| dracobane |
I want to first bring up one point: Has anyone compared your mixtures to that of a straight 20 levels in bard? I found that a prestige class bard mixture is better than a bard, which just further proves that bards really do seem to be useless still.
I was trying to search to see if anyone had any hints for an eldritch knight combo that is far more fighter based. Looks like most people prefer to keep the caster levels and in doing so lose so much for fighting.
Has anyone looked into combining this with the Spellsword prestige class? Although not an official pathfinder class, my DM has allowed it. Taking at least 3 levels in Spellsword means a -15% armor failure chance. Combine that with the arcane armor feats and you have -35% failure, which matches full plate armor. I went for 4 levels in it, to have the ability to cast on my sword (which is kind of the point of that class).
Wiz (trans) 3 / Fighter 3 / Spellsword 4 / Eldritch Knight 10
Spells to focus on: conjuration, transmutation. Main thing to stay away from are spells with saves. Buffs are better than damage. Controlling spells are of course best.
Advantages:
- only lose 2 BAB, which can be offset with a transformation.
- full plate armor means you AC could match that fighter in the group
- as a trans specialist, you get to add to str, dex, or con. Can change it daily, so it's up to whatever stat is hurting at the time.
- considered a 13th level fighter. Sure, you can't get crit mastery, but seeing as your crits are already devastating since they allow a spell to be cast, I don't think you need that.
Disadvantages:
- it's more fighter based, so that's 6 levels of caster lost. 7th level spells is all you get.
- from personal experience, levels 5 and 6 are HELL. You are gimped in all ways and you feel like a bard. However, when comparing the two you really are in the same boat.