House of Warding Dwarf Bladesinger - Stats?

[TedEBearNC]

I'm going to be playing a House of Warding Dwarf Bladesinger in an upcoming campaign. I chose the House of Warding Dwarf for the free daily casting of Mage Armor and access to Armor of Agathys but I'm unsure of how to allocate my points from point buy. I plan on taking Resilient (CON) so an odd CON would be better to benefit from it for increased HP. That would mean I'd either be starting with a 13 or 15 CON so I'd either be lower on HP for a few levels or have a WIS of 8 which I don't like the -1 on the save and that would be three dump stats.

I'm looking at either:

8/16/13/17/12/8
8/16/14/17/10/8
8/16/15/17/8/8

Would it be a bad idea to go with three 8's and have better HP? Or should I suffer with the lower HP and just be extra careful for a while to have better WIS saves?

Any input would be appreciated.

[quindraco]

I'm going to be playing a House of Warding Dwarf Bladesinger in an upcoming campaign. I chose the House of Warding Dwarf for the free daily casting of Mage Armor and access to Armor of Agathys but I'm unsure of how to allocate my points from point buy. I plan on taking Resilient (CON) so an odd CON would be better to benefit from it for increased HP. That would mean I'd either be starting with a 13 or 15 CON so I'd either be lower on HP for a few levels or have a WIS of 8 which I don't like the -1 on the save and that would be three dump stats.

I'm looking at either:

8/16/13/17/12/8
8/16/14/17/10/8
8/16/15/17/8/8

Would it be a bad idea to go with three 8's and have better HP? Or should I suffer with the lower HP and just be extra careful for a while to have better WIS saves?

Any input would be appreciated.

Bladesingers are a bit MAD, so it's trip 8s all the way. It's a bit weird leaning into Mage Armor as a Bladesinger, but ok. Usually Bladesingers just lean into studded leather.

[TedEBearNC]

Thanks, quindraco!

[Keravath]

Honestly - what is the difference?

13 con vs 15 con going to 14 and 16 after resilient. The difference between the two is 1 hp/level. At level 5 the difference is 5 hit points and at level 20 it is 20 hit points. It isn't a huge difference. It is also an additional +1 on con saving throws.

In comparison, con 13 gives a wisdom of 12 - +2 to wisdom saving throws and +2 difference (+1 vs -1) to wisdom based skills like perception. Is the character proficient at perception?

Also, you mention being a dwarf but not whether it is a mountain or hill dwarf base for stats. The mountain dwarf has two +2 to stats which would be more beneficial when building your character. The numbers you listed appear to assume +2/+1.

As for dumping wisdom - at least a wizard is proficient with wisdom saves though a -1 modifier will always be a weak point of the character.

If you can take the +2/+2 dwarf stats then you could also choose to start with a 14 con and 12 wisdom in your second stat row.

If you are going for the +2/+1 hill dwarf with the extra +1hp/level then I would lean toward the 13 con/12 wis option since it fortifies your wisdom saves and skills a bit at the cost of 1 hp/level and a +1 on con saves when you take the feat but the difference is small either way so it is mostly just do what you prefer :)

[TedEBearNC]

Thanks! I'll take that into consideration.

[Pixel_Kitsune]

Also, you mention being a dwarf but not whether it is a mountain or hill dwarf base for stats. The mountain dwarf has two +2 to stats which would be more beneficial when building your character. The numbers you listed appear to assume +2/+1.

Purely as an education piece, TC said they're playing a Mark of Warding Dwarf. So they're not a Hill or a Mountain Dwarf, they're a Dragonmarked Dwarf which comes with a +1 Int and some other stuff (Bonus to Investigations and Thief Tools, some new spells, etc)

[Ir0ns0ul]

Don’t forget that Armor of Agathys will give you top-notch THP and some retributive damage if someone dares to hit you. AoA is one of the best spells to upcast — a third slot will net you +15 THP for one hour. It’s a must have in my Warding Dwarf Abjurer.