I am building a character for our new campaign coming up.
My current idea started with playing a Single Class Wizard, because I have been playing multi classes and my last one was a total fail.
Curse of Strahd: Vengeance Paladin 6/ Divine Soul Sorceress from then on out and it worked really. (Originally she was supposed to be a Sorceress and then I came across this build and she was only supposed to take Paladin 2, but then she ended up being the main tank. This character was a lot of fun and an absolute beater.)
Tomb of Annihilation: UA Ranger Beastmaster 6/ Life Cleric 3 and he has lagged the entire time. (I really wanted a Dinosaur pet, but it wasn't worth it. Neither the Dino nor I can really fight and my healing magic makes me glad we have a Bard to shoulder the load. Of course Healing Spirit is awesome.)
My crew said I should only play one class if I want real spells. The problem is I don't know how to play soft and squishy. I tossed around Tortle, but thought that was too silly. I then thought maybe a Loxodon, but the story wasn't coalescing. I then came across that Mountain Dwarfs get Axes, Hammers and up to Medium Armor. I was like, it is nearly a level in fighter and the primary trade off appears to be no Intelligence bonus (so +2 is my primary spell bonus instead of +3).
I have heard that our next campaign is going to be homebrew and that we will be centered on a town. This is primarily because Strahd has towns, but no money and Annihilation has money, but no access to the town. We have been complaining that we were stuck with starter gear plus a magic item or 2 for the whole campaign.
The idea is that he is a blacksmith that wants to make magic items (I understand this is next to impossible and may never been done, but he has a goal). I want to have a trapping of runes, such as carving and breaking them in order to cast magic. So instead of memorizing spells he will craft them and then use them until he changes them. I am thinking his Arcane Focus will be a Smithing Hammer.
I am thinking about going Transmutation to keep with the crafting theme, but I hear the call of Abjuration or Evocation as well. Abjuration works really well with the Runesmith antimagic idea of absorbing other magics and harnessing the power for our use. Evocation leads to more raw damage.
My primary complaint with the build is that he can't start with Dwarf Weapons or Armor. However, he will be able to craft them for half price pretty quickly I suspect.
Another benefit he has is that he is pretty well rounded and will be able to do a lot of things.
I am open to all serious thoughts and suggestions,
It sounds like an overall cool concept. I'm a big Warhammer fan.
I see you went with very good over-all stats instead of pushing any up higher. Personally I'd recommend making your Dex 14 instead of 12, that's a point of AC, Init, and Dex Saves. I might recommend losing a little more Wisdom and Charisma to get Con to 16, it's another point of HP per level. Those are minor bits.
Personally my favorite subclasses are: Abjuration, Evocation, and Divination. I find the Transmutation set a little "meh", but that's me. I had a great Abjuration Wizard who was a Deep Gnome, so with Svirfneblin Magic he could quickly regenerate his Arcane Ward. I also took 1st lvl in Cleric and the rest Wizard so I had medium armor and a shield, with no weapon for spell casting. He was a tough little bugger, I'd often tank for the party while they healed or regrouped.
As for the others seems pretty easy and most of it is flavor. The smithing hammer could easily be a "Rod" that looks like a smithing hammer, if your GM is worried about it being an actual weapon.
I will tool around with is Dex, especially because AC matters so much in 5th ed. I really wish that I had access to shields it almost seems like an omission since they give them weapons and armor like a fighter, unless that it the point, for balance.
I was kind of thinking that the hammer was actually a rod as well.
I find Abjuration very on flavor, but Shield is probably the only low level transmutation I see using often to recharge the Arcane Ward. Then again with my lack of heavy armor and shields I will probably using it a lot more than my Paladin did.
It has also been suggest that I pick up GFB or BB for when I do have to use my hammer.
Actually the lowest level spell is Ritually Cast: Alarm. It takes 10 minutes + 1 round to cast it ritually, but that only heals 2 hp per 10 minutes which while possible isn't great especially if you're in a dungeon and not safe. It is possible to ritually cast Alarm 5 or 6 times during a Short Rest, It's why I *loved* Svirfneblin and their magic feat because nondection is a 3rd lvl spell so it heals 6hp per Action. At 6th lvl you can give the Ward to other people, so you might run low on it pretty quickly.
I would never advocate for a 8 Wisdom, those checks are too common, but a Wisdom of 10 isn't terrible. Str: 14, Dex: 14, Con: 16, Int: 14, Wis: 10, Cha: 8. It's totally doable to lower Con to 14, that fees up 3 points which could be a Wis or 12 or 13 or Wis 10 and Cha 10 for no penalties. Charisma saves are very rare, but usually super awful.
I generally find the person whoever wants to make a "social character" will be making a lot of the social roles. They will usually be rocking a +3 stat with Proficiency or better so your +1 to -1 with proficiency isn't that big of a swing, unless you just happen to be talkative person in your group.
Between Mage Armor and Shield, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards don’t have to be super soft and squishy and Clerics don’t have to be either. They can’t be front line fighters without completely focusing on that, but they can be survivable even without a bonus to their constitution and/or dexterity. Unless you focus completely on melee they can’t survive on the front line, but they can survive in melee for a couple of rounds when they need to.
Having said that, I love your concept! And I looked at your character sheet and I also like the way you put him together. He looks like he’ll be a blast to play as is.
My current build is 14, 14, 14, 14, 10, 10. That gives a +5% survivability in combat. I am have around a month to decide we are on level 4 of the Tomb of Annihilation.
I am super talkative in real life and in game, plus I tend to be the party leader as such it does help to have the dice back up what I am going to say anyway. That is why in D&D I always make sure and pickup Persuasion.
Tim
I had that debate, Mage Armor followed by short rest in the morning would be a 13+dex for 7 more hours and can be recast if needed. That is pretty good and totally free. Actually that is as good as a Chain Shirt and doesn't actually get surpassed until Breast Plate, because of the Disadvantage on the Scale Mail. grrr doubting myself.
You’re doubting yourself because Mage Armor and physical armor are both good choices. Whichever way you go you won’t be making a mistake. So pick the one that you’ll have the most fun with.
I personally really don't like Mage Armor as a solution. It's 13+Dex, which isn't a bad AC. Medium Armor is: Chainshirt: 13+Dex(2) with no penalty to Stealth, but cheap. Scale male: 14+Dex(2), with penalty to Stealth, but cheap Breastplate: 14+Dex(2), with no penalty to Stealth, but expensive Half-plate: 15+Dex(2), with penalty to Stealth, but expensive
Medium Armor gives +1 to +2 AC over Mage Armor, possible more with magic armor. My problem with Mage Armor is it's expensive. It's 1-3 lvl 1 spell slots a day to have it active, while the Medium Armor costs you no resources.
I didn't get to finish my game of Tomb of Annihilation, but resource expenditure is a thing.
The higher level gear is better. But wow is it expensive, of course maybe a nice GM can hook a Dwarven brother up.
1-3 Spell slots is kind of inaccurate. You can cast it and short rest to get your slot back. This assumes that you aren't fighting for over 8 hours straight. Which would be death for any character. As such it is basically a free spell. It does win when it comes to sleeping. You can't sleep with Medium Armor on and get the full benefit.
Unless you meant spells memorized for the day. Then ignore everything I just said.
He is starting to form in my mind and i am definitely going the armored rout. Heck Heavy Armor feat at 8 is sounding pretty tempting. Of course there goes any pretense of stealth. But damn is it more Dwarfy!
Keep in mind, you’re a blacksmith and your goal is to create magic weapons and armor. I’d expect you to make your own armor and weapons, enchant them, and eventually learn how to make your enchantments permanent.
Side note. "Making Magic Items" isn't really a thing 5e has rules for, that's up to the GM.
If you do want to Multiclass (since you've classically been into it). Forge Cleric would be very thematic. You'd just need a 13 Wisdom. You could take a 1st lvl in Forge Cleric: Gain +2 hp; Wis/Cha saves; Light, Medium, Heavy Armor; Shields, Simple Weapons. Domain Spells: Identify (kinda lame I know) and Searing Smite (pretty awesome), proficiency with smithing tools, Blessing of the Forge. You could flavor Blessing of the Forge as Rune Magic, placing temporary enchantments every long rest. If you took a 2nd lvl you get Artisan's Blessing which will let you craft *any* item at will that costs less than 100 gold. If you don't use it you have Turn Undead. The ability to create almost anything out of coins is pretty awesome because the Jungle of Chult don't have a lot of "resupply" points. I don't think it's a "spoiler" to say they are filled with undead.
After 1 or 2 lvls of Cleric the rest is Wizard. I might say Cleric, Wizard, Cleric, Wizard+. That way you get the ritual spells sooner, and you start with Heavy Armor and good weapons. Sadly Mountain Dwarf while you do get +1 overall stat, you waste the medium armor proficiency, but it means your Strength stays high for using battle axes or warhammers. I think Warhammer would be better as it's "Smith" feel.
The key trade off with two Casters if that while you lose levels in Spell Level progression, you don't lose Spell Slot progression. A failing your Ranger & Paladin multiclasses had. So while a lvl 2 Cleric, lvl 1 Wizard doesn't have 2nd lvl spells (and that does suck), you have 2nd lvl Spell Slots, so you can cast Magic Missile at 2nd lvl. As long as you don't put more than 1 or 2 lvls into your alt class, it's generally not too much of a loss.
As someone currently playing a dwarf wizard, you might consider War Magic as your subclass, if you get access to Xanathar's Guide. Getting to wear medium armor as a mountain dwarf combines very well with the Arcane Deflection feature (spend reaction to get +2 AC or +4 to a saving throw). It can give you a reasonably healthy AC, which has kept my wizard alive on many an occasion. Then at level 10 you get Durable Magic (+2 to AC/saving throws while concentrating on a spell) and you get even better.
Shields are tempting, for sure, but they require a two-feat investment since you don't get the racial proficiency with it; you also have to take War Caster afterwards just to be able to cast your spells while wielding it.
Unfortunately, that doesn't line up super well with the concept you're going for. In that case, you might consider either the School of Invention subclass, or skipping wizard and going straight to Artificer. The downside is that both are playtest material, so your GM will get a say in whether it's permitted or not.
Shields are tempting, for sure, but they require a two-feat investment since you don't get the racial proficiency with it; you also have to take War Caster afterwards just to be able to cast your spells while wielding it.
I disagree with the statement that you need Warcaster to cast spells while wielding it. It just makes it a little more juggling. My Gnome Cleric/Wizard had a shield and no weapon in the other hand. I was looking forward to Vampiric Touch eventually.
You get 1 free "environmental action" which is draw or putting away a weapon. If you normally use cantrips, then you can draw and attack with the weapon whenever you need, or don't use Reaction spells and you can put the weapon away for any turn you want to spell cast.
The damage on cantrips isn't going to be as good as 1d8+2 for warhammer, but not much worse.
Shields are tempting, for sure, but they require a two-feat investment since you don't get the racial proficiency with it; you also have to take War Caster afterwards just to be able to cast your spells while wielding it.
I disagree with the statement that you need Warcaster to cast spells while wielding it. It just makes it a little more juggling. My Gnome Cleric/Wizard had a shield and no weapon in the other hand. I was looking forward to Vampiric Touch eventually.
You get 1 free "environmental action" which is draw or putting away a weapon. If you normally use cantrips, then you can draw and attack with the weapon whenever you need, or don't use Reaction spells and you can put the weapon away for any turn you want to spell cast.
The damage on cantrips isn't going to be as good as 1d8+2 for warhammer, but not much worse.
Hm. Well, just for the sake of clarity, here's the text from the relevant portion:
You can perform the somatic components of spells even when you have weapons or a shield in one or both hands.
Likewise, the rules for the somatic components of a spell:
If a spell requires a somatic component, the caster must have free use of at least one hand to perform these gestures.
If you asked me, I'd say these don't line up very well; the feat makes it sound like you need the feat to do what the basic rules say comes naturally.
Well, in any event, a dwarf wizard would still have to spend a feat to get shield proficiency, which is a hard sell when you don't have a racial bonus to intelligence.
I wasn't disagree with you that the Feat investment into proficiency in Shields is a terrible ROI, I agree with you there. Especially when Moderately Armored gives you medium armor, which you already have, and +1 stat to show how poor of a choice it is.
I'm not disagreeing that WarCaster is a expensive choice when you start with 14 Int. All of this I agree with.
Honestly with starting with Int: 14, I might recommend trying to get a Circlet of Intellect for 19 Int and just forget about increasing your Int and focus on other stats or feats. If you're in an antimagic field and the Circlet is turned off, you can't cast spells anyways.
I know the rules for somatic components and Warcaster. My disagreement was to say that having a shield and being caster is a bad choice. My point was it means you have to plan ahead and think about your actions every turn. Because if you don't have Warcaster and you have a weapon/shield out then you can't cast spells. This really only hinders Reaction spells. If you want to cast a spell, you can put your weapon away for free and cast the spell. If you want to attack the next around you draw it for free and attack. The only negative impact to not having a weapon out is you aren't a real AoO threat. It means you can't use ReAction spells if your currently have a weapon in your hand and when you don't have a weapon in hand you can't cast reactions.
I am building a character for our new campaign coming up.
My current idea started with playing a Single Class Wizard, because I have been playing multi classes and my last one was a total fail.
Curse of Strahd: Vengeance Paladin 6/ Divine Soul Sorceress from then on out and it worked really. (Originally she was supposed to be a Sorceress and then I came across this build and she was only supposed to take Paladin 2, but then she ended up being the main tank. This character was a lot of fun and an absolute beater.)
Tomb of Annihilation: UA Ranger Beastmaster 6/ Life Cleric 3 and he has lagged the entire time. (I really wanted a Dinosaur pet, but it wasn't worth it. Neither the Dino nor I can really fight and my healing magic makes me glad we have a Bard to shoulder the load. Of course Healing Spirit is awesome.)
My crew said I should only play one class if I want real spells. The problem is I don't know how to play soft and squishy. I tossed around Tortle, but thought that was too silly. I then thought maybe a Loxodon, but the story wasn't coalescing. I then came across that Mountain Dwarfs get Axes, Hammers and up to Medium Armor. I was like, it is nearly a level in fighter and the primary trade off appears to be no Intelligence bonus (so +2 is my primary spell bonus instead of +3).
I then immediately thought of Dwarf Runesmiths from Warhammer Fantasy (https://warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Runesmith). So I punched in the numbers and created Harold Hammerhands (https://ddb.ac/characters/11020623/bZht83).
I have heard that our next campaign is going to be homebrew and that we will be centered on a town. This is primarily because Strahd has towns, but no money and Annihilation has money, but no access to the town. We have been complaining that we were stuck with starter gear plus a magic item or 2 for the whole campaign.
The idea is that he is a blacksmith that wants to make magic items (I understand this is next to impossible and may never been done, but he has a goal). I want to have a trapping of runes, such as carving and breaking them in order to cast magic. So instead of memorizing spells he will craft them and then use them until he changes them. I am thinking his Arcane Focus will be a Smithing Hammer.
I am thinking about going Transmutation to keep with the crafting theme, but I hear the call of Abjuration or Evocation as well. Abjuration works really well with the Runesmith antimagic idea of absorbing other magics and harnessing the power for our use. Evocation leads to more raw damage.
My primary complaint with the build is that he can't start with Dwarf Weapons or Armor. However, he will be able to craft them for half price pretty quickly I suspect.
Another benefit he has is that he is pretty well rounded and will be able to do a lot of things.
I am open to all serious thoughts and suggestions,
(still working on his back story)
Hey Sickbag,
It sounds like an overall cool concept. I'm a big Warhammer fan.
I see you went with very good over-all stats instead of pushing any up higher. Personally I'd recommend making your Dex 14 instead of 12, that's a point of AC, Init, and Dex Saves. I might recommend losing a little more Wisdom and Charisma to get Con to 16, it's another point of HP per level. Those are minor bits.
Personally my favorite subclasses are: Abjuration, Evocation, and Divination. I find the Transmutation set a little "meh", but that's me. I had a great Abjuration Wizard who was a Deep Gnome, so with Svirfneblin Magic he could quickly regenerate his Arcane Ward. I also took 1st lvl in Cleric and the rest Wizard so I had medium armor and a shield, with no weapon for spell casting. He was a tough little bugger, I'd often tank for the party while they healed or regrouped.
As for the others seems pretty easy and most of it is flavor. The smithing hammer could easily be a "Rod" that looks like a smithing hammer, if your GM is worried about it being an actual weapon.
Thanks for the response.
I will tool around with is Dex, especially because AC matters so much in 5th ed. I really wish that I had access to shields it almost seems like an omission since they give them weapons and armor like a fighter, unless that it the point, for balance.
I was kind of thinking that the hammer was actually a rod as well.
I find Abjuration very on flavor, but Shield is probably the only low level transmutation I see using often to recharge the Arcane Ward. Then again with my lack of heavy armor and shields I will probably using it a lot more than my Paladin did.
It has also been suggest that I pick up GFB or BB for when I do have to use my hammer.
So I moved my Wis to 11 and Chr to 10 which means +0s for the Dex 14 or +3
Is the extra 1 Dex worth the -1 -1 for Perception, Wisdom Saves and Social Checks?
Although it isn't that hard hitting since I have Proficiency in Wisdom and Persuasion. Especially since Charisma Saves virtually never happen.
Actually the lowest level spell is Ritually Cast: Alarm. It takes 10 minutes + 1 round to cast it ritually, but that only heals 2 hp per 10 minutes which while possible isn't great especially if you're in a dungeon and not safe. It is possible to ritually cast Alarm 5 or 6 times during a Short Rest, It's why I *loved* Svirfneblin and their magic feat because nondection is a 3rd lvl spell so it heals 6hp per Action. At 6th lvl you can give the Ward to other people, so you might run low on it pretty quickly.
I would never advocate for a 8 Wisdom, those checks are too common, but a Wisdom of 10 isn't terrible.
Str: 14, Dex: 14, Con: 16, Int: 14, Wis: 10, Cha: 8.
It's totally doable to lower Con to 14, that fees up 3 points which could be a Wis or 12 or 13 or Wis 10 and Cha 10 for no penalties.
Charisma saves are very rare, but usually super awful.
I generally find the person whoever wants to make a "social character" will be making a lot of the social roles. They will usually be rocking a +3 stat with Proficiency or better so your +1 to -1 with proficiency isn't that big of a swing, unless you just happen to be talkative person in your group.
Between Mage Armor and Shield, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards don’t have to be super soft and squishy and Clerics don’t have to be either. They can’t be front line fighters without completely focusing on that, but they can be survivable even without a bonus to their constitution and/or dexterity. Unless you focus completely on melee they can’t survive on the front line, but they can survive in melee for a couple of rounds when they need to.
Having said that, I love your concept! And I looked at your character sheet and I also like the way you put him together. He looks like he’ll be a blast to play as is.
Professional computer geek
Bunny, you make a lot of good points and
My current build is 14, 14, 14, 14, 10, 10. That gives a +5% survivability in combat. I am have around a month to decide we are on level 4 of the Tomb of Annihilation.
I am super talkative in real life and in game, plus I tend to be the party leader as such it does help to have the dice back up what I am going to say anyway. That is why in D&D I always make sure and pickup Persuasion.
Tim
I had that debate, Mage Armor followed by short rest in the morning would be a 13+dex for 7 more hours and can be recast if needed. That is pretty good and totally free. Actually that is as good as a Chain Shirt and doesn't actually get surpassed until Breast Plate, because of the Disadvantage on the Scale Mail. grrr doubting myself.
You’re doubting yourself because Mage Armor and physical armor are both good choices. Whichever way you go you won’t be making a mistake. So pick the one that you’ll have the most fun with.
Professional computer geek
Thank you
I personally really don't like Mage Armor as a solution.
It's 13+Dex, which isn't a bad AC.
Medium Armor is:
Chainshirt: 13+Dex(2) with no penalty to Stealth, but cheap.
Scale male: 14+Dex(2), with penalty to Stealth, but cheap
Breastplate: 14+Dex(2), with no penalty to Stealth, but expensive
Half-plate: 15+Dex(2), with penalty to Stealth, but expensive
Medium Armor gives +1 to +2 AC over Mage Armor, possible more with magic armor.
My problem with Mage Armor is it's expensive. It's 1-3 lvl 1 spell slots a day to have it active, while the Medium Armor costs you no resources.
I didn't get to finish my game of Tomb of Annihilation, but resource expenditure is a thing.
The higher level gear is better. But wow is it expensive, of course maybe a nice GM can hook a Dwarven brother up.
1-3 Spell slots is kind of inaccurate. You can cast it and short rest to get your slot back. This assumes that you aren't fighting for over 8 hours straight. Which would be death for any character. As such it is basically a free spell. It does win when it comes to sleeping. You can't sleep with Medium Armor on and get the full benefit.
Unless you meant spells memorized for the day. Then ignore everything I just said.
He is starting to form in my mind and i am definitely going the armored rout. Heck Heavy Armor feat at 8 is sounding pretty tempting. Of course there goes any pretense of stealth. But damn is it more Dwarfy!
Keep in mind, you’re a blacksmith and your goal is to create magic weapons and armor. I’d expect you to make your own armor and weapons, enchant them, and eventually learn how to make your enchantments permanent.
Professional computer geek
That is true.
It is easy to get distracted by the details and forgot about the big picture.
I bought The Sword Coast spells and plan to swap in GFB or BB to represent my runes on my weapon.
What do you think about only picking spells after I have a way to runic explain them? Such as an armor rune or maybe craft steam punk googles?
You should be able to make a rune for every spell, that’s just fun flavor.
Professional computer geek
I guess what I meant was a fun/creative/cool rune and or gadget.
Side note. "Making Magic Items" isn't really a thing 5e has rules for, that's up to the GM.
If you do want to Multiclass (since you've classically been into it). Forge Cleric would be very thematic. You'd just need a 13 Wisdom.
You could take a 1st lvl in Forge Cleric: Gain +2 hp; Wis/Cha saves; Light, Medium, Heavy Armor; Shields, Simple Weapons. Domain Spells: Identify (kinda lame I know) and Searing Smite (pretty awesome), proficiency with smithing tools, Blessing of the Forge.
You could flavor Blessing of the Forge as Rune Magic, placing temporary enchantments every long rest.
If you took a 2nd lvl you get Artisan's Blessing which will let you craft *any* item at will that costs less than 100 gold. If you don't use it you have Turn Undead. The ability to create almost anything out of coins is pretty awesome because the Jungle of Chult don't have a lot of "resupply" points. I don't think it's a "spoiler" to say they are filled with undead.
After 1 or 2 lvls of Cleric the rest is Wizard. I might say Cleric, Wizard, Cleric, Wizard+. That way you get the ritual spells sooner, and you start with Heavy Armor and good weapons.
Sadly Mountain Dwarf while you do get +1 overall stat, you waste the medium armor proficiency, but it means your Strength stays high for using battle axes or warhammers. I think Warhammer would be better as it's "Smith" feel.
The key trade off with two Casters if that while you lose levels in Spell Level progression, you don't lose Spell Slot progression. A failing your Ranger & Paladin multiclasses had. So while a lvl 2 Cleric, lvl 1 Wizard doesn't have 2nd lvl spells (and that does suck), you have 2nd lvl Spell Slots, so you can cast Magic Missile at 2nd lvl. As long as you don't put more than 1 or 2 lvls into your alt class, it's generally not too much of a loss.
As someone currently playing a dwarf wizard, you might consider War Magic as your subclass, if you get access to Xanathar's Guide. Getting to wear medium armor as a mountain dwarf combines very well with the Arcane Deflection feature (spend reaction to get +2 AC or +4 to a saving throw). It can give you a reasonably healthy AC, which has kept my wizard alive on many an occasion. Then at level 10 you get Durable Magic (+2 to AC/saving throws while concentrating on a spell) and you get even better.
Shields are tempting, for sure, but they require a two-feat investment since you don't get the racial proficiency with it; you also have to take War Caster afterwards just to be able to cast your spells while wielding it.
Unfortunately, that doesn't line up super well with the concept you're going for. In that case, you might consider either the School of Invention subclass, or skipping wizard and going straight to Artificer. The downside is that both are playtest material, so your GM will get a say in whether it's permitted or not.
I disagree with the statement that you need Warcaster to cast spells while wielding it. It just makes it a little more juggling.
My Gnome Cleric/Wizard had a shield and no weapon in the other hand. I was looking forward to Vampiric Touch eventually.
You get 1 free "environmental action" which is draw or putting away a weapon. If you normally use cantrips, then you can draw and attack with the weapon whenever you need, or don't use Reaction spells and you can put the weapon away for any turn you want to spell cast.
The damage on cantrips isn't going to be as good as 1d8+2 for warhammer, but not much worse.
Hm. Well, just for the sake of clarity, here's the text from the relevant portion:
Likewise, the rules for the somatic components of a spell:
If you asked me, I'd say these don't line up very well; the feat makes it sound like you need the feat to do what the basic rules say comes naturally.
Well, in any event, a dwarf wizard would still have to spend a feat to get shield proficiency, which is a hard sell when you don't have a racial bonus to intelligence.
I wasn't disagree with you that the Feat investment into proficiency in Shields is a terrible ROI, I agree with you there. Especially when Moderately Armored gives you medium armor, which you already have, and +1 stat to show how poor of a choice it is.
I'm not disagreeing that WarCaster is a expensive choice when you start with 14 Int. All of this I agree with.
Honestly with starting with Int: 14, I might recommend trying to get a Circlet of Intellect for 19 Int and just forget about increasing your Int and focus on other stats or feats. If you're in an antimagic field and the Circlet is turned off, you can't cast spells anyways.
I know the rules for somatic components and Warcaster. My disagreement was to say that having a shield and being caster is a bad choice. My point was it means you have to plan ahead and think about your actions every turn. Because if you don't have Warcaster and you have a weapon/shield out then you can't cast spells. This really only hinders Reaction spells. If you want to cast a spell, you can put your weapon away for free and cast the spell. If you want to attack the next around you draw it for free and attack. The only negative impact to not having a weapon out is you aren't a real AoO threat. It means you can't use ReAction spells if your currently have a weapon in your hand and when you don't have a weapon in hand you can't cast reactions.
Since dropping your weapon is free, I don't know if you can just drop it to cast a reaction.
Closest I could find: https://www.sageadvice.eu/2017/03/29/what-are-the-rules-on-dropping-weapons/