Blacksmith. Warrior. Wizard? (Melee STR wizard build)

[Greywander]

So I have a vague concept for a character that is a dour, half-dragon blacksmith. (The half-dragon part isn't particularly important, I think I just had them on my mind when I came up with this.) Raised by dwarves or something, he reveres Moradin. In battle, he fights on the frontline swinging his massive smithing hammer (a warhammer), occasionally grabbing his foes while he rains down blows with one hand. Also, he's a wizard, Harry.

I can see as a potential motive to study magic the desire to craft magical items as a way of perfecting his craft. It would be kind of cool to have him retire to become the renowned master blacksmith that young heroes seek out to craft them a special weapon for their journey.

For the build, I'm thinking fighter 2 / Abjurist wizard X, though I'm not sure when the best time to take that second level of fighter would be.

Without Extra Attack, I definitely want to grab one of those SCAG cantrips. Might as well lay out all my cantrip considerations.

Melee: Booming Blade or Green-Flame Blade - Leaning BB for control and Warcaster OAs, can fluff as the ringing of a struck anvil
Ranged: Fire Bolt - Would prefer something like Chill Touch, but it is thematic with both dragon and forge themes, can fluff as spitting sick fires yo
AoE?: Thunderclap or Sword Burst - Not sure if necessary, especially if I have a half-dragon breath weapon
Utility: Mending, and Mold Earth and/or Control Flames - Again, not usually wild about Control Flames, but thematic

I'm trying to hammer (pun not intended) out the race, ability scores, and feat selection. For race, I've been mainly considering human variant or dwarf (either), but am leaning toward human for the extra feat. After all, I'll only get 4 ASIs with this build, so one feat early helps.

Feats for consideration (pick up to 4 for nonhuman, 5 for variant human):

Warcaster - Obvious choice: advantage on conc saves, use weapon for components, and BB for OAs
Mage Slayer - Abjurists make excellent mage killers, but redundant with 14th level feature
Resilient (WIS) - An unfortunately weak area that could get me into trouble, so better to beef it up; this assumes I'm starting as a fighter
Heavy Armor Master - Excellent early on, good against hordes later on; very few enemies have magical weapons
Brawny (UA) or Prodigy (XGtE) - For when I want to get my grapple on (too bad I can't shove as a bonus action; maybe a homebrew feat?)

This brings us to ability scores. Which I'm not sure about. They will depend to some extent on the specific choice of race and feats. Generally, though, I'm thinking of trying to reach (or start with) STR 16 and CON/INT/WIS 14. Probably DEX 10 and CHA 8. Certainly not optimal, but I hope these will be viable. I can save an ASI to boost CON or INT up to 16, or boost STR to 18, but feats are probably more valuable early on.

How does this look for a melee character? Any tweaks you'd recommend to improve it?

[Unoriginal]

A few things to point out: you don't need to be a wizard to craft magic items (neither do you need to be able to cast spells at all), and dwarves tend to frown upon using arcane magic to help crafting.

Also if you want a "massive blacksmith hammer" as a weapon, I'd say a maul would be more appropriate

[Greywander]

I know you don't need to be a wizard, but I thought it would add some interesting fluff. IIRC, only scrolls require you to be a caster to craft.

I wasn't aware dwarves weren't keen on arcane magic in crafting. Is this just using magic to "do the work for you", or infusing the item with magic, period?

I considered the maul, but figured it would be better to have a hand free for grappling, using items, and casting spells. Warcaster helps with that last one, but only for somatic components. So maybe not quite that massive, but still big enough to swing with both hands if I want to. No reason I couldn't also carry a maul, though.

[Unoriginal]

I wasn't aware dwarves weren't keen on arcane magic in crafting. Is this just using magic to "do the work for you", or infusing the item with magic, period?

More the "do the work for you" part. Dwarves are notable magic items makers, and aren't even opposed to magical forges, or summoning creatures that can heat the metal. So long as you're the one working.



I considered the maul, but figured it would be better to have a hand free for grappling, using items, and casting spells. Warcaster helps with that last one, but only for somatic components. So maybe not quite that massive, but still big enough to swing with both hands if I want to. No reason I couldn't also carry a maul, though.

More than fair, fluff it as you wish.

"Blacksmith's hammers are warhammers" just happens to be a pet peeve of mine. No reason it should be yours, though.

[Wizard_Lizard]

I have a hill dwarf fighter 1 wizard 4 who is pretty good. He has fairly high hitpoints, max con and the hill dwarf thing. Wears plate armour and has the war caster feat. Also has shield.

[Greywander]

"Blacksmith's hammers are warhammers" just happens to be a pet peeve of mine. No reason it should be yours, though.
I'm reasonably sure the average blacksmith never uses both hands to swing his hammer, so an actual blacksmith's hammer would probably be more comparable to the light hammer, i.e. one-handed only and fairly small. Then again, I'm no expert. I'm imagining an actual blacksmith's hammer as looking a bit like a tiny sledge hammer, so larger head than a carpenter's hammer, but not so large as a maul.

Warhammers looked more like carpenter's hammers (i.e. small head for punching holes in armor), but with a really long handle. And mauls were actually made of wood, not metal, which is why they can be that big without weighing 100 pounds.

[Sparky McDibben]

dwarves tend to frown upon using arcane magic to help crafting.

To be fair, ask your DM. Dwarves in their world might be totally cool with arcane magic, and even if they're not, it can be a lot of fun to play against type. Love the concept!

[Unoriginal]

To be fair, ask your DM. Dwarves in their world might be totally cool with arcane magic, and even if they're not, it can be a lot of fun to play against type. Love the concept!

That is true.

OP, have you considered Dragonborn for you character? If you want to keep the original dragon-man concept.

Could use their own breath to forge things.

[MikeRoxTheBoat]

Have you considered Forge Cleric instead of Fighter? They're literally the Dwarven Forgemasters that revere Moradin. Being Dwarven also isn't required, you just can't take apprentices.

You wouldn't get a Fighting Style or Action surge, but you'll have access to some Cleric Utility and the ability to craft anything out of metal that's 100 gold or less pretty much whenever you want.

Might not be as optimized, but it fits the flavor.

[Greywander]

OP, have you considered Dragonborn for you character? If you want to keep the original dragon-man concept.

Could use their own breath to forge things.
Before coming up with this character concept, I was joking around with the idea of a half-dragon dragonborn draconic sorcerer. I think I was just trying to think of other ways I could incorporate the half-dragon template into a character without it being obvious min/maxing, and the idea of trying to make something as ridiculous as a melee STR wizard jumped out at me. Like I said, it's not entirely necessary for the build, so it would still work if I'm just a normal human or dwarf. Given how thematic it would be for a rather unoptimized (or unconventional) build, though, it might be an easier sell to the DM.


Have you considered Forge Cleric instead of Fighter?
It occurred to me last night that the fluff I had for this concept almost perfectly set them up to be a straight-classed Forge cleric instead of a wizard or fighter. Which is cool in it's own way, and something I might want to revisit later, but it eschews the whole point which was to make a melee STR wizard.

But for replacing just the 1 or 2 levels of fighter with Forge cleric? I hadn't considered that.

With 1 level:
I lose martial weapons, so no warhammers, but I can fluff a quarterstaff as a versatile hammer, or just use light hammers. If a dwarf, I get warhammers anyway.
I lose CON save proficiency, but gain WIS save proficiency, so just switch Resilient (WIS) to Resilient (CON).
I lose Second Wind, but get access to healing spells. Healing Word is also a bonus action heal.
I lose the fighting style, but I can turn a weapon or suit of armor into a +1 magic item, which is comparable up until we get real magic weapons and armor.
I gain 1st level cleric spells, including Searing Smite as a domain spell. Costs a spell slot, and uses concentration, but will stack with BB.
I gain 3 cleric cantrips. Can't have too many cantrips. I can also get Mending here, letting me pick a different wizard cantrip.
I keep my spell slot progression.
I gain proficiency in smith's tools, allowing me to pick up something else from my background.

With 2 levels:
I lose Action Surge. I mean, I lose this anyway, but we're comparing 2 levels in fighter vs. 2 levels in cleric.
I gain Channel Divinity.

Eh, I'm not even sure I would need 2 levels in Forge cleric, but Forge cleric 1 / Abjurist wizard X seems like it could be a better build. I'd get all my wizard stuff one level earlier, and get one extra ASI at 20. Heck, I could go Forge cleric 1 / fighter 1 / wizard X if I wanted to have my cake and eat it, too, and I'd only be missing Action Surge.

Heh, I think you've sold me on a Forge cleric start, with a potential fighter dip later on. Cleric 1 / wizard X has been a standard build of mine for a while, but usually it's more or less still just a normal wizard but with armor and a few extra spells.


Being Dwarven also isn't required, you just can't take apprentices.
Is this for sure a thing, or is it setting dependent? And is this for smithing apprentices or cleric apprentices? I'd probably want to pass on my skill as a smith at some point.


Might not be as optimized, but it fits the flavor.
No, I think this may actually be more optimized. And it does fit the flavor amazingly.

[MikeRoxTheBoat]

Heh, I think you've sold me on a Forge cleric start, with a potential fighter dip later on. Cleric 1 / wizard X has been a standard build of mine for a while, but usually it's more or less still just a normal wizard but with armor and a few extra spells.

Glad I could help! I actually did the inverse of this and had a Forge Cleric that multiclassed 3 levels of Wizard to get some of their versatility. Forge stuff + Shield + Booming Blade + Spirit Guardians made for a fun and tanky fighter that was quite sticky.

If you end up not going Dwarf, you still might be able to get a Warhammer depending on the DM. Mine gave me free proficiency 'cause he thought it made sense and my character was a big Half-Orc that looked like he'd wield one anyway.