hash it out and make sure everyone is cool how it works.
I dont know if you caught this but in tasha they added a section about the Artificer NEED to use thier spellcasting focus for casting spells thus making all spells have M component and the Infusions you make will be a spellcasting focus for you thus you can duel wield and cast spells with artificers without warcaster :) Another point you can make two weapons magical at level 3. you can take the weapon infusions and in the replicate magic item infusion it says you can chose a common magic item so with DM permission and a bit of flangil XD you can convince them to have a moon touched lance instead of a moon touched sword and thus having two weapons. "moon touched sword whats up with WIzards and the overly bias for swords"
One thing I find really odd why bother with the attacks within 5ft have disadvantage ? it already becomes a two handed weapon when not mounted and you can use a 1d12 battle axe just fine ... make the lance 1d10 if yo have too but what rally make sense that you put in a part where if a creature move more than 20 feet in a stright line before making a lance attack the attack deals 1d10 additional damage ...
Here is few things about the mount it self. if the mount act independently you would still control it adn its turn is always after yours but it would use up your bonus action to attack . it can move and take the dodge action for free. it does make a pit of a pickle that its turn must go first so if can reach your melee range for your attacks but then you would be only making 1 attack if you decided to hold your action to attack. Now I dont know why cant a person control thier mount and then at a later turn make the mount act independently ... I dont know, one other cool thing If you gave your steel defender your spell storing item NOW it can use it "pre tasha it could not" it takes a bonus action for them to use it as an action. now if your steel defender is humanoid shape it can reasonably use a weapon ... but for a mount .. what I like to do is make a barding for the mount ... make it an infusion "the enhanced armor maybe" and THAT would let it be a spell storing item other spells that I recommend are ... Catapult "the mount deploy a mini missle XD" , faire fire to give you advantage , aid healing and Boost HP , Heat metal Damage and controle and as a bonus action for your mount that doesnt get to use it other wise.. even if you dont controle it it can use it. Spider climb and web because why not :D Still I like getting repeating shot and a shield and be crossbow expert with a shield :D
@@optimus2200 while JC didnt exactly talk about steel defender, but he said for find steed, the player decides from turn to turn whether they are controlled mounts or independent mounts. imo the steel defender works similarly as find steed so you can easily switch. controlled mount on round 1 then switch to independent on round 2. or controlled mount on round 1 then dismount to make it independent so you can command it to attack then just mount it again on round 2.
I already made a similar build of Battle Smith mounted. With a Kobold that Steal Defender's idea was a Mecha. And it was one of the most fun characters I've ever played. This build made me want to redo my Kobold Build piloting a Mecha. In the case of enlarge and reduce, I believe that steal defender could cast this spell on himself. What can be interesting.
I'm a huge fan of the channel, I've watched every video and commented on many of them. The critical comment from the last video that Colby mentioned at the beginning was mine. I have no issues whatsoever with being called out by name by the way - always happy to have an open and honest discussion. Apologies if my tone was off in any way - that was not the intent. The thrust of my comment was that ranged and/or flying enemies are not that rare and if they haven't been taken into account in a build they probably should be. Because of this, I thought last week's build was particularly impractical (the boring action economy was just the icing on the cake) and no, I wouldn't ever play it myself ;) The standard on here is really high, it's inevitable that not all of the episodes will reach the same lofty heights and it's my honest opinion that the one last week didn't quite get there. I'm going to watch the rest of this one now!
RAW a Steel Defender cannot be a controlled mount as it hasn't been trained, and I don't think can be trained, thus you will have to use it as an uncontrolled mount, but it shares your initiate and goes immediately after you so the awkwardness is minimized, and weirdly enough you are still in control of it as a player as it isn't intelligent so you can still control its movement. While annoying it works out better this way if you want to attack with your Steel Defender as controlled mounts are limited to only the Dash, Disengage, and Dodge actions, meaning that you wouldn't be able to command it to attack with your bonus if it is a controlled mount. This also has no effect on the Steel Defender taking the Disengage action as due to the limits of a Steel Defender, you would have to use a bonus action to allow it to Disengage (Again, regardless of it being controlled or uncontrolled, it can only dodge unless you use a bonus action to command it). However, I think for Rule of Cool most DMs would allow you to treat it as a controlled mount but allowing it to attack like normal, but you'll have to make a choice between using your bonus action to attack or using it to have your steel defender attack.
By RAW, "forced" movement NEVER provoke opportunity attack. So if you are jumping off the balcony and you exite the reach of your opponent because of the fall. the fall is a force movment, so no Opportunity attack. If a grappler grapple you and drag you out of the reach of opponent, it's a "force" movement so no opportunity attack (even if you willingly let him drag you) If a mage cast thunderwave and the spell push you away, their is no opportunity attack So if you mount move away carrying you... you are not the one moving, the mount is... so it is force movement and their for by RAW no opportunity attack.
29:33 The problem with this trick that all but usurps the War Caster feat's 2nd feature is that there isn't any rule that lets you drop weapons right before you use a reaction to cast a spell; even a generous interpretation of the the "free action" rules only applies to when it is YOUR TURN.
I like this and actually have a similar one except I ran dual hand crossbows with sharpshooter. I used my custom lineage for crossbow master then grabbed sharpshooter for the huge damage buff. I also changed the infusions to use magic weapon and repeating weapon to get both magic sooner. I actuality went: Artifer 3 Wizard 6 (bladesinger) Ranger 3 (hunter) Wizard 8 It's painful waiting for that second attack but when it comes online and you can also cantrip. If you really want to get wild and your dm allows you to massive multiclass instead go: Artificer 3 Wizard 6 Ranger 3 But then.. Warlock 8 (genie: Dao) Pact of the blade Invocations- improved pact weapon, repelling blast, eldritch smite, and depending on how your dm interpretation of Thirsting blade. If they take it RAW your good but if not devils sight. Action: 1) Repelling blast eldritch blast 2) Sharpshooter shot 1 (smite on crit) 3) Horde breaker sharpshooter shot (smite on crit) Bonus action: sharpshooter shot (smite on crit) And if you have to wade into combat. Use shadow blade with booming blade. Int, dex, then con. Studded leather, good dex score, bladesong, mirrorimage, +shield.. great AC! Plus: Ranger zephyr strike! Armor of agathys! Mirror image! And my favorite thing.. using the genie bottle to keep all my lab/worshop/smith in! Wherever you go, all your stuff is there! You can also leave your genie item in your steel defender as the party travels so when you pop out, you are already mounted. This build is so fun!
I didnt get thirsting blade part. Thirsting blade only doesnt work with conjured temporary weapons such as shadow blade or flame blade. Should work with your crossbows. Though i presume you picked bladesinger for your wizard so that thirsting blade isnt needed. I'd personally add in 2 fighter for action surge and a fighting style but yeah that build works. A bit MAD though and comes online late. Eldritch blast likely to miss as well as it's not based of int or dex which i presume is your main attack stat.
@@TheRobversion1 good call! I forgot EB was charisma. I have to look at that. What I was referring to was how Thirsting blade, RAW doesn't mention that you cannot use it with a second attack. It simply states that as long as you attack on your action with your pact weapon you can attack with it twice. Some (well most) DMs rule that wasn't the intent and you only get the two attacks. With the crossbow as the pact weapon it would honestly allow you a second shot and the cantrip from bladesinger RAW. I was looking at fighter or possibility ranger (hunter) 3 for horde breaker and the fighting style. I'll try to reply when I finish the build. My second campaign is something like 4 months away still so I'm tinkering with it.
@@blackgaurdsmash ah. That part. I think there was a JC tweet or sage advice on this that aside from fighter, all extra attack like spells and abilities like thirsting blade, tensers, etc. Dont stack..you can have only one effect of that at a time. Anyway to make your build less MAD, i'd sugget working of cha and going hexblade or simply dropping eldritch blast and using other wizard cantrips such as create bonfire, firebolt, etc.
@@TheRobversion1 yeah, if I take ranger I def can as I'll get spiked growth from there age won't need it from Dao. I want the EB with repelling blast to shred enemies thru the spikes.
@@blackgaurdsmash sounds like you are trying to combine 2 different builds. The cheese grater warlock and the bladesinger. Very tough or would require at least alot of levels to come online. Personally, i'd just choose one and stick to it then build the other one seperately. Its workable if you want to do bladesinger + dao + fighter if you switch from ranged to melee and pick up crusher. You could use shillelagh via pact of the tome and you could: Action: spike growth Action surge: shillelagh crusher attack + eldritch blast bonus action: telekinetic Comes online early t3 at fighter 2, blade 6, dao 3. That'll push 40 ft in the sequence above. enough to cover the whole spike growth.
Also, if you’re looking for build ideas, I’d be really interested in hearing your take on an warlock 1, abjuration wizard X that tried to maximize the usage of Armor of Agathys, and get as much “revenge damage” as possible, while being a surprisingly tanky wizard with all the temp HP and Ward HP you get
I’ve been thinking about this and you can skip the Warlock level and take Dragonmark of Warding Dwarf race. Also, the Simic Scientist Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica background gives you Wind Wall which stops all but the thiccest of ranged attacks. The helps a lot with forcing enemies into melee so that they take that juicy Armor of Agathys damage.
@@ethangarr2138 I know a lot of the Ravnica stuff isn’t allowed outside of those settings by DMs, but absolutely if your DM allows it! I’m sad that Magic Initiate spells can’t be upcast and recast; though it seems that Wizards is trying to move away from that with the latest feats that have come out.
@@GramGramAnimations Yeah, I see what you’re saying about the race and background since they’re from Eberron and Ravnica but hey, if you can get them they improve the build. Fey Touched and Shadow Touched were a big upgrade compared to Magic Initiate IMO, shame you can’t get Armor of Agathys with them 😐
I'm going to be playing a rock gnome artificer battle Smith starting tomorrow which is going to be a lot of fun because I get to ride my Steel Defender so if you want to see what goes on p.m. me and I'll send you a group invite to our Discord group we start around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday
Have you considered doing any bloodhunter build optimised for DPR? I love the flavor of this class and think it is quite underpowered so knowing how to squeeze the most out of it would be really useful.
My second BH request today! My concern with the class is that, being unofficial material, there are a *lot* of tables that wouldn't allow it, and so there would probably be a lot of viewers who wouldn't be that interested in a build for it. I'll have to take a closer look, and maybe do a poll or something :).
