D&D 5E Bellator Arcana - The Eldritch Knight Guide

[LightningArrow]

Too bad no Unearthed because Minotaur is golden for EK. +1 Str/Int and the horns can't be beat.

Yep. I can't imagine something like a Minotaur being intelligent just because of the mazes, but apparently the guys at Wizards can! Also makes you wonder why they would use any weapon at all, since their horns are as good as one.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

1. If taking levels in Wizard, what level would you suggest? Almost seems like an EK might want to get to level 8 to get the first set of ASIs as well as War Magic before taking levels in Wizard.

This is highly dependent on what you are going for. If you stop fighter at 7th level you can access the 7th-level spell list. So if you want teleport, planeshift, delayed blast fireball, etc, you have to have 13 levels of wizard. If you go to fighter 7 you also get War Magic. In my book, access to those spells is worth a heck of a lot more than an ASI, but then again I like my EK to be a blending of fighter and wizard rather than a fighter with a dash of magic.

3. What are your thoughts on not taking any of the SCAG cantrips? I tend to play in AL, so can only use SCAG or EE...not both. I'm thinking Absorb Elements might come in more handy.

Again, this is dependent on what you are going for. If you are taking more wizard than fighter than you really are going to want to use greenflame blade or booming blade along with War Magic to keep up good melee damage output. If you instead go more fighter than wizard you can get by with the fighter's 3 attacks after level 11.

So I would definitely take a SCAG cantrip if you are going with more wizard than fighter, unless you want underwhelming damage. At that point you might as well just go bladesinger instead of EK (speaking purely mechanically, of course, since it might not be at all the flavor you are going for) and have full casting capability to go with your limited melee presence.

 

[Ovarwa]

This is highly dependent on what you are going for. If you stop fighter at 7th level you can access the 7th-level spell list. So if you want teleport, planeshift, delayed blast fireball, etc, you have to have 13 levels of wizard.

Although getting a 7th level slot at character level 20 maybe isn't all that; this guy doesn't get a 3rd level spell until level 12, just one level ahead of EK13. He does get the slot earlier, but isn't much more magical than EK8/Wizard X. The 3rd ASI at level 8 is extremely useful for a hybrid character.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

But I'm not talking about the slot, I'm talking about the available spells themselves. 7th-level spells open a whole new set of possibilities for a character. It isn't about adding an extra die of damage to fireball, it is about traveling the world and planes with magic, creating forecages and simulacrums, etc. You give up all of that if you choose the ASI.

 

[Ovarwa]

At level 20. Which is 2 nines worth of never.

 

[LightningArrow]

As I said, those who want to be great casters should really focus on the Bladesinger. The selling points of going Wizard for an EK are:

• Nice school abilities (Portent definitely stands out);
• Extra spell slots faster (even if you don't have learned spells from those levels, you can make your low-level spells with higher slots for more damage or other effects);
• More spells from schools other than evocation and abjuration

While a build like EK7/Wizard 13 is doable, and good, it's more Wizard than Fighter, and thus not the purpose of this guide, not to mention you would lose some of the Fighter's best things, such as another Extra Attack and Eldritch Strike.

 

[LightningArrow]

OK, report time. This Saturday, I had the chance to play as a High Elf EK, at level 5. The party was me, a Tiefling Barbarian (SCAG Feral Variant) and a Human Rogue. A few things I've noticed:

- I had planned to be in melee as often as I could, but since the other two also planned for that I could attack from range when needed.
- With Chromatic Orb and Frostbite, it was easier for me to alternate between range and melee, since in a few situations I found myself too far from enemies.
- Damage-wise, I was the worst of the three (the Barbarian was the Frenzy kind, hard to compete). Still, in two fights I was comfortably negating hits with Shield, so I outlasted all of them HP-wise. The only fight where I had trouble was because I got critted by an owlbear.
- For my level 3 spell I chose Find Familiar, and was positively surprised. Always having advantage on your first attack makes for a lot of precision, and scouting was a lot easier.
- The DM was not happy about my massive AC (21 with Cloak of Protection, and 26 when using Shield), but since we were fighting many unintelligent monsters it would be lame if he simply stopped attacking me.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

- The DM was not happy about my massive AC (21 with Cloak of Protection, and 26 when using Shield), but since we were fighting many unintelligent monsters it would be lame if he simply stopped attacking me.

One of the important differences between CRPGs and TTRPGs is that you now have a human being sitting on the other side of the table who is expected to lose over and over against your optimized strategies. There's basically three ways a DM can respond to this situation:

(1) Grin and bear it. Keep running monsters "realistically", which means the players get plenty of time to enjoy their dominance after they "solve" the monsters in question.
(2) Metagame and change things up. Suddenly all the monsters get new abilities, and now the players are on a treadmill.
(3) Control the pace, let the players declare victory, and skip over the combat. Move to the non-combat stuff after you finish killing yet another Ettin.

Personally I hate #2, so I try to do #1 and #3. Sometimes #1 is really hard though (i.e. incredibly tedious). Occasionally I'll have a "dead" player run #1 for me, which helps. Also, there are a number of ways to do #3.

 

[LightningArrow]

Agreed. There will always be a little bit of metagame in the encounter planning (a DM wouldn't put a single wizard against 3 guys with Counterspell, for example), but he also shouldn't plan to counter everything the PCs have.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I probably would put a wizard against 3 guys with Counterspell. In fact, I deliberately try to avoid knowing my players' PCs' exact stats/levels/spells known/etc. in order to avoid metagaming to the extent possible.

However, once the first Counterspell happens, the wizard will do reasonably smart things in response (if he has time), such as retreating out of Counterspell range or behind a corner before casting his next spell.