Neonchameleon
Legend
To me there are two distinct types of Gish, which I'll call the Eldritch Knight and the Swordmage.
The Eldritch Knight covers a whole lot of "I never want to be useless". It's basically a multiclass, not as good at casting as a full wizard and not as good at armed combat as a fighter (the Bladesinger gets way too close to full wizard casting). It's a jack of all trades.
The Swordmage is trying to integrate magic and melee into something that's a coherent whole not someone with two part time jobs. They know they don't have the raw physical talent of a fighter but use equalisers; the weapon wielding artificers are obvious examples.
More interesting to me as Swordmages are the OneD&D Bladelocks (who already got mileage out of Armour of Agathys punishing people who hit them in melee and would have out of casting Jump at will if it was a better spell); the Archfey specialises in Misty Step teleportation - so you now have an incredibly mobile trickster warrior who will teleport right behind enemies before shanking them, possibly also dropping Darkness only they can see through or using at will illusions. And the Fiendlock now gains temp hp not just for killing but whenever a foe goes down to 0hp within 10' of them. So you have this horde breaking bully that tanks foes and gets stronger whenever their allies snipe someone trying to dogpile them. These are two fun and flamboyant melee playstyles that only work with a mix of sword and magic. Powerful? That's for WotC? But definitely cool, evocative, and flamboyant.
The Eldritch Knight covers a whole lot of "I never want to be useless". It's basically a multiclass, not as good at casting as a full wizard and not as good at armed combat as a fighter (the Bladesinger gets way too close to full wizard casting). It's a jack of all trades.
The Swordmage is trying to integrate magic and melee into something that's a coherent whole not someone with two part time jobs. They know they don't have the raw physical talent of a fighter but use equalisers; the weapon wielding artificers are obvious examples.
More interesting to me as Swordmages are the OneD&D Bladelocks (who already got mileage out of Armour of Agathys punishing people who hit them in melee and would have out of casting Jump at will if it was a better spell); the Archfey specialises in Misty Step teleportation - so you now have an incredibly mobile trickster warrior who will teleport right behind enemies before shanking them, possibly also dropping Darkness only they can see through or using at will illusions. And the Fiendlock now gains temp hp not just for killing but whenever a foe goes down to 0hp within 10' of them. So you have this horde breaking bully that tanks foes and gets stronger whenever their allies snipe someone trying to dogpile them. These are two fun and flamboyant melee playstyles that only work with a mix of sword and magic. Powerful? That's for WotC? But definitely cool, evocative, and flamboyant.