Editing Bladesinger (section)

==5th Edition==
In 5th edition, Bladesingers reared their heads once again as a new Arcane Tradition (subclass) for the [[Wizard]] in Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, the dedicated [[Forgotten Realms]] splatbook of the edition. As with 4th edition, WoTC notes that traditional fluff decrees it should only be available to elves and half-elves, but it doesn't mechanically enforce this trait. Indeed, it outright encourages DMs to ignore that angle, either to run their preferred take on the realms or to transplant the Bladesinger to their own homebrew settings. Though it's worth noting that even with this rule in place, you could still justify a non-elf bladesinger by saying you learned it form on of your bladesisnger parents, who adopted you (or if in the case of a human, that one of your parents was a half-elf an the other a human).

Its 2nd level feature is ''Training in War and Song''. This gives it Proficiency with the Performance skill, light armor, and a single one-handed martial melee weapon of the Bladesinger's choice. Swords are iconic, but as the sidebar notes, there's all kinds of styles, including axes, hammers, picks and whips (though the optimal choice is a rapier anyway, since it's finesse, which mans you get to enjoy the many benefits a high dex score offers, and the main benefit of playing a one-handed str fighter over a one-handed dex fighter is Heavy Armor, which you can't even use).

Its other 2nd level feature is ''Bladesong'', the big "special attack" of the class, an ability to enter a state of supernatural speed, agility and focus as a bonus action. You can't use it if you're wielding a shield, or if you're wearing medium/heavy armor. Likewise, it can be ended early if you take up a shield, put such armor on, make a two-handed attack with your weapon, or are just incapacitated. So stick to the light armor and one-handed weapons if you wanna use it. You can use this feature twice per short rest, and unless ended early (which you can do voluntarily), it lasts for one minute. Whilst in Bladesong, you add your Intelligence modifier (min bonus is +1) to your Armor Class and to any Constitution checks you make to concentrate on spells, you increase your walking speed by 10 feet, and you gain advantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks.

A Bladesinger gains the ''Extra Attack'' feature (attack twice when you use the Attack action for your turn) at level 6. 

10th level unlocks the ''Song of Defense'' ability; whilst in Bladesong, a Bladesinger can expend spellslots when they take damage, reducing the damage by (spellslot level multipled by 5).

Finally, 14th level unlocks the ''Song of Victory'' feature, where Bladesong causes the Int bonus to apply to damage from the Bladesinger's melee weapon as well.

All in all, the 5e Bladesinger is not necessarily a '''bad''' subclass, but the fact it's got such a schizophrenic design - class features orientated towards melee combat, but wizard spells are predominantly aimed at being used at a distance - that it suffers, particularly when compared to the Swordmage of 4e, who had an entire arsenal of thematically-supporting close- to medium-ranged spells to back it up. It's telling that every fanmade guide to Bladesingers out there exhorts the player to grab the small handful of Swordmage spells that were officially converted to 5e as part of the Bladesinger's spell arsenal... or just ignore the martial aspect of the subclass entirely and play them like any other Wizard. People quickly noticed that almost all of the Bladesinger's actual class features make them hard to kill, something all squishy wizards welcome, and they don't take any penalties to casting for being a bladesinger so there's little reason to try to enter melee as one.

From another perspective, it's consistently the hardest class to kill in game beating out even eternal favorites like the abjuration/fighter dual class. The main conceit is not getting hit and instead using an AC that without reactions or bonus actions hovers at 20-24. Taken with the Elemental Evil Player's companion available for free (Absorb Element Spell), shield, blur, invisibility, mirror image or other defensive spells of your choice you become one of the best tanks in your party if not the best. All with the utility and insane late-game capabilities of a wizard. (Remeber you're a wizard who also swords, not a fighter who also knows spells, that would be an eldritch knight.) Your damage also remains consistently relevant. 

The Bladesinger was finally reprinted in 2020 in the setting neutral [[splatbook]] "Tasha's Cauldron of Everything". In addition to dropping the "elf and half-elf only" restriction, the 2 major changes are that Bladesong changed from 2 uses per Short Rest to a number of uses per long rest equal to your proficiency bonus, as well as the ability to replace one of their two attacks per round at level 6 with the casting of a cantrip spell. While this generally means that you'll have less uses of Bladesong per day, replacing one attack per round with Booming Blade or Greenflame Blade sharply raises the Bladesinger's melee damage (especially at high levels) to the point of rivaling a baseline(no subclasses or feats considered) Fighter, providing the revised version with plenty of incentive to actually fight in melee while their Bladesong is up. While limited to cantrips, Eldritch Knights and Valor Bards need to wait until high levels in order to attack and cast in the same turn, giving the bladesinger a huge boost.

{{D&D5e-Classes}}

[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Category: Dungeons & Dragons Classes]]