No it isn't. The name Bladesinger is a bit of a misnomer, since singing and Song has nothing to do with the Bladesong. Bladesong is an Elven Magic that increases focus, agility and balance.
The "song" aspect comes from the fact that the blade makes a whistling sound when the Bladesong is preformed. But bladesinging doesn't require a song or melody. It's just a name given because of the byproducts of the technique.
Bladesong is all about blending Elven magic with swordplay. It has nothing to do with music.
wouldnt it have been better to do a battlemage style subclass then? and just fluff flavor it instead of a race locked one? we are moving into 3rd edition style stuff here
Only elves and half-elves can choose the bladesinger arcane tradition. In the world of Faerûn, elves closely guard the secrets of bladesinging.
Your DM can lift this restriction to better suit the campaign. The restriction reflects the story of bladesingers in the Forgotten Realms, but it might not apply to your DM's setting or your DM's version of the Realms.
Quoted and verified by SCAG. Unless you're playing AL, the racial restriction is purely up to the DM. Even if you are playing AL you might be able to get around that, I can't entirely remember.
When the book tells you "you can ignore this restriction if it doesn't fit your campaign" right after the restriction, that tells me its a little stronger than the normal Rule 0 that applies to everything. They even mention you can ignore if you're running Forgotten Realms, which is where the subclass had relevance to begin with. I'm sitting at like, 80% sure that the restriction is active in AL though, so that has some significance.
Now, I wouldn't ever disagree with a DM that wanted to keep that restriction. High Elves and Eladrin are both quality races to make a Bladesinger with, so you're not really "losing out" anyway. A popular non-elf alternative might be a Variant Tiefling because of the wings, but that opens a whole other can of worms.
I'm playing a Bladesinger in my current campaign and it's a blast. I love it. It's fun to seamlessly flow between throwing spells and stabbing things. Greenflame blade and firebolt have been my bread and butter throughout the game. The biggest thing is knowing when to get into melee and when to stay back and cast spells. You can burn through spell slots for Shield in a hurry if you're not careful.
When the book tells you "you can ignore this restriction if it doesn't fit your campaign" right after the restriction, that tells me its a little stronger than the normal Rule 0 that applies to everything. They even mention you can ignore if you're running Forgotten Realms, which is where the subclass had relevance to begin with. I'm sitting at like, 80% sure that the restriction is active in AL though, so that has some significance.
Now, I wouldn't ever disagree with a DM that wanted to keep that restriction. High Elves and Eladrin are both quality races to make a Bladesinger with, so you're not really "losing out" anyway. A popular non-elf alternative might be a Variant Tiefling because of the wings, but that opens a whole other can of worms.
it also say that everything in the book is "your choice" but we still follow the rules to be best of our abilities and i dont like to break too many rules since taht might break the D&D feel for players
Playing a Bladesinger now and loving it, but wondering about GFB and BB in contrast to Extra attack. Which is better at what stages? Haven't played a class which utilizes GFB and BB yet so I'm interested to see which is better
Between levels 6-11 (when you get extra attack, but before your cantrips power up again), it depends on the target. Generally, against one target, you will do slightly more damage by mêlée attacking twice. But if you can hit a secondary target with GFB, then it's usually better to do that. It does a little less damage to th primary target, but also damages a second (overall, more damage done in total).
It feels like Song of Victory should be received at a lower level, 10th level would make more sense instead of Song of Defense, just switch those two abilities. Also, they should have also put in an exception for Elves and Elven Chain and allow Bladesong to work with Elven Chain. I would go as far as to suggest that Elven Chain should be changed to Light Armor, but will save that argument for another day.
I would have honestly preferred if they had released the Bladesinger under an Unearthed Arcana article to allow people to post some feedback on it. I would love to see them Revamp it however, Add War Magic at 6th instead of Extra Attack or Allow the Character to choose between the two. Move Song of Victory to 10th and Song of Defense to 14th, and increase the bladesong use per rest by 1 more at a higher level.
Honestly I have to disagree- not everything Wizards has released needs a revamp, Bladesinger is both strong and flavorful, extra attack may not be useful to every Bladesinger build, but it enables you to select a cantrip that isn't GFB or BB and still be relevant in melee, or to do things like take the attack action for the sake of dual-wielding and still be relevant- war magic alone might make the bladesinger too powerful (it synergizes better with the GFB/BB oriented style of play) and less flexible. Bladesong is already a very powerful feature, and increasing it's usage would negate it's main balancing mechanic (namely that you need to use it judiciously so you don't run out when you need it) remember that every bladesinger is still a full wizard with the same capability of ranging that every other wizard has- if you like arcane warriors but want to spend most of your time in melee without the limits of bladesong, the EK is explicitly designed for that niche.
Not particularly, the flourishes introduce a very different style of melee combat with the way it turns bardic inspiration into various effects and emphasizes higher mobility- the wizard spell list is also very different than the bard spell list. Furthermore a Bladesinger would emphasize intelligence skills, while a College of Swords bard would emphasize a combination of dexterity and charisma skills.
I suggest practicing your examinations of design in this edition and working out a better understanding the nuances that define the play experience of each of these options before you insist that these gish subclasses are redundant as a result of superficial similarities. Each fulfills a different mechanical and thematic niche- Eldritch Knights, Bladesingers, Valor Bards, Blade Pact Warlocks, Stone Sorcerers, Sword Bards all have their own points of uniqueness that make them worth having- often related to the base class from which they come and how that naturally influences the style of the character. It's also true that people want a lot of different things from their gish characters, and having a variety means that everyone is to some extent satisfied.
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thats a packaging question it might aswell have been a bard subclass and rightfully should have been... music in combat is bard thing
By the way, the bladesinger does not actually sing when using bladesong.
https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/675368466526801920
so its a bard who's intrument is his weapon...
No it isn't. The name Bladesinger is a bit of a misnomer, since singing and Song has nothing to do with the Bladesong. Bladesong is an Elven Magic that increases focus, agility and balance.
The "song" aspect comes from the fact that the blade makes a whistling sound when the Bladesong is preformed. But bladesinging doesn't require a song or melody. It's just a name given because of the byproducts of the technique.
Bladesong is all about blending Elven magic with swordplay. It has nothing to do with music.
so its a fighter - EK..
No. Singers were Wizards first, fighters second. An Eldritch Knight is a fighter first and a wizard second. Simple as that.
wouldnt it have been better to do a battlemage style subclass then? and just fluff flavor it instead of a race locked one? we are moving into 3rd edition style stuff here
You don't actually have to be an Elf to be a Bladesinger.
pretty sure it says so got a link for it?
Quoted and verified by SCAG. Unless you're playing AL, the racial restriction is purely up to the DM. Even if you are playing AL you might be able to get around that, I can't entirely remember.
the DM can do anything really, but whast is the point of having rules if you ignore them?
When the book tells you "you can ignore this restriction if it doesn't fit your campaign" right after the restriction, that tells me its a little stronger than the normal Rule 0 that applies to everything. They even mention you can ignore if you're running Forgotten Realms, which is where the subclass had relevance to begin with. I'm sitting at like, 80% sure that the restriction is active in AL though, so that has some significance.
Now, I wouldn't ever disagree with a DM that wanted to keep that restriction. High Elves and Eladrin are both quality races to make a Bladesinger with, so you're not really "losing out" anyway. A popular non-elf alternative might be a Variant Tiefling because of the wings, but that opens a whole other can of worms.
I'm playing a Bladesinger in my current campaign and it's a blast. I love it. It's fun to seamlessly flow between throwing spells and stabbing things. Greenflame blade and firebolt have been my bread and butter throughout the game. The biggest thing is knowing when to get into melee and when to stay back and cast spells. You can burn through spell slots for Shield in a hurry if you're not careful.
Playing a Bladesinger now and loving it, but wondering about GFB and BB in contrast to Extra attack. Which is better at what stages? Haven't played a class which utilizes GFB and BB yet so I'm interested to see which is better
Between levels 6-11 (when you get extra attack, but before your cantrips power up again), it depends on the target. Generally, against one target, you will do slightly more damage by mêlée attacking twice. But if you can hit a secondary target with GFB, then it's usually better to do that. It does a little less damage to th primary target, but also damages a second (overall, more damage done in total).
It feels like Song of Victory should be received at a lower level, 10th level would make more sense instead of Song of Defense, just switch those two abilities. Also, they should have also put in an exception for Elves and Elven Chain and allow Bladesong to work with Elven Chain. I would go as far as to suggest that Elven Chain should be changed to Light Armor, but will save that argument for another day.
I would have honestly preferred if they had released the Bladesinger under an Unearthed Arcana article to allow people to post some feedback on it. I would love to see them Revamp it however, Add War Magic at 6th instead of Extra Attack or Allow the Character to choose between the two. Move Song of Victory to 10th and Song of Defense to 14th, and increase the bladesong use per rest by 1 more at a higher level.
Honestly I have to disagree- not everything Wizards has released needs a revamp, Bladesinger is both strong and flavorful, extra attack may not be useful to every Bladesinger build, but it enables you to select a cantrip that isn't GFB or BB and still be relevant in melee, or to do things like take the attack action for the sake of dual-wielding and still be relevant- war magic alone might make the bladesinger too powerful (it synergizes better with the GFB/BB oriented style of play) and less flexible. Bladesong is already a very powerful feature, and increasing it's usage would negate it's main balancing mechanic (namely that you need to use it judiciously so you don't run out when you need it) remember that every bladesinger is still a full wizard with the same capability of ranging that every other wizard has- if you like arcane warriors but want to spend most of your time in melee without the limits of bladesong, the EK is explicitly designed for that niche.
the bard sword college looks pretty similar to the blade singer
http://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UA-RevisedSubclasses.pdf
Not particularly, the flourishes introduce a very different style of melee combat with the way it turns bardic inspiration into various effects and emphasizes higher mobility- the wizard spell list is also very different than the bard spell list. Furthermore a Bladesinger would emphasize intelligence skills, while a College of Swords bard would emphasize a combination of dexterity and charisma skills.
I suggest practicing your examinations of design in this edition and working out a better understanding the nuances that define the play experience of each of these options before you insist that these gish subclasses are redundant as a result of superficial similarities. Each fulfills a different mechanical and thematic niche- Eldritch Knights, Bladesingers, Valor Bards, Blade Pact Warlocks, Stone Sorcerers, Sword Bards all have their own points of uniqueness that make them worth having- often related to the base class from which they come and how that naturally influences the style of the character. It's also true that people want a lot of different things from their gish characters, and having a variety means that everyone is to some extent satisfied.