Mastering the Bladesinger
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- Опубліковано 15 лип 2024
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If you would like to know how I calculate damage or how baseline damage is determined, I go through it in this video:
• How To Calculate Avera...
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
2:03 Feature review
4:29 Importance of intelligence
6:02 Full wizards
7:00 A powerful wizard
9:32 Multiple ability dependancy
12:16 Spell vs weapon scaling
14:10 Shadow blade at level 6
19:25 Shadow blade at level 11
23:30 Tenser's Transformation
38:11 Optimal tactics
41:40 Choosing weapons
44:19 Setting ability scores
45:33 Which races to consider
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My ruling for Shadow Blade is that is turns your focus into a weapon - a wand basically turns into a lightsaber as you use the wand as the handle of the sword, a staff turns into a glaive or spear, etc. This way you are technically hitting with your focus, which has a value.
tensers transformation is a better version of feign death because instead of faking being dead to spy on the enemies in a dungeon room, you can just actually be dead (method acting)
I like bladesingers because of the variety. Sometimes you play a rogue and the RP really makes you want to shield all your friends from danger, but you can’t. Sometimes you play a Wizard and the RP makes you just want to physically tear someone apart but you know that it’d be a waste. Being able to choose to cast a dimension door to get someone into combat one turn, thunderwave to get someone out of range the next, get mad and hit the bad guy the next turn, and life transference when your loved one goes down? Delicious.
I feel like bladesingers excel at choice. Sometimes the story calls for you to do some statistics and maximize damage, but I feel like bladesingers are at their best when they just listen to what’s going on in the battle and pick what their character would want to focus on and fix that problem. With the variety of a wizards spell list, the option to get physical when you need to, and the AC to not just be a burden to your healer if you get in range, combat is really fun.
(Bonus perk: did you forget you were up next again? Don’t have time to read all the details of the spell you were thinking of casting. “Oh- ah- fuck it. I hit it with my sword.” Is a great fallback without feeling like your wasting a resource)
You're talking from my heart. Also reason I like moon druid (multiclassed with barbarian) it gives you much more freedom of choice, somebody is dying got it, you need crowd control, got it, you just wanna smash stuff, bear it up (rage) and got it XD
Basic tip: remember to cast spells. I have a blade singer who almost never does. It is tempting to pretend to just be a martial, but you’ve got the best spell list at your disposal and you need to use it to maximise your character.
Totally agree. I would just gently remind your player that a bladsinger is still a wizard first and foremost, and that wizard magic can end a fight faster and safer than running in with your sword.
Just sneeze in his general direction. I imagine after constantly going down he should get the hint? ;)
@@CaitSith87 man wizards are soooo squishy. They have TWO less hit points a level than a fighter MASSIVE!!!!! Thats why blade singer needs double the fighter's ac
@@stevenyoung9738 have you seen the video treantmonk did a one shot with other optimizers. One had the strategy to get an incredible high AC. So if the dm would used the attack action that would maybe have been helpful. Sadly the dm used storm giants with lightning attacks. Witouth treanmonk who played a summoner tne optimized melees would have been toast.
Also as a bladesinger you max dex and int which leaves you max with a 14 in con while as a normal melee you probably go 16 con.
@@CaitSith87 you're right ac doesn't ever matter and mssing that 2 hp a level really kept the wizard from relevant. Sadly there's no reaction spell that counters elemental attacks that effectively doubles your hp against elemental attacks. Just none. Nothing. Absorb Elements. Its just not possible. Wizard is just so squishy because of that 2 hp a level and have no spells to counter literally everything
Ive been playing my bladesinger for two months now and was first underwhelmed because I felt my damage was subpar. But then I realized that the true strength in a Bladesinger is having your concentration protected by almost being unhittable. My DM gave me a homebrew magical item that increased my Ac by +2 (among other effects as well), and he probably shouldn't have. I changed my build from a gish striker to a control wizard with a highly protected Concentration check and have been loving it.
“+2 AC homebrew magic item” WHEW that’s nice, have fun with that!
@@tylercrum there's more to it then just +2 AC, just brought up that component since it was relevant to the protecting my concentration aspect I was speaking about.
Oh no that poor dm.
Playing a Dhamphir (VampireDadxDrowMom) bladesinger in a Strixxhaven campaign. The racial ability to spider climb is amazing for using pits as cover (obviously the ceiling is for casting spells lol)
I have way too much buffy the vampire love 💕
#bonusactionrainbow
@@tawumpas +1 for buffy
I'm in a campaign that's winding down playing a bladesinger. It's honestly exceeding my expectations, and is so fun. In a party of a lore cleric, moon druid, and a forge domain cleric, I get to be the frontliner with all the benefits of being a wizard. So much fun. If you have every even thought about being a gish, I cannot recommend being a bladesinger enough.
The biggest benefit I've found is just being more useful in the turns or even combats where you don't want to use your spell slot resources - especially at lower levels (at least until 7th or so) until you have plenty of slots.
It rounds out some of the weaker early levels where if you weren't a bladesinger you'd run out of spells and just be fire bolting...
I love the way you said that melee just replaces your "firebolt" turns.
I remember in Tulok the Barbrarian's Sephiroth video the phrase, "Just think of weapon attacks as your strongest cantrip." And that makes a ton of sense to me.
Ok this comment is late and so will probably go unseen, but! As a self-proclaimed Martial Bladesinger Fanboy, I have to say two things!
1: I don't really disagree with anything you've said :).
2: I think that so much of how effective a Martial-Focused Bladesinger is depends a lot on your paradigm and intent. If my approach to the character is something like: "I want to be the best Wizard I can be," then my approach will be vastly different than if it were something akin to "I want to make a powerful melee attacker." With the latter, you're not thinking as much about your high level spells and your Spell Save DC. It's more like "well, I could be a Fighter/Barbarian and take GWM/PAM... bleh, boring. Hexblade? Done to death and too few spell slots. Hm... what about a Bladesinger? I could be a really powerful Melee character *and* have lots of spell slots to Blink, Shield, Misty Step, etc. etc. with... sounds awesome!" With *that* approach, you're comparing yourself not to other Wizards (heresy, I know), but instead to the other Martial Melee characters of the world. And so, of course you're going to focus on Dex over Int. And not worry so much about what else you could be doing instead of casting Shadow Blade (or Animate Objects) as a 5th level spell, right? It's not "I could have used Wall of Force!" it's "this about on par with other Martials, damage-wise, but with way better spells than an Eldritch Knight could've had!" And I truly do think that, under that paradigm, you end up being really competitive, damage-wise with the best Martials, but get to bring along a much better bag of tricks to boot.
I appreciate that, as you've pointed out, there are drawbacks. Ramp up time due to Bonus Action bloat is perhaps the biggest. That said, it feels to me like many of the strongest Martial damage-dealers in game require some similar ramp: The Hexblade casting Darkness or Shadow of Moil... even Barbarians have to Rage. When I've played Bladesinger in game, I don't typically mind going something like: round 1 - Bladesong and an additional defensive buff like Mirror Image (at lower level) or Blink (at higher), or a nice little Fireball or something while we all try to get in range and to soften up a few targets, then round 2 - Shadow Blade and make a couple of attacks (with Booming Blade, since that's allowed at my table, which admittedly isn't RAW though from what I can tell is allowed by most). It feels really fun and dynamic and, yeah, powerful. :)
Just my 2c! Loved the video! Can't wait for all the blowback our commenters are going to give us when we release Bladesinger videos right on top of each other :P (mine will be out Tuesday).
Im watching the video today, so your comment isn't unseen. I agree with your points.
Really it comes down to that the Wizard is so strong, people keep saying stop whacking things with your sword. That's not a weakness of the sublcass, but show cases how strong Wizards are. Either way, play a melee Bladesinger, and get to have fun RP with your spells outside of combat like suggestion. One of my fav low level spells to really eek out that Jedi feel.
@@Jk-zv6tz yay! :)
That's exactly it, even though the melee fighting bladinger isn't the most optimal way of playing the class (subclass) in the whole scheme of things, but it can definitely be a great way to play the enhanced magical warrior type of character many are going for. As shown by treantmonks temple, It's not optimal way in regards to the possibilities of the game, but it can still be the perfect way to play and not only viable but supreme compared to other choices representing the warrior / magical warrior (through flavourtexting, or other gishes, (Hexblade/Palladin/Sorcerer/Bard, Moondruid/Barbarian, SwordsBard) and can itself be adjusted by multiclassing to achieve the result you're striding for (Tank - Artificer, Spy - Arcane trickster Rogue, etc.).
Absolutely on #2. I AGREE. This is how most players see Bladesinger. Most players see Bladesinger as a hyper-flexible martial mutliclass. It is hella good with Rogue too, maybe even better than Trickster Rogue.
PIN THIS
I agree with your assessment. I think the biggest reason everyone wants this to be some spell blade attacker is that a lot of the options for this archetype in DND are very poor. GFB and Booming blade are weird circumstantial spells and the smite style (branding smite, etc) spells that come a little closer use up a lot of spell slots for very little impact and require you concentration. People want that anime style magic sword fighter or that Final Fantasy spell sword/ runic knight with a bunch of elemental sword attacks. Power up your sword and unleash fury etc.
I think a trick to this that I haven’t seen a lot of people do is use flavor to full effect. Casting fireball? Your sword is your focus, you twirl and twist and slam your sword on the ground and a line of energy surges forward to a point and then explodes. Casting cone of cold? You breathe deep and blow out foggy frigid air from your lungs and sweep your sword on a wide arc in front of you sending a wave of ice out towards your enemies.
It kind of sucks that you have to lean into flavor to get that spellsword feel a lot of people want, but it’s what we’ve got. We have a ton of classes that have swords and that can cast spells, but not a lot of support for a true meshing of the two ideas unless you read between the lines a fair bit.
honestly from a "spellsword" angle, going bladesinger is just as good as going literally any wizard subclass and just equipping a sword, just due to 5e's bad options for spellswords
downside is for you to be able to do Blade as a focus, by RAW, you have to go a full 3 levels into Swords Bard, since as far as I'm aware, no other class explicitly gives you the ability to cast spells through your sword
@@GoblinLord pact of the blade with improved pact weapon let you use it as a focus
@@GoblinLord you can get a ruby of the war mage
"spell blade attacker is that a lot of the options for this archetype in DND are very poor"
I disagree, there are some very strong options here. The problem mainly is that players want this archetype to be more powerful with a sword than a non-magical swordsman AND they want to be just as powerful with spells as a full spellcaster AND they want it to be SAD. This combo is impossible for very good reason: there would be no reason to ever play any other class - why would anyone play a Fighter if Bladesinger was better than Fighter at doing weapon damage and is a full Wizard at the same time?
If you want to primarily be an attacker making magical attacks with your sword, then you should go Arcane Trickster Rogue. Sneak Attack + Booming Blade make you comparably deadly with a blade as fully martial build while giving you some spells to play with but primarily you'll be casting BB with the melee attack with it, at higher levels you can swap to Shadow Blade depending on the circumstance.
Alternatively Hexblade gives you a special magical sword which you can and should flavour as something special, and competitive spellcasting progression with full casters. Since Warlock gets only 2 spell slots, you'll probably throw out one AoE spell then do exclusively weapon attacks or alternate between weapon attacks and casting EB.
If you want a bunch of elemental spells that get applied to your weapon before you strike, then play a Paladin. They get all kinds of magical boosts that can be applied to their weapon - Smites of different elemental types, Divine Favor, and some Channel Divinities further boost your weapon. Really all that's missing here is an Oath focused on Arcane magic like the Arcane/Knowledge Cleric.
You hit the nail on the head!
I'm glad you mentioned the catch-22 in regards to Heavy Armor and Tensers Transformation. I had a player come to the table with the idea that he was going to put on Heavy Armor and cast Tenser's Transformation and he (and everyone else) had a good faceplam and 5 minute belly-laugh when this problem was explained to him. It was a 1shot so I let him do it anyway instead of sending him back to the drawing board. I don't think the designers realized this problem when making the spell, its reminiscent of the supremely knuckleheaded design of the net and how it basically always attacks with disadvantage.
The only way I know short of a magic summoning armor spell or item ability to instantly do this is having a cast-off armor item of that armor type (and good luck having the wizard lug their armor around as the weight it is or fishing it out in combat from a holding item.)
re: net unless you are a bugbear :)
@@joshuacr A 3 level dip into Artificer can let you do that with Arcane Armor.
It's probably very rarely going to come up for anyone, but the one time I played a bladesinger I had a very forgiving GM and a ridiculous amount of luck. Not only did we roll our starting stats and I got incredibly lucky, starting with a strong INT, DEX and CON, my GM also alowed me to use booming blade and green-flame blade with my shadow blade. Finally I managed to get my hands on a set of Illusionists bracers (let's you re cast a cantrip as a bonus action after you've cast one on the current turn). In other words, I could get in with my attack and bonus action, three attacks with shadow blade, two of which where booming blades. I was effectively the primary front line fighter for much of the game and I could still pull out big spells like hypnotic pattern, wall of force and the like when a particularly tough fight came our way. By far the strongest character I've ever gotten to play. Also they where a silly kobold.
Anything can be strong with a DM that allows you to bend the rules and gives you strong magic items. Once that's on the table, a lot of optimization arguments go out the window.
@@jayme0227 you always should optimize for your table and not for the game
No matter what happens I still love the blade singer because of one build. If I ever play in a game that ends at a low level I always look to play a character who is Arcane trickster 3/blade singer 2. Such a fun build
Agreed, this is also one of my favourite builds. Any combination of levels in either class makes a fun character
I have played this. It's phenomenal and definitely worth the dip
How many level dip? I started as a Rogue and am now Level 4 Arcane Trickster and Level 2 Bladesinger. I can't make up my mind on where my build ends up.
@@stevegrodzinski2933 honestly two levels of wizard is all you need
@@metumortis6323 Thanks. That’s what I was thinking. We are doing Dungeon of Mad Mage so level 20 will eventually happen. Now the million dollar question is there another dip f that would make sense. Only have 10 STR so that writes off Fighter/Paladin. But do have WIS and CHA minimums that opens door to Other classes and wondering if there is another 2-3 level dip. Since most classes are front end loaded with underwhelming CAP stones willing to explore all avenues.
What i greatly love with your videos is that i always learn something new . This time thanks to you i learnt that a tenser's transformation eldritch tatoo would be a great reward for any martial class . Thanks
@Treantmonk's Temple
I built a Bladesinger with bugbear MMOM.
1st turn, I can upcast scorching ray to proc surprise attack (extra 2d6 per hit) against the enemy move after me, and trigger bladesinging.
2nd turn, I trigger shadow blade (upcast), and make 2 attack with it.
3rd turn, shadow blade and cantrip combo.
This way I can do way more dmg... And I would use shadow blade only if it's dim or dark setting. Without advantage, I would use spell to control instead.
And thanks to Bugbear's Long-Limbed, I don't need to stay in melee range, so I can even use firebolt within my combo.
I am playing right now in campaign as baldesinger with scribes wizard, divine sorcerer and lore bard (we didn't share classes before campaign start), so on boss fights we just need someone to do pure damage, so I multiclassed in fighter, to fill this role. It may be not usual optimal way to play bladesinger, but with 4 full casters in group it is needed. So sometime the most optimal way is to play non-optimal way, and blade singer is great with opportunity to fill different roles in group. After all, it is a party game about team work
Totally agree, playing one right now as well. The Armor Artificer and my Bladesinger tank while the Arcane Archer & Swarm Keeper Ranger disintegrate foes with ranged & thrown attacks respectively. I often don't do anything other than bladesong, stab, cantrip, most of my spells are utility. Sometimes I just shoot a light crossbow & ray of frost, legal in the rules depending how you read it. It's really fun! Fly, Knock, Invisibility, Dispel Magic, Spirit Shroud are my jam, didn't take Fireball.
If your party is okay with grinding down monsters over longer combats, Bladesinger is hands-down the best option for a Victory By Endurance gish. Bladesinger, even moreso than most wizards, has access to a bunch of 'GG, thanks for running DM' spells that will just let them straight-up win the combat like Wall of Force, Fear, Fly, and Investiture of Stone. As in, you cast the spell, point out that the enemy can no longer even meaningfully hurt you but YOU still can still hurt them back, ask if you can just subtract 25% of your current hp in exchange for not having to go through the formality of combat -- whereupon it'll just be 0%.
Same thing with me; I played with couple really good players from TM server and we had multiple casters and the only role not occupied was the striker. So I chose wizard bladesinger and we had some powerful combos with that additional to distributing utility spells between two wizards we had in the party. I also find martially oriented bladesinger a great plug for multiple holes. I had a campaign once where people did not have a controler and a striker so I managed to close both of those with a bladesinger
The power of an Action Surge-ing wizard is always incredible.
6 levels of bladesinger with 14 levels of eldritch knight is actually probably one of the best Gish striker multi class builds in 5e, you get better spell selection than a pure eldritch knight, and are a lot sturdier than a pure bladesinger, and even just 2 levels of fighter gives you a control wizard with action surges so you can do multiple things in a turn plus con save proficiency.
When I first started playing 5e I was looking for guides, and found your bladesinger guide, which has been one of my favorite classes since I started playing in 2nd. I immediately disregarded every other guide I found as I knew your work from 3.5/Pathfinder guides. I really enjoy playing it as a wizard that doesn't have to sit back. I play one in AL, and I feel like I surprise every DM with just how hard it is to hit the character
I can only imagine Colby from the D4 network watching this, his heart breaking, followed by a long passionate tirade to defend his favorite class (besides monk)
Seriously though, his Bladesinger 2.0 build is impressive
Didn't he use the custom lineage half-elf on that? Isn't that against the rules?
@@Ahamaga Yup, explicitly; "Your race is considered to be a Custom Lineage for any game feature that requires a certain race, such as elf or dwarf."
Add to that the rather clunky aspect to of picking up and putting away your off hand constantly, as well as the summons, animate object magic "weapon"-resistance, AND shadow blade RAW problem, it's a build that requires quite a lot of goodwill from the DM. Nothing insane, but numerous times. Unless you're playing with other power gamers, it looks bad.
@@Ahamaga Yes, 100%. This was before it was confirmed that that isn't possible. So you might choose to play an elf (delaying your feat progression) or custom lineage (giving up elvish accuracy)
@@Ramschat I remember the humble pie video lol. I love that channel, I have been following him since the needler, but he really messed up with custom lineage builds early on
@@Ahamaga no i think WotC made a bad ruling and its exactly the opposite of what they are doing with races in their updates
Another fantastic journey in the world of D&D; Thanks Chris for all the content that you put out.
Another great video! I am re-watching it and though I am not playing my bladesinger totally optimized I really enjoy your info break down and I always appreciate your style of information presentation. Keep up the videos I watch them all the time when I'm character and world building.
I've not done the math or cast the spell in a game. However, at a glance, Tasha's Otherworldly Guise is a much better "transformation" spell for a bladesinger than Tenser's Transformation for a few reasons
1) You don't give up spellcasting to cast this spell or gain exhaustion for casting this spell
2) You don't give up armor class. You actually gain armor class with TOG
3) You can use INT for attack/damge rolls, which may be better than an extra 2D12 damage and advantage but I'm not sure
4)Fly speed
5)I'd much rather have two damage Immunities and a condition immunity than have prof in CON and STR saves and 50 temp hp
TOG just seems like the defensive options are much better and it doesn't lock you into a playstyle like TT
The 2d12 with adv is a little better than maxed int when it comes to damage, and on par for accuracy when compared with advantage only so long as it is maxed int.
I prefer draconic transformation from Fitzban's, personally
1 min vs 10 min, flying, damage and condition immunities magical attacks etc, all vs +2D12force and 50thp, also...
I can see certain situations for either one, really.
In my campaign i play an eldritch knight bladesigner focusing on melee. It may not be optimal, but its the most fun I've had playing dnd with them, just by amount of options i have with levelling up, and participating in combat
I love how you "Tell it Like it Is". Keep up the great work! 👍
Great episode, thank you!
What I enjoy about your videos is precisely that your opinions and advices clearly derivate from game experience, this should be obvious to anyone who has played d&d for while.
I play a Classic Bladesinger for two years now and it is a blast of a game. I rolled my abilities and have another wizard in the party which does most of wizardry, so its not much kosher of a situation, but most of the time Im flashing around doing what needs to be done.
Presently, My group is at level 9 and Im having a really nice time with him.
Only time I was really satisfied with Tensor's Transformation was on a Level 14 Glamour Bard. Took Find Greater Steed and Tensors. I had a power up round where my character would mount their Sabertoothed Cat and use Tensors. Effects apply to both. Use Bonus action to do Unbreakable Majesty to add to the character's defense.
Great video 🙂. I like playing Bladesingers and get good results by casting a concentration spell and then taking the dodge action on subsequent rounds if I don't have another way to impose disadvantage on attacks against me.
I went the Battlesmith route at levels 10-12. From levels 1-11, I was primarily a caster. While this does slow spell progression for higher level spells, I could only cast those spells once per day anyway. The vast majority of my casting, even if I went Wizard 20, is going to be level 5 or lower spells.
For AC, I picked up a Barrier Tattoo (Half Plate equivalent without actually counting as armor). So my AC is 15 + DEX (max 2) + Blessing of Protection (1) = 18 base.
First round against several enemies, I either Fireball or Hypnotic Pattern if I can avoid hitting my allies. If I can't, then I cast Haste on myself and engage in melee alongside my allies.
Against a single enemy, I always just cast Haste on myself first round.
I've been playing the same campaign since I started playing 2.5 years ago with an unoptimised party (I happened to pick a good class - Shepherd druid, though I'm still lv7 and did not protect concentration when taking the ASI), and I have been followong the channel for some time, but without the opportunity to "put it to use".
We're starting a new campaign in 2-3 months, and I am considering playing a mahou shoujo style of character as a Bladesinger, so I'm glad that your revamped guide came out before character creation even if it's just to get some ideas that I can tone down to suit my campaign in a way that still feels cool and powerful.
I still don't know if I'll end up playing the bladesinger, but your videos have helped me understand the game more, even if I will end up not using them indiscriminately in order not to break my games. Keep up the good job. :D
The joy of playing a Bladesinger and getting a cloak of displacement is just great. I think I can count on my fingers the ammount of times i got hit by an attack after that, even playing full melee
Had Singer in Icewind Dale and got a Shield Guardian😏
THANK YOU!! I mentor a number of GMs to help improve their skills and I have tried to warn them about Tenser’s Trap for months now. I didn’t run the math until after Halloween of this year when I played in a 15th level 1 shot and the Abjuration Wizard casted TT 3 times, once before a long rest and twice after. This used all of their high level slots, they did this while our COL Druid and Sorcerer both interchangeably cast Web (2nd) and flaming sphere (4th) on the enemy. I was working as the GMs hit point secretary and they outpaced the Wizard EVERY round. Not most rounds, EVERY ROUND.
This is another really good video.
Bladesingers are almost better martials in damage and defense, but that's just even worse than a regular control wizard.
Completely experienced this as a Bladesinger.
Swapping to a Handcrossbow also has another big upside - range. For an optimal party this is just a massive advantage. Even a Bladesinger will die if they are the only one in melee. Even hanging in the back at lv6 is arguably better.
Also dhampir and dragonmarks should probably also be considered.
Firstly I agree with your considerations about tenser's transformation, but as I see it it clearly was not made for bladesingers, no, as I see it the only class it actually works well with is abjuration wizards, they with their ward (Wich they get some a lot of back w this) can protect the concentration and I once played a abj wizard who happened to roll really good stats so my dex was solid and this spell helped me be tanky and deliver great damage in quite a few fights, probably because we were lacking a damage focused martial, but I still think in fights where the enemy has magic resist, legendary resists and/or good saves this is a great backup, not for bladesingers who already have an enhanced multiattack and all the profs they need but for an abjurer who gets all the relevant benefits+ward recharge.
Going to watch this *after* I record my episode for next week :P
Genuinely love how much of the video was against tensors transformation
This is all really really excellent advice!
Versatility is the name of the game with a Bladesinger. My Harengon Bladesinger owns a short sword and a rapier. When it makes sense to cast shadowblade he does and uses the short sword. When it makes sense to cast a bonus action spell during combat, out comes the rapier. I also have the hand crossbow for when I want to stay out of the way and that’s usually when I’m casting Ashardalon’s Stride too.
Tenser’s sounds like a spell you should be able to cast on someone else..
Like to buff the Warrior and turn him into a super hero
That change would totally reverse my opinion on the spell. As a buff you hand out it would be awesome!
@@TreantmonksTemple I didn't realize until now it didn't work that way. I though It was a good spell to cast on others.
It would be even better to buff non-warriors! That little goblin you picked up to join your adventuring party? Dress him up in heavy plate, give him a couple short swords and send him out to do some damage!
@@nicholassteele1367 They way it has been (mistakenly) used at my table is as a NPC buff, but it is surprisingly good on Rogues as well.
My DM has a homebrew feat that lets you cast Tasha's Otherworldly Guise once a day + an ASI, so martial characters who don't use concentration anyway can cast it on themselves. Turns it from a useless spell into an incredible one. Flight, extra attack, and using a mental stat for your damage modifier is incredible for a rogue
Woot! Thank you for the video I'm definitely going to play one!
Found you through Dungeon Dudes and I think you are awesome. Dennis Hopper was bad ass!!!
Thanks so much, and welcome!
Wonderful video I enjoy this type of character. (Gish) but I have always stayed away from the bladesinger because it always felt like a trap. Never thought about it as a wizard with a tone of defenses and the ABILITY to use a weapon if needed.
Comment is really for the algorithm great content sir.
I’m a huge fan of the bladesinger. There’s so
much you can do and all the guides want you to take shadowblade which I consider suboptimal for a bladesinger.
I like getting utility spells then some aoe burst spells like fireball/erupting earth and using the shadowblade for signle target thargets as it does really high damage when upcast and it is of a damage on which resistances are very rare
Tenser’s Transformation is how high level mages settle bar brawls amongst themselves.
A couple points for optimizing a weapon-based Bladesinger: I'm still not sure if this would outperform just playing like a normal wizard at higher levels, but it will definitely boost your damage some.
The first thing is you can mitigate the damage loss at the start of combat by integrating normal spell casting. For example, instead of using shadow blade first round and singing second round, and then having your setup fully online by third round, you can instead start singing first round and cast a damage spell (something like steel wind strike if you still want to feel like you're a swordfighter) and then use shadow blade second round and play the rest of combat as outlined in the video.
The next thing I would consider, if your stats allow it, is putting two levels in Paladin. Obviously you lose one casting level of spell slots, and you're lagging by two levels when it comes to unlocking new levels of spells, but it might be worth considering at midgame. Maybe put 9 levels in Wizard and then 2 in Paladin. Obviously you're missing out on 6th level spells which you would otherwise have by 11th level, but if you're trying to build around weapon attacks, we already determined that Tenser's is useless for that, and shadow blade is the same upcasted to 5th as it is to 6th, so you don't necessarily need that 6th level spell option. As far as Paladin, Divine smite doesn't require concentration or any actions, so you can just blow all your first and second level spell slots on a couple smites each round, substantially increasing your damage. At this point in the game, any 1st level damaging spells are going to get outperformed by a damage cantrip, so you wouldn't be using those low level spell slots in combat very much anyway. And since it doesn't involve your Paladin spellcasting modifier, you don't even need great Charisma to accomplish this.
This video is a perfect demonstration of how when optimizing, many people try to judge upsides, but they don't ever evaluate what they lose by going for those upsides.
favorite subclass by far
“The fighter is out performing us.” Something I love to hear, because I’ve actually heard it from the party mages at my table.
That’s okay. The fighter player could say... the wizards are out-casting me !
Turn around is fair play.
Those mages need to Git Gud. There's no reason for any spellcaster to be whining about their crappy damage post-Tasha's. I mean, yeah, God Wizard will still generally be better than a DPR Wizard, but if rolling 40-damage fireballs is your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow then 2022 DPR Wizard is nowhere the joke now that it was in 2015 or even 2019.
@@Leftists_are_Losers Oh true. It was mostly in jest because they had a couple round of bad rolls / bad guys succeeding on saves.
@@maltheopia This particular game happened in the first 5e campaign my group played in back in 2015, but I see your point.
Thanks for the video!!! Really interesting your point of view.. and logical :)
I'm so glad you mentioned goblin as an optimal race choice. Hide is amazing for when you're not in the front line.
Also as far as fun factor goes, kiting with a booming blade hit and disengage is great with goblins. Moreover, though it's not necessarily optimal, spell sniper should allow booming and green flame blade to be used with reach weapons, so whip-casting is great fluff with snake school and allows you to run and hide after your attacks.
Haven't seen the allure of shadow blade yet but may take it to mess around with when I hit level six next session. For now my key damage output is Scorching Ray on Webbed targets, or just letting others fireball the ones I web. Tasha's Caustic Brew is also a staple. For some reason our foes really like lining up and never see me until it's too late. Even if I only affect 3 targets and they wipe it off, it's one action for 3. Fair trade all day.
Damage is fun but control beats damage imo.
I'm playing a bladesinger in a current campaign (level 5 currently). It's a blast. Using a rapier. Bladesong dance and Haste on round 1. Haste, bladesong, and Mobile feat gives me a 100 foot speed and no opportunity attacks from my victim. Combined with dancing rapier, owl familiar for Help action, other spell shenanigans including booming blade, and a 23 ac, I am a BEAST in combat.
TBH, level 5&6 are the best times for bladesinger. Yet, when leveling up, you will ultimately ended up making trade offs between: 1) two swings of swords, one in cantrip; or 2) using a powerful spell from the most fantastic spell list. Usually a spell like banishment\force wall\ploymorph is much stronger than your extra attacks. If you r familiar with the idea of opportunity cost, you could kinda see why bladesinger with the most powerful spell lists is forcing players to make consistent trade offs.
I also see a lot of fun builds listed here in the comments from tables that roll. I know this isn't optimal, but here's mine. I rolled some monster stats here:
13 str
18 dex
15 con
20 int
11 wis
14 cha
Currently 8 levels of Bladesinger and 2 levels of Paladin(stats are reflective after ASIs) with tough as a feat(Currently 91 HP at level 10). It's allowed me to take a wide variety of spells and still bring big damage when I need it, all without sacrificing the ability to stay in melee even if I happen to get hit. Super effective character so far, and a lot of fun to play.
This video saved my evening!
One small thing to note is that a level 6 Bladesinger focussing on Shadow Blade would likely bump their Dexterity at level 4. I'm not saying that makes this the "optimal" way to play a Bladesinger, but it does boost the numbers should you choose to play this way.
This really took away my excitement to play a bladesinger. I needed to hear it, though.
OMG. I was midway through the video and I realized you're Treantmonk! THE Tratmonk. The wizard from pf1e. HOLY MOLY! I missed you!
I recently played a blade singing character from level 10 to 17, I was a warforged and I actually did the 3 dip in artificer but I did it in armorer. My thought process was this, spells are at their most powerful when they have lasting effects and a lot of those spells require concentration therefore if you take the concentration buff from bladesong and add proficiency to it from artificer it will boost the like likelyhood that you will never lose concentration. I also rationalized it to myself that while I would be loosing out on an ASI compared to straight classing, if I were to spend that ASI on warcaster or resilient constitution then that would be the same effect as having lost the asi for the multiclass, as far as feats and scores go. I also wanted to make use of the armorer’s gauntlets, the party was an undying warlock, a shadow monk, and a divine soul sorcerer at the time, so no one in that party was really good at the frontline or avoiding damage. I thought if I used my melee attacks to grant disadvantage against hitting my allies, my super high AC would help waste enemies actions as they tried and failed at hitting me instead. My DM was also nice in allowing my gauntlets to count as light so that I could use the other as a bonus action attack (which tbh idk logically why that isn’t the case since nothing about the armorer’s gauntlet suggests that it is sized such that swinging it would be harder than swinging a dagger in the same hand but idk if mechanically that makes things too powerful or not). My DM however did not rule that you could use booming blade with shadow blade as he felt it could do too much damage for the resource expenditure (which I don’t agree with personally and tbh whenever I see people building for shadow blade I think it does mean you are loosing a lot of what makes wizards powerful with their spell casting potential in the first place but I digress). Overall, while it was frustrating to be 1 to 2 levels behind on maximum spell level you can cast compared to other players, I Decided I could live with it given how many other primary spell casters will take a three level dip in another class and not be that bothered by it. I also like having access to infusions, even though they were fairly basic ones, but mind sharpener Is really nice to have, it might be excessive for yourself since you would already have proficiency and intelligence to concentration while in blade song, but giving it to another party member who was a full caster could always be very beneficial. All in all, I really enjoyed the character and the breath of options that gave me, I’m not convinced it was 100% optimal but he could do a lot of things and a couple of levels of artificial were nice to have, although my DM was annoyed with me having both a familiar and a homunculus…and then using that homunculus for a ring of spell storing for things like haste or other spells that could be in the ring that I didn’t want to use my own concentration on. It got worse once I had simulacrum as well, But to be totally honest by that point in time I found that the familiar and the homunculus were often not on the board because of how easily AOE destroyed them, or I’d have them stay put in a safe place during combat.
Speaking of simulacrum, the one use of tensers transformation I did find was having it on the simulacrums spell list. Since it can’t recover spell slots anyways and it doesn’t have a ton of hit points, when it was out of useful spell slots in a combat or I needed it to take the heat off of me or my party members tensers transformation was a good way to have the simulacrum burn itself out with a bang. Since it also had the gauntlets it was good at distracting enemies and did respectable damage in melee when necessary and since a simulacrum has half your HP, that 50 temp HP really helped boost its ability to take hits that got past its AC. There was a specific time when my character wise incapacitated inside of a monster but my simulacrum Was still able to fight it and ultimately kill it saving my character. That said, I would never have used my actual character to cast a spell, but on something like a simulacrum where it’s going to be destroyed anyways, it didn’t hurt in the slightest.
I totally agree! I would never cast shadow blade and use two weapon fighting as a bladesinger, that's just a waste. The extra attack is great on many turns you might have just cast a cantrip on otherwise, but it is not you main power. Something I think bladesingers can benefit from more than most is the whip. As a one handed reach weapon it's good for not getting into enemies reach while still being able to get your extra attack/cantrip in.
I'm playing a 7th level BS and we had a big naval ship fight that went 9 rounds over two sessions. I had the most fun in a long combat situation. With a +4 Dex and cloak of protection, my AC is 17 or 21, and then with Shield it's 26. I burned 4 spell slots in shield and every time my DM sighed in dismay. He was really happy the two times it finally go through.
For race I picked Harengon, because I wanted to be mobile above all else. I was planning to use the rabbit hop to escape melee. But I've run into the issue of too many bonus actions so I haven't really used it. I am dual welding flametongue scimitar and shadow blade, which each take a bonus action to activate fully. Hilariously, we found out last night that the flame blade light kills the attack advantage of the Shadow Blade 😄. I don't mind though; I got the flame blade bc I don't have darkvision, and I may want to concentrate on something else. So you've got a 5'10" rabbit weilding a shadow sword and a beacon bright fire sword each hand, dancing around on a ship deck.
My crazy high dex means I'm usually going high in initiative, and with the battle overtaking two different ships, I got to use spells and melee in abundance. By the time all my stuff was cooking, I was taking 3 attacks per turn, tanking, and doing reasonable damage.
I think the Bladesinger might be a little too powerful... I felt spoiled for choice most rounds, when I could see characters like the rogue or warlock frustrated.
I've been playing a bladesinger in a highly optimized campaign, and while putting Haste on myself and stabbing things was fun in the early levels (we started at level 5), now that we're level 11 I generally find my concentration is better served on things like Wall of Force or Dawn (don't judge me, we were fighting Strahd) or even just Web, and walking up and stabbing things is now a pastime for when the combat has been fully locked down and we're mopping things up. This is even though I opted for a balance between Dex and Int, and have a +4 in both. The high-level things I'm looking forward to are Simulacrum and Clone and True Polymorph, not +Int to damage at level 14.
I find EVEN as a Bladesinger, the best way to use Haste is to cast it on someone else. If you have a Rogue, it doubles their DPR. They get sneak attack off of the Haste Action, and can Ready their normal action to strike at start of next turn. Since it is the next turn, they get sneak attack again.
@@victorlima570 My party doesn't have a rogue. I did cast it on the paladin once. Then he proceeded to miss most of his attacks and I stopped doing that.
I have a warlock/bladesinger. I know it's far from optimized, but between armor of agathys and bladesong for setup, then hex and sword/2 EB combo, I'm having a lot of fun and have a solid damage output when I try. Between studded armor, a +1 protection item, a high roll on my dex stats, bladesong, and shield when I need it, it's not often I get hit even before the concentration buffs, so when I'm not using hex I'm trying more battlefield control options. It's a fun build, but I'm sure I'm behind Chris' damage curve.
Excited for the build video!
Tenser's Transformation has always been a dicey spell at best across all editions... I think it isn't too bad for a bard in the right circumstances, but not being on their list means it's a costly acquire and many of the spell's downsides like the exhaustion hurt them. It's a very poorly designed spell.
Woohoo! Been waiting for this one
Hope you enjoyed it!
I made a bladesinger, because I wanted a character that used a blade and was able to teleport around the battlefield. I used blink and shadow blade and some multiclassing. It worked pretty well for what I wanted to accomplish.
The DM did usually have one encounter days, which was important for my char to keep up. At higher levels my char also became more and more of a utility caster.
Still I liked the character build and it was a fun puzzle to make my concept viable.
I’ve been thinking about playing a strength based tortle blade singer with pole arm master a spear and blade ward so you could make two attacks and blade wars in a round I think it’s interesting
So my latest bladesinger just got a ring of spell storing, and now he’s got his familiar attuned to it.
The DM ruled you can booming blade with shadow blade, and use your haste action to attack and swap that attack for a cantrip.
I can have his owl cast haste on him while he casts shadow blade.
I calculated his DPR at level 6 in dim light to 50 DPR, with two booming blade attacks and a normal attack.
Things get weird when you add magic items, though I will admit that the item could be used just as well to boost other wizard spell casting.
It wouldn’t be a true bladesinger video without a justified rant about Tenser’s Transformation :D
One thing I like with bladesinger is taking the whip as your martial weapon proficiency and using war caster+whip to cast attack of opportunity spells more often
I'll point out one thing for Tenser's, and it's the use case I keep it around for. Tenser's is for the times you've run out of other spell slots. It's also a sort of panic button. It's also for the times you desperately need those temp hitpoints to stave off death. We've had some encounters where my bladesinger is all tapped out of spells, and even a couple of times where she's the last person standing, and Tenser's has been the difference between living and dying when I'd been hanging in there just by a fingernail. Doesn't make it a great spell, but there is a use.
I agree that the Bladesinger is best played when they remember they are wizards that can be competent in melee should the situation arises. Not to mention their stellar AC combined with Shield. I still plan to make a High Elf Bladesinger wielding a Scimitar of Speed in higher levels, though...
I am here for the Treantmonk sass today.
Honestly, range blade singer is just solid. I use mind sliver and light crossbow. Great when I'm not casting Spells. You can still duel daggers when you need to and attack with spirit shroud. Or just hang back and cast spells.
I've noticed with most of my games my wizard ends up in melee so I might as well have some defenses and damage when needed.
Good rolled and optimize bladesinger is awsome this is my favorite
I completely agree with sentiments about Tenser's Transformation. Just a few days ago a friend showed me a homebrew Strength Wizard subclass. I had a few criticisms about the subclass and he responded with Tenser's Transformation. I had never seen it, but even after looking it up, I was confused. Not being able to cast spells and getting exhausted after didn't seem all that great.
Buddy of mine is DMing his first campaign soon. He's gonna run lost mines of phandelver and I'll be playing a wizard and choosing bladesong at 2nd level.
I'll largely be choosing battlefield control spells. We have a sorcerer that wants to be a blaster, a cleric for support and a paladin for frontline weapon use.
Wizard seemed the best choice to round out the party, make the others more effective, and I'll be able to poke holes in things with my rapier if the situation calls for it. Super looking forward to it
I think you have a very specific way of playing Bladesinger that is quite different from the way many people play it. As far as I'm concerned the two ways to play bladesinger are disabler and damage. If you're in a party with a lot of save or suck spellcasters that wears down legendary resistance quickly, you want to build intelligence first and help get rid of legendary resistance with saving throw spells. If you are in a party with few ways to get rid of legendary resistance the last thing you want to do is cast save or suck spells. So in a party where you need to be damage the correct build is DEX first bladesinger. I think it's important to note that you often don't have a spare bonus action to bladesong at high levels (once you get animate objects) because you want to cast and use animate objects which takes an action to cast and a bonus action to use. A typical fight is three rounds and if you attack on turn 1 and use your bladesong and then don't cast animate objects till turn 2 (when you have a bonus action to use it) your damage drops by a very large amount. Towards this end I often go DEX first on bladesinger and pick up the Mobile Feat at character creation via custom lineage or variant human. If you go custom lineage for darkvision, your first ASI will even your 17/15 to 18/16. If you're going to be a disabler bladesinger then your typical spell selection allows you to have bonus action economy to bladesong as none of your spells will require action+bonus action the turn you cast them. This means you are far more capable of staying in melee, you want to build INT first and you don't want to take a feat like mobile. Which of these bladesingers is better comes down to party composition though. You should attack the boss resource the rest of your party attacks. Bosses in D&D have two HP bars (Legendary Resistance and Actual HP) and you want to focus on the same resource as the rest of the party for best results.
Tenser's Transformation is a fun RP trick to pull out of your sleeve. I can see a couple of really fun scenarios where the spell would make the whole table crack up.
If I was playing a Wizard, and I found it in a spellbook at some point, I'd probably take the time to transscribe it to my spell book. Probably. Maybe.
The 2 times i've gotten to do Bladesinger so far have been low level (like 2-4 low), and one of the times I had either a free feat or was allowed to use Vhuman with it.
Long story short. ~20 AC + Shield (for emergencies) + shadowblade + booming Blade + Warcaster in a dark Hobgoblin/goblin den was cathartic. After the Hob spent 2-3 rounds wiffing on this singing/shimmering/dancing guy who poked him w/ a sword that gave a funny tingle he finally decided to try and clobber the druid and gunslinger who were blasting holes in him from 40ft away... only to Proc the Booming blade for max damage, THEN proc AOO Warcaster which hit him with another swing of Booming Blade that ALSO immediately activated for near max damage... and suddenly took more damage in my off-turn attack then my two allies last round COMBINED!
Needless to say. That Hob didn't have a chance to learn from his mistake. XD
Despite that glorious moment of being the Party Tank as a low-level Wizard. I know that in later levels the druids animal summons will be in melee and I will be at range casting hypnotic patterns like a good wizard should be.
Im going to be playing a blade singer on a campaign starting later this year. Waiting to see your build and other recommendations.
It does seem a tad... off to treat dex as 16 in the damage calculations. You said to pick intelligence because spellcasting is worth more but what you are analysing is a *weapon* focussed bladesinger. Those numbers would be higher if dex was focussed, and might well be at least more appealing. You started from 'focus spells' then went to prove that if we focus spells we are indeed bad at hitting with weapons, so... I mean, yeah, we focussed spells.
Now you would still likely land at 'worse than a sharpshooter crossbow expert fighter;. But I do want to say- and I know this is an optimiser channel so this is sacriligious- do we have to be as good as one of the most damage optimised chassis? Like, we are still a spellcaster outside of combat! We have utility and mobility options, we have counterspell. I think it end up a pretty rad and potent character. Yes, it might have less value than a spellcaster focussed wizard, but so does pretty much everything. I would not choose bladesinger if I wanted to play a master of spells! I pick bladesinger because spellsword cool, and I want to see how far I can go with it, how good I can make it!
Great video, but sometimes I feel we too easily dismiss the optimisation of specific aesthetics because they don't measure up. I know they don't, but man I have run out of ideas on how to feel cool playing someone who uses a fiddly little toy crossbow to fight dragons.
The point I'm making is that our damage output compared to fighter is fairly decent at level 6 but at level 11 we are falling behind, we're just getting less out of our levels in this regard, and as you say, if you do prioritize Dex, that doesn't really change that comparison significantly. I have a build coming Friday, and I will discuss some ways we can contribute more if we want to make attacks at higher levels, but shadow blade and tenser's aren't the answer.
Agreed! Comparing Tenser's transformation against an optimized fighter is quite unfair against that spell.
I'm happy that the spell doesn't allow a caster to outshine an optimized fighter! That would just make the fighter feel like total crap!
It's a fun spell that allows you to fight shoulder to shoulder with the average fighter in melee, not a spell to make non-optimized fighters entirely obsolete.
I had great fun with my war wizard (their features stack well with this spell) using two short swords and I had 20 dex (it was a high AC/saving throws defensive build)
@@TreantmonksTemple a Bladesinger stabbing things while using their concentration for animate objects isn’t falling behind on damage though. A Bladesinger can continue to stab things even while concentrating on a non-melee wizard spell so there’s really not as much of an either/or choice as you often seem to suggest there is.
@@VALUST17 I've become more and more disillusioned with animate objects as you aren't accessing it until level 9 and by that time, resistance or immunity to the damage has actually become the norm not the exception.
I believe that a lot of the struggle is that people want to just roll in and deal massive damage. But combat- especially if you have a good DM who designs battles that reward strategy, positioning, and so forth- is about way more than damage numbers! The thing about being a Bladesinger is that it's truly a class about being smart. The flexibility, the sheer amount of choice; you are likely the most adaptable member of the party, or close to. The Bladesinger can balance damage, enemy control, mobility, debuffs/shutdowns, and so forth.
Now I'm normally a story/character centric builder, build power be damned. But my Bladesinger is specifically an ambitious, driven, and competitive character, so I want good strats for her that still match her personality and flavour themes (which are air/sound/thunder/illusion, as though you are fighting a literal whirlwind you can't touch; she's an air genasi)
Some things I'm going for:
-Defense: Shield, Mirror Image, Blink, Greater Invisibility, Absorb Elements
-a good few utility rituals at level 1 (Identify, Detect Magic, Comprehend Languages, Find Familiar) so I can be useful outside combat but also save 1st level slots for Shield
-War Caster + Booming Blade combo (controlling enemy movement)
-As the CR fans say, nothing is sexier than Counterspell
-In melee: BB for single enemy duels and opportunity attacks, GFB for facing 2 enemies or multiple enemies when next to allies, Thunderclap for being surrounded by 3+ foes
-Ray of Frost for more enemy movement control and a ranged option; Thunderwave for when the enemies are convienently grouped together and shoving enemies around (maybe into environmental hazards)
-Thunderstep, Misty Step, Blink, all for getting out of bad situations or general mobility
-Gust (modified air genasi) for enemy movement control/possible free disengage. May grab Lightning Lure at a higher level to do the reverse
-Haste, mostly for allies but sometimes for myself
-Looking at grabbing various air/wind spells to round it out, especially at higher levels, though this will involve homebrew in many cases; these tend to offer unique utility like shutting down ranged attacks from enemies, battlefield control, and so forth. Situational but flavourful.
Use your brain for more than damage calculation math. Sometimes the most powerful thing is to shove enemies into a pit, pull them into lava, rescue your healer, or set up your heavier hitter for a killer blow. I fully intend to play my Bladesinger as the battle strategist for the party!
The thing is in my experience of playing wizards is that I will run out of spell slots before the rest of the party, so I tend to try to use catrips half the time. Having bladesong helps fill out options. Also, elven accuracy with shadow blade.
Great video, hope to see GOBLIN in the build :D
First, thank you so much. You’ve well articulated something I have long suspected, that melee oriented spell casters aren’t as effective as fighter classes. That said, I’ve always liked the excitement and play style of being in close combat rather than always trying to stay on the outskirts of the battlefield. I also love the versatility of playing a full spell caster. So here is my question - what build might you recommend for a “close combat” full spell caster? And when I say “close combat”, I mean a caster who stays in close, but doesn’t use a melee weapon.
I suspect there are a number of advantages to staying in close, and some spells that work better in close as well. I’d love to know your thoughts or recommendations on this if your time permits. Thank you!
Chris has a few vids on wiz subclasses, try watch abjurer.
I’m probably going with the longsword on an artificer as it’s good single hand damage and I can up the range by another two points by going two handed while not bladesinging. I’d go with the mobility feat instead of two weapon fighting so I can get in, hit and get out without provoking attacks of opportunity. I think spiritual shroud is a nice choice to replace shadow blade; flexible damage type plus secondary effects. I personally would go with three levels in artificer, as I’m playing this class as a fighter supplemented by spells, otherwise I’d play a different subclass. You still eventually get access to the highest spells in the game, and you can get a magical weapon and a +1 to ac through infusion. You also get a pet who can apply disadvantage to an attack as a reaction, helping diminish the use of your first level spells on shield. Never mind having him around to provide flanking bonuses. That on top of using int to attack all sounds like a worthy trade to me. Also, my first three levels are probably going into artificer; not as much damage but it’ll keep you alive better. First rule of optimization; dead characters do no damage.
It's also worth considering playing a mountain dwarf for Wizard if you want to run another subclass of wizard. You can use the two +2s and medium armor to boost what matters
You can’t have your blade song active with medium or heavy armor.
@@jimmyreinstein9993 It's also worth considering playing a mountain dwarf for Wizard if you want to run ********another subclass******** of wizard.
@@jimmyreinstein9993 hey, I was making a note from when Chris was talking about options to both play wizard and raise your AC :)
I keep trying to find ways to make Tenser’s viable. My first thought was to somehow get a find steed/ greater steed, then Tenser’s powers up two creatures instead of one.
But, even that isn’t much better than a summoning spell, while eliminating any future spellcasting on your part. And it’s really difficult to get a found steed on a wizard.
I still like the fantasy of the spell, though. So as a DM, I’ll have bad guys cast it, or give a scroll of it to the party at level 5-7 range.
I agree. I prefer to think of Blade Song as a defensive trait for when enemies engage you in melee which is where most wizards get into trouble. With Blade Song, Booming Blade, and the Mobile feat (VH or CL race) you can slip away and make enemies think twice about chasing you.
lovin my goblin bladesinger... have familiar sit on my shoulder, bonus action cast dragons breath, i then slash with booming blade, withdraw as a bonus action... have familiar breath on its turn and have it get full cover by flying behind a medium sized ally
Played a Bladesinger for a few sessions, at level 3-4 and all I know is I would love to play one again. Which is why I watch a lot of videos on Bladesingers because I wanna hear how others would play one xD
It's fun listen to you ranting about Tenser's Transformation whilst I am using this spell to body everything in combat. To be fair I am playing a modified version of dnd 5e in a special guild setting which allowed me as well as other to pick more feat's. This allowed me to pick up elven accuracy which means according to my own calculations I have around 90% hitchance in most encounters. To be fair these are just my own calculations, someone else might do them diffently. This does not, of course count for everyone but I think going elven accuracy for a bladesinger should increase your hitchance with tensers significantly even if you give up a ASI. Maybe to a point where you hit like 80% of the time. Which would further put in the numbers in favor of the bladesinger.
I think most of your gripe with the damage and performance of the spell comes from how you calculate damage as your way of calculating damage factors in the standard enemy AC alot and well as the method of damage calculation was made by you alone there is a little bit of neutral ground lost. I agree that the armor proficiency is anti-useful, basically I am treating this spell as if only the first three lines exist and I can't cast any spells. Additionally you did not consider that you deal the most potent damage type in the game. Force damage which should at least give you more consistency in combat because you can realiably deal good damage as opposed a fighter might have to work around that.
As for the missing defensive options you did not factor in that, altough you cannot cast spells, you can still use your magic power in fights. I am talking about the Song of Defense Feature. In general the most effective way of surving damage is not AC but Hitpoints. As most damage in fights ist not tanked by a single indiviual of the group it is reasonable to assume that, even in meele, you do not tank more than 50 damage per turn. Congratulations you can reduce this amount by about 15 HP per round, lets say 20 if you choose your slots wisely. You now have a greater HP pool than the fighter (around 178, 68 from your base HP when you have 14 CON, 50 from Tensers and 60 from 3 succesful uses of song of defense). With an AC of 20 even if you skipped one ASI for elven accuracy (16 DEX 18 INT) (21 if you have a +2 studded leather which you should get anyway, 22 when you reach level 12 as you can now pick an ASI, 22/23 if you have a Cloak of Protection) , and similar/better damage when you take my arguments into account. Yes you give up the ability to cast spells but there are instances where single target damage is more important then spell versatility, and for these fights tensers is perfect. You need one round of prep and you are set, which in my experience at least (yours can of course differ) happens more than 75% of the time if you are smart.)
In conclusion, you kinda have to build around tensers to be effective but that would'nt dimish your potency as a spellcaster even if you do that, you just get better in meele, even without tenser's, even more with tenser's. The fun in playing a wizard for me is to figure out how to use spells effectively and tenser's was such a case for me. I am outperforming everyone in single target DPS when I use it and still am a terrifing threat when not. And It's fun to be able to go toe to toe with our barbarian at the same level, which I am in my round at least, thanks to tenser's,
Best regards and have fun playing.
A Tenser's enjoyer.
I’ve been playing a Bladesinger in a campaign for almost 2 years now. We started at level 1 and are a bit into level 14 now. The plan is to go to level 20.
My build is pretty simple: Wizard up to level 10, then 2 levels in fighter (for RP and lore reasons but also action surge) and then the rest in wizard.
My feats are Warcaster (booming blade on reaction attacks and never dropping concentration) and Tough.
Point buy: 8, 14, 14, 15, 10, 10. He’s a high elf (and this was before Tasha’s) so his stats were 8, 16, 14, 16, 10, 10 after race increases.
His stats are currently 8, 18, 14, 20, 10, 10 and I prioritized Int for my ASI. 128 (rolled) HP, 17 bass AC (24 with BS and Haste/Tasha’s Otherworldly Guise and 29 with Shield)
My weapon of choice was a standard rapier until I got my Moonblade. This with Booming Blade is much better than Shadowblade imo and doesn’t take time to set up.
Forgot to mention: Silvery Barbs has been super useful since I picked it up when hitting 14. I tend to use it defensively for when I get crit because those are my bane most of the time.
In your "shadow blade at level 6" segment you are forgetting three things.
One, cantrips scale at level 5, 11, and 17, so that booming blade cast as a level 6 character scales up to +1d8 thunder on hit, +2d8 if the target moves. This bumps your damage by about ~5 if we assume 55% chance to hit and 50% chance of getting that movement bonus damage. Not huge, but it's something.
Two, Shadowblade and booming blade deal damage types that are very rarely resisted and even if the shortsword damage is resisted due to the weapon being non-magical, the vast majority of your damage output is unlikely to be resisted, which automatically makes you that much better than any martial who does not have a magic weapon at this point.
Three, during your first round setup activating your bladesong, there's nothing stopping you from tossing out an actual spell with your action rather than attacking. You could use Mirror Image for some serious survivability, toss out a Tasha's Mind Whip to shut down a strong but stupid opponent's next turn, maybe use See Invisibility if you know there's an invisible opponent.
THANK YOU! The fact that he wasn't accounting for cantrip scaling or higher level upcasting was driving me nuts throughout this video. This whole thing seemed like an hour long video on why you shouldn't fight in melee combat as a Bladesinger.
I know it will be buried but based on personal experience, a artificer dip is still not awful. There's a benefit to having all of your big boy wizard spells prepared with your wizard spells per day and the usual 1st levels like shield and absorb elements (plus cure wounds or faerie fire!) prepped with artificer. Plus your infusions give you a plus 1 weapon, a plus 1 to armor, or a plus one to a focus. The steel defender is also a more reliable source of damage than a twf for those that want to melee, and the deflect attack... well, disadvantage is always useful to inflict on enemies. Lastly, while this is incredibly late level and most campaigns won't get to this point, melee is still viable, because your blade song on top of the battlesmith kit will have you adding double your int mod to damage. You get two attacks and that twf bonus action off, and that's 25 damage by itself. Say you've got a crystal sword equipped and you use booming blade. You're basically delivering fireball damage to someone in melee and you're not even burning spell slots, leaving you open to using more buffs for your party or debuffs for your enemy.
Variant human - warcaster
Round 1:
BA - Bladesong
A - Any 3rd level spell (say fireball) = 8d6 dmg (1 of 3 slots)
Round 2:
BA - Shadowblade (2 of 3 slots)
A - 2 attacks, 1 booming blade (assuming Dm allows you to use shadowblade) - 3d8+DEX+3d8+DEX+Boomingblade1d8+2d8... that's 7d8+2*DEX+Optional2d8 if they move, that's most than a fireball, every turn, from here on out.
I currently play a bladesinger designed to be a Gandalf themed character. An old aasimar dual wielding sword and staff. My spell choices are focused mostly around low magic effects. (Illusions and buffs. Things that aren't flashy.) He's far from optimal, but for the theme he's optimized. With magic items and bladesinging his AC is 26.
My DM let's us buy magic items at high costs because he wants us powerful. We tend to take on things much higher cr than we should be able to, and often still find ourselves in situations where we have to play smart or we'll die.
But the best part about our party is that we almost all ended up as capable front liners. We have the classic totem barbarian. My brother who told me he was playing a war wizard but mixed up the classes and was actually playing a bladesinger as well. The spore druid with a small group of skeletons offering him supporting fire. The echo fighter. And the weird multiclass warlock rogue that is mostly ranged, but occasionally will run in with his soul knife attacks.
Once your concentration is up, using Blade Ward can be an interesting option if you can punish a creature for attacking you while taking a shot with a ranged weapon. A few spells can do the trick. Tensei is also pretty good if you use Contingency to teleport (misty step or something else) as soon as the temp are gone. Not sure if Dimension Door can be used, but if so even better.
Yea Chriss, I play a high level wizard and I looked at this myself as an option, "tensor's transformation. I gave it the boot at the first glance. My Div wizard was way better off controlling the battlefield. even if it were a bladesinger, that lvl 6 disintigration is a better choice when the map gets hot.... especially if you can eliminate a mob in the process. good advice to nix TT
I think the main problem with the Bladesinger is that, by its theme and nature, it is usually used for cases where you WANT to play a melee character, and thus the emphasis on melee tends to just be what we want to do with it.
Personally I am a huge fan of grabbing one or two levels of Rogue with Bladesinger. This gives you the Hand Crossbow proficiency, so you can avoid the melee dangers of the class, and with Cunning Action you gain a whole lot of great utility for moving around and staying safe, whether you are shooting or slinging spells. I also like to split myself a bit more between dex and int for it, and generally put some emphasis on summoning spells. The summoning spells provide great value for damage, puts a body between us and the baddies, lets us trigger our little extra sneak attack damage, and keeps our spell slots largely in reserve for handy support things like counterspell, etc.
One way around the armor issues with Tenser's Transformation is to use it with an Illusionist. At 14th level they can cast disguise self to appear to wear heavy armor (no concentration), then cast Tenser's and finally as a bonus action make the illusory armor real.
Other casters can instantly doff armor with a common magic item to not be trapped in their armor.
Bladesinger is this absolute versatile character with a lot of possibilities to do either damage or control, with a lot of defensive capability and a lot of options. This clas is an allrounder that in the right hands can be the best character on the tabble or a generic wizard or a bad fighter, all depends on gameplay.
yeah we were overdue for an update video on bladesingers....using Tasha's custom origin rules, I make a high elf and switch the INT and DEX bonuses around to start with 17 INT and 16 DEX then take elven accuracy at level 4 and raise NIT to 18, war caster can wait for the bladesinger...I also swap longsword proficiency for scimitar proficiency using custom origin, and swap shortbow for a tool proficiency like poisoner's kit or something