D&D 5E Concepts for an arcane half-caster/gish

[Zardnaar]

I feel like we do have a number of versions of this already:

Valor Bard
Eldritch Knight
Swordmage
Bladelock

I've played all 4 of those - and each felt Gishy from the get go. I walked into melee battle and used a combination of magic and melee to get the job done with each.

Valor Bard - this is perhaps the most obvious blending of magic and might. Eldrtich knight - I played a human variant with a feat to get a spell at level one (and cantrips) - so it was very gishy.

Swordmage - Sword wielding spellcasting elf from level 1 on....

Bladelock - This was a bit less gishy for levels 1 and 2 - but we hit level 3 VERY quickly (I think it took about 10 hours of game play to get there).

None of them are actually that good though and often flawed in some way RAW.

My concept is a half caste rlike paladin with the ability to sacrifice spells for more damage (probably advantage toi hit and less damage than a Paladins smite). Baked in would also be proficiency in con saves, heavy armor and the hand free ability of the warcaster feat.

It would be an arcane paladin more or less with a focus on buffing, damage, and better offensive spells vs smite, healing and aura.

I suppose you can also MC Paladin and Sorcerer together to get something similar (Paladin 6/Sorcerer XYZ takes a while to come online though).

 

[Slit518]

Not really. They were modeled after the knights of the round table, who were essentially just knights. Giving them divine magic was a way of making them more "exceptional" than the average fighter or knight, in the exact same way that naming a professional adventurer "argonaut" would make them exceptional. In my opinion, divine magic is no more implied with being an exceptional knight than arcane magic is with being an exceptional adventurer.

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table on the holy quest for the Holy Grail?

Jason and the Argonauts on a quest for The Book of Thoth?

 

[Einlanzer0]

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table on the holy quest for the Holy Grail?

Jason and the Argonauts on a quest for The Book of Thoth?

The Golden Fleece is a symbol of power, and has sometimes been interpreted as a book of alchemy.

 

[Slit518]

The Golden Fleece is a symbol of power, and has sometimes been interpreted as a book of alchemy.

I have never seen Jason and the Argonauts. But that is what they are questing for? The Golden Fleece?

 

[steeldragons]

My only real thoughts that may or may not assist the creative process are as follows:

1. The name Argonuat makes no sense to me. Who among the Argonauts were spellcasters? Besdies the real world reference that an Argonaut was someone who journeyed with Jason on the Argo. That's all it means. Nothing "fighter/mage," or "arcane paladin" as you seem to desire, about it. Even Jason, himself, - and granted I haven't read their story in some time- didn't exhibit any spell use of his own. Medea, sure. Jason, not so much.

2. If you're looking for someone with historic or myth/legend fantasy basis to hang this concept on, the first/best person -of any pedigree- that comes to mind is Elric of Melnibone. Elric, however, was inarguably a Warlock by D&D's class concepts, particularly accurately portrayed as a Blade Pact Warlock.

Similarly, one could arguably make the case for Elrond (possibly Glorfindel) to be added to list, siting him[them] being the inspiration for the "fighting/magic-using elf-as-class" of early iterations (BX/BECM), as experienced respected warriors who knew magic (or at least the knowledge and wisdom to know about magical things).

I suppose if you want to make a stretch, Gilgamesh is usually noted for magical ability/knowledge as well as warrior prowess.

So, I think those are your primary literary inspirations and should draw your half-caster arcane warrior features from them.

3. If what you are looking for is an arcane paladin, just play a paladin and use arcane spells and bonus spells. Swap out Channel Divinity (or any other feature that doesn't fit the flavor) for some wizard or sorcerer or warlock magic-usery feature(s).

 

[DEFCON 1]

You have to start with the thematic space this class fits in. What is their purpose? Their reason for existence? A paladin is a holy knight that has sworn an oath to uphold a particular set of ideals. A ranger is a wilderness warrior dedicated to protect nature and the denizens within. What does your X class do? Come up with an answer with that first before worrying about game mechanics. It's not enough to just want an "arcane half-caster" just because we already have a divine one and a primal one. The paladin and ranger don't exist because we had half-caster spaces to fill... they exist because of their archetype and their mechanics just happen to be half-casters. Give us this class's archetype first, then you can figure out the best way to represent it.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Not really. They were modeled after the knights of the round table, who were essentially just knights. Giving them divine magic was a way of making them more "exceptional" than the average fighter or knight, in the exact same way that naming a professional adventurer "argonaut" would make them exceptional. In my opinion, divine magic is no more implied with being an exceptional knight than arcane magic is with being an exceptional adventurer.

I'm sorry, but this really is a stretch. The Paladins, and the Knights of the Round Table, were held up as exemplars of Christian virtue. You can draw a straight line from that to D&D divine magic and alignment. It is not difficult to imagine a Galahad-like character working miracles on behalf of his god. This is not the case with the Argonauts. Imagining Heracles casting fireball is a much bigger ask. If anything, I would expect an "argonaut" class to be some sort of maritime warrior -- the Argonauts were sailors, and the word just means "sailor on the Argo". It's kind of like you decided to call this class "pirate" or "marine" for no particular reason.

You can name your class whatever you like, of course. But if you have in mind an intended audience other than yourself, then I advise you to step back, take a serious look at the feedback you're getting here about the connotations of "argonaut", and reconsider. Because it is likely that, if you were to post or publish a fighter-mage class by that name, you would get the same "What? That doesn't make sense" reaction from your readers. And you will not be able to argue the point with all of them the way you're doing here, nor would it be a good idea to do so even if you could.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

If you're looking for ideas, there was a class in 3.5's Dungeonscape that portrayed a similar concept of the versatile, self-reliant professional adventurer. It's called the "factotum". I'd describe it as more a of rogue- or bardlike jack-of-all-trades than what you envision, though.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I'd go with the name Janissary. It feels the idea of a re-interpretation of a real world concept, but within the D&D lore. In 4e, there's was a paragon path (think prestige class) where it explained one of the major school of swordmage was in the Elemental Planes where Janissary served as arcane bodyguard for genie lords. In the FR lore for 4e, swordmages were often depicted as coronal guard of the fey lords or even the long lost Netherese lords, always with the theme of protecting VIP of high arcane societies/nations.

I'd go with a mix of Valord bard and Paladin: Extra attack at lvl 6, full spellcasting from the spell list composed of elemental invocation spells, some elemental conjuration, and many spells from the divination and abjuration school to represent the idea of protecting and contacting a planar power.
1d8 HP
Light, Medium armor
Aegis: add Int to AC, can move it to an ally within 15' as a bonus action, who can use it as a reaction, but lose the AC until start of next turn.
Archetype: Bond of Djinn, Bond of the Effrit , Bond of the Marid, Bond of the Dao
Elemental Aegis: Give resistance to elemental damage with Aegis feature.
Planar Envoy: portal related ribbon
Limited Wish: Similar to the cleric feature.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=6788934]Einlanzer0[/MENTION] Argonaut is a terrible nonsensical name for a fighter-mage. If you're serious about designing this, I'd look to (1) myths, (2) literature, and (3) films with characters that fit the fighter-mage archetype. Shoot for, say, 3 examples of each and then look for patterns – what features do they share?

For example...

(Myth) Sun Wukong / The Monkey King. Described in the classic Journey to the West, but undoubtedly part of Chinese culture long before its publication, dating back to at least the Song Dynasty. The Monkey King was a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices, becoming a warrior, magician, and trickster. He was charming and mischievous, betting with Buddha, and otherwise stealing the spotlight with his over the top persona. His alignment might be described as Chaotic Neutral; he is playful, irreverent, and likes proving his superior skill/cunning/fighting prowess. Among some of his powers are super-strength, jumping ridiculous distances, transforming into a variety of animals and objects, amazing fighting skill allowing him to overcome heaven's best warriors, creating clones of himself with strands of his hair (which can also be turned into animals/weapons/objects btw), commanding the elements, and creating magic circles to protect against demons.

Compare him to another fighter-mage of myth/literature/film, and see if any patterns emerge! If you need a starting point, you could try TV Tropes (Magic Knight).