Hello everybody!
First, Here's the guide!
NADRIGOL's Melee Bladesinger Guide
This is a guide specifically for building melee focused Bladesingers, with emphasis on multi-classing. I have plenty of caveats and explanations in my opening sections about the focus and breadth of this guide. While I welcome you to share your opinions about concepts or builds I don't focus on, keep in mind that I will be keeping the tone and direction of the guide the way it is now.
Many thanks to TheBigHouse who was kind enough to let me use his spell ratings from Arrive on Time as a baseline for my guide. I started with his ratings and descriptions and updated and adjusted for the Bladesinger playstyle.
Credit also to Treantmonk's Guide to Wizards 5e, which alongside TheBigHouse's guide, made up my early 5e wizard education.
Those interested in my Math section can find the read-only spreadsheet here. Explanation on how to use the spreadsheet and the involved acronyms are in the Math section of the guide.
---Late 2017 Update---
I wrote this guide in late 2016, and with feedback/comments from user's here, updated it through early 2017. Shifts in my work/personal life have taken me away from D&D for the better part of 2017, and I don't anticipate a return in the near future. As such, major updates to the guide and thorough responses to new comments shouldn't be expected. I do make a point of checking in from time to time though.
I also wanted to highlight some developments in the community.
EN World User Rofel Wodring has recently posted his own Bladesinger Guide, which represents a tremendous amount of work on his part. Our two guides take very different approaches to the class and I recommend you read through it to see which play style appeals to you. Check out his guide if you want:
-an amazing review of magical items
-party interactions with each other class
-more acknowledgement of AL rules/gameplay
-post mid-2017 WotC content
-less focus on melee and melee DPR
-less focus on multiclassing
His guide is also undergoing active development and is more likely to include recent WotC content. The comment section on his guide also includes some interesting discussion which hasn't occurred here before.
To follow suit on an interesting inclusion of his, I will be linking a publicly editable copy of this guide for anyone who wants to include their own content/comments. Perhaps some enterprising individuals will see this as an opportunity to include more recent content in this guide. Please be respectful!
NADRIGOL's Melee Bladesinger Guide - Public Edit Version
To conclude, I am still around, and still receiving notifications to most of the big wizard guide threads around here, so feel free to include me in discussion. I just wanted to make sure no one expected major updates to this guide in the near future.
---Late 2020 Update---
Tasha's is here! And you have been sending me messages!
While I did a short stint as a DM early this year, I haven't had any time as a player in recent years. So while none of my new advice is playtested, it felt irresponsible not to address the changes Tasha's has given us. I will be trying to update the guide in the coming days or weeks. At the bare minimum, I will write some updates early in the guide addressing the changes to Bladesinger and what it means for some of the major focuses of the guide. The change to extra attack seems like it will have major consequences for a lot of the melee focus and the math in my guide. I will try to think this through, and either make changes throughout the guide, or address the discrepancies early in the guide.
I also never did a Xanathar's update. There wasn't a lot of related content there, so I may try to work that in now as well.
First, Here's the guide!
NADRIGOL's Melee Bladesinger Guide
This is a guide specifically for building melee focused Bladesingers, with emphasis on multi-classing. I have plenty of caveats and explanations in my opening sections about the focus and breadth of this guide. While I welcome you to share your opinions about concepts or builds I don't focus on, keep in mind that I will be keeping the tone and direction of the guide the way it is now.
Many thanks to TheBigHouse who was kind enough to let me use his spell ratings from Arrive on Time as a baseline for my guide. I started with his ratings and descriptions and updated and adjusted for the Bladesinger playstyle.
Credit also to Treantmonk's Guide to Wizards 5e, which alongside TheBigHouse's guide, made up my early 5e wizard education.
Those interested in my Math section can find the read-only spreadsheet here. Explanation on how to use the spreadsheet and the involved acronyms are in the Math section of the guide.
---Late 2017 Update---
I wrote this guide in late 2016, and with feedback/comments from user's here, updated it through early 2017. Shifts in my work/personal life have taken me away from D&D for the better part of 2017, and I don't anticipate a return in the near future. As such, major updates to the guide and thorough responses to new comments shouldn't be expected. I do make a point of checking in from time to time though.
I also wanted to highlight some developments in the community.
EN World User Rofel Wodring has recently posted his own Bladesinger Guide, which represents a tremendous amount of work on his part. Our two guides take very different approaches to the class and I recommend you read through it to see which play style appeals to you. Check out his guide if you want:
-an amazing review of magical items
-party interactions with each other class
-more acknowledgement of AL rules/gameplay
-post mid-2017 WotC content
-less focus on melee and melee DPR
-less focus on multiclassing
His guide is also undergoing active development and is more likely to include recent WotC content. The comment section on his guide also includes some interesting discussion which hasn't occurred here before.
To follow suit on an interesting inclusion of his, I will be linking a publicly editable copy of this guide for anyone who wants to include their own content/comments. Perhaps some enterprising individuals will see this as an opportunity to include more recent content in this guide. Please be respectful!
NADRIGOL's Melee Bladesinger Guide - Public Edit Version
To conclude, I am still around, and still receiving notifications to most of the big wizard guide threads around here, so feel free to include me in discussion. I just wanted to make sure no one expected major updates to this guide in the near future.
---Late 2020 Update---
Tasha's is here! And you have been sending me messages!
While I did a short stint as a DM early this year, I haven't had any time as a player in recent years. So while none of my new advice is playtested, it felt irresponsible not to address the changes Tasha's has given us. I will be trying to update the guide in the coming days or weeks. At the bare minimum, I will write some updates early in the guide addressing the changes to Bladesinger and what it means for some of the major focuses of the guide. The change to extra attack seems like it will have major consequences for a lot of the melee focus and the math in my guide. I will try to think this through, and either make changes throughout the guide, or address the discrepancies early in the guide.
I also never did a Xanathar's update. There wasn't a lot of related content there, so I may try to work that in now as well.
Last edited: