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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 6414679" data-attributes="member: 7006">I find myself in a very intriguing character build situation, where I am putting together a 4th level high elf Eldritch Knight whose fluff is that he is a Bladesinger.  So he's a Fighter that has some spellcasting at his disposal (mainly for defensive spells and perhaps an AoE attack spell.)  I have found though that at several decision points there are mechanically two seemingly equal choices that I need to figure out what would work best (from both a resulting numbers standpoint as well as a fluff standpoint, as I care about both.)  These decision points were interesting enough to me that I was curious what the rest of you would decide on if given the same situation?  Basically, what mechanical decisions give you more pleasing results in an effort to build an EK Bladesinger for yourself?Here are the several forks in my possible design:Studded Leather vs. Mage ArmorSL is AC 12 while MA is AC 13 so I gain a point of always-on AC while losing a spell slot with Mage Armor.  On the SL side, that spell slot could be used for the casting of Shield, which could potentially cover a couple big hits.  I could also eventually find magical studded leather, which would raise my base AC equal to and eventually above what I'd get with Mage Armor.  But on the MA side, the one extra always-on AC point is big (big enough that there's an entire Fighting Style dedicated to it), and fluff-wise I really like the idea of a bladesinger being "armor-less" as opposed to wearing armor.  I also can always change out of the MA spell at a later point when I level up should I find that set of magical studded leather.Defense vs Dueling fighting styleDefense gives me a +1 to AC while Dueling gives a +2 to damage.  This becomes more interesting when it is bundled with the fork above-- do you take Defense if you wear SL to offset that lost point of AC (and conversely if you use MA do you take Dueling because you already have that AC point?)  Do you take Defense *and* MA to give you an AC two points higher for a more full-defensive bladesinger?  Or do I go more offensive by taking SL and Dueling for the extra damage and the extra spell slot?  Fluff-wise, as I am an elf I would be high DEX and thus would wield a Finesse blade (IE rapier)... meaning that the extra 2 points of damage from Duelist would help offset my lower damage die, making me feel a bit stronger of a swordsman.If we assume a DEX of 17 (+3) plus using a Finesse weapon, that would give us:SL + Defense:  AC 16, Attack +5, Damage +3, 3 1st-level spell slots remainingSL + Dueling:  AC 15, Attack +5, Damage +5, 3 1st-level spell slots remainingMA + Defense:  AC 17, Attack +5, Damage +3, 2 1st-level spell slots remainingMA + Dueling:  AC 16, Attack +5, Damage +5, 2 1st-level spell slots remainingSmall differences, but very varied results.Defensive Duelist vs Magic Initiate vs Resilient for my featDD gives me a +2 (prof bonus) to my AC by using my Reaction.  Magic Initiate gives me two more cantrips and a 1st level spell slot.  Resilient gives me a +1 to my DEX making it an 18, and proficiency in my DEX saves (of which I otherwise have STR and CON because I'm a Fighter).The advantage of DD is that it props my AC up two full points during those attacks that are really close, thereby saving me my spell slots by not needing to cast Shield instead.  This could be a good way to keep my AC up while allowing me to take the Dueling style for the extra damage (and save my spell slots for other times when there's a wider swing and Shield would be used, or allow me more offensive/utility casting.)  The advantage of Magic Initiate (Wizard) is that it will give me a total of 5 cantrips (two for EK, 1 for high elf, 2 for MI) allowing me many more options for magical offense, defense and utility, plus I could use that free 1st level slot to power my Mage Armor if I wanted, thereby eliminating one of the downsides in the SL vs MA question.The advantage of Resilient being that it gets my DEX to 18 and now a +4 modifier at the start of the campaign, which gives me a +1 to my AC, attack, damage, and DEX-based skills (and a +3 to my DEX-based saves).Admittedly, this one seems much more like a no-brainer-- taking Resilient and starting with an 18 DEX rather than a 17 gives much more benefit right out of the gate.  Besides which, as a Fighter, I'll be getting my next feat selection in two levels at 6th anyway, which means I could take either DD or MI then if I really wanted (assuming of course I decided not to just bump up straight to DEX 20.)So given the decision points above... what would be your preferred build to make a high elf eldritch knight bladesinger character?  (And PS - I know the other class options like valor bard or blade warlock are out there, but I'm sticking with EK for my bladesinger, so you don't need to offer those ideas instead.  Thanks!)</blockquote>

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