Battlemage build help.

[Project Danny]

OK so I need help with a build I have an idea what I want but no idea how to do it.

I like casting spells but I hate using a staff and wearing robes I think robes and staffs are seriously ugly I don't wana wear a grandma's night dress to cast spells...

I want to use a longsword and shield and wear heavy armor so I'm tanky while also casting spells and doing decent damage...

However I did look up eldritch knight but people say it sucks? No idea why...

Some people even suggested 1 point sorcerer rest into eldritch knight.

Some said 1 point fighter 11 sorcerer.

What is a good build for longsword shield and heavy armor and cast offensive magic?

I hate paladin so that's a no no I also hate bard tried em both didn't like em.

Any help thanks.

[Cereal Designation Spoon]

you could take the heavily armored feat and play as a human for proficiency in some weapons, and you can get a magic item to increase your intelligence

[Mokona]

Tempest cleric, electric dragonborn, war caster feat, w/e magic class you want that gives shocking grasp

[AsianGirlLover]

2 points into Tempest Cleric, pump the rest into a caster class. I’m currently doing a playthrough of 5 Warlock, 7 Paladin and having amazing success, and plan on doing 2 Tempest Cleric, 10 Evocation Wizard in my next playthrough.

[dolby]

i guess i would try 1 fighter then you go warlock pack of the blade to level 5 after that you can go Sorcerer or stick with warlock... normally you take paladin instead of fighter but for some reason you don't want to do that....

[Mork]

5-6 Eldritch Knight / 6-7 Wizard
Build like a tank with spells

Paladin of Devotion 6 or 8 / Draconic sorcerer 4 or 6
High CHA mostly use his spells to smite

Ancient paladin 5 or 6 / Storm Cleric 6 or 7
Healer, tank, critical thunderous smite, buffer cleric

All use Hill Giant Elixir
Important feat: War caster
Getting the Hag Hair to increase INT or CHA to 18 would be recommended.

[Silyon]

Originally posted by Project Danny:

I want to use a longsword and shield and wear heavy armor so I'm tanky while also casting spells and doing decent damage...

However I did look up eldritch knight but people say it sucks? No idea why...

Eldrich Knight gets frowned on because of both relatively restricted spell selection in BG3 and the fact that because levels are capped at level 12; they never get past 2nd level spells. Which makes the only spells that remain late-game viable a small selection of buff or utility spells. Ones like Shield and Misty step. EK's spell damage is never that great and falls off hard, so you're better off focusing on their martial skill anyway.

If you're dead set against Bard or Paladin dips, then Fighter 2 for Action surge or War Cleric 3 for their Channel are probably your best options, since both give you extra attack actions and heavy armor. Sorcerer is good for it's metamagic, but Evocation Wizard is solid for preventing friendly fire. Regardless, your stats will end up a mess, try to focus on Dex with finesse weapons and your Casting Stat unless you're prepared to spend a fortune on Hill giant Elixirs to make up for sub-par STR.

[Underprivileged White Male]

Originally posted by Project Danny:

OK so I need help with a build I have an idea what I want but no idea how to do it.

I like casting spells but I hate using a staff and wearing robes I think robes and staffs are seriously ugly I don't wana wear a grandma's night dress to cast spells...

I want to use a longsword and shield and wear heavy armor so I'm tanky while also casting spells and doing decent damage...

However I did look up eldritch knight but people say it sucks? No idea why...

Some people even suggested 1 point sorcerer rest into eldritch knight.

Some said 1 point fighter 11 sorcerer.

What is a good build for longsword shield and heavy armor and cast offensive magic?

I hate paladin so that's a no no I also hate bard tried em both didn't like em.

Any help thanks.

Well I think the problem here is you seem to think heavy armor makes you "tanky." The reality of 5e is that heavy armor really doesn't make you any more tanky than medium or light. In game you'll at most get 1 extra damage reduction, and 3 vs non magical melee damage. I believe the highest AC setup still involves medium armor.

Thy main benefit of heavy armor is it lets you go str instead of dex, which is more than a trade-off than an outright bonus. If you want to use a longsword you'll need str unless you go monk though I suppose.

Let's start off by straight out saying by excluding paladin and bard you've already killed off the best "spellblade" builds out the gate.

To make an effective melee you're going to at least need a class that gets access to more than 1 attack per round excluding paladin and bard that leaves us with the following:
5 Barb
5/11 Fighter
5 Warlock
5 Monk
5 Ranger
War Domain Cleric.

Barb isn't going to work with a spellblade, 11 fighter is out as well. That leaves us with:

5 Fighter
5 Warlock
5 Monk
5 Ranger
War Domain Cleric

Under the logic of a "spell blade" I'd assume you'd want access to at least 4th level spells if for no reason that tossing more fireballs. That writes off Monk unless you want to take the feats. It's doable, but this is long enough already.

So here are some options:

5 Fighter(Battlemaster) + 7 Warlock(Great Old One) for a fully short rest based character that gets 2 level 4's per short rest then falls back on melee with 3 attacks per round. Entropic Ward for extra Tankiness + damage as well as some useful Maneuvers. Action Surge gives it some great burst as well.

8 Ranger(Hunter) + 4 Wizard(Evocation) 4/3/3/2 for spell slots, Extra Attack, Multiattack Defence for +4 ac vs multi attacks, Hordebreaker can often squeeze in an extra attack per round. Going to need to take heavy armor prof as a feat.

War Domain Cleric is still buggy as a multiclass with martials AFAIK but it's an option as a pure class or with a 1 Wizard Splash, or as a X War Cleric/X Sorc/1 Wizard split

Tempest Cleric could also be an interesting option with a 1 Wizard Splash. Or perhaps as X Tempest Cleric/X Sorc/1 Wizard.

Some pretty restrictive rules, but maybe interesting to you. TBH 5e doesn't have great build variety in general so the best place to start really is "what don't I want."

Personally I recommend the fighter/lock 1 Fighter ->5 Warlock -> 4 more fighter -> 2 Lock. It's not "quite" as strong as a Pally/Lock but does get some of it's own flavor and advantages. Something to be said for drinking a haste pot, and firing off 2 fireballs and 3 melee attacks in a single round. Or 1 fireball and 6 melee attacks.

[GayBeard]

multiclass paladin with Sorcerer (any subclass). They both use charisma, Paladin will give you heavy armor and weapons, sorcerer will give you all the spells you want. Do 8/4 level split to not miss out on feats. 8 Palldin/4 Sorcerer if you want a mellee focused build with normal attacks. 8 Sorcerer/4 Palladin if you want a mostly spellcasting build that is tanky.

[roach]

githyanki path of the blade warlock all the way to level 12

[jonnin]

You have limited yourself too much IMHO. Heavy armor has only 1 thing going for it: you can dump dex into 'something else', but to get heavy armor you MUST either take a class that has it, or waste a feat for it (and taking 1 level of a class also wastes a feat!). There is no racial 'freebie' here. Free shields only come with light armor. Heavy armor is not significantly better than other types. Light armor only works if your dex is going to be at least 18, which you can do from an item in early act 2.

So, if you want a cosmetic look of heavy armor, shield, and sword, the only real answer here is to pick one of {fighter, paladin, or ranger with the knight perk on creation}. Fighter gets you a fighting style at level 1, paladin can get you healing spells at level 1 (but beware breaking your oath issues), and ranger gets a mix of spells from healing to damage or utility. There are also specific cleric domains that get both heavy armor AND martial weapons and shields at level 1, offering cleric spells much like the ranger.

Any of those and 11 levels of caster 'works' for the cosmetic look and tanky feel. Nothing more needs to be done; your hardest choice is which flavor above for the level 1 class splash. Your sword is going to be useless, though: you will not get but 1 attack with it and it will do far less than a cantrip by level 5.

BUT:
the light domain cleric plays a LOT like a wizard/cleric hybrid and has medium armor and shields, but no sword use. You can get sword use from elven races or gith. An item also offers sword use in early act 2. This is an outstanding 'battlemage' build but you wont be doing much weapon combat. You can take 1 level of monk and do offhand attacks with a high strength and tavern brawler to have a fair melee capacity (two hits, three a few times per rest that hit often and fairly hard).

a bard can get medium armor, shields, extra attack, and fights pretty well while blasting spells like a hybrid cleric/druid, but no heavy armor option without a splash or a feat burned on it. I know you said you did not like but the class IS a form of battlemage.

a warlock is more fighter than caster because of the low # of spells per short rest, but can get extra attack and fight well with magic to deal with tougher fights. Eldrich blast feels like a caster and closes the gap on only 2 spells / short problem.

a druid is once again not in heavy armor but like the light domain cleric has plenty of firepower both in melee (as an animal form) and in magic (human form).

If the LOOK is less important to you than the result, all kinds of options open using gith (sword and medium armor) or human/half elf (shield and light armor) to be PLENTY tanky. Half elf or human... sigh... can use your hated quarterstaff 1 handed with a shield. QS can be excellent, its hard to just say "we hates it" when in act 1 you can get 2 that offer a new cantrip, a d6+d4 ice or fire damage and can be used with polearm mastery I believe to get an 'offhand' attack of sorts.

TLDR: a high str light domain elf cleric with 1 level of monk can both fight and cast well while missing only heavy armor from your list.

[Moffin Bovin]

6 eldritch knight/6 wizard.

by 12 you should be able to cast 5th level spells that you learn from scrolls and by going 6 in fighter you get the extra feat.