D&D 5E Eldritch Knight+ MC wizard tank ideas?

[delph]

Hi, I'm sure I wanna play my Warforged EK (lvl3) with MC wizard. But not sure how.

Now I'm based in I will get on 4th lvl and take warcaster feat. Then probably go to a wizard. for 2 lvls. And probably war school for 2 AC/ +4 saves... And then I'm lost how to choose. I wanna play undestructable tank, but as I see posibilities with magic, it look like continue as wizard for 5th lvls for 3rd level spells... and lack in figter (another feats, war magic, second attack,...)

we play short rests are 8 hours and longrests are 64 hours (3 night sleeping and 2 days do nothing hard)

I have +3 str, +3 con, +1 int.
magic sword and magic shield
protection fighting style.

 

[ClockworkNinja]

What level are you starting at?

Think about what you want to focus on. What is more important to you, defense or magic? Remember that no one character does everything, nor should they.

Based on your stats you seem to want a high defense, high melee damage tank who can also cast some spells. If so, consider Paladin, Bladepact Warlock, or a pure EK.

If you want a magic caster who also has good defense, maybe Bladesinger or Cleric would be better.

For more balance, what about 2 levels of Artificer before going full war Wizard? That gives Con saving throws, medium armor and shields, and the infusions can deliver your magic shield and weapon, or more utility items like a bag of holding or mind sharpening armor.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Spell progression is a big issue for Eldritch knights since they are only 1/3 casters and although the spellcaster level gets rounded up when they are straight Eldritch Knigts, when multiclassed it gets rounded down. I would argue that a third caster level (when you go from 3 to 6 spell slots) is a major turning point towards actually becoming someone who can use levelled spells as a major part of their playstyle. This doesn't come until level 7 for an Eldritch Knight, making them one of the slowest options to come fully "online".

Thus hopping off Eldritch Knight at level 3 to take a couple levels of Wizard can work. You put off your extra attack but you can make up for this somewhat by building into use of the Booming Blade cantrip, which upgrades at level 5 and allows you to make a single augmented melee attack. Having a familiar to give you advantage on that single attack also helps as a consolation prize. You hit level 5 with 3 caster levels, and although you can only use those 2nd level slots for upcasting so far.

Alternatively I would wait until level 6 or 7 of EK before dipping Wizard. You get extra attack on schedule, you get a second ASI and either way, because of the rounded up singleclassed, rounded down multiclass math, you hit 3rd caster level at level 7. Since it looks like you are going sword and board you really do need Warcaster for this sort of character to work, unless you are willing to put away the shield for a few levels, so rushing through the ASIs is probably best.

It sounds like you were hoping to do Fighter 4 then multiclass Wizard, which isn't terrible by any means, provided you lean into the cantrips at level 5. A level of Wizard adds a lot. But it is not conducive to advancing your caster level and I think if I got all the way to Fighter 4 I'd basically always rush for the 5th level and get my extra attack.

If you are willing to play into the limitations of a Bladesinger's bladesong then that is easily your best bet for an EK's Wizard subclass (but it runs pretty counter to your sword and board style). If not then it is hard to beat War Magic for a small dip by a melee character (giving up being able to cast a levelled spell the next turn for a +4 on a saving throw is a much better deal for you than for a Wizard). There are arguments to be made for Evoker, Abjurer, or Diviner as well, but none quite augment a Fighter's core fighting skills like Bladesinger or War Magic. If you push to 6 levels of Wizard then the Tasha's revision of Bladesinger starts being a reasonable choice even if you don't intend to use the Bladesong consistently.

I'd recommend eventually pushing to at least 3 levels of Wizard, because there are just too many good buffs for a fighter in level 2 magic and you are severely limited in what you can get from your EK levels, which mostly have to be Evocation or Abjuration. There's also lots of amazing 3rd level spells if you go to Wizard 5. The quality Wizard spells don't stop at higher levels, but fewer of them are conducive to a spellsword type beyond the first 3 or 4 levels, and your mediocre Int means that you don't really want to play too far into WIzard.

Eventually you may want to trade out protection fighting style for one that doesn't burn your reaction. Guys with wizard levels have better ways to use their reactions.

 

[AtomicPope]

Protection might not be the style you want since Wizards get a few good spells that require reactions, including your special ability from School of War Magic. Maybe just go with the +1 AC from Armored Fighting. Having a high AC is the best way to be "Invincible." Some other reaction spells let you absorb elemental damage.

 

[FrogReaver]

Hi, I'm sure I wanna play my Warforged EK (lvl3) with MC wizard. But not sure how.

Now I'm based in I will get on 4th lvl and take warcaster feat. Then probably go to a wizard. for 2 lvls. And probably war school for 2 AC/ +4 saves... And then I'm lost how to choose. I wanna play undestructable tank, but as I see posibilities with magic, it look like continue as wizard for 5th lvls for 3rd level spells... and lack in figter (another feats, war magic, second attack,...)

we play short rests are 8 hours and longrests are 64 hours (3 night sleeping and 2 days do nothing hard)

I have +3 str, +3 con, +1 int.
magic sword and magic shield
protection fighting style.

For what you are wanting I would have recommended Fighter 1 / Wizard X

I just don't think there's a very good way to multiclass a low level EK with Wizard.

 

[ECMO3]

What level are you starting at?

Think about what you want to focus on. What is more important to you, defense or magic? Remember that no one character does everything, nor should they.

Based on your stats you seem to want a high defense, high melee damage tank who can also cast some spells. If so, consider Paladin, Bladepact Warlock, or a pure EK.

If you want a magic caster who also has good defense, maybe Bladesinger or Cleric would be better.

For more balance, what about 2 levels of Artificer before going full war Wizard? That gives Con saving throws, medium armor and shields, and the infusions can deliver your magic shield and weapon, or more utility items like a bag of holding or mind sharpening armor.

Bladesinger would be the most powerful build if you can move your stats around, but if you are stuck with +0 Dex, +1 intelligence, those will not work very well with a bladesinger build.

I think fighter 4 is the right place to multiclass. People will say to go to level 5 for extra attack, but honestly the blade cantrips will keep up with extra attack pretty well. I think you should go fighter 4, then Wizard 2 then fighter 8.

I would look at school of abjuration, I think that is going to work better than warmagic. The problem with warmagic is shield is going to be better than the warmagic reaction for AC the reaction on saves are nice but spells can cover a lot of that ground too.

As far as feats, warcaster is a good one, if you have an odd intelligence I would also look at Fey Touched or Shadow Touched. Finally if your DM will let you upcast from magic initiate spells, magic initiate Warlock for Armor of Agathys would be awesome for this build, especially with a school of abjuration.

There are two ways to play this and either will have good defense. First option is to go all out defense, sword and board with false life (which you can get through shadow touched if necesseary), blur, protection from good and evil. Once you have money for plate you should be able to get a 26AC with the shield spell. This character can kite pretty well with Booming Blade as you will be very difficult to hit with a 26 and blur running.

The other option is to go for offense and take a greatsword, you will do more damage and still have a high AC. For this build I would go with mirror image and pick up hex through fey touched.