D&D 5E Giving the arcane gish an identity.

Minigiant

Legend
Supporter
rangers have an identity crisis.
It's less that rangers have an identity crisis and more fans want to change the official identity. The ranger has an identity. People are just taking ranger-like characters from other games and wanting that.

The arcane dish is different. No identity was given to the idea. Instead there are a half dozen different ideas competing for the title
 

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Bolares

Hero
The int classes don't have that. If Eldritch Knights got a good version of Spellstrike (the Pathfinder Magus feature) this thread wouldn't be necessary. Maybe make a feat? They'd blend well with wizards or artificers, and since there's a lot of types of wizards you'd have a lot of potential options without a lot of work.
Well, EK/Bladesingers make great defensive options, with a lot of great spell choices...
 

cbwjm

Seb-wejem
I'm thinking of creating some unique fighting styles, dubbed Arcane Fighting Styles for my Mage Knight (I know the name will annoy people). At 10th level, the fighting style improves. I know these aren't perfect, but it's a start and I think unique fighting styles like this can help create the image of someone who fights with sword and spell.

Arcane Fighting Style​

2nd-level Mage Knight feature
Ranged spell striker. Your ranged spell attacks have a +2 to hit.
Spell Duelist. When cast a spell that deals damage to a single target, you deal an additional 2 damage.
Staff of Defence. When wielding a staff arcane focus and no other weapon or shield, you gain a +1 bonus to your AC. You can use your reaction when hit by an attack to gain an additional +2 to AC.
Wand Strike. You treat a wand as a martial weapon, with the light and finesse properties, which deals 1d6 energy damage (chosen when you create or buy the wand). You may use intelligence instead of strength or dexterity when attacking with it.
Ward. When struck by a form of energy (cold, fire, force, lightning, necrotic, radiant, or thunder), reduce the damage by your intelligence modifier and add that damage to your next successful weapon attack made before the end of your next turn.
 


ranger needs to be split into the rogue-ish half caster and two martial subclasses for fighter and rogue receptively so no one is angry and everyone gets something they like.

have we any idea on how the arcane gish gets it's magic as that should settle the basic story easily?
Most prior arcane gishes have had them do intense training to learn how to blend magic and martial ability together.

"You studied and practiced for years to master your skills. You mastered the fundamentals of arcane magic and combined this academic study with endless hours of physical training." - From the swordmage description.

The arcane dish is different.
How is the arcane dish different to other kinds of dishes?

Are there any good recipes to follow? What kind of ingredients are needed for the food to count as arcane?
 

Thunder Brother

God Learner
How is the arcane dish different to other kinds of dishes?

Are there any good recipes to follow? What kind of ingredients are needed for the food to count as arcane?
An arcane dish makes extensive use of illusion and enchantment magic so the eater can fully experience the mysterious sixth taste.

Many think the use of unicorn horn in such a dish is unethical, but then again they probably haven't experienced the wonder of it freshly shaven right at the table.
 
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It's less that rangers have an identity crisis and more fans want to change the official identity. The ranger has an identity
The ranger has had a different identity each edition.
1e: Aragorn with the serial numbers filed off right down to a class feature to let one use Palantir
2e: Two weapon fighter
3.0: Favoured enemy fighter with a little two weapon fighting and basically no class features
3.5: Weak beastmaster (with a beast three levels behind the druid), chooses between specialising in shooting and TWF
4e: Petless woodsy primal killer, chooses between specialising in shooting and TWF and extremely lacking in flavour by 4e standards
5e: Woodsy primal fighter who chooses between specialising in shooting and TWF. The PHB subclasses are a beastmaster with a too weak beast and a near flavourless primal killer (i.e. one for 3.5 and one for 4e)

I see no reason why a gish ranger subclass would be a problem.
 



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