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Yet Another Arcane Trickster / Bladesinger Thread: The Concentration Problem
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<blockquote data-quote="Irregular_Gnoll" data-source="post: 7589981" data-attributes="member: 6992717"><p>Nice write-up. I completely understand the dilemma you're in. To reiterate your problem, you are level 11 and your melee damage is dropping off because you cant keep shadowblade up due to concentration checks. My AT/BS build ends up Rogue 10/Wizard 10, with the first ASI going towards Dex and the second picking up War Caster to help bolster melee effectiveness. My level progression gets to Rogue 4/Rogue 4, and since I dont end up getting shadowblade until 5-6th level, I postponed War Caster to level 8.</p><p></p><p>When you think about going ranged with this build, it's either something you start towards from the beginning or you are going to spread yourself too thin, IMHO. Shadow Blade is amazing and is the focal point of a bulk of the build. You can bolster your defenses (and hence concentration) by keeping Bladesinging and Mirror Image up as much as possible. Without the use of Shield, you should have around 20-22 AC from levels 3-10. You will still take damage, which is why having War Caster is so helpful, more so than the Con saving throw from Resilient, IMO. War Caster also gives us the ability to dual wield and still cast somatic spells without breaking the rules. It also makes booming blade opportunity attacks possible, in lieu of your defensive reaction, but definitely adding more offense as you continue to add to your non-concentration defensive spells.</p><p></p><p>So what should you do now? Get blink if you haven't already, and pick up War Caster for advantages on Concentration checks. Also don't forget that when you gain a level in either Wizard or Rogue, you gain spells (or can trade them out) of any spell level for which you have slots. Meaning 4th level at this point.</p><p></p><p>The way I envision the AT/BS Shadowblade/Disabler playing out at higher levels is mainly as a melee rogue with Bladesinging and War Caster giving you +3-5 on Con saves, with advantage. Ideally you wont get hit at all, but AOE damage will happen and require a lot of DC 10 concentration checks. Mirror Image and Blink are some of the most important buffs you can have up otherwise. Mirror Image is great against the more numerous opponents - drawing out attacks and essentially nullifying your opponents offense, while Blink excels in fights vs hard hitting opponents - by keeping you in the fight and able to use dispel magic, counterspell, blind, slow, or even use extremely powerful defensive spells like Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, Wall of Force, or Polymorph when in a bind. </p><p></p><p>The ranged drawback does suck, which is why its good to just bite the bullet and pick up a decent ranged cantrip. Cantrips scale based on your overall level, so at 11th level, your Firebolt could be 3d10. Toll the Dead is pretty good too, although shorter range. I personally am a Chill Touch kind of guy. When you need a ranged spell with 120', 1d8 increments isn't bad. And when you need to stop someone from healing, there's nothing quite as good as Chill Touch.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Irregular_Gnoll, post: 7589981, member: 6992717"] Nice write-up. I completely understand the dilemma you're in. To reiterate your problem, you are level 11 and your melee damage is dropping off because you cant keep shadowblade up due to concentration checks. My AT/BS build ends up Rogue 10/Wizard 10, with the first ASI going towards Dex and the second picking up War Caster to help bolster melee effectiveness. My level progression gets to Rogue 4/Rogue 4, and since I dont end up getting shadowblade until 5-6th level, I postponed War Caster to level 8. When you think about going ranged with this build, it's either something you start towards from the beginning or you are going to spread yourself too thin, IMHO. Shadow Blade is amazing and is the focal point of a bulk of the build. You can bolster your defenses (and hence concentration) by keeping Bladesinging and Mirror Image up as much as possible. Without the use of Shield, you should have around 20-22 AC from levels 3-10. You will still take damage, which is why having War Caster is so helpful, more so than the Con saving throw from Resilient, IMO. War Caster also gives us the ability to dual wield and still cast somatic spells without breaking the rules. It also makes booming blade opportunity attacks possible, in lieu of your defensive reaction, but definitely adding more offense as you continue to add to your non-concentration defensive spells. So what should you do now? Get blink if you haven't already, and pick up War Caster for advantages on Concentration checks. Also don't forget that when you gain a level in either Wizard or Rogue, you gain spells (or can trade them out) of any spell level for which you have slots. Meaning 4th level at this point. The way I envision the AT/BS Shadowblade/Disabler playing out at higher levels is mainly as a melee rogue with Bladesinging and War Caster giving you +3-5 on Con saves, with advantage. Ideally you wont get hit at all, but AOE damage will happen and require a lot of DC 10 concentration checks. Mirror Image and Blink are some of the most important buffs you can have up otherwise. Mirror Image is great against the more numerous opponents - drawing out attacks and essentially nullifying your opponents offense, while Blink excels in fights vs hard hitting opponents - by keeping you in the fight and able to use dispel magic, counterspell, blind, slow, or even use extremely powerful defensive spells like Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, Wall of Force, or Polymorph when in a bind. The ranged drawback does suck, which is why its good to just bite the bullet and pick up a decent ranged cantrip. Cantrips scale based on your overall level, so at 11th level, your Firebolt could be 3d10. Toll the Dead is pretty good too, although shorter range. I personally am a Chill Touch kind of guy. When you need a ranged spell with 120', 1d8 increments isn't bad. And when you need to stop someone from healing, there's nothing quite as good as Chill Touch. [/QUOTE]
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