Bladesinger and hexblade combo - Wizard - Class Forums - D&D Beyond Forums (2024)

Quote from Samhain814 >>

As a half-elven Bladesinger 11, I was thinking about dipping just one level of Warlock Hexblade. But I might as well just take magic initiate (Warlock) and get eldritch blast and hex? I can’t use medium armor anyways. My charisma equals my strength. Martial weapons are nice, butI acquired a moonblade as my primary weapon. I also thought about making it my hexblade patron. A xenophobic elven moonblade that dislikes non-elves giving it a dark background. Being half-elven, it obviously chooses the elven side.

Personally I wouldn't do a dip for Warlock when you are already level 11. Warlock dips are generally most effective at very early levels and by level 11 I am guessing you already have high Dex and Int which makes trying to up your Charisma as well quite a tough task. Also I would advise against taking Magic Initiate because without a high Charisma your EB's will miss a lot more which makes Booming Blade and Green Flame Blade more damaging for your character. AlsoMI Hex can only be cast once per day making it kinda crappy. If you do want to cast Hex I would recommend taking the Fey Touched feat instead as that feat lets you cast the spell with your spell slots on top of the 1 free cast per day.

If you are interested in forming a bond with your Moonblade I would suggest taking a few levels of Eldritch Knight Fighter. Stats wise it should fit seamlessly with your build as you should already have the 13 Dex. Fighter also gives you a Fighting Style and the powerful Action Surge (2 Fireballs in 1 Round is the wet dream of many a wizard).

Hope this helps.

Quote from Stephanie252 >>

Something to boost the power levels of a bladesinging wizard wanting to sidestep spellcasting a bit, is to take 2 levels in paladin as well. Your plethora of wizard spell slots can be put to good(ish) use if you don't think you'll be expending every slot you have. The Dueling fighting style will also boost your swordplay.

A Paladin/Bladesinger multiclass is very very very difficult to pull off unless you are rolling for stats and rolled exceptionally well. Right off the bat you need 13 minimum in Str, Int and Cha. Add in at least 14 Con for being a melee character and you have already used 22/27 point buy allocations. If you want to use Bladesongthen you pretty much have to max Dex to use light armor, maxing Dex pretty much eats up all allocation after taking into account racial modifiers. That means you will be rocking a 13-14 Int while havinga -1 Wis modifier.

For me thats too big of a sacrifice just to fit in 2 levels of Paladin.

Quote from ThelonelyMagi >>

Quote from Stephanie252 >>

Something to boost the power levels of a bladesinging wizard wanting to sidestep spellcasting a bit, is to take 2 levels in paladin as well. Your plethora of wizard spell slots can be put to good(ish) use if you don't think you'll be expending every slot you have. The Dueling fighting style will also boost your swordplay.

A Paladin/Bladesinger multiclass is very very very difficult to pull off unless you are rolling for stats and rolled exceptionally well. Right off the bat you need 13 minimum in Str, Int and Cha. Add in at least 14 Con for being a melee character and you have already used 22/27 point buy allocations. If you want to use Bladesongthen you pretty much have to max Dex to us finese weapons and light armor, maxing Dex pretty much eats up all allocation after taking into account racial modifiers. That means you will be rocking a 13-14 Int while having terrible Wis saving throws.

For me thats too big of a sacrifice just to fit in 2 levels of Paladin.

Good point. I'll admit I hadn't thought of that. A half-elf using standard array can meet all the prerequisites at 1st level though (15 + 1, 14, 13, 12 + 1 from ASIs). Using the optional racial ASI options in Tasha's, you can get 2 16s (Int and Dex), 2 13s (Cha and Str), a 10 and an 8. Though by this point your bladesinger is squishy - even for a wizard.

4 ASIs means taking no feats. You'd want to boost Con to 12 with one ASI, Int to 18 with another and Dex to 20 with your other 2. You would just be too squishy for a frontliner with 108 HP by 20th level.

I take this back. If you play a tortle wizard, you can disregard Dex and then attack with a longsword for a strength-based build. 3 different abilities to focus on is easily doable.

If you use the racial ASI options on Tasha's, you can get 16 Int, Str 16, Cha 13, Con 12, Wis 8, Dex 10.

2 ASIs get your Str to 18, Int to 20 and Con to 14.

You can now have 128 HP, which along with some well chosen defensive spells (Stoneskin, Absorb Elements, Shield, Tenser's Transformation) and Song of Defense, is manageable. Especially if you can find yourself a healer (and learn Cure Wounds yourself too).

Quote from Stephanie252 >>

I take this back. If you play a tortle wizard, you can disregard Dex and then attack with a longsword for a strength-based build. 3 different abilities to focus on is easily doable.

If you use the racial ASI options on Tasha's, you can get 16 Int, Str 16, Cha 13, Con 12, Wis 8, Dex 10.

2 ASIs get your Str to 18, Int to 20 and Con to 14.

You can now have 128 HP, which along with some well chosen defensive spells (Stoneskin, Absorb Elements, Shield, Tenser's Transformation) and Song of Defense, is manageable. Especially if you can find yourself a healer (and learn Cure Wounds yourself too).

Yep that can work. I see this build being quite strong in the early levels but will lag behind in the latter levels. The 17 AC straight up is very powerful but when +2 and +3 armor start showing up it becomes a lot weaker. Tenser's should not really be considered as a defensive spell as it takes away your ability to cast Shield and Absorb Elements. The 50 Temp hp you get does not outweigh the benefits of those 2 spells imo. Stoneskin while useful requires concentration and this is a very big con because it competes with very powerful spells in the Wizard's arsenal like Spirit Shroud, Greater Invisibility and Haste.

Bladesinger Wizard 6, Hexblade Warlock 2. - Playing Pallid Elf with +2 CHR, +1 INT using Tasha's rulesand took themobile feat @ 4th level.

Just for background, I use a plain longsword because 1d8+CHR instead of 1d6+DEX due to the hexblade warlock, this means I don't need high strength and I can leave my DEX and CON reasonably low, prioritising INT & CHR. I also plan to pick up the tough feat later to boost my HP, if possible. I figured INT should be the highest becauseI'm still a wizard, followed by CHR and DEX, then CON& WIS and dump STR, you shouldhave at least 16 in INT & CHR... I also plan to continue progressing the rest of the characters levels in Wizard.

By doing this, at level 8you have the ability to use hexblade's curse, which gives critical hits on a roll of 19 or 20 and deals extra damage equal to your proficiency (+4).This means you canempower any critical with Wrathful smite, using your bonus action and dealing (1d8*2) + CHR + 4 + (1d6*2). Then follow this with the Booming blade cantrip on your multi-attack, by level 8 this deals the weapons normal damage + 1d8 and an extra 2d8 if the opponent moves willing on it's next turn. Utilise the mobile feat& bladesong, which combined increases your movement to 50ft per round and allows you to leave melee without opportunity attacks from enemies you have attacked. This makes your wizard able to dash in and hit up enemies pretty hard, whilst keeping the utility of being able to dash back and use ranged attacks if needed.... You also now have the eldritch blast to boost your ranged spell damage output.

Thismeans a1st attack of 1d8 + CHR + 4 magical slashing damage and 1d6 psychic damage+ the enemy has to make a save or be frightened of you. Then the second attack is 1d8 + CHR + 4 magical slashing damage + 1d8 thunder damage and you pin the target in place because if they move, they take an additional 2d8 thunder damage.

Average damage on attack 1 =~ 16 , Average damage attack 2 =~ 16 , Average damage if the enemy moves = 9. Total damage average =41 ( CHR = 16 (+3) )

The idea here is that you start combat by casting Blur/mirror image and bladesong, for protection, staying40ft from enemies where possible. Round 2 you cast hexblades curse and then move in to attack, being able to deal a reasonable amount of damage and backing out of their reach. That way they have to take the additional 2d8 thunder damage to try and attack you and even if they do catch you, you have shield/absorb elements as a reaction, bladesong active and blur/mirror image working so they will have a hard time hitting you. Finally, if you do feel the need, you are still a wizard so you could just sit back and blast them with fireball or eldritch blast from a safe distance...

Quote from serziihd >>

Bladesinger Wizard 6, Hexblade Warlock 2. - Playing Pallid Elf with +2 CHR, +1 INT using Tasha's rulesand took themobile feat @ 4th level.

Just for background, I use a plain longsword because 1d8+CHR instead of 1d6+DEX due to the hexblade warlock, this means I don't need high strength and I can leave my DEX and CON reasonably low, prioritising INT & CHR. I also plan to pick up the tough feat later to boost my HP, if possible. I figured INT should be the highest becauseI'm still a wizard, followed by CHR and DEX, then CON& WIS and dump STR, you shouldhave at least 16 in INT & CHR... I also plan to continue progressing the rest of the characters levels in Wizard.

By doing this, at level 8you have the ability to use hexblade's curse, which gives critical hits on a roll of 19 or 20 and deals extra damage equal to your proficiency (+4).This means you canempower any critical with Wrathful smite, using your bonus action and dealing (1d8*2) + CHR + 4 + (1d6*2). Then follow this with the Booming blade cantrip on your multi-attack, by level 8 this deals the weapons normal damage + 1d8 and an extra 2d8 if the opponent moves willing on it's next turn. Utilise the mobile feat& bladesong, which combined increases your movement to 50ft per round and allows you to leave melee without opportunity attacks from enemies you have attacked. This makes your wizard able to dash in and hit up enemies pretty hard, whilst keeping the utility of being able to dash back and use ranged attacks if needed.... You also now have the eldritch blast to boost your ranged spell damage output.

Thismeans a1st attack of 1d8 + CHR + 4 magical slashing damage and 1d6 psychic damage+ the enemy has to make a save or be frightened of you. Then the second attack is 1d8 + CHR + 4 magical slashing damage + 1d8 thunder damage and you pin the target in place because if they move, they take an additional 2d8 thunder damage.

Average damage on attack 1 =~ 16 , Average damage attack 2 =~ 16 , Average damage if the enemy moves = 9. Total damage average =41 ( CHR = 16 (+3) )

The idea here is that you start combat by casting Blur/mirror image and bladesong, for protection, staying40ft from enemies where possible. Round 2 you cast hexblades curse and then move in to attack, being able to deal a reasonable amount of damage and backing out of their reach. That way they have to take the additional 2d8 thunder damage to try and attack you and even if they do catch you, you have shield/absorb elements as a reaction, bladesong active and blur/mirror image working so they will have a hard time hitting you. Finally, if you do feel the need, you are still a wizard so you could just sit back and blast them with fireball or eldritch blast from a safe distance...

You have a couple of mistakes here my friend. The biggest and most glaring is your assumption that you can pick Wrathful Smite when you crit that is not the case. You have to cast Wrathful Smite with your Bonus Action and your next hit is empowered regardless of whether or not it crits, you also have to maintain concentration on it before the hit connects. Wrathful Smite is not Divine Smite which is way more powerful because it lets you pick when to use it and does not require a Bonus Action nor concentration.

Also I would try not to have a low CON score if I can help it considering your have 6 levels of Wizard your HP pool will be fairly shallow andstuff like Fireball can still kill you fairly fast with such low HP. As to having a low DEX score I feel this is counter productive because what makes a Bladesinger hard to hit is the DEX + INT modfiers to their armor with the Shield spell as a emergency.

When I made my HexSinger I made the difficult choice of dropping Bladesong and just use Medium Armor and focused on ranged combat using Eldritch Blast boosted by Agonising Blast with a hand crossbow and backed by Hex. By doing this I can also focus on CHA and leave INT at 13. My damage starts at 1st round and can ramp up in the later rounds. My typical 1st round is Hex, Eldritch Blast followed by a crossbow attack doing 1d10 + CHA + 1d6, 1d10 + CHA + 1d6, 1d6 + CHA + 1d6, 2nd turn the damage repeats but I throw on Hexblades Curse to add my proficiency to all 3 attacks. Compared to your build my build almost has something dead if not already dead by the end of the 2nd round when you are just starting to deal damage.