I'm playing a gish (literally, as he's githyanki space pirate) on a Westmarch server. Fighter 2/Wizard (Chronurgy) 6, and taking Wizard the rest. On the fighter side, he's Str based, with adamantine full plate and a greatsword enchanted with an Ild rune for an extra d6 fire damage. He has Tough (Wildspacer background) and Lucky. In combat, his melee is primarily attacking with Green-Flame Blade for the quasi-AoE, using spells like Blur and Haste to buff himself, and time shenanigans to mess with rolls (Lucky, Chronal Shift, and Silvery Barbs). Or he can also play the more traditional wizard with fireball and battlefield control stuff, just less squishy and with Action Surge.
I can respec once before level 9. His build so far has performed extremely well so far, but I can't decide between keeping Defense (for 19 AC) or switching to GWF (with a 3d6 weapon). Eventually, I know neither will be critical. Enemies get more accurate on the attack roll. And the few points of average damage from GWF will be overshadowed by stuff like Tenser's Transformation for melee or big AoE spells. In the interim, however, not sure which way to go.
Defense becomes more valuable as your AC increases due to bounded accuracy.
GWF is nice, but a waste on your build. It shines when you make multiple attacks to get the most out of your bonus. But attacking once via GFB? You really gotta think about what you're getting here.
I'm playing a gish (literally, as he's githyanki space pirate) on a Westmarch server. Fighter 2/Wizard (Chronurgy) 6, and taking Wizard the rest. On the fighter side, he's Str based, with adamantine full plate and a greatsword enchanted with an Ild rune for an extra d6 fire damage. He has Tough (Wildspacer background) and Lucky. In combat, his melee is primarily attacking with Green-Flame Blade for the quasi-AoE, using spells like Blur and Haste to buff himself, and time shenanigans to mess with rolls (Lucky, Chronal Shift, and Silvery Barbs). Or he can also play the more traditional wizard with fireball and battlefield control stuff, just less squishy and with Action Surge.
I can respec once before level 9. His build so far has performed extremely well so far, but I can't decide between keeping Defense (for 19 AC) or switching to GWF (with a 3d6 weapon). Eventually, I know neither will be critical. Enemies get more accurate on the attack roll. And the few points of average damage from GWF will be overshadowed by stuff like Tenser's Transformation for melee or big AoE spells. In the interim, however, not sure which way to go.
Thoughts? (Also posting on the Wizard forum)
You are going to be attacking fewer and fewer times, as your wizard spells will out damage a cantrip like Greenflame Blade. You have heavy armor and Action Surge. Those are the most important things your build is giving you. GWF isn't actually a very good fighting style. Even with 3d6, you will end up with slightly less than 2 more damage when you attack with your special greatsword. But as you are levelling up, with more and more powerful wizard spells, you should be meleeing less often. So GWF will do nothing for you, unless you are attacking with your greatsword or like weapon. But Defense, with its +1 to AC will always help you!
I would take blind fighting. That is really powerful on a Gish build because it lets you "see" enemies that are invisibile or in darkness and lets you target them with spells. Defense is better than GWF though if you are really focused on those two.
Also I would pick up protection from evil and good. Against many (most?) enemies it is better than blur, uses a lower level slot and lasts longer.
I would avoid Tenser's Transformation on a Gish, that generally is a huge debuff to a Gish because it eliminates all your spells in combat. You are going to be weaker in melee if you can't use things like shield or absorb elements and the 50hps won't make up for that difference at the level you get TT.
I would disagree with others about moving to less melee as you level. Most of the Wizards I play are primarily melee builds. Haste with a high damage weapon and a cantrip is a lot of damage at higher level, keeping up with damaging spells and with the bonus to movement it pretty much lets you melee anyone on the battlefield usually. You do need proper spell selection to do that though and your concentration should generally be on something that gives you a defensive buff if you are going to be right in the thick of it. I'm not saying this is more powerful than hanging back and using control spells, but it is a completely viable and fun play style and will keep up with many martial builds. The thing about wizards is the spell selection really lets you play any kind of style you want.
Finally I would consider taking another level in fighter and going Eldritch Knight. That will give you a caster level, so you are not losing any spell slots and it will give you 2 cantrips and 3 spells, which you can use for Shield, Protection from Evil and Good and Silvery Barbs, freeing up three spots for you to prepare something else as wizard.
Finally I would consider taking another level in fighter and going Eldritch Knight. That will give you a caster level, so you are not losing any spell slots and it will give you 2 cantrips and 3 spells, which you can use for Shield, Protection from Evil and Good and Silvery Barbs, freeing up three spots for you to prepare something else as wizard.
Actually, taking another level of Fighter for EK (assuming that level to be taken immediately) would only net a 4th-level spell slot. EK slots and Wizard slots are not separate; they combine, just like any other caster's (except the slots from Warlock and that one Blood Hunter subclass, of course).
Edit: as soon as I posted I realized you meant spells known, not spell slots. You're right, my bad.
I'm playing a gish (literally, as he's githyanki space pirate) on a Westmarch server. Fighter 2/Wizard (Chronurgy) 6, and taking Wizard the rest. On the fighter side, he's Str based, with adamantine full plate and a greatsword enchanted with an Ild rune for an extra d6 fire damage. He has Tough (Wildspacer background) and Lucky. In combat, his melee is primarily attacking with Green-Flame Blade for the quasi-AoE, using spells like Blur and Haste to buff himself, and time shenanigans to mess with rolls (Lucky, Chronal Shift, and Silvery Barbs). Or he can also play the more traditional wizard with fireball and battlefield control stuff, just less squishy and with Action Surge.
I can respec once before level 9. His build so far has performed extremely well so far, but I can't decide between keeping Defense (for 19 AC) or switching to GWF (with a 3d6 weapon). Eventually, I know neither will be critical. Enemies get more accurate on the attack roll. And the few points of average damage from GWF will be overshadowed by stuff like Tenser's Transformation for melee or big AoE spells. In the interim, however, not sure which way to go.
Thoughts? (Also posting on the Wizard forum)
Defense becomes more valuable as your AC increases due to bounded accuracy.
GWF is nice, but a waste on your build. It shines when you make multiple attacks to get the most out of your bonus. But attacking once via GFB? You really gotta think about what you're getting here.
You are going to be attacking fewer and fewer times, as your wizard spells will out damage a cantrip like Greenflame Blade. You have heavy armor and Action Surge. Those are the most important things your build is giving you. GWF isn't actually a very good fighting style. Even with 3d6, you will end up with slightly less than 2 more damage when you attack with your special greatsword. But as you are levelling up, with more and more powerful wizard spells, you should be meleeing less often. So GWF will do nothing for you, unless you are attacking with your greatsword or like weapon. But Defense, with its +1 to AC will always help you!
I would take blind fighting. That is really powerful on a Gish build because it lets you "see" enemies that are invisibile or in darkness and lets you target them with spells. Defense is better than GWF though if you are really focused on those two.
Also I would pick up protection from evil and good. Against many (most?) enemies it is better than blur, uses a lower level slot and lasts longer.
I would avoid Tenser's Transformation on a Gish, that generally is a huge debuff to a Gish because it eliminates all your spells in combat. You are going to be weaker in melee if you can't use things like shield or absorb elements and the 50hps won't make up for that difference at the level you get TT.
I would disagree with others about moving to less melee as you level. Most of the Wizards I play are primarily melee builds. Haste with a high damage weapon and a cantrip is a lot of damage at higher level, keeping up with damaging spells and with the bonus to movement it pretty much lets you melee anyone on the battlefield usually. You do need proper spell selection to do that though and your concentration should generally be on something that gives you a defensive buff if you are going to be right in the thick of it. I'm not saying this is more powerful than hanging back and using control spells, but it is a completely viable and fun play style and will keep up with many martial builds. The thing about wizards is the spell selection really lets you play any kind of style you want.
Finally I would consider taking another level in fighter and going Eldritch Knight. That will give you a caster level, so you are not losing any spell slots and it will give you 2 cantrips and 3 spells, which you can use for Shield, Protection from Evil and Good and Silvery Barbs, freeing up three spots for you to prepare something else as wizard.
Actually, taking another level of Fighter for EK (assuming that level to be taken immediately) would only net a 4th-level spell slot. EK slots and Wizard slots are not separate; they combine, just like any other caster's (except the slots from Warlock and that one Blood Hunter subclass, of course).Edit: as soon as I posted I realized you meant spells known, not spell slots. You're right, my bad.
Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.