Guide:Gish (Spellblades)

• Work in Progress*

Introduction

This is a collection of items that I think benefit the Gish (or Spellblade) play style in a way that is stronger than simply having a character that uses spells with occasional weapon attacks, or vice versa. Specifically, these items leverage Arcane Acuity and Arcane Synergy to empower characters that use spells and weapon attacks in tandem with one another. Characters properly built in this style can do quite a bit of damage, but mostly they're just fun.

Overview

First of all, are Gish characters good? It... depends. Generally speaking, I find that a more focused character is going to perform better than a character that dabbles in a little bit of everything, so something like a Thief Rogue or a Great Weapons Master character will do better physical damage than a Gish, while a Sorcerer or a Wizard will probably do better spell damage than a Gish. The trick here is that a proper Gish can be extremely flexible, with access to both physical and magical damage in combat. Likewise, a Gish will often have utility that a purely physical character won't, like Longstrider or Minor Illusion, and will be more durable and persistent in combat than a pure spell caster, so there's definitely a trade-off.

There are a couple of different ways you can build a Gish, or a Spellblade, or a Hexblade, whatever you want to call it, which I will go over later. There are two main distinctions between Gish builds, whether you want to do damage, or whether you want to be useful. Not that doing damage isn't useful, but you get the idea. The distinction between damage and utility is important, because different builds will focus on different aspects of a Spellblade's kit, considering things like Eldritch Strike, Shield, or Defensive Flourish as possible options. Whichever roll you want your Gish to fill, you will need to know ahead of time, and prepare for. Obviously, you can have a Gish that does both, but not all Gish will be able to do both, if that makes sense.

Some Build Ideas

Striker Builds

1. 5 Paladin + 5 Warlock + 2 Fighter: Probably the strongest single target striker class in the game, this build utilizes a possibly unintended interaction between Improved Pact: Pact of the Blade Warlocks and the Extra Attack class feature from other striker classes. Currently, this combination of Improved Pact and Extra Attack allows a character to make a weapon attack three times per action, and naturally scales further with other sources of bonus actions.

• While you can do this with classes other than Paladin, like Bard, Paladin offers the greatest single target burst damage due to Divine Smite, and also does extra damage to fiends and undead, which happen to be a good number of enemies and bosses in this game.
• If you use Bind Weapon, you can dump strength and completely focus on Charisma for better spell accuracy.
• I wanted to include this build just for fun, but it's not a very "good" spellblade.

1. 6 Warlock + 6 Bard: A little bit more restrictive, the Extra Attack that College of Swords Bards gain synergizes with the extra attack from Deepened Pact the same way that Paladin does, but comes a level later, making this build less flexible. However, the trade-off here is that we are not restricted to melee weapons, can use Slashing Flourish to attack two targets with one attack, and we can still attack three times per action. This effectively gives us more attacks in group encounters when compared to the Paladin version of this build, and does scale better with on-hit, additive bonuses to our damage, but makes us less effective in single-target encounters.

• With 6 Bard levels, you will have 4 Bardic Inspiration charges that refresh per Short Rest.
• Works best with Oath of Vengeance due to Inquisitor's Might.

Intelligence as your main Spellcasting modifier

Eldritch Knight, either 11 Fighter/1 Wizard, or 5-7 Fighter/5-7 Wizard imo

Arcane Trickster + Wizard (+Bard?)

Charisma as your main Spellcasting modifier

1. 8 Paladin + 4 Sorcerer / 6 Paladin + 6 Sorceror / 5 Paladin + 4 Sorceror + 3 Fighter: An evolution of the Divine Smite build listed above, the inclusion of Sorceror levels instead of Fighter levels reduces the number of attacks we can make in a single turn, but allows us to cast spells as a bonus action using Quicken Magic. 5 levels of Paladin give us two attacks per action, while 3 levels of Sorceror is mandatory for a single use of Quicken Magic per Long Rest. Alternatively, 8 levels of Paladin give us another feat, as well as Auras depending on your Oath. At level 6 Sorceror, we can use Quicken Magic twice per Long Rest; I would not recommend going past 6 levels of Sorceror, unless you really want a cast of Twinned Spell or something. 2 levels of Fighter give Action Surge, while 3 levels of Fighter allow us to take Battlemaster or Champion for better Striking.

• This build is very linear, but allows for enough spell slots to have meaningful choices in how we approach combat scenarios. Typically you will want to spend your spell slots on Divine Smite or Hold Person for very reliable, self-sufficient damage, but you will have access to spells like Haste, Fireball, or Counterspell with 5 levels of Sorcerer or higher.
• At 6 Paladin and 6 Sorcerer, you will have 4/3/3/3/1 spell slots, respectively.
• At 5 Paladin and 4 Sorcerer, you will have 4/3/3, but will have access to 3 Superiority Die through the Battlemaster subclass.
• If you use Potion of Hill/Cloud Giant Strength, you can dump Strength as a stat and run 14 Dex, 16 Con, 17 Cha at base.

12 levels of Paladin or Pact of the Blade Warlock.

6 levels of Pact of the Blade Warlock with 6 levels of Paladin or Bard

Paladin + Bard

Wisdom as your main Spellcasting modifier

Wisdom builds (Cleric/Monk/Druid)

Equipment

Helmets

Diadem of Arcane Synergy

Helmet of Arcane Acuity

Browbeaten Circlet

Hat of Fire Acuity

Hat of Storm Scion's Power

The Lifebringer

Warped Headband of Intellect

Diadem of Arcane Synergy

Pyroquickness Hat

Helm of Arcane Acuity

Gloves

Gloves of Battlemage's Power

Boots

Boots of Arcane Bolstering

Accessories

Ring of Arcane Synergy