D&D 5E Is A Blade-Caster Wizard Possible?

[doctorbadwolf]

yup, shouldnt be to hard:

Magus

L2:

Arcanist Armament: gain proficiency with light armor and shield, and 3 martial weapons. which count as spell focus for you. When making a melee weapon attack, you can replace the usual attack roll with your spell attack modifier.

Spell-strike: Once per round, when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can spend an appropriate slot to cast a spell you know on the target. The spell must deal damage and the target of the initial attack replace the target as described in the spell description. The target is considered to have been hit by the spell or having failed its saving throw against it; its suffers both the normal effect of the weapon attack and the effect of the spell. You can use this feature a number of time equal to your proficiency bonus and regain all uses when you complete a short rest.

L6:

Extra attack: Starting at 6th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. Moreover, you can cast one of your cantrips in place of one of those attacks.

L10

Enchant Self: At 10th level, you can spend a spell slot to temporarily replace the damage type of a melee weapon you are holding with a type that appears in another spell in the spells you have prepared. The latter spell must be of the same level as the spell slot you expend and the effect lasts for a number of hours equal to 1 + the level of the spell slot used.

L14:

Spell ravager: When you damage a creature that is concentrating on a spell with a weapon attack, you can spend one use of your Spell-strike to force the creature to make a saving throw with its spellcasting ability modifier. The DC equals your spell save DC. On a failed save, the creature loses its concentration, and you steal the knowledge of the spell if it is at least 1st level and of a level you can cast (it doesn't need to be a wizard spell). For the next 8 hours, you know the spell and can cast it using your spell slots. The creature can't cast that spell until the 8 hours have passed.

I like a lot of that! I can think of different ways I’d go with it, but that’s a solid build.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I remember doing this a lot in 1st and 2nd ed with certain spells. I hate how RAW for Shocking Grasp in 5E is that is cannot be cast through the blade of a sword.

 

[TwoSix]

Did you have any limits on what spells could be used this way?

The basic requirement was that they be offensive and targeted spells; I had no desire to try and adjudicate sword-heals or dropping a summon spell with the sword attack. The main spells he used were Chill Touch, Fire Bolt, Ray of Enfeeblement, Bane, Shatter, and Vampiric Touch.

The closest thing to a general rule I had was that the spell had to be an action. The actual action was Cast a Spell, so it didn't trigger any Attack action required mechanics. They had to use one specific enchanted blade, so the attack couldn't be swapped for a shove or grapple or anything like that. They would make the attack first, roll damage, and then the spell would fire, even if the target was no longer valid (attacks could be retargeted if the melee attack target died, though, like in the case of Scorching Ray).

For spell attacks, the melee attack replaced the spell attack roll. If the weapon hit, the spell also hit. If the weapon missed, so did the spell. Area effects were centered on the melee target, and the caster was immune to the spell's effect. If the weapon attack missed the target, that target only would have advantage on a save if the spell required a saving throw.

Cantrips used replaced on of their damage die with weapon attack damage, fire bolt did 1d8 fire + the weapon damage at 5th level, for example. For cantrips in Tier 1, they were really only useful for the rider effect.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The basic requirement was that they be offensive and targeted spells; I had no desire to try and adjudicate sword-heals or dropping a summon spell with the sword attack. The main spells he used were Chill Touch, Fire Bolt, Ray of Enfeeblement, Bane, Shatter, and Vampiric Touch.

The closest thing to a general rule I had was that the spell had to be an action. The actual action was Cast a Spell, so it didn't trigger any Attack action required mechanics. They had to use one specific enchanted blade, so the attack couldn't be swapped for a shove or grapple or anything like that. They would make the attack first, roll damage, and then the spell would fire, even if the target was no longer valid (attacks could be retargeted if the melee attack target died, though, like in the case of Scorching Ray).

For spell attacks, the melee attack replaced the spell attack roll. If the weapon hit, the spell also hit. If the weapon missed, so did the spell. Area effects were centered on the melee target, and the caster was immune to the spell's effect. If the weapon attack missed the target, that target only would have advantage on a save if the spell required a saving throw.

Cantrips used replaced on of their damage die with weapon attack damage, fire bolt did 1d8 fire + the weapon damage at 5th level, for example. For cantrips in Tier 1, they were really only useful for the rider effect.

Those all make sense.

Hmmm...I'm beginning to see the shape of a subclass that does "gish" in a truly Wizardly manner.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I remember doing this a lot in 1st and 2nd ed with certain spells. I hate how RAW for Shocking Grasp in 5E is that is cannot be cast through the blade of a sword.

Agreed, tbh.

 

[Umbran]

Booming Blade, Green Flame Blade, and Blade of Disaster from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything come to mind.

 

[Weiley31]

@doctorbadwolf Addendum to my last post earlier: I also forgot to mention something important in regards to the Blood Hunter's Diabolik Channeling. The reason why you want to look up the original version of the Blood Hunter is because the updated version of it had the Profane Soul Subclass's Diabolik Channeling swapped out for doing an attack as a bonus action after casting a Cantrip.

 

[Stormonu]

In my campaign, I didn't require any special class or such. Any spell that required a melee spell attack or similar wording could be used with a weapon - but you'd use the weapon attack to hit (prof + Str mod; prof + Dex mod for finesse) instead of spell attack (prof + spellcasting mod). If you got multiple attacks, you'd only get the spell effect on one of the hits.

I've had some second thoughts on it due to spell scaling, but so far hadn't ruled against it.