I’m considering this build for my upcoming campaign
Paladin 2, Wizard 6, Paladin up to 6 (for Aura),, Wizard all the way left.
I rolled great stats and am starting like this after racial bonuses
STR 8 - DEX 19 - CON 14 - INT 19 - WIS 10 - CHA 18
Two things to keep in mind:
- My DM allowed me to switch the STR 13 multiclass requirements for DEX 13
- We can cast spells as long as we have appropriate slots so I would still get level 9 spells at level 20
- Spells don’t crit
I was wondering what are the best feats and ASI for such a bladesinger? I wanna keep a gish build. For example, Mobile and Elven Accuracy seem very interesting, or should I just maximize DEX and INT in one go then maximize CHA? Or focus on half feats?
Thanks for your help! I never played wizard or paladin before so I’m excited
First, I'd recommend swapping to Eldritch Knight, Battlesmith Artificer, Psi Knight or Hexblade if you want more combat versatility to your Bladesinger, but that's just me.
With your build as listed, you will get 1 ASI in Wizard 6 and 2 ASI with your 8 Paladin.
I'd use your first ASI to get to a 20 DEX and a 20 INT.
From there, you have time to decide what you need/are lacking in the campaign.
Tough can offset the Low Hit Dice of your 6 Wizard Levels.
War Caster to help cast spells and maintain concentration on them.
Fey Touched for a great movement spell and a CHA boost.
Martial Adept to grab some combat maneuvers, I'd recommend Reaction based ones like Riposte to just give you even more options in combat.
Gift of the Chromatic Dragon is basically a free use of Absorb Elements, with a weaker but longer duration of the damage increase (good if you can attack multiple times a turn and keep concentration up)
I rolled great stats and am starting like this after racial bonuses
STR 8 - DEX 19 - CON 14 - INT 19 - WIS 10 - CHA 18
I'd love to hear what your racial bonuses were and how you applied them. Because I feel like you may benefit from shifting them around if possible. Eg. If you added 2 to Dex and 1 to Int, you could swap those and add 1 to Dex and 2 to Int, end up with even numbers instead of two odd ones. A 18Dex, 20Int is better than a 19Dex, 19 Int.
Aside from that, Paladin is a fun multiclass for Bladesinger. A 2 level dip will help you Nova super crazy-mode. And the 6 level dip is fantastic for defenses, saves can be one of the Bladesingers only vulnerabilities and with a +4 to all your saves that weakness is really well covered.
So what feats? Well, there are some staples. They're all great in their own way. But with your stats covering a lot of groundwork on raw power output, I think my recommendation is going to be: Mobile.
Assuming a starting racial speed of 30ft, this feat plus your Bladesong will get you up to a speed of 50ft. And the ability to hit+run is extra potent for a character like you who can (and should) make extensive use of the booming blade cantrip. Smack an enemy extra hard, and reposition. Now they either need to give chase and take even more damage, or stay put. And if they're slow they may not even have enough move speed to catch up to you anyway.
Aside from that, other staples of Bladesinger-ing are Toughness, for more HP. Resilient:Con for better concentration checks and rounding up an odd Constitution score, Warcaster if you wanted to dual wield for that sweet Shadowblade+Booming Bladed Scimitar/Shortsword style.
Honorable mention to the combo of Warcaster+Polearm Master if you ever get a staff you wanna carry around in offhand. Enemies would provoke Op Attacks whenever they approach you, which you could convert into spell casts. So could wrek theor whole day before they even got to strike.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Warcaster is good, but it's effectiveness is nerfed. You already get advantage on concentration checks when bladesinging, so you'd only really be using it to cast an AO.
Warcaster is good, but it's effectiveness is nerfed. You already get advantage on concentration checks when bladesinging, so you'd only really be using it to cast an AO.
No, you do not. Bladesong adds your Int mod to your concentration checks, it doesn't grant advantage.
You gain a bonus to any Constitution saving throw you make to maintain your concentration on a spell. The bonus equals your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1).
They are very complementary.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Assuming no proficiency, and an existing +2 from Con mod, your based rate of making a dc10 con save is 65%.
Adding +3 from Int on top brings that up to a 80% chance of success while Bladesong is active.
Vs. Same figured on a dude with Warcaster who rolls at advantage:
Base 65% turns into 87.75%. And the Bladesong's 80% turns into 96%.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
I’m considering this build for my upcoming campaign
Paladin 2, Wizard 6, Paladin up to 6 (for Aura),, Wizard all the way left.
I rolled great stats and am starting like this after racial bonuses
STR 8 - DEX 19 - CON 14 - INT 19 - WIS 10 - CHA 18
Two things to keep in mind:
- My DM allowed me to switch the STR 13 multiclass requirements for DEX 13
- We can cast spells as long as we have appropriate slots so I would still get level 9 spells at level 20
- Spells don’t crit
I was wondering what are the best feats and ASI for such a bladesinger? I wanna keep a gish build. For example, Mobile and Elven Accuracy seem very interesting, or should I just maximize DEX and INT in one go then maximize CHA? Or focus on half feats?
Thanks for your help! I never played wizard or paladin before so I’m excited
IMO Mobile is a waste on a Bladesinger, mostly you want enemies to use AOOs on you instead of your allies. Elven Accuracy is also not that valuable on a Bladesinger. The extra die for advantage is nice, but you don't have a reliable (and survivable) way to trigger it until you get greater Invisibility at level 13 and by that time you will hit most of the time anyway. Also you don't have high damage like a Rogue to really make the difference between 70% hit and 90% hit significant.
With that in mind here is what I would recommend:
Paladin 2/Bladesinger 4: +1Int, +1 Dex
Paladin 4/Bladesinger 6: Magic Initiate Warlock - pick up Eldritch Blast. With the Bladesinger extra attack you can make an attack and then do a full on Eldritch Blast. Since you are a known spells caster you can upcast AOA. If your DM allows you to use your slots to cast these spells then also get Armor of Agathys to use with your higher level spell slots, if not pick something useful maybe Hex, Hellish Rebuke or Protection from Evil and Good. For the second cantrip Magic Stone is nice to have. Eldritch Blast is the real draw here though.
Paladin 6/Bladesinger 8: Eldritch Adept - Agonizing Blast. If you get Hex above this will do massive damage with the Bladesinger extra attack
Paladin 6/Bladesinger 12: +2 Charisma
Other considerations: Wrathful Smite is a pretty awesome spell on a Bladesinger because you have to use an action to make an ability check to shake it and that check is made at disadvantage because you are frightened.
I’m considering this build for my upcoming campaign
Paladin 2, Wizard 6, Paladin up to 6 (for Aura),, Wizard all the way left.
I rolled great stats and am starting like this after racial bonuses
STR 8 - DEX 19 - CON 14 - INT 19 - WIS 10 - CHA 18
Two things to keep in mind:
- My DM allowed me to switch the STR 13 multiclass requirements for DEX 13
- We can cast spells as long as we have appropriate slots so I would still get level 9 spells at level 20
- Spells don’t crit
I was wondering what are the best feats and ASI for such a bladesinger? I wanna keep a gish build. For example, Mobile and Elven Accuracy seem very interesting, or should I just maximize DEX and INT in one go then maximize CHA? Or focus on half feats?
Thanks for your help! I never played wizard or paladin before so I’m excited
First, I'd recommend swapping to Eldritch Knight, Battlesmith Artificer, Psi Knight or Hexblade if you want more combat versatility to your Bladesinger, but that's just me.
With your build as listed, you will get 1 ASI in Wizard 6 and 2 ASI with your 8 Paladin.
I'd use your first ASI to get to a 20 DEX and a 20 INT.
From there, you have time to decide what you need/are lacking in the campaign.
Tough can offset the Low Hit Dice of your 6 Wizard Levels.
War Caster to help cast spells and maintain concentration on them.
Fey Touched for a great movement spell and a CHA boost.
Martial Adept to grab some combat maneuvers, I'd recommend Reaction based ones like Riposte to just give you even more options in combat.
Gift of the Chromatic Dragon is basically a free use of Absorb Elements, with a weaker but longer duration of the damage increase (good if you can attack multiple times a turn and keep concentration up)
I like fey touched but the problem is since i am leaning towards vengeance paladin it feels redundant because i will have misty step always prepared.
I'd love to hear what your racial bonuses were and how you applied them. Because I feel like you may benefit from shifting them around if possible. Eg. If you added 2 to Dex and 1 to Int, you could swap those and add 1 to Dex and 2 to Int, end up with even numbers instead of two odd ones. A 18Dex, 20Int is better than a 19Dex, 19 Int.
Aside from that, Paladin is a fun multiclass for Bladesinger. A 2 level dip will help you Nova super crazy-mode. And the 6 level dip is fantastic for defenses, saves can be one of the Bladesingers only vulnerabilities and with a +4 to all your saves that weakness is really well covered.
So what feats? Well, there are some staples. They're all great in their own way. But with your stats covering a lot of groundwork on raw power output, I think my recommendation is going to be: Mobile.
Assuming a starting racial speed of 30ft, this feat plus your Bladesong will get you up to a speed of 50ft. And the ability to hit+run is extra potent for a character like you who can (and should) make extensive use of the booming blade cantrip. Smack an enemy extra hard, and reposition. Now they either need to give chase and take even more damage, or stay put. And if they're slow they may not even have enough move speed to catch up to you anyway.
Aside from that, other staples of Bladesinger-ing are Toughness, for more HP. Resilient:Con for better concentration checks and rounding up an odd Constitution score, Warcaster if you wanted to dual wield for that sweet Shadowblade+Booming Bladed Scimitar/Shortsword style.
Honorable mention to the combo of Warcaster+Polearm Master if you ever get a staff you wanna carry around in offhand. Enemies would provoke Op Attacks whenever they approach you, which you could convert into spell casts. So could wrek theor whole day before they even got to strike.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
@ravnodaus
thanks for your elaborate reply I really appreciate it and sorry it took me so long to respond.
I’m playing half elf. I rolled an 8, 10, 14, 16, 18, 18
So I put the 16 in CHA to get it to an 18 with my +2 and I put 18 + 1 for each of DEX and INT.
Warcaster is good, but it's effectiveness is nerfed. You already get advantage on concentration checks when bladesinging, so you'd only really be using it to cast an AO.
No, you do not. Bladesong adds your Int mod to your concentration checks, it doesn't grant advantage.
They are very complementary.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
I was wrong, I got it confused with another buff feature. My bad!
With +3 INT, you succeed 70% of the time on DC 10 CON checks. You fail 55% of the time on Dc 15 checks.
Add 10% to those probabilities if you have +5 INT. If you have advantage and +5 INT, 96% chance of making DC 10, 80% chance at DC 15.
I'm just giving statistics, I'm not getting in the debate :D
I have decided to make a bad signature
I worship JUSTIN BUCKNER
Thanks for reading!
Me and about 4 friends started Dnd at our school and apparently it's really popular now so yay!
Im gonna make a cult of Buckner thread soon.
AGAIN, Thanks for reading!
Assuming no proficiency, and an existing +2 from Con mod, your based rate of making a dc10 con save is 65%.
Adding +3 from Int on top brings that up to a 80% chance of success while Bladesong is active.
Vs. Same figured on a dude with Warcaster who rolls at advantage:
Base 65% turns into 87.75%. And the Bladesong's 80% turns into 96%.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Ah yes sorry. I did not account for CON modifiers.
I have decided to make a bad signature
I worship JUSTIN BUCKNER
Thanks for reading!
Me and about 4 friends started Dnd at our school and apparently it's really popular now so yay!
Im gonna make a cult of Buckner thread soon.
AGAIN, Thanks for reading!
I would go with war caster, its a really useful Opportunity attack + spell combo
- Creator of a moderate amount of Magic Items and spells. -
IMO Mobile is a waste on a Bladesinger, mostly you want enemies to use AOOs on you instead of your allies. Elven Accuracy is also not that valuable on a Bladesinger. The extra die for advantage is nice, but you don't have a reliable (and survivable) way to trigger it until you get greater Invisibility at level 13 and by that time you will hit most of the time anyway. Also you don't have high damage like a Rogue to really make the difference between 70% hit and 90% hit significant.
With that in mind here is what I would recommend:
Paladin 2/Bladesinger 4: +1Int, +1 Dex
Paladin 4/Bladesinger 6: Magic Initiate Warlock - pick up Eldritch Blast. With the Bladesinger extra attack you can make an attack and then do a full on Eldritch Blast. Since you are a known spells caster you can upcast AOA. If your DM allows you to use your slots to cast these spells then also get Armor of Agathys to use with your higher level spell slots, if not pick something useful maybe Hex, Hellish Rebuke or Protection from Evil and Good. For the second cantrip Magic Stone is nice to have. Eldritch Blast is the real draw here though.
Paladin 6/Bladesinger 8: Eldritch Adept - Agonizing Blast. If you get Hex above this will do massive damage with the Bladesinger extra attack
Paladin 6/Bladesinger 12: +2 Charisma
Other considerations: Wrathful Smite is a pretty awesome spell on a Bladesinger because you have to use an action to make an ability check to shake it and that check is made at disadvantage because you are frightened.