D&D 5E A bit of help with a Fochluclan Lyrist in 5e

[Salthorae]

Also, I should emphasize that Extra Attack is worth a lot as a grappler/tank.

When you wild shape as a Bear you gain the Bear's Multiattack Action, which is redundant with Extra Attack isn't it? You get that with wild shape at level 2.

Extra Attack from Bladesinger only matters when you're not in Bear form.

If you dropped all your bladesinger levels for Druid, you could also at those levels be using Wild Shape to turn into an Earth Elemental starting at Druid 10.

With the Bracers of Armor, you've got 19 AC, a possibility to rage, but your attacks are +8 & 2d8+5 vs. +6 & 1d8+4 for a Brown Bear or +7 & 1d8+5 for a Polar/Cave bear, not to mention 126 hp as an Elemental with damage resistances and immunities vs. 34 hp for Brown Bear and 42 hp for Cave/Polar. Also, Elementals still have the multiattack feature.

If you take Tavern Brawler if you hit with any attack you can initiate a grapple as a bonus action as well. So that will play more into your grappler concept than whatever forms you choose.

 

[RogueJK]

19 AC on a bear is pretty good, but 34 HP on a 13th (or 10th, or 8th) level Wildshape isn't. 19 AC will still get hit, especially by higher level enemies. Not to mention the damage sources that target saves instead of AC. And at those higher levels against high CR monsters or higher level spells, you'd be knocked out of Wildshape with one hit. Even an AC-buffed bear just can't compare to the higher level Wild Shape forms, especially the Elementals as pointed out above.

So your combat would be you turning into a bear, lasting a round or so, turning into a bear again, lasting another round or so, and then finding something else to do. And with your mish-mash of middling stats, you won't be really all that effective at anything else, like attacking in your normal form or casting spells. (Okay, the item-boosted INT means you'd be pretty good at Wizard spells, but you'd be limited to only 1st/2nd/3rd level spells, while everyone else is tossing out 4th/5th/6th/7th level spells.)

If all you're going to be doing is soaking damage for a couple rounds, you can do the same with a less-multiclassed Druid or Wizard with a couple summoned creatures, while also allowing your character to contribute in other better ways at the same time.

 

[TheDeadPoet]

Would Druid 4/Bladesinger 2 be a better split ?

 

[RogueJK]

Better. I still think a Druid with Bladesinger dip would work better with a different caster-focused Druid subclass, but it still looks workable with a Moon Druid.

Since they're so reliant on Wild Shape, Moon Druids lag a bit in power at levels ~7-9, just at the tail end of Tier 2, before they get their Elemental Wild Shapes at 10th. A 1 level dip is doable, and a 2 level dip could be doable, but understand that you're extending that "lag period" up into early Tier 3 at 10th and 11th level.

This is why most Moon Druids are single classed, or have just a 1 level dip into Barbarian or Monk.

Compare:

Barb1/Moon Druid X gets Rage for damage resistance, +2 damage, and STR advantage, plus anywhere from +1 to +3 AC on most of their Wild Shape forms from CON Unarmored Defense (depending on the CON score of that animal). Your spells and spell slots are 1 level behind, as well as your Wild Shape forms.

Monk1/Moon Druid X gets +5 to AC on their Wild Shape forms from WIS Unarmored Defense (with 20 WIS). Your spells and spell slots are 1 level behind, as well as your Wild Shape forms. But you can focus on just one main stat: WIS.

Your 19 INT Bladesinger 2/Moon Druid X gets +10 speed and +4 to AC/Concentration when Bladesong is active, plus a few Wizard cantrips and 1st level spells. Your spell slots are not delayed, but your Druid spells known are delayed by 2 levels, and your Wild Shape forms are 2 levels behind. (Normally, this would have the further downside of being extra MAD by requiring you to focus on INT which is normally a dump stat for Druids, but your free +INT item partially negates that.)


Remember that your Moon Druid can't both Wild Shape and activate Bladesong/Rage in the same turn, since they're both Bonus Actions, so your full benefits won't come online until Round 2 at the earliest with those. And a number of your Druid spells will be competing for your Bonus Actions too. The traditional pattern for a Moon Druid is to cast a Concentration spell like Moonbeam in Round 1 and then Wild Shape as a bonus action. Rounds 2+, you Attack with your Wild Shape form while controlling the spell as a Bonus Action. Tossing in extra Bonus Actions like Rage/Bladesong can mess with that pattern, and requires a slightly different approach. And Rage in particular prevents Concentration altogether, so that totally eliminates the ability to have a spell running while Wild Shaped, which noticeably cramps your efficiency and potential damage output. Bladesong only messes with your action economy. And Monk doesn't mess with either Concentration or action economy.

 

[Esker]

@RogueJK said a lot of what I was about to say in their last post (re: monk dip and bladesong action economy), but a few things to add:

Is the headband of intellect locked in, or could you switch it out if you decided not to go bladesinger? It feels to me like unarmed defense is more useful than the AC bump from bladesong, particularly if you can also swap in a different magic item in place of the headband, though the concentration boost is nice too.

If you went Monk 1 / Druid X, by dropping the multiclass stat requirements for STR and INT you can put more points into DEX and WIS, and wind up with nearly the same AC always on that you would have had with bladesong, and with less delay in your wildshape progression.

For example, suppose you went variant human, bought something like:

STR 8
DEX 13+1
CON 15
INT 10
WIS 15+1
CHA 10

took Resilient (CON) as your feat, and took +2 WIS at level 5. Then, at level 6, you'd have AC equal to 10(base)+2(DEX)+4(WIS)+2(bracers)+1(ring) = 19 in elf form, and your concentration saves would be at +6 (compare bladesinger base AC 16, 20 with bladesong, assuming 16 DEX instead of 14, and +7 concent). Brown bear has lower DEX, so you lose some AC, though you could wildshape into a dire wolf instead, which maintains the 19 AC and has some nice benefits to make up for the lower STR and lack of multiattack (pack tactics and a prone rider on your attacks, which works great with grapples).

At level 7 you get CR 2 wild shapes, including the giant constrictor snake, which automatically grapples and restrains on a hit.

 

[Esker]

Note also that druids get enhance ability, which gives some of the benefits of enlarge/reduce.