D&D 5E Which options for an EK bladesinger?

[Jason Ray]

I know this was from a long time ago, but I'm thinking my situation is perfect for this. I am playing a High Elf Dex based EK 3rd level in Starter kit with Rapier and Shield. We just defeated Glass Staff. Nobody wanted the Glass staff of Defense. I started looking, and with my high dex, I can strip my leather armor and gain AC using mage armor. I had planned to avoid heavy armor, so I took the Mariner fighting style (+1 AC if not wearing heavy armor). So dropping my shield for the Staff doesn't drop my AC at all, and I can cast mage armor twice a day, shield 3 times a day without using a spell slot! After level 6 I think I'll go 2 levels Bladesinger. Since I'm one of the groups front line tanks I also got the ring of Defense. That would give me AC 21 (13 + dex 5, +1 staff, +1 Mariner, +1 ring) and AC 24 with bladesong twice/rest, and shield to go up to 29! So I'm a 5ft 9in, 170 lb, elf wearing only a vest and pants, bare chested, dancing into front line combat with a lopsided grin weilding a rapier and a staff made out of glass! With booming blade I'm doing some decent damage as well. Our Bard is promising to haste me whenever she can for 2 more AC and double action. If I manage to find the bracers of defense I'll be as unhittable as you can get!

 

[hastur_nz]

As an EK 'blade singer', you are first and foremost a Fighter; you will, most of the time, be hitting stuff with your sword(s) and risking your life up close and personal with the enemies. The spells are, even towards higher levels, very much secondary, low level and few in number, for those times when you just need that little bit extra or something different.

Personally, I played one who was dual-wielding for best damage output at lower levels, wore decent armour and also had Shield to make himself incredibly hard to drop, and I took Acrane Initiate (warlock) to add Eldritch Blast for a great ranged attack and Hex for another damage boost. Dual-wielder was easy to manage, I tended to always have one sword in hand, the other hand was free to draw/stow as required (which wasn't often). The rest of the spells were very much niche, I swapped them around a bit, but they just didn't come up in play much at all, it was mostly sword-play first and eldritch blast secondary. It was a cool, fun kind of character, but definitely just one of many different types of Fighter in our group.

So... don't get too hung up on anything that isn't your meat and potatoes, while you might be a creating "blade-singer", you're still a Fighter (that just happens to also know a few spells, instead of other tricks). Use the spell stuff to enhance the main kind of fighter type you want to be, bearing in mind it won't actually come into play that often.