Well... before it gets marked as inactive... I think Ten is going to be posting something soon about possibly taking over the game...
Luna, I know you had mentioned possibly culling some games, so I don't know if you're even interested in continuing here but I'm curious about his idea(s)?
I've been thinking about running a pbp for a while now. I'd be very interested in the skeleton of this game as a launchpad.
Some things to consider before accepting or declining:
*I wouldn't run the AP. I have never liked a pre-determined path, the players are the story. There will be overarching stories, but the pc's will truly pick the path they want to travel.
*I run high fantasy games. We would level quickly to 7th-8th range, then taper off to a normal rate. The pc's in my world are generally much stronger than the npc's that surround them. You would have more wealth and we would introduce mythic tiers by 8th level.
*combat can be tough. Having a healer is kind of important. I would rather not play a gmpc, so I would look for someone to take Ten or fill that role with a choice of their own.
*I would be interested in a daily mon-fri post rate, and whatever we are comfortable with on the weekend.
Let me know if you guys are interested or have any questions.
-Joe
I'm interested.
I think we'll probably be ok on healing? Both of them can spontaneously cast cure spells and I could switch out a spell for CLW or pick it up at 2nd. I'm a little concerned about ramping up the difficulty too quickly, just because my combat build isn't super effective until 4th level (and even then its not as powerful as a 2-hander/power attack build) but it sounds like that wouldn't take super long to reach (and if we have less encounters per day after escaping the tunnels we can all burn through resources faster to help pick up some of the slack).
Honestly, I've kind of been jonesing for a high-fantasy game for a while and even if either or both of my compatriots don't want to continue I'd still be interested... I'd almost definitely change my character if they're not (because this one will forever be linked with Astra and Luna in my mind) but you know me- I never have a shortage of character ideas.
I would love to have a player of your experience level, Luna, but I understand. If you tell me more specifically what you like or dislike, i can let you know how much, or how little of that you might encounter.
I'm interested, but if we do go with a different story, I would rather have a clean break and start from the beginning.
And like Nate, if Luna leaves, I'm gonna have to make a new character. Astra's pretty tied to Luna and I don't think I could undo those ties in a way that felt right to me.
Okay, I'm home now and I can write out some more.
As I said, I'd rather start over than try and wrangle something out of where we are now. I know that is a pain for some people but I think every deserves it's own beginning. I'm also with Lady Ladile on not being a fan of Sandboxes, or at least in PBP. They tend to fizzle. I don't think there needs to be all that much structure though. As long as there's some inkling of what paths we can take or some idea of where a plot is heading, I think that'll be fine. As I say, it need not be all that much. Just give us the hook and a nudge when we get stuck and we'll probably take it from there.
Like Nate, I'm not short on character ideas, and I've got a few ideas already depending on the setting. I can adapt Astra to a few other settings/scenarios, but if Lady Ladile's pulling out or if she wants to play something different, I would rather shelve Astra and try something else.
That said, I've always wanted to play something with some intrigue. Recently, I've become a fan of the Heroic Legend of Arslan and I think a party that acts as advisors to a prince/princess trying to reclaim their kingdom from invaders could be fun. Throw in some corrupt nobles trying to gain power in the chaos, political turmoil on the other side, and some greedy kings and princes on the borders and you have all sorts of opportunities. It even has a goal that the PCs can choose how to go abotu achieving.
I’m guessing from what I know about Joe’s past campaigns that he isn’t picturing a total sandbox. Also, I’ve tried to run 2 or 3 PbP sandbox games here and they have all fizzled out, but I think we could do better... sandbox games are more player dependent for sure but as long as we made characters and/or a party with some clear (and compatible) goals we should be able to keep moving things along.
That could work, even if the goal is "Make this months rent" :P
So, any thoughts on what kind of game we'll be playing? I mean more of the specifics. High Fantasy can cover a lot of ground.
Also, any thoughts on keeping it just to three? I have no doubt that we could find someone willing to join us and stick with it, but I kinda want to keep it small and make it so things like Leadership or that feat that gives you a squire aren't as much of a headache.
That's not to say that I want a strict 'by the numbers' plot that can't be deviated from. Like...I like having some sort of end goal in mind or a very basic plot thread to follow (Point A to Point B) but with the freedom to help determine how the group gets from Point A to Point B. Does that make sense?
Yup. That's what I think Joe's planning on from what Nate's said.
On another note, I think this is where games like GURPS and Savage Worlds shine. True, GURPS does take a lot of forethought and prep, but not that much more than running Pathfinder/DnD. You can also come up with encounters on the fly by saying, okay, these guys do this and have skills 10 and dodge 8 and this guy's wearing plate all over and does this much damage on a hit and has skills 12 and dodge 8, and it be perfectly valid. Savage Worlds makes it easy to roll up a full character in only a few minutes and doesn't require as much prep time. Pathfinder doesn't really allow for that. There's a mess of special rules and conditions that are assumed to be in play and you can't make a sawed-off character. You have to pretty much make a full character for each type of enemy.
Anyway, I digress. I apologize for the minor GURPS gushing, but it's a system that I really like and wish I could play more of.
I'd be happy to set up the starting city and give you guys a feel for it. If we start fresh, I don't mind a party of 3. And I would likely start us at 3rd level instead of first.
In the campaign worlds I run, the pc's know that they are a cut above the rest. They are often nudged into the role of heros (big damn heros) simply because no one else can or will deal with a threat.
I usually include multiple hooks to be chosen from that all have a way of arching back to the main questline. The pc's stat blocks would be higher than 'normals' and they would encounter very few other geshtalt npc's, But high wealth is where the pc's would really shine. I'm a big fan of using magical items to customize characters.
Interesting, very interesting!
So is it mainly from the books, or are there going to be a lot of custom items?
In large cities, most book items would be available for sale, and I fully expect the party to build contacts that could create customized items for them. (or craft them themselves)
One thing to consider (Adam) is that the whole ‘PCs are more powerful than everyone else’ thing is going to complicate leadership/squires/etc on its own... your companion won’t be gestalt and will have lower stats, so they’ll really struggle to be useful (except maybe as a focused, non-combat resource)
And would help with the healing, but that'd be a couple levels down the road.
Created a game called Last of Remafosa, but I'm not sure how to link it.
If it’s ok, I’d prefer to keep posting here until we’re ready to dot Joe’s gameplay thread though (I mostly post from phone and not having a thread in my campaign tab actually is kind of a pain)
@Adam- you have any initial ideas for what you’d want to play? I have a few ideas that are still pretty vague... 2 lead contenders right now are a paladin of Abadar who definitely wants to make the world a better place but also believes he should be fairly compensated for his services (kind of a more mercenary take on a paladin), or a clever fighter (a largely Int based melee guy, with lots of skills- probably some flavor of fighter with investigator).
I'm still mulling it over. I thought about a knight errant, but it seems like you've got the melee covered. If you don't do the Paladin, I may see about doing an obi wan kind of character. Maybe there's an order of knights that everyone remembers but was supposedly wiped out years ago, but masters live on to pass their teachings to their students. I dunno, just spitting out ideas to see what sticks.
Okay, so...after giving it some thought: I'd be willing to give things a go. I peeked at Joe's discussion thread and don't have any issue with the proposed build rules. *Not* writing out a detailed character background right now actually sounds great to me since a fair bit of my creative energy is going towards the PFS stuff I'm running; that will change once PbP Gameday ends near the end of November and several of my short-term games wrap up.
(If only I didn't have to do silly things like going to work. Anyone wanna fund me on Patreon so I can quit my job and just run/play PbPs all the time? :P)
I'm also on board with shelving Luna for the time being and making a new character (I'll just recycle a different alias). As far as build goes, I have no freaking clue right now and will probably have to enlist Nate's help again on making something that'd work.
I do want to ask, are we playing in the Golarion setting or is this totally homebrew territory? Knowing a little more about what you envision the general 'world' to be will probably help in deciding on what sort of character I might like to try playing.
Ditching our current characters was at least partly due to concerns about losing you Ladille... we could potentially keep them if all 3 of us are continuing? That said, knowing that Joe wants to ramp up the difficulty we might want to try to think about the mechanics of our builds (and how they interact with each other) a little more... probably we should each at least be close to having all of the following: full BAB/d10 HD, all good saves, 6+ skill points, 6+ level casting, and a decent mundane melee or ranged option. Between the 3 of us we should probably have at least one 9 level caster, at least 2 people who can heal (even if one is just reliable use of magic items), at least 1 tank (who can stand toe-to-toe with big bads), at least one ranged damage dealer (for flyers and inaccessible ranged enemies), and probably someone who can handle traps.
I’d be glad to offer input on specific builds for anyone who wants, or to talk about how you could build a really effective version a concept.
Also, I don’t want to speak for Joe but from what he told me IRL, it’s a homebrew world. No guns or ‘techno-magic’ type stuff (like Ebberon’s warforged or lightning rails), but alchemy exists (I got the impression it’s less common than ‘normal’ magic though). Magic is, I believe, going to be pretty prevalent: not so common that cities have portals for mass transit or teleportation circles connecting to other cities, but widespread enough that we can sort of expect to find a decently powerful caster in any given city. I think he’s going to try to shape the flavor/tone at least somewhat based on the characters we make.
I got to thinking and was wondering about a Paladin/Bard, a Barladin? Both are CHA based Casters. Both have the ability to heal, and between them, they'd have good saves in everything.
Also pondering something similar with a Ranger/Druid build.
Other builds under consideration are a fighter/rogue and a ranger/witch. The fighter/rogue build would not have a good Will save, but all those delicious combat feats and sneak attack would make them one dangerous, dangerous foe. The ranger/witch would be interesting mainly because I've never played a witch before. Healing Hexes and CLW spells can help with healing.
I dunno, I've got options, just not sure what to pick because I'm not sure what will step on y'all's toes.
If people want to keep our current characters then that's also fine with me. I'm working the next three nights (starting tonight) so I'll try and check in on this as I can and post if I've got any other character ideas.
If I'm being honest, I'd rather build a character for the game rather than trying to get Astra to fit.
I'm also really leaning towards the Ranger/Druid idea.
So, I'll try not to write a novel (as Lady Ladile discovered while looking through some old advice threads, I have lots of thoughts on gestalt builds... I mean, on a lot of things if you look through my posts from when I used to have more time, but that's not germane and I'm already rambling )...
Personally, I think pally/bard is one of the best (in not the best) all around gestalt combos- amazing survivability (with divine grace and swift LoH), good combat (especially against evil), enough skills and magic to be useful in almost any situation... they even have good action economy and stat synergy. And it doesn't hurt that I love paladins in general (plus I like the idea of a pally/bard who is a champion of their god militarily and also as a PR rep, lol). With the right archetypes we could probably run 2-3 of these, even in a 3 person game, and most likely get away with it (although we'd probably run into issue periodically where we wished we had a 9 level caster).
Ranger/druid I think is probably in the top 3-4 best combos too. Their action economy isn't as good (because neither class has much in the way of good options to spend swift actions on, and both are competing for use of standard actions) but they've got good stat synergy, they're good across the board on BAB and saves, good skills, full 9 level casting... wild shape is awesome too because it synergizes so well with their better combat abilities. An archetype like Wild Stalker (for ranger) might be worth looking at too- it trades away favored enemy (which is cool, but situational) and combat style (which is also cool, but not that necessary with wild shape) to gain rage (and, let's be honest, turning into a raging bear or tiger when you already have full BAB is pretty sick).
Ranger/Witch is probably a little further back in the pack... It has great resource management (can melee or ranged attack all day because it has no expendable bonuses, and hexes are awesome because you can keep using them over and over), but defense is going to be tough with arcane spell failure from armor, their stat synergy isn't great, and the classes don't synergizes super well- you can cast some buffs on yourself but other than that you have to pick each round whether you're playing a ranger or a witch and can't really benefit from both together. It's not a bad choice, its just not as good as the first two. You'd be a little bit better off going Slayer/Witch, I think- the stat synergy would be a little better (since slayers can work more off Int), and iirc slayers have a few more options for swift actions. A stygian slayer/witch would have a cool feel, I think.
Fighter/Rogue is probably the weakest option you mentioned... there's some good combat synergy (they get tons of feats and talents), but playing a combo with a bad Will save and zero magic in a gestalt game is not ideal. Fighter/Investigator is waaaaay better (like, definitely in the top 10 combos, maybe top 5). I know you might have been avoiding that because I mentioned it already, but I'm not married to anything at this point. Fighter/Investigator has great combat synergy with studied combat on top of being a fighter; they're also good across the board with BAB/saves, are really solid with skills (good skill points, plus inspiration to use them better), and have extracts for some more utility. They also have good action economy (especially with talents to do things like make activating studied combat a swift action, or make aid other a move). I particularly like the Lore Warden fighter archetype with this because it gives you even more skill points and you get even more combat mileage from your Int.
Any other general suggestions? I've seen/heard that monk+druid has merit and I imagine that paladin+oracle wouldn't be too terrible either. I wish there were gestalt options for pet classes because I think a hunter or summoner gestalt would be cool but the AC/eidolon falls behind in a hurry :/
Mechanically, monk/druid has a lot of synergy. The action economy isn't quite as good as some combos, and they're a little behind on skills, but with the feat that lets you use natural attacks for monk stuff (feral combat training, I think) you can do some crazy combat stuff... and monk AC bonuses on top of wild shape's natural armor is no joke. Purely mechanically, I'd probably rank this around the same level as ranger/druid (this is probably a bit better in a fight, but not quite as much utility out of combat). Personally, my biggest beef with the combo is the flavor... Lawful-Neutral is the only valid alignment choice and you have to figure out how and why someone committed to nature and the druidic way also invested the time and extreme effort to train as a martial artist?
Paladin/oracle is the single best healing combo, I'm pretty sure. A life oracle can reassign damage to themself (with lifelink and shield other) and then swift action LoH it away- then they still have their move and standard actions to attack/cast spells/channel/whatever. Overall: they don't have a good Ref save, although divine grace does a lot to mitigate that; and, they don't get a ton of skills; but, their action economy is pretty good, and they have good stat synergy. Personally, I probably wouldn't rate this quite as high as Ranger/Druid, but it might be the best combo to get 9 level cleric/oracle casting. Also, I haven't specifically looked at it, but there's a chance that the Spirit Guide oracle archetype might improve the combo some (by allowing you to keep life oracle but pick up hexes from battle or something that might synergize with the pally's other abilities).
As for pet classes, you're exactly right- they just can't keep up in a gestalt game. If someone crafted rules for gestalt companions they might have a chance but under the current system I think you'd be hard pressed to make it work.
As for 'in general' suggestions, there's so many classes now (plus so many archetypes) that I'm not sure I could give much general advice that would sort of universally apply ?
Generally speaking, the easiest way to get a good combo is to take a full BAB class and pair it with a complimentary 6 level casting class . The only real downside to this approach is that then you don't get any 9 level casting combos; those tend to be a little bit harder to fully sort out and require a little more thought.
@Nate: No worries. I'm not going to hold it against you. I mean, I have a flippin' blog where I write about this kind of stuff. Link's in my profile. You've given me some food for thought and I'm starting to lean back to the Pally/Bard.
@Lady Ladile: A Druid/Ranger with the Boon Companion feat applied to the animal companion from the Ranger basically gets two animal companions, but you're right about how they tend to fall behind without some magic to help them. Halli isn't even in shouting distance of Joanna for effectiveness in combat, and Joanna pales in comparison to Shadlah when she hits her stride. Still I thought having my own mini wolf pack would be fun.
I think I do want to run with a Paladin/Bard. I've got an idea for the character's background, I just need to figure the stats out.
Let me know archetypes/focus as soon as you can- I wasn't kidding about the fact that we could really run multiple pally/bards and depending on your build (and what Lady Ladile settles on) there's a chance I might actually look at building a different pally/bard, lol.
All paladins with each of us having a different second class? Eh? Eh? ;)
That could be fun, three paladins on quests that all turn out to be similar if not the same could be a good way to start.
As for build, I'm not sure what to go for specifically. I think being the tank would be the easiest for me, but if you have another idea, let me know and I'll see what I can do.
Paladins have so much built in survivability that you really don’t have to build for tanking- build for melee damage and use swift action LoH to stay up. Maybe spend your 1st level feat on fey foundling if you really want to maximize how much extra life you get from LoH. (There’s also another trick for getting extra healing if you want to worship Ragathiel, but it doesn’t come online until like 11th or 13th level iirc).
We probably could do a pretty effective party that’s all half pally, lol. We’ve already talked about bardadin and oradin... sorcerer/paladin actually isn’t a great combo (although you might be able to make something work with dragon disciple levels?), but maybe like a paladin/summoner for the last spot? That’s not the best combo but if you used the synthesist archetype you’d be a super tank, and the summoner spell list is enough different from the bard’s that we might be ok with a 9 level divine and two 6 level arcanes?
Sooo... everyone busy, or did the all pally conversation derail us?
If you guys are serious about the pally thing; a pally/Bard with one of the archetypes that gives trapfinding, a pally/life oracle, and an enlightened paladin with sorcerer/dragon disciple for the other side would be a functional party... each would have less skills than the one before it, and only the bard has perfect saves, but they’d be able to take a beating like no other party.
If that seems like too much, or just not people’s preference (or like we should optimize a little more), then we could go back to other combos? If Adam’s comfortable with pally/bard, I could look at a ranger/druid or something with a 9 level arcane caster, then Ladile would be free to pick one of the other full BAB/6 level caster combos? Or, if you do want to play a pally/oracle (because I know how much you love oracles), I could look at one of the other full/6 combos?
What do you guys wanna do?
Sorry been busy with other things. I'm all for the Pally Party. I've got a build for a Pally/Bard in the works that I'll post later tonight.
Going for Power Attack build, so melee will be pretty much covered.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Joe mentioned how easy it would be to get us on to plot hooks if we were all paladins... now I’m thinking maybe we should avoid that- don’t want our GM getting lazy!
I’m mostly joking about that. Adam, you can keep working on you Pally/Bard melee and once Ladile figures out what she wants I’ll figure out something to fill the holes.
Yeah, sorry, with working the past three nights I did good just keeping my current games updated :)
I think an all pally party could be a lot of fun, especially if they belong to different deities.
(I've not checked Joe's actual campaign; do we know if we're doing homebrew deities too?)
Of the original suggestions I think the pally/oracle or the pally/sorcerer/DD could both be a ton of fun, so...um....maybe I'll flip a coin?
Flip a coin?
Oh! You mean roll a d2! :P
@Nate: I have to wonder how well you know me because that's almost something my Boss would say to me. I tend to take things very literally sometimes, and literally most of the others. :D
Anywho, I've got the stats here. I figured that I'd go for spells that were more utilitarian for the Bard spells. Definitely going to nab the stat boosting spells when I can get 2nd level spells. Thoughts?
Unnamed Hero
Angel-blooded aasimar (angelkin) bard 3/paladin 3/gestalt 3 (Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of Angels 21, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 7)
LG Medium outsider (native)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +6
Aura courage (10 ft.)
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 10 (+2 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 28 (3d10+6)
Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +6; +4 vs. bardic performance, language-dependent, and sonic
Immune disease, fear; Resist acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee unarmed strike +6 (1d3+3 nonlethal)
Special Attacks bardic performance 11 rounds/day (countersong, distraction, fascinate [DC 14], inspire competence +2, inspire courage +1), smite evil 1/day (+3 attack and AC, +3 damage)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 3rd; concentration +6)
. . 1/day—alter self
Paladin Spell-Like Abilities (CL 3rd; concentration +6)
. . At will—detect evil
Bard Spells Known (CL 3rd; concentration +6)
. . 1st (4/day)—charm person (DC 14), cure light wounds, expeditious retreat, vanish[APG] (DC 14)
. . 0 (at will)—dancing lights, mage hand, mending, message, prestidigitation, spark[APG] (DC 13)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 17, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 16
Base Atk +3; CMB +6; CMD 19
Feats Dodge, Power Attack
Traits armor expert, charming
Skills Acrobatics +9 (+5 to jump), Bluff +7 (+8 vs. characters who could be attracted to you), Diplomacy +8 (+9 vs. characters who could be attracted to you), Disguise +8, Heal +2, Intimidate +7, Knowledge (arcana) +5, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +1, Knowledge (engineering) +1, Knowledge (geography) +1, Knowledge (history) +1, Knowledge (local) +5, Knowledge (nature) +5, Knowledge (nobility) +5, Knowledge (planes) +7, Knowledge (religion) +5, Perception +6, Perform (dance) +9, Perform (sing) +9, Perform (string instruments) +7, Perform (wind instruments) +7, Sense Motive +5, Stealth +4; Racial Modifiers +2 Heal, +2 Knowledge (planes)
Languages Celestial, Common
SQ bardic knowledge +1, lay on hands 4/day (1d6), mercy (sickened), versatile performance (dance)
Other Gear 6,800 gp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Aura of Courage +4 (10 ft.) (Su) Allies in aura gain a morale bonus to saves vs. fear.
Bardic Knowledge +1 (Ex) Add +1 to all knowledge skill checks.
Bardic Performance (standard action, 11 rounds/day) Your performances can create magical effects.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Detect Evil (At will) (Sp) You can use detect evil at will (as the spell).
Energy Resistance, Acid (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Acid attacks.
Energy Resistance, Cold (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Cold attacks.
Energy Resistance, Electricity (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Electricity attacks.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Immunity to Fear (Ex) You are immune to all fear effects.
Lay on Hands (1d6 hit points, 4/day) (Su) As a standard action (swift on self), touch channels positive energy and applies mercies.
Mercy (Sickened) (Su) When you use your lay on hands ability, it also removes the sickened condition.
Power Attack -1/+2 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Smite Evil (1/day) (Su) +3 to hit, +3 to damage, +3 deflection bonus to AC when used.
Versatile Performance (Dance) +9 (Ex) You may substitute the final value of your Perform: Dance skill for Acrobatics or Fly checks
So... a potential problem has occurred to me... if we all make paladins, then we’ll all be Cha based... on its own that’s not a huge issue but it does mean everyone is going to want to invest something in the same small pool of skills... we’d probably all have to share taking skills that we don’t have the right stats for, but (worse) we’d be bad at some important ones (like perception and sense motive, and all the Int skills)...
Maybe we should consider trying to have 1 Cha based, 1 Wis based, and 1 Int based?
^That's also fine by me. The both of you probably know me well enough to know that I'm happy playing most any kind of caster class. What's the best Int to gestalt? Arcanist maybe?
You’d have to be more specific... lore warden fighter/investigator is a pretty solid combo with great skills coverage, plenty of melee, and extracts to help with utility... but it’s not a 9 level caster. I’m falling asleep right now but I’ll look at good 9 level casting Int options tomorrow.
That would certainly work, though an INT-based character might have a harder time of it in combat. At least with WIS-based, you have the Ranger for full-BAB goodness.
Or, you could go with a Lore Warden, I guess. That's certainly an idea.
No worries Nate; my sleep schedule is all jacked up now (had today off, slept through most of it without meaning to) so I'll be up awhile yet. I'll try and do some searching/reading for interesting gestalt combos that might fit the bill :)
*edit* At the very least, the monk/druid combo would be a good one that would cover the Wis-based slot nicely.
Yeah- as I said before, ranger/druid and unchained monk/druid are both solid combos if you want to take the Wis spot Ladile. Ranger/cleric has potential too... it might not synergize quite as well as the first two, but a worshipper of Erastil has some good options to handle ranged damage, or a Gorumite could get a lot done in melee (and make for some interesting RP with our pally).
As for Int based options... I haven’t had time to really mull over 9 level caster options yet (I’ve got kids to get on the school bus in the morning), but there are a few full BAB options that make use of Int: lore warden or child of war fighter (or maybe one headed for duelist or student of war PrC), the inspired blade swashbuckler, or most slayers . There’s some pretty natural 6 level caster combos if we think two 6 level arcanes is enough, but I’ll have to give a little more thought to the 9 level caster builds.
So, as I expected, finding a really solid Int based 9 level caster combo is proving tricky... a child of war fighter/blade adept arcanist has potential- they get an improved version of arcane armor use, so it’d have better defense than most of the options, and the black blade would have some synergy with fighter; it only has 4 skill points, and no good Ref save (plus it’s gonna be tough to invest in Wis for the Will save), but that’s the best I’ve come up with so far.
A 6 level arcane caster would be easier to get a really good combo with but, obviously, then we’d lose high end arcane casting...
There’s a mythic power that lets you ignore arcane spell failure, so that would make a huge difference, but if we don’t start mythic tiers until around 8th level that would be a long haul for some potential builds.