Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Bladesinger - a criticism of its design
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 7238925" data-attributes="member: 71699"><p>After racial ability increases, 17 and 16. One ASI takes that to 18 and 17. With those stats, Bladesong gives AC 20 / 25 with Shield.</p><p></p><p>The Defense fighting style Fighter with Plate and Shield can achieve 21. Yes, Shield is a cast and it lasts one round, but you only need to cast it when you would be hit - 25% of the time or once or twice in the average combat at that level. Three of your four first level casts, when you go full fighter mode. Meanwhile Green-Flame Blade is keeping pace with the damage of most martials.</p><p></p><p>Okay, I need you to understand back that I'm certainly prepared to agree that the game works better with points buy than rolling, but the problem exists with Bladesinger even so. At 8th level, the Bladesinger can improve to AC 21 /26 with Shield. It is incorrect balance for a full Wizard to be capable of the same AC as the heaviest martial for two full combats, and significantly better for most practical purposes. While getting strong buffs to Concentration saves, Dexterity (Acrobatics) and walking Speed. Martial casters <em>correctly</em> do not have near-parity with full casters, for casting. Full casters should not have near-parity with martials, for melee.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Interesting fix. I prefer changing one word "short" to "long" in the Bladesong feature. That said, I'm not really after fixes here. My goal is to criticise some poor design decisions. I haven't seen anything from anyone yet showing that Bladesong design is spot on. It patently isn't.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Changing one word is less fundamental and even quicker. It doesn't dampen the fun of every other class in the game, to resolve one egregious problem.</p><p></p><p>But even if we like changing to say that points buy is standard (I might in my campaign), Bladesong is still incorrectly balanced. You offer a basic logical error. I can accept that high stats are problematic, without that meaning that Bladesong is not problematic.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="clearstream, post: 7238925, member: 71699"] After racial ability increases, 17 and 16. One ASI takes that to 18 and 17. With those stats, Bladesong gives AC 20 / 25 with Shield. The Defense fighting style Fighter with Plate and Shield can achieve 21. Yes, Shield is a cast and it lasts one round, but you only need to cast it when you would be hit - 25% of the time or once or twice in the average combat at that level. Three of your four first level casts, when you go full fighter mode. Meanwhile Green-Flame Blade is keeping pace with the damage of most martials. Okay, I need you to understand back that I'm certainly prepared to agree that the game works better with points buy than rolling, but the problem exists with Bladesinger even so. At 8th level, the Bladesinger can improve to AC 21 /26 with Shield. It is incorrect balance for a full Wizard to be capable of the same AC as the heaviest martial for two full combats, and significantly better for most practical purposes. While getting strong buffs to Concentration saves, Dexterity (Acrobatics) and walking Speed. Martial casters [I]correctly[/I] do not have near-parity with full casters, for casting. Full casters should not have near-parity with martials, for melee. Interesting fix. I prefer changing one word "short" to "long" in the Bladesong feature. That said, I'm not really after fixes here. My goal is to criticise some poor design decisions. I haven't seen anything from anyone yet showing that Bladesong design is spot on. It patently isn't. Changing one word is less fundamental and even quicker. It doesn't dampen the fun of every other class in the game, to resolve one egregious problem. But even if we like changing to say that points buy is standard (I might in my campaign), Bladesong is still incorrectly balanced. You offer a basic logical error. I can accept that high stats are problematic, without that meaning that Bladesong is not problematic. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Bladesinger - a criticism of its design
Top