D&D General why do we not have an arcane half caster?

Campbell

Relaxed Intensity
I think it's mostly an accident of design. For the arcane casters they opted to provide full casting gish options with multiple attacks instead of hybrid class designs. Warlocks, Wizards, and Bards all have subclasses that provide 2 attacks and full spellcasting. There's little need for martial casting hybrids. I would be open to a swordmage that combines casting and fighting better than a bladesinger or eldritch knight, but there's no real need for it. The spellcasting warrior is pretty well covered.
 

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Lycurgon

Adventurer
Personally I don't think the Eldritch Knight has quite enough spellcasting/magic to it for my liking. And the Bladesinger has a bit too much magic-user and not enough fighter. Hexblade is closer, but does have a lot of built in RP baggage. They can be fun to play (I am really enjoying my Bladesinger character currently) but they are not quite the right mix to make a Gish how I would like it.

I think something similar to the design of the paladin is the closest to my ideal Gish. They need to be arcane rather then divine for their spells. And a diffent flavour and abilities but something in that mix of magic and martial.
 


Personally I don't think the Eldritch Knight has quite enough spellcasting/magic to it for my liking. And the Bladesinger has a bit too much magic-user and not enough fighter. Hexblade is closer, but does have a lot of built in RP baggage. They can be fun to play (I am really enjoying my Bladesinger character currently) but they are not quite the right mix to make a Gish how I would like it.

I think something similar to the design of the paladin is the closest to my ideal Gish. They need to be arcane rather then divine for their spells. And a diffent flavour and abilities but something in that mix of magic and martial.
Yeah the Eldritch Knight in particular is disappointing

Something with half-casting, access to the paladin smite spells (but not the smite class feature) and Ritual Casting would make for a better Gish type class.
 

auburn2

Adventurer
why do we not have an arcane half caster? not like the endless homebrews or the classes from other game like magus (which has so little to lean in to)
in a 50 ear old game how has one not carved out a role for itself yet?
have no books come out with a sufficiently thematic one to rip off yet?

it bugs me as it seems like such an obvious class idea?
Artificer is an arcane half caster.
 

auburn2

Adventurer
It's been argued here on ENWorld that the Bard, the Artificer, the Eldritch Knight, and the Arcane Trickster are all different flavors of "half caster" that use arcane magic. The Warlock also, but I think that argument is a bit weaker than the others.
In 5e Bard is absolutely a full caster. EK and AT are mathematically 1/3rd casters but I can see calling them half casters.
 

auburn2

Adventurer
The eldritch knight just doesn't provide enough magic for what I want, the bladesinger leans too much to the magic side of things.

I think you should tailor your feats to address these deficiencies.

1. For the EK pick up Fey touched, Shadow touched, magic initiate, artificer initiate, eldritch adept taking a spell invocation and metamagic adept. By 14th level That will give you 3 extra cantrips, 7 more known spells, 5 more 1st level castings, 2 more 2nd level castings and metamagic with 2 sorcery points.

At 14th level you have 6 cantrips, 17 spells know and equivalent of 16 spell slots plus 2 sorcery points. This compares to a full blown sorcerer who has 6 cantrips, 13 spells and 17 slots. This character has a ton of magic, what he doesn't have is high-level spells.

2. For the bladesinger option get weapon master, crossbow expert and sharpshooter and they can do a ton of damage with a hand crossbow. With a custom lineage, taking weapon master at first level and prioitzing dexterity they can have a 20Dex and these three feats by 12th level. They will rock 3d6+45 DPR while sporting a 20AC in mage armor and bladesong with shield to boost it to 25.

You can melee this character with crossbow expert, but if you want to actually melee, with melee weapons you can take weapon master at 1st, ASIs at 4/8/12 and at 12th level runing a upcast shadowblade and a short sword you can do 8d8+1d6+10 while sporting a 21AC in bladesong with shield for 26.

3. Third option which would work well is a multiclass artificer-EK or Artificer-Bladesinger. Go to level 5 in battlesmith then go the rest of the way as an EK or BS. Go with the eldritch knight if you want to use heavy weapons. Either build dump strength though take 18 Intelligence at 1st level with an int boosting feat, 14 Dexterity to allow ftr multiclass. Take an ASI for 20int, then take weapon feats (GWM, Sentinel, Pole Arm Master, sharpshooter, piercer, slasher ....). At 3rd with Battle Ready you can use intelligence for ANY magic weapon attack and you can infuse a magic weapon every morning (2 total), meaning when you get +5 for both strength weapons and ranged weapons, while only having an 8 strength and 14 dex. You can build to both GWM and Sharpshooter if you want. Of the two, the fighter is a more versatile fighter, if you go bladesinger you will need to use a 1-handed or versatile weapon in bladesong, but it brings all of the weapons to the table - long swords, morning stars, whatever you want. You have proficiency in all of them and you don't need it to be finesse because you are attacking with intelligence.
 
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Parmandur

Book-Friend
why do we not have an arcane half caster? not like the endless homebrews or the classes from other game like magus (which has so little to lean in to)
in a 50 year old game how has one not carved out a role for itself yet?
have no books come out with a sufficiently thematic one to rip off yet?

it bugs me as it seems like such an obvious class idea?

We, it's called the Artificer.
 

Parmandur

Book-Friend
I think bard and artificer are way more than "half" casters, even going back to their origins. It's hard to say what a "half caster" is now, since many of the classes that used to acquire spellcasting only at high levels get their spells much sooner.

It is precisely a measure of spell slots. The Bard is a full caster, and the Artificer is a half caster.
 

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