D&D 5E How would you do the sword mage in 5e?

[doctorbadwolf]

I don't want a wizard with a sword.

Neither do I.

I want a character that's a melee combatant, but who fights with magic. Their abilities (be they spells or something else) should all be melee or short range (30 ft or so), or be based on either moving the swordmage to their opponent or the other way around.

That’s…a weird restriction. No utility magic, no longer range abilities at all, the entire class must always be completely melee, why?

I absolutely don't want them having the same spell list as a wizard.

Who has suggested they should?

I don't want a swordmage casting a fireball, but I could see an ability that lets them either leap or teleport a fairly long distance and creating an AOE effect where they land.

Okay.

The closest 5e has conceptually to what I'd want to see is the Arcane Archer. That's kind of what I'm after, except with more power budget into the magic and less into the martial.

Man have fun, i don’t really see much value in restricting the class to not casting spells when it’s…a swordmage.

 

[ECMO3]

I think it’d be easy to keep the infusions. Just add more weapon, armor, maybe tattoo, and stuff to do some of the non-spell abilities you want.

Why wouldn’t a swordmage be enchanting their gear?

I am of the opinion that is not what people want with Swordmage. I think they want combat, not crafting.

To be clear I am not one of those pushing for a Swordmage, and those that are seem to want different things but overall they seem disatisfied with the Artificer as the Swordmage solution and I was assuming it was the McGyver vibe that they disliked.

If you want a gadget-guy Swordmage why doesn't the artificer Battlesmith or Armorer suit as it is already?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I am of the opinion that is not what people want with Swordmage. I think they want combat, not crafting.

So…don’t craft? You wake up and put sigils on your gear with different effects that last until the next day unless you redraw them.

And weren’t we talking about using an existing class to make an artificer, or did I conflate your posts with a different line of discussion in this thread?

To be clear I am not one of those pushing for a Swordmage, and those that are seem to want different things but overall they seem disatisfied with the Artificer as the Swordmage solution and I was assuming it was the McGyver vibe that they disliked.

Right but that vibe isn’t actually necessary to the class.

If you want a gadget-guy Swordmage why doesn't the artificer Battlesmith or Armorer suit as it is already?

I didn’t say anything about gadgets, though. Heck, you could flavor infusions as “wards” you put up at the start of the day.

 

[Staffan]

Neither do I.

That’s…a weird restriction. No utility magic, no longer range abilities at all, the entire class must always be completely melee, why?

Because it's about hitting people in the face with magic. I could perhaps see a subclass doing ranged stuff via archery, but that's not where my image of the class lives. If they're fighting something long-distance, their solution should be to reduce that distance somehow.

If 5e had kept the 4e ritual magic system (which was great) I could see them doing ritual utility magic, but I don't want utility magic competing with combat magic for attention or resources.

 

[CreamCloud0]

i could see a swordmage with somewhat access to midrage with various elemental flavours of quote-unquote 'swordbeams', a blast of razor wind, a fiery spin attack, shards of ice or bolts of lighting peeling off of a swinging blade.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

i could see a swordmage with somewhat access to midrage with various elemental flavours of quote-unquote 'swordbeams', a blast of razor wind, a fiery spin attack, shards of ice or bolts of lighting peeling off of a swinging blade.

Or, like, throwing their sword across the battlefield, creating a “portal” and making a “melee” attack from 120ft away, etc.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Because it's about hitting people in the face with magic. I could perhaps see a subclass doing ranged stuff via archery, but that's not where my image of the class lives. If they're fighting something long-distance, their solution should be to reduce that distance somehow.

If 5e had kept the 4e ritual magic system (which was great) I could see them doing ritual utility magic, but I don't want utility magic competing with combat magic for attention or resources.

Then you don’t want a 5e class. Full stop.

Utility abilities are essential to the game. A class that narrow is not a class, it’s a subclass, at most.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

Or, like, throwing their sword across the battlefield, creating a “portal” and making a “melee” attack from 120ft away, etc.

Ha, both of these I did for the Setinnel path for the Hodgepocalypse (now 5e compatible)

I used the cleric as a basis and calibrated the spells with the idea that your focus was the weapon.

Then I did a Rurouni Kenshin Marathon for inspiration.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Ha, both of these I did for the Setinnel path for the Hodgepocalypse (now 5e compatible)

I used the cleric as a basis and calibrated the spells with the idea that your focus was the weapon.

Then I did a Rurouni Kenshin Marathon for inspiration.

Nice!

 

[ECMO3]

I didn’t say anything about gadgets, though.

"I think it’d be easy to keep the infusions. Just add more weapon, armor, maybe tattoo,.....Why wouldn’t a swordmage be enchanting their gear?"

That is what I was referreing to by gadgets - weapons, armors, tatoos etc. I don't think that is what people are looking for in a Swordmage.