D&D General why do we not have an arcane half caster?

[Michael Linke]

It's been argued here on ENWorld that the Bard, the Artificer, the Eldritch Knight, and the Arcane Trickster are all different flavors of "half caster" that use arcane magic. The Warlock also, but I think that argument is a bit weaker than the others.

I think bard and artificer are way more than "half" casters, even going back to their origins. It's hard to say what a "half caster" is now, since many of the classes that used to acquire spellcasting only at high levels get their spells much sooner.

 

[Minigiant]

me if I'm mistaken but is Artificer not the current Arcane Half Caster?

I think the thread creator meant a half caster half warrior.

Artificer is like half caster half expert.

 

[cbwjm]

I wouldn't mind there being an arcane half-caster, something that can represent the old fighter/mage from 2e and earlier or the various prestige classes in 3e and sword mage in 4e. The eldritch knight just doesn't provide enough magic for what I want, the bladesinger leans too much to the magic side of things. I'd like there to be a nice middle ground with a similar structure to the paladin and ranger, a martial class that splits their skills between martial and arcane magic as the paladin and ranger splits their skills between martial and divine/nature magic.

 

[CleverNickName]

I think bard and artificer are way more than "half" casters, even going back to their origins. It's hard to say what a "half caster" is now, since many of the classes that used to acquire spellcasting only at high levels get their spells much sooner.

Yep. I'm not saying I agree with all of these arguments, just that I can follow the trains of thought behind them.

If it were up to me, I'd just alternate between levels of Wizard and Fighter, and refer to myself as "Fesselrinn, the Spellblade" or whatever. Nothing else really feels right to me.

 

[Shiroiken]

I would rather have seen the Bard as a half arcane caster, and if they were going to make the Swordmage it would be a half arcane caster.

 

[Charlaquin]

I think bard and artificer are way more than "half" casters, even going back to their origins. It's hard to say what a "half caster" is now, since many of the classes that used to acquire spellcasting only at high levels get their spells much sooner.

I’m pretty sure half caster refers to the pace at which the caster gains new spell slots. Half casters (Artificer, Paladin, and Ranger) gain new spell slots at precisely half the pace full casters (Bard, Cleric, Druid Sorcerer, and Wizard) do. There are also 1/3 casters (Arcane tricksters, Eldritch knights) which gain spell slots at one third the pace full casters do. Warlock is an outlier that advances differently than other casters.

 

[aco175]

I guess my question is what the other half is?

I would like a half caster, but couldn't I just multiclass? I played a Arcane Trickster which I would consider a half-caster, a thief-wizard. I did not care for it as much, perhaps a wizard-thief half-caster would play better. I also just noticed that it fells like all the mage archetypes are more casters and not a mage that also fights or thieves. I know that there is a fighter that also mages and a thief that also mages, but the feel of the class can be different.

 

[Charlaquin]

I guess my question is what the other half is?

I would like a half caster, but couldn't I just multiclass? I played a Arcane Trickster which I would consider a half-caster,

Arcane Trickster is 1/3 caster.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I guess my question is what the other half is?

In the usage of the jargon, half, 2/3, and 1/3 refer to how a caster's spellcasting relates to a "full caster", meaning one who gets a full progression to 9th level spell slots, rather than to how much of a class's design is dedicated to being a caster.

 

[Lycurgon]

Since OD&D with the Elf class there have been options for arcane warriors. In 1st and 2nd Ed Elves could multiclassing as Fighter/Magic-users, gaining levels in both at the same time. 3rd had some class options added as more books came out (as well as prestige class options too). The Hexblade and Duskblade were the most notable. 4th Ed had the Swordmage.
Some elements of these have made it into 5th edition. The Bladesinger cantrips from SCAG and now Tasha's are reworks of the Swordmage powers. Hexblade got turned into a subclass rather than it's own class.

But I totally agree that it is something that should be developed in its own right. None of the current options do quite what I would like for a arcane Gish. I think they should make a 5th Ed Swordmage and make the Duskblade one of the subclasses. There are so many concepts that could be made into subclasses.