Hi guys at Web DM. Your videos have been very informative for me & my own dnd games, so I wanted to first thank you for the content you are putting out for people to peruse & learn from. I just recently watched this video about Gish's, & I decided to share my own homebrew "gish" class the Runic Adept for you to check out & see what you think. The inspiration for this class comes from multiple sources: the 5e Paladin as the base class, Warlocks & their spell levels & the Pact Boon Pact Blade feature for the Runic Adept's spell level development & their Rune bound weaponry. Sorcerers are the inspiration for the Runic Adept's resource, called Rune Points, which they use for all of their abilities. Finally, I had wanted to bring elements of the Duskblade from D&D 3.5e to this class, & so the Runic Adept uses a similar ability to the Duskblade to channel various magical abilities through their weapons, called Arcane Channel. This class, in case anyone is wondering, is not meant to be "balanced", but is something that I thought would be fun & interesting to play, incorporating elements I felt would also be appropriately thematic for a class that uses runes for their spell casting, instead of the manner which traditional spell casting is done in D&D. And so, here is the link to my homebrewery page for the Runic Adept: homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/By-R_ottS Much appreciated if you guys at Web DM check this out, have a great one .
Good stuff guys. My 1st and longest running 5e character is a mountain dwarf envoker wizard eldritch knight fighter. Is it the most powerful, nope. But I've always got cool things I can do. Nerdarchist Dave
@@caramonmajere447 Me too. IMO Its modern day laziness, instead of calling something by name they group things as one. Hate it. @John Stuart Kelly I too have all the "Compete" books and love them, also an old,old man. LOL!
I am playing a sailor Tiefling character (dexterity and charisma as main stats) right now, as a brand spanking new player to 5e. I wish I went fighter level 1 just for the health. I went College of Valor, but 1 level of fighter does everything you need for armor and shield; rapier is a great weapon. I'm talking to my GM to iron out the character as much as I can before it becomes an utter mess.
Use thaumaturgy to increase your vocals and make the ground shake so the enemies know they're at a killer show. I had a Tiefling paladin with the noble variant background and had his Tiefling servants play traditional Tiefling tunes aka metal.
I usually find myself playing nearly exclusively gish characters. With warlocks being my favourite class, my first 5e character was a pact of the blade dragonic sorcerer multiclass. My current character is a wild mage minotaur sorcerer with a massive maul which I have to use tides on chaos on to negate the disadvantage i get from swinging it. I can never escape the gish.
I made Mountain dwarf abjutration wizard for the bonus hp, armor and weapon profiency. I was going for a sort of Magic police type anti mage-mage. I made it my focus to be more of control mage than damage source. it also was 6 PC party so I wasnt too concerned about being most efficent, but it was definately one of the more memorable characters I have played over the years.
So, I had a Tiefling Sorceror(Dragon)-Monk. The concept around it was, "I want to be Kamina from Gurren Lagann, minus the mech." Which meant that his premise for battle was always something along the lines of big, retaliatory moments, inspiring his allies as a leader or intimidating foes with his tenacity. For example, he had Mage Armor and Shield which were reskinned to be as anime as possible. His Mage Armor would literally be him putting his hand on someones shoulder and telling them how bad ass they should believe they are, and his Shield Spell was always a supplemental aura that he would use to tank a big hit, despite wearing basically no armor, or cloth armor. HIs arcane focus (with DM approval of course) was a pair of large, pink-tinted sunglasses that would allow him to innately cast his magic when he put them on. The catch of the character was that he didn't realize he was a Sorceror, he just believed that he was some random badass and so he was this overly cocky, self-assured mans-man who wanted to protect people and deal out what he believed was his own brand of Justice. He was so overly-assured/oblivious, that he took up the name "Tiamat" as a moniker because he read it in a book and thought it was cool sounding and damn the consequences. His origins, more or less, was that his mother was a powerful mage that wore the glasses he now owns. He looked up to her as someone who was always confident and could always stave off trouble. (There was a particular dragon that harassed his home town, which she kept at bay with a small group of heroes.) But one day, she mysteriously vanished, leaving her glasses behind and the Dragon came back. Stupidly, the young boy challenged this dragon like his mother before him, proudly wearing her glasses. The dragon decided that if the village was full of people that are equally as stupid as this boy, it wasn't worth it's time, proceeded to piss on the boy and that's how his innate sorcerer powers were unlocked. lol He remembers it slightly differently, as the moment in time where his extreme badassery scared of a local dragon. He deserves to get eaten when he inevitably tries to do that again. lol
Hobgoblin might have a good base to build a Gish given the Armor and weapon proficiencies. Bladelock can still benefit from EB/AB/Hex, but can also benefit from Hex+two weapon fighting. EB only becomes superior to two weapon fighting at 5th, and even that becomes questionable given a Fiend Pact's access to Scorching Ray + Hex at 3rd...Which a Bladelock can also still do. Consider Devils Sight and casting Darkness on your Pact Weapon. Blinded targets cannot directly target you. That's just Murder Inc. I like the Arcane Trickster as a Gish. Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Hypnotic Pattern, or Hold Person + Sneak Attack is a bloodbath on speed dial. Don't forget Matt Mercer's Blood Hunter (Profane Soul) which is like EK meets Bladelock. Weapons, spells, curses.... Its death. Hill Dwarf Draconic Sorcerer comes close too. Hammers, axes, tons of hit points, and built in AC 13 base. And because I have to do this; "Doctor, someone stuck their Rod in my Gish" "Does this Gish look inflamed to you?" "Don't touch my Gish...He's over sensitive"
For Arcane Trickster: Take Faerie Fire as your non-illusion or enchantment spell. That's what you'd call a bloodbath on speed dial. Or better: Assassin Rogue with Faerie Fire from Magic Initiate.
At 5th level you can cast two EB as a blasterlock, but you can also attack twice with your weapon as bladelock, so how is the blasterlock superior? am I missing something?
I know this was before Xans, but I have a 18 college of whispers/2 paladin. He uses shadow blades, smites with a 5th level spell, and uses his psychic blades to DESTROY! With whispers he's all about illusion and sneaking (love that expertise) and then just NUKES people in a few rounds. He is Cyrics favorite child. Edit: We realized later if I had put 3 from rogue assassin in there he'd be even more deadly...
Loving this info and all the previous info I have learned from watching these videos for the last week straight. Jim, loved the Razel-sinn campaign and I appreciate the hard work, time, and effort you put into that. Pruitt, you assistance with the campaign, Co- DMing, and honesty as a player with your rolls and turns are fully appreciated even when they aren't to your advantage. Please keep this up Gentleman and happy gaming.
My all time favorite Gish was the 4th Edition Swordmage, with the swordmage spellbook and ritual caster feats. A lot of rituals from 4e got overlooked and underused, and a handful could be pre-cast into a spell scroll for a unique standard action utility. Hexblade were also a lot of fun and a strong base, if not as strong in utility. My 5e Gish is a Eladrin with 11 levels of Abjuration Wizard. While he's not a multi-attacking menace, the Greenflame Blade and Booming blade keep people off my back. Also Polymorphing myself or a party member into a T-Rex or summoning a handful of elementals are my favorite tactics. The Arcane Ward backed up with Shield and Armor of Agathys can cover all my defensive needs the the Paladin doesn't.
Where are you guys? I saw a comment saying you were inside of a d20, but I just can't wrap my head around it. What's with the pvc pipe/L-bracket corners? Is it made of white board, or are those drawings permanent? Is it just a backdrop or does it wrap all the way around the room? Why are the lines at such weird angles? Who built it? I'm just so curious about the thought-process and where it came from.
My usual rule of thumb is that it takes the first 10% of a video's runtime is spent going over material that was already covered in the title. You guys really got to the good stuff quickly.
Apparently this video cam out before the Hexblade patron came out in the Unearthed Arcana along with the Invocations that came with that. I would love to hear what you guys think of that, cause I'm playing a character in a campaign right now that is a full melee Blade-lock and it is a lot of fun. Anyway, love your stuff, keep it up!
Been playing bladesinger, currently at 11th level. It is ton of fun and so strange to be a wizard that plays on the frontline with a reliable way to hold concentration. With the lack of any fighters or barbarians, I've kinda ended up as that guy who tanks and kites enemies around by attracting attention to myself. So crazy to do that as a wizard full caster, but very much tons of fun
You guys are great!! Been watching the other Dnd channels, you guys are by far the most eloquent, witty, experienced, and funny DnD guys around. Loving the after credits (Good one Josh!)! Im from Texas, also and noticed a couple of Tex references (HalfPrice books etc), and had a similar Dnd history of starting out in 2nd ed, going back to 1st, then 3rd. But i skipped on 4th becuz adulthood took over, and now im really liking the intro into 5th. Now im looking for my own copies of 5th Ed. books at Half Price Book 😉 Thnks Guys for all the hard work!
been playing Lore bard in this way. Planar binding an elemental (fav combo right now is riding a gargoyle, PC is a gob) swooping down with higher lvl elemental weapon (fire with the adept feat), green flame blade, disengaging back into the air, love it.
I made an accidental Gish when I started playing Storm King's Thunder in my Adventurer League. I started a Fighter/Illusion Wizard, but in the end I felt that it gimped my spell casting and I just didn't have too much fun with it, but I picked up Bladesinger as another character and had a better time with it.
I thought there might have been more focus on Unearthed Arcana stuff since I feel like that playtest material is very geared towards adding elements of arcane magic to different classes like with the Arcane Archer. That aside, love the work you guys do and will be using some of your videos as inspiration for my group's upcoming campaign and character creation session.
Hex blade 5 Whisper Bard 5 2 attacks per turn with Cha and use bardic inspiration to add 3d6 psychic dmg for high bursts.... then get your spells/inspiration back on short rests
Here's a fun gish concept I came up with. Fighter/warlock; get more eldritch than the eldritch knight. If you go half and half, some real magic can happen when you hit level six. Take battle master and pact of the tome, take feint attack and booming blade. Turn one, set up your hex. Turn two, use your bonus action to feint for advantage on your attack, then cast booming blade on your attack with a greatsword. Because you're past level 5, your cantrips are juiced up, meaning you add 1D8 thunder damage. And since you spent a superiority die, your greatsword does an extra D8 in slashing. And because you spent last turn hexing, add 1D6 necrotic. And with great weapon fighting, any 1 or 2 on your 2D6 greatsword damage get a reroll chance. So that's 3D6+2D8+Strength bonus on a single hit, at the cost of two resources that come back on a short rest. STRONG synergy going on there. And if you took fiend pact, any damage overage on a kill you get in temp HP. Plus, burning hands can help when there's more enemies than you can swing a sword in a turn. And you could even play a dragonborn for another multi target attack and some resistance. Or Tiefling for that hellish rebuke. Some fun stuff to think about. And that's just at relatively low to mid level play, too.
Melee Valor bards are one of my fav builds. You never excel at any one sphere but there is always an option on your turn, if you are stuck at range there are spells, if you are caught in melee you have answers for that too. This does not only apply to combat, bards are usually useful in adventuring and RP challenges as well without any extra investment in terms of feats or skill choices. Often playing other classes you will find situations where your prowess at melee combat is wasted or your entire class is nullified by an anti-magic field. In my experience you can never render the valor bard useless in a situation.
I've gone Pact of the Blade Warlock (Tiefling) with a single level in Cleric as a War Cleric, also got War Caster, Polearm Master and Great Weapon Master.
I know it's a bit late, but I just made a College of Swords bard. I love the idea of a blade dancer, two weapon wielding, full caster. Damage isn't off the charts (as with most two weapon fighters) but he gets +1 ac with the 2 weapon feat, +proficiency bonus ac with the defensive duelist, and +bardic inspiration die ac with defensive flourish. (not to mention it can use it's weapons as a spell casting focus) It's like a water dance swordsman from game of thrones - untouchable. Anyway, it's got some flair, and that's what matters :)
I'm a huge fan of the Paladin/Lore Bard combination. Bard + Paladin gives you access to almost every bonus action spell, letting you maximize your turn. Magical Secrets can be used not only to give you something like fireball, but also to actually fill up a higher spell slot when you normally wouldn't have a spell of that level learned.
I'm playing a campaign to 20th, and my DM and I have set up what I think will be a pretty fun arcane warrior: Half High-Elf Arcane Trickster (8) + Bladesinger (8) + Vengeance Paladin (4). We use a homebrew point buy system for stats, so I used all of the ASIs for feats: War Caster, Tough, Resilient (Con), Elven Accuracy, and Fey Teleportation, plus the UA Arcanist feat as a starter feat (another homebrew rule). This gets him to 8/20/14/20/10/14 with 179 Average HP. Plus he has a caster level of 12, which gets me some solid resources! I'm super happy with it! His role in the party is primarily as the rogue, but in combat he's able to hang out at the front line a little bit more than a pure Bladesinger would, and the combination of Vow Enmity+Booming Blade+Sneak Attack+Hunter's Mark is super helpful for hitting consistent damage (38 per attack average w/o Divine Smite, up to 58 average with 4th level Divine Smite). You guys are absolutely right though, Paladins are super fun for being able to enhance a magical warrior.
ive liked the idea of a draconic sorcerer with a focus on dex and con and cha, its a little mad, but not a ton, the free con prof is amazing, the extra ac from your blood line + your extra free health, ontop of a durable feat, and throw in a finesse weapon (rapiers if you can, and have a good dm, but any finesse weapon will do) is nice. (bonus points if you go hill dwarf)
Random video idea for when you finish your character class series (which I'm loving by the way): Tomb of Horrors. With the recently announced Tales from the Yawning Portal I imagine it will be gaining a fair amount of renewed interest, and I'd love to hear any stories about the tomb you guys might have
In 5e, I love playing a varient human ancients paladin and archfey blade warlock. Picking up ritual caster wizard as my human feat to get a familiar to always have advantage on my first attack. And at lvl 5 paladin get a mount, giant goat preferred, Lance and shield, hex and smite I roll so many dice and so many different damage types. And in Forgotten Realms it lore friendly as Auril, the Queen of Air and Darkness is both a deity and archfey.
I once played a level 5 one shot as a Varian Human Bladesinger since my DM allowed non elfs to pick the subclass. I picked War Caster and Resilience Con. At level 5 I had 16 dex, 16 int and 16 con. With Bladesong active, I had a +9 concentration save bonus, meaning any damage less than 22 had 0% chance to break my concentration. I started combat by casting Haste, activating bladesong and using hasted action to attack once. I had an AC of 20 and if I used Shield, it could be bumped to 25. I had Absorb Elements for most spells and could possibly counterspell once if push came to shove. All other rounds, I would cast Booming Blade, Attack with Haste's action and attack again with my bonus action. It felt amazing to play, even before getting Extra Attack. If that character were to go on, it could have 20 dex and 20 int since I got all the feats I needed early on. I really want to play that character again in a long campaign.
LOL, been playing Gish since AD&D and didn't know the term, I love the idea of using magic as armor tough, so 3.5 blade singer and abjurant champion where my favourites. 4th Swordmage, I felt in love with it, aslo Swordmage/Wizard hybrids. In 5th edition I am playing a pure bladesinger, using fire magic and a flame tongue scimitar, I like the idea of these weird elf who use these ancient elven style also dancing, as I like to describe to the resto of the party, "when the blade singer fight, is the blade that sings as it cuts throu the enemies" On the other hand, we use rolls for ability scores with reroll of 1, and I got lucky so having 20 DEX helps a lot, while blade singing your AC goos too high and some monsters doesn't even bother to try to hit you :P EDIT: Also, I remeber the first time a read the paladin smite in 5th edition and tough, how the hell does the paladin have "arcane strike", I think is great but burning spell for damage was one of the stuff we do back in 3rd E XD
Favorite gish I've played is a Harengon (rabbitfolk) Echo Knight 3/Bladesinger X. Tons of mobility. Steel Wind Strike from range. Echo teleport out. Action surge, then fireball whatever's left.
I think action surger really helps with action econ as well as doing sorc quicken spell. Valor bard sorc and Eldrich knight abjurer have been my favorite so far. Great video!
Been looking into running a build that takes its first two levels in paladin, then going all-in on bladesinger from then on. Use the high tier spells from the back line, then dive in with shadow blade plus smites for big hits, with mage armor/mirror image/shield to keep the damage away.
I consider the bladesinger a tactical warrior. expeditious retreat turns you suddenly into a rogue with that bonus move. a decent dex makes longbow an option when you want to stay out of spell range. blur, bladesinging, and shield makes you difficult to hit while you throw fireballs or enter melee with the warcaster feat to make enemies not want to pursue allies. turning your ally into a croc or t-rex to restrain makes it more likely for that fireball or disintegrate to go off on top of polymorph damage. tiny hut and foliage creates sniper perches that enemies don't realize are force protected.
I'm playing an eladrin Fighter (Arcane Archer)/Wizard (Bladesinger) targeting Figher 11/Wizard 9 Archery fighting style, High dex and Int, decent con and 10s in everything else. He will get to lvl 5 spells and have 3 lvl 4. It will allow for me to primarily be ranged, with Elven Accuracy and Sharpshooter. Having the big gain from getting advantage and having bracers of Archery I can get a flat +51 damage per round from 3 arrow shots. use the higher level slots to Greater Invisibility, Bestow Curse, Dominate Person, Hold Monster, Use lvl 3 for Haste and Melf's Minute Meteors, Fireball, I may take initiate to get Fairy Fire. lvl 2 can give me invisibility, or form the Book of Lost Spells get Cirrem’s Bewilderment and Precision of Arms. lvl 1 Shield, Magic Missile, Burning Hands. Cantrips Ray of Frost, Firebolt, and Mage Hand. Mostly a ranged damage smacker that can mix in up front without any issue.
I love Bladesinger. So much. It saved me in Rise of Tiamat so many times. I didn't always charge the front lines, but when I did, I fucked things up. It hit a point where if I drew my sword, the party went "oh shit, he's getting serious". It was marvelous
I'm running an "Arcane Archer" style build right now. The end build I'm thinking will be 7th level fighter(a homebrewed eldritch knight variant revolving around firearms) and 13th level Wizard. The magic in my DMs homebrewed city we started in is described as technological advances, so my defensive and utility spells are more or less inventions and serums, and my offensive spells are magic bullets I shoot through a specially designed firearm(my focus).
My favorite build so far is a Drow Hexblade Bladelock lv5-6, Circle of Moon Druid lv2, War Domain Cleric lv1 (Flavor Reasons), Pump rest of my levels into Battlemaster Fighter. It's pretty much Ganondorf from Twilight Princess. With the 5 levels in warlock and one in cleric, your dealing an easy 110 damage. Druid makes you fairly tanky along with fighter. Barbarian might work instead of fighter.
I would be interested in watching a series of videos with you guys talking about the individual Unearthed Arcana docs as they come out. The new Artificer mechanics seem weird but fun.
I'm surprised you guys hit another multi-class option. I'm excited for Sorcerer. I was in no way disappointed with this offering, just letting you know what one fan would like.
I recently came up with an idea of a Blade lock with a great old one patron with a dip into assassin. I have no idea how it will play - i haven't played in years but i just love the idea of materialazing a dagger in your hand to throw it for a sneak attack then dematarializing it- a perfect crime. Also i think it would be fun to play a character that thinks he is a super importand assasin for a great old one who just dosen't care about him and gives him totaly random people to kill or random places to inflitrate while the character is convinced he is doing something super important for a cult of his patron.
Currently a Warlock(Hexblade)/Rogue - liking it thus far but I'm still beginning in it. I'm leaning toward Scout for the rogue but I'm debating the action economy of everything. Either way, the movement and disengage alone is handy... and the expertise on Deception and Persuasion is nice.
I think, oft-overlooked, is the Draconic Sorcerer and it's combo with Green-Flame Blade, and then Quicken spell on top of that, which can be viable mixing melee and magic, even without multiclassing, although a dip to nab Shield Proficiency is always useful. Funnily enough, Elves are still better at doing this thanks to the Shortsword/Rapier proficiency they grant. Anyway, they get 3 extra AC, always on, (Except if you use armor, but whatever, this is literally better than any non-magical armor for dex-based characters.), extra hit points, basically putting you up on par with the cleric and rogue, it's all good things for a mixed caster melee.
I have loved the idea of a "GISH" since Warhammer 40k's elders. They had a unit that was a combat mage type. Such a great idea and I have never found one that actually worked in any game yet. Lol
Oh... so I'm assuming this is our video this week? And next week you'll continue your talk about the different classes? (I am quite excited about those videos, and am looking forward to your discussions on both Paladins and Warlocks, as well as your review of the latest Unearth Arcana class the "Artificer")
Eldrich Knight 7th LVL, Hex Blade (pact blade) 11th LVL, War Wizard 2nd LVL! I actually use Half Plate and am more of a mobile type. Feats: Defensive Duelist, Medium Armor Master, Lucky, Mobile. No ability score increase needed you end up using CHA for all rolls so this need be your only really high stat.
For me it all began in Baldur's Gate. I was fascinated by the concept of looting spells, and gravitated towards a half-elven fighter/mage. It is intriguing how it begins as a secondary fighter, develops more and more magic and comes into its own at higher levels. In 3.5 I simply adored the Eldritch Knight for the same reasons. Longsword, light armour, enhancing spells, evocation magic. 5e disappointed me in three specific ways, the Eldritch Knight, and multi-attacks, and feats being class locked. Still, here I am, with a fighter/mage once more. A battle master/abjurer is my conclusion for 5e.
I made a flavored gish. My character is a tempest cleric and dragonblood sorcerer hybrid while I use the shocking grasp cantrip like a lightning sword. (quickened and twin spell give me basically 3 attacks and I have the war-mage feat for a reaction attack.) I also use my spells sparingly and only when I need to. lightning bolt Is his signature spell, I describe it as him putting a lot of his Dragon blood rage into his sword swing into one massive attack. with the destructive wrath ability from the tempest cleric I can make the lightning bolt do max damage.
Coming back after so long...the re-done Bladesinger Wizard seems to encompass the gish. Casting a cantrip + a weapon attack, still leaving their bonus action available, gives them the "feel" of a gish...provided that they stay mobile.
Sadly for the moment Paladin seems to be the best option for a Gish just due to the fact that it has the only (at the moment I think) way to transform spell slots to damage in melee. Any way, my favorite Gish base in 5e at the moment is a Human variant (Dual Wielder feat) Fighter 1, Paladin 2. Fighter styles would be two-weapon fighting and defense. This allow you to dual wield non light weapons, have an AC +2 (similar to a shield), CON saves and a bonus attack everything while wearing plate. From that, choose the Arcane caster that you wish and you'll be fine. There are three caveats, though: you'll need Warcaster, can't use component pouch while dual wielding, and has a diminishing return after level 11 (at level 20 you have access to level 9 spells, but your melee won't improve unless you choose valor bard or blade warlock). Warlocks and Sorceress won't make you MAD, but bards and wizard will. Bards worth the trouble of being a little MAD, too much goodies, nice HP, good skills and depending on the college, better melee or better spells. Wizards on the other hand are generally good... some school are better than others... but the HP might hurt a bit. Good though is that between your high AC, CON saves and advantages on CON saves from damage and you'll have an easier time maintaining your buff. A good (or bad thing) is that his build change the way you play (depending on the arcane class) from low level up to high level; from being pure melee, to melee with tiny bit of magic, to an arcane class with a decent melee option.
Or... Hexblade paladin. Pala1hex1pala2-3hex2. You get access to invocations, relentless requires lv5, not warlock lv5. Hexblade curse target, blink to enemy, 20th level (18/2) 30ft AoE fear from conquest paladin. All who fail are in place and out of combat for the duration or until succeeding on the save. They also take damage. Hexblade curse, relentless, your aura and AoE fear are not considered magic effects, you don't need high street for the Pala MC, you'll use half plate w/longsword all attacks and damage with your cha mod. You also have hex as backup. Alternatively you can go 17/3 pact of the tome and tome invocation for rituals and RP reasons like I did. Yeah you lose the 18th aura buff unless you go heroic and 21+ but it's great flavour. With an aasimar especially.
I'm currently running an Arcane Trickster/Bladesinger, which is working out very well in terms of survivability. Cunning Action allows her to dart in and out of combat, and Bladesinging's speed boost allows me to cover more territory with that, with Haste and the non-concentration Longstrider getting even more speed. I've got some Slippers of Spider Climbing too, so I can disengage and run up the wall, which makes it hard for enemies to retaliate against her, and if they manage it or I decide to have her stay in melee, Shield + Bladesinging leads to an absurd AC. At least, everything is going great until someone targets her with something calling for a Wisdom save.
I find Ranger to be an interesting option for a gish. While technically a divine caster, the Ranger spell list has some cool options for crowd control, summoning, defense and buffing, all of which I like to think of as part of a gish's abilities. This is on top of having some pretty good martial abilities since most subclasses come with a damage boost at level 3 to add to their basic martial prowess.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Rangers as a gish class. Contrary to popular belief, they have some pretty nice spells to complement melee combat if they go down that fighting style
i always like the idea of a Fire Genasi Gish. a hot-headed character which is just as likely to cast a fireball as he is to draw a sword and strike a blow. A character who is easily angered and depending on his mood decide to either cast a spell or go into melee.
I'm doing a Rock Gnome Cleric 1/ Abjuration Wizard 5, & she's amazing! What you lose on HP you more than make up for with the Ward. It's fun & flavourful if you like playing Blue/White in magic. ;-) More cleric than cleric! More cleric than cleric!
My group normally plays in higher level campaigns where it's easier to make a gish. My favourite 'gish' is the Paladin/Warlock. I made a Scourge Aasimar Devotion Paladin who took a level in Warlock after being betrayed by the entity he made his oath to, becoming a Fallen Aasimar and an Oathbreaker Paladin in one fell swoop. That character is at 19th level currently and I'm thoroughly enjoying playing them. One of my favourite combinations is Polearm Master + War Caster, using my Polearm Master reaction attack to cast Booming Blade. Strictly speaking, Booming Blade has a range of 5ft RAW but in the description of the spell it says you make a melee weapon attack as part of casting the spell and my DM says there's no reason I shouldn't be able to cast it using a reach weapon. I have created my own homebrew gish class; the Spellblade. As well as being a half-caster, it has a small pool of Arcana Points it can use to add rider effects onto its attacks. Being able to knock people backwards or stun people or deal damage in a small AoE as part of the attack really gives the class a feel of blending magic into melee combat without having to spend a turn setting up. Having a limited pool of Arcana Points keeps the class in line with the Fighters, Paladins, Barbarians etc.
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Maybe I'm just too naive, but why does "gish" sound like a dirty word?
Hi guys at Web DM. Your videos have been very informative for me & my own dnd games, so I wanted to first thank you for the content you are putting out for people to peruse & learn from.
I just recently watched this video about Gish's, & I decided to share my own homebrew "gish" class the Runic Adept for you to check out & see what you think. The inspiration for this class comes from multiple sources: the 5e Paladin as the base class, Warlocks & their spell levels & the Pact Boon Pact Blade feature for the Runic Adept's spell level development & their Rune bound weaponry.
Sorcerers are the inspiration for the Runic Adept's resource, called Rune Points, which they use for all of their abilities. Finally, I had wanted to bring elements of the Duskblade from D&D 3.5e to this class, & so the Runic Adept uses a similar ability to the Duskblade to channel various magical abilities through their weapons, called Arcane Channel.
This class, in case anyone is wondering, is not meant to be "balanced", but is something that I thought would be fun & interesting to play, incorporating elements I felt would also be appropriately thematic for a class that uses runes for their spell casting, instead of the manner which traditional spell casting is done in D&D.
And so, here is the link to my homebrewery page for the Runic Adept: homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/By-R_ottS
Much appreciated if you guys at Web DM check this out, have a great one .
Good stuff guys. My 1st and longest running 5e character is a mountain dwarf envoker wizard eldritch knight fighter. Is it the most powerful, nope. But I've always got cool things I can do.
Nerdarchist Dave
As someone who *has played* a Gold Dragonborn Vengeance Paladin/Gold Dragon Sorcerer, I can confirm that it is, in fact, pretty rad as a gish.
Charles Gorillionaire I've done this except with silver,and let me say, it was one of my favourite characters.
Charles Gorillionaire hell yeah
Nice, doing that same thing except with a red dragonborn right now.
I'm definitely curious about Vengeance paladin. Sounds fun!
"... way back in 2004..."
(looks at Complete Elves' Handbook) I am an old, old man ...
I’m in the same boat, given I remember a character getting a fatal illness during character creation.
Shit, I thought this video was about the Githyanki!
I'm thinking back to 1997.
@@caramonmajere447 Me too. IMO Its modern day laziness, instead of calling something by name they group things as one. Hate it. @John Stuart Kelly I too have all the "Compete" books and love them, also an old,old man. LOL!
The Smashing Pumpkins reference has not go unnoticed. Mad respect.
I've always loved the idea of a Teifling Bard who inspires his party with heavy metal lyrics
I am currently playing a half-elf bard who was raised by gnomes, and she inspires by freestyle rapping.
I am playing a sailor Tiefling character (dexterity and charisma as main stats) right now, as a brand spanking new player to 5e. I wish I went fighter level 1 just for the health. I went College of Valor, but 1 level of fighter does everything you need for armor and shield; rapier is a great weapon. I'm talking to my GM to iron out the character as much as I can before it becomes an utter mess.
Gareth Farrell The Unexpectables series here on RUclips has that thing exactly with their Bard, Panic Grimtongue.
One of my buddies played a heavy metal bard. He had a guitar that also acts as a flamethrower like that guy from Mad Max:Fury Road.
Use thaumaturgy to increase your vocals and make the ground shake so the enemies know they're at a killer show. I had a Tiefling paladin with the noble variant background and had his Tiefling servants play traditional Tiefling tunes aka metal.
I like the after credit talk between you guys! Always makes me laugh 😊
Korrine Walker Did your clown cleric cast a spell to make that happen?
I usually find myself playing nearly exclusively gish characters. With warlocks being my favourite class, my first 5e character was a pact of the blade dragonic sorcerer multiclass. My current character is a wild mage minotaur sorcerer with a massive maul which I have to use tides on chaos on to negate the disadvantage i get from swinging it.
I can never escape the gish.
I've got to say, you guys are my favorite DnD channel. I always get a smile on my face when I see a new video from you. Keep up the great work!
I made Mountain dwarf abjutration wizard for the bonus hp, armor and weapon profiency. I was going for a sort of Magic police type anti mage-mage. I made it my focus to be more of control mage than damage source. it also was 6 PC party so I wasnt too concerned about being most efficent, but it was definately one of the more memorable characters I have played over the years.
That ying-yang shirt with a 1 and 20 is pretty amazing.
So, I had a Tiefling Sorceror(Dragon)-Monk. The concept around it was, "I want to be Kamina from Gurren Lagann, minus the mech." Which meant that his premise for battle was always something along the lines of big, retaliatory moments, inspiring his allies as a leader or intimidating foes with his tenacity. For example, he had Mage Armor and Shield which were reskinned to be as anime as possible. His Mage Armor would literally be him putting his hand on someones shoulder and telling them how bad ass they should believe they are, and his Shield Spell was always a supplemental aura that he would use to tank a big hit, despite wearing basically no armor, or cloth armor. HIs arcane focus (with DM approval of course) was a pair of large, pink-tinted sunglasses that would allow him to innately cast his magic when he put them on.
The catch of the character was that he didn't realize he was a Sorceror, he just believed that he was some random badass and so he was this overly cocky, self-assured mans-man who wanted to protect people and deal out what he believed was his own brand of Justice. He was so overly-assured/oblivious, that he took up the name "Tiamat" as a moniker because he read it in a book and thought it was cool sounding and damn the consequences.
His origins, more or less, was that his mother was a powerful mage that wore the glasses he now owns. He looked up to her as someone who was always confident and could always stave off trouble. (There was a particular dragon that harassed his home town, which she kept at bay with a small group of heroes.) But one day, she mysteriously vanished, leaving her glasses behind and the Dragon came back. Stupidly, the young boy challenged this dragon like his mother before him, proudly wearing her glasses. The dragon decided that if the village was full of people that are equally as stupid as this boy, it wasn't worth it's time, proceeded to piss on the boy and that's how his innate sorcerer powers were unlocked. lol
He remembers it slightly differently, as the moment in time where his extreme badassery scared of a local dragon.
He deserves to get eaten when he inevitably tries to do that again. lol
Hobgoblin might have a good base to build a Gish given the Armor and weapon proficiencies.
Bladelock can still benefit from EB/AB/Hex, but can also benefit from Hex+two weapon fighting. EB only becomes superior to two weapon fighting at 5th, and even that becomes questionable given a Fiend Pact's access to Scorching Ray + Hex at 3rd...Which a Bladelock can also still do.
Consider Devils Sight and casting Darkness on your Pact Weapon. Blinded targets cannot directly target you. That's just Murder Inc.
I like the Arcane Trickster as a Gish. Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Hypnotic Pattern, or Hold Person + Sneak Attack is a bloodbath on speed dial.
Don't forget Matt Mercer's Blood Hunter (Profane Soul) which is like EK meets Bladelock. Weapons, spells, curses.... Its death.
Hill Dwarf Draconic Sorcerer comes close too. Hammers, axes, tons of hit points, and built in AC 13 base.
And because I have to do this;
"Doctor, someone stuck their Rod in my Gish"
"Does this Gish look inflamed to you?"
"Don't touch my Gish...He's over sensitive"
Mike Gould
I always enjoy your insights!
JPruInc I always enjoy Web DM. :)
Mike Gould I've always like the idea of a blade lock. Thanks for the help with the build
For Arcane Trickster: Take Faerie Fire as your non-illusion or enchantment spell. That's what you'd call a bloodbath on speed dial. Or better: Assassin Rogue with Faerie Fire from Magic Initiate.
At 5th level you can cast two EB as a blasterlock, but you can also attack twice with your weapon as bladelock, so how is the blasterlock superior? am I missing something?
Thanks for clarifying this term! I've always wondered what you meant
I know this was before Xans, but I have a 18 college of whispers/2 paladin. He uses shadow blades, smites with a 5th level spell, and uses his psychic blades to DESTROY! With whispers he's all about illusion and sneaking (love that expertise) and then just NUKES people in a few rounds. He is Cyrics favorite child.
Edit: We realized later if I had put 3 from rogue assassin in there he'd be even more deadly...
I haven't played it, but whispers looks SO fun
I just call it "Spellsword"
Loving this info and all the previous info I have learned from watching these videos for the last week straight. Jim, loved the Razel-sinn campaign and I appreciate the hard work, time, and effort you put into that. Pruitt, you assistance with the campaign, Co- DMing, and honesty as a player with your rolls and turns are fully appreciated even when they aren't to your advantage. Please keep this up Gentleman and happy gaming.
love the 2e monster manual Tarrasque drawn on the wall behind you guys ! ^^
Fantastic Pumpkins throwback!
My all time favorite Gish was the 4th Edition Swordmage, with the swordmage spellbook and ritual caster feats. A lot of rituals from 4e got overlooked and underused, and a handful could be pre-cast into a spell scroll for a unique standard action utility. Hexblade were also a lot of fun and a strong base, if not as strong in utility.
My 5e Gish is a Eladrin with 11 levels of Abjuration Wizard. While he's not a multi-attacking menace, the Greenflame Blade and Booming blade keep people off my back. Also Polymorphing myself or a party member into a T-Rex or summoning a handful of elementals are my favorite tactics. The Arcane Ward backed up with Shield and Armor of Agathys can cover all my defensive needs the the Paladin doesn't.
Where are you guys? I saw a comment saying you were inside of a d20, but I just can't wrap my head around it. What's with the pvc pipe/L-bracket corners? Is it made of white board, or are those drawings permanent? Is it just a backdrop or does it wrap all the way around the room? Why are the lines at such weird angles? Who built it? I'm just so curious about the thought-process and where it came from.
+GrayStudios yes it is a geodesic dome built by a gonzo office manager at an undisclosed location in austin, tx
Web DM nice!
GrayStudios
They keep us chained up there. Send help!
If you turn your screen upside down they still land on a nat 20
Hey gray! weird to find you here haha. It's me pipsqueak / thedumplingz from ages ago
My usual rule of thumb is that it takes the first 10% of a video's runtime is spent going over material that was already covered in the title. You guys really got to the good stuff quickly.
Apparently this video cam out before the Hexblade patron came out in the Unearthed Arcana along with the Invocations that came with that. I would love to hear what you guys think of that, cause I'm playing a character in a campaign right now that is a full melee Blade-lock and it is a lot of fun. Anyway, love your stuff, keep it up!
Mix in some shadow or divine sorcerer and rock on!
Been playing bladesinger, currently at 11th level. It is ton of fun and so strange to be a wizard that plays on the frontline with a reliable way to hold concentration. With the lack of any fighters or barbarians, I've kinda ended up as that guy who tanks and kites enemies around by attracting attention to myself. So crazy to do that as a wizard full caster, but very much tons of fun
There was also silent film actress Lillian Gish. Maybe she was an extension of the Lich Queen here on Earth.
Finally! I had to go back a little while and rewatch this, but now I know Pruitt's first name! Victory is mine!
You guys are great!! Been watching the other Dnd channels, you guys are by far the most eloquent, witty, experienced, and funny DnD guys around. Loving the after credits (Good one Josh!)!
Im from Texas, also and noticed a couple of Tex references (HalfPrice books etc), and had a similar Dnd history of starting out in 2nd ed, going back to 1st, then 3rd. But i skipped on 4th becuz adulthood took over, and now im really liking the intro into 5th. Now im looking for my own copies of 5th Ed. books at Half Price Book 😉 Thnks Guys for all the hard work!
been playing Lore bard in this way. Planar binding an elemental (fav combo right now is riding a gargoyle, PC is a gob) swooping down with higher lvl elemental weapon (fire with the adept feat), green flame blade, disengaging back into the air, love it.
I made an accidental Gish when I started playing Storm King's Thunder in my Adventurer League. I started a Fighter/Illusion Wizard, but in the end I felt that it gimped my spell casting and I just didn't have too much fun with it, but I picked up Bladesinger as another character and had a better time with it.
Gish, that was a good Smashing Pumpkins album.
I thought there might have been more focus on Unearthed Arcana stuff since I feel like that playtest material is very geared towards adding elements of arcane magic to different classes like with the Arcane Archer.
That aside, love the work you guys do and will be using some of your videos as inspiration for my group's upcoming campaign and character creation session.
+sacv27 we are working on how to go thru the UA stuff, dtay tuned...
Hex blade 5 Whisper Bard 5
2 attacks per turn with Cha and use bardic inspiration to add 3d6 psychic dmg for high bursts.... then get your spells/inspiration back on short rests
I mean, I just thought that multiclassing my Hexblade warlock with bard would be a good idea, didnt realize it got that good
Love the Smashing Pumpkins reference
A awesome combo is an Eldritch Knight with just a 2 level dip in wizard with bladesinger or abjure or war wizard.
Here's a fun gish concept I came up with. Fighter/warlock; get more eldritch than the eldritch knight.
If you go half and half, some real magic can happen when you hit level six. Take battle master and pact of the tome, take feint attack and booming blade. Turn one, set up your hex. Turn two, use your bonus action to feint for advantage on your attack, then cast booming blade on your attack with a greatsword. Because you're past level 5, your cantrips are juiced up, meaning you add 1D8 thunder damage. And since you spent a superiority die, your greatsword does an extra D8 in slashing. And because you spent last turn hexing, add 1D6 necrotic. And with great weapon fighting, any 1 or 2 on your 2D6 greatsword damage get a reroll chance.
So that's 3D6+2D8+Strength bonus on a single hit, at the cost of two resources that come back on a short rest. STRONG synergy going on there. And if you took fiend pact, any damage overage on a kill you get in temp HP. Plus, burning hands can help when there's more enemies than you can swing a sword in a turn. And you could even play a dragonborn for another multi target attack and some resistance. Or Tiefling for that hellish rebuke.
Some fun stuff to think about. And that's just at relatively low to mid level play, too.
Love the Smashing Pumpkins gag.
Melee Valor bards are one of my fav builds. You never excel at any one sphere but there is always an option on your turn, if you are stuck at range there are spells, if you are caught in melee you have answers for that too. This does not only apply to combat, bards are usually useful in adventuring and RP challenges as well without any extra investment in terms of feats or skill choices. Often playing other classes you will find situations where your prowess at melee combat is wasted or your entire class is nullified by an anti-magic field. In my experience you can never render the valor bard useless in a situation.
I've gone Pact of the Blade Warlock (Tiefling) with a single level in Cleric as a War Cleric, also got War Caster, Polearm Master and Great Weapon Master.
I love all these videos. I just can't wait for my favorite classes, Sorcerer and Paladin!
I know it's a bit late, but I just made a College of Swords bard. I love the idea of a blade dancer, two weapon wielding, full caster. Damage isn't off the charts (as with most two weapon fighters) but he gets +1 ac with the 2 weapon feat, +proficiency bonus ac with the defensive duelist, and +bardic inspiration die ac with defensive flourish. (not to mention it can use it's weapons as a spell casting focus) It's like a water dance swordsman from game of thrones - untouchable. Anyway, it's got some flair, and that's what matters :)
Really the best podcast out there. Kudos, gentlemen.
I'm a huge fan of the Paladin/Lore Bard combination. Bard + Paladin gives you access to almost every bonus action spell, letting you maximize your turn. Magical Secrets can be used not only to give you something like fireball, but also to actually fill up a higher spell slot when you normally wouldn't have a spell of that level learned.
Love the Smashing Pumpkins homage in the thumbnail, muah B-E-Autiful
I'm playing a campaign to 20th, and my DM and I have set up what I think will be a pretty fun arcane warrior: Half High-Elf Arcane Trickster (8) + Bladesinger (8) + Vengeance Paladin (4).
We use a homebrew point buy system for stats, so I used all of the ASIs for feats: War Caster, Tough, Resilient (Con), Elven Accuracy, and Fey Teleportation, plus the UA Arcanist feat as a starter feat (another homebrew rule). This gets him to 8/20/14/20/10/14 with 179 Average HP. Plus he has a caster level of 12, which gets me some solid resources! I'm super happy with it!
His role in the party is primarily as the rogue, but in combat he's able to hang out at the front line a little bit more than a pure Bladesinger would, and the combination of Vow Enmity+Booming Blade+Sneak Attack+Hunter's Mark is super helpful for hitting consistent damage (38 per attack average w/o Divine Smite, up to 58 average with 4th level Divine Smite).
You guys are absolutely right though, Paladins are super fun for being able to enhance a magical warrior.
ive liked the idea of a draconic sorcerer with a focus on dex and con and cha, its a little mad, but not a ton, the free con prof is amazing, the extra ac from your blood line + your extra free health, ontop of a durable feat, and throw in a finesse weapon (rapiers if you can, and have a good dm, but any finesse weapon will do) is nice.
(bonus points if you go hill dwarf)
This video inspired me to try the Dragonborn Paladin 2 / Sorcerer 18 Gish style build. I'm really enjoying it.
Finally! Been waiting for this video for a while.
In my experience, Stone Sorcerer makes a REALLY good gish
Random video idea for when you finish your character class series (which I'm loving by the way): Tomb of Horrors. With the recently announced Tales from the Yawning Portal I imagine it will be gaining a fair amount of renewed interest, and I'd love to hear any stories about the tomb you guys might have
In 5e, I love playing a varient human ancients paladin and archfey blade warlock. Picking up ritual caster wizard as my human feat to get a familiar to always have advantage on my first attack. And at lvl 5 paladin get a mount, giant goat preferred, Lance and shield, hex and smite I roll so many dice and so many different damage types. And in Forgotten Realms it lore friendly as Auril, the Queen of Air and Darkness is both a deity and archfey.
I once played a level 5 one shot as a Varian Human Bladesinger since my DM allowed non elfs to pick the subclass. I picked War Caster and Resilience Con. At level 5 I had 16 dex, 16 int and 16 con. With Bladesong active, I had a +9 concentration save bonus, meaning any damage less than 22 had 0% chance to break my concentration.
I started combat by casting Haste, activating bladesong and using hasted action to attack once. I had an AC of 20 and if I used Shield, it could be bumped to 25. I had Absorb Elements for most spells and could possibly counterspell once if push came to shove.
All other rounds, I would cast Booming Blade, Attack with Haste's action and attack again with my bonus action. It felt amazing to play, even before getting Extra Attack.
If that character were to go on, it could have 20 dex and 20 int since I got all the feats I needed early on. I really want to play that character again in a long campaign.
The "Arcane Warrior" class in Dragonage: Origins is the very best example of a gish
i LOVE eldritch knight! it's my favorite class to play
LOL, been playing Gish since AD&D and didn't know the term, I love the idea of using magic as armor tough, so 3.5 blade singer and abjurant champion where my favourites. 4th Swordmage, I felt in love with it, aslo Swordmage/Wizard hybrids.
In 5th edition I am playing a pure bladesinger, using fire magic and a flame tongue scimitar, I like the idea of these weird elf who use these ancient elven style also dancing, as I like to describe to the resto of the party, "when the blade singer fight, is the blade that sings as it cuts throu the enemies"
On the other hand, we use rolls for ability scores with reroll of 1, and I got lucky so having 20 DEX helps a lot, while blade singing your AC goos too high and some monsters doesn't even bother to try to hit you :P
EDIT: Also, I remeber the first time a read the paladin smite in 5th edition and tough, how the hell does the paladin have "arcane strike", I think is great but burning spell for damage was one of the stuff we do back in 3rd E XD
Favorite gish I've played is a Harengon (rabbitfolk) Echo Knight 3/Bladesinger X. Tons of mobility. Steel Wind Strike from range. Echo teleport out. Action surge, then fireball whatever's left.
I think action surger really helps with action econ as well as doing sorc quicken spell. Valor bard sorc and Eldrich knight abjurer have been my favorite so far. Great video!
Not a fan of multi class but I love the ode to Smashing Pumpkins
Nat 20 on those beards, guys! On point!
Been looking into running a build that takes its first two levels in paladin, then going all-in on bladesinger from then on. Use the high tier spells from the back line, then dive in with shadow blade plus smites for big hits, with mage armor/mirror image/shield to keep the damage away.
I've always called it Battlemage and will remain to call it so.
Getting right up in the gish, quality.
A couple of my PCs really have wanted to try a gish and have no clue how to do it... Perfecting timing!
I consider the bladesinger a tactical warrior. expeditious retreat turns you suddenly into a rogue with that bonus move. a decent dex makes longbow an option when you want to stay out of spell range. blur, bladesinging, and shield makes you difficult to hit while you throw fireballs or enter melee with the warcaster feat to make enemies not want to pursue allies. turning your ally into a croc or t-rex to restrain makes it more likely for that fireball or disintegrate to go off on top of polymorph damage. tiny hut and foliage creates sniper perches that enemies don't realize are force protected.
I'm playing an eladrin Fighter (Arcane Archer)/Wizard (Bladesinger) targeting Figher 11/Wizard 9 Archery fighting style, High dex and Int, decent con and 10s in everything else. He will get to lvl 5 spells and have 3 lvl 4. It will allow for me to primarily be ranged, with Elven Accuracy and Sharpshooter. Having the big gain from getting advantage and having bracers of Archery I can get a flat +51 damage per round from 3 arrow shots. use the higher level slots to Greater Invisibility, Bestow Curse, Dominate Person, Hold Monster, Use lvl 3 for Haste and Melf's Minute Meteors, Fireball, I may take initiate to get Fairy Fire. lvl 2 can give me invisibility, or form the Book of Lost Spells get Cirrem’s Bewilderment and Precision of Arms. lvl 1 Shield, Magic Missile, Burning Hands. Cantrips Ray of Frost, Firebolt, and Mage Hand. Mostly a ranged damage smacker that can mix in up front without any issue.
I love Bladesinger. So much. It saved me in Rise of Tiamat so many times. I didn't always charge the front lines, but when I did, I fucked things up. It hit a point where if I drew my sword, the party went "oh shit, he's getting serious". It was marvelous
XD My half-elf eldritch knight/bladesinger is probably the most fun I ever had in a campaign
I'm running an "Arcane Archer" style build right now. The end build I'm thinking will be 7th level fighter(a homebrewed eldritch knight variant revolving around firearms) and 13th level Wizard. The magic in my DMs homebrewed city we started in is described as technological advances, so my defensive and utility spells are more or less inventions and serums, and my offensive spells are magic bullets I shoot through a specially designed firearm(my focus).
My favorite build so far is a Drow Hexblade Bladelock lv5-6, Circle of Moon Druid lv2, War Domain Cleric lv1 (Flavor Reasons), Pump rest of my levels into Battlemaster Fighter. It's pretty much Ganondorf from Twilight Princess. With the 5 levels in warlock and one in cleric, your dealing an easy 110 damage. Druid makes you fairly tanky along with fighter. Barbarian might work instead of fighter.
I would be interested in watching a series of videos with you guys talking about the individual Unearthed Arcana docs as they come out. The new Artificer mechanics seem weird but fun.
I'm surprised you guys hit another multi-class option. I'm excited for Sorcerer. I was in no way disappointed with this offering, just letting you know what one fan would like.
+Richard Daniel lots of anticipation for warlock and sorcerer. More to come...
I recently came up with an idea of a Blade lock with a great old one patron with a dip into assassin. I have no idea how it will play - i haven't played in years but i just love the idea of materialazing a dagger in your hand to throw it for a sneak attack then dematarializing it- a perfect crime. Also i think it would be fun to play a character that thinks he is a super importand assasin for a great old one who just dosen't care about him and gives him totaly random people to kill or random places to inflitrate while the character is convinced he is doing something super important for a cult of his patron.
Currently a Warlock(Hexblade)/Rogue - liking it thus far but I'm still beginning in it. I'm leaning toward Scout for the rogue but I'm debating the action economy of everything. Either way, the movement and disengage alone is handy... and the expertise on Deception and Persuasion is nice.
Lol I think the Arcane Archer makes the best Arcane Archer.
That's UA, right? I think they have been avoiding talking about those articles in general with their recent videos.
Stephen Crawford They haven't been avoiding them. These were just recorded before the UA came out.
Chad-Solomon Dixon knows the right of it.
JPruInc will you be examining the unearthed arcana for classes anytime?
+Malcolm Grant here's hoping!
One Gish, two Gish, me Gish, you Gish...
I think, oft-overlooked, is the Draconic Sorcerer and it's combo with Green-Flame Blade, and then Quicken spell on top of that, which can be viable mixing melee and magic, even without multiclassing, although a dip to nab Shield Proficiency is always useful.
Funnily enough, Elves are still better at doing this thanks to the Shortsword/Rapier proficiency they grant.
Anyway, they get 3 extra AC, always on, (Except if you use armor, but whatever, this is literally better than any non-magical armor for dex-based characters.), extra hit points, basically putting you up on par with the cleric and rogue, it's all good things for a mixed caster melee.
I have loved the idea of a "GISH" since Warhammer 40k's elders. They had a unit that was a combat mage type. Such a great idea and I have never found one that actually worked in any game yet. Lol
Oh... so I'm assuming this is our video this week? And next week you'll continue your talk about the different classes? (I am quite excited about those videos, and am looking forward to your discussions on both Paladins and Warlocks, as well as your review of the latest Unearth Arcana class the "Artificer")
Eldrich Knight 7th LVL, Hex Blade (pact blade) 11th LVL, War Wizard 2nd LVL! I actually use Half Plate and am more of a mobile type. Feats: Defensive Duelist, Medium Armor Master, Lucky, Mobile. No ability score increase needed you end up using CHA for all rolls so this need be your only really high stat.
For me it all began in Baldur's Gate. I was fascinated by the concept of looting spells, and gravitated towards a half-elven fighter/mage.
It is intriguing how it begins as a secondary fighter, develops more and more magic and comes into its own at higher levels.
In 3.5 I simply adored the Eldritch Knight for the same reasons. Longsword, light armour, enhancing spells, evocation magic.
5e disappointed me in three specific ways, the Eldritch Knight, and multi-attacks, and feats being class locked.
Still, here I am, with a fighter/mage once more. A battle master/abjurer is my conclusion for 5e.
Paladin with magic initiate is pretty cool.
Loved the Smashing Pumpkins back in the day.
I made a flavored gish. My character is a tempest cleric and dragonblood sorcerer hybrid while I use the shocking grasp cantrip like a lightning sword. (quickened and twin spell give me basically 3 attacks and I have the war-mage feat for a reaction attack.) I also use my spells sparingly and only when I need to. lightning bolt Is his signature spell, I describe it as him putting a lot of his Dragon blood rage into his sword swing into one massive attack. with the destructive wrath ability from the tempest cleric I can make the lightning bolt do max damage.
Dwarf wizard is a good gish basis IMO
Starting Fighter in 5e means you can use any weapon and armor, and have a higher starting HP.
demomanchaos Or you could not give up the level, be a dwarf get some martial weapons and medium armour.
But that would mean not being able to reach things on the top shelf. I'd personally take the lost level for access to top shelf items.
:P
demomanchaos Fair point.
that's what mage hand is for
Best Thumbnail Ever!
I was you 81st sub... Feelsgoodman gj guys
I misread the title as "Is hell a GISH?" and the answer is yes
Coming back after so long...the re-done Bladesinger Wizard seems to encompass the gish.
Casting a cantrip + a weapon attack, still leaving their bonus action available, gives them the "feel" of a gish...provided that they stay mobile.
Sadly for the moment Paladin seems to be the best option for a Gish just due to the fact that it has the only (at the moment I think) way to transform spell slots to damage in melee. Any way, my favorite Gish base in 5e at the moment is a Human variant (Dual Wielder feat) Fighter 1, Paladin 2. Fighter styles would be two-weapon fighting and defense. This allow you to dual wield non light weapons, have an AC +2 (similar to a shield), CON saves and a bonus attack everything while wearing plate. From that, choose the Arcane caster that you wish and you'll be fine.
There are three caveats, though: you'll need Warcaster, can't use component pouch while dual wielding, and has a diminishing return after level 11 (at level 20 you have access to level 9 spells, but your melee won't improve unless you choose valor bard or blade warlock).
Warlocks and Sorceress won't make you MAD, but bards and wizard will. Bards worth the trouble of being a little MAD, too much goodies, nice HP, good skills and depending on the college, better melee or better spells. Wizards on the other hand are generally good... some school are better than others... but the HP might hurt a bit. Good though is that between your high AC, CON saves and advantages on CON saves from damage and you'll have an easier time maintaining your buff.
A good (or bad thing) is that his build change the way you play (depending on the arcane class) from low level up to high level; from being pure melee, to melee with tiny bit of magic, to an arcane class with a decent melee option.
Or...
Hexblade paladin. Pala1hex1pala2-3hex2. You get access to invocations, relentless requires lv5, not warlock lv5.
Hexblade curse target, blink to enemy, 20th level (18/2) 30ft AoE fear from conquest paladin. All who fail are in place and out of combat for the duration or until succeeding on the save. They also take damage. Hexblade curse, relentless, your aura and AoE fear are not considered magic effects, you don't need high street for the Pala MC, you'll use half plate w/longsword all attacks and damage with your cha mod.
You also have hex as backup.
Alternatively you can go 17/3 pact of the tome and tome invocation for rituals and RP reasons like I did. Yeah you lose the 18th aura buff unless you go heroic and 21+ but it's great flavour. With an aasimar especially.
Armourer blade singer seems like a great combo idea
I'm currently running an Arcane Trickster/Bladesinger, which is working out very well in terms of survivability. Cunning Action allows her to dart in and out of combat, and Bladesinging's speed boost allows me to cover more territory with that, with Haste and the non-concentration Longstrider getting even more speed. I've got some Slippers of Spider Climbing too, so I can disengage and run up the wall, which makes it hard for enemies to retaliate against her, and if they manage it or I decide to have her stay in melee, Shield + Bladesinging leads to an absurd AC.
At least, everything is going great until someone targets her with something calling for a Wisdom save.
That's what counterspell is for =)
Now that Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes is out, the Gish are a distinct race. Still really interesting, and I could see this applied to a Gish character.
I'm Navajo and the word gish, in my language, means a cane or stick. Great video, by the way.
That's really interesting! Thank you for sharing and thank you for the kind words.
I find Ranger to be an interesting option for a gish. While technically a divine caster, the Ranger spell list has some cool options for crowd control, summoning, defense and buffing, all of which I like to think of as part of a gish's abilities. This is on top of having some pretty good martial abilities since most subclasses come with a damage boost at level 3 to add to their basic martial prowess.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Rangers as a gish class. Contrary to popular belief, they have some pretty nice spells to complement melee combat if they go down that fighting style
i always like the idea of a Fire Genasi Gish. a hot-headed character which is just as likely to cast a fireball as he is to draw a sword and strike a blow. A character who is easily angered and depending on his mood decide to either cast a spell or go into melee.
I'm doing a Rock Gnome Cleric 1/ Abjuration Wizard 5, & she's amazing! What you lose on HP you more than make up for with the Ward. It's fun & flavourful if you like playing Blue/White in magic. ;-)
More cleric than cleric!
More cleric than cleric!
have you guys thought of doing audio only releases of these like on soundcloud or something? I'd love to listen to these on my commutes.
as always an excellent show.
My favorite Gish I played in 5e was an eldritch knight Bladesinger, he was pretty OP at 10th level (fighter 8/wizard 2)
My group normally plays in higher level campaigns where it's easier to make a gish. My favourite 'gish' is the Paladin/Warlock. I made a Scourge Aasimar Devotion Paladin who took a level in Warlock after being betrayed by the entity he made his oath to, becoming a Fallen Aasimar and an Oathbreaker Paladin in one fell swoop. That character is at 19th level currently and I'm thoroughly enjoying playing them. One of my favourite combinations is Polearm Master + War Caster, using my Polearm Master reaction attack to cast Booming Blade. Strictly speaking, Booming Blade has a range of 5ft RAW but in the description of the spell it says you make a melee weapon attack as part of casting the spell and my DM says there's no reason I shouldn't be able to cast it using a reach weapon.
I have created my own homebrew gish class; the Spellblade. As well as being a half-caster, it has a small pool of Arcana Points it can use to add rider effects onto its attacks. Being able to knock people backwards or stun people or deal damage in a small AoE as part of the attack really gives the class a feel of blending magic into melee combat without having to spend a turn setting up. Having a limited pool of Arcana Points keeps the class in line with the Fighters, Paladins, Barbarians etc.