The Smiting Bladesinger: D&D Build #163

raise your hand if you've ever wanted to combine  a blade singer with some Paladin levels in D and D well today you are in luck because  that is what we're going to do with   our character build this week and spoiler  alert it's freaking awesome welcome to [Music] D4 hey everybody so here at D4 each week  we take a deep dive into a character build for   our favorite role playing games I like to crunch  numbers about them Theory craft about them not   so that I can tell you the right way or the best  way to play a certain character but to explore one   potential way to build something in the hopes of  creating a character that's both really powerful   but also really fun to play so if you enjoy  creating characters for your favorite role   playing games almost as much as you enjoy playing  the actual game itself or if you're just looking   for tips or ideas on how to build something that  you're thinking about playing then welcome home   this is where you belong and I'm so glad you're  here so thanks for watching my name's Colby if   you enjoy what I do here I'd love it if you'd  consider joining the channel as a member there's   a little button down there that says join if  you click on it it'll tell you about all the   little perks you can get as a member including  access to the library of writeups that I do for   each of these videos to help you recreate the  character a little more easily yourself access   to the community Discord server which is filled  with lots of lovely and wonderful people and even   access to the monthly live Q&A sessions that we  have I want to give a huge thank you and shout   out to all of my channel members you guys are so  great I really couldn't do this without you thank   you for your support and for everybody else thank  you for your support too just being here watching   liking subscribing clicking the notifications  Bell these are all great ways to support the   channel you don't have to join as a member if you  don't want to or don't feel like you can afford   it that's okay you are awesome so a few months  ago I did a video for balers Gate 3 yeah take   a drink already uh that talked about how to mod  the game and then how using mods we would build   both a blade singer my favorite subclass in D  and D and an artificer uh check out that video   here if you're interested when I built the blad  singer for that video I did something that I've   always wanted to do on a DND D build but never  have done yet surprisingly actually combine blad   singer with some Paladin levels so we could Smite  I mean for my money blad singers are the Pinnacle   of gishy spellsword goodness in D and D and I've  always wanted to make them really shine with some   fantastic smidy goodness for incredible burst  damage because they have all of the spell Slots   of a full Caster right which would just let you  smite your enemies into kingdom come but it's not   easy to pull off in DND D 5e because of one very  big hurdle minimum ability score requirements for   multiclassing now in balers Gate 3 combining blade  singers and palys is no problem because in that   game unlike in D and D 5e there are no minimum  ability score requirements for multiclassing   right regardless of your ability scores you can  multiclass any character into whatever class   you want that's kind of awesome actually and  I love it with d and d5e as most of you know   to multiclass into or out of a class you have to  meet a minimum ability score requirement or two   sometimes depending on the class for each class  involved right so for paladins you need at least   a 13 in both strength and Charisma and for wizards  blad singers you need at least a 13 intelligence   and while yes technically you could do all of that  if you wanted to have a decent Constitution score   and a decent Armor class and if you're playing a  blad singer mixed with a paladin that means you're   going into melee right and if you're going into  melee you definitely want a decent Armor class   and a decent Constitution then well you're kind  of up the creek you don't have enough points to   get everything you need right there is of course  one and I think only one way to get around this   little problem play a turtle because Turtles  as everybody knows are entirely peopled with   criminals no bad bini bad ttles as everybody knows  have that wonderful little feature called natural   armor but unique for races that have natural armor  the tles is a whopping 17 most races with natural   armor only get as high as 13 right of course that  17 doesn't benefit from a dexterity modifier but   if we're playing a character who needs to dump  their dexterity in order to get all of the other   important stats they have to be at least decent  then it is a match made in heaven and of course   one of the best things about the blad singer is  that they can increase their armor in a way that   doesn't depend on their dexterity right so yeah  I think this is the one way we can make a smiting   blade singer in D and 5e viable you want to dive  into how to build it I do too so let's jump in   with DND D build number 163 the blade smiter  the Smite singer the smighty song blade I like   that actually the oath of Blade singing all great  suggestions there were many more to thanks Discord   people you're awesome but in the end I think I'm  just going to keep this one a little boring sorry   let's go with the smiting blade singer huge  thanks to my good friend Randle Hampton for   the Fantastic artwork that he did for this build  I think he captured it perfectly here he does   this every week if you guys would be interested in  following him on social media or reaching out to   try and commission him to create some art for your  character or maybe your entire party I will put   links in the video description as always on how  to do so and first don't touch that fast forward   button because you guys are really going to  want to hear about this Kickstarter from today's   sponsor hitpoint press and I'm talking about my  new favorite HPP project ever the field guide to   Floral dragons which Launches on Kickstarter today  the day this video is released April 2nd you guys   it's going to be really hard for me to not get  overly gushy about this book I mean everything the   HPP puts out is pretty incredible but come on an  entire book about dragons imbued with the essence   of flowers in the spring I can't even just take  my money this thing is just gorgeously illustrated   by kin Wald with over 200 Pages full of dozens of  new dragons and other pests pollinators and fungi   including not just stat blocks and traits but  detailed lore about origin biology and history   as well as field notes from floral dragon and  researchers to really help you bring these new   floral dragons and other creatures to life vividly  at your table there's even a bunch of new magic   items and poisons and here look they actually sent  me uh an advanced copy of the book because I mean   they know it's going to be funded it's probably  like 10 times over their funding goal within the   first hour that the kickstarter went live and this  is not the finished product that is going to look   even better than this but I've just been kind of  like pining over this book for a few days now and   it's just the best let me let me just show you a  couple of my favorites oh the dandelion dragon a   one qu challenge rating Dragon oh my gosh just  adorable the cherry blossom Dragon oh that just   gorgeous look at that the hydrangea Dragon oh  I've got hydranges in my flower beds they look   just like that Dragon the Magnolia Dragon might  be my favorite though yeah so cool I just I am so   in love with this book so yeah you should totally  go back this Kickstarter and help them hit their   stretch goals and get some extra goodies that you  can only get when you back them in Kickstarter   don't delay you're going to forget and then you'll  be sad when you go please use the link that I've   put in the video description down below so they  know I sent you thank you and yeah huge thanks to   hitpoint press you guys freaking Rock Let's jump  into the build at level one then for our starting   class as with almost every blad singer build  that I do I think if you're going blad singer you   really want to start Wizard and get your important  spells and features as soon as possible sure I'd   love to start fighter mostly for the Constitution  saving throw proficiency and maybe if I were   playing this character in game and not beholden  to a Nova damage spreadsheet uh I just might start   fighter one here for that reason but no we've got  some burst damage to get done and so we want both   important wizard levels and features and spells  and a couple levels of Paladin for smites by our   first damage report at level six and that means  alas no room for Fighters yet King I don't think   I'm supposed to make the sound effect there as  for our race as I've said uh yes we're going torle   because yeah while tles get a few cool features  like claws they can use for unarmed strikes and   the ability to hold their breath for an hour shell  defense which might come in handy once in a while   the Marquee feature here for us is natural armor  which tells us that so long as we are otherwise   unarmored we have an AC of 17 though we don't get  to add our dexterity modifier to that bonus like   I've said no problem for us as we've discussed we  could still benefit from a shield but yeah that's   not really going to work for us either as we'll  discuss in a minute so for now 17 AC is not bad   and it will get even a little better as for our  ability scores I'm going to assume that we're   going the point by Method as always and say let's  go with a 15 strength plus two a 14 Constitution a   14 intelligence and a 12 Charisma plus one there  from our racial so yeah I'd really love to get   both our Constitution and our intelligence higher  on this character but since we need to have that   charisma at a 13 at least for Paladin we're  kind of stuck here this means that yeah we're   never going to be a really fantastic Caster on  this character right some people like to play   their blade singers as like Wizards first Melee  character second longtime viewers of my channel   know my feelings on that particular take but just  in case you're interested in getting a little   primer or reminder on my feelings about blade  singers and melee check out this little short that   I did a while ago uh here anyways yeah if you want  to go that route and kind of be Caster first by   all means go for it prioritize intelligence over  everything I might not even take Paladin levels at   all in that case though right if you really wanted  to you could you're not going to hit as often but   maybe it'd be nice to occasionally be able to  bolster your weapon attacks once in a while when   you're not focused on controlling the battlefield  Etc with your wizard spells right as for me of   course I'm focused on the damage and attack aspect  of the character for this build so yes starting   with a 17 strength I think this might be my first  ever strength-based wizard somebody correct me if   I'm wrong there but I'm pretty sure anyways as for  starting equipment I'm going to say let's go the   gold by route and just pick up like in addition to  the usual Necessities for wizards like a Spellbook   a couple of like hammers yeah light hammers so I  guess we're going to be a little less of a blade   singer and more of like a hammer singer not to  be confused with MC Hammer who let's be honest   isn't all that great of a singer anyways have you  seen her have you seen her tell me have you seen   her that's a deep Hammer cut okay as a wizard one  then we get first of all Arcane recovery this lets   us once per day after a short rest recover spent  spell slots equal to one half of our wizard level   round it up never higher than fifth level always  handy get more spell slots as for the spells that   we get here first level spells can trips nothing  really out of the ordinary for this build here   just keep in mind that again we're never going  to have a great Intelligence on this character   so taking spells that are going to depend  on like our spell hit chance or like saving   throws against our spell DC is going to be a dice  here proposition oh okay I see what you did there   magic Missile then is great for some guaranteed  range damage sleep is nice in the early game   right to just automatically put potentially  multiple enemies to sleep silvery barbs of course and then there's some nice you know utility  based things like message detect magic but the   ones I'll say we absolutely have to have here  for this build are first up one of my favorites   booming blade this cantrip lets us make a weapon  attack as part of the casting of the spell and   if it hits we do a little extra Thunder damage  once we hit level five at least and and then if   the enemy we hit moves before our next turn  they take even more Thunder damage we'll be   getting a lot of mileage out of this little diddy  on this build we also want to grab the essential   defensive spells right Shield which raises our  AC by five until our next turn when we're hit by   an attack totally overpowered and absorb Elements  which lets us have resistance to Elemental damage   when we take Elemental damage fire ice lightning  poison Thunder both of those require our reaction   of course finally yes be sure to grab fine  familiar so that we can summon for ourselves   a little pet owl who can fly by and take the help  action and grant us advantage on our first attack   each round assuming that your DM uses familiars in  that way which most do at most tables I know the   rules as written are a little more finicky than  that and yeah of course it won't work once the   enemy decides to try and use their own resources  to kill our familiar but that is and don't forget   never forget that is a win for us sorry owe but  it's true you'll be okay I can summon you again   later real easy at level two though Wizards get  their subass uh our Arcane tradition and of course   we're going blade singing like I said oh how I  love this subass and I mean I haven't used him in   a minute right not since like the moon Druid blade  singer back in November I think it's been almost   half a year that doesn't feel too egregious but as  a blade singer we get a couple of great features   training in Warren song gives us Proficiency  in light armor which as a tal we won't use but   then Proficiency in the performance skill okay and  proficiency with one type of one-handed weapon and   yeah we're going light Hammer the reason being  that light hammers are both well light so that   we can dual wield them and do bludgeoning damage  which is important for us as we'll get into in a   minute the only other weapon in the game that has  both of those properties is the club actually but   light hammers are just way cooler I think plus  they have the thrown property so you can throw   them if need be but yeah feel free to go clubs if  you want to go club we also get the ability which   gives the subass its namesake here the blad song  this tells us that proficiency bonus times per day   and as a bonus action we can activate our Blade  song which will for 1 minute increase our move   speed by 10 ft nice now we're a speedy turtle and  both our AC and our concentration checks by our   intelligence modifier that's really nice I wish we  had a higher intelligence modifier but hey a 19 AC   is pretty decent especially if we have access to  the shield spell right let me address this here A   lot of people are going to question whether or not  we can cast The Shield spell if we have a weapon   in each hand without the war cter feet since the  spell has a sematic component at a lot of tables   mine included you can drop a weapon as part of  the reaction to cast shield in this scenario then   potentially pick it back up on your next turn  as a free action unless of course someone else   picked it up or knocked it away right so there's  a risk there make sure that you discuss this with   your DM if if they won't allow you to do that you  will want to seriously consider just going with   a single weapon on this character until you can  get warcaster or maybe like stowing a weapon at   the end of your turn then drawing a weapon at the  beginning of your next turn I realize that this   means half of the time you'll have your hands full  when you need to cast Shield but it might be a   potential workaround to give you access to Shield  at least some of the time it's clunky I know I   hate the war cter attacks oh one last thing blad  song also gives us advantage on acrobatics check   anyways I love the image of this like dancing  bobbing and weaving Turtle swinging hammers maybe   not as dextrous as your typical blade singers  but a lot more agile than most tles and that's   just kind of a cool fun maybe even funny image  at level three we get second level wizard spells   and while there are lots of good and useful and  important options here there are two that I want   to especially highlight and I bet you can predict  them first up yes my darling Shadow Blade I love   this spell I love the idea of summoning a shadowy  magical ethereal blade that does more damage than   any other non-magical weapon in the game I love  that it's light and has the Finesse property   though we don't need that for this build that it  has the throne property even and does 2 d8 damage   3d8 as a third level spell and 1 d8 more every  two spell levels after that right and that we   have advantage on attacks with it if we are in dim  light or Darkness I don't love that it requires   concentration that it takes a bonus action to  summon and that it has to compete with magical   weapons that you're probably going to be getting  eventually right meaning that it's not ever going   to get like a better plus to hit aside from Us  increasing our strength or you know getting other   magic weapons that might increase our hit chance  somehow and that strictly rules as written you   can't booming Blade with a Shadow Blade man  I really hate the way they changed that uh in   Tasha's cauldron of every even though I know yes  most of you still can booming Blade with a Shadow   Blade at your table which I applaud yeah Jeremy  Crawford even said he would do it at his table   but rules is written it doesn't work so do we  use Shadow Blade anyways I think sometimes maybe   for you most or all of the time maybe yes now but  later when you get like a plus two or a plus three   weapon or a flame tongue short sword Etc then you  stop using Shadow Blade right I like having the   option and I think that at least for for now it's  a very good one but yeah I do get frustrated that   it takes a bonus action to start our Blade song  and a bonus action to summon the Shadow Blade and   both only last for 1 minute I'll repeat my whining  about wishing that 5e rules allowed for more non   resource consuming or maybe reaction consuming  Buffs but it is what it is it's what it is what   it is it's what it is they wouldn't dayare the  other spell that I want to highlight has its own   set of challenges and benefits that most of you  know very well by now cloud of daggers I love that   this spell does 4 D4 damage both when a creature  moves themselves into or are moved into the area   of effect of the spell yes either works and also  takes the damage at the beginning of their turn   if they're in the area of effect I love that the  damage is magical slashing damage that gets no   saving throw against it and makes no attack roll  against AC it just happens I don't love that it's   a pretty small area of effect a 5ft cube though  keep in mind that doesn't have to snap to the grid   right so it could potentially cover two little  squares if you're playing on a grid and I don't   love that it can't be moved by us after we cast  it I think that last Point makes the spell much   better in a grapple build like the Bic brawler for  example I'm almost out of cards than in a build   where you are pushing an enemy into the area of  effect otherwise with a weapon attack or a spell   attack but if we can do that push them into the  spell effect semi- reliably I think it's a strong   spell that's worth considering do we concentrate  on it instead of Shadow Blade here or I mean web   for that matter or other options that we'll get  later again that's going to depend a lot it'll   depend on how your DM plays their enemies and do  they play them differently if they're intelligent   versus relatively dumb because sure if the enemy  ends up taking damage by getting pushed into the   cloud of daggers How likely are they going to  be on their next turn to stand just outside the   area of effect more than maybe one time right  my guess is not very often that said in a burst   damage build where we're really prioritizing just  like one big round of damage maybe just maybe   it's a little more viable of a tactic than if we  were pretending we could do it round after round   in a sustained damage build that wasn't grapple  focused right I'll do this for this build being   Nova focused I'm going to assume that we're going  to use cloud of daggers with the hopes of getting   at least one round where we can knock an enemy  into it I don't think it's a hugee stretch for   most tables and most encounters if you disagree  that's fine concentrate on something else Shadow   Blade is a great option here I think especially  if you're in dim lighter Darkness especially if   you can get the spell off before combat starts or  if you can get your Blade song off before combat   starts right since I like to explore best case  scenario situations I'm going to assume a cloud of   daggers tactic will work for us for a Nova round  the damage is going to be better than Shadow Blade   though how much better will depend on enemy Armor  class glass and the lighting in the room feel free   to go a different route if you want and in that  case sure feel free to use shortswords instead   of light hammers for the slightly higher damage  difference in the weapons because yes the reason   we wanted light hammers is because at level  four we get our first feet and we are going   to take crusher of course this lets us bump our  strength by 1 to 18 nice and then tells us that   once per turn when we're hit with an attack  that does bludgeoning damage we can push the   enemy 5 ft in a direction of our choice so long  as they're no more than one size larger than us   they don't get to make a save against this forced  movement which is nice also when we crit against   them attacks against them have Advantage until  our next turn that's great so yes theoretically   we could now be pushing enemies into a cloud of  daggers doing damage to them when they enter the   cloud and when they start their turn there double  dipping which is awesome okay at level five with   our most important spells and that all important  feet under our belt let's get some P levels so   that we can be smiting by our first damage report  at level six of course you might want to hold off   on doing this until you get extra attack from blad  singer if I were playing this character in game   that's probably what I would do but I'm going  to prioritize burst damage on this build over   everything else and thus we will be better off  getting to Divine Smite first as opposed to extra   attack it's a highly resource intensive way to go  right and it only makes us better for one round of   combat per day really so yeah it's going to depend  on how you want to play how many many encounters   you tend to get per long rest at your table but  in the interest of stretching the concept as far   as I can Let's Pretend We're Going Paladin now  this would mean as a p one we get Divine sense   which basically lets us detect Undead fiends  and celestials a few times per day within 60   ft of us not behind total cover marginally useful  Layon hands is more than marginally useful though   giving us five Layon hands points per Paladin  level that we can use as an action to heal for   one hit point per point spend right or if we use  five of them we can cure a poison or a disease   very handy very Layon handy don't forget that we  do get simple and Marshall weapon proficiency now   so if we wanted to start using something other  than light hammers here no problem so long as   they were one-handed right or blade singing is not  going to work but p 2 is why we're really here of   course so level six this means that we're going  to get a fighting style um unfortunately paladins   don't get access to two weapon fighting style a  real shame cuz I'd love to have that and what I   would consider to be a runner up fighting style  here defense only works if we're wearing armor   maybe your DM would say that your natural armor  counts for the purpose of this fighting style but   I don't think rules as written it does in that  case I'd probably take either blind fighting   to basically give us blind sense out to 10 ft  situationally very useful or interception which   lets us use our reaction to reduce damage to an  attack against a nearby Ally by by a d10 plus r   proficiency bonus a pretty solid support feature  that your friends will thank you for if uh you're   often fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with them  we do get Paladin spells here too and as far as   what to take nothing crazier out of the ordinary  here bless is great if no one else is packing it   and maybe you're out of spell slots for cloud of  daggers or Shadow Blade cure wounds is nice for   some backup healing if you're out of lay on hands  points but you know pick your favorites the real   reason we're here of course is yes for divine  Smite which lets us spend a spell slot when we   hit an enemy with a melee weapon attack and yes  no reason that Shadow Blade shouldn't work here if   you're using that right as we're told that Shadow  Blade counts as a simple melee weapon and smiting   with a Shadow Blade is just the stuff that dreams  are made of as I tried to make good use of in the   Assassin's Creed build a few months back I think  that was my last card for the week but anyways   Divine Smite when we hit we can spend a spell  slot to do an extra 2 d8 radiant damage plus 1   d8 more for every spell level we spend capping at  5 d8 damage or a fourth level spell slot and keep   in mind speaking of spell slots that since we're  multiclassing with spellcasters we do have third   level spell slots at this level right which we  will make great use of in our level six damage report okay so let's discuss what combat would  ideally look like for us at this level if we   wanted to blow everything to just burst as hard  as possible round one we would be starting our   Blade song with a bonus action and then casting  cloud of daggers with our action potentially as   a third level spell ideally on top of our primary  target we'd then run up to within 5T of them right   on their turn they're going to take 6 D4 damage  from being in cloud of daggers and hopefully move   up to attack us if your DM constantly plays a  metag gamey tactics game against you and the   enemy is always running away from you even though  you might be like the nearest opponent to them   and concentrating on a spell that's hurting  them right in those kinds of situations then   yeah probably don't use cloud of taggers but  assuming that's not the case on round two we   go Nova we make two attacks one with our main  hand Hammer which we should have advantage on   thanks to our familiar and one with our offand  though the offhand doesn't have Advantage nor   does it add our strength modifier because we don't  have the two weapon fighting style right when we   hit we Smite with both our remaining third level  spell slot potentially not saying that you should   just exploring the extent of what's possible and  then one of our second level spell slots as well   pushing the enemy 5 ft back into the cloud of  daggers where they would take damage both right   now and then again at the beginning of their turn  assuming they've survived which they very likely   may not have because all told if everything lands  over that one round will be doing a total of 14   D4 plus 7 d8 + 4 damage and thus against an enemy  with a 10 Armor class here we would on average do   75 damage and against a 15 Armor class it would  be 65 damage during our burst round I mean while   sure it's no Echo knite right ooh I do not have  any cards left I don't think that was that was   last week's build the thumbnail was right there I  mean that's still really solid damage putting us   comfortably in the middle of tier one compared  to other burst damage builds that I've done to   date now sure sometimes you'll be fighting enemies  who are huge or gargantuan level six I mean it's   possible and so can't be knocked back right no  problem use bless or web or yeah Shadow Blade is   great especially if you're fighting in dim light  or Darkness I mean at that point in dim light or   Darkness you're only a few points below our cloud  of daggers tactic damage wise once you get into   middling enemy armor classes anyways and at higher  enemy AC's you're about on par and better yet your   sustained damage will probably be a lot higher  going that route because you don't need to knock   somebody into cloud of daggers every round right  so hey great news you're a wizard you got options   at level seven uh speaking of being a wizard now  that we've got Divine Smite yeah let's go back   to wizard to get more and better spells and spell  slots and other important blade singing features   so yes that would make us a wizard 5 here and that  means the incredible amazing third level spells   and I can't believe I'm saying this but pick your  favorites I mean sure Spirit shroud for damage is   a good option in case you get some amazing magic  weapons and you want to use them but still added   a d8 of extra damage to all of your attacks and  The Cloud of daggers thing isn't going to work and   then of course counter spell fear hypnotic pattern  slow Fireball but keep in mind we're sitting on a   14 intelligence so try to focus on stuff that's  just going to work right Spirit shroud is one of   those things other great utility options like tiny  Hut and catnap are great fly and I mean haste as   well yeah with its one more attack that could  add a Smite plus higher move speed and higher   AC is definitely worth considering depending on  your weapons anyways yeah PF at level eight we   would be a wizard 6 and that means we finally get  extra attack but not just any old extra attack no   we get the blad singer extra attack which says  that not only can we make two attacks when we   take the attack action but we can replace one of  those attacks with a cantrip and yes that means   we can booming blade and still make other attacks  and it's just so glorious but I'll get into the   details of why in our next damage report in a  minute don't forget that thanks to multiclassing   we do pick up our first fourth level spell slot at  this level two for bigger smites or more damage on   cloud of daggers Etc okay level 9 now that we've  got extra attack and fourth level spell slots I   think it might be time for that inevitable fighter  dip you knew it was coming stop complaining and   honestly you don't have to do this you might be  crazy for doing it why delay higher level spells   and spell slots again it's because I'm trying to  focus on burst damage and while I'd love to be   upcasting my spells and smiting harder action  surge outshines both of those things for Pure   raw numbers in a Nova round so that's what I'll  be doing it's okay if you'd rather say Wizard or   maybe even take more levels in P to get an oath  and another ability score increase or feet right   we're going Fighter for more than just action  surge too because fighter one gives us second   win sure to heal ourselves a little bit as a bonus  action once per short rest but more importantly it   gives us a fighting style and while yeah we could  get the two weapon fighting style now to do more   damage on our bonus action offhand attack right we  could also take Superior technique which would let   us pick up trip attack from the Battlemaster  maneuver list and use it once per short rest   fueled by a D6 superiority die and yeah with trip  attack we could now try to knock the enemy prone   when we hit them adding that D6 in damage and  then if they fail their strength save against   it and are large or smaller we get advantage on  all of our attacks against them that round not   just the first one that we were getting thanks  to our familiar woohoo and yes like always to   continue comparing Apples to Apples I'm going  to assume that we've got advantage on all of   our attacks going forward now even though  I appreciate that the enemy will sometimes   make their safe and sometimes be huge or larger  right at level 9 it is time for our next damage report and we've seen some nice increases since  last check better spell slots for more cloud of   dagger damage damage and smites advantage on all  of our attacks now thanks to trip attack and my   favorite thing of all thanks to extra attack not  only another attack and smite but a booming blade   attack which is just so juicy delicious for  those of us using cloud of daggers especially   because you see now on our Nova round we'll run  up attack with Advantage thanks to our familiar   hopefully knock prone and smite on that first  attack right and then offhand attack and smite   yes but booming blade Smite attack too and not  only will that apply an extra d8 of damage on   the attack itself but if we're pushing them into  cloud of daggers we've just created a new and   improved Catch 22 kind of like that old build why  did I use up all of my cards today thumbnail there   but even better I think so yeah on the enemy's  next turn they've got to choose do I stay in   cloud of daggers taking damage or do I move and  take more Thunder damage thanks to booming blade   either option sucks and that makes me so happy  I'm going to assume that the enemy is going to   move both so that they can be more effective in  combat and because yeah no one's going to want to   just stand in a cloud of spinning daggers dicing  them up right it is a thing of beauty I'm going   to assume that we're casting cloud of daggers as  a fourth level spell and then smiting them with   all three of our third level spell slots here as  always not recommending that just saying you could   and if you did against enemies with a 10 Armor  class here we would on average during our Nova   round do 126 damage damage and against a 16 Armor  class it would be 117 damage which is like a 75%   increase over last check keeping us kind of still  in the middle of tier one compared to other burst   damage builds that I've done to date at this level  sweet and we're still mostly a wizard amazing and   we still have our biggest gains Yet to Come woohoo  because yes at level 10 we would be a fighter too   meaning that we'd get the other main reason we  wanted fighter levels actions surge so once per   short rest we can take two actions on our turn  now here's the thing you could in the interest   of more reliably bursting and getting your cloud  of daggers thing going effectively right on round   one blad song as a bonus action then cast cloud of  daggers with your action then action Surge and go   make your two attacks right using booming blade  knocking them into your cloud of daggers never   giving them a chance to try to like get out of it  or run the other way that's pretty awesome that   said for Pure numbers done over a single round  I mean if we were okay blowing the spell slots   and we were worried that we weren't going to be  able to knock the enemy into cloud of daggers for   whatever reason the better round one move would be  to just Spirit shroud as a bonus action run up and   make two Smite infused weapon attacks one with  booming blade then action Surge and repeat and   if you did that it would be a lot of damage  alternatively you could haste make your one   attack from haste and your bonus action attack  then action surge for two more attacks right   spirit shroud's a little better there thanks to  the fact that we're getting our main hand attacks   on all four of our attacks plus one more booming  blade attack right but anyways yeah you've got   options I'll assume that we're still going Nova  on round two because well it looks better on the   spreadsheet but often times just killing something  before it gets a chance to even do anything right   on round one will be better than doing even more  damage to them but waiting around right but now   that we've got action surge at level 11 let's go  back wizard to get better spells and spell slots   this means we'd be a wizard seven so we can pick  up fourth level spells so yeah I mean banishment   polymorph dimension door wall of fire none of  which we're necessarily going to be planning   on using during our Nova round so BF don't forget  that booming blade jumps up to 2 d8 on the hit and   3 d8 when they move at level 112 which is awesome  at level 12 we would be a wizard 8 and that means   we get another ability score or feat and I think  we've got a bump strength here increasing our hit   chance our damage and even the DC of our very  important trip attack don't forget that thanks   to multiclassing we get a fifth level spell  slot to now for potentially even more clouded   daggers damage this by the way was my final build  when I played bg3 as a blade singer and it just   absolutely destroyed wizard 8 p 2 Fighter 2 though  I was for that playthrough just using shadowblade   and or Spirit shroud since cloud of daggers Works  a little differently and there's no Crusher feed   anyways it was awesome take a drink at level 13  though again you might want to just stick wizard   for all the reasons we've discussed you might  want to go back to P for all the reasons we've   discussed but if we're trying to maximize burst  damage yeah I want more fighter levels because   that would let us get our Marshall archetype our  fighter subass and that would mean we could be a   battle master and have more superiority dice  now to be fair a champion would actually not   be a terrible Choice here doubling our crit chance  when we're rolling so many dice on a hit thanks to   Divine Smite and booming blade it's not terrible  nor would Rune Knight be a bad idea remember we   can only Crusher feet push enemies who are one  size larger than us or smaller right so with run   Knight growing to large size would let us use  our little push into cloud of daggers tactic   against huge enemies and at level 13 we might be  seeing a lot more huge enemies you make the call   I'm going to go Battlemaster because again it  looks better on the spreadsheet letting us add   those superiority dice to the damage of our  attacks during our Nova round as well as some   other stuff because yeah as a Battle Master  we learn three more Maneuvers and we get four   more superiority dice to fuel them with though  these are d8s instead of the D6 we got for the   fighting style right as for which Maneuvers to  take I'd say go with Precision attack letting   us add our superiority die to our hit chance  after we roll maybe make a habit of like saving   a maneuver on a hit to potentially use Precision  attack for right to make sure that we land a hit   that's going to push him into clouded daggers  against High AC targets at least but as for the   other two Maneuvers that we learn I think I'd take  brace and repost both of them give us a potential   reaction Attack One when an enemy enters our reach  with brace and the other when an enemy misses an   attack against us with repost I honestly don't  think I've taken advantage of these two Maneuvers   enough in the past I mean think about about it if  we can use our reaction to make an attack against   them if they one move outside of our reach like  everybody else with an opportunity attack two move   inside our reach or three miss an attack against  us then what's the likelihood that we're going to   get a reaction attack against an enemy if we have  a superiority die to spend 50% I I tried to build   around this idea right with the over reactor a  few weeks ago right uh that's what the thumbnail   looks like we might as well get some that benefit  here too a 50% might be too low but I'm going to   assume a 50% chance for a reaction attack on our  next damage report which is right now since last   check we've added action surge above all uh more  and better spell slots more and better superiority   Dice and even what I will say now is a 50% chance  for a reaction attack that yes we could absolutely   Smite with now we won't have advantage on that  attack because the enemy shouldn't be prone at   that point and we can't booming blade because  we're told we get to make a weapon attack with   our reaction not cast a spell and for those  of you thinking that we should have taken   warcaster so that we could booming Blade with  our reaction right keep in mind that warcaster   lets us cast a spell specifically when we get to  make an opportunity attack repost and Brace are   not unfortunately considered opportunity attacks  just melee weapon attacks made using our reaction   your DM May handwave that and allow it anyways  and yeah warcaster is not a bad choice for us   here by any means I mean thanks to the handsful  stuff that we've talked about and the advantage   on concentration checks maybe more importantly  right but I just wanted to be clear on the rules   anyways on our Nova round now we're making five  attacks if you include our bonus action we can   Smite with all five of them and could even add a  superiority die to all five but I'm going to say   let's save one maybe the little D6 superiority die  that we have to use just in case we get a chance   at brace or repost which again I'm going to assume  that we're doing 50% of the time smiting when it   happens under those assumptions then against an  enemy with a 10 Armor class we would on average   here do 256 damage during our Nova round and  against a 17 AC it would be 238 damage basically   doubling our damage since last check and man I  love how well this build scales compared to other   burst damage dealers that we've done to date that  again Keeps Us kind of in the middle of tier one   those tier one builds aren't messing around they  all scale really well they wouldn't be in tier one   otherwise we've got some stiff competition but  not many of them can say that they've got the   versatility and utility of being mostly a wizard  can they all right coming down the home stretch at   level 14 yeah let's take just one more level in  fighter because I really want the ability score   increase or feet that's available to us there  as a Fighter 4 and there are a ton of options   that I would love to get the three Front Runners  should probably be resilient Constitution to let   us add our proficiency bonus to our constitution  saves plus bump our constitution by one that feels   super important on the other hand just increasing  our intelligence would bump both our AC and our   concentration checks by one anyways when we're  blad singing not to mention improve our wizard   spells and then of course there is yeah warcaster  as we've discussed which lets us booming blade on   an opportunity attack which would do extra damage  on both the hit and immediately as they moved   away from us right which is what triggered the  opportunity attack in the first place plus give us   advantage on our concentration checks and let us  cast spells with our hands full I think warcaster   is the one that I would take above all options  as much as I'd love the other two I will say this   though if you can prioritize getting a headband  of intellect on this build above probably all   other magic items also if you did start Fighter  1 which I just might do if and when I play this   character in game and yeah I am totally playing  this character in game then bumping intelligence   here looks a lot more attractive to me had we  started fighter one right especially if I can't   get a headband of intellect anyways you make the  call at level 15 we would be a wizard n and yeah   you could go back to P here a couple more levels  would get us a feat and doesn't slow down our   spell slot progression too much plus having a p  oath subass might be nice but I feel like we've   already slowed down our spells and our spell slot  progression way too much as it is you might not   even have wanted to take fighter levels at all as  we've discussed especially if you're leaning into   the wizardess of this character but anyways  yeah at this point I say we go back to wizard   that's going to give us fifth level spells and I  can't in good conscience say pick your favorites   here because wall of force exists and provides  incredible control that doesn't allow enemies   to save against it it just works and traps them  behind an invisible force field period now what   about animate objects some of you might be asking  yeah it's a good spell a great spell even I think   I've argued enough times over the years that the  higher level we get the worse it sort of becomes   since the damage that those animated objects do  are probably going to be resisted by your enemies   as that damage is not rules is written considered  magical which might seem counterintuitive as the   objects are animated by a magical spell but  yeah that's kind of how it works maybe not at   your table but that said even if the enemy doesn't  have resistance to the damage then animate objects   will only outdamage cloud of daggers at an enemy  AC of 13 and lower if they do have resistance to   the damage then yeah it's really not worth it  now you might not be able to use the cloud of   daggers stick and animate objects will likely be  better sustained damage unless those little coins   or whatever get blown up by an enemy Fireball or  something but in in that case again if the enemy   has resistance you're probably better off with  Spirit shroud for sustained damage depending on   the enemy AC and what weapons you're using what  about steel wind strike not considered a weapon   attack so wouldn't work for smiting purposes  as cool as that would be and yes I know it   would work for some other things because it is  an attack it's just a spell attack I'll build   around it one day I think it's just hard to do a  whole build around a fifth level spell you know   something we won't see until very late game for  some of us or never for others you know anyways   don't forget that we do get a six level spell  slot now thanks to multiclassing at level 16 we   would be a wizard 10 and as a blade singer that  means we get song of Defense which lets us use   our reaction and a spell slot to absorb damage  equal to five times the spell slots level that   we spent usually this is not as good as Shield or  absorb elements but sometimes shield and absorb   elements won't help us so this is a nice defensive  option to have in those cases and then finally for   us at level 17 we would be a wizard 11 that means  six level spells and again I can't really say pyf   you've got to take Mass suggestion for some  encounter ending concentration free control   I think though if our intelligence sucks maybe  we take contingency instead so we can like cast   Spirit shroud on ourselves automatically when  we want to without spending a bonus action for   it or other more useful things we could do with  contingency of course we do have a seventh level   spell slot now thanks to multiclassing don't  forget and booming blade gets its final bump   here to 3d8 on hit and 4 d8 when the target moves  delicioso and so for our final damage report since   last check our main increases to damage have come  from better spell slots though we got that booming   blade increased too and we've picked up some nice  defensive utility and control options as well but   here against an enemy with a 10 Armor class we  would on average do 312 damage and against an 18   AC it would be on average 292 and same as always  that's keeping us about mid Tier 1 compared to   other burst damage builds at this level maybe  the bottom half of tier one here but still   really solid so let's kind of break it down here  with some final thoughts the tier score for this   build if you take the damage that they do at each  of the armor classes that we report on at each   of the four damage reports average them all into  one big number we get a 168 and yeah that's kind   of middle of tier one like we've been all along  which of course is really great burst damage so   I've got a few thoughts here first of all I kind  of feel like this build is like a compilation of   all the most famous like Colby cliches that I've  become known for over the last three plus years   of character builds blade singers Divine Smite  action search trip attack pushing enemies into   area of effect spells the only thing that it's  missing are custom lineage for the race or the   oven accuracy feed since you can't have both in  the same character stupid Jeremy Crawford and   yeah compiling all of my more commonly used ideas  into one single character is both kind of annoying   and kind of satisfying at the same time annoying  because it feels a little rote a little samsy but   satisfying because I don't think I've ever taken  all or almost all of my favorite like in-game   mechanics and combined them quite so effectively  into a single character before and also it's   gratifying to combine them all in this way and  see that yeah they work out to make a really   solid character now some of you may be asking may  have been asking this entire video do we really   want to burn all of those spell slots and all of  our superiority dice all of our resources on one   round of damage I mean it's easy in balers Gate  3 take a drink when we can long rest whenever we   want to right but in DND D 5e it's not so easy I  mean at level 17 I was assuming a seventh level   spell slot for cloud of daggers that's insanity  and then sixth and Fifth and fourth level spell   slots all on Smite all of our superiority dice  in a single round of combat that's stupid and my   response to you would be hi you must be new here  welcome make yourself at home because yeah that   would be kind of stupid most of the time anyways I  wouldn't suggest that you do this very often most   of the time you could get back with the cloud of  daggers upcast at something more more reasonable   maybe not smiting with your highest level spell  slots preserving those for more powerful spells   right you don't get any additional benefit at  fifth and sixth and seventh level for smites   but once in a while maybe when you're up against a  big boss or you've got a fight that looks like it   could quickly overwhelm your party or you know  you've got a long rest coming and you've been   preserving your spell slots all day you might  want to go all out and I think there's value   in exploring the limits of what's possible damage  wise so that we can know what we're capable of if   we need to max out and then make decisions based  on that to scale it back a bit when we don't need   to go all out right use one superiority die and  save the rest so that you can trip four or five   times in an encounter Smite once or twice and  see if that's enough to take down an enemy in   a single round saving some resources for a second  enemy etc etc and yeah if you look at other burst   damage builds I've done the vast majority of  them blow way too many and too valuable of   resources in a Nova round in the same way or for  the same reason so we're not really doing anything   different here in the end it's not just the damage  capabilities but the damage capabilities combined   with the versatility of being mostly a wizard that  makes the blad singer my favorite subclass to play   in game sure the echo knite build from last week  could Outburst this build by a lot actually when   they were going all out but not only could they  only reach those crazy numbers once a day too but   outside of some control potential via grappling  and like some general tankiness they didn't bring   a whole lot to the table you know and hey when  your numbers are that big maybe that's all you   need but with this blad singer P it's like yeah  you can blow stuff up with the best of them but   you can also Misty step around the battlefield  throw down some of the best control spells in   game bring Buffs and utility in Spades you  just have so many options at your fingertips   in addition to Fantastic on demand burst damage  and strong sustained damage too actually that I   think this one has made it to the top of my next  to playlist even though I've already done a blad   singer in two separate 5e campaigns now when it's  this good and this versatile it's hard to play   anything else so that's the build for the week  I hope you get a chance to play it sometime soon   but I also hope that you know how much I love  you you guys are so awesome thank you for all   that you do for me for the channel I appreciate  you so much I hope that you have a really great   day and a fantastic week and if you don't I  really hope you'll hang in there I hope that   you will do good and be kind and that I see you  again very very soon but until then take care [Music] bye secret on your lips that nobody  knows gentle in your [Music] eyes you can   wear my clothes you know I didn't think I'd find  you perfect in so many ways and I've been waiting   waiting and I want to have you I've been waiting  waiting and I want to oh man don't you love it   when you've got this song it's like so good and  you haven't heard it for like over a decade and   then it just randomly pops up on like your Spotify  playlist and it's like not playlist I guess when   you're just kind of letting Spotify choose right  uh the next songs and it's like oh my gosh Matthew   Sweet off his album girlfriend that song I've Been  Waiting man that takes me back my buddy and I my   friend Bucky uh one of my best friends ever when  we were in college we we used to play guitar and   sing at this little sandwich coffee shop called  The Dog and Duck it was so so good every Tuesday   and that that one was uh that one was on our  our regular set list it's a good one oh today   is the first day of spring as I'm recording  this anyways and I am feeling it happy want   to get out do some biking do some hiking this is  gorgeous outside I don't know about the lighting   I feel like I look a little orange what if we went  now the background changes from purple to Blue h I can always color correct post  post processing raise your hand if   you've ever wanted to combine a blade  singer with some Paladin levels in D andd all right I'm a little sweaty it's not too bad all right we got a saggy mic today  again man matter how much I tighten this   sometimes you just want to Sag stop  it te that you're you're bugging me   you look a little crooked dang fishe yeah  it's always going to look a little whatever okayo the wing Lings they're getting they're  getting a little little much pretty soon I'm   going to be flying away I don't know why my  hair gets like Curly like on the sides and   in the back only and like it's just kind of  straight or little wavy otherwise anyways the   nearest the nearest the nearest and I wrote that  down wrong so I need to fix it let's see okay so level n level n damage report  okay booming blading to potentially   use on right if they okay that's stupid  I think I just spit a little there sorry

Channel: d4: D&D Deep Dive

Views: 43,582

Keywords: dnd, dungeons & dragons, D&D, bladesinger, paladin, wizard, smite, damage, burst, nova, mad, tortle, how to, guide, tips, tricks, character, creation, build, best, min max, optimize

Id: cxpwCd7gtEE

Length: 54min 31sec (3271 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 02 2024