Looking for advice on my Wizard/Fighter

[mer.c]

Hi all,

I'm doing my first session of 5e with a few friends. I'm building my character from the bottom up, starting with RP and making his in-game characteristics reflect that. Even though I'm playing for RP over optimization, I wanted to see what people's thoughts are on a few of the choices I have to make. Mostly I want to avoid taking something that will end up being pretty useless later on, since this is my first 5e experience and I don't have much to draw on.

We're running Lost Mines of Phandelver. The other PCs are both Rogues, one going Swashbuckler and one going Assassin. My character is a Mountain Dwarf Wizard who I'm going to take a few early levels of Fighter with. By vocation, he's from a clan (that I totally made up) of arcane smiths, so his classes reflect that. We rolled for stats, and his are pretty good at 16 STR, 13 DEX, 15 CON, 16 INT, 12 WIS, 12 CHA. Also, as a Mountain Dwarf (Medium Armor proficiency free) plus multiclassing to Fighter (Medium Armor proficiency again), we house-ruled him to pick up Heavy Armor proficiency when he multiclassed. I know it's often recommended to go Fighter first to get proficiency on Concentration checks, but I might take Resilient to bump CON to 16 and get the proficiency.

I'm pretty certain I want to go Eldritch Knight to hedge his magic abilities a bit, but I'm sticking mostly with Wizard. The Fighter levels are there for RP and some flexibility/survivability. I imagine I'll take School of Evocation, since 1) it's thematic, 2) it takes less understanding to use well than something trickier like Illusion or Enchantment, and 3) it fits with EK spells.

We have some house rules, partly to help make up for the small party. Everyone gets a feat at 1st level, and we've rebalanced weapons somewhat (for PCs only). It's a fusion of 5e and 3.x, so things like most swords getting their 19-20 crit range, axes getting their x3 multiplier, and hammer-type weapons will get more but smaller damage dice (2d4 for Warhammer, 3d4 for Maul). We also put in Kite Shields, which are Heavy (no DEX AC), but also give +3 AC.

While I have a good idea of where I want to go, I'm struggling with the question of Martial Archetype and accompanying Feats. Here's my thoughts so far:

Two-Weapon Fighting, plus Dual Wielder Feat, using double Warhammers. Pro: it's great damage and +1 AC. Con: it takes a feat, and it feels like it may be stacking damage on top of damage. I imagine at lower levels the extra oomph will be great, but will the weapon damage just be outclassed by spellcasting? If so, at what point? Of course, it's probably going to be better damage than just slinging Cantrips.

Speaking of which, this seems to have anti-synergy with the SCAG melee-attack Cantrips. If I'm reading it correctly, I'm not taking the Attack action when I use them, so I'm not triggering an offhand attack bonus action. Same goes with War Magic because I'm already using my action to cast the Cantrip, and using my bonus action to make the mainhand attack. That's a lot of anti-synergy. That said, an arcane warrior-smith guy wielding double Warhammers is as flavorful as it badass. :smallsmile:

Great Weapon Fighting using Maul: Seems similar to the above, but lower damage. Also pretty thematic. Major advantages are that it doesn't take an extra Feat, and has better synergy with melee Cantrips and War Magic if I get to EK 7. Casting a Green-Flame Blade, making a melee attack, and then getting a melee attack as a bonus action from War Magic seems pretty cool although it would be a looooong ways off.

Protection/Duelist: The question here is if this character will end up being tankier than the rogues. Getting +3 AC from a Kite Shield is great for melee situations and blocking projectiles, which I imagine is going to be pretty relevant.

If imposing disadvantage on attacks vs. the Rogues isn't that great, the extra +2 damage from Dueling could be nice. It would still be less damage than Flame Bolt at level 5, unless I got to EK 5 for double melee attacks. On either of these, getting Shield Master could be great as a pseudo-Uncanny Dodge, and maybe shoving could help in some cases?

Related rules question: Am I right that I don't get to attempt a Shield Master shove if I use a Cantrip (even one that lets me make a melee attack), because again I'm not taking the Attack action? If I'm wrong about that, would standing from being knocked prone trigger Booming Blade? If those all work together, that would be a sick combo! Even without it, maybe just hitting with Booming Blade and then shoving a few feet could make someone skip their next attack or take the extra damage (or drop their weapon and use a projectile if they can), which… really seems great now that I'm thinking about it. Although if you lose the STR contest, the Cantrip really doesn't do anything except give another disincentive to a not-great option (moving away and provoking an opportunity attack).

Well, that ended up being longer than I expected! Like I said, I'm not looking to completely optimize the character. I just wanted to make sure I didn't choose something that would end up being worthless, and clarify a few rules questions so I know how things will work out. Also, if there's anything I've overlooked (like rules, Feats, etc.), let me know!

I hope that all makes sense, and doesn't come off as just my rambling. It's been known to happen. :smallwink:

[McNinja]

The good thing is that none of the options will be "worthless" but some may be slightly less good depending on what you want for your character. Do you know what Wizard school you want? Has your DM allowed bladesinger to all races?

Also, why would you not take 1 level of fighter first? You gain so much more, and you don't have to house-rule heavy armor proficiency, you get it from level 1. Honestly it would have saved you a lot of time and energy, and I know you don't really care about optimizing, but that's not even optimizing. The gains you get from fighter 1 are infinitely better than whatever you get from multiclassing into fighter 1.

- The problem with dual-wielding is that you would be required to have the Warcaster feat so that you could use two hammers at the same time and cast without having to first stow a hammer away.
- There's less of a problem with great weapon fighting because you can simply use one hand to hold the weapon and one hand to cast the spell.
- Protection or Duelist would probably be better if you're trying to tank, as you can use a shield for duelist and still get the AC bonus and the damage bonus, although if you're trying to tank going the abjuration route would be better since you would get more THP.

Also, why would you be giving the rogues disadvantage?

[Chaosvii7]

I played a Fighter/Wizard in my boyfriend's home game. It worked pretty well for me, but as a point of reference, multiclassing from Eldritch Knight to another spellcaster only gives you 1 level of spellcasting per 3 fighter levels you have, so you're likely gonna be going Fighter 3/Wizard 17 or Fighter 6/Wizard 14. I chose the 6/14 split, it gives you all the feats you'd otherwise get while giving you 8th level spell slots and extra attack; Basically everything you'd want from fighter and everything you need from wizard.

As for fighting style, I actually used multiple weapons (I had a greatsword and kept a longsword and shield in case I needed that extra AC), so I chose Defense fighting style because it didn't make any one weapon choice more powerful than the other. If you wanna get technical, taking Dueling fighting style puts the two weapons on equal footing, making the difference being that extra damage die and slightly higher damage roof vs. the benefits of a shield, but I wanted to be totally unbiased in my choice of arms because I was really only taking fighter for the defensive bonuses (and the flavor/thematics, of course). If you're not as meticulous and just want to have the best damage, then GWF is certainly the best because it makes your melee damage a lot more reliable.

This combo is very vulnerable to the pitfall of dealing less damage in melee at later levels, unlike other classes built around the model. The best solution I can think of is to focus your spell selection and purchases around spells that either bring all the attention towards you and then just get an absurd amount of defense, or accept that after a certain point hucking spells is just more powerful and you'll only turn to your weapons when somebody gets into melee with you.

I think it'd work best for you to pick something best suited to all stages of the game, which in my opinion leans towards something tankier - protection, defense, dueling, or tunnel fighter (if your DM will allow Unearthed Arcana materials - saves you a feat later on down the line, too). And then suit your spells towards whether or not you actually are tanking or if you just want the defense for the incredible safety they provide.

A few feats to look at when you get to pick them - Tough, Warcaster, Mage Slayer, and Sentinel. I didn't get to grab all of these on my character, but Tough is a must-have considering you're gonna be running on the MAD side as it is (I also only maxed my INT and started with a 16 STR so I didn't have to worry about putting it up), and it pays off very well at later levels.

Hope any of the info I gave you helps. :smallbiggrin:

[mer.c]

Thanks for the replies!


Also, why would you be giving the rogues disadvantage?

I worded that poorly (edited now). I meant using the Protection style to give an enemy disadvantage on their attack against the Rogue.

As for going Wizard first, it's partly RP, but also I fancied getting Arcana and Investigation since the party's lacking those skills and Investigation in particular seems really useful. With house-ruling in Heavy Armor for this race/(multi)class combo, it really comes down to whether I want to spend a feat down the line to get proficiency on concentration throws. But I'm probably going to take War Caster, which gives me that anyways. I'm not sure if being proficient in STR and non-concentration CON throws are better than INT + WIS, since like I said I don't have any 5e experience yet. Maybe I'm biased as a holdout from all the save-or suck Will save effects in 3.x. :)

I've thought a bit about the difficulty of casting with various weapon/shield configurations. That's probably the biggest thing pushing me towards a 2-hander, although it may just be worth taking War Caster at 4 to mitigate the problem (and get that concentration throw advantage). I do love the idea of being weapon-agnostic and just using whatever tool is right for the job. I suppose it may work well to take War Caster and start with a sword+board, then if appropriate drop them and pull out the Maul for extra smashy smashy.

All that said, I'm glad it sounds like there's no particular risk of taking something that just ends up being bad. AC sounds really, really good with Bounded Accuracy being a thing, so maybe just going with Defense and starting out behind a shield with is the way to go after all. Come to think of it, maybe going extra tanky with Shield Mastery would be great even assuming my earlier reasoning about the Shield Mastery shove is correct, just to knock enemies prone, giving the Rogues advantage on their sneak attacks. When I'm not slinging spells, at any rate.

One quick note on EK vs. Wizard level: assuming you take it to 20th level, you should be able to get your 8th level spell with at 13/7 split, right (13 levels + 2 from EK = 15)? That would give you a few extra HP and War Casting, which seems like a really strong feature.

[Sir cryosin]

Int saves are few to none. Int stat just ain't that good in 5e there are only a very very few spell that use them. And only wizards,EK, and AT need int and EK, AT can really dump it if they are not taking any spells that need your dc or mod. So that's why people take fightet first lv and str saves are something that comes up a bit.

[CantigThimble]

One quick note on EK vs. Wizard level: assuming you take it to 20th level, you should be able to get your 8th level spell with at 13/7 split, right (13 levels + 2 from EK = 15)? That would give you a few extra HP and War Casting, which seems like a really strong feature.

You would have an 8th level spell slot but you would only be able to learn spells as a 13th level wizard and 7th level EK. You wouldn't know any 8th level spells to spend that slot on and would be forced to spend it on lower level spells you know.

[bid]

As a wizard, you don't have the hp to be a meat shield.

DW is +3 damage, GWF +1.5 damage for that 3d4 maul.

Use a 2-hander and skip the warcaster feat tax.

[djreynolds]

Make sure you grab a real shield, and take the war caster feat, 3 levels is fine for EK. 17 levels of wizard is a class feature you want. You are a caster, so who needs another melee attack when your cantrip does more damage anyhow.

I play a moutain dwarf abjurer, no fighter multiclass and no shield, (damm dwarves only get medium armor), 15 AC (half plate) and 20 with the shield spell. I have not multiclassed yet, and honsetly if I do it will be as a cleric, and some archetypes/domains get heavy armor and a real shield, for free and some extra cantrips and healing. I feel the extra attack, while seemingly cool, is really the same as a cantrip. If I do multiclass, and finally get a shield, I may even go weaponless, or sling the war-hammer. Because I never use it.

Lets say you have 3 attacks with a war hammer, 3d8 + 15, 39, being genorous, at level 11 you cantrip, fire bolt, is 3d10, 30 from a distance, or shocking grasp, or chill touch.

Dump the fighter, grab a level of war cleric, much better investment or even knowledge cleric (no heavy armor) but a real shield and 2 skills double proficiency, and healing and new cantrips and can spam cure wounds in your wizard slots.

The extra attack is a "mirage", oh and take abjuration, arcane ward is worth it, though scultping spells is also very cool

[Dimcair]

Dump the fighter, grab a level of war cleric, much better investment or even knowledge cleric (no heavy armor) but a real shield and 2 skills double proficiency, and healing and new cantrips and can spam cure wounds in your wizard slots.

The extra attack is a "mirage", oh and take abjuration, arcane ward is worth it

True dat. If you are worried over RP, a fighter is really just a base class mostly, re-fluff it as a War-Cleric who believes in the God of Magic (which there are multiple I believe) and done.

On another note, the swashbuckler rogue will be quite tanky, so I wouldn't worry too much about not having a tank


/edit: + you can always hire a fighter ;)

[djreynolds]

Shoot, in order to get heavy armor cleric, fighter, paladin have to 1st level when you do

[Sjappo]

Just as a clarification, will the campaign end after LMoP or will you continue with other campaigns using the same character.

I ask because LMoP is only 5 levels long, meaning you'll get your feat only 1 level before the end.

[mer.c]

Just as a clarification, will the campaign end after LMoP or will you continue with other campaigns using the same character.

I ask because LMoP is only 5 levels long, meaning you'll get your feat only 1 level before the end.

We're planning on rolling new characters for our next adventure and giving these ones downtime. But we'll pick them back up once they've had their hard-earned R&R. :)

[JellyPooga]

If you're going Mountain Dwarf and you're mostly concerned with RP, don't bother with taking Fighter levels. You've already got Medium Armour and some decent weapons to play with to make you feel like a fighter. Go Abjuration or Necromancy School and you can even tank decently.

Fighter doesn't really do you many favours; a few extra HP and Action Surge is no substitute for missing out on your highest level of spells. For Example;

Fighter 2/Wizard 3 has Action Surge and a Fighting Style; great. Let's give him Defence Style (for the sake of argument) for +1 AC and 1/short rest he gets two Actions for a turn.

Wizard 5 has Haste. 2/long rest he's got +2 AC, doubled speed, Advantage on Dex checks and has two Actions for (practically speaking) a whole fight.

That's just one spell. The versatility offered by more Wizard outstrips the gains of Fighter. Even if you go Eldritch Knight, you might get more low-level spells, but you miss out on the higher level spells as well as the higher level spell slots. That's a big deal.

[JackPhoenix]

Shoot, in order to get heavy armor cleric, fighter, paladin have to 1st level when you do

Not entirely true...while clerics only get medium armor and shields from multiclassing, they actually get heavy armor from certain domains (Life, Nature, Tempest, War), thus they can get it even when they don't start as cleric.

[Sjappo]

We're planning on rolling new characters for our next adventure and giving these ones downtime. But we'll pick them back up once they've had their hard-earned R&R. :)
I've reread your opening post and I'm getting mixed information. You say you want the fighter bit to be RP background but continue to describe a focus on tanking, TWF and whatnot. Basically a fighter with a little wizard mixed in. Both are fine by the way but both would require a different approach.

I think it would be wise to refrain from MC while going through LMoP. LMoP is short, maybe to short for MC to start paying off. LMoP ends at lvl 5, which is a big powerboost for most, if not all, classes. Which you will miss out on by MC. It is the capstone, if you wish, of LMoP. You might even miss the 4th level ASI if you MC 2/3.

SO, I would either go straight wizard and refluff the Dwarf bonuses as fighter training. Not unreasonable seeing as Dwarf society is very martial. Maybe change STR and DEX (or get DEX to 14) and use medium armor. This would be an interesting party as you then have no tank, just 2 rogues and a wizard who would all try to avoid melee. I see lots of sneaking and running away. Could be fun.

OR go straight EK for the gish feel. Heavy armor, maul, the works. Be the tank.

OR, now I think about it, go Valor Bard. Switch CHA for INT, Maybe DEX for STR. Downplay the song and dance, easily done with the right choice of spells and skills. Refluff the dandy to be a grizzled combat veteran. Horn, war drum ... Full caster.

[djreynolds]

Not entirely true...while clerics only get medium armor and shields from multiclassing, they actually get heavy armor from certain domains (Life, Nature, Tempest, War), thus they can get it even when they don't start as cleric.

But if you read the bonus proficiency it says selected at 1st level, now is that character or cleric level? I'm told it is character level, and I hope I'm wrong.

Also, for the OP, I'm playing a 13th level mountain dwarf abjurer. He's pretty good. His AC is 15 with half plate. Str and con are 16, seems high but the str is useless mostly as I hardly ever hit in melee and use cantrips. That's the key, your cantrip is your melee attack. Now is a real shield worth it, or heavy armor. Its a wash. Con and Int are your primary stats, the strength is nice but since I don't have proficiency in those saves its +3, not bad, but nothing to write home about. The question is, is it worth it to grab one level of fighter. Just like martials get a 2nd attack at 5th, your cantrip goes up 2d?. So I recommend getting your con high during creation and maxing out intelligence ASAP, as your cantrip keys off of this.

1 level of fighter or war cleric will give heavy armor and a shield, but your cantrip will be behind in terms of damage and your intelligence may be stuck at 15 if you used the standard array. Now you're playing catch up. And as soon as your intelligence hits max, I'm no longer swinging any weapons around. My cantrip is my warhammer.

Tanking doesn't necessarily means striking also, cast a good concentration spell, blur, stoneskin, haste, even protection from evil (10min), also cast mirror image and fireshield (both are non-concentration) and get in there and make people miss. Use the shield spell as a reaction, and have it refill your arcane ward (2hp only) and cast cantrips and attack spells. This will help take the heat off the frontliners.

[Talamare]

But if you read the bonus proficiency it says selected at 1st level, no is that character or cleric?

Actually I don't think it's really clear, you could ask the dev on twitter... or just play it 1st cleric level like everyone else

[JackPhoenix]

But if you read the bonus proficiency it says selected at 1st level, now is that character or cleric level? I'm told it is character level, and I hope I'm wrong.

That ruling would prevent you from taking subclasses on multiclassed character, so it's pretty clear it means cleric level.

[Citan]

Hi all,

I'm doing my first session of 5e with a few friends. I'm building my character from the bottom up, starting with RP and making his in-game characteristics reflect that. Even though I'm playing for RP over optimization, I wanted to see what people's thoughts are on a few of the choices I have to make. Mostly I want to avoid taking something that will end up being pretty useless later on, since this is my first 5e experience and I don't have much to draw on.

We're running Lost Mines of Phandelver. The other PCs are both Rogues, one going Swashbuckler and one going Assassin. My character is a Mountain Dwarf Wizard who I'm going to take a few early levels of Fighter with. By vocation, he's from a clan (that I totally made up) of arcane smiths, so his classes reflect that. We rolled for stats, and his are pretty good at 16 STR, 13 DEX, 15 CON, 16 INT, 12 WIS, 12 CHA. Also, as a Mountain Dwarf (Medium Armor proficiency free) plus multiclassing to Fighter (Medium Armor proficiency again), we house-ruled him to pick up Heavy Armor proficiency when he multiclassed. I know it's often recommended to go Fighter first to get proficiency on Concentration checks, but I might take Resilient to bump CON to 16 and get the proficiency.

I'm pretty certain I want to go Eldritch Knight to hedge his magic abilities a bit, but I'm sticking mostly with Wizard. The Fighter levels are there for RP and some flexibility/survivability. I imagine I'll take School of Evocation, since 1) it's thematic, 2) it takes less understanding to use well than something trickier like Illusion or Enchantment, and 3) it fits with EK spells.

Hi OP.

I'm not sure I understand where you want to go with your character, so I'll just throw a few ideas.

2-handed: if you started Fighter, this would be great together with GWM feat and War Magic.
You can use your GFB cantrip with -5+10 on top, then make another -5+10 attack with your bonus action. It's wasting Extra Attack though and you lose precious Wizard levels just to get cantrip+attack combo.
So if you go that route, just assume you're a half-caster and go Fighter 8 / Wizard 12 to get a handful of ASI.

TWF: simple and nice way to get 3 attacks per round if you go Fighter 6.
Best for 14/6 builds.

Dueling or Defense:
Best for other builds: focus + shield, weapon + focus, weapon + shield.
Still good for Fighter 6 / Wizard 14, but far better for Fighter 3 / Wizard 17.
Before SCAG, I would have been tempted to tell you "go 6/14".
Now that you have a "melee cantrip" that uses a weapon and outdamages 2 attacks after a few levels, Fighter 3 is far enough.

So, basically, unless you wanted a "GWM" or a "Sharpshooter" gish build, I agree with others that Fighter 3 / Wizard 17 is the best way to go.
Meaning...
Dueling if you plan on using GFB, although it loses value after a few levels since you have only one attack.
Defense because it's always good.
Tunnel Fighter if allowed (AFB at the moment but couldn't it be combined with Warcaster?) which is imo the best choice if you want to be a frontliner. Very much so if Warcaster compatible (which it is I think).

[bid]

But if you read the bonus proficiency it says selected at 1st level, now is that character or cleric level? I'm told it is character level, and I hope I'm wrong.
Anything in the classes chapter uses class level.

[Captbrannigan]

Anything in the classes chapter uses class level.

You mean like the proficiency bonus listed on each class' table? Oh wait...

[PeteNutButter]

Definately just avoid fighter you can tank just fine with medium armor. And combining Eldritch knight with wizard, keeps you behind on spells available, even if you have the slots.

One thing to note is for wizard tanking the Bladesinger is amazing AC. Now that is obviously something that is not akin to a dwarf, but your comments note that your DM is ok with houseruling. You could refluff it to be something more dwarven related. Maybe you do a battlecry, or recite some chant, or remember your ancestors or whatever.

The point is it gives you INT to AC and extra attack, which would make figher levels completely dead.

[bid]

You mean like the proficiency bonus listed on each class' table? Oh wait...
Don't be an ass, it's overridden on p163 just like spell slots are.

And Zapp, please wear some pants next time.

[joaber]

I know eldritch knight use Int and wizard use Int. But EK multiclass work way better with sorcerer because you can cast spells using bonus action. At high levels you really can do 3 attacks and cast a spell that the enemies will save with disadvantage in tha same turn. You can twin your haste with one rogue. And use any spell in EK list to buff, so you really can dump int. You can even dump Cha if you want to cast only buff spells and quick booming blade or something like that.

[djreynolds]

This is the dilemma, the big one. Forget about your melee attacks. Do not throw asi/feats/ class features if you are a caster.

So this is your choice EK 12/8 around there is you want to get into it in melee. And dex or str are both fine. This guy is grabbing wizard. This guy is melee or archer first.

Or EK 3, wizard or sorcerer 17. You get a little perk in defense and action surge is good for survivability.

1 fighter, or 1 cleric, maybe 1 paladin for heavy armor and shield

Or mountain dwarf for medium armor (NO SHIELD)

Also it is very viable to go shield and arcane focus and dump the melee weapon

[mer.c]

Lot of interesting feedback so far. I'm especially interested in how many different directions people think I should take the character. I recognize that Cleric/Wizard is very strong, but I don't think that fits with my character. Not that I'm going RP-only, but there's really nothing Cleric-y about him, so I'm pretty reluctant to do that. Although Arcana domain is an interesting thought, that just gives Shields and not Heavy Armor.

What I've taken most to heart is just how important class level 5 is. Given that this character is for Phandelver, it does seem silly to miss out on level 5 bonuses by multiclassing. Since we're planning on benching the characters for a while and rolling new ones after the adventure, it's probably best off to start Fighter and go EK off the bat, or go straight up Wizard to 5, then maybe a few levels of grab EK if I pick him up again for a later adventure.

(I should here mention that lack of another qualified/interested individual cast me as the DM. So this will be a DMPC to get the party size up to 3 instead of just 2 Rogues. Since it's everyone's first 5e experience, I'm planning on letting us make some alterations to these PCs between adventures, as long as it makes sense from a fluff and character-development perspective. So something like EK-5, and then next time having him at EK-3/Wiz-2, would be doable if he spent the months honing his magic while neglecting his martial training.)

In favor of taking Eldritch Knight, I've taken a real fancy to the ease-of-use and general flavor of using a Maul. That lets me cast spells without worrying about dropping/picking up/slinging weapons or a War Caster feat tax. Although I'm unclear on whether I need both hands free to cast a spell with a Focus, which would complicate things a lot. Perhaps my character, whose background is an arcane-focused Clan Crafter, can forge a focus into the pommel of his Maul or something.

Plus, I really like the idea of swinging around an arcane-infused maul, and with GFB and GWF the damage seems really competitive. If you have two adjacent enemies often enough, GFB does almost as much as multi-attack. So I could do EK-3 into Wiz-2 to get my Arcane Tradition by the end of the adventure, but that seems iffy.

As far as I can tell, as long as I have the proficiency, swinging the Maul around with GFB would be favorable over spamming traditional damage cantrips no matter the eventual class combination. Especially with the redone weapon chart which gives Maul 3d4. With GWF, that's 9 damage base + 3 from strength on the melee swing (12 average), + possibly 3 more from the GFB effect (15 average total). Although at level 5-6 (so where I'll max out), between getting the extra attack and War Magic, it's more damage just to double-attack with the maul (26 average before crits, I think, with 18 strength and two 3d4 attacks), whereas GFB would be 3d4 + 4 + 1d8 (17.5 average) if there's only one target. Point is, double-attack is good; GFB is also good but only really a substitute if you expect a lot of adjacent enemies to hit. Either way, even with the range restriction, swinging that maul around seems extraordinarily useful compared to 1d10 (average 5.5 damage) into 2d10 (average 11 damage) at level 5 from Fire Bolt.

Also, all of this is assuming Cantrips go by Character Level. I couldn't actually find a written rule for that, and the spells just say "at 5th level," "at 11th level," etc.

I don't know if this build is optimal, but it does at least look like it would be useful and fun. That's what I'm going for more than true optimization.

In favor of Wizard-5, yeah, you get plenty of benefit just from being a Dwarf, plus full spell progression. My rolls can get me 13 STR, 13 DEX, 16 CON 16 INT (maybe take Resilient DEX for the extra AC and the sweet bonus to DEX saves). So 15 AC with Scale, 16 with Half Plate, 17 if I take Resilient. Melee cantrips with 13 strength would be a no-go, so cantrip damage output would be a lot lower, and survivability would be lower. No shield or maul, so maybe carry around a Warhammer just for show and to make the rare Attack of Opportunity.

Going Abjurer seems both useful and thematically sound. Useful in that Arcane Ward can give you gobs of THP, and thematic in that warding/shielding is akin to weaving strengthening magic into an item.

————

For post-Phandelver, I can definitely see going into EK-3/Wiz (abj)-X. EK-3 keeps me mostly on-track for spells, gives that CON saving throw bonus, and gets me all the armor/weapons perks. Grab a Maul and Green-Flame Blade*, or a shield instead when appropriate. (Or maybe even go Shield/Protection to protect other PCs instead.) Get extra buffs like Blur and Mirror Image, which would be hard to get into my spellbook with just EK, and extra spell slots for Abjuration spells to buff my (or my allies') THP. Forgo multi-attacks and War Magic for more spells, and just bash with GFB when spells are empty or unnecessary. Cast level-9 spells by level 20. War Magic could be cool, but probably not worth going all the way up to EK-7.

Alternately, just go straight Wizard (probably Abjurer again) with the armor and CON from being a Dwarf. Your average Wizard, with a bunch of extra survivability. Seems totally reasonable.

*Regarding chance to hit with STR instead of INT, we've house-ruled that unless it turns out to break something, multiclassed characters take their best ASI progression, so a few of the extra ASI could go into STR if I end up wanting to hit more/hit harder with GFB. Or alternately, use Flame Bolt vs. GFB as the situation calls for. I'll have plenty of Cantrip slots.