Favorite sort of counter-related build, or whatever you might call it: Mark of Warding Dwarf Battle Smith 3-5/Abjuration Wizard X. Instead of focusing on doing the most damage melee-wise, this build focuses on being the sturdiest thing known to man. Thanks to Mark of Warding Dwarves gaining Armor of Agathys (among other spells), and thanks to Arcane Ward, you can have a decent-sized force field over a stack of temp HP over your _actual_ HP, along with Half Plate and a Steel Defender, to help you tank blows. While its AC won't be _quite_ as high as the build in the video, the amount of damage you can take practically _skyrockets_ in comparison, due to the mix of defensive spells and features. While you _could_ probably still take the Mobile feat, in order to prevent opportunity attacks, Armor of Agathys makes it so that you actually _want_ to get hit, since you'll just hit right back, if the blow lands. Best part is, the build's able to be adjusted to suit your needs, and comes online as soon as you gain one level in Artificer, and a couple levels in Abjuration Wizard. Want to be more of a melee savant? Go with five levels of Battle Smith, and pick up the War Caster feat along the way. Want to be more of a Full-Caster? Go with only _three_ levels, and put the rest into Abjuration. Another main benefit this build has over the other is that it's only Single Attribute Dependent, since you can use your Int mod for attack and damage rolls, so long as you're using a magical weapon (and thanks to Infusions, magical weapons aren't a worry). As such, you can fully max out Con and Int, put around a 14 in Dex, and have your ASIs as maxed out as you'll ever need. Better yet, if you ever come across a Headband of Intellect and/or an Amulet of Health, you might not even really _need_ ASIs (although I wouldn't gamble on your DM letting you come across _both_ magic items). To further point out the flexibility of this build, I should probably point out that not only does nothing about this build requires Concentration (unless you really _want_ it to), but other than your favorite Abjuration spells of choice (such as Counterspell, Armor of Agathys, and Shield), this build honestly has no spell requirements _at all._ For the spells that the build _will_ likely use the most (Abjuration), you get a half-price discount on scribing them from being an Abjuration Wizard. This means that you can prioritize whatever non-Abjuration spells you like first, _then_ pick up all the more defensive spells from the local magic shop (and then, preferably, scribe those spells into an Enduring Spellbook).
Same here, I also added the Slasher feat and use a Whip…because more annoying stuff is more annoying 😂 To be fair-ish and more thematic, I don’t use any ranged spells or abilities, only self/damage buffs and movement spells. Basically a cruise missile with legs, love this build.
I can heartily recommend the Telekinetic feat too, either as an alternative or in combination with Mobile. Yes, it's a save but it provides versatility and something to do with your bonus action (Wizards don't get much in that regard) and the combination of Booming Blade and pushing people away with your mind powers is great! Especially if you're armed with a Whip. 😁
@@daniellundberg9225 I’m a Expeditious Retreat fan so I use my Bonus Action just about every chance I get…the option to push is fun though, just have to pick the right target.
I'm sorry to bother you. Maybe I don't speak English and I haven't understood it well. You just want to multiclass with Artificer for his level 2 to get "Mind Sharpener". Is there something else in level 1, or anything else, that I haven't understood? Thank you for your time and sorry for the inconvenience.
I'm surprised you didn't add war caster for advantage on concentration saves and the ability to cast somatic spells while dual wielding your rapier and shadow blade as well as being able to booming blade as an opportunity attack
i took steel wind strike to out anime our weeb samurai. used it to kill a group of enemies and she was like "WTF was that?! you're a wizard!!" totally worth it.
Flavor - hell yes! Must? Nah, it's literally bad. It does not scale with weapons and damage is kinda... just go for normal attack and take better spells.
I’m playing a blade singer now. I took 2 lvls rogue instead of artificer. I lost a bit of spell juice, but gained Disengage for a bonus action. This lets my character move with impunity through as many enemies as I’d like with opportunity attacks. I also switched out Haste for Slow. Slow affects several enemies for the whole party to go to town on. The cleric will cast Bane and I’ll cast Slow for the tougher target smack downs. Enjoy!
What is you chrarisma bonus? If you put in 1 more level for swashbuckler you can free up your bonus action by making it so anyone you hit cant target you with aot, you dont need advantage to deql sneak attack damage, and you can add your chr bonus to your initiative. I have a college of swords bard/swashbuckler for one of my characters in a campaign and the mix is a blast.
Slow is such a BITCH of a spell, I stock it on any "competent" enemy spell caster now (ForeverGM) Honestly an amazing cc spell that any sane wizard would use constantly. Many various monsters are immune to the annoying wizard conditions, charmed, blinded, grappled, restrained, stunned and unconscious. I may be wrong but I don't think anything is inherently immune to slow, maybe a helmed horror but that's VERY niche
@@caosisaac we use simple array for character. So I started Str 8, Dex 15 +1, Con 10, Int 14+2, Wis 12, Cha 13. Changling , Charlatan. I play him as a Fence/Forgery type rogue. My original plan was to go Swashbuckler @9, but the character has played into/developed into more of an Arcane Trickster.
Same. Playing my first Wizard as a Bladesinger & it’s insane . We’re playing curse of Strahd. At level 8 my AC can get to 29 w/i three rounds of combat
Thanks! I worked with my friends to put together a whole new style to communicate the more detailed information in an engaging way. Hopefully it makes it fun to watch and easy to follow, despite the high detail!
Impressive, but one thing you overlooked: multiclassing spellcasters doesn't let you learn spells above your individual level in either class. You might have a 2nd-level slot at level 3, but you still only have 2 levels in wizard, and since a normal level 2 wizard can't learn Shadow Blade yet, neither can you. Fortunately, this build leans heavily on the bladesinger, so only the spells from the artificer side are limited.
Personally, I'm a big fan of using the Goliath race with the Bladesinger so that Stone's Endurance can be used to help with both mitigating incoming damage when spells like _shield_ and _absorb elements_ aren't applicable and, in turn, reducing the DCs for maintaining concentration.
@@nerdyginger7430 The fact that it has to say that DM's *CAN* remove that restriction just proves I'm right. Also, they wouldn't have bothered to add the little tid-bit about it being race locked to elves unless it mattered and was a rule. So it's *RaW* that only elves can use the subclass unless your DM is nice
@@musicman9263 any material written after is the new standard. In Tasha's it's stated that Elves developed it, but any race can learn it. Sorry, but it isn't race locked. Either pick up more books and don't speak on something you're not entirely up-to-date on
@@nerdyginger7430 I have the Tasha's book, and frankly, I don't care that it says that, the PHB should be the standard and not overruled by later books, also, I could feel the rudeness and sass coming from your comment.
Absolutely brilliant deep-dive! I love your usual stuff, fast and ideas-based, but this was a fantastic change of pace, and did a really great job keeping me in the loop the whole video!
This was a really good video, and definitely has me considering the Bladesinger! If you're considering doing more of these, I'd be interested to see a breakdown of your Fartificer suggestion from the Underrated But Powerful Multiclasses video from last year!
One small change I'd suggest is a third level in artificer, taking the battlesmith sub. Intelligence as an attack stat is a fun addition, and lets you upgrade to using a longsword (or the lightsaber magic weapon Sunblade, if you can get it!). Also you can build a robot dog to flank opponents. I would also recommend Steel Wind Strike as a spell option; teleporty anime-ninja shenanigans can be a lot of fun 😁
Quick question … Wouldn’t a Sunblade (which has Finesse) be the best non Shadowblade a BS could use? Sunblade is a long sword, that is versatile (1 or 2 handed) that has finesse and does a great deal of damage (especially to undead)
@@normknapp4404 It absolutely is, regardless of any extra build 'quirks' you might be working into your build. The reason I suggested it here is simply because it's a magic weapon; third level battlesmiths get to use Int instead of Str or Dex as an attack stat with any magic weapon. You then get to focus on intelligence first, as you're both casting and fighting with just the one! Keep a 'magic weapon' infusion handy, so you can attune to literally any non-magic weapon on the planet, make it +1, and run it off your Intelligence... you become one of the scariest fighters in existence 😈
@@jezmerritt only issue with that is (and I know most games never get there) would be the loss of the 18th lvl free castings of 1st lvl shield, and 2nd lvl misty step!
I'm sorry to bother you. Maybe I don't speak English and I haven't understood it well. You just want to multiclass with Artificer for his level 2 to get "Mind Sharpener". Is there something else in level 1, or anything else, that I haven't understood? Thank you for your time and sorry for the inconvenience.
@@rafamarx9158 It's no inconvenience, friend 😊 Taking two levels in Artificer for this build allows you to take the Mind Sharpener infusion, which is the whole point. The infusion gives a huge boost to your ability to concentrate on spells, and for a Bladesinger that is a huge bonus. Other bonuses to taking Artificer include a couple of extra cantrips, but the main focus is your infusions. At level 3, most parties don't have access to many magic items, but you can choose to infuse some really good ones. You want a +1 magic weapon? Done. A Bag of Holding? Easy 😁 But that's basically it. Two levels doesn't add much to any multiclass, generally. But a third level character that can wield a +1 rapier, boost his Dex with a spell and then make it next to impossible to lose concentration on that spell, is just... well, it's a tiny bit broken. I hope that helps, feel free to ask if you have any other questions! 😊
Alternatively for your 9th level spell: Blade of Disaster. Not only does it do a lot of damage (force, the best damage), you can attack twice with it when it reaches and enemy, it crits on an 18 for 12d12 force damage and for all those pesky spell casters that cast wall of force, BoD passes right though it and any barrier for that matter.
So.. at level 3 we use a rapier, walk to an enemy, strike them, they don't notice, we walk away, when they take a few steps they realize they were hit. And we sing while doing it We are playing as Brook from one piece
Booming blade still has you do a weapon attack as part of it. So you still do the appropriate weapon damage as you would any weapon attack. So they'll definitely notice. Also, Booming blade has bade damage once it scales at 5th level.
Yeah we had the same thought lol. I been trying to figure out what to make my next character for my friends new homebrew campaign coming up and had thought about a blade singer but wasn't sure but this video AND that comment sold me lol
You can imagine that your extra INT damages enemies additionally because you are using that intelligence to make more effective strikes that hit more vital / vulnerable places at more effectively damaging angles with better force, or something, etc.
@@Chranos83 Lore bards can pick up Magical Secrets at level 6 (other bard subclasses have to wait until level 10 to get access to Magical Secrets). Which is awesome! You get to pick up two spells from other classes. Party short on a healer? Snag Aura of Vitality and Revivify. Want the perks of a Warlock without a patron micromanaging you? Get Eldritch Blast and Hunger of Hadar. Lore Bards being able to pick up these Magical Secrets at Level 6 is great when you're not going to be in a higher level campaign especially!
@@Chranos83 magical secrets at level 6 instead of 10, and having access to any class of spellcasters' spells at that level is rly good bc you can fill in gaps that the rest of your party lacks. for example, you can get counterspell, aura of vitality, spirit guardians.. it's perfect for a group that lacks a dedicated healer or AOE damage
This is awesome please make more of these build videos i love your style of editing as well as way of thinking, would love to see you tackle a build video on necromancer
Counterpoint on using Shadow Blade as the focus for Booming Blade/Green-Flame Blade: Since writing a spell into one's spellbook supposedly costs 2 hours and 50 gold per spell level, wouldn't a Shadow Blade basically be worth 100 gold?
You have to talk to your DM. Rules as written Booming Blade and Green Flame blade require a melee weapon worth 1 silver piece as a material component. Technically a bona fide arcane focus would negate the need for inexpensive material components. By the time you're casting Shadow Blade, one silver is 'usually' a negligible amount. From a roleplaying perspective, material components aren't consumed unless the spell description says, so who's to say that during the casting of Booming Blade you don't just do something like draw a hatchet from your belt and quickly clang it two times against the flat your conjured shadow blade or bang a dagger against it to complete the casting?
When you get 9th level spells be sure to grab Foresight too. No concentration, lasts all day, you get advantage on all attacks and saves and everyone else gets disadvantage to hit your already-insane AC. It's amazing for bladesinger builds.
alternatively, shapeshift to turn yourself into a planetar for an insane overall power boost for 1 hour. Just make sure to stack concentration protection to not lose it prematurely
@@rookie2128 That's the brilliant part about Foresight though, no need to alternatively about it. In fact, if you're an elf you can cast Foresight, then long rest in 4 hours, then cast Shapechange in the fight (as long as the fight's within 4 hours) without needing to recover the slot with a short rest.
Great video as always! Mass Suggestion isn't a concentration spell so there's really not much of a downside using it in combat with this build since concentration on shadow blade wouldn't drop and it's a really funny way to possibly end an encounter.
I would make one (not so) small change: take one additional level in Artificer for the Battle Smith-subclass. You gain proficiency in martial weapons, you can attack with magic weapons with your INT-modifier and you get the Steel Defender. -Martial Weapon Proficiency is a bit niche, cause you don't really get more damage out of it (attacking two-handed ends your Bladsong). But you get access to the Sun Blade, which basically means you can use a lightsaber now. - weapon attacks an INT means you are less MAD which is always super usefull. - Steel Defender give you an additional body on the board to occupy enemies and give disadvantage on some of their attacks. Also it's a companion and everybody loves companions. In conclusion, you get more Jedi and more Metal. And what could be better then a Metal Jedi!?
You could also pick the short sword for your proficiency as the Bladesinger if you're planning towards the Sun Blade. Yes, you would be losing out a tiny bit because 1d6 is on average 1 point less than 1d8, but since you'll be leaning heavily on Shadowblade relatively quickly, it would really not be too much of a loss.
Big warning for anyone who has a DM that properly enforces the V/S/M rules for spellcasting: Artificer spellcasting rules REQUIRE you to use your artisan's/thieves' tools as a spellcasting focus (TCoE 11), so you can't cast any spell with material components (i.e. Booming Blade) if you have both hands full (e.g. with both a weapon and a shield). The quickest remedy for this is to take Artificer 2 right away, so you can get the Enhanced Weapon infusion, which can be used as a focus instead of your tools. Mind that you can't use it as a focus for your Wizard spells, however, so you'll have to drop your dagger at Art 2/Wiz 1 if you want to cast any Wizard spells with S/M components. Though thankfully it's only one level of that pain, as you'll ditch the shield at Wiz 2 when you get bladesong.
Ok, hear me out. Instead of taking two levels in Artificer, you take two levels in Fighter. You will lose the 4 times-a-day success in concentration and one level of spell progression, but maintain your proficiency in CON saves plus proficiency in all things martial (different flavor if you will). Plus you gain a fighting style (Dueling being the best option, granting you +2 in all damage rolls), Second Wind, and Action Surge. Now you can deal more damage per attack, heal with your bonus action, and, at higher levels, attack 4 times with shadow blade in one turn. This can go up to 5 attacks if you use haste instead of shadow blade or you can cast one spell while attacking, or even 2 spells in one turn (provided they both take 1 action to cast, no bonus action spells).
I think taking Ashardalon's stride would be a decent spell to take with this build more movement & fire damage to boot let's you ping around your enemies like a flaming pinball wizard. If ur not concentrating on the shadow blade of course
I think stride is wyld . My necromancer uses it a Lot . I think necromancers make better Bladesingers than Blade Singers ... Played both . Necromancer Just better for it
@@mtgcalix8977Nothing about the Necromancy wizard encourages or supports what one could consider "bladesinging" at all. In fact, it encourages you to sit behind a squad of undead and plink at enemies with necromancy spells.
I enjoyed my version she's not the most optimised, but she's done very well in this Rime Campaign. I personally went for the fae ancestry feat. Because teleporting is fun : 3
And that is actually the important bit, being fun! Though even 'suboptimal' really just means you need to be more inventive in what you do with D&D in almost all cases too...
I actually had an interesting Bladesinger build inspired by this channel. I would use Tortle as the race and go Artificer til at least level 3 for Battlesmith before going to Bladesinger, I actually would go to level 4 for a feat that has a ASI to round out the Int but it does slow it down(Telekinetic, Observant, Fey Touched, Shadow Touched, Skill Expert, Keen Mind, and Linguist all give Int. I like Telekinetic and Observant the most but either Touched is great as well). Invest in Int and Con at the start with however you want the other stats. I used basic stat array with the multiverse of monsters option to have 17 starting Int and 15 Con. At level 1 I would use a shield to have an AC of 19 and also a Mace, this is important later. Artificers have a really interesting mechanic as they level where they can swap cantrips as they level so at level 1 I would grab Magic Stone and something else(booming blade if you want a melee option or anything utility based) because as I said you can swap it out. At level 2 stay Artificer to get infusions and I would get one that increases shield AC and one that makes a weapon magic, note you still have 4 total infusions you know so you can have Mind Sharpener and something else for later while being able to change them after a long rest. At level 3 get BattleSmith to gain the Shield spell, your steel defender, all weapon proficiencies, and the ability to use Int for attacks rather than Str or Dex. After this point the build can split, if you want to go wizard set your Artificer cantrips with what you want. I've tried it all different ways but getting the feat at level 4 then switching to Bladesinger felt best. Regardless of whatever I would use a Warhammer and get the Crusher feat, increasing Con, whenever you get an ASI. Magic bludgeoning damage is the best overall damage type in the game and the ability to move creatures with damage for free is extremely helpful. Also there are some really neat magical warhammers. When you go Bladesinger you can change the infusions to have Mind Sharpener. Overall I think my build is more tanky early on but doesn't have the damage potential or late game tankiness that this video has, it may have more combat utility. Not going to lie but Mobile on a Bladesinging Tortle sounds like a lot of fun but something you couldn't do until level 6 when you'd get the feat, though doing that suddenly out of no where is even funny.
You can increase the damage potential by going Spirit Shroud instead of Haste or Shadow Blade, and picking up the Metamagic Adept feat for Quickened Spell. Spirit Shroud adds damage to any attack you make, Melee or Spell, including Scorching Ray, and Crown of Stars. At high levels your Nova damage with a +1 weapon, casting at max level on Scorching Ray, 7th level for Spirit Shroud, and 8th level Crown of Stars, would look like (1d8+5+5+1+3d8)*2 +(3d8+4d8) +(2d6+3d8)*10 on one turn, and (1d8+5+5+1+3d8)*2 +(3d8+4d8) +(4d12+3d8) on the next, for three total spell slots, one of which lasts an hour.
@@anonymouse2675 Very interesting. Will say at that point you're not making melee attacks you're just shotgunning Scorching Rays which is fine but not what the main idea is behind Bladesinger. That sounds awesome for like a Artilierist/Wizard, which I will use thank you very much. Shame Sorcerers don't get Spirit Shroud because you could do that with an Artificer/Sorcerer.
@@anonymouse2675 Agreed. I do apologize. I got caught up in my own views and now caught that it seemed like I was forcing it on people, that was not intended. That was an awesome suggestion but it didn't feel right for my character as a main attack option, will probably keep it as a back pocket option because it is a solid idea.
The timing for this video was perfect! I just started a west marchers campaign where my second character was going to be a bladesinger. Great video, can't wait to put it into action! 😁
One thing though, a pretty important one for late game, doubt that a lot people will make it to 9th level spell slots, but still. Shapechange specifies that you must have seen this sort of creature, so no planetar for you if you haven't encountered... Gods?
Yeah, but you are playing a wizard. It might take a one-off investment of effort, but you can use divination magic (contact other plane etc) to ensure you DO see a planetar. Unless your DM is going to ban the combo there isn't much that will stop you pulling this off.
This might not be the best idea in the world, but you could take 2 levels in paladin which would let you use your low level spell slots (basically 4th and below) to divine smite, adding 5d8 damage on every attack
Cool build! I managed to guess what spell you were talking about at 0:38, but I was thinking Marilith instead of Planetar. Marilith's Reactive feature combined with Silvery Barbs from Spell Mastery is very strong, though it might not be fun for the DM any more if you do that.
and on top of that marilith has the parry reaction so once per anyones turn thats a 19 base ac + 5 int + 5 parry + 5 dex (if your dm lets you mage armor yourself even though your base ac is 19) + 5 shield for a huge 39!
Metamagic Adept is a feat I took on my Bladesinger. Use Twin Spell to target two enemies instead of one for some nova damage. Alternatively, could Quicken any first round, setup spells and still make your regular attack. Combos great with Mobile or other disengages, like Misty Step.
"There's no way to tell what a Shadow Blade costs for using Green Flame Blade." Shadow blade is a 2nd level spell, which would cost 250gp to craft as a spell scroll, well over the 1sp value of the sword needed for GFB and BB.
I love this! It almost reminds me of a deck tech you might see on a mtg channel. I would absolutely watch the crap out of more in depth character creation content. It felt well paced, the editing was tight and snappy, and it was visually engaging through without feeling too overwhelming. Videos like this would be super interesting to see more of in the future, especially once the final one dnd rules are released.
I recommend, using two short swords for a blade singer, and trying to get a ruby of the warmage. The reason be, you can cast shadow blade and have it in one hand hold one of your shorts in the other hand (the one with the Ruby) Attack first with the shadow blade, then attack with the short sword using the blooming blade cantrip, and then as a bonus make an offhand attack using the shadow blade, You can do this because they’re both considered light weapons…
Damn, this is seems like an amazing build, I've always loved Bladesingers but I've never gotten a chance to play as one. But here's the character idea I have if anyone is interested. The race is also Custom Lineage though my background would be a Guild Artisan (with the idea that the character is a mechanic/inventor), though after hearing about Wildspacer I definitely plan to now since my character idea fits right at home for a Spelljammers setting, and my chosen feat is the Fighting Initiate feat (going for Archery at first but will chance it later in the build). I'll start off also as an Artificer for the same reasons DND Shorts did, but my biggest difference will be starting with 4 levels before jumping ship to Wizard versus what DND Shorts did. At third level, I'll take the Armorer subclass (taking the Guardian Armor set). Main reason is that it's a 1d8 weapon that uses my Int stat, uses Thunder damage which isn't commonly resisted, AND based on the wording, the Thunder Gauntlets count as Dual weapons, which adds an extra Bonus Action attack (was super happy when I noticed this). As for infusions, Mind Sharpener and probably either Enhanced Defense for extra AC or Enhanced Weapon for more damage (though I don't know if that would work with my Gauntlets). At 4th level I'll take the Dual Wielder feat, giving more AC and should work with the Thunder Gauntlets. This is also when I'll change my fighting style to Two Weapon Fighting as I can on levels with ASI increases. Now for the reason behind the Armorer levels is for character reasons (and the fun realization with the Thunder Gauntlets) is that my character will be an inventor that travels the world (or realms) to build artificial legs for themselves (this will be flavored to be my armor and I'll be going with Light Armor to fit within the Bladesinger rules) and the Thunder Gauntlets attacks will be treated as my powerful kicks. They'll travel around, discovering new technology or magic tools to increase the power of their legs (the idea being my Bladesinger abilities and iconic magic spells will be treated as upgrades). After that I'll jump ship to Bladesinger Wizard until level 20. The main difference with I'll focus on my defensive abilities like Mirror Image, Blink, Counter Spell, and Haste, saving a lot of spell slots for Cure Wounds, Counter Spell, and for Song of Defense. Though I also have an idea to use Tenser's Transformation for additional damage (6d12 Force+3d8 Thunder+30 damage in a round) though Haste will probably be a safer option since Tenser's doesn't allow for magic to be used. But with all of that said, at level 20 my AC should be at a consistent 19 (Light Armor 12+5+1 AC from Dual Weilder+1 from Enhanced Defense), 24 with Bladesong up, 26 with Haste, and 31 with Shield up. That's to say, this is not a better build in my opinion, while the AC is VERY high, I don't do great against multiple enemies with different damage types, all of my Reactions are for different types of attacks (Shield for physical attacks, Counter Spells for spells, Song of Defense for other types of attacks like Dragon's Breath Weapons) and my HP can't take to much damage, barely being above 100 by level 20. But I thought I would share my idea since I have been thinking about this character for several months now.
He didn't clarify but artificer is a *modified* half-caster when calculating spell slots from multiclassing, a lot of calculators online are *rounding down* when they should be *rounding up* . A lot of online calculators are incorrect and are treating them as paladins and rangers. "Add half your levels (rounded up) in the artificer class to the appropriate levels from other classes to determine your available spell slots.", this is how at 1 Artificer/4 Wizard, you still have 3rd level spell slots, and at 1 art/2 Wiz you have 2nd level spell slots.
Something you said early that I think players should learn when making/playing characters. if you make your character fun for the DM too, not just the party, they'll lean into the fun as well. Difficult characters just make it harder for everyone.
Correction as a Planetar, it's 1d8+12 piercing damage +5d8 radiant (3d8 thunder +4d8 thunder if it moves) you get the Planetar's 24 strength. Given that you attack twice that's a maximum of 19d8+24 damage in one turn without a magic rapier. 109 damage per turn.
I feel a look over divine soul sorcerer and order cleric multi class can be a great support class that allows for wonderful spell flexibility. A twin guiding bolt? Yes please.
Год назад
When I played bladesinger, I picked Loxodon to keep my spellcasting focus on the trunk and be able to use a shortsword in the second hand. So you can Attack with the shadowblade and the green flame blade / booming blade on the same turn despite of your DM saying that shadow blade is not worth 1 silver coin, plus an additional shortsword attack as a bonus action if you don't have one. In addition, i took War Caster feat at level 4, so i could cast booming blade as an opportunity attack. As a Loxodon, you have natural 12+Con CA without the use of mage armor, wich increases with Int at the time you start bladesinging. Boosting Con, Dex and Int to 16/16/16 in your first level with point buy (15/15/15) + Tasha's stat increase (+1/+1/+1) making you an enormous elephant that starts singing "One little elephant, looking oh so elegant, balanced on the web of a spider" while dancing with two sparkling swords xD
Shadow blade says nothing about your hand needing to be empty in order to summon the blade, so just create it on top of your rapier, and your DM should be happy. You might not want to throw it all the time if you do this though, unless your DM allows you to shoot the shadow blade out of the rapier (which is an epic image). If you do this, you can flavor shadow blade as dark shadow magic enhancing your weapon, rather than you creating a shadow blade on top of the rapier. Although, both work.
That's incorrect sorry. It does say it in the spell. By RAW any spell that has a somatic component but no material component, the hand has to be empty, and since Shadow blade is V, S only then it needs to be an empty hand that you cast it from, and the blade forms within that hand. If a spell has somatic and material components then you hold the material in hand while doing the somatic component of the spell. Example would be holding an arcane focus or bat guano/sulphur from your component pouch to cast fireball. But with the spells Booming blade & GFB then the material component is the weapon in hand and therefore the somatic component is done with the sword in hand. But as a DM if you had the Warcaster feat, and by Rules of Cool & flavour I'd certainly allow what you're saying (that the shadow forms on your equip weapon) with the caveat that it's now only a shadow blade and loses what features your weapon has (+1, extra damage vs dragons etc etc)
If magic items isn't important what you take and you can choose what magic items you want. I'd argue that if you can use 'Tome of the stilled tongue' (Legendary Item) to use foresight for free as a bonus action on yourself or teammate would be very strong having advantage on all attacks while enemies have disadvantage against you. Then also take 'potion of speed' for haste to make 3 attacks every turn or dash action for more speed each turn. Very cool build, Bladesinger became my fav subclass and def wanna try this build.
To really break this build I argued that because my bag of holding is an extra dimensional space add concentration spells to a book with glyph of warding avoiding that pesky move limit, hasted shadow blade is hilarious. Also went gnome with artificer lvl 3 for battlesmith to ride my mech dog
This sounds awesome. The hardest sell is at the beginning, taking the background that gives you an extra Tough feat... Not sure how many DMs will go for that. But who knows! Even without that, it would be very strong and fun to play.
I have a bladesinger myself and utilize shadow blade. But I use it together with a scimitar (any light weapon works) and use it for two weapon fighting. Attacking with the shadow blade deals the same damage regardless of wether you use it in an action or bonus action. So attack with the regualr sword first and then attack with the shadow blade and deal full damage for both weapons without the Dual Wielder feat.
I started playing a Bladesinger in a campaign recently. We're only level 4, but the build is already very strong and lots of fun. Our DM let made us use some of the OneDnD variants of the feats and gave us a level 1 feat as well. So I started as a wizard tortle for that sweet 17 AC. We also started with an uncommon magic item, so I grabbed a Mizzium Apparatus, which allows me to cast any wizard spell for which I have spell slots, as long as I succeed an arcana check of 10+2 x spell level. My level 1 feat was Resilient CON, then at level 4, I took Warcaster. Also, the tank in our party has a Periapt of Wound Closure, so I took the spell Whiter and Bloom, allowing me to deal damage to enemies surrounding him, while also allowing him to roll a hit die for double the healing.
If your GM doesnt allow BB+Shadowblade, ditch Haste... Pickup another weapon and TWF. You still attack 2 times with Shadowblade and once with your regular weapon for the cantrip. Also with TWF its an additional attack with Angelic Weapons in planetar form. Sidenote. If you can't get adv with Shadowblade, Tenser's does more damage (especially if youve got Elven accuracy)
Pretty sure the centrip attack has to be with your main weapon / shadow blade because the cantrip is apart of your action. the off hand attack is a bonus action.
@@skylarholt9171 yes... The action is: Regular weapon attack w/ cantrip > Shadowblade attack > Shadowblade Attack with bonus action. The extra attack from TWF just has to be with "another weapon". So if one attack you attack with weapon 1 and bonus action weapon 2. But if you use weapon 1 and 2 during your attack action, your bonus action attack can be with either 1 or 2. So you cab shadow blade, regular weapon, shadowblade again.
Btw, the same basic build is possible with Eldritch Knight, but you ain't naked and do not become a planetar. Pros are hp, feats and more customisation, second wind and action surge, cons are less spells and spell slots. The Late part of the build isn't possible, but you can build a defender instead. There are other builds with this skeleton that are possible using fighter, wizard and artificer. You also don't need to build dex based if you aren't taking Bladesinger levels. The Mobile feat isn't a must, since you'll have slightly more AC and HP, and you can build a defender instead, be more of a control target build. If you can trigger disadvantage on the enemies that'll be also helpful for a more defender, less mobile build. I think the Bladesinger version is fun, definitely worth a shot, but most people will think a wizard should stay a wizard. This is very cool. Shame the coolest things always come at late levels.
Alternatively you can play a goblin. They can disengage as a bonus action, and have a bunch of cool extra stuff and also you can start with both int and dex at 16 if you can rearrange racial bonuses. Also there's Haste spell. It allows you to take an extra Attack action, with only one attack, and it can be interpereted that you can substitute this weapon attack with a catrip cast with bladesinger's lvl 6 feature. If that's the case at your table, you might consider picking Shocking Grasp, and use it to freely move away from one enemy.
RAW you can use a rapier you main hand and shadow blade in the off hand. By level 6 you can attack, cantrip (bb gfb), and bonus action shadow blade. You dont add your dex to shadow blade anyway.
I played a Bladesinger briefly, and had a ton of fun with Mirror Image and Melf's Minute Meteors. 4 of me doing a synchronized dance while flaming meteors spin around us? Excellent fun. And while the meteors have a smaller area of effect than fireball, they deal more damage overall to a smaller group or single target. And for a cantrip, I ended up using a lot of Mind Sliver. It has low damage, but it forces and intelligence save, which a lot of monsters are bad at. The added effect is that enemies would have to subtract a d4 from the next saving throw they make. Our party had a cleric who loved big "save or suck" spells like Banish, so it worked great for team play.
Im glad to see you promoting your magazine and other content. I had no idea you made anny of that stuff til you mentioned it in passing during the collab video you did with Cody from the D4 channel a week or 2 ago. The magazine looks amazing! I already grabbed the Ronin too!
i literally made a bladesinger 3 days ago for a new campaign and did almost all of this, including the owl familiar. what i didnt do was go with mage armor (i could just use studded leather and keep the spell slot) and i took warcaster instead of dipping into artificer
this is suboptimal for two main reasons: 1) taking goblin (mmotm) race largely removes the need for mobile feat, clearing the way for much more important feats such as fey touched/res con/alert/lucky/warcaster 2) one of the main things making bladesingers powerful is that they can easily go single-classed. artificer dip is there mostly to enhance defences and provide access to armor and shield. with single classed bladesinger you still get amazing AC (light armor + Shield spell), very decent to concertration checks (that could more easily be augmented with res con/war caster). while the added spells are nice, its simply not enough to be worth the level investment and slowing down spell progression IMO. this is just from an optimization standpoint. build your pc as you wish :)
If you roll for stats and have good rolls, you can replace one ASI with the war caster feat. This lets you have advantage on Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration, and booming blade as a reaction or even disintegrate.
@@garyco766 as long as you have fun it doesn't really matter. as a DM I care more about having fun than PC being OP. and I can tell you right now that dnd is so unbalanced that encounters that were supposed to be deadly were actually easy and vice versa.
@@Sniru that's not what I meant. The problem is that some PCs will get like 3 free ASIs while others will get -2 ASIs. The PCs won't be balanced against each other
We have always House ruled that ASI and feat progression are 2 different things since 5th ed came out! We run ASI’s as +2 to stat or +1 to 2 stats every 5 character levels not class levels! (So a total of 4 ASI’s) Feats are earned at 1st, 5th, 9th, 15th and 19th character level (again not class)(for a total of 5 feats)! Does it make you a little OP yes, but then again your the hero so you deserve it… LOL! Of course our DM also gives class levels to ALL BBGG bosses also
You could also take the crusher feet and use the push feature of that feet to push an opponent five feet away which would protect you from opportunity attacks.
This is a testament to the many ways you can make Bladesinger fun. Been playing one in our game for a bit. We just hit level 5. Some notes: Haste hangover sucks. If you're going to spend concentration on something, Haste is great, but at level 5 not on yourself. That fighter who just got their extra attack will be a better target. But the hangover sucks. Currently looking for speed potions which are better in every way. Flaming sphere is awesome, in conjunction with booming blade. Fine stay there and eat the sphere, or move and take the boom. My concentration spell is generally either flaming sphere (if we're in a place that's not going to catch fire) or shadow blade if we're in a building. Mirror image is awesome, until it isn't. At low level, your main enemy in melee is critical hits. Just one and you're in real trouble. Blur can beat mirror image for a defensive buff because of this. Been depending on mage armor since level 1. Have not multi-classed and won't consider it until at least level 6, to get the extra attack. Maybe never, because delaying polymorph and wall of force doesn't fit for me. My idea was that Elves invented Bladesinger to give their young wizards a way to survive being lower level until they could not need to be in a fight up close. Will take Warcaster at level 8 to help with concentration checks.
If you want to go even further with the background bullshittery, RAW, you can replace one feature of your background with any other, so just swap out the Close Encounter feature for one of the Strixhaven, Dragonlance, or Ravnica background features that let you learn and cast extra spells
The eladrin finally gave me the "bladedancer" I've been wanting, one with an exit strategy. Eladrin elf(fey step with bonuses) Rewarded background/Magic Initiate(Warlock, for Hex, Eldritch Blast and Toll the Dead are bonuses). Level 2 Wizard/Blade Singer. (Blade Song, Mage Armor, Gift of Alacrity, Shield) Level 4 Ranger/Hunter. (Extra attack via Horde Breaker, Tunnel Fighter, Hunter's Mark, wilderness goodness) Level 14 Bard/School of Swords (Two weapon fighting, Standard extra attack, Master's Flourish et cetera) Magic Initiate*(from rewarded) Spell Sniper War Caster Elven Accuracy Blade Master A caster with upto 3 attacks in a single action against a Hexed opponent while having the AC to stand on the front line with the fighters who can green flame blade all his attacks of opportunity.
I think about something different. I would start with fighter and two weapon style. When you fight with for example two scimitars, you can hit one creature and then the second one. Both of them can't use opportunity attack so you can run away. On second level you can choose wizard with mentioned cantrips. Using booming blade or green-flame still allows you to hit with bonus action. When you get shadow blade, you still have a second weapon to use in main attack to apply cantrips and hit with shadow blade in bonus action. Then you can get 2nd level fighter with action surge so yes, in the first turn you can hit once with cantrip and twice with shadow blade or twice with cantrips and once with shadow blade. It means you can disengage from fight with three enemies. The next step would be 3rd level fighter as rune knight. You can use fire rune on your scimitar to deal additional 2d6 fire damage with chance of stunning enemy and dealing next 2d6 fire damage. Achieving 6 level as wizard makes you a magic hurricane, when you can make five attacks with action surge and random shootings with cantrips, fire rune and shadow blade (first action: cantrip + shadow blade, second action: cantrip + shadow blade, bonus action: shadow blade so it's 5 * dex mod, 9d8 psychic damage, 4d6 fire damage and (2d8 thunder damage or 2d8 fire damage and 2d8 fire damage +int modifier for neighbours).
I've forgotten about 1d6 slashing damage from scimitar, so it means between 94 and 104 average damage in the first turn depending on dex modifier for 9 lvl character.
There is 2 moments I can see: To pull out 2 attacks with shadowblade and 1 booming blade attack you have to use short sword or scimitar instead of a rapier because you have to use two light weapons to make bonus action atack. You should consider it taking weapon prof. on a 2nd level of bladesinger. Second is that according to rules artificer is a half caster, so you will get 1 spellcasting level only taking 2 levels of it. It means that you won't get 3rd level slot on 5th level having 4 levels in wizard.
So one thing to consider is that per raw, the “blade” cantrips have “a weapon worth at least 1gp” as a component, so RAW doesn’t work with shadow blade. However, I, and many other dms rule that it does because that’s dumb lmao, but important to keep in mind.
I'm currently playing a Harengon thats similar to this, different feats though as I have no need for mobile. Took bless with fey touch (party is two barbs and me). My favorite first two round is the enemy is spread out is run inthe open, get surrounded, then bunny hop out of the middle and fireball the group.
I see your Planetar and I raise you one that Marilith. Eight attacks per turn, adding your intelligence modifier to each, and a reaction on everybody's turn. Counter spell everything!
Something you can also do with this build if you want to just sling a bunch of spells at once, Fighter/Wizard with the metamagic feat so you can bonus action cast spells *upcasted Scorching Ray* then use a bow or crossbow and use the second attack to fling eldritch blasts. Only need two levels of Fighter just to get action surge. When you reach lvl 8 you can grab magic initiate to get the eldritch blast. Also if you get freebie feat you can use Gift of the Metallic Dragon to get cure wounds for free with it while able to cast it at higher levels if need be.
Love the build, especially since it’s almost a pure wizard. The main bladesinger muiclass dips heavy into fighter and warlock to use eldritch blast as your cantrip
Just a thing I'd like to add, a familiar that could also be good (with DM agreeing) is the Tressym, it's a flying cat that can see invisible stuff, basically the poor man's truesight But It does lack the flyby and only has 40 feet of movement
Playing Aacockra is also really fun with this build. Any time you are outside, you are a god. It's an alternative to mobile. I took a second and third level of Artificer earlier on to have the special armor and +1 weapon that can be thrown and called back, since shadow blade wasn't an option in my campaign. The rest of the levels are definitely in wizard
If you want a different race, you can go loxodon, meaning your AC works of your con score instead of dex, now you can dump dex, not need to take mage armour, and put all your stats into dex and con, and heav the other stats be a lot less weak, having str as a positive bonus is good, because you can lift double a normal character. It delays getting mobility. And it means not using shadow blade. But if you take 2 more levels of artificer you can become an amourer, and wear a leather(latex) superhero suit, and get a punch attack that deals 1d8 Thunder damage and forces enemies to attack you, now you can tank as well as deal damage. Also you still get max level wizard spells with 17 levels of wizard. And you get infusions, so you can infuse your familiar with a tattoo and they can concentrate for you. You can never be disarmed as your suit can’t be removed and has the weapons built in. Now you can go around like old school tv Batman, going “Thwack!” “Crunch!” “Pow!” While hurting the baddies, and protecting your party
All my Google searches show that JC has ruled that Shadow Blade & Booming Blade DON'T combine. I know it's all per DM discretion, BUT I feel that particular point is misleading. Having said that, I absolutely LOVE this build!!!
