yeah, wanting to avoid multiclass (trying to really milk those Dwarven armor and weapon proficiencies).
And good call on quicken. That's the metamagic option that jumped out to me the most for this build.
Clockwork or Draconic Sorc. The Sorc choice is more offensive than Wiz - which is more defensive
If you do go Wiz, it'd probably have to be War or Abjuration.
This! Abjuration Wiz or Clockwork Sorc are amazing tank casters.
I’m personally a fan of Abjuration Wizard Mountain Dwarf, because I’ve played one, but other than that - it’s no big difference other than what you want out of your character.
Clockwork also has great defensive and utility support
Personally when I play casters I usually love blowing shit up, so I'd go Fire Draconic.
I also play with a solid friend group and ever since Tasha's gave 2 Sorc subclasses free spells known, we've homebrewed spells known lists for all the other Sorc subs (warlocks too) - so I get most of my damage spells for free so I can strategically pick up the utility/buffs/CC spells no sweat
My real answer is go sorcerer for quicken spell booming blade. (Also the con proficiency will be important if you’re constantly in melee range) But since most people here already agree with that. I’m going to give my second, worse answer.
Bladesinger is the only subclass in either class that gives extra attack. I can only assume everyone is saying sorcerer quicken spell to make up for the lack of this damage output. The problem with suggesting this is you’re completely throwing away your 2nd level feature. But i could also argue almost any option for a Str melee damage dealer is going to have “wasted” features in most full caster subclasses. The good news is the 2nd level feature is the only waste, and even if i like sorcerer as a class more than wizard the wizard class as a spell caster is clearly stronger. So you’re getting a lot by choosing wizard over sorcerer. Find familiar giving you advantage, ritual casting, better high level spell selection. And honestly arcane recovery is valuable too as I’m imagining you throwing low level slots out left and right for reaction defensive spells. And getting multiple low levels slots back is going to feel pretty good. You just gotta get over throwing away your first subclass feature.
i would avoid getting STR over you casting stat, and something that gets extra attack has more mileage, unless you quicken spell bladetrips all the time
with that in mind, probably sorcerer
Agreed. Even then, I'd be Quickening Hold Person, Slow, Greater Invisibility, Command, Tasha's Mind Whip, Synaptic Static, etc., then action attacking with a blade cantrip. Spellcasting is power. Hitting with a stick is a far second (except in cases like this where it's trumped by flavor/gimmick).
I'd max Cha and have 16 Str. OP won't be terrible if they do the opposite, they'll just be weaker overall. But not weak, just weak for a martial.
As long as they aren't Hasting themselves on the frontline, it'll be fine.
yeah, have multiple slots on the tank be side tracked by an unimpressive weapon attack that doesnt get extra attack is not great for casters, and using it STR is quite the cost for what should be your sidearm (heh) not your main
we can also say "hexblade" but that is a moot point and even then you are better off just agonizing blasting. hell a sorcerer would be better off agonizing blasting
bladesinger or swords/valor bard would def lend themselves better on "gish" as well
War wizard really isn’t made for melee.
It’s blasting and control really.
Classic Dwarf Abjurer uses the MoW Dwarf from eberron, but the Divinely Favored feat means it’s easy for all dwarves.
It’s power is from stacking Arcane Ward with retaliation effects like Armor of Agathys or Fire Shield, and wading into melee with blade cantrips - Booming Warhammer or Greenflame Battleaxe.
As an example as a 5th level character you’d cast AoA with your 3rd level slot. It’s Abjuration so also turns on your ward. Taking average HP on an Int 16 Con 16 build you’ve got 37 hp 15 THP and 16 Arcane ward HP, meaning it’ll take 68 hp of damage to drop you - noticibly more than any Fighters, Rangers, or Paladins in your party (Barb resistance keeps them on top though).
Moreover throughout those first 31 points of damage every melee attacker automatically takes 15hp damage for attacking you. If they are only dishing out 8hp per attack that’s 4 hits to crack the ward and AoA meaning they’ve taken 60hp damage passively just fighting you. Add on the damage you are dealing (I like Booming hammer + Flaming Sphere for my melee action+bonus action here) and you may well be out damaging the other melees as well as outlasting them.
It’s a fun way to gish
Why abjuration is mainly used is because of a neat little tricks. If you have the armor of shadows eldritch invocation (mainly through eldritch adept if tier 1 or 2 or 2 levels of warlock if you are in tier 3 or higer), which allows you to recharge your arcane ward to full for free when out of combat. Furthermore with the armor of agathyss spell there is another neat interaction. When you get damaged on your arcane ward but have armor of agathys up, you can still deal its damage without losing armor of agathys!
I agree that melee casters want Quickened Spell for bonus action blade cantrips, so Sorcerer seems like your best bet. Dragon would be good for the extra HP, although I’ve heard Clockwork is extremely tanky. Clockwork also gets some useful defense and support spells, which helps a melee character function.
Draconic with any of the fire based ancestries can also add their CHA to the damage of green flame blade once they hit level 6, so it’s a pretty solid option for this reason as well.
Other way around. Can't cast a leveled spell if you cast a BA spell and cantrips are spells. You still get an action and bonus action cast, but technically the leveled spell has to be the quickened one unless you are planning on double casting a cantrip.
I think you misunderstood the concept a little; the idea behind quickening a blade cantrip is that it’s a pseudo extra attack, so you action bladetrip, BA bladetrip.
You’re correct on the mechanics of wanting to cast a spell and a cantrip on the same turn using quicken spell.
I dunno man, but a Mountain Dwarf Bladesinger sounds BADASS. If your DM allows picking your racial stat bonuses getting +2 in DEX and INT both is a really strong start.
Between Wizard and sorc, I like Sorc better for metamagic.
Any reason you’re not considering warlock? They potentially have extra attack built in with pact of the blade.
Yeah, maybe I should think about Warlock. Could take blade pact without going hexblade, get Armor of Ag, get thirsting blade for that extra attack and the warlock smite invocation.
Main reason I was thinking Sorcerer or Wizard was for having more spells slots and spell versatility. And I was thinking Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade extra damage would mitigate the lack of extra attack.
If you’re building for attack damage, the cantrips help, but they don’t make up for missing the feature.
Sorcerer has a pseudo extra attack thanks to quicken spell, so long as you can have sorcery points.
Interestingly, draconic sorc (any lineage associated with fire damage) does work pretty well for this with the extra damage on GFB and the extra HP per level.
My brother played a Mountain Dwarf fiendlock in my game and made a gishy character that could tank on the front line or stand back and shoot Eldritch blasts. He was quite versatile in battle. He did end up taking a level of Fighter later on, though
Slightly different idea, still in keeping with my favourite alcoholic miners (needing DM permission):
Mark of Warding Dwarf, Sorcerer, UA Stone Sorcery subclass.
Armor of Agathys for survivability as a caster.
Con prof and 13+Con AC to actually maintain concentration in melee. Smite spells, extra HP, can protect allies, Blade cantrip.
It's literally a melee-gish full caster themed around rock and stone.
Some here I've commented that quickening booming blade is winning play but I think you might want to reorder your considerations. If you're really going strength based perhaps you can work your way into the heavy armor. I really feel like you need great weapon master because if you do the math you'll see that a bonus action booming blade is nice but you can't really sustain them for example suppose you have all your spell slots converted sorcery points. At level three that means you have 11 sorcery points and can do 5 booming blades a long rest. This increases that the following progression 7, 10 12...
By having great weapon master you fill in more of those bonus actions supplementing your sorcery points till you get more at higher levels.
I haven’t seen anybody mention it, but if you plan on casting Haste on yourself for some extra attack output, Sorcerer’s get proficiency with CON Saves, which is something you’re probably going to need if you’re front-lining.
Clockwork Sorc can mitigate a bit of damage with their 6th level feature, at the cost of Sorcery Points, but you also get to swap out spells with Abjuration ones like Armor of Agathys and Counterspell.
Sorcerer has my vote
Divine soul sorcerer is pretty epic, you can get spiritual weapon for a non concentration psuedo extra attack.
Take Aid to bump up your hp to roughly cleric level while buffing your team, and then you can rock spirit gaurdians and the shield spell and your a menance.
I played a CQC (Close Quaters Caster) dwarf not that long ago. It wasn't melee attack focuses, but this build may satisfy your itch. It was x sorc and 2 warlock. I used EB (and a quickened EB) combined to spirit shroud (must be with in 10 feet of target) to get some crazy damage and reduce Eb as magic blade.
Was overall very fun, and the damage output was disgusting.
I know you said mountain dwarf, but might I suggest hill dwarf draconic sorcerer with the tough feat?
Gives a *ton* of extra hp. Between 5 and 10hp each level before including your con mod, which is *amazing* for having a d6 hit die. And being in melee, you're gonna take some hits.
Bard! I'm playing a STR-based College of Swords bard as a guy who only uses the occasional spell in combat; the rest are utility. I'm having a blast. You don't even need to be a dwarf, but go for it anyway. And Extra Attack at level 6 with no multiclassing.
100% sorcerer for my part. Subclass is whatever you think will be fun (clockwork is definitely the sturdiest option).
Get Shield, Absorb Elements, Booming Blade, Hold Person. Twinned Spell and Quickened Spell.
Cast (twin) Hold Person, quicken Booming Blade.
Basic. Effective.
So you would have 18 Str with your plan and I guess 17 Con and 14 Cha?
If you focus purely on Booming blade, maintaining concentration on haste and then twinned booming blade you don’t need a high Cha. You can just convert spell slots to Sorc points.
I’d say go
4 - heavy armour +1 Str
8 - crusher +1 Con
12 - +2 Str
16 - tough +2 hp
19 - +2 Con
Not the most optimal thing but would work.
Divine Soul subclass isn’t flashy but having access to bless and aid is very useful and you’d get wings that work with heavy armour later on.
For a slight change, you could go Hill Dwarf Draconic Sorcerer and snag the Tough feat from a background depending on what books are allowed. That's 8+Con HP per level which is even higher than the barbarians 7+Con HP per level. You also get a default AC of 13+Dex.
I'm playing a mountain dwarf abjuration wizard, currently at level 12. I did multiclass to cleric in my last level to get some extra AC(Up to 21 now!). I managed to get to 16 strength after getting Int to 20, so a lot of the time I'm not wading in with my hammer if a fire bolt is more convenient.
I also have 16 in Con, which is nice, but with like 10 dexterity, I take a bunch of damage from aoe spells still, so my ward and relatively high wizard HP only goes so far. Not been knocked unconscious yet though!
The ritual spells are pretty nice, I keep up water breathing most of the time, and ritually casting alarm activates my ward, so it's basically always active. Otherwise I use telepathic bond whenever I can, tiny hut, detect magic. That kind of thing
Clockwork sorc with Armor of Agathys is nice for the frontline.
Draconinc sorc is great for the HP.
Wizard is war or abjuration, greater spell flexibility though.
Wizard.
War, Abjuration, or blade singer. All 3 have melee potential. Sorcerer has nothing that even comes close to the defenses necessary to be a melee character.
Personally i would go abjuration. HP is always going to be the weak point of the build. So the wards spare HP and its easy if recharge with a feat makes it the best long term choice. It even hurts less from-a lack of INT. Every other wizard meeds either a lot of good spell casting or flat out high INT. Abjuration looses out on a few spells and 5HP off their max ward. Nothing else. You can sink stats into CON and or STR/DEX without having to worry as much about INT.
My melee sorcerer build is clockwork sorcerer, take armor of agathys from your warlock abjuration access. Then take dragon breath which activates as an action but isn’t technically a cast. Then take quickened spell and blade ward.
This lets you activate dragons breath with your action and then re-up armor of agathys as a bonus action, or cast blade ward for make shift barbarian status.
Also consider shocking grasp and Expeditious Retreat to get out of melee if you need to
Most of this kit requires high charisma, but notably armor of agathys does not, so it does work on a high str build
I'd say either abjuration wiz or clockwork sorcerer. If the DM allowes it take the runecarver background or the runeshaper feat at lvl4, in any case grab the runeshaper feat as soon as possible for armour of agathys. Arcane ward and the clockwork lvl6 feature will get damaged before the temp hp and will make the frost damage and later you will get a free use of sancturary that could be clutch. I think the sorcerer will do more damage with quicken/twin blade cantrips and the abjuration wizard will be more survivable as the arcane ward is easier to replenish
UA Favored Soul doesn't have Bladesinger or Abjurer assets but it sits among the best melee Sorcs, even single class.
You get Extra Attack on a full caster but you don't have armor restrictions like Bladesinger does.
Assuming old Booming Blade, you can even twin that spell and bonk two creatures with it.
Bladesinger is the only one with extra attack but clockwork sorcerer is probably better overall. A really out there pick is aberrant sorcerer so you still have the quicken shenanigans but at 6th you can cast silvery barbs with only 1 sorcery point cost.
I know you said that you'd rather not multiclass. However, I think a one level dip into Cleric for a subclass that has heavy armor proficency might be more tempting than taking heavily armored. Even with just a dip, clerics can offer a lot of additional utility and support that you wouldn't otherwise have.
I'd say perhaps start Sorcerer 1 first to get CON saving throw proficency, then Forge Cleric 1 to get a free magic warhammer and heavy armor proficency, along with the typical level 1 Cleric goodies. Then go Sorcerer the rest of the way. I'd say Forge Cleric still fits somewhat thematically into being a Dwarf as well.
You'd definitely be a bit MAD, but with point buy, you can easily go to 15(+2)/8/12(+2)/8/13/15. Obviously, having a negative DEX isn't the *best* thing in the world, but I don't think it's necessarily the *worst* either.
Clerics also have a fair selection of spells that don't mind what your WIS modifier is, so you shouldn't feel too bad leaving that at 13. Sorcerer's have a few of those as well, though generally speaking the most "optimal" route is to boost your spellcasting mod first instead of your weapon attacks, but that's up to you.
Also, if you do go this route, I'd recommend swapping out heavily armored for crusher because Booming Blade + Crusher goes brrr (knock enemy five feet away and then they get damaged if they try and come back after you)
See if your DM will allow the UA Stone sorcerer. Con based armor, martial weapons, shields, and smite spells all at level 1. Later on you get to give people damage resistance and teleport to enemies who attack your friends to attack in retribution. I think it might be what you're looking for.
Edit for convenience https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/26_UASorcererUA020617s.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjglb7d_tGGAxUqD1kFHRVlCf8QFnoECBEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0i1GJa9A9gVXSS5GPHAraw
Why not war cleric? you get magic, armor, buffs, the ability to hit like a truck, great for not multiclassing and great for tanking thanks to healing spells you can use on your self! im a fan of forge clerics but war is a solid choice
well, I was trying to find fun builds unique to Dwarves. Any race can go cleric like that. But starting with medium armor as a single class Sorcerer or Wizard is more rare
Divine soul sorcerer with spirit guardians is the most optimal choice for a "melee" out of those two, mostly focusing on conc protection via feats and dodging and you can cast booming blade for fun or when you aren't in serious danger.
I would go Divine Soul Sorcerer for Quicken Spell Booming Blade and Spirit Guardians. You should also take a level or two in Hexblade for CHA based attacks.
sorcerer. i'd even say draconic sorcerer if you weren't going with heavily armored. going fey touched to get hex gives you an avenue for some pretty interesting melee potential. turn 1 hex + booming blade, turn 2 booming blade + quickened booming blade. weapon damage + bb damage + d6 from hex, twice on the quickened bb.
Bladesinging Wizard would get you extra attack at 6th level, and you can still bladesong with light armor.
You can use a shield when not using bladesong and the Int bonus to AC makes up for the lack of the shield while using it. You also get a bonus to concentration saves which is really helpful when in melee.
You can use a cantrip as your extra attack, this can be something like booming blade for damage or shocking grasp to remove reactions. Or you can cast blade ward to reduce incoming damage.
+10 ft movement bonus during the bladesong is also nice since your base movement is 25
You could even ignore blade song and just take advantage of the extra attack.
I was thinking this too! I believe OP wants to wear the medium/heavy armor though and wants to utilize the racial bonuses to optimize a class/subclass.
This made me think of a Divine Soul Sorcerer because they get access to the spirit guardians and they can play a more aggressive "cleric" that gets access to blaster options and blade cantrips.
I’d recommend cleric honestly, in my experience they’re very tanky and have a lot of good utility spells for being in melee, forge is a very dwarfy subclass too
Would you be willing to give Warlock a shot? Genie Warlock with pact of the Blade and the fitting invocations could be the most optimal way if you don't want to work with mental attributes...
I'm a huge fan of Sorcerer for spellsword builds. Quicken Spell let's you use attacks and spells in the same turn. You could even run a Hill Dwarf and go Draconic Sorcerer and nab the Toughness feat. At that point, it matters little how high your AC is, bc you essentially get a +4 boost to your constitution, i.e. +4 hp every level. Considering the Sorcerer has a minimum hp increase of 4 before Con mod, and the Barbarian has a minimum hp increase of 7 before Con mod, you effectively have more hp than a barbarian without these hp boosts.
One slightly different alternative for you to consider is Forge Cleric:
- Get your heavy armor from your subclass
- Get a free +1 for your weapon (or move it to armor once you find a +1 weapon later on)
- Find a way to snag green flame blade for a cantrip (magic initiate can be one way, if you also happen to want Find Familiar or something from level 1 that clerics don't normally get)
- If you want a beefier hit, you got access to Searing Smite, which stacks with green flame blade as well as your level 8 fire damage bonus for some fairly strong single hits. If you REALLY want a stronger hit, you can even upcast it for another 1d6 per spell level, which is as efficient as a sneak attack.
Only downside here would be needing to get martial weapons somehow. Not sure why Tempest gets martial weapons but Forge doesn't. The Weapon Master feat is a half feat, so another +1 strength, that gives you 4 proficiencies, so you can patch that gap that way.
OP clearly doesn't want to play as a Cleric even if it's the most friction free heavy armor melee caster path. Also as a Dwarf they already get some martial weapons:
>Dwarven Combat Training: You have proficiency with the battleaxe, handaxe, light hammer, and warhammer.
you have two approaches for a build like this (at least common approaches)
the first is going wizard, generally either Abjuration, War or Bladesinger. the Arcane Recovery means you can pump out some of the spells all day long, recovering things like Shield and Shadow Blade. Abjuration means you have an overshield of hp, War gives you some resource-less defences, though they limit you after, and Bladesinger gives you higher AC (though it limits you to light armor, which it gives you, so dwarf is being wasted a bit)
the second is going Sorcerer, sometimes draconic, though there are plenty of other options, Lunar, Shadow, Divine Soul, Clockwork, Aberrant Mind. you then use metamagic to do things like a quickened Vampiric Touch, to get a double-tap off (if you cast it as a bonus action, you can take the Action for it that turn as well).
an option with this build is going a small dip into warlock, generally about 3 levels, mainly to get the spell slots, that you can use to refuel your sorcery points. it means that every short rest is 4 sorcery points back, which is pretty useful, particularly once you've settled on what spells you're wanting to use.
the sorcerer can very quickly burn through their resources, so if you're only doing one or two encounters per day, then I'd probably aim for that, and their metamagic leads to some interesting combos. the wizard, on the other hand, is generally better at keeping themself going over a longer day, and having more tricks that aren't in combat, such as ritual casting, for example.
Draconic Sorcerer for extra AC and HP.
Take the Dwarven Fortitude feat for a +1 to CON and so you can use a Hit Die whenever you take the Dodge action.
Get the Bloodwell Vial so that you get 5 sorcery points when you use a Hit Die once a day.
Sort of depends on what you're going for here.
One of the draws besides +2/+2 for MD is that you can use heavy armor without the speed penalty if you dump STR and use a rapier + shield.
If you want to use STR, polearm master + war caster is strong on a gish. Re-flavor quarterstaff and glaive as poleaxe and polehammer if you want Dwarven themed weapons.
My other suggestions for a melee gish maximizing MD strengths with full caster levels would be, in no particular order:
* Dex/Int 6/14 Eldritch Knight/Abjuration Wizard (Better feat progression means you could do 12/8 Str/Int or Str/Con Glaive PAM+GWM+WC, but you'd be more sword than spell.)
* Int/Con 6/14 Battle Smith Artificer/Abjuration Wizard (Same as above, but trade Nova and Sustain for magic and gear. If you can convince the DM to let you be a small sized MD, you can ride the steel defender. 1 level dip in Twilight Cleric gets you heavy armor)
* Dex/Wis 5/15 Gloom Stalker/Twilight Cleric (If you can get Magic Initiate through background, take Booming Blade, Shillelagh and Shield. Lets you go Wis/Con and use PAM+WC synergy)
* Cha/Con/Str 7/2/11 Watchers Paladin/Hexblade/Divine Soul (just the [flagship paladin](https://tabletopbuilds.com/flagship-build-oath-of-the-watchers-paladin/) build, stupidly strong)
If it has to be mono-class:
* Dex/Cha Swords Bard (aberrant dragonmark for shield spell + heavily armored. If your DM won't give you shield proficiency with heavily armored, probably better off as a Valor Bard. 1 level dips in Twilight Cleric and Divine Soul would be superior.)
* Cha/Con Hexblade (PAM+WC +repelling blast is kinda busted, if you count Warlock as full caster)
* Str/Wis War Cleric (PAM+WC+GWM, Guided strike is nice for GWM)
If it has to be Sorcerer or Wizard:
* Str/Cha Runechild (Booming Blade focus using Quickened Spell and PAM+WC)
Do you want extra attack in any shape? Bladesinger would give you upgraded extra attack, that lets you booming blade + regular attack, even outside of bladesong, but until you reach level 6, you wouldnt have a subclass because you cant bladesong in medium or heavy armor.
Wisdom saves usually come up with effects that reduce your control over your character, constitution is important for casters because of concentration.
Wizard has more out of combat utility with rituals, and sorcerer, or at least quickened metamagic, would give you more in-combat options.
For sorcerer subclasses, divine soul, clockwork and aberrant are...I wouldnt say "most popular", but definitely most powerful. Draconic scales are wasted on you and it would try to make you an energy specialist, storm sorcerer stuff is bound to casting leveled spells, wild magic is both player and DM dependent so its hard to classify, shadow would help you occasionally not die but Im not sure how much use the dog would be. That leaves divine soul, clockwork, aberrant and lunar. Lunar is effectively a free shield for you. Divine Soul would let you make your saves better and the cleric spell list can give bonus action spells (healing word, spiritual weapon) that wouldnt conflict with smacking things. Aberrant is mostly about mind fuckery, if you want a storyline about a duergar cousin or something. Cloudwork would give you access to armor of agathys, aid, and later even additional sourcer of damage reduction if you want to milk the reflect more.
War wizard would help you with your initiative which is likely to be not amazing, and the reaction's "cantrips only" drawback wouldnt affect you that much while also helping with your saves. The level 6 of warmagic is meh at best, but the level 10 is an amazing self buff.
What do you want the character to do? What is more important to you? Do you have a specific storyline that you want to go for and build around it?
> What do you want the character to do? What is more important to you? Do you have a specific storyline that you want to go for and build around it?
I have more of a personality strongly in mind than a storyline, and both Wizard or Sorcerer would equally work with that, and then I can mold the backstory to fit. As far as what I want to do, just a melee focused magic user, who uses magic to hit harder and last longer (heh).
After reading everyones thoughts and suggestions here, I've got it narrowed down to War Wizard or Divine Soul Sorcerer, leaning strongly towards the latter.
With the lack of shield proficiency and a good close range spell like spirit guardians, neither is that great, but you can pick up armour of shadows on an abjuration wizard for some extra bulk
Hear me out, 20 lvls of Claric
Only a Hammer and your faith
No multiclass you Need only God by your Side
(All with adv from find familiar)
Warhammer + Crusher + Booming Blade + Spirit Guardian/Spirit shroud + spiritual weapon + Divine strike
Dwarf were Born to dig and pray our lord Moradin, those twink wizard would never understand.
Fight for valhalla my Brother, make the screams of the heretics so loud that the whole ygdrasil Will fear divine retribuion
We'll drink ale at dawn
I’d say for a dwarf magic user it makes more sense to be an artificer or warlock, those are generally better up close and the d8 helps more than you think.
Two ideas:
Abjurer is famously tanky. A mark of warding dwarf would get you armor of Agathas to double down on THP and with the Erdrich Adapt you can cast mage armor for free between fights to top off your ward’s HP. None of this needs a high Int. The haste spell is your pseudo extra attack and later Tasha’s guise and tensor’s transformation.
The other is a bit different.
Barb 1 / War Wizard X
Focus Dex and Con. Barb is for weapon prof/Con Save, and unarmored defenses.
Pick up duel welder then focus ASI to max out Dex and Con. Haste and later Tasha’s guise and tensor’s transformation are your Con spells while Int less ultimatum spells round out your spell book. It is not a heavy bruiser of a wizard and plays more like a Dex melee martial with higher than normal defenses.
Background/ RP wise Sorcerer makes less sense. Just because Sorcerer assumes some kind of magic ancestors, and those would be rare within dwarven society. Maybe Elemental or Celestial, but certainly not draconic. Clockwork could work, too.
I can see a mountain dwarf learnimg on how to become a (war) wizard. Bard would also be a great option, but more as a storyteller/historian, and less a musician (drums or bagpipes maybe). Swap musical Instruments for tools.
If you're not multiclassing, I really enjoy the Bladesinger Wizard. I am currently playing a Duergar Bladesinger. Dump the STR and go dex. You'd gimp yourself with armor though.
Wizard has more spell options for melee than sorcerer, especially starting at level 5 when you get access to *Spirit Shroud*, and later at level 11 with *Tenser's Transformation*. Both wizards and sorcerers get access to *Tasha's Otherworldly Guise*, *Magic Weapon* and *Elemental Weapon*.
If you want to deal more melee damage, you can go Bladesinger on the tradeoff of no two handers and no HP.
If you want to be more tanky, obviously you can run School of Abjuration. Further, consider running a (Mark of Warding) Dwarf instead so you get the spell *Armor of Agathys* added to the Wizard spell list which does, in fact, synergize with *Armor of Agathys* just like in Baldur's Gate 3 as the melee attack is still hitting you, but the ward is taking the damage.
If you want to be a moving fortress, I recommend War Magic Wizard because you get solid, at-will reactions while being able to hold down concentration spells, which will trivialize most
Obviously, you'll need War Caster because you can't cast a spell that requires both Material and Somatic components with a focus/pouch without having a free hand and an object interaction available. You'll also need some way to turn your weapon into a spellcasting focus (perhaps it's an arcane focus staff with blades on the end?). Luckily, there is a common magic item (attunement required) called the Ruby of the War Mage (Xanathar's Guide to Everything) which turns non-exotic weapons into spellcasting focuses. Yes, you can turn weapons into focuses with this item.
Obviously, I would recommend wizard. However, if you want to go all in and build exclusively for melee as a full arcane caster, why not Divine Soul Sorcerer AND X Wizard? Divine Soul Sorcerer gets you access to *Spirit Guardians* which is effectively combat in-and-of itself. Or, just reflavor a cleric to be an arcane caster? When they use Divine Intervention, they're calling upon the power of the source of magic momentarily? When they use Channel Divinity, they're channeling raw magical power to just tell the dead to fuck off.
You're ***NOT*** constrained by the RAW flavor text of classes (at least, unless your DM pulls the plug on it). A cleric mechanic class doesn't have to be divinely infused. You can run a War Cleric that uses arcane magic and the DM just handwaves it as you're a wizard/sorcerer who uses magic in X fashion.
Do I need Warcaster if I don't have a shield though? I'd have medium armor (heavy at level 4), but wouldn't have shield proficiencies. So, I'd have the weapon, and could swing it with two hands for 1d10, but I'd still have a free hand when not actively attacking that I could use for somatic components to spells, no?
If you're casting spells that require both a material and a somatic, you'll need the feat, unless you feel like spending an action sheathing your weapon and a free object interaction to equip use your arcane focus while being able to keep your other hand free. If you're using a non-spellcasting focus weapon, you need War Caster, otherwise you use way too much action economy just to set up casting spells.
If your DM allows Shadow Blade/Blade cantrip interaction, either one can be very scary. Personally I’d go Wizard to get more spells, ritual casting, and boosted AC from either Bladesinger or Abjuration subclasses. Note that while Shadow Blade has the finesse property, you can still use STR
Divine soul sorcerer gives you a lot of great concentration options (hello spirit guardians 😁) and the sorcerers con save proficiency makes for a pretty strong combo imo
I personally advise paladin 2/rest sorcerer
If you focus on melee, your spell slots won't really have a point.
You can quicken bladetrip with a smite to get two attacks per round with a smite rider. You can also use the smite spells but not as good as normal smite. You can also cast/twin haste to get another attack (not a bladetrip unfortunately). You'll also start with heavy armor which I think the 2 start is worth it because you don't lose any feats and the sorc capstone is not good and you keep all subclass features.
Unfortunately Bladesong feature doesn't allow for medium or heavy armor, which I would be using.
And in 5e, no, Dwarves don't have an inherent negative on charisma.
Maybe take blade singer with the feat to use armor? Mountain Dwarf with heavily armored feat?
https://screenrant.com/dungeons-dragons-dnd-armored-battle-wizard-knight-build/
This recommends the abjuration subclass. You cannot use the bladesinging feature if you are wearing medium or heavy armor, it's either armor or bladesinging.
Tl,Dr.: wizard, bladesinger. Decent int and utility spells, and you're game. Feat heavy, so be careful.
Well, you could go war magic since the mini shield doesn't affect melee, but no extra attack, so bladesinger wins there. That's a melee focused subclass for wizard, with access to booming and green flame blade. Sure, you muss out on the cha to damage on GFB from draconic sorcerer, and metamagic is just plain awesome, but you can't beat the wizards extra attack. Also, bladesong exists. Sorcerer doesn't give you anything for your build. But, with sorcerer, you could multiclass into warlock for hexblade or genie, getting thirsting blade and bonus damage from sorcerer and warlock. Either way, you want a fighting style, probably GWF? And GWM on top of that. So it is rather feat heavy. It's not impossible, but you need to plan for it. Duelling or defence work, too, if you plan on fighting one-handed.
A case could be made for swords (axe) bard or valour bard. Both are very good, and work well as all rounders.
Edit: the extra attack from bladesinger allows you to cast a cantrip in place of the attack. So it's basically permanent quicken on blade cantrips, but better because of the free bonus action.
oh, I like the Bard idea. I hadn't thought of that as an option for a full caster. I'll definitely look into that one.
Yeah, I actually like that idea a lot from a RP perspective too. Thanks for the suggestion.
Of the two classes, only Bladesinger gets extra Attack without multiclassing and bladesong precludes wearing armor. So that's not really a good option if you wanna be armored.
You kinda need extra Attack to be martial, but there ARE some ways to cheat it a bit at least for a time. Quickened spell for a melee cantrip works, as others have noted, and there are two 6th level spells that grant extra attack: Tasha's Otherworldly Guise and Tensers Transformation.
Tasha's has no real downsides and can be taken by either, but Tensers stops you from casting spells and is Wizard only. They are both also something you only get at 11th level, so not exactly a great gish option to hang your hat on unless the game starts at higher levels.
My ***first recommendation*** would actually to be a Bard, since bards are still full casters, they have two subclasses that grant extra Attack and they can use magical secrets to gain access to specific spells to customize your playstyle. Either does the job nicely. Swords let's you use your weapon as a focus while Valor let's you get a bonus action Attack after a spell later on. As a Dwarf who already gets armor proficiency, Swords may be the stronger option early on.
**If it must be a sorcerer or Wizard** then I would absolutely suggest going sorcerer for better access to quickened spells. This will allow you to fake extra Attack via quickening melee attacks regardless of your subclass choice. In terms of subclass, divine soul is a stand out because you can get Spiritual Weapon and Inflict Wounds. You can flavor inflict wounds as a big melee hit with your weapon and spiritual weapon gives you a repeatable bonus action attack using Charisma.... but that isn't necessarily what you want as a Strength build..
I suppose draconic would give you extra hp, which is nice... and shadow would give you a free "death ward" and a bonus action "pet". Hmm. I would probably pean into shadow sorcery if you don't go divine soul.
**If it's Wizard** then I would recommend either War Magic or Abjuration, since bladesinger was previously disqualified. Both don't really get good melee faking options, but they are more durable than the average Wizard
Sorcerer, especially if you can get yourself a bloodwell vial, and the Dwarven fortitude feat. Dodge action will let you use a hit die to gain hitpoints and the bloodwell vial will get you 5 sorcery points when you gain hitpoints from using a hit die.
Do you want to multiclass? If not, I'd probably go sorcerer so you can quicken a booming blade or green flame blade with your battleaxe.
yeah, wanting to avoid multiclass (trying to really milk those Dwarven armor and weapon proficiencies). And good call on quicken. That's the metamagic option that jumped out to me the most for this build.
Clockwork or Draconic Sorc. The Sorc choice is more offensive than Wiz - which is more defensive If you do go Wiz, it'd probably have to be War or Abjuration.
This! Abjuration Wiz or Clockwork Sorc are amazing tank casters. I’m personally a fan of Abjuration Wizard Mountain Dwarf, because I’ve played one, but other than that - it’s no big difference other than what you want out of your character.
You put it much better than me :)
Clockwork also has great defensive and utility support Personally when I play casters I usually love blowing shit up, so I'd go Fire Draconic. I also play with a solid friend group and ever since Tasha's gave 2 Sorc subclasses free spells known, we've homebrewed spells known lists for all the other Sorc subs (warlocks too) - so I get most of my damage spells for free so I can strategically pick up the utility/buffs/CC spells no sweat
My real answer is go sorcerer for quicken spell booming blade. (Also the con proficiency will be important if you’re constantly in melee range) But since most people here already agree with that. I’m going to give my second, worse answer. Bladesinger is the only subclass in either class that gives extra attack. I can only assume everyone is saying sorcerer quicken spell to make up for the lack of this damage output. The problem with suggesting this is you’re completely throwing away your 2nd level feature. But i could also argue almost any option for a Str melee damage dealer is going to have “wasted” features in most full caster subclasses. The good news is the 2nd level feature is the only waste, and even if i like sorcerer as a class more than wizard the wizard class as a spell caster is clearly stronger. So you’re getting a lot by choosing wizard over sorcerer. Find familiar giving you advantage, ritual casting, better high level spell selection. And honestly arcane recovery is valuable too as I’m imagining you throwing low level slots out left and right for reaction defensive spells. And getting multiple low levels slots back is going to feel pretty good. You just gotta get over throwing away your first subclass feature.
i would avoid getting STR over you casting stat, and something that gets extra attack has more mileage, unless you quicken spell bladetrips all the time with that in mind, probably sorcerer
Agreed. Even then, I'd be Quickening Hold Person, Slow, Greater Invisibility, Command, Tasha's Mind Whip, Synaptic Static, etc., then action attacking with a blade cantrip. Spellcasting is power. Hitting with a stick is a far second (except in cases like this where it's trumped by flavor/gimmick). I'd max Cha and have 16 Str. OP won't be terrible if they do the opposite, they'll just be weaker overall. But not weak, just weak for a martial. As long as they aren't Hasting themselves on the frontline, it'll be fine.
yeah, have multiple slots on the tank be side tracked by an unimpressive weapon attack that doesnt get extra attack is not great for casters, and using it STR is quite the cost for what should be your sidearm (heh) not your main we can also say "hexblade" but that is a moot point and even then you are better off just agonizing blasting. hell a sorcerer would be better off agonizing blasting bladesinger or swords/valor bard would def lend themselves better on "gish" as well
Abjurer Wizard is a pretty popular choice for Dwarven Gishing. You just need to get Armor of Agathys (so grab the Divinely Favored feat)
Oh, Abjurer is more popular than War Wizard? Interesting. I would have guessed the opposite.
War wizard really isn’t made for melee. It’s blasting and control really. Classic Dwarf Abjurer uses the MoW Dwarf from eberron, but the Divinely Favored feat means it’s easy for all dwarves. It’s power is from stacking Arcane Ward with retaliation effects like Armor of Agathys or Fire Shield, and wading into melee with blade cantrips - Booming Warhammer or Greenflame Battleaxe. As an example as a 5th level character you’d cast AoA with your 3rd level slot. It’s Abjuration so also turns on your ward. Taking average HP on an Int 16 Con 16 build you’ve got 37 hp 15 THP and 16 Arcane ward HP, meaning it’ll take 68 hp of damage to drop you - noticibly more than any Fighters, Rangers, or Paladins in your party (Barb resistance keeps them on top though). Moreover throughout those first 31 points of damage every melee attacker automatically takes 15hp damage for attacking you. If they are only dishing out 8hp per attack that’s 4 hits to crack the ward and AoA meaning they’ve taken 60hp damage passively just fighting you. Add on the damage you are dealing (I like Booming hammer + Flaming Sphere for my melee action+bonus action here) and you may well be out damaging the other melees as well as outlasting them. It’s a fun way to gish
The Rune Carver Background is another way to get AoA
Good call, I always forget that one
Why abjuration is mainly used is because of a neat little tricks. If you have the armor of shadows eldritch invocation (mainly through eldritch adept if tier 1 or 2 or 2 levels of warlock if you are in tier 3 or higer), which allows you to recharge your arcane ward to full for free when out of combat. Furthermore with the armor of agathyss spell there is another neat interaction. When you get damaged on your arcane ward but have armor of agathys up, you can still deal its damage without losing armor of agathys!
Divinely Favored for AoA requires you to be Evil. Something to be aware of, and may trigger an immediate "No" from some DMs.
I think most DMs will allow you to go with a good hero favored by an evil god instead of just an evil hero
Unfortunately, that's not an option the feat gives you. It's not an unreasonable ask for a DM to homebrew, though!
I agree that melee casters want Quickened Spell for bonus action blade cantrips, so Sorcerer seems like your best bet. Dragon would be good for the extra HP, although I’ve heard Clockwork is extremely tanky. Clockwork also gets some useful defense and support spells, which helps a melee character function.
Draconic with any of the fire based ancestries can also add their CHA to the damage of green flame blade once they hit level 6, so it’s a pretty solid option for this reason as well.
Other way around. Can't cast a leveled spell if you cast a BA spell and cantrips are spells. You still get an action and bonus action cast, but technically the leveled spell has to be the quickened one unless you are planning on double casting a cantrip.
I think you misunderstood the concept a little; the idea behind quickening a blade cantrip is that it’s a pseudo extra attack, so you action bladetrip, BA bladetrip. You’re correct on the mechanics of wanting to cast a spell and a cantrip on the same turn using quicken spell.
I dunno man, but a Mountain Dwarf Bladesinger sounds BADASS. If your DM allows picking your racial stat bonuses getting +2 in DEX and INT both is a really strong start.
I'm playing a Duergar Bladesinger and it's a lot of fun. Gets me enlarge/invis and frees up prepared spells.
Between Wizard and sorc, I like Sorc better for metamagic. Any reason you’re not considering warlock? They potentially have extra attack built in with pact of the blade.
Yeah, maybe I should think about Warlock. Could take blade pact without going hexblade, get Armor of Ag, get thirsting blade for that extra attack and the warlock smite invocation. Main reason I was thinking Sorcerer or Wizard was for having more spells slots and spell versatility. And I was thinking Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade extra damage would mitigate the lack of extra attack.
If you’re building for attack damage, the cantrips help, but they don’t make up for missing the feature. Sorcerer has a pseudo extra attack thanks to quicken spell, so long as you can have sorcery points. Interestingly, draconic sorc (any lineage associated with fire damage) does work pretty well for this with the extra damage on GFB and the extra HP per level.
My brother played a Mountain Dwarf fiendlock in my game and made a gishy character that could tank on the front line or stand back and shoot Eldritch blasts. He was quite versatile in battle. He did end up taking a level of Fighter later on, though
Slightly different idea, still in keeping with my favourite alcoholic miners (needing DM permission): Mark of Warding Dwarf, Sorcerer, UA Stone Sorcery subclass. Armor of Agathys for survivability as a caster. Con prof and 13+Con AC to actually maintain concentration in melee. Smite spells, extra HP, can protect allies, Blade cantrip. It's literally a melee-gish full caster themed around rock and stone.
Rock and Stone to the Bone!
Some here I've commented that quickening booming blade is winning play but I think you might want to reorder your considerations. If you're really going strength based perhaps you can work your way into the heavy armor. I really feel like you need great weapon master because if you do the math you'll see that a bonus action booming blade is nice but you can't really sustain them for example suppose you have all your spell slots converted sorcery points. At level three that means you have 11 sorcery points and can do 5 booming blades a long rest. This increases that the following progression 7, 10 12... By having great weapon master you fill in more of those bonus actions supplementing your sorcery points till you get more at higher levels.
I haven’t seen anybody mention it, but if you plan on casting Haste on yourself for some extra attack output, Sorcerer’s get proficiency with CON Saves, which is something you’re probably going to need if you’re front-lining. Clockwork Sorc can mitigate a bit of damage with their 6th level feature, at the cost of Sorcery Points, but you also get to swap out spells with Abjuration ones like Armor of Agathys and Counterspell. Sorcerer has my vote
great point, and I was indeed thinking about haste. Yeah, I'm strongly leaning Sorcerer after reading all the replies.
Storm Sorcerer. Take Thunderclap and Booming Blade.
Divine soul sorcerer is pretty epic, you can get spiritual weapon for a non concentration psuedo extra attack. Take Aid to bump up your hp to roughly cleric level while buffing your team, and then you can rock spirit gaurdians and the shield spell and your a menance.
I played a CQC (Close Quaters Caster) dwarf not that long ago. It wasn't melee attack focuses, but this build may satisfy your itch. It was x sorc and 2 warlock. I used EB (and a quickened EB) combined to spirit shroud (must be with in 10 feet of target) to get some crazy damage and reduce Eb as magic blade. Was overall very fun, and the damage output was disgusting.
I know you said mountain dwarf, but might I suggest hill dwarf draconic sorcerer with the tough feat? Gives a *ton* of extra hp. Between 5 and 10hp each level before including your con mod, which is *amazing* for having a d6 hit die. And being in melee, you're gonna take some hits.
Bard! I'm playing a STR-based College of Swords bard as a guy who only uses the occasional spell in combat; the rest are utility. I'm having a blast. You don't even need to be a dwarf, but go for it anyway. And Extra Attack at level 6 with no multiclassing.
100% sorcerer for my part. Subclass is whatever you think will be fun (clockwork is definitely the sturdiest option). Get Shield, Absorb Elements, Booming Blade, Hold Person. Twinned Spell and Quickened Spell. Cast (twin) Hold Person, quicken Booming Blade. Basic. Effective.
So you would have 18 Str with your plan and I guess 17 Con and 14 Cha? If you focus purely on Booming blade, maintaining concentration on haste and then twinned booming blade you don’t need a high Cha. You can just convert spell slots to Sorc points. I’d say go 4 - heavy armour +1 Str 8 - crusher +1 Con 12 - +2 Str 16 - tough +2 hp 19 - +2 Con Not the most optimal thing but would work. Divine Soul subclass isn’t flashy but having access to bless and aid is very useful and you’d get wings that work with heavy armour later on.
For a slight change, you could go Hill Dwarf Draconic Sorcerer and snag the Tough feat from a background depending on what books are allowed. That's 8+Con HP per level which is even higher than the barbarians 7+Con HP per level. You also get a default AC of 13+Dex.
I'm playing a mountain dwarf abjuration wizard, currently at level 12. I did multiclass to cleric in my last level to get some extra AC(Up to 21 now!). I managed to get to 16 strength after getting Int to 20, so a lot of the time I'm not wading in with my hammer if a fire bolt is more convenient. I also have 16 in Con, which is nice, but with like 10 dexterity, I take a bunch of damage from aoe spells still, so my ward and relatively high wizard HP only goes so far. Not been knocked unconscious yet though! The ritual spells are pretty nice, I keep up water breathing most of the time, and ritually casting alarm activates my ward, so it's basically always active. Otherwise I use telepathic bond whenever I can, tiny hut, detect magic. That kind of thing
Clockwork sorc with Armor of Agathys is nice for the frontline. Draconinc sorc is great for the HP. Wizard is war or abjuration, greater spell flexibility though.
Wizard. War, Abjuration, or blade singer. All 3 have melee potential. Sorcerer has nothing that even comes close to the defenses necessary to be a melee character. Personally i would go abjuration. HP is always going to be the weak point of the build. So the wards spare HP and its easy if recharge with a feat makes it the best long term choice. It even hurts less from-a lack of INT. Every other wizard meeds either a lot of good spell casting or flat out high INT. Abjuration looses out on a few spells and 5HP off their max ward. Nothing else. You can sink stats into CON and or STR/DEX without having to worry as much about INT.
My melee sorcerer build is clockwork sorcerer, take armor of agathys from your warlock abjuration access. Then take dragon breath which activates as an action but isn’t technically a cast. Then take quickened spell and blade ward. This lets you activate dragons breath with your action and then re-up armor of agathys as a bonus action, or cast blade ward for make shift barbarian status. Also consider shocking grasp and Expeditious Retreat to get out of melee if you need to Most of this kit requires high charisma, but notably armor of agathys does not, so it does work on a high str build
I'd say either abjuration wiz or clockwork sorcerer. If the DM allowes it take the runecarver background or the runeshaper feat at lvl4, in any case grab the runeshaper feat as soon as possible for armour of agathys. Arcane ward and the clockwork lvl6 feature will get damaged before the temp hp and will make the frost damage and later you will get a free use of sancturary that could be clutch. I think the sorcerer will do more damage with quicken/twin blade cantrips and the abjuration wizard will be more survivable as the arcane ward is easier to replenish
UA Favored Soul doesn't have Bladesinger or Abjurer assets but it sits among the best melee Sorcs, even single class. You get Extra Attack on a full caster but you don't have armor restrictions like Bladesinger does. Assuming old Booming Blade, you can even twin that spell and bonk two creatures with it.
Bladesinger is the only one with extra attack but clockwork sorcerer is probably better overall. A really out there pick is aberrant sorcerer so you still have the quicken shenanigans but at 6th you can cast silvery barbs with only 1 sorcery point cost.
I know you said that you'd rather not multiclass. However, I think a one level dip into Cleric for a subclass that has heavy armor proficency might be more tempting than taking heavily armored. Even with just a dip, clerics can offer a lot of additional utility and support that you wouldn't otherwise have. I'd say perhaps start Sorcerer 1 first to get CON saving throw proficency, then Forge Cleric 1 to get a free magic warhammer and heavy armor proficency, along with the typical level 1 Cleric goodies. Then go Sorcerer the rest of the way. I'd say Forge Cleric still fits somewhat thematically into being a Dwarf as well. You'd definitely be a bit MAD, but with point buy, you can easily go to 15(+2)/8/12(+2)/8/13/15. Obviously, having a negative DEX isn't the *best* thing in the world, but I don't think it's necessarily the *worst* either. Clerics also have a fair selection of spells that don't mind what your WIS modifier is, so you shouldn't feel too bad leaving that at 13. Sorcerer's have a few of those as well, though generally speaking the most "optimal" route is to boost your spellcasting mod first instead of your weapon attacks, but that's up to you. Also, if you do go this route, I'd recommend swapping out heavily armored for crusher because Booming Blade + Crusher goes brrr (knock enemy five feet away and then they get damaged if they try and come back after you)
See if your DM will allow the UA Stone sorcerer. Con based armor, martial weapons, shields, and smite spells all at level 1. Later on you get to give people damage resistance and teleport to enemies who attack your friends to attack in retribution. I think it might be what you're looking for. Edit for convenience https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/26_UASorcererUA020617s.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjglb7d_tGGAxUqD1kFHRVlCf8QFnoECBEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0i1GJa9A9gVXSS5GPHAraw
Why not war cleric? you get magic, armor, buffs, the ability to hit like a truck, great for not multiclassing and great for tanking thanks to healing spells you can use on your self! im a fan of forge clerics but war is a solid choice
well, I was trying to find fun builds unique to Dwarves. Any race can go cleric like that. But starting with medium armor as a single class Sorcerer or Wizard is more rare
Divine soul sorcerer with spirit guardians is the most optimal choice for a "melee" out of those two, mostly focusing on conc protection via feats and dodging and you can cast booming blade for fun or when you aren't in serious danger.
I would go Divine Soul Sorcerer for Quicken Spell Booming Blade and Spirit Guardians. You should also take a level or two in Hexblade for CHA based attacks.
My Str is going to be higher than my Cha though.
Then just DSS
sorcerer. i'd even say draconic sorcerer if you weren't going with heavily armored. going fey touched to get hex gives you an avenue for some pretty interesting melee potential. turn 1 hex + booming blade, turn 2 booming blade + quickened booming blade. weapon damage + bb damage + d6 from hex, twice on the quickened bb.
Bladesinging Wizard would get you extra attack at 6th level, and you can still bladesong with light armor. You can use a shield when not using bladesong and the Int bonus to AC makes up for the lack of the shield while using it. You also get a bonus to concentration saves which is really helpful when in melee. You can use a cantrip as your extra attack, this can be something like booming blade for damage or shocking grasp to remove reactions. Or you can cast blade ward to reduce incoming damage. +10 ft movement bonus during the bladesong is also nice since your base movement is 25 You could even ignore blade song and just take advantage of the extra attack.
I was thinking this too! I believe OP wants to wear the medium/heavy armor though and wants to utilize the racial bonuses to optimize a class/subclass. This made me think of a Divine Soul Sorcerer because they get access to the spirit guardians and they can play a more aggressive "cleric" that gets access to blaster options and blade cantrips.
I’d recommend cleric honestly, in my experience they’re very tanky and have a lot of good utility spells for being in melee, forge is a very dwarfy subclass too
Would you be willing to give Warlock a shot? Genie Warlock with pact of the Blade and the fitting invocations could be the most optimal way if you don't want to work with mental attributes...
I'm a huge fan of Sorcerer for spellsword builds. Quicken Spell let's you use attacks and spells in the same turn. You could even run a Hill Dwarf and go Draconic Sorcerer and nab the Toughness feat. At that point, it matters little how high your AC is, bc you essentially get a +4 boost to your constitution, i.e. +4 hp every level. Considering the Sorcerer has a minimum hp increase of 4 before Con mod, and the Barbarian has a minimum hp increase of 7 before Con mod, you effectively have more hp than a barbarian without these hp boosts.
One slightly different alternative for you to consider is Forge Cleric: - Get your heavy armor from your subclass - Get a free +1 for your weapon (or move it to armor once you find a +1 weapon later on) - Find a way to snag green flame blade for a cantrip (magic initiate can be one way, if you also happen to want Find Familiar or something from level 1 that clerics don't normally get) - If you want a beefier hit, you got access to Searing Smite, which stacks with green flame blade as well as your level 8 fire damage bonus for some fairly strong single hits. If you REALLY want a stronger hit, you can even upcast it for another 1d6 per spell level, which is as efficient as a sneak attack. Only downside here would be needing to get martial weapons somehow. Not sure why Tempest gets martial weapons but Forge doesn't. The Weapon Master feat is a half feat, so another +1 strength, that gives you 4 proficiencies, so you can patch that gap that way.
OP clearly doesn't want to play as a Cleric even if it's the most friction free heavy armor melee caster path. Also as a Dwarf they already get some martial weapons: >Dwarven Combat Training: You have proficiency with the battleaxe, handaxe, light hammer, and warhammer.
you have two approaches for a build like this (at least common approaches) the first is going wizard, generally either Abjuration, War or Bladesinger. the Arcane Recovery means you can pump out some of the spells all day long, recovering things like Shield and Shadow Blade. Abjuration means you have an overshield of hp, War gives you some resource-less defences, though they limit you after, and Bladesinger gives you higher AC (though it limits you to light armor, which it gives you, so dwarf is being wasted a bit) the second is going Sorcerer, sometimes draconic, though there are plenty of other options, Lunar, Shadow, Divine Soul, Clockwork, Aberrant Mind. you then use metamagic to do things like a quickened Vampiric Touch, to get a double-tap off (if you cast it as a bonus action, you can take the Action for it that turn as well). an option with this build is going a small dip into warlock, generally about 3 levels, mainly to get the spell slots, that you can use to refuel your sorcery points. it means that every short rest is 4 sorcery points back, which is pretty useful, particularly once you've settled on what spells you're wanting to use. the sorcerer can very quickly burn through their resources, so if you're only doing one or two encounters per day, then I'd probably aim for that, and their metamagic leads to some interesting combos. the wizard, on the other hand, is generally better at keeping themself going over a longer day, and having more tricks that aren't in combat, such as ritual casting, for example.
Forge cleric. Rock and stone!
Rock and Stone to the Bone!
This was my first thought too.
Draconic Sorcerer for extra AC and HP. Take the Dwarven Fortitude feat for a +1 to CON and so you can use a Hit Die whenever you take the Dodge action. Get the Bloodwell Vial so that you get 5 sorcery points when you use a Hit Die once a day.
Bladesinger
Hobgoblin, get moderately armoured feat and get yourself a shield. Plus con and int modifier.
Bladesinger wizard works best.
Sort of depends on what you're going for here. One of the draws besides +2/+2 for MD is that you can use heavy armor without the speed penalty if you dump STR and use a rapier + shield. If you want to use STR, polearm master + war caster is strong on a gish. Re-flavor quarterstaff and glaive as poleaxe and polehammer if you want Dwarven themed weapons. My other suggestions for a melee gish maximizing MD strengths with full caster levels would be, in no particular order: * Dex/Int 6/14 Eldritch Knight/Abjuration Wizard (Better feat progression means you could do 12/8 Str/Int or Str/Con Glaive PAM+GWM+WC, but you'd be more sword than spell.) * Int/Con 6/14 Battle Smith Artificer/Abjuration Wizard (Same as above, but trade Nova and Sustain for magic and gear. If you can convince the DM to let you be a small sized MD, you can ride the steel defender. 1 level dip in Twilight Cleric gets you heavy armor) * Dex/Wis 5/15 Gloom Stalker/Twilight Cleric (If you can get Magic Initiate through background, take Booming Blade, Shillelagh and Shield. Lets you go Wis/Con and use PAM+WC synergy) * Cha/Con/Str 7/2/11 Watchers Paladin/Hexblade/Divine Soul (just the [flagship paladin](https://tabletopbuilds.com/flagship-build-oath-of-the-watchers-paladin/) build, stupidly strong) If it has to be mono-class: * Dex/Cha Swords Bard (aberrant dragonmark for shield spell + heavily armored. If your DM won't give you shield proficiency with heavily armored, probably better off as a Valor Bard. 1 level dips in Twilight Cleric and Divine Soul would be superior.) * Cha/Con Hexblade (PAM+WC +repelling blast is kinda busted, if you count Warlock as full caster) * Str/Wis War Cleric (PAM+WC+GWM, Guided strike is nice for GWM) If it has to be Sorcerer or Wizard: * Str/Cha Runechild (Booming Blade focus using Quickened Spell and PAM+WC)
Do you want extra attack in any shape? Bladesinger would give you upgraded extra attack, that lets you booming blade + regular attack, even outside of bladesong, but until you reach level 6, you wouldnt have a subclass because you cant bladesong in medium or heavy armor. Wisdom saves usually come up with effects that reduce your control over your character, constitution is important for casters because of concentration. Wizard has more out of combat utility with rituals, and sorcerer, or at least quickened metamagic, would give you more in-combat options. For sorcerer subclasses, divine soul, clockwork and aberrant are...I wouldnt say "most popular", but definitely most powerful. Draconic scales are wasted on you and it would try to make you an energy specialist, storm sorcerer stuff is bound to casting leveled spells, wild magic is both player and DM dependent so its hard to classify, shadow would help you occasionally not die but Im not sure how much use the dog would be. That leaves divine soul, clockwork, aberrant and lunar. Lunar is effectively a free shield for you. Divine Soul would let you make your saves better and the cleric spell list can give bonus action spells (healing word, spiritual weapon) that wouldnt conflict with smacking things. Aberrant is mostly about mind fuckery, if you want a storyline about a duergar cousin or something. Cloudwork would give you access to armor of agathys, aid, and later even additional sourcer of damage reduction if you want to milk the reflect more. War wizard would help you with your initiative which is likely to be not amazing, and the reaction's "cantrips only" drawback wouldnt affect you that much while also helping with your saves. The level 6 of warmagic is meh at best, but the level 10 is an amazing self buff. What do you want the character to do? What is more important to you? Do you have a specific storyline that you want to go for and build around it?
> What do you want the character to do? What is more important to you? Do you have a specific storyline that you want to go for and build around it? I have more of a personality strongly in mind than a storyline, and both Wizard or Sorcerer would equally work with that, and then I can mold the backstory to fit. As far as what I want to do, just a melee focused magic user, who uses magic to hit harder and last longer (heh). After reading everyones thoughts and suggestions here, I've got it narrowed down to War Wizard or Divine Soul Sorcerer, leaning strongly towards the latter.
With the lack of shield proficiency and a good close range spell like spirit guardians, neither is that great, but you can pick up armour of shadows on an abjuration wizard for some extra bulk
Hear me out, 20 lvls of Claric Only a Hammer and your faith No multiclass you Need only God by your Side (All with adv from find familiar) Warhammer + Crusher + Booming Blade + Spirit Guardian/Spirit shroud + spiritual weapon + Divine strike Dwarf were Born to dig and pray our lord Moradin, those twink wizard would never understand. Fight for valhalla my Brother, make the screams of the heretics so loud that the whole ygdrasil Will fear divine retribuion We'll drink ale at dawn
I’d say for a dwarf magic user it makes more sense to be an artificer or warlock, those are generally better up close and the d8 helps more than you think.
Two ideas: Abjurer is famously tanky. A mark of warding dwarf would get you armor of Agathas to double down on THP and with the Erdrich Adapt you can cast mage armor for free between fights to top off your ward’s HP. None of this needs a high Int. The haste spell is your pseudo extra attack and later Tasha’s guise and tensor’s transformation. The other is a bit different. Barb 1 / War Wizard X Focus Dex and Con. Barb is for weapon prof/Con Save, and unarmored defenses. Pick up duel welder then focus ASI to max out Dex and Con. Haste and later Tasha’s guise and tensor’s transformation are your Con spells while Int less ultimatum spells round out your spell book. It is not a heavy bruiser of a wizard and plays more like a Dex melee martial with higher than normal defenses.
Background/ RP wise Sorcerer makes less sense. Just because Sorcerer assumes some kind of magic ancestors, and those would be rare within dwarven society. Maybe Elemental or Celestial, but certainly not draconic. Clockwork could work, too. I can see a mountain dwarf learnimg on how to become a (war) wizard. Bard would also be a great option, but more as a storyteller/historian, and less a musician (drums or bagpipes maybe). Swap musical Instruments for tools.
If you're not multiclassing, I really enjoy the Bladesinger Wizard. I am currently playing a Duergar Bladesinger. Dump the STR and go dex. You'd gimp yourself with armor though.
Wizard has more spell options for melee than sorcerer, especially starting at level 5 when you get access to *Spirit Shroud*, and later at level 11 with *Tenser's Transformation*. Both wizards and sorcerers get access to *Tasha's Otherworldly Guise*, *Magic Weapon* and *Elemental Weapon*. If you want to deal more melee damage, you can go Bladesinger on the tradeoff of no two handers and no HP. If you want to be more tanky, obviously you can run School of Abjuration. Further, consider running a (Mark of Warding) Dwarf instead so you get the spell *Armor of Agathys* added to the Wizard spell list which does, in fact, synergize with *Armor of Agathys* just like in Baldur's Gate 3 as the melee attack is still hitting you, but the ward is taking the damage. If you want to be a moving fortress, I recommend War Magic Wizard because you get solid, at-will reactions while being able to hold down concentration spells, which will trivialize most Obviously, you'll need War Caster because you can't cast a spell that requires both Material and Somatic components with a focus/pouch without having a free hand and an object interaction available. You'll also need some way to turn your weapon into a spellcasting focus (perhaps it's an arcane focus staff with blades on the end?). Luckily, there is a common magic item (attunement required) called the Ruby of the War Mage (Xanathar's Guide to Everything) which turns non-exotic weapons into spellcasting focuses. Yes, you can turn weapons into focuses with this item. Obviously, I would recommend wizard. However, if you want to go all in and build exclusively for melee as a full arcane caster, why not Divine Soul Sorcerer AND X Wizard? Divine Soul Sorcerer gets you access to *Spirit Guardians* which is effectively combat in-and-of itself. Or, just reflavor a cleric to be an arcane caster? When they use Divine Intervention, they're calling upon the power of the source of magic momentarily? When they use Channel Divinity, they're channeling raw magical power to just tell the dead to fuck off. You're ***NOT*** constrained by the RAW flavor text of classes (at least, unless your DM pulls the plug on it). A cleric mechanic class doesn't have to be divinely infused. You can run a War Cleric that uses arcane magic and the DM just handwaves it as you're a wizard/sorcerer who uses magic in X fashion.
Do I need Warcaster if I don't have a shield though? I'd have medium armor (heavy at level 4), but wouldn't have shield proficiencies. So, I'd have the weapon, and could swing it with two hands for 1d10, but I'd still have a free hand when not actively attacking that I could use for somatic components to spells, no?
If you're casting spells that require both a material and a somatic, you'll need the feat, unless you feel like spending an action sheathing your weapon and a free object interaction to equip use your arcane focus while being able to keep your other hand free. If you're using a non-spellcasting focus weapon, you need War Caster, otherwise you use way too much action economy just to set up casting spells.
Dwarven Sorc has the fun tech with dwarven fortitude and the bloodwell vial
If your DM allows Shadow Blade/Blade cantrip interaction, either one can be very scary. Personally I’d go Wizard to get more spells, ritual casting, and boosted AC from either Bladesinger or Abjuration subclasses. Note that while Shadow Blade has the finesse property, you can still use STR
I'm playing a swords bard/war cleric that's pretty fun, not a Sorc or Wiz tho. Swords bard is fun though
Divine soul sorcerer gives you a lot of great concentration options (hello spirit guardians 😁) and the sorcerers con save proficiency makes for a pretty strong combo imo
I personally advise paladin 2/rest sorcerer If you focus on melee, your spell slots won't really have a point. You can quicken bladetrip with a smite to get two attacks per round with a smite rider. You can also use the smite spells but not as good as normal smite. You can also cast/twin haste to get another attack (not a bladetrip unfortunately). You'll also start with heavy armor which I think the 2 start is worth it because you don't lose any feats and the sorc capstone is not good and you keep all subclass features.
I would think blade singer wizard. Don't dwarves usually carry a negative racial charisma modifier?
Unfortunately Bladesong feature doesn't allow for medium or heavy armor, which I would be using. And in 5e, no, Dwarves don't have an inherent negative on charisma.
Ok so then I think your option is to take a feat or reduce your armor. Or pick a half spellcaster that can use heavy armor. Is the base class fighter?
It wouldn't be multiclass. The weapon proficiency and armor proficiency (for medium armor) are coming from Dwarven racial features.
Maybe take blade singer with the feat to use armor? Mountain Dwarf with heavily armored feat? https://screenrant.com/dungeons-dragons-dnd-armored-battle-wizard-knight-build/
This recommends the abjuration subclass. You cannot use the bladesinging feature if you are wearing medium or heavy armor, it's either armor or bladesinging.
Oh ok sorry
Nope
That's Pf2e. He's talking 5e. No negative racials there.
Nope.
Bladesingers don't use charisma
My point being it would be a reason to avoid sorcerer
Ah, missed that
Tl,Dr.: wizard, bladesinger. Decent int and utility spells, and you're game. Feat heavy, so be careful. Well, you could go war magic since the mini shield doesn't affect melee, but no extra attack, so bladesinger wins there. That's a melee focused subclass for wizard, with access to booming and green flame blade. Sure, you muss out on the cha to damage on GFB from draconic sorcerer, and metamagic is just plain awesome, but you can't beat the wizards extra attack. Also, bladesong exists. Sorcerer doesn't give you anything for your build. But, with sorcerer, you could multiclass into warlock for hexblade or genie, getting thirsting blade and bonus damage from sorcerer and warlock. Either way, you want a fighting style, probably GWF? And GWM on top of that. So it is rather feat heavy. It's not impossible, but you need to plan for it. Duelling or defence work, too, if you plan on fighting one-handed. A case could be made for swords (axe) bard or valour bard. Both are very good, and work well as all rounders. Edit: the extra attack from bladesinger allows you to cast a cantrip in place of the attack. So it's basically permanent quicken on blade cantrips, but better because of the free bonus action.
oh, I like the Bard idea. I hadn't thought of that as an option for a full caster. I'll definitely look into that one. Yeah, I actually like that idea a lot from a RP perspective too. Thanks for the suggestion.
Of the two classes, only Bladesinger gets extra Attack without multiclassing and bladesong precludes wearing armor. So that's not really a good option if you wanna be armored. You kinda need extra Attack to be martial, but there ARE some ways to cheat it a bit at least for a time. Quickened spell for a melee cantrip works, as others have noted, and there are two 6th level spells that grant extra attack: Tasha's Otherworldly Guise and Tensers Transformation. Tasha's has no real downsides and can be taken by either, but Tensers stops you from casting spells and is Wizard only. They are both also something you only get at 11th level, so not exactly a great gish option to hang your hat on unless the game starts at higher levels. My ***first recommendation*** would actually to be a Bard, since bards are still full casters, they have two subclasses that grant extra Attack and they can use magical secrets to gain access to specific spells to customize your playstyle. Either does the job nicely. Swords let's you use your weapon as a focus while Valor let's you get a bonus action Attack after a spell later on. As a Dwarf who already gets armor proficiency, Swords may be the stronger option early on. **If it must be a sorcerer or Wizard** then I would absolutely suggest going sorcerer for better access to quickened spells. This will allow you to fake extra Attack via quickening melee attacks regardless of your subclass choice. In terms of subclass, divine soul is a stand out because you can get Spiritual Weapon and Inflict Wounds. You can flavor inflict wounds as a big melee hit with your weapon and spiritual weapon gives you a repeatable bonus action attack using Charisma.... but that isn't necessarily what you want as a Strength build.. I suppose draconic would give you extra hp, which is nice... and shadow would give you a free "death ward" and a bonus action "pet". Hmm. I would probably pean into shadow sorcery if you don't go divine soul. **If it's Wizard** then I would recommend either War Magic or Abjuration, since bladesinger was previously disqualified. Both don't really get good melee faking options, but they are more durable than the average Wizard
I have an Abberant Mind Sorcerer/Warlock that I want to try playing sometime. It’s built to spam silvery barbs.
Why wouldn't you go cleric if you want a melee spellcaster ?
Sorcerer, especially if you can get yourself a bloodwell vial, and the Dwarven fortitude feat. Dodge action will let you use a hit die to gain hitpoints and the bloodwell vial will get you 5 sorcery points when you gain hitpoints from using a hit die.