D&D (2024) Bladesinger, is it Green, Yellow, or Red?

[Blue]

Sure. but that is fundamentally different. If the wording said when you use a Magic Action to cast a Cast a spell ...... then you would be correct and it would not trigger when cast with the attack action, but that is not what it says.

I expect the wording will change in the final version.

Okay, now I see it. I stand corrected, you had it right in the beginning.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Green, but since you no longer can use light armor. AC bonus should be permanent and not just when using Bladesong

Why should a 9 level caster get multiattack and better than tank AC? If the AC bonus was 10+Dex+Int, MAYBE. But it stacks with Mage armor. And it's on in every real encounter of the day. Sorry monks, should have been a caster.

Why do we even have noncasters at this point? Legacy reasons? They don't really fight significantly better at the levels people play and you can poach masteries with a 1 level dip. The only non-caster I've seen played in the last 8 years of running 5E was by a 12 year old and after a while even he was wondering why the hell the valor bard and bladesinger were making the same number of attacks.

No full caster should get multiattack. Given them some bonus action leveled spells weaker than full action ones if they want to mix it up. Where does this leave chumps who play artificers? "Sorry bud, best I can do is trading half your casting for a couple more magic items. Enjoy that staff of birdcalls."

The original subclass was overpowered, the new one is as well. Which tracks to its introduction in 2nd edition.

My feedback will be this needs to be nerfed a bit, at least to remove the ability to dual wield with bladesong, as it's supposed to be a single one-handed melee style. However they wrote the dual wield rules so half ass to the point you can dual wield with a shield that I have no idea how they need to phrase it.

 

[mellored]

Why should a 9 level caster get multiattack and better than tank AC?

To get better AC, you need to spend your feats on +2 ability scores.

Which means you don't get great weapon master or dual wielder.

You also forgot about HP, and not being able to take any +Con. That's before second wind.

So they still deal less damage and die faster than a martial.

remove the ability to dual wield

They don't get Nick or two weapon fighting either.

 

[D-03-109 MeltingLove]

I love Bladesinger so much but I should give the new UA one an Red.
It's cool that strike people with your Intelligence but Bladesinger still need Dex for it's ac, and the fact of this subclass in 2023 til now is better to be an HIGH-AC spellcaster rather than a magic-swordman since the main-class is the best caster wizard ever.
Nonetheless, new BS wizard not providing things like Mastery and only things it gives you are Int strike, all martial weapon prof.(but why I need them?),and more song uses. It's even worst-er for a swordman and even best-er for a caster.
And as always, If I wish to play a caster why should I use these dumb features and if I wish to play a magic-swordman tell me why I should give up my spellcasting? If I can cast a Fireball to deal everyone a 8d6 why should I deal only 2d8+5+1d6(if true strike) for a turn? The fact of Bladesinger is a paradox of playing a non-warrior and full-caster class and wotc doesn't give enough feature for you to give up casting and play a warrior.

Oh, btw, the word 2023 here means “not 2024 version yet”, my table used it a lot.

 

[ECMO3]

To get better AC, you need to spend your feats on +2 ability scores

Which means you don't get great weapon master or dual wielder.

not really. Mage Armor+Bladesong+Shield spell is AC 24 at level 3 on point buy.

If you get GWM (which I would not recommend) and dual wielder you are at 25 at level 9 which is pretty darn good even with such wierd feat selections.

You also forgot about HP, and not being able to take any +Con. That's before second wind.

With False Life with my highest level slot I can outrun a fighter in total hit points and in bladesong I add intelligence to Concentration saves.

At the end of a day a bladesinger built for melee with spells and slots used specifically for melee will dominate in that role at most levels as compared to other single-class non-caster options.

 

[ECMO3]

If I can cast a Fireball to deal everyone a 8d6 why should I deal only 2d8+5+1d6(if true strike) for a turn? The fact of Bladesinger is a paradox of playing a non-warrior and full-caster class and wotc doesn't give enough feature for you to give up casting and play a warrior.

If it is 2 attacks with a d8 weapon it would be 2d8+1d6+10 from levels 6-10 with a 20 Intelligence. The reason why though is there is a lot of times single target damage is going to be better than tossing a fireball and if you plan to be hard in melee you want that 3rd level slot for something else (likely False Life). Also keep in mind with your 4th level feat you can either add Hex damage or Wrathful Smite damage to that through Fey Touched or Shadow Touched.

Also all martial weapons is a pretty big deal compared to the single weapon in this past. This is especially true since Intelligence lets you use non-Finesse weapons now. Having no masteries is really the only weakness, but that is countered I think by some extreme strengths.

I am not suggesting that this play style is more powerful then going with traditional Wizard control spells, but it is a powerful way to build a melee character.

 

[Minigiant]

Yellow, it feels a little too strong.

 

[Kobold Stew]

I said yellow -- bladesinging is overclocked (especially for the AC), and they need to eliminate the third attack that comes online at level 14.

 

[WanderingMystic]

Their 14lvl is the same as valor bards so why was no one thinking about the possiblity of a third attack back then?

 

[WanderingMystic]

The more I think about the bladesinger the more I think that they need the ability to make a melee attack when they cast a spell with the added that if they hit the target auto fails any save required from the spell. This would give them a good incentive to be melee and act like a melee spell caster instead of a high ac wizard.