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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sword of Spirit" data-source="post: 7009269" data-attributes="member: 6677017">Thanks for the replies. I think I've been able to use them to come up with a better way of house ruling it. It require three separate rules, so that's a minus, but they are all single sentence rules.I should clarify that when I'm thinking of Bladesinger, I'm think pre-3e. The original Bladesinger was a kit for the AD&D demi-human multiclass, which has its closest equivalent in a carefully leveled 3e Eldritch Knight or a 4e fighter/wizard hybrid.5e has, so far, failed to provide a truly good presentation of that sort of archetype. While the Eldritch Knight is a fun full fighter who dabbles in magic, being limited to the 4th level spell list really steals thunder from the mage aspect. Bladesinger appears to be the attempt to better represent the fighter/mage (in AD&D, it was limited to elves and half-elves even without the 2e kit). It is awfully squishy, so Toughness is just about a feat tax, but if it would at least allow the wearing of chain shirts it is at least a better fit than the Eldritch Knight.I'd really like a better fighter/wizard hybrid, so I'm still hoping for the gestalt/hybrid rules that have been spoken of in the past to actually come out. But for now, I'm just going to discuss the Bladesinger on concept, and accept that they are squishy and lean heavily to the wizard side.Here are the three house rules that I think can together get the job done:1) They can use either Dexterity or Strength for attacks and damage with the weapon they gain proficiency in from Bladesinger. This follows the precedent of the monk's ability, and allows them to focus on the longsword for full traditional support, or choose any other appropriate weapon for other styles.However, this makes them a Dexterity based warrior, which unlocks a whole mess of problems I was trying to avoid. But I think I can fix those now.2) They gain proficiency in chain shirts, and can use Bladesong while wearing them.While there is little precedent in getting proficiency in individual armors, rather than a whole type, there is such a precedent for weapons, and at least a hint of it with druid armors.This means that until their Dex mod is +4, chain shirt is just as good as studded leather for them (remember, as a medium armor it is limited to a +2 Dex mod). This is huge, because it means that (barring high rolled stats) they can start the game in chain shirts and take no penalty for doing so. This also does not increase their power, as the only time this would give them a better AC than studded leather would be if their Dex mod was +2 or less. Mage armor is still just as good even then.One thing I hadn't really thought of is that mage armor can give them a better AC than light armor anyway, and the same thing is going to apply to the chain shirt.So, in practice they start off with a chain shirt for the same AC they would normally start off with, until their Dex mod is +4, at which point chain shirt becomes inferior. They can then either switch to studded leather or spend the slot on mage armor. Since they are going to have more spell slots at that point, spending one becomes more appealing. We can easily keep our Bladesinger out of studded leather entirely if we choose, without sacrificing AC.Now, I don't really like the idea that chain shirt becomes obsolete (or at least that it becomes so before studded leather does), but the fact that it remains just as good as studded leather until level 4 or 8 makes it work well as their traditional favored armor.3) An elf or half-elf may treat elven chain as light armor.What this does is re-enthrone elven chain as the favored Bladesinger armor like it should be. The only armor that is better for a Bladesinger than elven chain is +3 studded leather, which is significantly rarer than elven chain.Not only that, but it makes it better than mage armor. My original concern about something like this is that it would make it too strong; but looking at it, being only 1 point of AC better than mage armor isn't really a problem for a rare magic item that is pretty much designed for you.Letting it work for elves and half-elves in general means that elven rogues, bards, other wizards, and Dexterity based warriors are also going to find this armor very appealing, while still letting it be effectively better for a Bladesinger because it allows them to use their special class ability that has otherwise strict limitations.</blockquote>

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