The Warmage: A Treantmonk Guide Part 1 of 3

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Welcome to my War Mage guide! In this video I am going to explain how I would make a melee focused Wizard. The Battlemage is going to be excellent at delivering damage in combat, but not just focused on weaponry, but using magic to supplement high single target damage. For Part 2 of this build: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eqmldoRnoqqlZ5o For Part 3 of this build: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eKfPf6mwgs16e7c Here's the link to the final build: ddb.ac/characters/17282474/8Hip6R

[@binolombardi]

Treantmonk's Temple The reaction +4 to saving throws is nice because you get to know you failed before you use it. You do t get to know the DC, but get to know you failed. Less chance of wasting the reaction.

[@davidriggs538]

I have a concept for a war mage multiclass with war cleric. Variant human to get Warcaster feat at 1st level and then mostly ASI's every 4 levels. One level in war domain cleric to get heavy armor and martial weapon proficiencies without losing spell slots. I haven't thought much yet about levels above Wizard 5/Cleric 1. Will be interesting to watch these 3 of 3 videos to see how your concept is built up. I find your videos so informative and intelligent. Thanks and keep cranking them out. We love it.

[@binolombardi]

I’m playing a war wizard right now and the reaction spells combined with the class ability make choosing when to use your reaction pretty difficult. There’s basically a sequence of slightly different times between attacks, damage, saving throws, and elemental damage. Shield becomes a reaction option the instant an attack roll is successful vs your AC Absorb elements becomes a reaction the instant you take the elemental damage Arcane deflections AC boost is the exact same as shield, so not too difficult to just use it interchangeably when needed Arcane deflection save bonus is after a known saving throw failure, which may have different reaction times that overlap with absorb elements. From what I’ve found absorb elements best used when you take elemental damage above 30, if saves are your concern for concentration. I might be wrong but this was after some different numbers crunched. Or if taking a lot of chip damage of the same element, as you keep the resistance till the start of your next turn.

[@jpenhall]

I'm 2 sessions in to an AL version of a similar build (Mountain Dwarf instead of Gith and no SCAG cantrips). This series was well timed and is giving me some good ideas as I move forward. Thanks.

[@alanhmoses8094]

Treantmonk's Temple Great video but wanted to bring up one thing. For this to be AL legal with a different race, you would need to use spell scrolls to learn the blade cantrips. Spells still count as part of phb +1, except for wizards when learning a spell from a scroll. Since you need Xanthar’s for War Mage, you could only learn the blade cantrips through scrolls you buy.

[@intrinsical]

The thing that excites me most about Arcane Deflection is it's uses out of combat. That's when you don't need to think about saving your reaction for other abilities or spells. So you triggered a trap? Arcane Deflection. Con save vs exhaustion? Arcane Deflection. Some strange environmental effect requiring a save? Arcane Deflection.

[@TheAdditionalPylons]

Hotel? Trivago.

[@fireriot8597]

Your wife is angry at you for using all the gold on mead? Arcane Deflection

[@ryanatkinson2281]

Your boss catches you commenting on KZbin videos while at work? Arcane Deflection

[@SharanjitPaddam]

1: Githyanki: Language, Thieve’s Tools. Fighter 1: Athletics, History, Defence, Far Traveller, 14/12/14/15/8/8, Chain, Great Sword, Long Sword, Light Crossbow, Dungeoneer’s Pack 2: Wizard 1: Green-flame blade, Minor Illusion, Ray of Frost, Find Familiar, Shield*, False Life*, Disguise Self*, Absorb Elements*, Detect Magic 3: Wizard 2: War mage, Expeditious Retreat*, Comprehend Languages 4: Wizard 3: Web*, Flaming Sphere*, Disguise Self(*) 5: Wizard 4: War Caster Feat, Booming Blade, Mirror Image*, Darkvision* 6: Wizard 5: Leomund’s Tiny Hut, Fear* 7: Wizard 6: Darkvision(*), Counterspell*, Dispel Magic* 8: Wizard 7: Greater Invisibility*, Polymorph*, Web(*) 9: Wizard 8: ASI INTx2, Dimension Door*, Fireshield 10: Wizard 9: Animate Objects*, Flaming Sphere (*), Wall of Force Polymorph(*) 11: Fighter 2: [Action Surge] 12: Fighter 3: Battle master, Smiths Tools, Menacing Attack, Pushing Attack, Precision Attack (If not going to level 20, take Fighter 4) 14: Wizard 11: Lightning Lure, Bigby’s Hand*, Rary’s Telepathic Bond, Contingency, Mass Suggestion* 16: Wizard 13: ASI INTx2, Programmed Illusion, Soul Cage* Simulacrum, Crown of Stars* 18: Wizard 15: Plane Shift, Forcecage*, Demi Plane, Maze* 20: Wizard 17: Alert Feat, Mind Blank*, Antipathy Sympathy, Wish*, True Polymorph

[@Midnightv]

True hero

[@SpiritWolf209]

MVP

[@ChristnThms]

Love what you've done so far, and I've gotta say thank you. On each of your builds, you address its effectiveness at every level, especially these lower ones. So many builds gloss over this, or completely ignore it, in favor of focusing exclusively on the end of the build. As you've pointed out, most of my play experience is in tiers 1 & 2. So having a build that's strong at every level is far more important than aiming exclusively at a level I'll never see.

[@SirAirlessDaVacuum]

Just finished part 3 of this build and having to pick my jaw up off the floor. Such a creative, interesting, and powerful build. The best part is it is just in time for the start of a new campaign that will go the distance to 20, maybe beyond.

[@Ciberbuster]

I like the build, i'll consider some of the ideas for my next PC. The concept of the character: a hobgoblin warmage, who fights in the front lines but mostly using BC and commanding the animated bodies of his fellow hobs who died in the last war. His moto: "The Iron Legion survives throught me, i'll make my comrades reach glory even after dead!" Looking forward for the next build.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Now that sounds like how I envision a hobgoblin. I'm into the Spartan feel of the race.

[@lllaflame]

Githyanki wizards are a personal favorite of mine, waking up to find this video just made my day

[@bryankia]

This is the video I needed to watch for ideas for my blade singer. Brilliant as always. I am happy that I figured out on my own to only go level 1 fighter then loop back for a second level after 5th level spells are had. Keep up the great work.

[@yosharian]

I prefer to get 17 STR, then I can take Heavy Armor Mastery instead of a +2 ASI, which is a really cool feat IMO. Helps offset the Wizard HP.

[@KhristianBolano]

I like the Githyanki Abjurer Wizard more, with no levels in other classes. Heavily Armored at level 4. Worse concentration saves but a better caster overall, without renouncing too many martial things.

[@jesse1018]

I really like this as a Githyanki concept. It’s thematically accurate and I love the build.

[@coldfusion230]

A point to note about shadow blade is that it deals psychic damage. This might sound exotic but there's a fair few monsters immune to psychic damage, e.g. all constructs. Furthermore, in higher tiers, all casters begin with mind blank which negates psychic damage. If this is your main damage source then you might find yourself suddenly useless. Conversely, I believe there's like one or maybe two monsters (bosses excluded) that resists magic weapon damage.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

That's true - I didn't even think about Mind Blank giving you SB immunity...

[@aureliomanalo]

Before this I watched a WebDM video and they dropped your name and I had crossover chills. Thanks for helping my Monday.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

They did? Cool! I'm feeling like a celebrity!

[@gabrielrockman]

If you're running around with 17, 19, or 22 AC, and your owl has 11 AC with 1 HP and is giving you advantage every turn, you have a very very lenient DM if he's not going to have any of your enemies throw AoE damage effects that would include the owl in their area, or have some Goblin Archer or some minor support dude take an attack (not even an entire turn if they have multi-attack) to kill the 11 AC 1 HP owl that is giving advantage to a dangerous opponent.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Familiars absolutely die (technically of course they don't die - they disappear). They get caught in AoE's all the time whether you are using them for advantage or not. Fortunately, they are pretty easy to re-summon, no spell slot required and 10gp. It does impact the rest of the combat, though fortunately, with this character, after level 3, their weapon damage becomes continually less of their offensive mix. I've heard this comment though many times. I'm not sure I understand it though. Is the argument that you shouldn't use your familiar for advantage because you might lose that advantage at some point in the combat at a cost of one of the enemies attacks? How is that worse than not having the advantage in the first place?

[@gabrielrockman]

@@TreantmonksTemple My argument is that for your calculations on damage output, you shouldn't be assuming that you're always attacking with advantage because of the Familiar. Thus, other ways that give you advantage (like Shadow Blade) become more useful.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

@@gabrielrockman In that case, I concur with your position. Hey, we have agreement on the internet!

[@LordMorin]

When I play a GISH or War Mage, I always take a spider as my familiar. It stay's on my back. It moves onto my shoulder in melee, uses its Help Action to grant me Advantage, then move back onto my back. In one campaign, I had a small Den attached to the outside of my backpack with a magic hatch that opened when touched. The familar wou7ld use it as a bunker in case of AOE . . .:)

[@tyleremery7088]

@@TreantmonksTemple Internet agreement? No such thing lol.

[@basementmadetapes]

Gonna definitely take a two level dip into war mage for my psi warrior. And gonna grab the Alert feat for a +11 initiative.

[@jasonr.6123]

With the release of Tasha's I think this build would benefit from taking the Crusher feat and focusing on bludgeoning weapons. Hit the enemy with booming blade, knock em back five feet, place a flaming sphere next to them and laugh as they decide whether they want to take the extra fire or thunder damage.

[@DBoyTommie]

Hobgoblin works really with this.. it plugs right in.

[@Jarl_Ballin]

"Strength based" wizard? That's a funny way of saying "MUSCLE WIZARD"

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I concede that is a far superior title.

[@justincree1611]

I have been playing this build in a campaign and I'm currently level 8 (it is a ton of fun, by the way! So thank you for these videos!). What I have found is that in most combats, I end up not using my bonus action, unless I have cast Flaming Sphere, which also uses up my action on the first round and uses my concentration. Now I'm at the level where I'd like to use my concentration on spells like Fear, Greater Invisibility and Polymorph, so I've been thinking of ways to use that bonus action. After the release of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, I wanted to post up a potential small change to this build using the new "Telekinetic" feat. The feat grants the Mage Hand cantrip (with some extra effects) and gives +1 Intelligence, but most importantly, allows me to use a bonus action to try to shove a creature within 30ft 5ft away from or toward me (vs Str save). With the Telekinetic feat, I would have a way to use my bonus action to help trigger the bonus damage from Booming Blade without needing to use a spell slot, without needing to take an action to cast Flaming Sphere, and without needing to use up my concentration. Basic idea: 1) Action to attack with Booming Blade 2) Bonus action to attempt to shove that creature 5ft away While this relies somewhat on how your DM plays when creatures are hit with Booming Blade, if you assume the creature only has a melee reach of 5ft, that it is unaware of the Booming Blade secondary effect (or is fine taking the damage to close in melee), and that it would prefer to close the small 5ft gap back into melee instead of dropping its weapon and drawing a ranged weapon, you are likely to trigger the Booming Blade secondary damage, which this build relies heavily upon to maintain its non-spell slot damage output. It does compete with both Flaming Sphere and Animate Objects for the use of that bonus action, but the idea is that this would be used in combats where you don't use those spell slots. Build Level 2: Booming Blade attack, shove bonus action, use familiar for advantage when able Build Level 4: Cast Web 1st round, shove bonus action to push or pull an enemy into the area of effect if helpful, then use Booming Blade action/shove bonus action in following rounds to trigger bonus damage and even potentially push creatures back into the web as you maintain concentration on it (I fully acknowledge this means the bonus damage won't be triggered if the creature is restrained, but sometimes restrained is preferable to some extra damage) Build Level 8: While you now have more 2nd level slots to cast Flaming Sphere more liberally, I like to maintain a 2nd level slot for an emergency Misty Step, a pre-combat Mirror Image or a Web where it makes more sense. This feat means you won't have to make the lower Booming Blade trigger chance part of that trade-off. I haven't reached higher levels yet so I'm not sure how this feat would change my tactics, but welcome to any thoughts. I figure at the very least, it is more useful than Athlete or Heavy Armor Master from levels 1-20 (Athlete always being situational, and Heavy Armor Master becoming less useful at higher levels). BONUS USES (besides the usual "push them off a cliff" or "pull them into a firepit") 1) Prior to attacking with Green Flame Blade, use your bonus action to pull a creature to within 5ft of it if there isn't one and Green Flame Blade makes more sense than Booming Blade 2) Push/pull creatures into your Web or another spell effect I would propose the following changes to 1st level character creation to implement this feat: Variant Human, +1 Str, +1 Int, Telekinetic Feat (+1 Int) Str 15 (+1) Dex 10 Con 14 Int 14 (+2) Wis 10 Cha 8 And you might swap Minor Illusion for Booming Blade at the first level of Wizard because you've got a decent way to help trigger the secondary damage at that level I think this feat also helps create a "gish" theme from the start at level one, since at that first level, you will have a Fighter with some limited magical abilities. Maybe the awakening of the character's telekinetic powers is what motivated him/her to pursue the study of magic. I'm going to ask my DM if I'm allowed to retroactively replace my 1st level Variant Human feat with this feat to test it out.

[@Nr4747]

I'm currently playing a Variant Human War Mage with the Alert Feat in Adventurers League and it's awesome ! I play him as a young, slightly arrogant mage who is very self-confident because of his quick wits and who uses that ability to end many combats before they really begin (I go very early in initiative and bring down some nasty battlefield control or debuff spells before most of the enemies had a move).

[@istudyhistory1]

I’m currently using this build on Lae’zel in BG3 using the war mage subclass mod and it is awesome!

[@ajmacewan7285]

Hello Treantmonk! Long time fan, new subscriber. Love this series on the war mage. If I could give a suggestion; the current order of videos is such that if you're watching your "fighter builds" series, the 3rd video comes up first and the 1st video last. It would be awesome for someone trying to listen to the 3 part series on war magic "hands-free" if you reordered the videos such that part 1 was first, part 2 second, and part 3 third so that the videos flow better! Again longtime fan of your content, starting to take a more active role in booting your algorithm.

[@gabrielrockman]

When you talked about Shadow Blade, I don't think you mentioned that it gives you advantage on attack rolls when your target is in Dim Light or Darkness. Not only does this basically double your crit chance from 5% to 9.75%, but it also increases your chance to hit (from 60% to 84%, from 70% to 91%, from 80% to 96%, something in that range). Your claim that Shadow Blade doesn't help your damage as much is based on calculations made assuming that your target is in Bright Light, correct?

[@BreakingStarGames]

Treantmonk has talked about not liking it before. The biggest issue is it doesn't stack with magic weapons so you are giving up concentration and your magic weapon for a boost in damage.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

In my calculations, I gave both weapons advantage, as you can get advantage on a single attack anyways. I didn't do calculations assuming advantage on the SB and not on the mundane weapon. My guess would be that SB still wouldn't be delivering more damage than non-advantage weapon + Flaming sphere.

[@gabrielrockman]

Flaming Sphere gives an average of 7 damage per round (2D6) if the enemy always fails their saving throw. Because they'll occasionally pass the Dex save, this will actually be around 6 damage per round unless you're able to convince/force enemies to end their round next to the sphere and can get the 2D6 to trigger more than once per round. On the other hand, Shadow Blade gives an extra 4.5 damage per attack landed compared to a D8 one handed weapon. If you’re using Shadow Blade in Bright Light, it’s not better than Flaming Sphere. Or if you’re able to keep your familiar alive for most of the fight and can get advantage without needing Shadow Blade. Or if you have a Magic Weapon that is really good. With 16 strength, you're doing 7.5 damage per normal hit with a 1 handed non-magical weapon, or 12 damage per normal hit with a Shadow Blade. You have a 5% chance to deal 12 average damage on a crit with the one handed non-magical weapon, and a 9.75% chance to deal 21 average damage on a crit with the Shadow Blade. I’ll ignore the extra damage from Green Flame Blade or Booming Blade, but that'll only make the increased crit chance and increased chance to hit even better for Shadow Blade. This also ignores the damage boost that Shadow Blade provides on opportunity attacks. But including either damage boost is not necessary for Shadow Blade to become better than Flaming Blade. If you hit on a 2, and hit 95% of the time with 5% crit chance, you'll get 7.35 damage per attack with a normal one handed non-magical weapon. If you hit on a 2, and hit 99.75% of the time with a 9.75% crit chance, you’ll get 12.85 damage per attack with Shadow Blade. So this is a 5.5 damage boost per round with Shadow Blade assuming that you only miss on a 1. So at this point, Shadow Blade is slightly inferior, but not by a huge amount. Enemies would have to succeed their Dex saves against Flaming Sphere 45% of the time (failing on 11, succeeding on 12) for Shadow Blade to come out ahead. If you hit on an 8, and hit 65% of the time with 5% crit chance, you’ll get 5.1 damage per attack with a normal one handed non-magical weapon. If you hit on an 8, and hit 87.75% of the time with a 9.75% crit chance, you’ll get 11.41 damage per attack with Shadow Blade. So this is a 6.31 damage boost per round with Shadow Blade. This is equivalent to enemies failing their Dex saves only 20% of the time (failing on 15, succeeding on 16). Add in a magic weapon (or a two handed weapon, at the expense of 2 AC), and Flaming Sphere gets better. But add in the extra damage from Green Flame Blade or Booming Blade, and the extra damage from more powerful opportunity attacks (opportunity attacks that land more often, too) and Shadow Blade gets better. And of course, in Bright light, Shadow Blade isn't nearly as good. Let me know if any of my numbers were off. I think Shadow Blade comes out ahead if you're comparing Shadow Blade in dim light/darkness to attacking without advantage and using your bonus action to ram the flaming sphere into an enemy.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

@@gabrielrockman Your numbers look right on quick inspection. This is interesting. I will admit I was comparing greatsword to shadow blade not longsword. What I get from this, is if you want to use a shield, and you think you can get enemies in dim light/darkness reliably, shadow blade is a good option between levels 3-9

[@gabrielrockman]

@@TreantmonksTemple That's correct. It is very situational, it depends on your enemies being in dim light or darkness, and find familiar or other ways of generating advantage being unlikely or unreliable. It also depends on you wanting to use a shield for the +2 AC while sacrificing some of the damage a greatsword would give. It's important to stress that it is situational, and that Flaming Sphere will be better a lot of the time. Shadow Blade is still useful at levels 11+ as well. If you're using Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade at levels 11+, they gain another D8 or 2D8 of damage at that level, depending on whether or not the conditions for secondary damage are met. Because these attacks often just added 2 more D8s of damage, the benefit of an increased chance to hit in dim light or darkness goes up. It's competing with some higher level spells for concentration at levels 11+, but going from 65% chance to hit to 87.75% chance to hit with a level 11+ Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade is a big boost with how much damage those cantrips can do.

[@redram9]

So, the PHB+1 rule for adventurers league will automatically preclude having melee cantrips from SCAG and War Magic from XGtE. That's PHB+2

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Yep, never mind Githyanki. That's PHB+3. Not an AL concept I'm afraid.

[@davidmartin6672]

Yeah, I was going to point this out. Would love to see a War Mage build that doesn’t rely on SCAG.

[@BreakingStarGames]

Strength wizard seems so fun in tier 1 though dangerously squishy. It's funny how different the playstyle becomes in tier 2. Reminds me of how jarring the playstyle shifts as a Moon Druid.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I'm currently playing a Githyanki War Mage melee wizard level 2. I use False Life to boost my HP, wear scale mail armor and use shield. So far it's working out pretty well. Note my wiz did not dip fighter.

[@BreakingStarGames]

@@TreantmonksTemple Yeah I think pure War Mage definitely works nicely as the Muscle Wizard with Githyanki and its easy to transition into just being a regular god wizard. I am looking forward to part 2 and 3 to see when you grab action surge (I think you hinted after 5th level spells at Class level 13). I definitely want to play a Wizard that eventually has those for fun scenarios like Sickening Radiance + Forcecage to really melt that one enemy. Or just double fireball. It solves many issues when 1 fireball isn't enough.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

@@ele02188 Githyanki get medium armor prof as a racial ability. My straight Wiz gith uses a Greatsword. No shield.

[@JonathanMandrake]

With Normal Human, I think this build would also work well since the Stats are higher and I see nothing important taht you can use as Githyanki and not as Human: Since we get a +1 to all, I'm gonna start with a 9+Points used: Str 9+7=16 Dex 9+3=12 Con 9+7=16 Int 9+7=16 Wis 9+3=12 Cha 9+0=8 making your Con 1 higher and your Wis 2 higher

[@jamesengland5115]

I love it. I have a high dex alert feat war mage I almost always go 1st.

[@AuraXars]

For lvl 3, booming blade + flaming sphere is a nice pair of synergy

[@opposumness3107]

16:15 Isn't the Max HP on the lvl1 Fighter supposed to be 13, you know; 10+3(con)? Why does it say 12 Max HP?

[@opposumness3107]

Ah, Con is 14, and not 16, woops

[@jacobreichert6239]

This is really similar to a character build I was thinking of for a muscle wizard. Mine however was a mountain dwarf. Pure wizard so I thought the mountain dwarf +2 to con and strength would be really useful for a muscle wizard and medium armor would give him better armor right off the bat.

[@JugglingAddict]

So if you're starting as fighter anyway, I quite like using Harengon for even crazier initiative of our little murder rabbit.

[@S0nyb1ack]

Great content as always :) Would you consider a mountain dwarf for a pure (20lvl) war mage build? I know they don't get intelligence, but I could see a wizard focusing on spells that don't have saves or attack rolls involved, I'm asking because I was thinking of a similar build (as you described - without the fighter levels at the start) when I was thinking how to use the mountain dwarf and get to use ALL their racial abilities (because most classes that benefit from getting armor won't care about the str bonus and most classes that do care about str don't need additional armor proficiencies).

[@TreantmonksTemple]

It would be fine, but I wouldn't consider it one of the top races

[@ZacharyEntenman]

I think one thing to consider is that githyanki also get medium armor proficiency and Greatswords as a racial bonus which mostly outclasses mountain dwarfs proficiencies

[@anthonynorman7545]

I'm thinking of a similar character but with abjuration. Let flavor run through you! Not every character has to be the most optimized and the build is still viable

[@texteel]

@@anthonynorman7545 both abjuration and war magic are awesome at making you tankier, just in different aspects. Warmage has many things to avoid dmg, +ac and +save. Abjurer simply makes it hurt less with temp hp and magic resist

[@ThePlayercoach]

SonyBlack I’ve got a straight Abjur Mtn dwarf level 9 and it’s fun. Haven’t been able to get into melee as much as I thought lately though. And shadow blade has been good at a higher slot when getting adv for a few rounds. Still tempted to grab Fighter but sticking with wiz

[@Fireswiper]

I am fascinated by this build and am looking to use it in my next campaign in a couple of weeks time. It’s going to be a fairly slow going campaign so I really want to make sure every level is going to be fun and effective to play and not lag behind on my spell progression. If I were to go full wizard and take heavy armour proficiency at 4, what do you see as the big cons at early, mid and late game levels? I guess I lose a feat and flexibility in exchange for not having to multi class? I want him at the front mixing in melee with spells.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I did the build myself without the fighter dip. It was OK.

[@marekkubicek1235]

@@TreantmonksTemple Playing it would you now go with the fighter dip?

[@TreantmonksTemple]

@@marekkubicek1235 I actually played this character without the fighter dip, and it worked great.

[@bryankia]

I really prefer booming blade + flaming sphere over green flame blade and flaming sphere. Dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t :) have the best day.

[@keyn5732]

With tasha costume options I actually did this build but used a hill dwarf instead

[@on_certainty]

i love this build so much

[@rodquilitz7250]

What do you think about this as a tactic for this character at 3rd level? Round 1 cast Flaming Sphere (FS) as action, bonus action to attack BBEG with it, move to BBEG. Round 2 - BA FS attack, Attack action Grapple - assume it succeeds-(with advantage thanks to owl fly by) then move action to step toward FS causing BBEG to take FS damage again. BBEG probably attacks rather than tries to escape but we have Shield or Arcane Deflection, good AC, and temp HP from False Life. Round 3+ BA FS attack vs BBEG, Move BBEG into FS, Toll the Dead cantrip as Action vs BBEG. Takes a while to set up but lots of damage and cool visual! Can this work?

[@markgrummitt5888]

Is this build even possible in Adventurers League? PHB + Tasha's for War Mage. SCAG doesn't have the war mage option?

[@mikeclementecard]

So at this point, what's the best fighter subclass to take? Still Battlemaster or is Echo Knight a touch better (even with bonus action economy issues)?

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Echo Fighter is pretty darn good under most circumstances, even if only for the area control and teleport. Just plopping the echo in front of you to take a free swing at something rushing you, or teleporting yourself out of a cluster of enemies for free, creating an AOE target that you or your allies can exploit alone are huge helps to the overall build, to say nothing of using the echo as a spell target for other shenanigans. And, of course, the endless JoJo references.

[@kozmo7]

Hey, I’m late to the party on this one. I’ve watched all of the builds but this one for some reason stands out to me! I LOVE it My one thing I don’t quite get here is why not cleric? I know you eventually went 3 with this build but when I was trying to emulate this in a character creator I keep going back and forth with a cleric for this one. I know you’re probably a busy dude so I don’t expect a response or anything but just throwing this out there A 1 level dip to a twilight, tempest or war cleric nets you wisdom saves, martial, shields and heavy armor prof all in one. Maintains spell slot progression and adds some nice little trinkets from the cleric spell list. I suppose you could pick up martial wep prof in other ways and pick more potent clerics? Aghhhhh I’m so lost on this one

[@jamesharrison142]

It loses you proficiency in Con saves, which feels like a big deal

[@kozmo7]

@@jamesharrison142 I suppose so. I ended up going fighter for this build after going over the differences between cleric, artificer and fighter myself. He really had it right honestly

[@wassentme1891]

@@kozmo7 He already dipped Cleric in a build + Fighter gets Constitution proficiency. If Tasha's had come out I don't think he would deny Twilight is more powerful.

[@kozmo7]

@@wassentme1891 Gotcha. I appreciate the insight my friend

[@TenebrousFilms]

The Raven Queen hates necromancy. I like the idea of going to her temple, toasting her and casting False Life as I drink, just to bug her. Shadow Blade's psychic damage might be useful against an enemy with annoying resistances, but yeah, it's a better pick for a trickster than a mage.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

This guy would likely serve Vlaakith, the Lich queen of the Githyanki. I think she's just fine with necromancy.

[@justinritchie1818]

What would you say to getting GWM as a feat? You would likely be striking only once with advantage, so +10 to that damage would be a big increase. It also increases opportunities for multiple attacks which this build doesn't have.

[@terrywright1644]

My favorite build!

[@jelte3754]

I like it, a whole other take on the war mage.. I'm expecting Mobile Feat at some point :P

[@CaitSith87]

Is one gonna be artificer wizard? :) cant decide 3 art and 17 (1+17+2) wiz or 2 art and 18 (1+17+1+1) wiz. More i guess would be a waste. Further what sub class? Thematically transmutation wizard? Conjurer for the HP boost for the constructs?

[@SgtReaper1987]

Made a similar build using Cleric 1 (Wardomain)/Wizard 19 (Battle Mage)

[@mattwcook9127]

I'm just going to play a straight wizard version of this

[@snazzyfeathers]

Honestly it could work and I've thought about doing that too, but then you have to decide between only hitting once with your geeatsword or casting a spell while as going with fighter you get action surge and if you go a bit further in an extra attacj

[@Shnimberz]

Why would a DM attack this character though? Why would a monster continually fight against a player with spiky armor? If anything it inentivizes monster to go for the squishier characters. Am I missing something here?

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Always the struggle of DMing. Do you rush past the front line's imaginary line to beat up the backrow that is actually killing the enemy, or do you honor and respect the build of the player trying to be the party punching bag by not just ignoring them? The correct answer, of course, is that the role of party tank is being played by the Summon Beasts spell, which actually creates a thicc enough front line that rushing past it is problematic. Or the entire party is so goddamn prickly that there IS no good target. That works well, too.

[@chaleowin7732]

Multi classing hurts so much in a slow progressing campaign.

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Eh, depends on the dip, and how well the character can actually use the abilities of the dip. Part of the reason Warlock is so good as a dip is that any character can sit back, cast Hex, and spam Eldritch blast until the rest of their build comes online, and still be considered MVP for a few combats. Whereas, something like Paladin, if your character can't be an effective first level Paladin (say, they dumped Str, intending to shift over to Hexblade at level 2 for a full Charisma engine build) then your only recourse is either a dex weapon if you even have that as an option, or just sit back with a longbow and hope nobody really expects you to contribute, and play the game where you hope the GM never notices that you never said you're using an arrow, just hitting them with your longbow. But, yeah, hurts more on a hard caster, like Wizard or Sorcerer, where getting spell ranks late REALLY hurts.

[@magnuspendragon1938]

I will do this in every video of yours till you make it: Necromancer time

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Ok. You'll need to post one more time as the Abjurer is next week.

[@Схрон-е4и]

human start from forge cleric and war caster

[@HiddenNukaValley]

But you can't be a war mage unless you take xany

[@chadbrochill19]

I respect you Treantmonk but your hatred for Shadowblade (which comes across a lot of videos) and your argument falls completely short. Let's examine. "Shadow blade will be replace by magic weapons because every campaign has a magic weapon, etc." Okay, let's look at the damage. For one second level spell 2d8+str or dex - vs 1d8+str+1. Okay, so significantly the damage is better with shadow blade. Okay Let's look at to +hit. Magic weapon+1 - you have a +1 to your normal attack rolls. Okay, cool. Shadowblade mostly has the ability to have auto advantage almost every swing in dim light or in darkness. (Not in bright light, easy to maneuver.) -- If you take your standard race of Elf - you can throw Elven Accuracy. Now you are rolling 3d20's every swing. Or I can go back to your example of a magical weapon of +1 longsword. -- Okay, best case scenario. Let's talk Flameblade. It gives you +2d6 to your damage and NO chance to increase the accuracy of your attack. - Shadow blade - can be upcast - as well as can be used with melee cantrips (as can the magical Longsword+1). - If you aren't playing a control type mage and using your spells defensively to maneuver around the battlefield and splitting between booming blade/green flame blade and saving your shields/absorb elements - you can keep up with martial characters as well as dish out some AoE all with just being a normal mage. Throw in blade-singer and you have a great AC. But you have low hitpoints... so you will get one shot. - Throw in the Toughness feat and now you have fighter hitpoints with better defensive options. - You have options outside of just a single concentration spell. Besides, you aren't forbidden to treat the character like a control mage and still have melee options, that's the best thing about being a wizard. Perfect tool for every occasion.