What is the Gish build

[stewstew5]

So, I know that gish means any character that is effective both with weapon and spell combat, and that the term originated from a githyanki fighters wizard cross class, but I cant find any actual information on that build, so, what was it?

[Dork_Forge]

So, I know that fish means any character that is effective both with weapon and spell combat, and that the term originated from a githyanki fighters wizard cross class, but I cant find any actual information on that build, so, what was it?

It's not a specific build, it's more a category of playstyle/build.

For example if you play an Eldritch Knight, all you're doing is playing a straight Fighter but you're a Gish character. You can take it other ways and mix Fighter (non EK) with Wizard for example, but there's no set path to be a Gish other than be good at casting and martial combat.

[Zhorn]

Examples:

Paladin and Rangers can be played as gish builds using spells to support their attack styles.
Pact of the Blade Warlocks naturally fall strongly into this category also, with Hexblade being the prime example.
As Dork_Forge mentioned; Eldritch Knight Fighters, and to a lesser extent Arcane Trickster Rogues, more so since the spells added in Sword Coast Adventure's Guide and Xanathar's Guide to Everything.

Bards, Clerics, Sorcerers, Wizards and Druids are all primarily casters first, but they all have access to tools and abilities that allow them to jump into melee and fight with a decent weapon'n'spell mix.

Some classes and subclasses do it better than others, but most classes can be built around the concept in some fashion or another.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

It is a relic from earlier edition.

The Gish where a wizard/fighter that were killed by their ruler(can't remember if it was a god or a queen) when they got to level 11 as she afraid they will out throne her.

[ShikomeKidoMi]

So, I know that gish means any character that is effective both with weapon and spell combat, and that the term originated from a githyanki fighters wizard cross class, but I cant find any actual information on that build, so, what was it?

The original? It was literally a Githyanki Wizard/Fighter multiclass, back when your race determined which muticlass combinations you could take and humans couldn't multiclass at all but had to use the wonky dual-classing rules. I think only elves (and maybe half-elves) and Githyanki could actually be fighter/wizards at the time and elves didn't have special term for it.

That was three (or four, if you count 3.5) editions ago.

It is a relic from earlier edition.The Gish where a wizard/fighter that were killed by their ruler(can't remember if it was a god or a queen) when they got to level 11 as she afraid they will out throne her.
Lich-Queen. And she killed any Githyanki that hit level 11, not just the Gish. She just didn't tell anyone that was what happened, they all just 'retired to the palace guard' or something. She was paranoid about another strong Githyanki challenging her rule.

[Rukelnikov]

As the above posters have said it is not a specific build but a family of them. In 5e AFAIK there is not a concensus on a set of requirements on what is needed to be a gish, in 3.x for instance, to be considered a true gish a character needed access to 9th lvl spells and +16 base attack bonus, in order to have the 4 attacks per turn.

In 5e such a build is impossible, so its closest analog would be Extra Attack and 9th lvl spells, but again in 5e such build family would be extremely narrow, pretty much only the Bladesinger and Swords/Valor Bards, and maybe the Bladelock if we considered Mystic Arcanum as spells.

IMO the archetypal Gish in 5e is the Sorcadin 14/6, it has Extra Attack, 7th lvl spells, and can cast a leveled spell and make 2 attacks in the same turn.


The original? It was literally a Githyanki Wizard/Fighter multiclass, back when your race determined which muticlass combinations you could take and humans couldn't multiclass at all but had to use the wonky dual-classing rules. I think only elves (and maybe half-elves) and Githyanki could actually be fighter/wizards at the time and elves didn't have special term for it.

The closest they had to that was the Bladesinger, although not every elven Fighter/Wizard was a Bladesinger.

[Reevh]

It is a relic from earlier edition.

The Gish where a wizard/fighter that were killed by their ruler(can't remember if it was a god or a queen) when they got to level 11 as she afraid they will out throne her.

Lich-Queen, Vlaakith.

I'm currently playing a Githyanki Conquest Paladin, so he's all about that Vlaakith life. It's so much fun. Playing a character that's not good aligned is an interesting experience.