So how does the Bladesinger work?

[Rechan]

Neither do I have the compendium nor the Neverwinter boxed set, and I'm just curious what the class's abilities are.

I'm only really interested in the Heroic tier thing too.

How does the class do what it does? I hear it gets Wizard Encounter powers as dailies, but that's all I know.

 

[captainspud]

In a nutshell:

• Arcane controller who fights in melee
• Leather armor, military melee
• Different skills from stock Wizard. Less thinking, more jumping and wire-fu.
• Pick a particular heavy or light blade. You gain it as an implement and can treat it as a wand (for the purposes of, say, Wand Expertise)
• You get a +2 shield bonus to AC while your off-hand is free
• You make MBAs with INT
• You don't take AoO for ranged or area spells
• You have Magic Missile and three at-will Bladespells. They trigger when you hit with an MBA; each is range 10, hits automatically, and causes DEX mod damage and an effect, ie, -2 to target's attack rolls or target grants CA. I believe they're free to target your MBA target or someone else, as you choose.
• Your encounter equivalent is called Bladesong. Minor to pop, buffs accuracy and defenses, and +5 to damage rolls. Lasts until end of next turn, so you get two turns out of it. I don't think you ever get more uses of it (though I've only skimmed).
• Your utilities and dailies use a spellbook, except...
• ...you don't actually get Dailies. You get Wizard encounter powers that you use as dailies. Lv1E -> Lv1D; Lv3E -> Lv5D, and so on.
• I'm not familiar enough with the Wizard to say how many of the Enc -> Daily powers are new, but I definitely see a mix of new and old. I believe the wording leaves you open to take the full spread of Wizard powers.
• The buffs over time are are perks on top of Bladespell, mostly.
• Paragon Path lets you prep an additional Enc -> Daily per day, lets you MBA in a burst 1 on an AP, gives you some added mobility and porting, and concludes with an actual Wizard daily (not an Enc -> Daily)

All in all, it's pretty neat. The big question marks at this point are:

1. how well a squishy controller works in melee
2. how much you lose as a result of not getting proper daily-powered Dailies and only one encounter power per encounter

The former seems to be "it's tricky, but just be careful"; the tradeoff on the latter seems to be your huge versatility in at-wills and the fact that you basically get the Sorcerer's damage feature, making you sort of a crappy Striker to make up for what you lose in "proper" daily and encounter control.

All theory, of course. I'm curious to see how it works in practice.

 

[Rechan]

Interesting. It would be odd if you only get one Bladesong. I mean, you're supposed to get something at levels 3 and 7 and the like, right?

the tradeoff on the latter seems to be your huge versatility in at-wills

Their At-Wills don't sound THAT versatile. They do autodamage with a small rider to a secondary target. Do they ever get any different Bladespells?

Huh. Sounds kinda interesting. Also, they sound fragile. Do they get any mobility? Because I know that the Melee Druid is very fragile as a melee controller and it handles this in part by dancing in and out of melee. It sounds like they have Swordmage style defenses, but I suspect they're weak in the HP department.

Are there any "Build" bonus differences 'These guys are different from those guys'? Like your Feypact vs. Infernal pact Hexblade.

 

[captainspud]

Interesting. It would be odd if you only get one Bladesong. I mean, you're supposed to get something at levels 3 and 7 and the like, right?

Static features at most encounter levels, Bladesong gets better at 17 and 27. The static features are all make-more-attacks things, so they do sort of keep your damage up with the lost encounter [W] stackers.

Their At-Wills don't sound THAT versatile. They do autodamage with a small rider to a secondary target. Do they ever get any different Bladespells?

Nope, just the three starters. But again-- Magic Missile, and three different really good riders. They can slow, pin in place with a damage threat, knock prone conditionally, etc. So they're actually pretty solid round-to-round control.

Huh. Sounds kinda interesting. Also, they sound fragile. Do they get any mobility? Because I know that the Melee Druid is very fragile as a melee controller and it handles this in part by dancing in and out of melee. It sounds like they have Swordmage style defenses, but I suspect they're weak in the HP department.

Swordmage defenses (though weak off-defenses, as both stats pump REF), Wizard health. They get mobility in the utilities and at paragon, but at heroic it seems like you just need to ride the edge of a fight to stay safe.

Are there any "Build" bonus differences 'These guys are different from those guys'? Like your Feypact vs. Infernal pact Hexblade.

None that I'm seeing. A bladesinger is a bladesinger is a bladesinger.

*shrug*

 

[thewok]

It could also be noted for those who do use Fortune Cards that pure Bladesingers have no encounter attack powers (Bladesong is a utility). So, any card that gives a bonus based on having no encounter attack powers remaining can be used from round 1.

For example, "One More Chance" says:

"If you have no encounter attack powers remaining, the first enemy you hit this turn takes 5 extra damage."

Granted, this may not come up all the time, but it's certainly a way to eke out a little more damage. And, if you can get more than one copy, you can draw the card up to 40% of the time. If you are planning on playing Lair Assault with a Bladesinger, this might be a pretty potent way to start a deck.

 

[Kelvor Ravenstar]

Minor correction, Bladesingers have striker hit points, not the normal controller hit points of the Wizard.

 

[Psikus]

There was a detailed preview pdf released for gen con, with enough material to make a playable heroic character:

Bladesinger preview content - Gen Con LLC Community

 

[Zaran]

It could also be noted for those who do use Fortune Cards that pure Bladesingers have no encounter attack powers (Bladesong is a utility). So, any card that gives a bonus based on having no encounter attack powers remaining can be used from round 1.

For example, "One More Chance" says:

"If you have no encounter attack powers remaining, the first enemy you hit this turn takes 5 extra damage."

Granted, this may not come up all the time, but it's certainly a way to eke out a little more damage. And, if you can get more than one copy, you can draw the card up to 40% of the time. If you are planning on playing Lair Assault with a Bladesinger, this might be a pretty potent way to start a deck.

I had thought this was the case with the arcane reserves feat but since their bladespells aren't damage rolls it doesn't matter. A human that uses arcane reserves would just have one at will spell that would benefit. (the extra one they get if they dont take the racial encounter)

 

[technoextreme]

Nope, just the three starters. But again-- Magic Missile, and three different really good riders. They can slow, pin in place with a damage threat, knock prone conditionally, etc. So they're actually pretty solid round-to-round control.

Actually, once you hit a specific level Magic Missle becomes utterly pointless because eventually the Bladspell powers start popping every single time regardless if you hit or not.

 

[thewok]

Actually, once you hit a specific level Magic Missle becomes utterly pointless because eventually the Bladspell powers start popping every single time regardless if you hit or not.

Magic Missile still has the benefit of a Range of 20 squares. Also, you don't need to be adjacent to an enemy to use it. So, it still has purpose, even if that purpose is greatly reduced after 13.