I'd take a hand crossbow, nothing as far as I can tell insists that bladesong is used with melee weapons. Wizards are best off in the rear, pepper people with bolts and cantrips. Pew Pew.
Bladesong itself is not restricted to melee weapons, just one handed weapons, and while there is nothing bad with a Hand Crossbow, it does means that you get no benefit from the 14th level feature "Song of Victory" as that one specifically DOES requires melee weapons.
You are not describing the Ranger I am talking about, you are making a Ranger that sucks with both Ranged weapons and stealth, and not sucks as in not as good as most Rangers, but as in sucks as in really bad.
A Ranger needs dexterity to be decent at stealth, he needs dexterity to be a decent bowman. Sure you can build him and sacrifice those things, but you "can" do that with a Bladesinger too. I mentioned it above - Mountain Dwarf Bladesinger, dump dex and take the Heavy Armor feat. You just don't get to use bladesong. Such a Bladesinger "needs no Dex" and is going to be pretty darn potent in melee (more than a match for the Ranger you mentioned above).
Also, both of these require feats. Without feats your 8 Dex Ranger in medium armor has a far worse in AC then an 8 dex bladesinger in mage armor and bladesong.
Yet this is LITERALLY the same YOU did when you suggested a Bladesinger that dumps Dex to raise Str, the end result is a character far weaker than what it is supposed to AND that's not as fun to play, so yeah the fact that you are now complaining when i gave you an example that is for all intents and purposes the same as what you did with the Bladesinger, makes me think that you are THAT clueless to not notice the similarity of the context.
But frankly think what you will, i for one am done with this.
Yet this is LITERALLY the same YOU did when you suggested a Bladesinger that dumps Dex to raise Str, the end result is a character far weaker than what it is supposed to AND that's not as fun to play, so yeah the fact that you are now complaining when i gave you an example that is for all intents and purposes the same as what you did with the Bladesinger, makes me think that you are THAT clueless to not notice the similarity of the context.
But frankly think what you will, i for one am done with this.
The Dwarf was an example, a more stereotypical bladesinger that takes a 14 Dex to pump strength is weaker than an optimized Bladesinger, but not far weaker and stronger in melee than a Ranger using a longsword or most other melee builds. It is the math!
At 8th level - 16 strength, 14 Dex, 20 Intelligence, 12 Constitution is doable on any Race with point buy
In Mage Armor, bladesong, running Haste and shield spell your AC is 27, that is one point worse than an optimized Rapier-bladesinger but still screaming high. Your damage under haste using your longsword is 27 or 31.5 depending on how your DM rules Bladesinger extra attack interplay with haste. You get another 9.5-19 using GFB if 2 enemies are within 5 feet of each other or another 9 on movement damage from booming blade (which you can land pretty reliably since you have misty step and your AC is high enough you don't fear AOs even if you don't want to misty step).
Now you probably can't use haste every fight, so that might not be fair to use that damage at 8th level - it is probably for 1-2 big fights a day at 8th level. When not using Haste you are using Blur or Protection from Evil and Good. Your damage drops to 19.5+9.5 fire or 9 booming movement. Your defense is actually better than haste with enemies swinging at a 25 AC with disadvantage.
You're going into most fights with between 57 and 65 total hit points (42 as a wizard +15-23 temp hit points from false life). Again this is 8 less than a bladesinger optimized for combat with a 14 Constitution who uses false life, but still plenty good at 8th level considering your AC and defensive spells.
On top of all that you are rocking a +6 concentration save, +10 movement and +5 acrobatics with advantage (assuming you got proficiency).
There are very few builds that will keep up with the build above in melee. Yes, a fully optimized and tricked out bladesinger using a Rapier is one build that will better it, but only slightly and not many other builds will better it at all. That build will hold up in melee better than any Ranger Longsword and on par with the best sword and board fighter or paladin builds.
I did this build at 8th level, wait until 11th level when you have song of defense, cantrip scaling, contingency and more 3rd level slots and the separation from the pack is even wider.
As far as fun to play, if you can only play the most powerful possible character in combat then maybe, but I don't think most players play that way. I see people on this board talking about bladesingers using shadowblade regularly or taking the mobile feat to weave in and out of combat. That makes the bladesinger objectively weaker than it would be using a different concentration spell or taking an ASI respectively. It does not make it weak overall though and those players still seem to have a lot of fun with the class. I have had fun playing Monks who are objectively weak in combat and I had fun playing a Rogue who had to sneak attack with a scimitar she was not proficient in because it was the only magic finesse weapon the party had and we were fighting devils.
I'd take a hand crossbow, nothing as far as I can tell insists that bladesong is used with melee weapons. Wizards are best off in the rear, pepper people with bolts and cantrips. Pew Pew.
Bladesong itself is not restricted to melee weapons, just one handed weapons, and while there is nothing bad with a Hand Crossbow, it does means that you get no benefit from the 14th level feature "Song of Victory" as that one specifically DOES requires melee weapons.
Sure but at level 14 you have much better things to do than stabbing people +5 to your stab damage wont make that a good way to spend a round. We are looking at a cantrip with another 1d8+10 tacked on. Cantrip+ 15 might be solid for a warlock who is also adding shoves etc and who well quite frankly isn't a wizard. But for a wizard, its just a bad way to spend a round. Now if that is your focus, you want to stab for role play or whatever reasons, shadowblade for stabbing or invest in crossbow feats for the hand crossbow. And have at it, mechanically far worse than just playing up your wizard part as a 14th level bladesinger, but you don't need to optimize to shine in this game so have fun.
I'd take a hand crossbow, nothing as far as I can tell insists that bladesong is used with melee weapons. Wizards are best off in the rear, pepper people with bolts and cantrips. Pew Pew.
Bladesong itself is not restricted to melee weapons, just one handed weapons, and while there is nothing bad with a Hand Crossbow, it does means that you get no benefit from the 14th level feature "Song of Victory" as that one specifically DOES requires melee weapons.
Sure but at level 14 you have much better things to do than stabbing people +5 to your stab damage wont make that a good way to spend a round. We are looking at a cantrip with another 1d8+10 tacked on. Cantrip+ 15 might be solid for a warlock who is also adding shoves etc and who well quite frankly isn't a wizard. But for a wizard, its just a bad way to spend a round. Now if that is your focus, you want to stab for role play or whatever reasons, shadowblade for stabbing or invest in crossbow feats for the hand crossbow. And have at it, mechanically far worse than just playing up your wizard part as a 14th level bladesinger, but you don't need to optimize to shine in this game so have fun.
The advantage the bladesinger has on a cantrip is it doing a lot more damage than most cantrips, he is getting that bonus to intelligence on the cantrips and at 14th level you have enough spell slots that you can land the secondary damage with impunity.
Your best attack cantrips typically scale at 1d10. Booming Blade and Green Flame Blade scale at 2d8. At 14th level booming blade with a d8 weapon is doing 6d8+dex+intel total damage and you are going to get all of that most times you hit because either your AC is high enough you are not worried about an AOO or you can take Haste-Disengage or Misty Step right after you land it and then they have to move on their turn to close with you. If you have 2 enemies side by side you can use GFB and do 5d8+dex+2xintel and not even worry about moving away. It is not always but at 14th level, most of the time you hit you should be landing all of that.
Based on my experience playing the class at numerous tables; Shadowblade is generally a poor choice for a Bladesinger who wants to be in the center of melee. Your extra cantrip damage overtakes the shadowblade damage pretty quickly and it is easier to land with a defensive concentration spell. I've had shadowblade on all my bladesingers since the spell came out, and it has its situational uses, but most of the time a different concentration spell is just going to be better for melee (blur, Haste, protection from evil and good, greater invisibility).
I'm not saying that attacking is as powerful as throwing out a 7th level control spell. It probably isn't when all is said and done, but it is nothing to sneeze at either and if you want to be in melee it is tough to beat a Bladsinger that is truely optimized for it.
Bladesong itself is not restricted to melee weapons, just one handed weapons, and while there is nothing bad with a Hand Crossbow, it does means that you get no benefit from the 14th level feature "Song of Victory" as that one specifically DOES requires melee weapons.
Yet this is LITERALLY the same YOU did when you suggested a Bladesinger that dumps Dex to raise Str, the end result is a character far weaker than what it is supposed to AND that's not as fun to play, so yeah the fact that you are now complaining when i gave you an example that is for all intents and purposes the same as what you did with the Bladesinger, makes me think that you are THAT clueless to not notice the similarity of the context.
But frankly think what you will, i for one am done with this.
The Dwarf was an example, a more stereotypical bladesinger that takes a 14 Dex to pump strength is weaker than an optimized Bladesinger, but not far weaker and stronger in melee than a Ranger using a longsword or most other melee builds. It is the math!
At 8th level - 16 strength, 14 Dex, 20 Intelligence, 12 Constitution is doable on any Race with point buy
In Mage Armor, bladesong, running Haste and shield spell your AC is 27, that is one point worse than an optimized Rapier-bladesinger but still screaming high. Your damage under haste using your longsword is 27 or 31.5 depending on how your DM rules Bladesinger extra attack interplay with haste. You get another 9.5-19 using GFB if 2 enemies are within 5 feet of each other or another 9 on movement damage from booming blade (which you can land pretty reliably since you have misty step and your AC is high enough you don't fear AOs even if you don't want to misty step).
Now you probably can't use haste every fight, so that might not be fair to use that damage at 8th level - it is probably for 1-2 big fights a day at 8th level. When not using Haste you are using Blur or Protection from Evil and Good. Your damage drops to 19.5+9.5 fire or 9 booming movement. Your defense is actually better than haste with enemies swinging at a 25 AC with disadvantage.
You're going into most fights with between 57 and 65 total hit points (42 as a wizard +15-23 temp hit points from false life). Again this is 8 less than a bladesinger optimized for combat with a 14 Constitution who uses false life, but still plenty good at 8th level considering your AC and defensive spells.
On top of all that you are rocking a +6 concentration save, +10 movement and +5 acrobatics with advantage (assuming you got proficiency).
There are very few builds that will keep up with the build above in melee. Yes, a fully optimized and tricked out bladesinger using a Rapier is one build that will better it, but only slightly and not many other builds will better it at all. That build will hold up in melee better than any Ranger Longsword and on par with the best sword and board fighter or paladin builds.
I did this build at 8th level, wait until 11th level when you have song of defense, cantrip scaling, contingency and more 3rd level slots and the separation from the pack is even wider.
As far as fun to play, if you can only play the most powerful possible character in combat then maybe, but I don't think most players play that way. I see people on this board talking about bladesingers using shadowblade regularly or taking the mobile feat to weave in and out of combat. That makes the bladesinger objectively weaker than it would be using a different concentration spell or taking an ASI respectively. It does not make it weak overall though and those players still seem to have a lot of fun with the class. I have had fun playing Monks who are objectively weak in combat and I had fun playing a Rogue who had to sneak attack with a scimitar she was not proficient in because it was the only magic finesse weapon the party had and we were fighting devils.
Sure but at level 14 you have much better things to do than stabbing people +5 to your stab damage wont make that a good way to spend a round. We are looking at a cantrip with another 1d8+10 tacked on. Cantrip+ 15 might be solid for a warlock who is also adding shoves etc and who well quite frankly isn't a wizard. But for a wizard, its just a bad way to spend a round. Now if that is your focus, you want to stab for role play or whatever reasons, shadowblade for stabbing or invest in crossbow feats for the hand crossbow. And have at it, mechanically far worse than just playing up your wizard part as a 14th level bladesinger, but you don't need to optimize to shine in this game so have fun.
The advantage the bladesinger has on a cantrip is it doing a lot more damage than most cantrips, he is getting that bonus to intelligence on the cantrips and at 14th level you have enough spell slots that you can land the secondary damage with impunity.
Your best attack cantrips typically scale at 1d10. Booming Blade and Green Flame Blade scale at 2d8. At 14th level booming blade with a d8 weapon is doing 6d8+dex+intel total damage and you are going to get all of that most times you hit because either your AC is high enough you are not worried about an AOO or you can take Haste-Disengage or Misty Step right after you land it and then they have to move on their turn to close with you. If you have 2 enemies side by side you can use GFB and do 5d8+dex+2xintel and not even worry about moving away. It is not always but at 14th level, most of the time you hit you should be landing all of that.
Based on my experience playing the class at numerous tables; Shadowblade is generally a poor choice for a Bladesinger who wants to be in the center of melee. Your extra cantrip damage overtakes the shadowblade damage pretty quickly and it is easier to land with a defensive concentration spell. I've had shadowblade on all my bladesingers since the spell came out, and it has its situational uses, but most of the time a different concentration spell is just going to be better for melee (blur, Haste, protection from evil and good, greater invisibility).
I'm not saying that attacking is as powerful as throwing out a 7th level control spell. It probably isn't when all is said and done, but it is nothing to sneeze at either and if you want to be in melee it is tough to beat a Bladsinger that is truely optimized for it.
We've had multiple blade singers at our table and it almost never works out that optimistically for us.