I'm trying to make a Gish with something similar to Rage. Spells like Animate Dead and Spiritual Weapon work fairly well during rage, but that's not what I mean. I know Bladesingers, Haste and 20th level Paladins work towards this, but not all of those work so well for what I'm trying for. Bladesingers are more faster than more powerful, and I'd rather be a Sorcerer or Bard (Since I plan on having Paladin in some capacity). Haste isn't good because I plan on using a weapon with a lower damage dice roll (A whip, specifically) and letting Booming Blade and Divine Smite carry most of my damage. You can't use Booming Blade with Haste's extra action, so that doesn't work as well for me (And I also want to have things like Magic Weapon or Elemental Weapon, so the concentration is hard to deal with). And 20 levels is a long time for something I want to replace an ability Barbarians get at level 1.
Damage buff and resistance, maybe. I just need something from a Charisma, Strength or Dexterity class that improves the character for a limited amount of time. If it wasn't for Concentration, Haste probably would work.
Hexblade's curse helps for damage and crit chance, but only against a single target. Tenser's Transformation is almost exactly what you want but I believe it might only be on the wizard spell list. A bard's magical secrets could get it, though. It adds an additions 2d12 force damage to every hit, which could help your damage roll. The problem with it is that you can't cast spells, so no Booming Blade. If I think of anything else, I'll post it.
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A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
Tenser's Transformation, the various Investiture spells, Haste... honestly if you filter the Spell list by spells with the "Buff" and "Concentration" tag, you'll probably find some good candidates of all levels for different classes that could work as a Damage/Resistance Enhancement mode.
If you're looking more for class features that temporarily enhance combat ability but don't conflict with spellcasting (and which aren't level 20 capstones in non-gish classes)...
Spore Druid's Symbiotic Entity transformation?
Kensei Monk's Sharpen the Blade enhancement?
Some of the paladin Channel Divinity options provide buffs or debuffs for 1 minute in combat?
I dunno, the options for gishy class features are thin... probably because you're supposed to use a Spell for that stuff :p
Consider the Shifter race, if available, from the Ebberon book. They get temp HP = to their level plus their con modifier when shifted plus an additional effect based on the sub race and they all get darkvision. The first two don't have mental stat bonuses. Swiftstride gets bonuses to dex and charisma, a bonus to movement while shifted and the ability to move as a reaction, along with acrobatics. Wildhunt gets wisdom and dex, survival skill, advantage on wisdom checks and turns off advantage on attacks against you made by creatures within 30 ft of you.
Ok, hear me out ... normally I would go Tenser’s Transformation but I wanted a unique Sorcerer solution...
Levistus Tiefling Draconic Soul Sorcerer (Gold), Focused on Dexterity and Charisma.
Feats: Elemental Adept (Fire), Flames of Phlegethos
Level 6
1) Cast Armor of Agathys (Tiefling feature)
2) Attack with Green Flame Blade. If it hits, damage is 1d8 from GFB, +5 from Elemental Affinity, and 1d4 from Whip on the main target and 1d8+5 to the secondary target.
3) The damage from GFB 1d8 is normally averaging 4.5, but Elemental Adept and Flames of Phlegethos ups that to 4.8. Average damage is 12.3 on the main target and 9.8 on the secondary. Total is 22.1.
4) Now you’re wrapped in Flames from Phlegethos each round and anyone that hits you takes 1d4 Fire and 10 from Armor of Agathys. Average damage is 12.5.
Keep in mind that even if your whip reach is 10 feet, booming blade range is 5 feet. Without spell sniper or distant metamagic using booming blade with a whip only works from 5 feet.
He’s got Counterspell and shield for attacks against him from range and spells. And he can use his bonus action for spells like quickened Hold Person for close range devastation. He gets decent HP from his Draconic Soul, and he’s going to be consistently doing that 1d4 every single time he’s attacked.
Prepped, he could even add on Mirror Image, Blur, Blink, anything that makes him even more difficult to hit. I’m not a fan of the whip option because he can’t take advantage of reach with GFB, but that’s what he wanted 🙂
I still think this scales pretty well. Combine with Fire Shield and you could get Fire and Cold Resistance (combined with Elemental Affinity), and become downright dangerous to hit.
If you choose to go down the Warlock path, Shadow of Moil + Armor of Agathys (with an automatic upcasting of Armor of Agathys, obviously) is a good combination.
It's slightly different from Rage in that you're not doing extra damage with your attacks and you're not resistant to damage from attacks (except for the very rare Radiant damage), but I think it's a very nice gish version with a different set of fun and unique qualities. It makes you heavily obscured, so not even creatures with True Sight or Blind Sight can see you (so you're unable to be targeted by a huge portion of spells), and you deal quite a bit of damage to anyone that hits you with a melee attack (20 or 25 cold plus 2D8 Necrotic). It does give you advantage on all of your attacks (because you can't be seen by your enemy, but you can see your enemy), so it is like Rage in that way. And unlike Rage, it gives enemies disadvantage on their attacks on you, whereas Rage + Reckless Attack will normally give enemies advantage on their attacks on you (but at least you resist the damage), which is swingier, but probably stronger than Rage.
A huge downside is that it takes two actions to set this up, although Armor of Agathys has an hour duration (and isn't concentration), so you can at least set that part up before combat.
Warlock is a good choice because like Sorcerer and Bard, it uses Charisma as its casting stat, so it works well with a Paladin dip. Like Sorcerer, but unlike Bard, you have access to Booming Blade. You're going to have to take the Spell Sniper feat if you want to use Booming Blade with a 10ft range when using a whip (my Tempest Cleric did that, and it's a lot of fun). But if you do a Bard and take the spell sniper feat, you can choose Booming Blade for the spell learned, so that's not too big of a problem to choose Bard if your plan is to use Booming Blade with a 10 foot range. Just keep in mind that you'll have to use a feat both to get Booming Blade and to increase it to a 10ft range, but luckily one feat can do both of those things for you.
If you're going Cha based and splashing Paladin, Devotion actually has a pretty nifty Channel Divinity (once per short rest) option for a melee gish:
Sacred Weapon. As an action, you can imbue one weapon that you are holding with positive energy, using your Channel Divinity. For 1 minute, you add your Charisma modifier to attack rolls made with that weapon (with a minimum bonus of +1). The weapon also emits bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light 20 feet beyond that. If the weapon is not already magical, it becomes magical for the duration.
You can end this effect on your turn as part of any other action. If you are no longer holding or carrying this weapon, or if you fall unconscious, this effect ends.
I'm trying to make a Gish with something similar to Rage. Spells like Animate Dead and Spiritual Weapon work fairly well during rage, but that's not what I mean. I know Bladesingers, Haste and 20th level Paladins work towards this, but not all of those work so well for what I'm trying for. Bladesingers are more faster than more powerful, and I'd rather be a Sorcerer or Bard (Since I plan on having Paladin in some capacity). Haste isn't good because I plan on using a weapon with a lower damage dice roll (A whip, specifically) and letting Booming Blade and Divine Smite carry most of my damage. You can't use Booming Blade with Haste's extra action, so that doesn't work as well for me (And I also want to have things like Magic Weapon or Elemental Weapon, so the concentration is hard to deal with). And 20 levels is a long time for something I want to replace an ability Barbarians get at level 1.
By rage, you mean a constant damage buff?
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
Damage buff and resistance, maybe. I just need something from a Charisma, Strength or Dexterity class that improves the character for a limited amount of time. If it wasn't for Concentration, Haste probably would work.
Hexblade's curse helps for damage and crit chance, but only against a single target. Tenser's Transformation is almost exactly what you want but I believe it might only be on the wizard spell list. A bard's magical secrets could get it, though. It adds an additions 2d12 force damage to every hit, which could help your damage roll. The problem with it is that you can't cast spells, so no Booming Blade. If I think of anything else, I'll post it.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
Tenser's Transformation, the various Investiture spells, Haste... honestly if you filter the Spell list by spells with the "Buff" and "Concentration" tag, you'll probably find some good candidates of all levels for different classes that could work as a Damage/Resistance Enhancement mode.
If you're looking more for class features that temporarily enhance combat ability but don't conflict with spellcasting (and which aren't level 20 capstones in non-gish classes)...
I dunno, the options for gishy class features are thin... probably because you're supposed to use a Spell for that stuff :p
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Spirit Shroud is a fairly good buff, but it is not official.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
Consider the Shifter race, if available, from the Ebberon book. They get temp HP = to their level plus their con modifier when shifted plus an additional effect based on the sub race and they all get darkvision. The first two don't have mental stat bonuses. Swiftstride gets bonuses to dex and charisma, a bonus to movement while shifted and the ability to move as a reaction, along with acrobatics. Wildhunt gets wisdom and dex, survival skill, advantage on wisdom checks and turns off advantage on attacks against you made by creatures within 30 ft of you.
Ok, hear me out ... normally I would go Tenser’s Transformation but I wanted a unique Sorcerer solution...
Levistus Tiefling Draconic Soul Sorcerer (Gold), Focused on Dexterity and Charisma.
Feats: Elemental Adept (Fire), Flames of Phlegethos
Level 6
1) Cast Armor of Agathys (Tiefling feature)
2) Attack with Green Flame Blade. If it hits, damage is 1d8 from GFB, +5 from Elemental Affinity, and 1d4 from Whip on the main target and 1d8+5 to the secondary target.
3) The damage from GFB 1d8 is normally averaging 4.5, but Elemental Adept and Flames of Phlegethos ups that to 4.8. Average damage is 12.3 on the main target and 9.8 on the secondary. Total is 22.1.
4) Now you’re wrapped in Flames from Phlegethos each round and anyone that hits you takes 1d4 Fire and 10 from Armor of Agathys. Average damage is 12.5.
That's very cool Brewksy. That's when everyone starts hitting him with range and spell attacks, lol. He still need some good protection options!
Keep in mind that even if your whip reach is 10 feet, booming blade range is 5 feet. Without spell sniper or distant metamagic using booming blade with a whip only works from 5 feet.
He’s got Counterspell and shield for attacks against him from range and spells. And he can use his bonus action for spells like quickened Hold Person for close range devastation. He gets decent HP from his Draconic Soul, and he’s going to be consistently doing that 1d4 every single time he’s attacked.
Prepped, he could even add on Mirror Image, Blur, Blink, anything that makes him even more difficult to hit. I’m not a fan of the whip option because he can’t take advantage of reach with GFB, but that’s what he wanted 🙂
I still think this scales pretty well. Combine with Fire Shield and you could get Fire and Cold Resistance (combined with Elemental Affinity), and become downright dangerous to hit.
If you choose to go down the Warlock path, Shadow of Moil + Armor of Agathys (with an automatic upcasting of Armor of Agathys, obviously) is a good combination.
It's slightly different from Rage in that you're not doing extra damage with your attacks and you're not resistant to damage from attacks (except for the very rare Radiant damage), but I think it's a very nice gish version with a different set of fun and unique qualities. It makes you heavily obscured, so not even creatures with True Sight or Blind Sight can see you (so you're unable to be targeted by a huge portion of spells), and you deal quite a bit of damage to anyone that hits you with a melee attack (20 or 25 cold plus 2D8 Necrotic). It does give you advantage on all of your attacks (because you can't be seen by your enemy, but you can see your enemy), so it is like Rage in that way. And unlike Rage, it gives enemies disadvantage on their attacks on you, whereas Rage + Reckless Attack will normally give enemies advantage on their attacks on you (but at least you resist the damage), which is swingier, but probably stronger than Rage.
A huge downside is that it takes two actions to set this up, although Armor of Agathys has an hour duration (and isn't concentration), so you can at least set that part up before combat.
Warlock is a good choice because like Sorcerer and Bard, it uses Charisma as its casting stat, so it works well with a Paladin dip. Like Sorcerer, but unlike Bard, you have access to Booming Blade. You're going to have to take the Spell Sniper feat if you want to use Booming Blade with a 10ft range when using a whip (my Tempest Cleric did that, and it's a lot of fun). But if you do a Bard and take the spell sniper feat, you can choose Booming Blade for the spell learned, so that's not too big of a problem to choose Bard if your plan is to use Booming Blade with a 10 foot range. Just keep in mind that you'll have to use a feat both to get Booming Blade and to increase it to a 10ft range, but luckily one feat can do both of those things for you.
If you're going Cha based and splashing Paladin, Devotion actually has a pretty nifty Channel Divinity (once per short rest) option for a melee gish:
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.