I've always liked the idea of playing a wizard that has some combat skills and high dexterity (but mainly wizard). That being said, I started a wizard with the Bladesinger sub-class that is currently level 4, and I have a the following question:
As a weapon proficiency I chose short sword so that I can dual-wield and at level 6 I gain the "Extra Attack" feature of the Bladesinger which specifies that I can cast a cantrip instead of one of those extra attacks. So by my logic, I would be able to do this:
Attack + Cantrip + Bonus action attack with the offhand.
Now, that makes sense if the cantrip I use is Greenflame Blade or Booming Blade, for example, since I would have my 2 short swords in hand. But can I do the following?
Attack + Firebolt (or any other cantrip) + Bonus action attack with
offhand?
I've been reading about it and the answers seems to be quite different depending on the approach. Since mostly all cantrips require a somatic component some people say that I couldn't, some people say that I could, but only if I do the following:
Attack + Firebolt, then equip my short sword and attack with off hand (since its an item interaction that would be allowed, but for next turn I couldn't cast the cantrip since i have my 2 hands busy).
What if my arcane focus IS the short sword? And my somatic component is somehow integrated with all the bladesong mechanic? Like waving my swords in a fancy way or something like that? What if the spell is cast from the blade? I'm getting into some house-rule mechanics here, but is there anything unbalanced with allowing it?
It doesn't make it very powerful, I've been testing it recently and its a cool interaction. I've been reading about the Warcaster feat which removes the somatic component, that's something I could do, but I don't want to sacrifice the +2 to Int to get it.
Best Answer
Case #1: You are already holding two swords.
The rules for Two Weapon Fighting state:
The Bladesinger's Extra Attack feature reads:
So when you do (attack + cantrip), you are taking the attack action and the first attack is with a light melee weapon. Therefore, you would qualify for the bonus action attack from Two Weapon Fighting, if you are holding a light melee weapon in each hand.
This is a problem. As discussed in this Q&A, you must be holding the second weapon when you take the first attack: Does Two-Weapon fighting work if you aren't holding both weapons when you take the Attack action?
This means that for this combo to work, we must be holding two light melee weapons at the beginning of the attack action. Since Somatic components require a free hand, we are now limited to casting a cantrip that does not have Somatic components. Fortunately, there are three such damaging cantrips on the Wizard spell list:
Assuming we cast one of the three cantrips above, and are holding two short swords, the following turn is valid:
Case #2: One sword is sheathed - you must cast the cantrip first.
In this case, we assume we start with one sword in hand, and one sword in the sheathe. Here, it is crucial that we cast the cantrip first. This is permitted; the Bladesinger's Extra Attack feature says:
So we can replace the first attack with a cantrip. At the time of casting, we have one free hand, so we are not limited to the three cantrips discussed in Case #1, we can cast any cantrip we know. Then, for the second attack, we draw our second sword and make a melee attack with one of them. This is permitted:
So Let's review our turn so far: we have taken the Attack action and we are holding two light melee weapons in each hand when we attack with one of them. This is all that is necessary to qualify for the Two Weapon Fighting bonus action attack. So we may take it. Therefore, this is a valid turn:
Case #3: Booming Blade and Green-Flame Blade, order doesn't matter.
These cantrips will also work, though it takes a bit of analysis to get there. BB and GFB have Somatic and Material Components. As mentioned previously, Performing Somatic components usually requires a free hand:
But BB and GFB create a special exception for our case here. The rules for Material components state:
The Material component for BB and GFB is:
Because our short sword is the material component for these spells, a hand that is holding a shortsword can be the hand we use for the Somatic components. Therefore, the following turn is also valid:
Case #4: War Caster (with component pouch).
The War Caster feat busts this thing wide open with its second feature:
The feature basically removes any and all limitations. Because you can now perform Somatic components with one of your hands that is holding a sword, that hand can also access material components stored in a component pouch. As mentioned previously:
Since we are performing Somatic components with a hand holding a sword, this rule allows us to use that same hand to provide Material components from a component pouch:
You can hold two swords, cast any cantrip you like, with either your first or second attack, and still qualify for the Two Weapon Fighting bonus action attack. This feat really is a must-have for Bladesingers (if your DM is permitting use of feats), the other two features are incredibly useful as well:
Case #5: Ruby of the War Mage
There is a magic item called the Ruby of the War Mage that can turn one of our swords into a focus:
Ruby of the War Mage turns one of your swords into a spellcasting focus for your spells. A spellcasting focus is able to substitute for the Material components of your spells:
And since this sword hand is now providing material components, it can now be the hand that is providing Somatic components:
So as long as the spell has Material components (without cost), a hand holding a sword can provide both Material and Somatic components for that spell. But, we cannot cast a spell requiring a Somatic component and no material component. Unfortunately, this only adds one damaging cantrip to our list of options:
So the Ruby of the War Mage is actually a pretty disappointing option here, it only adds a single cantrip to our repertoire.