So we come to the non-PHB Wizard subclasses. Freed from being based on the different schools of magic, these subclasses can pursue more unusual themes. As we saw with the PHB subclasses, most of the original ones got their most exciting features at high levels, though some, like Divination and Evocation, hit the ground running with some nice effects.
Bladesinging:
Bladesinging was originally introduced in SCAG as an Elf-only Wizard subclass. Unlike the other race-restricted subclass (Battleragers for Dwarves,) this one was actually good. The subclass received some revisions - primarily removing the race restriction (I always felt this would be a really cool tradition for a more sophisticated Orc culture - basically the Klingon style of Wizard) though I think there might have been some other changes in there as well. The Bladesinger attempts to do the seemingly impossible - to make a Wizard who can be a front-line fighter. Let's take a look at its features and see how it does!
At level 2 you get Training in War and Song (Bladesinging): You gain proficiency in Light Armor as well as one type of one-handed melee weapon of your choice. The Mage Armor spell effectively gives you +1 Studded Leather Armor, but if you can find more powerful magical armor, this will not only save you the spell slot but also let you benefit from the scaling of another magic item. For the weapon, I'd highly recommend the Rapier, though the Whip is actually not a terrible idea given its range. I'd steer away from strength-based weapons given that you'll need high Dexterity to maximize your Light Armor's benefit.
You also get proficiency in Performance if you don't already have it. Performance is rarely a skill check that will mean life-or-death, but it's a nice thing for a bonus.
Also at 2 you get Bladesong. If you aren't wearing medium or heavy armor or using a shield, you can use a bonus action to activate your Bladesong for 1 minute or until you're incapacitated, or if you don medium or heavy armor or a shield or you use two hands to make a weapon attack.
While in your Bladesong, you get the following benefits: You add your Intelligence modifier to your AC (minimum of +1), your walking speed increases by 10 feet, you have advantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks, and you gain a bonus to any Constitution saving throw to maintain concentration on spells equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1.)
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.
This is actually pretty huge. Your off-hand will basically be free to hold a spellcasting focus, so you won't need Warcaster to cast spells in combat. If you manage to get both your Dexterity and your Intelligence modifier to +5 over a campaign, you're actually going to have a very high AC - 22 just with nonmagical Studded Leather. Also, you're going to have a much easier time making those Concentration saves. If you manage to have those stats and you get +3 Studded Leather, you're going to have an AC of 25, as well as access to the Shield spell, so you can push that up to 30. For a Wizard, that's a way, way better AC than you'd normally be able to get.
Now, the limit here based on proficiency bonus is going to mean you can't necessarily use this on every fight. The good news, of course, is that you're still going to be a Wizard, with all the spells that you get from that.
At level 6, you get Extra Attack. But unlike other classes. You can make two attacks per turn, but unlike how this feature works for every other class that gets it, you can replace one of your attacks with a Cantrip. This makes the SCAG cantrips (also reprinted in Tasha's) extremely good - pick up Green Flame Blade and you'll be hitting two targets for a ton of damage and then be able to follow up with a second attack. It's better than an Eldritch Knight's War Magic because you also get to keep your bonus action.
At level 10, you get Song of Defense. When you take damage, you can use a reaction to expend a spell slot to reduce the damage you take by an amount equal to five times the spell's level. This is where the squishiness of the Wizard starts to get mitigated - not only can you eventually reduce a burst of damage by 45 (though that will cost you a very high-level spell slot,) because you know how much damage you want to reduce, you can pick the right spell slot to most efficiently reduce that blow. Something hits you for 23 damage, well, you can expend a 4th level slot and reduce that to a very manageable 3.
At 14th level, you get Song of Victory. While your Bladesong is active, you add your Intelligence modifier to the damage of your melee weapon attacks. This will make your attacks hit a lot harder under Bladesong, which is probably the only time you're likely to be really focusing on melee.
This is a great alternative "battlemage" subclass to the Eldritch Knight, putting more of a focus on the mage than the battle. It is, however, very stat-dependent. I'd recommend this subclass if you happened to roll a Wizard who has very high Dexterity and Intelligence, and preferably a good Constitution as well. With point-buy and a +2/+1 race, you could potentially grab a 15 in Intelligence and a 14 in Dex and Con, raising Int and Dex to 16 with racial bonuses, which would mean that you could eventually max both Dex and Int and get Con to +3. I don't think you're really going to be a "tank" per se with this subclass, but if you want to mix melee and spellcasting, the very high AC you can achieve will at least make it possible for you to fight pure-attack monsters (and also, strongly consider getting Misty Step to bamf away from foes after you strike them.)
War Magic:
This sort of blends abjuration and evocation to focus on basically being a battlefield artillery. The fantasy of the class is that this is for military wizards, using magic tactically and being great at handling enemy mages.
At 2nd level you get Arcane Deflection. When you are hit with an attack or fail a saving throw, you can use your reaction to gain a +2 bonus to AC or a +4 bonus to the saving throw, potentially turning it into a miss or success, respectively. When you use it, you can't cast spells that aren't cantrips until the end of your next turn. So you basically are channeling your higher magical power into survival, and need to recharge.
You also get at 2 Tactical Wit. You add your Intelligence modifier to your initiative rolls. This (which Chronurgists also get) will make you much more likely to roll a high initiative, which Wizards tend to like to do (it's good to be able to drop a fireball on that horde of orcs before your Barbarian gets into the fray with them.)
At 6th level, you get Power Surge. You have a certain number of Power Surges at any time, up to a maximum equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1). Whenever you finish a long rest, your Power Surges reset to 1. Whenever you successfully end a spell with Dispel Magic or Counterspell, you gain one Power Surge, stealing the magic from the spell. If you end a Short Rest with no Power Surges you gain one.
Once per turn when you deal damage to a creature or object with a wizard spell, you can spend one power surge to deal extra force damage equal to half your wizard level.
So, this is cool in theory, but I also feel like this really expects you to be doing a lot of counterspelling and dispelling magic, which is extremely dependent on what you're fighting. And at the very most, this is going to be 10 extra damage, which is a little underwhelming for what seems like it should be a core feature of the subclass.
At 10, you get Durable Magic. While you're concentrating on a spell, you can a +2 bonus to AC as well as Saving Throws. I do kind of like how this encourages you to have a spell to concentrate on, though maybe +2 isn't quite enough.
Finally, at 14, you get Deflecting Shroud. When you use Arcane Deflection, you can cause magical energy to arc from you. Up to three creatures within 60 feet of you that you can see take force damage equal to half your Wizard level. A bit of free, unavoidable damage is certainly nice, though again I don't know if I think this is really that exciting of a capstone feature.
Yeah, my general sense of War Magic is that every feature feels like it should be propping up some much cooler feature, but there's no real "star of the show" here, and so I don't really think it's that appealing. Like Power Surges would be great if you could use them a whole lot, but I imagine very few people would ever be able to hit their maximum number in a day of adventuring, and even then, it's just a little bit of extra damage here and there.
So yeah, between these two, I think that, while stat-dependent, Bladesinging will enable a melee powerhouse who also has access to the entire Wizard spell list. War Magic doesn't really live up to the fantasy - I feel like you'd rather just have an Evocation Wizard on the battlefield.
Next, we're going to handle the two Dunamancy subclasses out of Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, and I think we might save the Order of Scribes for its own, final post.
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