D&D 5E A Wizard's Guide to Fighting

[ECMO3]

I know many people talk about Bladesinger and Arcane Trickster being a fantastic pair, and I definitely see the benefit of the extra spell slots, but I was considering either Swashbuckler or Thief (also, my party has a fully 100% dedicated Arcane Trickster who stays at range and I'd rather not duplicate). The party members are - Kobold Artificer: Armorer, Dragonborn Paladin: Glory, Tiefling Warlock: Celestial, Dwarf Druid: Moon, and Halfling Rogue: Arcane Trickster.

ASI potentials, in no specific order and would very much appreciate advice: Elven Accuracy, Warcaster, Mobile (If I picked Thief), Fey Touched, Sentinel, Mage Slayer, Lucky, and open to any suggestions.

Aadu and others, I would really love any feedback, as the guide is very comprehensive and I do want to mainly be a Bladesinger, but with the Rogue dip, I want to help boost my potential and benefit for my party as well as have me be a good asset on the front lines. Thank you

AT and bladesinger are a great pairing. I am playing that right now, it may be the favorite character I have ever played. It is not as powerful as a single class bladesinger though. You are giving up combat power for the skills and versatility of a Rogue.

As far as going with another Rogue subclass, it is not just the extra slots you lose, but the extra cantrips too. If I wanted to do something else other than AT for the Rogue though I would look at soulknife or maybe scout.

The problem with swashbuckler and the mobile feat are they are designed for characters that can't stay in melee. You won't really need that, your AC is high enough that the enemy attacking you is not a big deal. You can stay in melee no problem and if you have to kite, you can disengage as a BA or to be honest just eat the AOO since it is unlikely to connect past shield. With either of these I think you are giving up other options which would be better.

I also think thief is inferior to arcane trickster for this build. Your mage hand legerdemain can do most of the things a thief can do with fast hands and you probably won't have enough levels to get the other abilities. So you are looking at cantrips, spells and slots vs a climb speed and longer jumping distance.

 

[ECMO3]

While what you say is 100% true, there are flaws in this build which I'd take especially careful consideration to.

Firstly, its expensive. Like, very expensive to stay in melee for so long. Some of your best spells you are using for pure defense hurts your offense and your pure offense hurts your defense.

For example, you've said to dual-wield shortswords in first level to have better damage than the fighter and use shield against a big attack, but both of your hands are occupied and you cannot cast shield. The health at that level is sensitive, too so its even more important.

This is a good point, but once you are into the build and have enough spells (5th level) you can stay in melee for entire battles no problem and it is not really that expensive. You need to optimize defense though and you are right offense will suffer, but with bladesong and defense-focused buffs you will last more rounds in melee than anyone except a well armored Barbarian in rage .... and after 10th level you will even outlast him.

In my experience the role of the pure bladesinger is to go straight to the biggest, baddest melee enemy in the room and tie him up until the battle is over and keep him off the strikers and squishy characters so they can do their thing.