How to make an Elven Bladesinger
Dragonspear
Member Posts: 1,838
One class I've always wanted to play in D&D is an elven bladesinger. Unfortunately RL does not allow for me to find a group, however the thought of taking an elven bladesinger through the entire saga is appealing.
My question to you my favorite forumites and forum trolls and how would you go about setting one up in game. To the best of my ability, all I can think of atm is to try to multi-class an elven fighter/mage if possible, EEKeeper my way up to Grand Mastery in Longswords (starting ++ Longsword, ++ Single Weapon Style), attempt to EE keeper in defensive spin for bard and going either abjurer (although you lose out on key stoneskin etc) or invoker instead of a regular mage.
I also expect that MOST of my spells, especially offensive ones, would be short range cone attacks and/or touch spells.
All that said, I'm sure others on the forums have their own input and ideas.
My question to you my favorite forumites and forum trolls and how would you go about setting one up in game. To the best of my ability, all I can think of atm is to try to multi-class an elven fighter/mage if possible, EEKeeper my way up to Grand Mastery in Longswords (starting ++ Longsword, ++ Single Weapon Style), attempt to EE keeper in defensive spin for bard and going either abjurer (although you lose out on key stoneskin etc) or invoker instead of a regular mage.
I also expect that MOST of my spells, especially offensive ones, would be short range cone attacks and/or touch spells.
All that said, I'm sure others on the forums have their own input and ideas.
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Single Weapon Style
Done.
I can't decide which might be better overall. I think both seem appropriate, maybe with a slight edge to blade due to the spins, I guess just EEkeeper it to elf?
Oh, right, I forgot elves can't be Bards because 2E IZ AWSUM GAIZ.
Yeah, keeper it. I find Blade way more versatile and fun. But, then, I'm a melee enthusiast.
I'm a huge melee enthusiast as well. I realize that due to the fact that bards aren't a melee class specialized -> grandmastery SHOULDNT* give extra attacks, but do you think keepering those when I level up would be appropriate since Bladesingers are supposed to focus on a single weapon?
I always like this type of characters, I've done a run with a Elven F/M and I think it was the best one I did in my life, as I found a way to left Sarevok alone in the Undercity, I ran away and went to do Durlag's Tower, (as a solo F/M XD), it is easy, I got past the warders by now and I am near to getting the Kiel's Helm. He has ++ in Long Swords, Darts and S&shield style, plus a + in bastard sword to kill the Loup Garou.
About the topic... I think that a Fighter/Mage will go fine, maybe a F/M/T if you want stealth, I'do go for the Elven Chain Mails as fast as I could, put +++++ in Long Swords and maybe ++ in SWS. Some EEKeeper cheese for RP reasons is justified, maybe using Improved Haste, Blur and Tenser's Transformation in a Spell Trigger can emulate the Blade's Offensive Spin and give even better bonuses, you can also do it with a fake/key-mapped Chain Contingency, you need to edit the keymap.ini and give the desired spell the desired hotkey, and if you do so with Chain Contingencies, you won't need to have them memorized nor to be a mage, Clerics and Druid can do that too, only because it is cheating, and surely @CamDawg fixed it in the EE. But you can add the Offensive Spin every four levels if you wish to do so, EEKeeper can handle that too. The only gay I know from the 2E is Dorn, and he is a half-orc.
Or the fact that the Bladesinger itself reads like a bard on 'roids? (Ok not quite, but dang close).
I suffer so much how damned hell the people nowadays introduce new deformities into the language!! I can't even understand what they say, and it isn't funny and leads to misunderstanding, because I speak English, and I really don't catch up a single shit of what hellish Baator you're talkin' about. And, hell, yeah, I also do the same like everyone younger than 70.
I'd say you could pretty closely emulate the 2e kit by playing a Fighter/Mage with a blanket -1 to hit but allowing yourself mastery (3 pips) in your chosen weapon. If there's any way to mod the game such that a character can be made more resistant to spell interruption, that would also be appropriate, I think.
Looking at the 3e bladesinger, I'd say the Blade Bard kit in BG is a pretty reasonable match (provided you go single weapon style instead of two weapon). Defensive Spin approximates the Bladesong, and Offensive Spin functions similarly to Song of Fury. Maybe apply a small reduction to casting times to model Song of Celerity.
I'd assumed 2nd ed, since that's what bg2 was based on. 3rd ed bards are pretty different from 2nd ed bards, too.
Fair enough. Bards are pretty different between the two editions, but if you read the 3e bladesinger prestige class, it functions a lot like the Blade kit in BG (limited spellcasting, conditional defensive and offensive bonuses, etc.). Just covering all the bases.
In keeping with the PnP kit information, the Bladesinger should start at a -1 AC bonus, and get another -1 every 2 levels, +1 to hit/damage in a single weapon type.
For BG2, just add a third pip to Long Sword, and 1 Defensive Spin / level, then use one every time you want to cast a spell and at no other time. The limited uses and delayed casting alleviate the increased AC bonus and duration.
Negatives: Cannot wear armour, cannot be proficient in two handed weapons, non-sword weapons, and cannot dual-wield. Can only specialise in 1h Bladed weapons, cannot specialise in ranged weapons.
Optionally, dock yourself 2 pips in proficiencies and add another to your AC or To Hit/Damage for Bladesong Style. Another pip increases that bonus, whichever it is, to "2".
And... Yeah, there you have it, that's pretty much a flat improvement over the PnP kit.
Intuitively speaking, most of the quirks of the kit would just be copied and pasted from the Swashbuckler direct. Without +1 Spell per spell level, that's practically disadvantage enough, but maybe a +1 Casting Time effect could be cobbled together as well.
Looking at it, it doesn't seem like nearly enough to be interesting considering, but as a component to a Fighter/Mage, -5 AC/+4 Damage per hit by cap (I think this applies to an F/M/T swash as well, in correction to my previous post) is a decent, if dull, tradeoff overall, it effectively turns a Robe of the Archmagi into Full Plate.
That said, if you don't mind the single attack limitation, then Keeper 3 pips into a blade style, 2 pips into Single Weapon fighting, and resist the urge to backstab everything that moves with your hugely inflated damage, Swashbuckler/Mage would be a good fit for a more Magically oriented Bladesinger.
Or you can just make a fighter or ranger and give them some innate abilities through the keeper to make them more bladesinger-y.
My favorite would be to make a Swashbuckler with the Rogue Rebalancing mod installed (thac0 advances at fighter but takes away the damage bonuses from the vanilla swashbuckler) then maybe give them an innate ability every couple levels (perhaps blur to serve as the "dodge" ability that bladesingers get, or an offensive spin to serve as their "song of fury")
I thin bladesingers are kinda cool too, and there is a mod that adds them (The Darkest Day) but it adds a LOT more (like 50 kits...some cool, some meh) and I doubt it will be compatible with the EE any time soon.