Gish according to RAW?


Advice


Pathfinder Maps Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

This has doubtless already been done on the forums, but my forum-search-fu is very low, so bear with me.

I'm interested in a martial character with some spellcasting (ideally, a lot of spellcasting) powers. What's the best way to do this, without resorting to disreputable 3rd party content? Is there a guide available?

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Wheldrake wrote:

This has doubtless already been done on the forums, but my forum-search-fu is very low, so bear with me.

I'm interested in a martial character with some spellcasting (ideally, a lot of spellcasting) powers. What's the best way to do this, without resorting to disreputable 3rd party content? Is there a guide available?

Do you care whether your spellcasting is arcane or divine?

On the divine side, you've got the cleric and inquisitor. The cleric gets more/better spellcasting, but the inquisitor gets more skills and requires less player skill to make it "fighty".

On the arcane side, you've got the magus (powerful, popular, easy), the eldritch knight (tricky to make work, but eventually becomes the best caster of the bunch), or the bard (don't worry, there are non-musical versions; the Archaeologist archetype is great and should have been called "wandering badass").

Once the Advanced Class Guide comes out, you'll have a couple more options as well.


To add to Jiggy:

The oracle and druid also make very good divine melee characters. The oracle by picking an appropriate mystery (Battle, Metal, etc.), and the druid by wildshaping into a creature with lots of teeth and claws.

And while not exactly a spellcaster, the alchemist often feels like one, either by throwing bombs or going melee vivisectionist (high strength plus sneak attack).


Pathfinder Maps Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Yes, I'm looking at arcane spellcasting.

It looks like:
- Eldritch Knight really only comes into his own at mid levels, since you need 5 levels of wizard, with corresponding BAB loss.
- Magus looks cool, though I haven't really looked hard at the spell list to see how it suffers compared to wizard. 3/4 BAB isn't so awful, I guess, for the added versatility.
- DEX-based fighter with 1 level of wizard could be fairly cool, relying on items for more powerful spellcasting.
- Maybe the best is straight fighter with UMD for item use. Is there a feat that gives UMD as a class skill?

Dark Archive

Arcane Duelist Bard

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Wheldrake wrote:

Yes, I'm looking at arcane spellcasting.

It looks like:
- Eldritch Knight really only comes into his own at mid levels, since you need 5 levels of wizard, with corresponding BAB loss.

Note that because of a FAQ ruling that SLAs count as spellcasting for the purpose of prerequisites, if you go fighter1/wizard1 and have your wizard level be a diviner with the scrying subschool, you could start into EK as early as 3rd level. This means you only lose 1 point of BAB, but it also means your "dead levels" for spellcasting come very close together, delaying 2nd-level spells until character level 5th, which hurts. Additionally, that would mean you finish the PrC at 12th level, and then have to start deciding between fighter (no more spellcasting) or wizard (no more full BAB). The length of the campaign will make a huge difference here.

Quote:
- Magus looks cool, though I haven't really looked hard at the spell list to see how it suffers compared to wizard. 3/4 BAB isn't so awful, I guess, for the added versatility.

Note that the magus also enjoys some actual class features, unlike a fighter/wizard/EK.

Quote:

- DEX-based fighter with 1 level of wizard could be fairly cool, relying on items for more powerful spellcasting.

- Maybe the best is straight fighter with UMD for item use. Is there a feat that gives UMD as a class skill?

There's a trait, called Dangerously Curious, that gives you +1 UMD and makes it a class skill. Or if your campaign isn't using traits, there's the Cosmopolitan feat, which (going from memory) lets you pick two mental skills to make class skills and also learn a couple of languages. Fairly solid feat for someone looking to diversify their options.


I like Trapper Freebooter Ranger 1/Scryer Wizard 1/Eldritch Knight 10/Hellknight Signifier 8. You can find and disarm magic traps, will have 17 BAB, 20 Caster Level with Magical Knack, only delayed 1 spell level. There is an issue where you won't get spells added to your book for leveling up, which in some makes spontaneous better in this instance. Other good options are include Paladin/Sorcerer or Empyreal Sorcerer/Sohei.


If you're an Int-based caster, you can use the Clever Wordplay or Pragmatic Activator traits to switch UMD to Int.


If you want arcane melee combatant then Magus is the go to. I would follow it up with the Bloodrager from the Advanced Class Guide, though his magic is mostly self buffing variety. Not offensive magic.

If you want to go divine casting the Inquisitor or Warpriet (fromt he ACG) is what you're afte.

Choose one and you can build from there.


A friend of mine made a very solid build also. It will only get 6th lvl spells but it will end up very good at melee fighting:

4 lvl Fighter
1 lvl Dragon blooded Sorcerer
10 lvl Dragon Disciple
5 lvl Eldritch Knight.

You will end up with a very good armor class and stats and will be at 16 BAB, which means you get all the attacks. The downside is that you will end up as a 12th lvl sorcerer. But use those spells for self-buff and convenience spells (like teleport) and I believe you will be very happy with it.


Claxon wrote:
If you want arcane melee combatant then Magus is the go to. I would follow it up with the Bloodrager from the Advanced Class Guide, though his magic is mostly self buffing variety. Not offensive magic.

Eh? The Bloodrager spell list is like 90% damage spells.


I'm currently doing this in a game that I'm in. My build plan is currently Conjuration(Teleportation) Wizard 3/Gun Tank Gunslinger 1/Knight Phantom 10.

I'm not sure where I'll go from there, if we get there, though.

Knight Phantom is a 3.5 PRC that is basically an alternate Eldritch Knight with different class features. You won't get into it as early as the Eldritch Knight because you are required to be able to cast the Phantom Steed spell and the earliest you can do that is 3rd level using the Mystic Past Life alternate racial feature of the Samsaran to add the Summoner's Phantom Steed to your second level spells list, unless anyone knows of a faster way to do it. If you just want Eldritch Knight, though, you can do as Jiggy said and be a Diviner to get in as Wizard 1/Melee 1.

Liberty's Edge

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Arcane Duelist bard kicks butt. Seriously, it is great.
Bard in general can be more offensive with martial powers and have some spells, but Magus is the pinnacle of mixing Martial and Arcane powers.
It was designed for that exact role, so I'd look into that.

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