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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 9684540" data-attributes="member: 7006">Sure they do.  The Battlemaster is a swordmage.  But the designers just chose to fluff the magic as "combat maneuvers".  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Someone wants a gish?  Just refluff all the combat maneuvers as magical effects rather than combat actions.  Because at the ends of the day that's all any of these game mechanics are... the same exact actions that we narratively describe differently so as to make us think they are different and special.  But they're not.  And anyone who has played 4E knows this intimately.  Most powers in 4E do the same exact thing and it doesn't matter if its a Martial Exploit, Divine Prayer, or Arcane Spell... push an enemy, pull an enemy, slide an enemy, make an enemy fall prone, do damage to an adjacent enemy, do damage to an enemy out at a distance, do damage to a bunch of adjacent enemies, do damage to a bunch of enemies at a distance in a burst, etc. etc. etc.You want a true Gish in the game right now?  We have one.  The Gish has Eldritch Maneuvers and "Arcane Power Dice" they use to magically enhance their weapon use.  When the Gish hits with a weapon attack they can choose to use an  Eldritch Maneuver-- they roll an Arcane Power Die and add the number rolled as additional magical damage to their swing and can add the magical effect of the Eldritch Maneuver.  A couple of the Eldritch Maneuvers are listed here:Slide ReversalWhen you’re within 5 feet of a creature on your turn, you can exhaust one Arcane Power Die and teleportationally exchange positions with that creature, provided you spend at least 5 feet of movement and the creature is willing and doesn’t have the <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/free-rules/rules-glossary#IncapacitatedCondition" target="_blank">Incapacitated</a> condition. This movement doesn’t provoke <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/free-rules/rules-glossary#OpportunityAttack" target="_blank">Opportunity Attacks</a>.Roll the Arcane Power Die. Until the start of your next turn, you or the other creature (your choice) gains a magical aura that grants a bonus to AC equal to the number rolled.Enchanting CommandmentWhen you take the <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/free-rules/rules-glossary#AttackAction" target="_blank">Attack</a> action on your turn, you can replace one of your attacks to magically compel one of your companions to strike. When you do so, choose a willing creature who can see or hear you and exhaust one Arcane Power Die. That creature is immediately enchanted to use its Reaction to make one attack with a weapon or an <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/free-rules/rules-glossary#UnarmedStrike" target="_blank">Unarmed Strike</a>, adding the Arcane Power Die to the attack’s damage roll on a hit.Necrotic WeaknessWhen you hit a creature with an attack roll, you can exhaust one Arcane Power Die to attempt to magically weaken the target and force them to drop what they are holding. Add the Arcane Power Die roll to the attack’s damage roll. The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or drop one object of your choice that it’s holding, with the object landing in its space.Illusory DistractionWhen you hit a creature with an attack roll, you can exhaust one Arcane Power Die to create an illusory image of the caster's choice to distract the target. Add the Arcane Power Die roll to the attack’s damage roll. The next attack roll against the target by an attacker other than you has <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/free-rules/rules-glossary#Advantage" target="_blank">Advantage</a> if the attack is made before the start of your next turn.Eldritch Withdrawl As a Bonus Action, you can exhaust one Arcane Power Die and magically move on the air to escape an enemy.  You may take the <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/free-rules/rules-glossary#DisengageAction" target="_blank">Disengage</a> action. You also conjure a magical defensive aura around you that allows you to roll the die and add the number rolled to your AC until the start of your next turn.These are just a few of the Battlemaster Manuevers that have been refluffed as magical effects, and they are exactly the same sorts of effects that would be made were an "original" gish class be created.  Because the game mechanics are all one and the same-- especially the ones that are about weapon use.  Trip target, disarm target, do additional damage, move target around, etc. etc. etc.  Heck, Weapon Masteries are the exact same thing... you could just rename and refluff every mastery as a magical effects (or heck, rename them as the closest cantrip name we already have in the game that does the same effect) and now you have magical cantrip-like magical effects affecting every swing of a weapon.At the end of the day, every game system in D&D uses the same mechanics over and over and over... we just call them different things and thus we fool ourselves into thinking they are actually different.  But we're only just suspending our disbelief via the in-game narration.</blockquote>

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