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Message: <blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 7253048" data-attributes="member: 71699">It's more relevant if you are using Blur, as the +1 AC really helps. By level 5 you are expecting foes with +3 to +6. With 19 AC they hit with 1:4 to 2:5 of their attacks. With 20 they hit with 1:5 to 7:20 of their attacks. That is magnified by Shield of Faith and Disadvantage, so that they start hitting with only 1:100 to 1:16 of their attacks. In conjunction with the relatively low number of attacks that each foe is likely to get per combat, forcing* that one value tails incoming hits off dramatically. I like your use of Warcaster a great deal - it looks very satisfying! Taking the Feat instead of the ASI means committing to a high resource-use character, so there's the downside.My principle critique could be restated as "don't make casters that overshadow martials". Strongest defensive toe-to-toe character should be the one with plate, shield and Defense fighting style. Wizard already has the most toys: they don't need this. Some commentators have focused on a single dimension of that critique, to suggest that if BS can't also do wizardry then there is no problem. That single dimension isn't the only dimension of the critique, which is more concerned about Wizards stretching out to overshadow martials than whether BS is the strongest Arcane Tradition (I believe BS is top-two, that said). However, even looking at that one dimension, the framing under which it could make sense requires us to ignore the efficiency of Blur + very high AC. Proactively using Mage Armor (runs 8 hours, no Concentration) + Blur (Concentration, 1 minute) + Shield of Faith (bonus action to cast, Concentration, 10 minutes) with Bladesong ends up saving resources over the course of the combat.Then, because we spent 1/6th of a 1st level slot + a 2nd level slot + a 1st level slot, with likely 1-2 heals and 0-1 Shields on top, most of our 3rd level slots (and higher) wind up free for all the wizardry our hearts could desire. Worst case, BS simply switches roles. Other Arcane Traditions don't do better than this, because they still need to cast something each combat. So even though I don't believe my critique can be rebuked solely on that single dimension (it's wizard overshadowing martials that I excoriate) I also don't believe that a very strong case has been made to show that BS can't do wizardry. Sitting at the table next to our guy in TotYP, I'm seeing plenty of CC and AoE output on top of his BSing. Still, we're only a few sessions in.*A feature of the mechanics of RPGs is that balancing faults often arise from forcing a value. From a professional expertise perspective, that is part of what makes adding Int to AC egregious, because the designer should have looked at that forcing with concern. Overshadow and power-creep then rear their ugly heads. I should add that averaging damage instead of playing out scenarios might fail to explicate such a forcing because it is representing damage as coming in constantly, when really that damage is arriving infrequently and in parcels. </blockquote>

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