D&D 5E Your best Eldritch Knight?

[cbwjm]

I don't have a level by level breakdown, but I made a genasi eldritch knight and the spells he learnt were primarily him expanding on his knowledge of elemental magic, not necessarily within his element of fire either. It gave him some cool tricks to do every now and then like firing an ice knife or using thunder wave.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Another way to improve EK substantially is to let the player choose two spell schools instead of limiting them to defenses and ka-booms.
Transmutation? They get Longstrider, Alter self (swimming/water breathing), Enlarge, Spider Climb, Haste, and Blink.
Illusion? Invisibility, Mirror Image, Shadow Blade, Phantom Steed, Blur.
Necromancy? Blindness/Deafness (take advantage of the save disadvantage they inflict), Bestow Curse, Spirit Shroud (+1d8 per hit!)
Conjuration? Find Familiar, Fog Cloud, Misty Step, Thunder Step, Tidal Wave (knock prone).
etc.

It's really just evocation that's a problem; it's probably the worst school for an EK to pick from.

 

[GrimCo]

Evocation is ok. It gives fighter AoE ability which he lacks.

One thing that would be great for EK is opening spell list to all schools. Just pick spells. Then you can take uitility spells that help out of combat. It makes more rounded character.

 

[ECMO3]

It's really just evocation that's a problem; it's probably the worst school for an EK to pick from.

Level 1 has a lot of good abjurations, but once you get to level 2+ (level 7EK) there are not many good abjurations to choose from.

There are some like Arcane Lock and Gust of Wind that you can come up with some creative uses for, but not many.

 

[Corinnguard]

Another way to improve EK substantially is to let the player choose two spell schools instead of limiting them to defenses and ka-booms.
Transmutation? They get Longstrider, Alter self (swimming/water breathing), Enlarge, Spider Climb, Haste, and Blink.
Illusion? Invisibility, Mirror Image, Shadow Blade, Phantom Steed, Blur.
Necromancy? Blindness/Deafness (take advantage of the save disadvantage they inflict), Bestow Curse, Spirit Shroud (+1d8 per hit!)
Conjuration? Find Familiar, Fog Cloud, Misty Step, Thunder Step, Tidal Wave (knock prone).
etc.

GM Binder has a variant of the Eldritch Knight subclass where the player can do this.

Eldritch Knight - School Specialization by Enaluxeme

Eldritch Knight - School Specialization by Enaluxeme - Created with GM Binder.

www.gmbinder.com

 

[cbwjm]

Evocation is ok. It gives fighter AoE ability which he lacks.

One thing that would be great for EK is opening spell list to all schools. Just pick spells. Then you can take uitility spells that help out of combat. It makes more rounded character.

I allow that for arcane tricksters and knights, I don't see the point in the restrictions when they have so few spells and spell slots available anyway.

 

[ezo]

Straight off, I don't like the Eldritch Knight, I think it's a horrible subclass. I've seen some rumblings otherwise, so I wanted to see what other folks might be using or doing to enjoy the class.

RULE #1: NO MULTICLASSING
RULE #2: NO ASSUMPTION OF MAGIC ITEMS

This is about the subclass itself, without having to augment it with another class or through magic items. I'd like to see people's level-by-level build for their "best" or most enjoyable way to build the class. I'm mostly approaching this from the DM's side of things, just to see if I'm misunderstanding the subclass. Doesn't have to be built all the way to 20th, I'm really just interested in how it plays up to 8th level, maybe 12th level at most. Any good tricks/combos/insights that help understand it better I'd really appreciate.

Man, there are so many fun builds for EK I've always wanted to try:

1. the Pole-arm Master, Shield Master, War Caster weapon-bonded staff shillelagh GFB or BB combo (pre-Tasha change)
2. "moar" magic build, race and every feat to get as many extra spells as possible
3. Pick-an-element-theme build with race, spells, and extras to match

Lacking a full-gish arcane option, it is a choice between this and bladesinger...

 

[Neonchameleon]

Lacking a full-gish arcane option, it is a choice between this and bladesinger...

Meanwhile Hexblades, Battle Smiths, and OneD&D Bladelocks (and even Swords Bards and Armourers) are right there.

The thing about the EK is that well over half of games end by level 5 and 90% by level ten. And in that range it's fine. It's a fighter at the levels where a fighter doesn't suck and has some arcane spells that synergise with being a fighter, notably the Shield and Absorb Elements spells. It's a front lining Fighter+.

 

[GrimCo]

I allow that for arcane tricksters and knights, I don't see the point in the restrictions when they have so few spells and spell slots available anyway.

Me 2, so do 2 other DMs in my group. They have so few spells known, restricting them gimps them too much. It cuts them out of some fun out of combat utility spells.

 

[ezo]

Meanwhile Hexblades, Battle Smiths, and OneD&D Bladelocks (and even Swords Bards and Armourers) are right there.

For others, perhaps, or perhaps not... (I can't say what works for others, those apparently work for you).

For me (anyway):
Hexblade is too limiting vis-a-vis spell slots. I am not a fan of warlock chassis with short-rest spell slots.
Battle Smiths? Oh, artificer garbage... not here, thank you.
Swords Bards swing the other way from Hexblade, a bit too much as a fullcaster.

No idea about Bladelocks?