Terry's Progression Tracker

Start-class article

Terry’s Progression Tracker is the level-up plan and build-history record for Terry, Chris’s tortle PC, currently a Fighter 1 / Bladesinger Wizard 3 at character level 4. The tracker covers the full mechanical history from the bard 3 origin (s4-s5), the off-screen respec to Fighter 1 / Wizard 2 (between s5 and s6), the build-path declaration in s11, the Bladesinger subclass selection at level 4 (s14), and the first combat use of Bladesong (s15). Forward-looking levels are sketched against the Bladesinger 5e2024 progression with Chris’s known intent.

Current build (end of session 16)

  • Character level: 4
  • Class breakdown: Fighter 1 / Bladesinger Wizard 3
  • Race: Tortle
  • Familiar: Owl, named Earthwing, summoned via Find Familiar (re-summoned as needed; the s16 owl is presumed dead)
  • Stat damage: -1 Charisma ([1], failed Rite of Returning at Harvo’s funeral), restored in session 20 when he hummed Harvo’s melody on watch [2]
  • Outstanding penalty currency: “Crybaby points” / negative inspiration accumulated across sessions; DM still uses or jokes about this

Build history (chronological)

Phase 1: Bard 3 (sessions 4-5)

  • What he was: College of Glamour bard with intent to multiclass into paladin (1 paladin / 3 bard / Glamour) at level 4. Glamour subclass was the build’s eventual payoff but never activated.
  • Flavour items kept: bagpipes (still carried as a Bladesinger; used as the somatic prop for the Find Familiar ritual).
  • The dip that never happened: the level-4 paladin-dip combo was: cast Command (flee), target runs, opportunity attack with Booming Blade + Divine Smite as they leave the threatened space. This combo was the spiritual successor to Cholmondeley’s plan (which also never reached level 4, for opposite reasons).

Phase 2: respec, between s5 and s6 (off-screen)

  • What he became: Fighter 1 / Wizard 2.
  • Mechanism: full retire-the-bard, rebuild-as-wizard. Same character narratively. The paladin level was never taken.
  • Why: Chris’s call. The bard build was not landing as wanted; the wizard chassis with a fighter dip was a better fit for the Bladesinger end-state Chris was aiming at.
  • First in-session evidence: wizard-coded behaviour at [3] (“Do you want to send the wizard in first?”) and [4] (“I’m a smart wizard, I know not to touch things”).
  • First explicit table acknowledgement: another player at [5]: “Oh, no, wait, you changed from Bard to Wizard, did you?”

Phase 3: build-path declaration (s11)

“One level of fighter, two levels of wizard. I keep forgetting about it, but yes. The fighter stuff’s irrelevant until I get Bladesinger.” — Terry, [6]

This is the first time Terry articulated the full plan at the table. The fighter-1 level is for armour proficiency / Action Surge / Constitution save, all of which support Bladesinger concentration in melee. The wizard levels are the spell progression toward Bladesinger.

Phase 4: level 4 (end of s14)

  • Subclass selected: Bladesinger.
  • Subclass features locked behind a long rest at the end of session 14.
  • Party-wide level-up: the entire party hit level 4 at s14 end.

Phase 5: Bladesinger first deployed (s15)

  • Bladesong activated for the first time: [7] (“I activate Bladesong”).
  • First combat use: dual-wielding short sword + scimitar; on his first turn under Bladesong, scored a natural-20 scimitar attack and beheaded an Aurelian recruit [8]. The Bladesong’s flat AC bonus and Constitution save bonus revealed lethal-tier on-roll outcome.
  • First-time spell: Shadow Blade cast for the first time mid-Kuo-toa fight [9], used at advantage from Althea’s Bless, instant-killing Kuo-toa #2 by piercing through soul-stuff.
  • Reflavor: bagpipes-shaped Wizard’s musical-magical defensive form. Terry treats Bladesong as a music-style activation rather than a martial pose.

Phase 6: session 16

  • No level change.
  • Earthwing the owl shot down again (presumed). Will need a re-summon.

Forward-looking plan (Chris’s known intent)

This section is a working sketch against 5e2024 Bladesinger progression. Update as Chris confirms.

Level 5 (next milestone)

  • Class: Fighter 1 / Bladesinger Wizard 4.
  • Wizard 4 features: Ability Score Improvement (or feat). Cantrip from list. Standard wizard 4 progression.
  • Spell access: 3rd-level wizard slots open at wizard 5 (level 6 total). At level 5, still capped at 2nd-level slots.
  • Bladesong duration: 10 minutes per Bladesong, scaling.
  • Suggested ASI / feat: TBD with Chris. Resilient (CON) or War Caster are obvious melee-wizard supports; Tough is a chassis-buff option.

Level 6 (Fighter 1 / Bladesinger Wizard 5)

  • 3rd-level wizard slots unlock. Fireball (fire-themed party reflux), Counterspell, Haste, Fly all in scope.
  • Extra Attack is a Bladesinger 6 feature, not unlocked at this level.
  • First milestone where a 3rd-level slot can be burned for upcast Find Familiar / Sending / Counterspell / etc.

Level 7 (Fighter 1 / Bladesinger Wizard 6)

  • Extra Attack unlocks (Bladesinger 6). Two attacks per Attack action under Bladesong; can replace one with a cantrip.
  • This is the level the build has been pointed at since the s11 declaration.

Level 8+

  • Continue Wizard. ASI at Wizard 8 (level 9 total). Wizard 10 grants 5th-level slots.
  • Long-term consideration: whether to take Bladesinger-Wizard 14 for Song of Victory, or to cap and dip elsewhere.
  • No further fighter levels currently planned (“the fighter stuff’s irrelevant until I get Bladesinger” reading literally: fighter 1 is the dip and the dip is done).

Items received that affect build

  • Cloak of Protection: the DM’s out-of-game gift of one uncommon item per player, in s11 [10]. +1 AC and +1 to all saves. Stacks excellently with Bladesong’s CON-save bonus and the wizard’s existing INT save-DC reliance.
  • Silvered short sword: picked up in Warrens arc; off-hand under Bladesong dual-wield.
  • Scimitar: Bladesinger primary; finesse, dex-attacks under Bladesong.
  • Bagpipes: flavour, somatic prop for Find Familiar.

Penalty bookkeeping

  • -1 Charisma (s9 to s20): [1]. It reduced Charisma saves and social rolls until session 20, when the DM restored the point after Terry hummed Harvo’s melody on watch [2].
  • Crybaby points / negative inspiration: ongoing -1d4 penalties, DM-applied, no formalised counter. Treat as soft-cap on Chris’s grumbling.

See also

References

  1. ^ Session 9, line 1646: Inline citation.
  2. ^ Session 20, line 817: Inline citation.
  3. ^ Session 6, line 539: Inline citation.
  4. ^ Session 6, line 649: Inline citation.
  5. ^ Session 8, line 928: Inline citation.
  6. ^ Session 11, line 1521: Inline citation.
  7. ^ Session 15, line 156: Inline citation.
  8. ^ Session 15, line 196-199: Inline citation.
  9. ^ Session 15, line 1141: Inline citation.
  10. ^ Session 11, line 22-30: Inline citation.