What a difference a Greatsword makes!

[Jacknoltin]

I normally play squishy wizards, sorcerers, warlocks, or on rare occasion a rogue. Still unable to give up the magic (I know, I have a problem), I went with a Githyanki Wizard. For the greatsword and medium armor proficiencies. I equipped some +1 Scale mail, and got the Sword of Justice pretty early to give me an 18AC with the buff. This changed the entire game. I hacked the Hag to pieces with no difficulty, Killed the entire goblin camp without a single K.O. Every fight that was difficult before was a lot easier. That high damage sword changed the whole game. I was really surprised. I never thought the combo would work.

[Ronin Gamer]

There's a variety of things that can work better than you might expect, especially if you aren't min/maxing and just trying things out. I tend to run a four man group with specific ideas in mind myself. Usually one "warrior" type, either a tank sword and board or a 2hander warrior. Another a spell caster of some sort. Another healer or support style character, doesn't need to be specifically that one thing just has the ability to do those things if I feel the need, and the last a rogue/ranged style character to fill in any things the other three aren't hitting, though with Shadowheart being able to do a number of things a rogue can typically do I can usually get away with not having our pale rogue or another rogue in the group since she's pretty good at two roles.

[God Queen 158]

I find it hard to play anything other than a warrior with greatsword.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Originally posted by God Queen 158:

I find it hard to play anything other than a warrior with greatsword.

For pure damage, Ranger or Barbarian is better (at least for now). Ranger can get +1d8 from Colossus Slayer on every subsequent attack, or an extra attack as long as there are 2+ creatures standing close together. They can also get another +1d8 from Hunter's Mark. Unfortunately, they don't get Great Weapon Fighting for a Fighting Style, so you gotta take Defense or Archery most likely, but they can get GWM at level 4. So, just assuming an 18 in Str and GWM, they can deal 2d6 + 2d8 +14, and then do something with their bonus action and reaction.

Berserker Barbarians get to attack twice each round with Frenzied Strike and add Rage damage on top of that, so assuming a Str 18 and GWM, 2d6 +2d6 +16. Since the average damage of one higher damage die is 1, they are about even with the Ranger in pure DPR, but the Barbarian has to spend a bonus action to get it, but can split this between two creatures, while the Ranger has to take Horde Breaker to do the same, but also gets his bonus action (assuming he hasn't spent it on Hunter's Mark).

The only thing these two don't get is Action Surge, which is only one extra attack per short rest.

[wulfster42]

In 5e especially wizards can be freaking awesome at melee, especially with certain builds and even more so if you multiclass a bit.

Through most editions though there were spells that just flat out made wizards amazing at melee, and compensated for the lower # of attacks and to hit that they normally got.

The shield spell in 5e though is especially amazing, adding a freakton of AC only when you need it. A dex based wizard especially can be insanely hard to hit, but you can't use a greatsword that way (or not very well hehe).

Spells like magic missile also don't require high casting stats at all, and can be very effective at range (or vs enemies that are very hard to hit etc).

Mage buffs like Blur, Haste, Heroism etc all make them more effective and better tanks often than many fighters, and due to the large amount of feats you usually get as a mage, and the huge bonus you get from con and feats like toughness, your mage might have as much or more max health than many fighter characters.

If your a Gith, you can actually wear a shield and still cast the shield spell as well.

With a high dex that means you can get a 13 base ac (with mage armor) + 5 ac (from dex), +2 ac (minimum from shield...possibly more with magical one), + 5 ac from shield spell when actually needed. That is without other buffs from feats/haste etc. With totally non-magical items that is 20 running around AC with 25 ac in a pinch (that can be used as many times as you have spell slots (you can use higher level spell slots to cast shield ifyou want as well).

Neither Armor nor Shield require concentration. Armor lasts for the whole day basically, and shield for a whole turn (you don't need to use it until someone would hit you, but then it's in effect till your next turn after that, working on all other attacks headed your way.

But just at level 3 you get a concentration spell that basically makes all the rest super better, because blur uses concentration, lasts for 1 minute (10 round) and gives all enemies disadvantage on hitting you (or negates advantage if they get it somehow).

A running natural 20 AC is already amazing with enemies having disadvantage, even if they are rolling (at level 3) with +5 to hit.....that still means they need to roll 15 or higher TWICE to even have a chance to hit you. IF they do, you use a shield spell and now all hits need to roll 20 TWICE heh.

And that is just by level 3, not including abjuration bonuses (over max hp when casting abjuration spells etc).

Magic weapon is an underated spell you can also cast at level 3 (just make sure you have at least 1 slot for blur if you are just gonna have 1 big fight in the day). In a low magic world (not BG3) where +1 magical weapons are rare, it gives you a +1 bonus to your weapon for an hour (multiple fights in theory, more then enough time to short rest and get a spell slot back etc). This can actually be boosted later at spell slot level 4 and 6 for +2 and +3 as well, very underated especially vs enemies that require certain level ofmagical items to damage (can also be cast on friends weapons!!).

Mirror image is another level 2 spell that makes you harder to hit, especially with a high dextery, but it's kinda over kill and not very effective when your running with a 20 ac and blur already, so blur is generally a better use for the spell slot (that being said it doesn't use concentration and it DOES work vs crit hits etc, so can be useful, especially later when you have more spell slots, and ANY hit by some huge enemy could kill you.

Third level spells have so many awesome advantages for melee wizards. Haste of course puts you on par with a fighter type with an extra attack per round, adds 2 ac, and movement speed bonuses. Problem is it's concentration so you have to choose between blur and haste sadly. If your fighting small fries without huge to hit bonuses though, you probably don't really need blur (Especially with shield as backup anyway). You are only getting hit on a 20 at that point, and possibly taking out enemies every round with the extra attack.

But you also have Blink, which does not require concentration. Once you have 2 spells you can even u se that in combo with haste. It lasts for 10 rounds but lets you roll to poof out of existance after attacking about 50% of the time. Enemies can't even target you, and you can move around freely as well (even lets you appear behind enemies etc).

Anyway melee wizards are pretty insane, and become even more so with a bit of multi-classing (not th at it's really needed). That is especially true in a low magic world (magic items that is). While we sadly won't get over level 5 spells in BG3 (at least initially) That is enought to make a very very powerful melee wizard indeed. If multi-classing is included you really don't need level 5 spells that much for melee (and in BG3 due to high level of magical weapons even level 4 isn't that important), which would leave alot of freedom to multi class a bit. You could even do fighter/barbarian/ranger/pally 5/wizard 5, and end up with 3 attacks per round due to haste (and the ability to use action surge if you have fighter levels as well (or frenzy as a barbarian).

[Jacknoltin]

I usually dislike having the "pale rogue"(is this like a Voldemort thing now?) or Lae'Zel in the party. Shadowheart is usually my rogue, but the lack of back stab I sometimes feel may hurt the party. Since I almost never play a fighter, and wasn't using Lae'Zel I think that really hurt my previous playthroughs. No real tank and some lack of melee damage output.

This time since I was a Gith Wizard I took Lae'Zel, Shadowheart and Wyl. Shadowheart usually has an 18 AC with no buffs and a shield when I play, Lae'Zel used a greataxe and only had a 16AC, again using no buffs. I also purchased a pair of gloves that casts Blade Ward on anyone who gets healed, and gave those to Shadowheart. I also found two new areas of the map I've never seen before which is saying a lot since I've put in over 500 hours. Or maybe it just says I don't explore a lot. It was probably the most fun I've had in a long while.
Thanks for all the info Wulfster42.