The Warzird Gish

[Teaguethebean]

Hello all I have been playing at a build for a few hours now and I don't know what to do. I have an idea to make a Front line character who is a warlock 2 or 3 and then abjuration wizard the rest. I plan on utilizing Armor of shadows to max out my arcane ward before each fight.

I am still unsure of patron I have widdled it down to either Hex blade for shield proficiency (Hex warrior doesn't interest me much as I want to focus on pumping up dex and can get ) or fiend for the dark one's blessing.

For invocations I plan on using obviously armor of shadows, and then devils sight maybe agonizing blast if I focus more in charisma.

On the topic of race I am leaning toward either Half-elf or V. human

Do yall have any recommendations for invocations or spells beyond the obvious like armor of agathys, hex, booming blade, and find familiar.

[ATHATH]

You don't just get shield proficiency from Hex Warrior- you also get medium armor proficiency, which can be very nice if you want to pump INT over DEX (just leave DEX at 14 and get a nice AC of 17 without a shield (IIRC), 19 with a shield).

Tieflings have nice stat adjustments for Warlock/Wizards- if you can be a winged tiefling, do so.

War Wizard+Booming Blade is pretty nice.

Fun fact: Warding Bond interacts in a really neat way with Arcane Ward. Damage dealt to your Arcane Ward doesn't cause Warding Bond to deal damage to its caster, but said damage to the Arcane Ward will still be reduced by the Resistance to all damage granted by the Warding Bond spell.

[chando]

That being said i think The main problem with playing a wizard gish is that at any time you are gishing, using spells or not, is a time you could be wizarding, and with more and higher level spells if you'd styed wizard instead of multiclass.
How do you feel about playing a small beeing from the dark, probably umid places?
Than you might want to check out svirfneblin, a.k.a Deep Gnome. With their racial feat they can cast nondetection atwill to refill your arcane ward, freeing you up to be a pure wizard, take some other invocations, or dip something else.
If you wanna feel gishy, as alreeady mentioned you could consider figther 1 at 1st level, for HP, Con and All Weapons and Armor Proficiencies. Sure you can start with a Dex/Int 16, you can easily use any armor your party find, or upgrade as you get up in level$. Found a magic fullplate but your melees are a bard and a barbarian or already taken care of: congratulations! Yeah your speed might be reduced by 10feet but you are a magic tank rocking magic high AC, never droping concentraton. Take a second fighter level after wiz 5-6 for Action Surge (can be used as "Quicken Spell but Better" or "look i have Extra Attack" for a round, or to do literally anything else, recharging on a short rest)
This makes for a tough wizard with a nova or combo option almost once/fight.
That being said i think the main problem with playing a wizard gish is that at any time you are gishing, using spells or not, is a time you could be wizarding, and with more and higher level spells if you'd styed wizard instead of multiclass, so consider what you will be gaining.

If you do end up being walock wizard, half elf would give acess to the feat Elven Accuracy, Bladesinger wizard if you decide to go a diferent direction, and would alliviate the 'cost' of having high Cha. Variant Human does give you warcaster earlier. If you want to attack with Str human could probably be better.

[Petrocorus]

First of all, please don't call this a warzird. Call it a Wizlock, or... anything else, really.


Hello all I have been playing at a build for a few hours now and I don't know what to do. I have an idea to make a Front line character who is a warlock 2 or 3 and then abjuration wizard the rest. I plan on utilizing Armor of shadows to max out my arcane ward before each fight.

This can be good. But talk to you DM about this before.




I am still unsure of patron I have widdled it down to either Hex blade for shield proficiency (Hex warrior doesn't interest me much as I want to focus on pumping up dex and can get ) or fiend for the dark one's blessing.

For invocations I plan on using obviously armor of shadows, and then devils sight maybe agonizing blast if I focus more in charisma.

On the topic of race I am leaning toward either Half-elf or V. human

Do yall have any recommendations for invocations or spells beyond the obvious like armor of agathys, hex, booming blade, and find familiar.

Depending on your starting level, going up to level 3 in Warlock can be good. You gain Tome or Chain. Chain may be better for you since you'll already have 6 cantrips at least and don't really need more ritual casting. Especially fit there is a divine caster in the party.

In addition of a very cool familiar, it will also allows you to get Gift of the Ever-Living One which is a very nice invocation for a melee character. Eldritch Sight can be good too. Depending on your Charisma and your skill, Mask of Many Faces can be awesome. Devil's Sight is obvious. You only have 2 invocations and you need Armor of Shadows, so i would sacrifice Agonizing Blast if i were you.

Hexblade will be the best patron for you because of the proficiency and SADness, which is necessary in your case given the MADness of your build. Celestial would allow you to heal yourself and combine amazingly with GotELO, but you will then need to improve you AC somehow.

Take Find Familiar on the Wizard side if you don't go Chain. Darkness is obvious is you have Devil's Sight, but can be on any side. Shadow Blade can be good for you if you have a decent Dex.

You certainly need Resilient (Con), or Warcaster, or both. So Vuman is good if you get Devil's Sight. Moderately Armored (if you're a Celestial) can be necessary. Heavily Armored if you're an Hexblade can be amazing.

[Warlush]

Depending on your starting level, going up to level 3 in Warlock can be good. You gain Tome or Chain. Chain may be better for you since you'll already have 6 cantrips at least and don't really need more ritual casting. Especially fit there is a divine caster in the party.

I agree and would add that going celestial warlock would give you healing spells you don't get as a wizard, the chain pact gives you access to the max healing invocation, as well as a pool of d6 heals for you bonus action. That seems to be the "tankiest" option to me.

But as always, the more invocations you want, the more of a warlock you'll have to be.

[Talionis]

This can be a very good Armor of Agathys build. Stone Skin and put up layers of defense or Fire Shield and Armor of Agathys can be a good one two punch. These help to give you a very large Hit Point reserve especially if you are liberal in your use of Shield to recharge your Ward and make things miss you. It's very wrong to think you want to do lots of damage and be hit. But its effective to punish those that do hit you, so it's better to not think of AoA as a primary damage spell.

AoA pairs nicely with Booming Blade which will probably be your Gish melee goto attack. Greenflame Blade and the AoE Sword Coast cantrips help to a melee feel without Extra Attacks. You could get Extra Attacks with Warlock 5 Invocation Thirsting Blade. But generally you'll do better with the attack cantrips. Elvish Accuracy feat can help to hit targets with Booming Blade, etc. The other option is generic Two Weapon Fighting hut I dont recommend it. Shadow Blade spell in XGtE may also help to keep up damage.

I do like to use the shield spell a lot on this combo. So often I use the Wizard spell slot recovery for first level spell slots. It's just good action economy to recharge the Ward in combat.