D&D (2024) 2024 Class Rankings (from nat1gaming.com) for ppl who believe that stuff.

[EzekielRaiden]

I think that there are four elements that people usually forget when comparing casters abilities. Particularly with simplistic comparisons like in the list above.

The first problem is that when wizards try to do what you describe it destroys their action economy. Yes it is true that casters can makes themselves faster or tougher. But it takes time to do so. If you have 3 rounds to prepare beforehand then casters are in a great position but if don’t as is often the case then you spend the first few rounds trying to get ready for the fight. You cast a spell to protect yourself, you can a spell to give you some bonus action damage. Now only on round 3 are you fighting at the level of the fighter and guess what the combat ends this round.

5.5e false life lasts either indefinitely, or at the very least until you take a long rest. (5.5e rules about THP are new, and it's not clear exactly when they expire.) So there's no need to wait to cast it, you do that when you wake up in the morning. And then shield gets your lowest-level slots, since it doesn't scale at all. Mage armor is likewise cast at the start of the day, and works fantastically well with Bladesong (since that provides a bonus to AC, not an alternate AC calculation like mage armor). So...this entire response is completely irrelevant, because you do this specific type of preparation well in advance of any fight breaking out, and shield is a reaction so there's no need to futz with that either.

Secondly slots are not anywhere as common as people think they are. Particularly when also using them to boost temporary hp with false life, give mage armour etc. the reason being that there is not a helpful gauge on your wizard that tells you when the day is going to end. You have to hold a certain amount back in reserve because you don’t know if you’ll be attacked in the night or if one more encounter is needed. Sure in hindsight you can look back and say I had slots left but you didn’t know that at the time. You also won’t know the relative difficulty of what is coming down the line so you are more likely to hold stronger powers in reserve.

You really don't need that many though. The Wizard gets at least two castings of false life at their highest spell level per day, assuming the party takes at least one short rest...and if they don't even need to take one short rest for a day, that means the Wizard got to blow through ALL of their spell slots before the day ended!

Here's the table (total slots at max level <=5) counting Arcane Recovery in parentheses). Starting at 3rd level since that's when subclasses come online, and it was specified that this is a Bladesinger Wizard.

Spoiler: Table

Level	# slots	THP/top slot <=5
3	2 (3)	14
4	3 (4)	14
5	2 (3)	19
6	3 (4)	19
7	1 (2)	24
8	2 (3)	24
9	1 (2)	29
10	2 (3)	29
11	2 (3)	29
12	2 (3)	29
13	2 (3)	29
14	2 (3)	29
15	2 (3)	29
16	2 (3)	29
17	2 (3)	29
18	3 (4)	29
19	3 (5)	29
20	3 (5)	29

So this Bladesinger Wizard is getting 28-42 THP per day at third level. By sixth level, when she gets Extra Attack, it's 57 to 76, not quite double but still pretty chonky. Assuming moderate Con investment (e.g. Dex/Int are 16, Con is next highest stat at 14), this Wizard has 20 HP at level 3 and 38 at level 4, meaning if you spend all your highest spell slots on false life THP, you're getting literally double your maximum HP, just spread out over four uses (meaning, you get a quarter of your max HP as a free buffer for four combats a day). Plus, shield to almost guaranteed revoke 3+ successful attack rolls...assuming all that many things can hit your 19 AC in the first place while in Bladesong (13 base + 3 Dex mod + 3 Int mod), meaning equal to +1 full plate, or one less than full plate + shield while still having a free hand.

So...if you have to blow all of your max-level and min-level slots on defense and THP, you're as tanky as a Wild Heart Barbarian who always uses Bear, assuming said Wild Heart Barbarian gets at least one short rest a day. Taking half damage is pretty much identical to doubling your HP, except that the Barbarian doesn't resist all types (and actually resists fewer types now than it did in 5.0: in addition to psychic, it's now also force, necrotic, and radiant, and the necrotic in particular is a meaningful loss), while THP don't care.

And from level 5 onward, you now also have all your spell slots that aren't 1st level or max level to spend on...whatever you want. So your extra utility power only grows. Not to mention rituals! And this is also ignoring your Origin Feat, which should almost surely be Tough or Magic Initiate, though Lucky and Alert are both also nice for different reasons. Tough gives you twice your level in bonus HP, functionally bumping you up to a d8 hit die; Magic Initiate makes mage armor functionally free and gives you more cantrips.

When it comes to prepared spells boy do those get assigned quickly. 5e is a big improvement on previous editions because of the flexibility but there are so many spells that you know will be used every day just to make a wizard survivable they just become a given and quickly reduce the flexibility. Mage armour, shield, misty step, mirror image. That’s half your spells prepared at 5th level. The idea of shroedinger’s wizard is very much a fantasy.

Except it isn't entirely fantasy anymore in 5.5e, because now the Wizard can change out a prepared spell with every short rest. Were this 5.0 or even 3.x/PF1, you'd be correct (though just a dollop of forethought often dramatically narrowed the difference between "perfectly prepared" and "as prepared as I can be"). But 5.5e has added the "Memorize Spell" feature:

"Whenever you finish a Short Rest, you can study your spellbook and replace one of the level 1+ Wizard spells you have prepared for your Spellcasting feature with another level 1+ spell from the book."

Also, note that the new spell can be of any level, not just the level of the original spell, so it's supremely flexible. At 3rd, the Wizard has six spots for prepared spells, so yes, you're spending half your prepared spells on false life, mage armor, and shield...but the other half can be anything you want. At 6th, you don't need any more than those three spells still, but your number of prepared spells has increased by four, to 10--meaning you have more than twice as many flexible spells as your three "I need these for tanking" spells. (Magic Initiate notably gets rid of both a prepared spell and the slot spent to cast it, hence why it's such a desirable Origin feat for this tanky Wizard.)

Lastly the dreaded concentration. Which is relevant in few ways - first losing it, where the damage monsters do scales much faster than the progression of your concentration skill. Secondly concentration causes further restriction on your prepared spells choice because of the need to have both concentration spells and non-concentration. Lastly the risk in combat that a different concentration spell may be required to the one you have up - therefore causing you to have to voluntarily drop the previous spell.

You don't need Concentration for any of the spells I've mentioned, and even if you did, Bladesong gives you +Int to your Concentration checks. Once you've maxed out your Intelligence, you could then pick up War Caster or Resilient (Con); the benefits roughly break even.

That naturally doesn't mean that Concentration is irrelevant, nor that these things ensure that you'll never fail. You sometimes will. But between Con+Int up to level 11 (while in Bladesong) and Con+Int+(Proficiency or Advantage) thereafter, you're certainly going to do pretty well. If I'm being honest though, there aren't that many particularly good Concentration spells at 1st or 2nd level...maybe suggestion? Spell level 3rd is when you get the good ones, like haste, fly, and spirit shroud (assuming your DM allows you to use 5.0 spells that haven't been updated yet.)

I love casters. I play them about 50% of the time. But I see conversations around how powerful they are frequently forget/ignore the above restrictions.

I hope I have shown how these restrictions are...rather softer than you had indicated. They really are there, and the "tank" Bladesinger does need to mind them. But they aren't crippling, and by level 6 when the subclass is essentially fully operational, they're far more speedbump than roadblock. Being a tank as good as, or better than, a Wild Heart Barbarian, while still having other slots to play around with, would seem to be kind of a problem, since being mondo tanky is kind of the Wild Heart Barbarian's shtick.

 

[TwoSix]

So...if you have to blow all of your max-level and min-level slots on defense and THP, you're as tanky as a Wild Heart Barbarian who always uses Bear, assuming said Wild Heart Barbarian gets at least one short rest a day. Taking half damage is pretty much identical to doubling your HP, except that the Barbarian doesn't resist all types (and actually resists fewer types now than it did in 5.0: in addition to psychic, it's now also force, necrotic, and radiant, and the necrotic in particular is a meaningful loss), while THP don't care.

What always gets me about Bladesinger is Song of Defense at 10th level. Assuming they reserve their 1st level slots for shield, they could just use their slots for Song of Defense to gain an effective 185 HP. And that's rarely mentioned because it's such an inefficent usage of their spell slots.

Having more effective HP than a raging barbarian is a fairly weak 10th level ability for a wizard.

 

[TheSword]

5.5e false life lasts either indefinitely, or at the very least until you take a long rest. (5.5e rules about THP are new, and it's not clear exactly when they expire.) So there's no need to wait to cast it, you do that when you wake up in the morning. And then shield gets your lowest-level slots, since it doesn't scale at all. Mage armor is likewise cast at the start of the day, and works fantastically well with Bladesong (since that provides a bonus to AC, not an alternate AC calculation like mage armor). So...this entire response is completely irrelevant, because you do this specific type of preparation well in advance of any fight breaking out, and shield is a reaction so there's no need to futz with that either.

The section you quoted about action economy didn’t mention false life, mage armour or shield. They are only the very basic protections that do not make you tougher or harder to hit than other characters. Those spells just bring you up to a base acceptable level that most other characters get just by putting their leathers on. This section is talking about real protections - Mirror image, protection from evil etc, that make a meaningful difference. Also the set up spells you need to gain bonus action effects. You haven’t answered the action economy question at all.

You really don't need that many though. The Wizard gets at least two castings of false life at their highest spell level per day, assuming the party takes at least one short rest...and if they don't even need to take one short rest for a day, that means the Wizard got to blow through ALL of their spell slots before the day ended!

Here's the table (total slots at max level <=5) counting Arcane Recovery in parentheses). Starting at 3rd level since that's when subclasses come online, and it was specified that this is a Bladesinger Wizard.

Spoiler: Table

Level	# slots	THP/top slot <=5
3	2 (3)	14
4	3 (4)	14
5	2 (3)	19
6	3 (4)	19
7	1 (2)	24
8	2 (3)	24
9	1 (2)	29
10	2 (3)	29
11	2 (3)	29
12	2 (3)	29
13	2 (3)	29
14	2 (3)	29
15	2 (3)	29
16	2 (3)	29
17	2 (3)	29
18	3 (4)	29
19	3 (5)	29
20	3 (5)	29

So this Bladesinger Wizard is getting 28-42 THP per day at third level. By sixth level, when she gets Extra Attack, it's 57 to 76, not quite double but still pretty chonky. Assuming moderate Con investment (e.g. Dex/Int are 16, Con is next highest stat at 14), this Wizard has 20 HP at level 3 and 38 at level 4, meaning if you spend all your highest spell slots on false life THP, you're getting literally double your maximum HP, just spread out over four uses (meaning, you get a quarter of your max HP as a free buffer for four combats a day). Plus, shield to almost guaranteed revoke 3+ successful attack rolls...assuming all that many things can hit your 19 AC in the first place while in Bladesong (13 base + 3 Dex mod + 3 Int mod), meaning equal to +1 full plate, or one less than full plate + shield while still having a free hand.

So...if you have to blow all of your max-level and min-level slots on defense and THP, you're as tanky as a Wild Heart Barbarian who always uses Bear, assuming said Wild Heart Barbarian gets at least one short rest a day. Taking half damage is pretty much identical to doubling your HP, except that the Barbarian doesn't resist all types (and actually resists fewer types now than it did in 5.0: in addition to psychic, it's now also force, necrotic, and radiant, and the necrotic in particular is a meaningful loss), while THP don't care.

So many assumptions made here.You totally ignore the opportunity cost of using your highest slots for false life. Once you’ve burnt through your 3rd level wizards 14 hp (hp that preclude them getting temp hps from any other sources) you now need to refresh it with another action. Unlike a barbarians rage that keeps on working until dead. If anyone else in your party has Inspiring Leader (a great feat so likely) you now are getting Lvl+Stat less benefit from false life.

And from level 5 onward, you now also have all your spell slots that aren't 1st level or max level to spend on...whatever you want. So your extra utility power only grows. Not to mention rituals! And this is also ignoring your Origin Feat, which should almost surely be Tough or Magic Initiate, though Lucky and Alert are both also nice for different reasons. Tough gives you twice your level in bonus HP, functionally bumping you up to a d8 hit die; Magic Initiate makes mage armor functionally free and gives you more cantrips.

When you say all your slots, you mean the small handful of slots? These slots are needed to actually do stuff. The 1st level slots are just keeping you level with other characters. The 2nd and 3rd ones are the actual benefit of being a wizard. You’re talking like having a handful of spells per day is a great and generous blessing. Even if you cast one spell per round (you can cast much faster with bonus and reactions) you are getting a few rounds of combat worth of spells. This is assuming you haven’t used utility spells outside of combat.

Except it isn't entirely fantasy anymore in 5.5e, because now the Wizard can change out a prepared spell with every short rest. Were this 5.0 or even 3.x/PF1, you'd be correct (though just a dollop of forethought often dramatically narrowed the difference between "perfectly prepared" and "as prepared as I can be"). But 5.5e has added the "Memorize Spell" feature:

You need to know what spell you need in advance. If you get lots of telegraphing from your DM that’s helpful. If you don’t then you still need to guess. It’s a neat power that means I might actually get to cast knock or arcane lock. Because I would never actually prepare that spell otherwise.

Also, note that the new spell can be of any level, not just the level of the original spell, so it's supremely flexible. At 3rd, the Wizard has six spots for prepared spells, so yes, you're spending half your prepared spells on false life, mage armor, and shield...but the other half can be anything you want. At 6th, you don't need any more than those three spells still, but your number of prepared spells has increased by four, to 10--meaning you have more than twice as many flexible spells as your three "I need these for tanking" spells. (Magic Initiate notably gets rid of both a prepared spell and the slot spent to cast it, hence why it's such a desirable Origin feat for this tanky Wizard.)

You don't need Concentration for any of the spells I've mentioned, and even if you did, Bladesong gives you +Int to your Concentration checks. Once you've maxed out your Intelligence, you could then pick up War Caster or Resilient (Con); the benefits roughly break even.

That naturally doesn't mean that Concentration is irrelevant, nor that these things ensure that you'll never fail. You sometimes will. But between Con+Int up to level 11 (while in Bladesong) and Con+Int+(Proficiency or Advantage) thereafter, you're certainly going to do pretty well. If I'm being honest though, there aren't that many particularly good Concentration spells at 1st or 2nd level...maybe suggestion? Spell level 3rd is when you get the good ones, like haste, fly, and spirit shroud (assuming your DM allows you to use 5.0 spells that haven't been updated yet.)

As I said, losing the spell is only part of the problem. Though at the higher levels where you have maxed int and Warcaster it is easily possible to be taking 50+ damage from a single source. Or be taking so many lesser attacks you are going to fail eventually. That isn’t the main issue you - it’s the decision making restrictions that mean you have to stop a spell that is no longer useful because you need another concentration spell.

I hope I have shown how these restrictions are...rather softer than you had indicated. They really are there, and the "tank" Bladesinger does need to mind them. But they aren't crippling, and by level 6 when the subclass is essentially fully operational, they're far more speedbump than roadblock. Being a tank as good as, or better than, a Wild Heart Barbarian, while still having other slots to play around with, would seem to be kind of a problem, since being mondo tanky is kind of the Wild Heart Barbarian's shtick.

They’re relevant and important restrictions. One of the beautiful things about 5e is that these things aren’t crippling. If they were it would be bad game design. Instead they are meaningful restrictions that make casters take decisions about what they do.

 

[TheSword]

What always gets me about Bladesinger is Song of Defense at 10th level. Assuming they reserve their 1st level slots for shield, they could just use their slots for Song of Defense to gain an effective 185 HP. And that's rarely mentioned because it's such an inefficent usage of their spell slots.

Having more effective HP than a raging barbarian is a fairly weak 10th level ability for a wizard.

It’s weak because the blade singer isn’t doing anything else in order to absorb those hp. While the Barbarian gets to act normally and still be tough.

 

[Clint_L]

What always gets me about Bladesinger is Song of Defense at 10th level. Assuming they reserve their 1st level slots for shield, they could just use their slots for Song of Defense to gain an effective 185 HP. And that's rarely mentioned because it's such an inefficent usage of their spell slots.

Having more effective HP than a raging barbarian is a fairly weak 10th level ability for a wizard.

How much damage are they doing now, though? How much utility are they offering? That raging barbarian is also a damage machine. I think that’s a poor choice by the bladesinger.

 

[TwoSix]

It’s weak because the blade singer isn’t doing anything else in order to absorb those hp. While the Barbarian gets to act normally and still be tough.

Song of Defense is a reaction. So if the damage is a save or exceeds their AC by 5+, they can negate a large portion of the damage. They can still cast a spell if needed, or just fall back on cantrip + attack, which is pretty solid at-will damage.

But that's martial-caster disparity in a nutshell. The barbarian is a tank. The bladesinger is a wizard, who can moonlight as 90% of a barbarian if they're bored.

 

[TwoSix]

How much damage are they doing now, though? How much utility are they offering? That raging barbarian is also a damage machine. I think that’s a poor choice by the bladesinger.

It IS a poor choice by the wizard, which is why it's funny. Their poor choice is the ability to have the damage enduring capacity of a barbarian.

 

[TheSword]

Song of Defense is a reaction. So if the damage is a save or exceeds their AC by 5+, they can negate a large portion of the damage. They can still cast a spell if needed, or just fall back on cantrip + attack, which is pretty solid at-will damage.

But that's martial-caster disparity in a nutshell. The barbarian is a tank. The bladesinger is a wizard, who can moonlight as 90% of a barbarian if they're bored.

Sorry I was referring to your statement that they can tank the 185 hp extra. If you’re using spell slots for other things then you’re not tanking 185 hp. Every time you’re doing something meaningful you’re reducing that total.

 

[TheSword]

It IS a poor choice by the wizard, which is why it's funny. Their poor choice is the ability to have the damage enduring capacity of a barbarian.

Not so because the barbarians power isn’t limited to a single damage source per round which the bladesingers power is.

The barbarian is also getting to ignore being dropped to 0 hp and instead gets healed.

 

[TwoSix]

Sorry I was referring to your statement that they can tank the 185 hp extra. If you’re using spell slots for other things then you’re not tanking 185 hp. Every time you’re doing something meaningful you’re reducing that total.

Which again, is why it's funny. You can have the same endurance as a barbarian, but you're better off doing something more effective.