D&D 5E I want to be a tough full caster

[Valetudo]

Hill dwarf life cleric. You get heavy armor, dwarven weapons, and con/wis stats. Grab sacred flame for the walk to melee.

 

[CTurbo]

I appreciate all the responses.

I got excited when I read about the Bladesinger Wizard and then I actually built a Bladesinger character using a few different races starting with High Elf and I wasn't impressed with the final result. Maybe I'm missing something. It's definitely something on my list to try one day.


Does that mean that nobody liked my Warlock idea?

 

[happyhermit]

...
Does that mean that nobody liked my Warlock idea?

Looks fine to me

 

[CTurbo]

I could go Warforged Fighter 1 then finish out in abjur Wizard the rest of the way. I would have 22 AC as soon as I got my hands on Plate

18 Int, 16 Str, 16 Con. Probably take War caster at level 5 or go ahead and max Int.

I may be addicted to building characters lol

I'll probably end up going with that Warlock build though. I'm kind of excited about it.

 

[Flamestrike]

Warlock 2/ Wizard 18 (abjurer).

Abuse arcane ward by spamming mage armor (you can cast it at will thanks to armor of shadows invocation).

Have armor of agathys running underneath it. If a creature hits you with a melee attack while it's up, they take (spell level x 5) cold damage. Damage comes off the ward first, then the armor of agathys (with the latter subject to resistance).

Legal and RAI:

http://www.sageadvice.eu/2016/06/20/how-will-work-arcane-ward-armor-of-agathys-2/

You could also spam blade ward (take sorcerer 3 to quicken it).

 

[CTurbo]

Warlock 2/ Wizard 18 (abjurer).

Abuse arcane ward by spamming mage armor (you can cast it at will thanks to armor of shadows invocation).

Have armor of agathys running underneath it. If a creature hits you with a melee attack while it's up, they take (spell level x 5) cold damage. Damage comes off the ward first, then the armor of agathys (with the latter subject to resistance).

Legal and RAI:

http://www.sageadvice.eu/2016/06/20/...-of-agathys-2/

You could also spam blade ward (take sorcerer 3 to quicken it).

How would I stat that with 18, 15, 15, 12, 11, 10 and which race? How would that be at low levels? Sounds terrible at low levels assuming I start with Warlock for the first 2. I wouldn't get my first feat or ASI until 6.

 

[Zardnaar]

Nature cleric with a staff, shillegh and the Polearm Master feat.

 

[hejtmane]

Tempest would work plus you can do max damage on a lighting or thunder damage on Channel Divinity and have Wrath of Storms they can use Heavy Armor.

If you want to do something weird Monk + Cleric wisdom stacks natural armor class 2/18 would go great with or 3/17 if you want to give up a channel divinity for Monk of the long death to stack temp HP

Or if you DM allows it 3 Monk of the Long Death/17 Death Cleric making a cool Death combo of fist and spells Inflict wounds, Vampiric Touch

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

In my first 5e game there was a valor bard that did pretty well for himself in melee. He would let the fighter go in first and follow behind so it's not exactly a front line class but he was tougher than the party wizard.
I should include the disclaimer that we rolled for stats that game and he started with something like 18 Dex. Still, valor bards get access to medium armor so having high stats isn't required to get to a decent AC and allows you to go strength if you like.

 

[WarpedAcorn]

I could go Warforged Fighter 1 then finish out in abjur Wizard the rest of the way. I would have 22 AC as soon as I got my hands on Plate

18 Int, 16 Str, 16 Con. Probably take War caster at level 5 or go ahead and max Int.

I may be addicted to building characters lol

I'll probably end up going with that Warlock build though. I'm kind of excited about it.

I was going to suggest going Fighter 1 / Warlock X, and apparently the Paladin 1 / Sorc X is also pretty popular.

I know you kinda shut it down already, but the other strong option would be a Cleric. You mentioned War, but Light does give you some of the iconic Wizard Fire-Based Spells. The Arcana Domain might also fit. This would give you access to Medium Armor & Shields, and a d8 for HP that should make you pretty durable. Alternatively if you went Life you could get Heavy Armor & Shields, a d8 for HP, AND be able to heal yourself when you heal others (after a few levels) which would make you really tough.

Personally though, I'd still go for the Fighter / Warlock idea. You could take Repelling Blast and Polearm Mastery and really be annoying on the battlefield. =)