Tanky bladesinger gish

I want to try to a absolute tank of a bladesinger. I'm trying not to make it to mad. I love to hear weird options, and opinions on a build like this. Preferabley a multiclass. I'm trying to make the build have decent hitpoints, good crowd control, and high AC.

It's kinda hard to make a bladesinger tanky.  You can make them insanely hard to hit, but it's hard to keep them on their feet when the defense finally fails.

Quote from crzyhawk >>

It's kinda hard to make a bladesinger tanky.  You can make them insanely hard to hit, but it's hard to keep them on their feet when the defense finally fails.

My favorite saying about Bladesingers - "They aren't tanky, they are dodgy."

This. You might miss them a lot, but one critical hit from a tough monster can knock them down in no time flat. If you want tanky, you might have to look somewhere else.

An interesting variation is to start with 1 level of barbarian- 12 Hp, rage ( more on this n a minute) light armor or unarmored defense (10+DB+ConB), martial weapons and weapon mastery. Rage sound ridiculous until you think it thru. You only have 2 rages at L1 so they aren’t really your go to - they are your fallback when you need them. Once raging you can’t caste spells but you take half damage (resistance) from bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage, get advantage on strength checks a +2 rage damage bonus at L1 bonus. If you go to L2 you get advantage n Dex saves and reckless attack which you may never use. Then going wizards- bladesinger the rest of the way still lets you get your L9 spell  as well as your spell mastery feature. The nay thing you miss is the epic boon and capstone (signature spells). This does make the PC fairly MAD as you need strength, Dex, con and Intelligence stats but could be worth it.

Alternatively, you could multiclass with an Armorer Artificer for all those fun infusions. Studded Leather Armor +2 (infused), Ring of Protection (replicated), Cloak of Protection (replicated), Bracers of Defense (replicated). This would give you a total of 14+5+5+1+1+2=28AC. All this is obtainable on your own with no help from DM with magic items.

Except a blade singer can’t be using a shield

I built ( white room build) a Goliath barbarian2/bladesinger 18 that never really needed armor. Granted I rolled and got a really good set of rolls but still it shows what is possible. 

Mage armor, Dex and shield spell is what? 20-22 ac?

20, but really. Just 18 as your blowing thru your slots casting shield to get to 20. Barbarian grants you constitution saves and bonus AC ( Dex+con bonuses) for a probable start of AC 14  - 1 better than mage armor alone or 1 less than mage armor + dex. As you level you can improve both Dex and con ( and Intel) to give you boosts to base AC. And you have rage to fall back on if you get hit badly.

I've always viewed mage armor as a trap option that eats up a spellslot I can't really afford to use, for a fairly minimal gain in AC.  I prefer to keep myself on my feet relying on position and/or MC for armor if it makes sense for the character.

Blade Singing lets INT add to AC

Blade Singing lets INT add to Con save to maintain spells.

As stated earlier this is INT based not level based and used PB times per Long Rest.

TO tank you want to get hit instead of Teammates and Prevent party from getting hit or taking damage.

Level 6 Blade singing gives Extra attack with ability to replace one of those attacks with a cantrip. (Any cantrip you know so good for Multiclass)

At level 10 Can spend a spell Slot to reduce damage by 5 x Spell Slot - Only to self / will not help team

At level 14 add Int to weapon attack damage while Blade Song active - Help self not party.

Will need to think HOW you want to tank for party.  IF AC too high enemy may stop targeting you.

That's part of the problem with bladesingers trying to be tanky.  And if they DO get hit, they get smashed hard because they have no hitpoints.

Blade Singer they either do not get hit (AC) or they do get hit and get hurt (HP)

Need to look into ways to reduce incoming damage While encouraging enemies to hit them before level 10 (Going Full caster will give a lot of slots to fuel this feature.

But what to do before then?

Quote from AssGoblin4U >>

Quote from crzyhawk >>

It's kinda hard to make a bladesinger tanky.  You can make them insanely hard to hit, but it's hard to keep them on their feet when the defense finally fails.

My favorite saying about Bladesingers - "They aren't tanky, they are dodgy."

This. You might miss them a lot, but one critical hit from a tough monster can knock them down in no time flat. If you want tanky, you might have to look somewhere else.

I like to describe my Bladesinger as an egg: hard shell but once you crack it....no bueno.

If I were being forced into gimping a bladesinger by standing in melee, I think I'd HAVE to have dwarf for dwarven toughness, and take tough as an origin feat.  And I do mean gimping.  What makes a wizard amazing is it's spells.  Taking it into melee and swinging your sword, you're just a bad fighter.

Lorehold background, then at L5 you can cast spirit guardians. Combo that with mobile, and some good ol fashioned booming blade, and you can slow/lockdown/aoe groups of enemies while being nearly impossible to get locked down yourself. Between high AC and an array of reaction spells, like absorb elements or shield or silvery barbs, you should have more than enough lasting power.

The point of bladesinger, really, isn’t to be a spell casting fighter; it’s to be a Wizard that can defend itself when it has to. They really can’t be front liners but make excellent second liners.

As Wi1dBi11 stated, Bladesingers are first and foremost, wizards. They will never be a "tank" unless you only take a dip into Bladesinger, while your primary class is something like Barbarian. In order to be a tank, you need to be able to be targeted by several enemy at once and have the hp to take the hits and keep on your feet. Bladesingers simply don't have the hp to fill the role of "tank".

I would suggest that you would be better off making it a "striker", who can move in and out of the battle, scoring hits against those who are focued on the party's real "tank". Let's face it, as soon as a real enemy decides to focus on the Bladesinger, either the Bladesinger gets out of the way, or the Bladesinger is going to be humming a dirge as they bleed out on the ground. 

They can frontline just fine. They're not the best tank. That privilege goes to twilight clerics. But they're close. You just have to build them correctly to do it.

Define TANK. My BladeSinger has studded +2, 18 dex and a staff of defence for 19AC,  24 Bladesinging, and 29 on a Shield spell (staff has 5 charges). I cast FireShield which triggers Greater Invisibility (contingency spell) so the enemy see thre fire shield take effect. (I may be invisible but is the light still visible so they know ehere to attack) Theory being goad them into attacking me which diverts attention from the party, disadvantage to hit invisible opponent against that AC works well 95% of the time, until the DM rolls a 20.

With all due apologies to the late Mr Bowie, singing "Ha ha ha, He he he, I'm the laughing elf and you can't see me" can wind up a tribe of bugbears to "try" to get the elf.

Diverting damage from the party at your high AC is Tanky of a sorts.