This thread makes me wish that my Swashbuckler/Bladesinger was more focused on being an awesome Gish, and less of a(n intentionally) frantic mess, with resources spent on crossbow stuff, and alchemy and tinker tools, and being good at haggling and training Arcana for easier access to enchanting.
I haven't actually thought before about how he would look if he were focused first and foremost on combat. I would never actually change him, but it's a fun thought experiment.
So at level 6, Forest Gnome, Swashbuckler Rogue4/Bladesinger Wizard2.
House/variant/optional rules in play:
Point buy, standard value.
Feats and MC allowed.
Bonus feat at level 1.
+1 any stat when feat chosen at ASI class levels.
Flanking rules on.
Familiar is a wolf in actual game, might skip for optimized game, in favor of standard owl.
Rapier and dagger can be use for TWF without feat.
Magic Item crafting mostly per Xanathar's, with some different processes involving researching a formula, and first making or buying a scroll, and skill checks required to not waste time and resources. Character WILL have an uncommon magic item by this level, that let's him cast through it, and has 3 charges and casts Absorb Elements. Eventually it will let him cast Counterspell and Dispel Magic, but only if he is the target of a spell, or within reach of the target of the spell or of the effect he wants to dispel.
Str 10, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 15, Wis 12, Cha 10 (you will get hurt if you dump stats in our games) +1 Dex at rogue4, +1 int next time
Wizard spells: Booming Blade, Green Flame Blade, Lightning Lure, Absorb Elements, Mage Armor, Hideous Laughter, Prot Good and Evil, Magic Missile, Longstrider, and some rituals (esp find familiar). Absorb Elements gets dropped once the weapon comes online. Longstrider is out of combat mostly, to give him super-Olympian runner speed when he really needs it and is willing to burn a spell slot and at least one Bladesong for it.
What I'm not sure of: Is Dual Wielder worth it? The real character has Crossbow Expert and Skilled. This version would have Mage Slayer (his focus is killing casters, and as a gnome rogue he is very good at it already), and either War Caster, Dual Wielder, or a "half-feat"?
Also, I chose Whip as his Bladesinger extra weapon. Mostly, it lets him have that slight boost in target options. With Dual Wielder, it becomes more useful.
What about Sentinel?
For a melee combat specialist, is more than 4 levels of Wizard actually worth it? Rogue is really, really good, but the higher level stuff is less important for a combat focused character. Then again, wizards aren't adding that much to melee combat. Haste is there, but is there anything else that actually is necessary? I'm not sure extra attack is actually better for this build than Booming Blade, especially if I focus on Rogue so I get that sweet taunt ability later on. I want to be able to hit hard at will, and then move away to either not be a melee target, or be chased and take more of their HPs when they move.
Is two levels of fighter worth it, for Action Surge a few times a day?
As long as I have only level 1 spells, is there any reason to wear armor instead of using Mage Armor? Studded Leather is 1 less armor, after all. My AC with MA is 16, which is good for a rogue.
