Dean Hildebrandt
First Post
The concept here is that wizard and sorcerer get a lot of useful spells and abilities for melee at low levels but not as much at high levels, pushing the traditional gish character to focus on casting and the casting stat rather than melee. An Arcane Meleer, which I define as a multiclass including Eldritch Knight and/or Arcane Trickster, is able focus on melee at all levels while still having a useful range of spells. I will assume 27 point stat buy and that the stat requirement for multiclassing is enforced. These characters have a variety of noncombat utilities, depending on which spells and abilities are taken, but I will assume the main focus is on combat effectiveness.
These characters can be Str, Dex, or Cha based, the latter requiring an early level of Hexblade. A Str based character with heavy armor needs to start with a level of fighter or a 17 Str so the heavy armor feat can be taken at the first ASI. This character would normally start with 16 or 17 Str, 14 or 16 Con, and 13, 14, or 16 Cha or Int. This option has the disadvantage of generally not having the Dex to take rogue which is a useful option to have at high levels. A Str based character with medium armor has a stat problem, since one wants to start with 16 Str, 14 Dex and Con, and 13 or 14 in the caster stat, unless playing a pure Eldritch Knight/Arcane Trickster multiclass. A regular human can take 14 in the caster stat and 12/9 or 11/10 in the remaining stats. A mountain dwarf can take 14 in the caster stat and 10/8 in the remaining stats or 13 in the caster class and 12/8 or 10/10 in the remaining stats. A half-elf can take 14 Cha and 10/8 in the remaining stats. A bugbear, goliath, or half-orc ends up with a point less than the mountain dwarf in the bottom stats, orc three less. A Cha based character in medium armor can start with Cha 16 or 17, Con 14 or 16, and Dex 14. This gives maximum stat benefit on sorcerer and warlock spells and abilities but taking a level of Hexblade early is not always convenient and one has the limitations of medium armor. This generally works best for a character focused on Hexblade. Dex is the most flexible option and can give an AC equal to plate and a shield with Draconic Resilience or Bladesong. One would normally start with Dex 16 or 17, Con 14 or 16, and 13, 14, or 16 in the caster stat.
A general issue with these characters is having a hand free to cast Shield or Absorb Elements as a reaction before getting War Caster. The official rule is that characters can draw or sheathe one weapon as part of their move but that more than that requires one's action or an ability. One solution is to play a variant human and take War Caster at level 1. Another option is to keep one's off hand free for casting, which is natural for a Bladesinger or Arcane Trickster-Wizard/Sorcerer build. An Eldritch Knight can use Weapon Bond and his or her bonus action to summon the weapon and then sheathe (or drop) it as part of movement. Anyone can so the same thing with a Shadow Blade. The official rule seems to be that using a staff as both weapon and arcane focus doesn't solve this problem since Shield and Absorb Elements have somatic but not material components.
These characters are substantially defined by the concentration spells they focus on. Haste and Shadow Blade are the two to consider once third level slots are available. Darkness and Darkvision can be useful in combination but require two slots and tend to annoy the rest of the party, unless the entire party is focused on using Darkness with multiple people casting. Improved Invisibility is sometimes more useful than Haste, especially on an Eldritch Knight build, but not enough to be worth taking levels to get for this character concept, likewise for Polymorph and Animate Objects.
Eldritch Knight's prime ability is War Magic at level 7, since it lets one use Green-Flame Blade or Booming Blade and get a second attack. Once one is past level 1 in fighter, it is generally worth going straight to level 7. Level 8 gives an ASI and an unrestricted second level spell. This is most useful if one needs the ASI to get War Caster. Level 9 gives Indomitable, which is more useful in some games than others, and extra spell slots on a multiclass, though the slots can be obtained from wizard or sorcerer. Level 10 is not very useful compared to what one can get from other classes. A third attack at level 11 is useful if one is using Shadow Blade but not much better than War Magic otherwise. Level 12 gives an ASI and extra slots, both of which can be obtained from other classes. Level 13 gives the ability to take Haste (swapping out one's unrestricted second level spell), which can be useful on an Eldritch Knight-Arcane Trickster build. Shield, Absorb Elements, and the unrestricted spells are quite useful, but the other first and second level options are not great since one usually wants to melee, not cast attack spells.
Arcane Trickster is very flexible for multiclassing, since the main feature Sneak Attack improves every two levels and one gets good but not essential abilities at all levels. Among the first level spells available are Sleep, which may briefly be useful if you get it at low enough levels, and Disguise Self and Silent Image, both of which can be useful out of combat. Among second level spells, Blur, Hold Person, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Phantasmal Force, Suggestion, and Shadow Blade are all worth considering. Magical Ambush at level 9 can help a lot on saving throw spells.
My preference for the unrestricted first level spell for these is Find Familiar unless one has it from wizard. Familiars are quite useful for scouting and for seeing what one is doing with a Mage Hand, for example tying off a rope so the party can scale a wall. If the party has two familiars, one can be a bird or bat and the other a spider which can ride the first when flight is needed and crawl places the other can't. Familiars can also give advantage is combat, though this tends to get them killed. One should keep in mind that Eldritch Knights and Arcane Tricksters have to use a slot to resummon a familiar. Owl is the best option if one wants to do this since they can fly in and out without provoking an opportunity attack, requiring opponents to use the ready action or a ranged attack to kill them.
Wizard gets more spells known and prepared than a sorcerer as well as ritual spells. Bladesinger and War Magic are the obvious schools to consider, though the others also have their advantages such as Transmutation allowing Con save proficiency at level 6. A character focusing on Shadow Blade will usually take four levels early and more later. A character focusing on Haste will usually take five levels early and possibly a sixth later depending on whether the tradition feature seems worth the level.
Sorcerer gets sorcerer points, which can be used to twin Haste and quicken Green-Flame Blade and Booming Blade, among other things. Dragon Ancestor gets +1 AC relative to studded leather on a Dex build, a few extra hit points, and Elemental Affinity for a damage bonus which applies to one of Green-Flame Blade or Booming Blade. Other origins also have their advantages. A character focusing on Shadow Blade will usually take four levels early and more later. A character focusing on Haste will usually take five levels early and a sixth later. One should ask one's DM for some flexibility on shifting spells between classes since one wants stat dependent spells to be sorcerer spells since Cha will normally be higher than Int but doesn't want to miss having spells like Shield and Shadow Blade at lower levels or to have to take ones levels in a convoluted order to swap things around. One should also be sure to take Green-Flame Blade and any cantrips benefiting from Elemental Affinity as sorcerer or warlock spells.
Hexblade is heavily front-loaded at level 1, making one level useful on Sorcerer-Arcane Trickster and Arcane Trickster builds. More than one level becomes about the Hexblade invocations one takes, unless they are noncombat oriented, which is a separate topic. Advantages of wizard and sorcerer relative to Hexblade are that Haste is available, Shadow Blade doesn't work with Thirsting Blade, and slots stack in a way they don't with Warlock. The last point can be considered an advantage for Hexblade if Eldritch Knight or Arcane Trickster is the supplemental class since one gains slots at levels 4 and 7 in this case rather than 6 and 9.
Bard, cleric, and druid don't want to dip three levels and bring less to a meleer than wizard or sorcerer. Paladin and ranger multiclasses don't accumulate spells and slots the way wizard and sorcerer do. A monk might benefit from being able to used Shield and Absorb Elements three times a day along with the other benefits of four levels of fighter. Barbarian-Arcane Trickster can be effective despite the incompatibility of rage and casting. Mirror Image does not require concentration and other spells can be used out of combat. A Cha based Barbarian-Hexblade would be an interesting possibility if a DM were willing to waive the stat requirement.
An Eldritch Knight-Arcane Trickster will normally focus on one or the other until a desired level is reached, possibly taking one level of the other early. One can start fighter for Con saves and heavy armor or rogue for a net extra skill. If focusing initially on Eldritch Knight, one will probably want to get to level 8 to get one's main stat to 20 and War Caster and possibly 11 for the extra attacks, 12 for the ASI, or 13 for Haste. If using Shadow Blade, one will likely aim for 9/6 or 12/3 to get third level slots at level 15. If focusing initially on Arcane Trickster, one will probably want to get to level 10 to get one's main stat to 20 and War Caster, and possibly to 11-13 before taking more than one level of fighter.
A character focusing on Shadow Blade will want to take Eldritch Knight for the extra attacks. If one compares the average damage of a character taking a level of fighter, followed by four levels of wizard or sorcerer, followed by ten more levels of Eldritch Knight, versus one taking eleven levels of Eldritch Knight and then wizard or sorcerer, the advantage shifts back and forth with big advantages to the second option at levels 8, 13, and 14, but the first option gets extra spells and abilities that are probably worth more. Once one has eleven levels of Eldritch Knight, one probably wants to continue the caster class to get fifth level slots for Shadow Blade and spells like Fireball. Arcane Trickster and/or a twelfth level of Eldritch Knight can also be included at high levels. A variant human wanting to take War Caster at level 1 will need to switch the first and second levels and may prefer sorcerer for the Con saves.
An Eldritch Knight-Wizard/Sorcerer will likely want to start with a level of fighter, followed by five levels of wizard or sorcerer for Haste, followed by six more levels of Eldritch Knight for War Magic, possibly followed by another level of wizard or sorcerer for the sixth level feature and Fireball for sorcerers (wizards will likely have already learned it), followed by some combination of Arcane Trickster, two more levels of Eldritch Knight, and/or more caster levels. A variant human wanting to take War Caster at level 1 will need to switch the first and second levels and may prefer sorcerer for the Con saves.
An Arcane Trickster-Wizard/Sorcerer needs to start with a level of rogue for rapiers, except playing a Bladesinger who may want to start with rogue for the net extra skill. This will likely be followed by five levels of wizard or sorcerer for Haste, three more levels of Arcane Trickster for the ASI, possibly a sixth level of wizard or sorcerer for the feature and Fireball for sorcerers, and five more levels of Arcane Trickster with War Caster taken at level 8. One can then include a level of Fighter or Hexblade on a sorcerer build before continuing with Arcane Trickster.
A variant human can start with a level of sorcerer for War Caster and Con saves, followed by a level of Hexblade, followed by four more levels of sorcerer for Haste, followed by four levels of Arcane Trickster for the ASI, followed by a level of sorcerer for the feature and Fireball, followed by nine more levels of Arcane Trickster. Alternatively, one can use wizard and fighter instead of sorcerer and Hexblade, though one loses Con saves. One can also start with a level of Hexblade for War Caster, Hex, Shield, and shields, and then take Arcane Trickster using its slots to cast the warlock spells.
These characters can be Str, Dex, or Cha based, the latter requiring an early level of Hexblade. A Str based character with heavy armor needs to start with a level of fighter or a 17 Str so the heavy armor feat can be taken at the first ASI. This character would normally start with 16 or 17 Str, 14 or 16 Con, and 13, 14, or 16 Cha or Int. This option has the disadvantage of generally not having the Dex to take rogue which is a useful option to have at high levels. A Str based character with medium armor has a stat problem, since one wants to start with 16 Str, 14 Dex and Con, and 13 or 14 in the caster stat, unless playing a pure Eldritch Knight/Arcane Trickster multiclass. A regular human can take 14 in the caster stat and 12/9 or 11/10 in the remaining stats. A mountain dwarf can take 14 in the caster stat and 10/8 in the remaining stats or 13 in the caster class and 12/8 or 10/10 in the remaining stats. A half-elf can take 14 Cha and 10/8 in the remaining stats. A bugbear, goliath, or half-orc ends up with a point less than the mountain dwarf in the bottom stats, orc three less. A Cha based character in medium armor can start with Cha 16 or 17, Con 14 or 16, and Dex 14. This gives maximum stat benefit on sorcerer and warlock spells and abilities but taking a level of Hexblade early is not always convenient and one has the limitations of medium armor. This generally works best for a character focused on Hexblade. Dex is the most flexible option and can give an AC equal to plate and a shield with Draconic Resilience or Bladesong. One would normally start with Dex 16 or 17, Con 14 or 16, and 13, 14, or 16 in the caster stat.
A general issue with these characters is having a hand free to cast Shield or Absorb Elements as a reaction before getting War Caster. The official rule is that characters can draw or sheathe one weapon as part of their move but that more than that requires one's action or an ability. One solution is to play a variant human and take War Caster at level 1. Another option is to keep one's off hand free for casting, which is natural for a Bladesinger or Arcane Trickster-Wizard/Sorcerer build. An Eldritch Knight can use Weapon Bond and his or her bonus action to summon the weapon and then sheathe (or drop) it as part of movement. Anyone can so the same thing with a Shadow Blade. The official rule seems to be that using a staff as both weapon and arcane focus doesn't solve this problem since Shield and Absorb Elements have somatic but not material components.
These characters are substantially defined by the concentration spells they focus on. Haste and Shadow Blade are the two to consider once third level slots are available. Darkness and Darkvision can be useful in combination but require two slots and tend to annoy the rest of the party, unless the entire party is focused on using Darkness with multiple people casting. Improved Invisibility is sometimes more useful than Haste, especially on an Eldritch Knight build, but not enough to be worth taking levels to get for this character concept, likewise for Polymorph and Animate Objects.
Eldritch Knight's prime ability is War Magic at level 7, since it lets one use Green-Flame Blade or Booming Blade and get a second attack. Once one is past level 1 in fighter, it is generally worth going straight to level 7. Level 8 gives an ASI and an unrestricted second level spell. This is most useful if one needs the ASI to get War Caster. Level 9 gives Indomitable, which is more useful in some games than others, and extra spell slots on a multiclass, though the slots can be obtained from wizard or sorcerer. Level 10 is not very useful compared to what one can get from other classes. A third attack at level 11 is useful if one is using Shadow Blade but not much better than War Magic otherwise. Level 12 gives an ASI and extra slots, both of which can be obtained from other classes. Level 13 gives the ability to take Haste (swapping out one's unrestricted second level spell), which can be useful on an Eldritch Knight-Arcane Trickster build. Shield, Absorb Elements, and the unrestricted spells are quite useful, but the other first and second level options are not great since one usually wants to melee, not cast attack spells.
Arcane Trickster is very flexible for multiclassing, since the main feature Sneak Attack improves every two levels and one gets good but not essential abilities at all levels. Among the first level spells available are Sleep, which may briefly be useful if you get it at low enough levels, and Disguise Self and Silent Image, both of which can be useful out of combat. Among second level spells, Blur, Hold Person, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Phantasmal Force, Suggestion, and Shadow Blade are all worth considering. Magical Ambush at level 9 can help a lot on saving throw spells.
My preference for the unrestricted first level spell for these is Find Familiar unless one has it from wizard. Familiars are quite useful for scouting and for seeing what one is doing with a Mage Hand, for example tying off a rope so the party can scale a wall. If the party has two familiars, one can be a bird or bat and the other a spider which can ride the first when flight is needed and crawl places the other can't. Familiars can also give advantage is combat, though this tends to get them killed. One should keep in mind that Eldritch Knights and Arcane Tricksters have to use a slot to resummon a familiar. Owl is the best option if one wants to do this since they can fly in and out without provoking an opportunity attack, requiring opponents to use the ready action or a ranged attack to kill them.
Wizard gets more spells known and prepared than a sorcerer as well as ritual spells. Bladesinger and War Magic are the obvious schools to consider, though the others also have their advantages such as Transmutation allowing Con save proficiency at level 6. A character focusing on Shadow Blade will usually take four levels early and more later. A character focusing on Haste will usually take five levels early and possibly a sixth later depending on whether the tradition feature seems worth the level.
Sorcerer gets sorcerer points, which can be used to twin Haste and quicken Green-Flame Blade and Booming Blade, among other things. Dragon Ancestor gets +1 AC relative to studded leather on a Dex build, a few extra hit points, and Elemental Affinity for a damage bonus which applies to one of Green-Flame Blade or Booming Blade. Other origins also have their advantages. A character focusing on Shadow Blade will usually take four levels early and more later. A character focusing on Haste will usually take five levels early and a sixth later. One should ask one's DM for some flexibility on shifting spells between classes since one wants stat dependent spells to be sorcerer spells since Cha will normally be higher than Int but doesn't want to miss having spells like Shield and Shadow Blade at lower levels or to have to take ones levels in a convoluted order to swap things around. One should also be sure to take Green-Flame Blade and any cantrips benefiting from Elemental Affinity as sorcerer or warlock spells.
Hexblade is heavily front-loaded at level 1, making one level useful on Sorcerer-Arcane Trickster and Arcane Trickster builds. More than one level becomes about the Hexblade invocations one takes, unless they are noncombat oriented, which is a separate topic. Advantages of wizard and sorcerer relative to Hexblade are that Haste is available, Shadow Blade doesn't work with Thirsting Blade, and slots stack in a way they don't with Warlock. The last point can be considered an advantage for Hexblade if Eldritch Knight or Arcane Trickster is the supplemental class since one gains slots at levels 4 and 7 in this case rather than 6 and 9.
Bard, cleric, and druid don't want to dip three levels and bring less to a meleer than wizard or sorcerer. Paladin and ranger multiclasses don't accumulate spells and slots the way wizard and sorcerer do. A monk might benefit from being able to used Shield and Absorb Elements three times a day along with the other benefits of four levels of fighter. Barbarian-Arcane Trickster can be effective despite the incompatibility of rage and casting. Mirror Image does not require concentration and other spells can be used out of combat. A Cha based Barbarian-Hexblade would be an interesting possibility if a DM were willing to waive the stat requirement.
An Eldritch Knight-Arcane Trickster will normally focus on one or the other until a desired level is reached, possibly taking one level of the other early. One can start fighter for Con saves and heavy armor or rogue for a net extra skill. If focusing initially on Eldritch Knight, one will probably want to get to level 8 to get one's main stat to 20 and War Caster and possibly 11 for the extra attacks, 12 for the ASI, or 13 for Haste. If using Shadow Blade, one will likely aim for 9/6 or 12/3 to get third level slots at level 15. If focusing initially on Arcane Trickster, one will probably want to get to level 10 to get one's main stat to 20 and War Caster, and possibly to 11-13 before taking more than one level of fighter.
A character focusing on Shadow Blade will want to take Eldritch Knight for the extra attacks. If one compares the average damage of a character taking a level of fighter, followed by four levels of wizard or sorcerer, followed by ten more levels of Eldritch Knight, versus one taking eleven levels of Eldritch Knight and then wizard or sorcerer, the advantage shifts back and forth with big advantages to the second option at levels 8, 13, and 14, but the first option gets extra spells and abilities that are probably worth more. Once one has eleven levels of Eldritch Knight, one probably wants to continue the caster class to get fifth level slots for Shadow Blade and spells like Fireball. Arcane Trickster and/or a twelfth level of Eldritch Knight can also be included at high levels. A variant human wanting to take War Caster at level 1 will need to switch the first and second levels and may prefer sorcerer for the Con saves.
An Eldritch Knight-Wizard/Sorcerer will likely want to start with a level of fighter, followed by five levels of wizard or sorcerer for Haste, followed by six more levels of Eldritch Knight for War Magic, possibly followed by another level of wizard or sorcerer for the sixth level feature and Fireball for sorcerers (wizards will likely have already learned it), followed by some combination of Arcane Trickster, two more levels of Eldritch Knight, and/or more caster levels. A variant human wanting to take War Caster at level 1 will need to switch the first and second levels and may prefer sorcerer for the Con saves.
An Arcane Trickster-Wizard/Sorcerer needs to start with a level of rogue for rapiers, except playing a Bladesinger who may want to start with rogue for the net extra skill. This will likely be followed by five levels of wizard or sorcerer for Haste, three more levels of Arcane Trickster for the ASI, possibly a sixth level of wizard or sorcerer for the feature and Fireball for sorcerers, and five more levels of Arcane Trickster with War Caster taken at level 8. One can then include a level of Fighter or Hexblade on a sorcerer build before continuing with Arcane Trickster.
A variant human can start with a level of sorcerer for War Caster and Con saves, followed by a level of Hexblade, followed by four more levels of sorcerer for Haste, followed by four levels of Arcane Trickster for the ASI, followed by a level of sorcerer for the feature and Fireball, followed by nine more levels of Arcane Trickster. Alternatively, one can use wizard and fighter instead of sorcerer and Hexblade, though one loses Con saves. One can also start with a level of Hexblade for War Caster, Hex, Shield, and shields, and then take Arcane Trickster using its slots to cast the warlock spells.
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