I have a friend who is looking to become the 8th member of our party at level 4, who wants to play a wizard on the frontlines in combat. We currently have (All at level 4): A Circle of the Arctic Druid A Circle of the Moon Druid An eldritch knight A Shock-trooper (battle-master) fighter An Artillerist artificer A stock Ranger Do you guys have any wizard builds that could mesh well with this party?
Blade Dancer is the closes thing to a front line wizard that's in the game. But wizards really don't belong on the front lines, they're squishy and benefit from having a less-squishy character standing between them and the bad guys.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Bladesinging... better AC, use of weapon attacks blended with spells. Order of Scribes... able to switch damage types of close quarter spells like Burning Hands and Thunderwave just to mention a few. School of Abjuration... has the extra defensive layer of the ward. School of Divination... able to portent up to two different rolls during combat, helping allies hit and enemies miss. School of Enchantment... able to lock an enemy down with hypnotic gaze until the party deals with the others or are ready to deal with it. School of Evocation... able to sculpt spells like Burning Hands and Thunderwave to not target allies. School of Illusion... illusions, even the cantrip Minor Illusion can affect the outcome of many fights, even if it's only a momentary distraction. School of Necromancy... using grim harvest in close quarters will give enemies a target other than your allies and it helps keep you alive longer. School of Transmutation... changing an iron weapon into a silver one before the fight means you can get around certain resistances and tempt greedy enemies to try and get their hands on a solid silver weapon. War Magic... higher AC and saving throws help a lot on the front line where they are probably in need more. Blood Magic... rerolling damage of Burning Hands and Thunderwave to possibly get higher results. Chronurgy Magic... maybe going first (or close to it) and having enemies reroll certain attacks to miss, or allies reroll misses and maybe hit now. Graviturgy Magic... having an enemies weight become half or double and the resulting effects from that can greatly influence the outcome of a fight, or even affecting an ally is some beneficial way.
These are some of the best subclasses of wizard that would make a good front-line wizard for a large party. If any others (all) come out in future books I will add those (all) that apply.
Also, if your game allows homebrew... then any and all of those also would make good front-liners.
The front line refers to the people who are directly facing the enemy with no allies between them. The Bladesinger and maybe the War Wizard and Abjurer are the only wizards who can function reasonably well in that kind of environment. Most wizards are really back line troops, since they work best at a distance.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
A 6th level Conjurer could use their Benign Transposition and the spell Misty Step to teleport around the front lines getting themselves, allies within the right positions for fighting and avoiding AoO's. You could even pair this with a race that has some teleport options like the Eladrin and Shadar-kai, maybe even take a feat that can help with teleportation.
You could easily build a 'Nightcrawler' type character, teleporting all over the place.
Brian_Avery I don't think you fully understand the "lines".
Front Line: next to enemy, stays there to melee attack and tank hits.
Middle Line / Skirmishers: Can go to enemy for melee but need to leave and reposition as cannot tank hits.
Back Line: Stays at the back to hit enemies with range attacks, use buffs/debuffs, heal allies, and add support. Squishiest of the bunch.
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Wizards are Back Line. Teleport-focused builds could possibly be Middle Line at a stretch. Bladesinger is the only clear Front Line. Even Abjurer and War wizards aren't fully fleshed out for front line, as they still cannot tank the hits properly. With careful spell choices they can front-line a little bit, but they rely too heavily on resources to maintain it and so are not effective at the front line.
The best option by far for a frontline wizard is Bladesinger.
Abjurer and War magic have some defensive capabilities but it doesn't set them up for the front line.
You can improve thinks with multiclass, I play an Artificer 1 / Abjurer x, which gives me access to half plate and a shield. I can go to the front line at a pinch but even that is better on the back lines unless there is a reason to up front.
One of my players tried to make a front-line wizard by starting from Mountain Dwarf. With medium armor proficiency and +2 strength (at the time; it's now moveable, but +2 +2 instead of +2 +1 makes it more viable), the idea wasn't awful, but requires more optimization than he did to make it work.
I have a friend who is looking to become the 8th member of our party at level 4, who wants to play a wizard on the frontlines in combat. We currently have (All at level 4): A Circle of the Arctic Druid A Circle of the Moon Druid An eldritch knight A Shock-trooper (battle-master) fighter An Artillerist artificer A stock Ranger Do you guys have any wizard builds that could mesh well with this party?
Given the party composition, IMO the best way to have a wizard on the frontlines here would be for the Moon Druid to take Sentinel, the Wizard to take Mounted Combatant, and the Wizard to ride the Moon Druid in combat. You've got to go Bladesinger to stand a chance at low levels, and I'd go Variant Human and pick up Tough as a 1st level feat.
Brian_Avery I don't think you fully understand the "lines".
Front Line: next to enemy, stays there to melee attack and tank hits.
Middle Line / Skirmishers: Can go to enemy for melee but need to leave and reposition as cannot tank hits.
Back Line: Stays at the back to hit enemies with range attacks, use buffs/debuffs, heal allies, and add support. Squishiest of the bunch.
-
Wizards are Back Line. Teleport-focused builds could possibly be Middle Line at a stretch. Bladesinger is the only clear Front Line. Even Abjurer and War wizards aren't fully fleshed out for front line, as they still cannot tank the hits properly. With careful spell choices they can front-line a little bit, but they rely too heavily on resources to maintain it and so are not effective at the front line.
This idea starts to break down when you consider that your traditional "front-liners" don't have any ability to keep enemies engaged with them. So, if the Wizard is holding a powerful concentration spell like hypnotic pattern (which they likely will be) The frontline is wherever the wizard is, because that's the best thing for the enemies to target. As for defining the backline as characters that are squishy, Wizards don't actually fit this description either; between shield and absorb elements, any spellcaster with armor proficiency (be it from a level dip, feat, or race) is significantly more tanky than a fighter and most Barbarians. Middle line fighters don't really work well in DnD because it's hard to justify over going ranged, as melee attacks aren't more impactful than ranged ones.
Of course, you can build a party with these standards, but the mechanics of the game don't lend itself well to it; it requires some DM buy-in not to simply run past the fighter to break the Wizard's concentration.
If the goal is to build a Wizard that can take the most hits, Bladesinger is actually not your best option; a Wizard with Shield, Absorb Elements, and armor and shield proficiency is your best bet. My personal recommendation is an Artificer dip; you can pretty easily gain a resting AC of 19, and you don't fall behind on slot progression.
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This idea starts to break down when you consider that your traditional "front-liners" don't have any ability to keep enemies engaged with them.
Not true, it's called an Attack of Opportunity and it deals an additional 10-20 damage on average to punish enemies that try to move away, and it can be combined with Sentinel to completely prevent the enemy from moving away. They also have Grappling which prevents enemies from moving away. All together a melee character could have two enemies grappled and use a knee kick as an AoO to keep a 3rd within 5ft of them if they so desire.
So, if the Wizard is holding a powerful concentration spell like hypnotic pattern (which they likely will be) The frontline is wherever the wizard is, because that's the best thing for the enemies to target.
Depends, Hypnotic pattern requires only 1 action to break someone free from it so if only 2 enemies failed their saves, it can be much more advantageous for the minion enemies to just wake up those who failed than to try get to the wizard and attack them.
As for defining the backline as characters that are squishy, Wizards don't actually fit this description either; between shield and absorb elements, any spellcaster with armor proficiency (be it from a level dip, feat, or race) is significantly more tanky than a fighter and most Barbarians.
A level dip or feat is a significant cost to the Wizard, so in most parties that play starting from level 3 or lower the Wizard won't sacrifice their spellcasting power for armor proficiency, sure in high level games the Wizard will MC to get armour proficiency but the Fighter/Paladin/Rogue/etc.. will MC to get Shield & Absorb Elements too so they end up with roughly the same defenses, but with the martials still having more hit points. In those types of games the DM will have HBed the enemies to account for all of their players being optimizers by increasing the enemy attack modifiers & save DCs so that it comes out in the wash.
Middle line fighters don't really work well in DnD because it's hard to justify over going ranged, as melee attacks aren't more impactful than ranged ones.
This again is only true at level 8+ when the ranged characters have both Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert, as before then ranged characters have far lower DPR that melees if they are in melee - which they almost certainly will be if there are no melee characters in the party, or if the map is anything other than a blank open field.
you can pretty easily gain a resting AC of 19, and you don't fall behind on slot progression.
A Bladesinger has an AC of 19 from level 2 with their Bladesong without falling behind of spell progression, and it will keep scaling up with every ASI you get and can be stacked on top of magical armour as well. So will out perform the Artificer dip, unless your party has an usually high number of combats per day.
E.g. at level 20 Bladesinger: +3 Studded Leather = 15 AC + 5 (DEX) + 5 (INT) = 25 Artificer dip: +3 Halfplate = 18 AC + 2 DEX + 2 shield = 22
Wizards really shouldn't be frontliners but your best bet is either bladesinger or start the character with one level in forge or twilight cleric for heavy armor and weapons.
Around level 4, there was a bladesinger in a party with me and we boarded a ship and I spent all my bonus actions healing him as he kept hitting 0HP (unconscious)....also he has 10CON. And his initiative was before mine so he kept losing his turns. LOL. Level 7 he walked into darkness and it turned out there was a demon in there hitting him (not good) and i dispelled the darkness for him. Now, at level 9, He does function better as a frontliner....buy your part is level 4.
This idea starts to break down when you consider that your traditional "front-liners" don't have any ability to keep enemies engaged with them.
Not true, it's called an Attack of Opportunity and it deals an additional 10-20 damage on average to punish enemies that try to move away, and it can be combined with Sentinel to completely prevent the enemy from moving away. They also have Grappling which prevents enemies from moving away. All together a melee character could have two enemies grappled and use a knee kick as an AoO to keep a 3rd within 5ft of them if they so desire.
AoO only works if there's only one creature, and Grappling mechanics are often difficult to properly utilize without a "build around" sort of thing that sacrifices damage. If your DM uses a lot of spellcasters with Misty step or other teleportation abilites, It will get a lot less mileage. This may be irrelevant at some tables though.
So, if the Wizard is holding a powerful concentration spell like hypnotic pattern (which they likely will be) The frontline is wherever the wizard is, because that's the best thing for the enemies to target.
Depends, Hypnotic pattern requires only 1 action to break someone free from it so if only 2 enemies failed their saves, it can be much more advantageous for the minion enemies to just wake up those who failed than to try get to the wizard and attack them.
The fun thing about Hypnotic patter is that even if someone uses an action to wake someone, that's still 1 action denied for a round. Hypnotic pattern also isn't the only example of this, it's just the first one I thought of. If you're not using many concentration spells, then staying in the back is more manageable, because you're less of a target.
As for defining the backline as characters that are squishy, Wizards don't actually fit this description either; between shield and absorb elements, any spellcaster with armor proficiency (be it from a level dip, feat, or race) is significantly more tanky than a fighter and most Barbarians.
A level dip or feat is a significant cost to the Wizard, so in most parties that play starting from level 3 or lower the Wizard won't sacrifice their spellcasting power for armor proficiency, sure in high level games the Wizard will MC to get armour proficiency but the Fighter/Paladin/Rogue/etc.. will MC to get Shield & Absorb Elements too so they end up with roughly the same defenses, but with the martials still having more hit points. In those types of games the DM will have HBed the enemies to account for all of their players being optimizers by increasing the enemy attack modifiers & save DCs so that it comes out in the wash.
Middle line fighters don't really work well in DnD because it's hard to justify over going ranged, as melee attacks aren't more impactful than ranged ones.
This again is only true at level 8+ when the ranged characters have both Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert, as before then ranged characters have far lower DPR that melees if they are in melee - which they almost certainly will be if there are no melee characters in the party, or if the map is anything other than a blank open field.
Level 4, not 8, if you're using custom lineage. (or if your DM gives you a starting feat). Could you give an example of a melee build that does significantly more damage than a ranged build? Melee weapons themselves don't deal much more damage (a few points at best) and outside of Barbarian, there aren't many exclusively melee features that help damage.
you can pretty easily gain a resting AC of 19, and you don't fall behind on slot progression.
A Bladesinger has an AC of 19 from level 2 with their Bladesong without falling behind of spell progression, and it will keep scaling up with every ASI you get and can be stacked on top of magical armour as well. So will out perform the Artificer dip, unless your party has an usually high number of combats per day.
E.g. at level 20 Bladesinger: +3 Studded Leather = 15 AC + 5 (DEX) + 5 (INT) = 25 Artificer dip: +3 Halfplate = 18 AC + 2 DEX + 2 shield = 22
This only holds if you're able to have bladesong up during every combat; if you play at a table that only does a few encounters per long rest, Bladesinger is likely better. the benifits of the armor dipped build is that it has consistently good AC. It also lets you take good feats like Resilient CON, Lucky, and Alert without falling behind as much because you don't need to keep boosting your DEX.
All this being said, a straight classed Bladesinger is by no means a bad, I just think there are better options to get good defenses without locking into a specific subclass.
Also regarding back row, just stand 40+ ft back and use cover and relatively few enemies will be able to reach you in a single move.
I think this might point to a pretty big difference in the way our games are run. A lot of the battlemaps my DM runs don't get much 60ft*60ft, so this would be a pretty big ask. Staying away from enemies often evolves trying to keep the enemy from being able to reach me by means other than "just walk away;" our maps tend to be pretty complex too, so we don't often end up fighting in empty box rooms or corridors.
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A Bladesinger has an AC of 19 from level 2 with their Bladesong without falling behind of spell progression, and it will keep scaling up with every ASI you get and can be stacked on top of magical armour as well. So will out perform the Artificer dip, unless your party has an usually high number of combats per day.
E.g. at level 20 Bladesinger: +3 Studded Leather = 15 AC + 5 (DEX) + 5 (INT) = 25 Artificer dip: +3 Halfplate = 18 AC + 2 DEX + 2 shield = 22
At low levels it is quitel likely a wizard might find themselves in 3 or more combats a day so might have to do some combats without bladesong, which I think is the weakness of the bladesinger, if they need be be in combat without bladesong they are essentially a wizard without a subclass (not that a wizard without a subclass in unplayable).
I would expect the level 20 artificer dip to have a magic shield, maybe not a +3 but at least a +2.
I am not sure how many bladesingers put 20 into Dex. I would prioritise Con over Dex, at higher levels AC has less impact and a wizard needs all the HP they can get, and get good at maintaining concentration. There are also several feats that are probably better than increasing dex (e.g resiliant con tough, warcaster, lucky). I would expext most level 20 bladesingers have a +2 or +3 on dex. If a Bladesinger is going to put at least 2 ASIs into Dex the Arti dip can at least take medium armor master and maybe a half ASI in Dex so they get to +3
With a typical build I think the comparison is more like:
While the artificer dip might have a slightly better AC the bladesinger is still more viable as a frontliner because they are far better at maintaining concentration. Not only can they add the Int modifier but they can use spells to reduce damage. A level 20 wizard with proficiency in con saves is likely to have something like a +9 to saves. Get hit by 60 damage and the spell the wizard was concentrating on has gone. The Bladesinger has a +14 modifier could use a 5th level spell slot to reduce the damage to 35 and they have a 90% chance of making the save.
While the artificer dip might have a slightly better AC the bladesinger is still more viable as a frontliner because they are far better at maintaining concentration. Not only can they add the Int modifier but they can use spells to reduce damage. A level 20 wizard with proficiency in con saves is likely to have something like a +9 to saves. Get hit by 60 damage and the spell the wizard was concentrating on has gone. The Bladesinger has a +14 modifier could use a 5th level spell slot to reduce the damage to 35 and they have a 90% chance of making the save.
I forgot that Bladesinger got extra concentration protection, honestly. You make a good point. I personally would still prefer playing Graviturgy or something, but Bladesinger might be your best option if you want to stay in melee. The builds are close enough that I think it's up to personal preference; Bladesinger gives you a bit better protection, but (in my opinion) misses some of the fun stuff other subclasses get. It's hard to go wrong with a Wizard subclass anyway, Spell choices are often as if not more impactful than the subclass itself.
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I think the tricky thing about Bladesinger is that, even though the subclass is probably the best Wizard Subclass in terms of being able to survive in frontline combat regularly... it still performs much better from the back line doing primarily Wizard things, instead of trying to attack and skirmish directly. Bladesong kind of works better as a defensive boost, rather than an offensive one.
With about half the starting classes in the PHB having a d8 HD compared to the wizard's d6 HD that means they start with 2 more hit points on average and the gap between the two only grows by 1 hp per level. Half the classes will start will 8 hp and the wizard with 6 and then half the classes will add 5 + CON bonus per level and the wizard will add 4 +CON bonus per level.
If the only difference in hp between a wizard and half the classes in the game is 1 or 2 hp... that doesn't really count as squishy to me and helps build a case that any wizard can be a front-liner.
Also, as others have already noted, regardless of the subclass it often comes down to spell selection for any wizard who wants to be a front-liner... or even just to not be considered squishy.
Absorb Elements helps take half damage from some of the most common damage types in the game.
False Life can boost survivability by giving out temp hp (huge amounts if you upcast it).
Blur makes it harder to hit you (disadvantage to attack rolls against you).
Mirror Image makes it harder to hit you (depending on how you roll, quite possibly 3 misses over the course of a fight).
Misty Step gets you out of danger (or anywhere else you need to get to, or away from in a fight).
These are just a selection of the most commonly used spells by wizards, whether or not they are trying to front-line. Pick from among these and add any others that serve to overcome or bypass any shortcomings your wizard might face.
Wizard and Squishy have gone from being synonymous to being antonymous, or pretty much diametrical to each other.
Mage armor is the only spell on that list that lasts more than one fight. Wizards have options for protecting themselves, but doing so requires an investment of their spell slots that means they won't have those same slots available for doing anything about hostiles.
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"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
With each level they get more and more spell slots so can last many fights, and if they are front-lining then other party members can help finish off enemies... unless you want the wizard to do it all. I mean, they are actually the most powerful class so if any class could do it all, it would be the wizard.
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I have a friend who is looking to become the 8th member of our party at level 4, who wants to play a wizard on the frontlines in combat. We currently have (All at level 4):
A Circle of the Arctic Druid
A Circle of the Moon Druid
An eldritch knight
A Shock-trooper (battle-master) fighter
An Artillerist artificer
A stock Ranger
Do you guys have any wizard builds that could mesh well with this party?
Blade Dancer is the closes thing to a front line wizard that's in the game. But wizards really don't belong on the front lines, they're squishy and benefit from having a less-squishy character standing between them and the bad guys.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Wizards that make good front-liners:
Bladesinging... better AC, use of weapon attacks blended with spells.
Order of Scribes... able to switch damage types of close quarter spells like Burning Hands and Thunderwave just to mention a few.
School of Abjuration... has the extra defensive layer of the ward.
School of Divination... able to portent up to two different rolls during combat, helping allies hit and enemies miss.
School of Enchantment... able to lock an enemy down with hypnotic gaze until the party deals with the others or are ready to deal with it.
School of Evocation... able to sculpt spells like Burning Hands and Thunderwave to not target allies.
School of Illusion... illusions, even the cantrip Minor Illusion can affect the outcome of many fights, even if it's only a momentary distraction.
School of Necromancy... using grim harvest in close quarters will give enemies a target other than your allies and it helps keep you alive longer.
School of Transmutation... changing an iron weapon into a silver one before the fight means you can get around certain resistances and tempt greedy enemies to try and get their hands on a solid silver weapon.
War Magic... higher AC and saving throws help a lot on the front line where they are probably in need more.
Blood Magic... rerolling damage of Burning Hands and Thunderwave to possibly get higher results.
Chronurgy Magic... maybe going first (or close to it) and having enemies reroll certain attacks to miss, or allies reroll misses and maybe hit now.
Graviturgy Magic... having an enemies weight become half or double and the resulting effects from that can greatly influence the outcome of a fight, or even affecting an ally is some beneficial way.
These are some of the best subclasses of wizard that would make a good front-line wizard for a large party. If any others (all) come out in future books I will add those (all) that apply.
Also, if your game allows homebrew... then any and all of those also would make good front-liners.
The front line refers to the people who are directly facing the enemy with no allies between them. The Bladesinger and maybe the War Wizard and Abjurer are the only wizards who can function reasonably well in that kind of environment. Most wizards are really back line troops, since they work best at a distance.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
A 6th level Conjurer could use their Benign Transposition and the spell Misty Step to teleport around the front lines getting themselves, allies within the right positions for fighting and avoiding AoO's. You could even pair this with a race that has some teleport options like the Eladrin and Shadar-kai, maybe even take a feat that can help with teleportation.
You could easily build a 'Nightcrawler' type character, teleporting all over the place.
Brian_Avery I don't think you fully understand the "lines".
Front Line: next to enemy, stays there to melee attack and tank hits.
Middle Line / Skirmishers: Can go to enemy for melee but need to leave and reposition as cannot tank hits.
Back Line: Stays at the back to hit enemies with range attacks, use buffs/debuffs, heal allies, and add support. Squishiest of the bunch.
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Wizards are Back Line. Teleport-focused builds could possibly be Middle Line at a stretch. Bladesinger is the only clear Front Line. Even Abjurer and War wizards aren't fully fleshed out for front line, as they still cannot tank the hits properly. With careful spell choices they can front-line a little bit, but they rely too heavily on resources to maintain it and so are not effective at the front line.
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The best option by far for a frontline wizard is Bladesinger.
Abjurer and War magic have some defensive capabilities but it doesn't set them up for the front line.
You can improve thinks with multiclass, I play an Artificer 1 / Abjurer x, which gives me access to half plate and a shield. I can go to the front line at a pinch but even that is better on the back lines unless there is a reason to up front.
One of my players tried to make a front-line wizard by starting from Mountain Dwarf. With medium armor proficiency and +2 strength (at the time; it's now moveable, but +2 +2 instead of +2 +1 makes it more viable), the idea wasn't awful, but requires more optimization than he did to make it work.
Given the party composition, IMO the best way to have a wizard on the frontlines here would be for the Moon Druid to take Sentinel, the Wizard to take Mounted Combatant, and the Wizard to ride the Moon Druid in combat. You've got to go Bladesinger to stand a chance at low levels, and I'd go Variant Human and pick up Tough as a 1st level feat.
ASI: STR=8, DEX = 15+1, CON=14, INT=15+1, WIS=10, CHA=8
Spells: Green Flame Blade, Booming Blade, Mage Armour, Shield, Magic Missile, Blur, Mirror Image, Misty Step (Choose your favourites for the rest)
HP: 34
AC: 16 (Mage Armour) + 3 (Bladesong) + 5 (Shield) = 19-24
This idea starts to break down when you consider that your traditional "front-liners" don't have any ability to keep enemies engaged with them. So, if the Wizard is holding a powerful concentration spell like hypnotic pattern (which they likely will be) The frontline is wherever the wizard is, because that's the best thing for the enemies to target. As for defining the backline as characters that are squishy, Wizards don't actually fit this description either; between shield and absorb elements, any spellcaster with armor proficiency (be it from a level dip, feat, or race) is significantly more tanky than a fighter and most Barbarians. Middle line fighters don't really work well in DnD because it's hard to justify over going ranged, as melee attacks aren't more impactful than ranged ones.
Of course, you can build a party with these standards, but the mechanics of the game don't lend itself well to it; it requires some DM buy-in not to simply run past the fighter to break the Wizard's concentration.
If the goal is to build a Wizard that can take the most hits, Bladesinger is actually not your best option; a Wizard with Shield, Absorb Elements, and armor and shield proficiency is your best bet. My personal recommendation is an Artificer dip; you can pretty easily gain a resting AC of 19, and you don't fall behind on slot progression.
I write homebrew and don't publish it. (evil, I know)
Not true, it's called an Attack of Opportunity and it deals an additional 10-20 damage on average to punish enemies that try to move away, and it can be combined with Sentinel to completely prevent the enemy from moving away. They also have Grappling which prevents enemies from moving away. All together a melee character could have two enemies grappled and use a knee kick as an AoO to keep a 3rd within 5ft of them if they so desire.
Depends, Hypnotic pattern requires only 1 action to break someone free from it so if only 2 enemies failed their saves, it can be much more advantageous for the minion enemies to just wake up those who failed than to try get to the wizard and attack them.
A level dip or feat is a significant cost to the Wizard, so in most parties that play starting from level 3 or lower the Wizard won't sacrifice their spellcasting power for armor proficiency, sure in high level games the Wizard will MC to get armour proficiency but the Fighter/Paladin/Rogue/etc.. will MC to get Shield & Absorb Elements too so they end up with roughly the same defenses, but with the martials still having more hit points. In those types of games the DM will have HBed the enemies to account for all of their players being optimizers by increasing the enemy attack modifiers & save DCs so that it comes out in the wash.
This again is only true at level 8+ when the ranged characters have both Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert, as before then ranged characters have far lower DPR that melees if they are in melee - which they almost certainly will be if there are no melee characters in the party, or if the map is anything other than a blank open field.
A Bladesinger has an AC of 19 from level 2 with their Bladesong without falling behind of spell progression, and it will keep scaling up with every ASI you get and can be stacked on top of magical armour as well. So will out perform the Artificer dip, unless your party has an usually high number of combats per day.
E.g. at level 20
Bladesinger: +3 Studded Leather = 15 AC + 5 (DEX) + 5 (INT) = 25
Artificer dip: +3 Halfplate = 18 AC + 2 DEX + 2 shield = 22
Also regarding back row, just stand 40+ ft back and use cover and relatively few enemies will be able to reach you in a single move.
Wizards really shouldn't be frontliners but your best bet is either bladesinger or start the character with one level in forge or twilight cleric for heavy armor and weapons.
Around level 4, there was a bladesinger in a party with me and we boarded a ship and I spent all my bonus actions healing him as he kept hitting 0HP (unconscious)....also he has 10CON. And his initiative was before mine so he kept losing his turns. LOL. Level 7 he walked into darkness and it turned out there was a demon in there hitting him (not good) and i dispelled the darkness for him. Now, at level 9, He does function better as a frontliner....buy your part is level 4.
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All this being said, a straight classed Bladesinger is by no means a bad, I just think there are better options to get good defenses without locking into a specific subclass.
I think this might point to a pretty big difference in the way our games are run. A lot of the battlemaps my DM runs don't get much 60ft*60ft, so this would be a pretty big ask. Staying away from enemies often evolves trying to keep the enemy from being able to reach me by means other than "just walk away;" our maps tend to be pretty complex too, so we don't often end up fighting in empty box rooms or corridors.
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At low levels it is quitel likely a wizard might find themselves in 3 or more combats a day so might have to do some combats without bladesong, which I think is the weakness of the bladesinger, if they need be be in combat without bladesong they are essentially a wizard without a subclass (not that a wizard without a subclass in unplayable).
I would expect the level 20 artificer dip to have a magic shield, maybe not a +3 but at least a +2.
I am not sure how many bladesingers put 20 into Dex. I would prioritise Con over Dex, at higher levels AC has less impact and a wizard needs all the HP they can get, and get good at maintaining concentration. There are also several feats that are probably better than increasing dex (e.g resiliant con tough, warcaster, lucky). I would expext most level 20 bladesingers have a +2 or +3 on dex. If a Bladesinger is going to put at least 2 ASIs into Dex the Arti dip can at least take medium armor master and maybe a half ASI in Dex so they get to +3
With a typical build I think the comparison is more like:
Bladesinger: +3 Studded Leather = 15 AC + 3 (DEX) + 5 (INT) = 23
Artificer dip: +3 Halfplate = 18 AC + 2 DEX + 4 (+2 shield) = 24
While the artificer dip might have a slightly better AC the bladesinger is still more viable as a frontliner because they are far better at maintaining concentration. Not only can they add the Int modifier but they can use spells to reduce damage. A level 20 wizard with proficiency in con saves is likely to have something like a +9 to saves. Get hit by 60 damage and the spell the wizard was concentrating on has gone. The Bladesinger has a +14 modifier could use a 5th level spell slot to reduce the damage to 35 and they have a 90% chance of making the save.
I forgot that Bladesinger got extra concentration protection, honestly. You make a good point. I personally would still prefer playing Graviturgy or something, but Bladesinger might be your best option if you want to stay in melee. The builds are close enough that I think it's up to personal preference; Bladesinger gives you a bit better protection, but (in my opinion) misses some of the fun stuff other subclasses get. It's hard to go wrong with a Wizard subclass anyway, Spell choices are often as if not more impactful than the subclass itself.
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I think the tricky thing about Bladesinger is that, even though the subclass is probably the best Wizard Subclass in terms of being able to survive in frontline combat regularly... it still performs much better from the back line doing primarily Wizard things, instead of trying to attack and skirmish directly. Bladesong kind of works better as a defensive boost, rather than an offensive one.
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With about half the starting classes in the PHB having a d8 HD compared to the wizard's d6 HD that means they start with 2 more hit points on average and the gap between the two only grows by 1 hp per level. Half the classes will start will 8 hp and the wizard with 6 and then half the classes will add 5 + CON bonus per level and the wizard will add 4 +CON bonus per level.
If the only difference in hp between a wizard and half the classes in the game is 1 or 2 hp... that doesn't really count as squishy to me and helps build a case that any wizard can be a front-liner.
Also, as others have already noted, regardless of the subclass it often comes down to spell selection for any wizard who wants to be a front-liner... or even just to not be considered squishy.
Absorb Elements helps take half damage from some of the most common damage types in the game.
False Life can boost survivability by giving out temp hp (huge amounts if you upcast it).
Mage Armor helps with AC.
Shield +5 to AC when needed.
Blur makes it harder to hit you (disadvantage to attack rolls against you).
Mirror Image makes it harder to hit you (depending on how you roll, quite possibly 3 misses over the course of a fight).
Misty Step gets you out of danger (or anywhere else you need to get to, or away from in a fight).
These are just a selection of the most commonly used spells by wizards, whether or not they are trying to front-line. Pick from among these and add any others that serve to overcome or bypass any shortcomings your wizard might face.
Wizard and Squishy have gone from being synonymous to being antonymous, or pretty much diametrical to each other.
Mage armor is the only spell on that list that lasts more than one fight. Wizards have options for protecting themselves, but doing so requires an investment of their spell slots that means they won't have those same slots available for doing anything about hostiles.
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With each level they get more and more spell slots so can last many fights, and if they are front-lining then other party members can help finish off enemies... unless you want the wizard to do it all. I mean, they are actually the most powerful class so if any class could do it all, it would be the wizard.