
Back in 4e I created The Most Annoying Rogue Ever - Optimized Halfling Rogue. Well I soon realized that this build would be hard to pull off in 5e and that the Rogue class is far different than the things you could do in 4e. Well the Bladesinger as presented in The Swordcoast Adventures Guide hit me as a class that you could make the most annoying build ever.
The key to the 4e build was to get a really high AC and then have rerolls in case you are hit. The value of rerolls on very high AC increases exponentially the higher your AC, for example. If the enemy has to roll a 20 to hit you, this will happen 1 in 20 times, while the probability of having to roll a 20 twice is 1/400. That is 20 times as hard to hit.
The Blade singer can achieve the highest AC in the game barring magic items and also has access to several other AC increasing or damage decreasing reactions. The most obvious are Shield spell and Absorb Elements. Both of these are great because they are reactive so you can save them for when you are actually hit.
This character is annoying because it can laugh in the face of danger and wade right into the enemy with little fear of being hurt. If the enemy decides to focus on you, simply use shield the first time you are hit, you might say that this is a waste of a spell, but not really, those enemies would have attacked someone else and you are in essence reducing incoming damage significantly with just a lvl 1 reactive spell. If you aren't attacked, then you are still a full fledged Wizard that people are afraid to attack.
Mage armor will be taken and will last 8 hours, at lvl 2 putting your AC at 19 (16 Int and Dex) and increasing as your increase your Int and Dex increase up to 23. Shield puts them up to 24-28. Magic items can increase this further, but in this edition they can not be expected.
Blur does seal the deal, but I am not a fan of it not being a reactive spell, if you use this you are actively taking away a spell slot for defense. My preference would be to be a variant human (I know that the book only allows Elves, so this is a variant that the DM would have to approve) and take the Lucky feat. Otherwise a character would have to wait till lvl 16, or maybe as sooner if you want to postpone max AC.
The bonus is that your melee attack isn't bad and an option, but for the most part the strength of this build is that you are a full Wizard and can use the other spells that you want to take.
This thread will be added to and turned into a real build, but I thought I would at least start it up. Please give your options and ideas to make this build better.
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