Show me a martial character with the hp pool of a wizard. You're treating the use of a first level spell to get high AC as if it's devastating, and it's just not. No one complained ever about the EK getting ACs in that range through shield, and the paladin in my game, at 8th level, sported a 23 AC with shield of faith up. It's not ludicrously high, it's just good for one round at the expense of a spell slot.
I wasn't comparing the BS to a martial, my point was that his survivability is extremely high relative to other wizard traditions. Just the fact that you had to pull out martial builds specifically geared for high ACs bears that out.
And, yes, not getting hit is better than getting hit, but when your evoker gets another level and starts dropping fireballs with impunity, he may like having a 13 AC amid the smoking corpse of hobgoblins (and it doesn't matter if they save or not, really). Your evoker as a Bladesinger would have twisted out 1 additional arrow (on average) by increasing his AC from 13 to 17. Chance for 4 hobgoblins to land at least three hits against AC 13 is slightly worse than landing 2 against AC 17 (47% to 52%). So, in that case, it's not that much better.
It's not with impunity actually, the evoker cannot exclude himself like he can others. If he's surrounded he cannot drop an AoE on himself and benefit from sculpt spell. If my player had gone with the BS (not an option he wasn't playing an elf) his dex would have been higher so likely 18, 22 if he'd bothered with shield (and considering what happened, it would have been worth it). A BS who's not focusing on melee can AoE as well as any tradition that's not an evoker.
It only looks super awesome if you roll for stats and get two high stats to drop in INT and DEX. But, even then, it's not game breaking.
25 point buy and an elf allows for 18 Int and 16 Dex by sixth level easily. That's a 20 base AC with the armor spell (or heck 19 AC with basic studded leather, the BS gives light armor proviciency too, a nice freebie if you don't want to spend the first level spell). And that's assuming by sixth level the BS hasn't acquired an AC enhancing item like a ring of protection. Higher stats certainly help but regular point buy works fine.
A low level character that rolled well using one of the official options for stat generation in the PHB. Yes, that's high, at low level it's very high, and pretty good, but by 5th level the field has evened out and it doesn't get better for the bladesinger. There aren't better defensive spells to use to increase survivability, and enemy attack bonuses, and most importantly damage, outpace the bladesinger's ability to deny hits. Again, a single surprise round or losing initiative can drop a bladesinger, and a dispel magic is lethal to them.
AC doesn't go up THAT much as levels increase in 5e, bounded accuracy an all that. Really the AC starts good and remains good, and unlike other wizards, the BS can prop that up with magic armor.
Surprise is deadly to ANY wizard, less so to the BS because their AC will be higher even without prep.
Dispel magic seems to be a bit of a waste against the BS, especially if he's wearing studded leather. You'll, at best, drop the second level blur and you're burning a 3rd level spell to do it. You might also drop the shield if he has one up but that's dropping anyway.
Plus, while they have this nice high AC, they're burning lots of resources (especially at low level) to prop up their survivability.
Bladesingers are high resource consumption for their one trick of not getting hit. it's not overpowering, and it's a much less great choice for point buy characters.
Wizards in general are high resource characters so this argument doesn't resonate. Because the BS is getting hit less (remember, he doesn't HAVE to go into melee) he's less of a resource drain than most other wizards.
Also your discounting the boost the BS gets to concentration a hefty +3 to +5. This means their spells stay put better than most wizards. If the BS drops a slow on the enemy and becomes the target of their fire: first they have to hit him, and then he has to fail a concentration check something he will do less often than other wizards.
For the bladesinger alone, maybe. Look at vonklaude's examples: the bladesinger needs the first round of the fight just to prepare themselves to fight, AND requires a cleric to also spend the first round preparing the bladesinger to fight. The resource consumption is high -- 2 second level spells spent in the first round alone to prop up the bladesinger against a hard encounter. Further, if you look at the action economy, that's 50% of the total party action resources in the first round spent to just get the bladesinger ready to fight! In a game where most fights are 3 rounds, the bladesinger is expending 4 spell levels and extending the fight by a round at the beginning of most fights!
Plus, one thing the toy example doesn't model is uncertainty about the scale of a fight or the number of fights before or after that fight. When you actually play the bladesinger, and you need those slots to handle a some rolls that go against you, you get really nervous and start to horde the spells rather than spend them so freely. The hill giant fight is entirely isolated from the rest of an adventure.
what's the "other tradition" wizard doing the first round? If he's buffing, it's no different than the BS. If the BS sees he can finish the fight quickly he can cast an offensive spell too, the bladesong is a bonus action.
What's the cleric doing otherwise, if it's buffing, then again, no different. The BS actually has a pretty efficient use of resources, for a wizard.
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