If you could add 1 1st level spell to the wizard’s list that was not from warlock, what would you pick?
For a tank? Healing Word. Healing is the only thing you don't have on your wizard list. And if you're going to be on the frontline, you're going to need it at one point or another.
If it were a cantrip I would say Shillelagh, since it would allow you to use your int to attack. But as a level 1 spell, Healing Word.
And by the way, you will need booming blade. Being a tank, what you want is that the monsters do not move away from you. You want to eat the agro, that's what a tank is for. Booming Blade is perfect for that, as it discourages them from simply walking away to hit juicier victims.
This is for Strixhaven backgrounds. Both are good options, and booming blade is a good option that is basically necessary for bladesingers. I still like shield of faith a bit more for pure tank, but both are valid options. A interesting thing is healing word, rather than being just on cleric’s list, is also on druid’s and bard’s. This allows quandrix background for combination with aura of vitality, or with death ward from wither loom, not just lorehold and silverquill. The unfortunate thing is that it’s not abjuration, so no boosting of the arcane ward. At early levels, I would prefer shield of faith, but later healing word becomes maybe better. All this is not allowed in most campaigns because Strixhaven backgrounds were never meant to leave Strixhaven, but for hypothetical builds it is interesting.
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Royalty among the charge kingdom. All will fall before our glorious assault!
Booming Blade is not nearly enough to prevent that, trust me
In teir 2 a Bladesinger with 18Dex and Warcaster is doing 9d8+12 damage to an enemy that ignores booming blade and moves away from her (1d8+4 attack, 2d8+4 BB extra attack, 2d8 movement, 2d8+4 BB AOO, 2d8 movement on the AOO)
That is HUGE damage without using a single spell slot. If the enemy disengages it is "ONLY" 5d8+8, but then he can't attack someone else and the bladesinger just closes with him and does it again. Also movement is not free and much of the time even if you choose to ignore Booming Blade there will be few other options for you to attack.
Another thing that works well on a bladesinger for this is Sentinel, especially on a Bugbear. If he moves away you hit him with an AOO from 10 feet away and he has to stop moving. He can't attack you (unless he has a 10 foot reach), and he cant attack one anyone else. IF you are fighting side by side with an ally you attack him if he attacks the ally.
I have played a lot of bladesingers at a lot of different tables, and with all the spells available, I have never found the d6 hit die to be an issue either. Upcast False life means you generally have total hitpoints as good as or better than a martial and absorb elements, shield, silvery barbs and your high AC mean you are losing hps slower than just about anyone.
Another spell to consider once you hit 5th level: haste - adv on dex saves, double movement and a bonus action for either another attack or disengage if you need to flee.
Protection from Evil and Good should be in your repitore. Against a lot of enemies it is better than blur for a lower slot cost and a longer duration.
Haste is good, but to really use it effectively you usually want something else boosting AC like magic armor, bracers of defense a ring of protection etc, or use another slot and throw out Mirror image too. If I don't have any magic boosting my AC I would generally be going blur or PEG most of the time.
Although what you say is true, it is a common problem to any tank. Booming blade is a good option to prevent the enemy from just ignoring you. One enemy, of course. But it is clear that he may prefer to take the damage, and go for the healer or whatever. Unless you have features like the crown paladin that prevent enemies from moving away from you, there is little else you can do. Well, yes, what you can do is that your threat will be superior that your companions in the second row.
In any case, booming blade is the best go to go option for a tank wizard. You have other options, of course, but they consume resources and you can't always use them.
In short, I agree with you: You need to have other options. But booming blade is a must.
This whole discussion about Booming Blade actually made me think that this cantrip with Warcaster could potentially be a no-brainer for the Abjurer of Agathys. Enemies world have a hard time to take a decision: whether stay there and attack you eating a ~15 cold damage from an upcasted AoA or move out from your reach, potentially taking 3d8 + 3 from your Booming Blade OA.
I will start considering that for my Abjurer strategy.
Hill Dwarf Abjuration Wizard with the Eldritch Adept feat for Armor of Shadows, the Tough feat, and if you're not a purist, a level in Draconic Sorcerer for Draconic Resilience. +4 HP every level, ignoring your CON bonus or whatever you roll; maxed out Arcane Ward every combat, a free always-on Mage Armor, pick up Shield and Absorb Elements for your Sorcerer picks. Pick a Strixhaven background for either a heal or Silvery Barbs always prepared (and one free use a day). Effectively, at level 20, this works out to about 123 extra HP assuming one encounter, ignoring the multiple refreshes of Arcane Ward; resistance to all magical damage; advantage on all magical saves; and you can throw on Tenser's Transformation for more THP and stopping power as you'd like. Your AC might not be the best, but you're a sack of hitpoints with (if you started as Sorcerer) proficiency in Constitution (and so Concentration) checks, not-unimpressive resistances, okayish AC (13+DEX+whatever else you want), and decent defensive capabilities. Plus you still have the full kit for a wizard.
Is this the best? No, probably not. But it's a fun mental image.
Hill Dwarf Abjuration Wizard with the Eldritch Adept feat for Armor of Shadows, the Tough feat, and if you're not a purist, a level in Draconic Sorcerer for Draconic Resilience. +4 HP every level, ignoring your CON bonus or whatever you roll; maxed out Arcane Ward every combat, a free always-on Mage Armor, pick up Shield and Absorb Elements for your Sorcerer picks. Pick a Strixhaven background for either a heal or Silvery Barbs always prepared (and one free use a day). Effectively, at level 20, this works out to about 123 extra HP assuming one encounter, ignoring the multiple refreshes of Arcane Ward; resistance to all magical damage; advantage on all magical saves; and you can throw on Tenser's Transformation for more THP and stopping power as you'd like. Your AC might not be the best, but you're a sack of hitpoints with (if you started as Sorcerer) proficiency in Constitution (and so Concentration) checks, not-unimpressive resistances, okayish AC (13+DEX+whatever else you want), and decent defensive capabilities. Plus you still have the full kit for a wizard.
Is this the best? No, probably not. But it's a fun mental image.
Draconic Resilience does not give you +1 hp for every level. It gives you +1 hp for every Sorcerer level.
Hill Dwarf Abjuration Wizard with the Eldritch Adept feat for Armor of Shadows, the Tough feat, and if you're not a purist, a level in Draconic Sorcerer for Draconic Resilience. +4 HP every level, ignoring your CON bonus or whatever you roll; maxed out Arcane Ward every combat, a free always-on Mage Armor, pick up Shield and Absorb Elements for your Sorcerer picks. Pick a Strixhaven background for either a heal or Silvery Barbs always prepared (and one free use a day). Effectively, at level 20, this works out to about 123 extra HP assuming one encounter, ignoring the multiple refreshes of Arcane Ward; resistance to all magical damage; advantage on all magical saves; and you can throw on Tenser's Transformation for more THP and stopping power as you'd like. Your AC might not be the best, but you're a sack of hitpoints with (if you started as Sorcerer) proficiency in Constitution (and so Concentration) checks, not-unimpressive resistances, okayish AC (13+DEX+whatever else you want), and decent defensive capabilities. Plus you still have the full kit for a wizard.
Is this the best? No, probably not. But it's a fun mental image.
Draconic Resilience does not give you +1 hp for every level. It gives you +1 hp for every Sorcerer level.
The first build wasn’t bad anyway. But I agree, and putting levels in other things is kind of cheating, and draconian sorcerer doesn’t affect wizard levels. Hill dwarf does though, and so does the ac bonus.
Abjuration Wizard, Warding Dwarf. You have access to Armor of Agathys, Mage Armor once for free and you get the Arcane ward that you can use not only to defend yourself but others. Dwarven Combat Training to get you a weapon proficiency (or several if you customize your origin). You wouldn't get armor proficiency, but your HP get bolstered and at 14th level, which is quite the investment but would be worth it I think, you gain advantage on saving throws against spells and have resistance to damage from spells.
This is what others have also found. No one has thought of anything better yet, beyond optimizations of this (like a strixhaven background if two different settings’ content is allowed in your campaign). So good, if not that new.
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Royalty among the charge kingdom. All will fall before our glorious assault!
I really didn’t expect legitimate strategies to pop out of this.
The Wizard class is in 5e is powerful.
Built right a wizard can be one of the best possible builds if not THE BEST in just about any role (tank, striker, scout, blaster, controller, face, traps&locks). The only role they can't be "the best" at is healer, but with wither and bloom and feats they can still be pretty good at that even.
For a tank? Healing Word. Healing is the only thing you don't have on your wizard list. And if you're going to be on the frontline, you're going to need it at one point or another.
If it were a cantrip I would say Shillelagh, since it would allow you to use your int to attack. But as a level 1 spell, Healing Word.
And by the way, you will need booming blade. Being a tank, what you want is that the monsters do not move away from you. You want to eat the agro, that's what a tank is for. Booming Blade is perfect for that, as it discourages them from simply walking away to hit juicier victims.
This is for Strixhaven backgrounds. Both are good options, and booming blade is a good option that is basically necessary for bladesingers. I still like shield of faith a bit more for pure tank, but both are valid options. A interesting thing is healing word, rather than being just on cleric’s list, is also on druid’s and bard’s. This allows quandrix background for combination with aura of vitality, or with death ward from wither loom, not just lorehold and silverquill. The unfortunate thing is that it’s not abjuration, so no boosting of the arcane ward. At early levels, I would prefer shield of faith, but later healing word becomes maybe better. All this is not allowed in most campaigns because Strixhaven backgrounds were never meant to leave Strixhaven, but for hypothetical builds it is interesting.
Royalty among the charge kingdom. All will fall before our glorious assault!
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Tortle AC is 17. That is only 1 point higher than a 16Dex bladesinger in mage armor. IF you take tough you are not ahead at all.
In teir 2 a Bladesinger with 18Dex and Warcaster is doing 9d8+12 damage to an enemy that ignores booming blade and moves away from her (1d8+4 attack, 2d8+4 BB extra attack, 2d8 movement, 2d8+4 BB AOO, 2d8 movement on the AOO)
That is HUGE damage without using a single spell slot. If the enemy disengages it is "ONLY" 5d8+8, but then he can't attack someone else and the bladesinger just closes with him and does it again. Also movement is not free and much of the time even if you choose to ignore Booming Blade there will be few other options for you to attack.
Another thing that works well on a bladesinger for this is Sentinel, especially on a Bugbear. If he moves away you hit him with an AOO from 10 feet away and he has to stop moving. He can't attack you (unless he has a 10 foot reach), and he cant attack one anyone else. IF you are fighting side by side with an ally you attack him if he attacks the ally.
I have played a lot of bladesingers at a lot of different tables, and with all the spells available, I have never found the d6 hit die to be an issue either. Upcast False life means you generally have total hitpoints as good as or better than a martial and absorb elements, shield, silvery barbs and your high AC mean you are losing hps slower than just about anyone.
Protection from Evil and Good should be in your repitore. Against a lot of enemies it is better than blur for a lower slot cost and a longer duration.
Haste is good, but to really use it effectively you usually want something else boosting AC like magic armor, bracers of defense a ring of protection etc, or use another slot and throw out Mirror image too. If I don't have any magic boosting my AC I would generally be going blur or PEG most of the time.
Although what you say is true, it is a common problem to any tank. Booming blade is a good option to prevent the enemy from just ignoring you. One enemy, of course. But it is clear that he may prefer to take the damage, and go for the healer or whatever. Unless you have features like the crown paladin that prevent enemies from moving away from you, there is little else you can do. Well, yes, what you can do is that your threat will be superior that your companions in the second row.
In any case, booming blade is the best go to go option for a tank wizard. You have other options, of course, but they consume resources and you can't always use them.
In short, I agree with you: You need to have other options. But booming blade is a must.
This whole discussion about Booming Blade actually made me think that this cantrip with Warcaster could potentially be a no-brainer for the Abjurer of Agathys. Enemies world have a hard time to take a decision: whether stay there and attack you eating a ~15 cold damage from an upcasted AoA or move out from your reach, potentially taking 3d8 + 3 from your Booming Blade OA.
I will start considering that for my Abjurer strategy.
Well if all your allies stay 150 feet away…
Royalty among the charge kingdom. All will fall before our glorious assault!
Quest offer! Enter the deep dungeon here
Ctg’s blood is on the spam filter’s hands
I really didn’t expect legitimate strategies to pop out of this.
Royalty among the charge kingdom. All will fall before our glorious assault!
Quest offer! Enter the deep dungeon here
Ctg’s blood is on the spam filter’s hands
Hill Dwarf Abjuration Wizard with the Eldritch Adept feat for Armor of Shadows, the Tough feat, and if you're not a purist, a level in Draconic Sorcerer for Draconic Resilience. +4 HP every level, ignoring your CON bonus or whatever you roll; maxed out Arcane Ward every combat, a free always-on Mage Armor, pick up Shield and Absorb Elements for your Sorcerer picks. Pick a Strixhaven background for either a heal or Silvery Barbs always prepared (and one free use a day). Effectively, at level 20, this works out to about 123 extra HP assuming one encounter, ignoring the multiple refreshes of Arcane Ward; resistance to all magical damage; advantage on all magical saves; and you can throw on Tenser's Transformation for more THP and stopping power as you'd like. Your AC might not be the best, but you're a sack of hitpoints with (if you started as Sorcerer) proficiency in Constitution (and so Concentration) checks, not-unimpressive resistances, okayish AC (13+DEX+whatever else you want), and decent defensive capabilities. Plus you still have the full kit for a wizard.
Is this the best? No, probably not. But it's a fun mental image.
Draconic Resilience does not give you +1 hp for every level. It gives you +1 hp for every Sorcerer level.
The first build wasn’t bad anyway. But I agree, and putting levels in other things is kind of cheating, and draconian sorcerer doesn’t affect wizard levels. Hill dwarf does though, and so does the ac bonus.
Royalty among the charge kingdom. All will fall before our glorious assault!
Quest offer! Enter the deep dungeon here
Ctg’s blood is on the spam filter’s hands
Abjuration Wizard, Warding Dwarf. You have access to Armor of Agathys, Mage Armor once for free and you get the Arcane ward that you can use not only to defend yourself but others. Dwarven Combat Training to get you a weapon proficiency (or several if you customize your origin). You wouldn't get armor proficiency, but your HP get bolstered and at 14th level, which is quite the investment but would be worth it I think, you gain advantage on saving throws against spells and have resistance to damage from spells.
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This is what others have also found. No one has thought of anything better yet, beyond optimizations of this (like a strixhaven background if two different settings’ content is allowed in your campaign). So good, if not that new.
Royalty among the charge kingdom. All will fall before our glorious assault!
Quest offer! Enter the deep dungeon here
Ctg’s blood is on the spam filter’s hands
The Wizard class is in 5e is powerful.
Built right a wizard can be one of the best possible builds if not THE BEST in just about any role (tank, striker, scout, blaster, controller, face, traps&locks). The only role they can't be "the best" at is healer, but with wither and bloom and feats they can still be pretty good at that even.
nm
If you wanna be a tank, than the though feat always helps.
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