First of all, this is my very first post and I'm glad to be here. I wanted advice on using an eldritch knight, and weather or not to do it in my case. The premise is an elven necromancer type (9 wiz/ 1 fight/ 10 ek) who buffs himself and uses the undead anatomy family of spells to turn himself into powerful undead forms. The benefit of being an EK, or so I believe, is that my BaB will actually be powerful enough to thrive in melee when you consider some of the bonuses I'll have from buffing spells and undead anatomy.
The stats at level 1 (15 point buy) are as follows:
Elf Wizard
STR- 16
DEX- 16
CON- 11
INT- 16
WIS- 7
CHAR- 7
If this character can't work as I plan I'll accept the news. Also, any experience and opinions on the undead anatomy spell would be appreciated.
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Dump stats are fine, but I'd discourage dumping wisdom, as it's responsible for the most important save. I'm not sure if Elf is the best pick for a front-line melee character, because of the low con combine with wizard hitdice for the first few levels. A half-elf would let you put points into INT or STR, while keeping your CON melee-worthy.
I would start at 1st level with a Half-Elf Fighter, to take advantage of the higher beginning hitdice (10 hp+con at first level). This also lets you take two favoured classes, wiz and fighter.
Half-Elf Fighter 1
STR 16 (14+2)
DEX 12
CON 14
INT 15
WIS 10
CHA 7
With this, you've got a capable first level character who can start off with a "MYSTERIOUS SPELLBOOK" that he makes use of at his second level.
If you're set on Necromancy, I would suggest the Life focus, from the APG. You lose the ability to control undead, but you gain the ability to heal yourself or others as you buff them, or damage undead. Be aware however, that you can still use the Undead Anatomy spell as a non-necromancer, and that you may be served better with the Transmutation school, especially the Enhancement Focus. Transmutation wizards get bonuses to a physical stat of their choice, and transmutation generally covers more buffing spells.
Actually, I just noticed that Undead Anatomy is Transmutation. I think you should definitely consider Transmutation (Enhancement).
More details? I don't have many more because I'm not very experienced.
I definitely need the arcane armor feats.
I might go for improved knockdown (if the rules allow you to use combat maneuver feats in polymorphed form- do they?)
I'll probably get a scythe for the flavor of death, and also for the 4x critical- 4x critical plus spell critical is no joke.
I may consider rearranging my stats to remove the dump on wis, but I can't guaruntee it. I agree with atarlost that someone who deals with such a terrible thing as necromancy probably is an unwise soul.
I'm open to suggestions but the concept is the following:
A character who's primary role in battle is to buff himself, maybe enter a fight with black tentacles or something, but deal mostly in melee from there in the form of a hulking, buffed up undead monster.
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More details? I don't have many more because I'm not very experienced.
I definitely need the arcane armor feats.
I might go for improved knockdown (if the rules allow you to use combat maneuver feats in polymorphed form- do they?)
I'll probably get a scythe for the flavor of death, and also for the 4x critical- 4x critical plus spell critical is no joke.
I may consider rearranging my stats to remove the dump on wis, but I can't guaruntee it. I agree with atarlost that someone who deals with such a terrible thing as necromancy probably is an unwise soul.
I'm open to suggestions but the concept is the following:
A character who's primary role in battle is to buff himself, maybe enter a fight with black tentacles or something, but deal mostly in melee from there in the form of a hulking, buffed up undead monster.
Undead Anatomy is a Transmutation spell. A lot of the good self buffs are, so I think that's where you would be more successful. By all means, play him as a shady guy anyway, but Transmutation would give you better physical stats, and more access to your buffs.
For metamagic, I would go with Still Spell, which would let you cast whilst wearing full plate. Keep in mind that Arcane Armor Mastery only removes 20% of the arcane spell failure, while Still Spell lets you cast anything in armour for the price of a higher spell slot. YMMV.
I would also definitely get an arcane sword as your bonded object. You just need to find/buy a MWK weapon of choice before you take your first wizard level (or if you start as a wizard and go fighter you get one for free).
Thanks for all the feedback guys. Now I'm even considering my race. Suggestions?
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Thanks for all the feedback guys. Now I'm even considering my race. Suggestions?Human will give you an additional (needed) HP a level. This stacks with the HP you will get for favoured class.
Humans get an extra skill point, not an extra HP.
Human would be good if you can think of an extra feat you'd really like. More feats = better at fighting of course.
Half-Elves get skill focus, which you could apply to perception or spellcraft, etc. Alternatively, you could take the alternate racial trait Ancestral Arms, and get yourself a Bastard Sword (Able to wield in one hand to cast with, while still use it as an almost-greatsword, and able to use it with a shield if you need a bit more AC).
Other posters are right though, you should also check out the Magus, who starts off fighting and spell-slinging right from the start.
Someone here pointed out that the magus doesn't get the cool spells that a wizard does, and they were right.
First and foremost, this character turns into undead creatures- but I also want him to have some of those cool necromancy spells that a magus would never have access to.
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Someone here pointed out that the magus doesn't get the cool spells that a wizard does, and they were right.
First and foremost, this character turns into undead creatures- but I also want him to have some of those cool necromancy spells that a magus would never have access to.
Magus' get up to undead anatomy 3 just like the wizard. they just dont get UA4. UMD scrolls/wands of necro spells.
but to each their own
consider also taking the Metal subschool (Ultimate Magic) for Wizard if you plan on going the Edritch Knight route. the nice thing there is that you get an actual armor AC which stacks with most other enhancements and improves with your level.
the one major drawback is that you have dificulty casting fire spells (easily cured if you take the wizard acarna listed in UM to remove this), but you won't have to select two opposition schools, just Fire, and you will do a small amount of extra damage against metalline creatures or opponents wearing large amounts of metal (such as most armors).
you will also get a small number of equipment buff spells and stone wall which can be used (if I recall correctly) to encase a character in stone, effectively burying them alive if they fail a Ref save, as well as provide a number of other non-combat uses.
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I would avoid the finesse trap if I were you. Dex low, Str high.Avoiding harm and being able to strike your opponent is more important for a guy who is going to be hitting with spell storing weapons and personal enhancements, leave strength to your spells and the party barbarian.Nope, it's definitely a trap for a character that intends to use undead anatomy.
You don't turn into small, tiny, or fine forms for combat. He's going to be shifting into the biggest undead he can and stacking on size bonuses to strength and size penalties to dex. He really doesn't want to be taking dex to his attack bonus. His AC is also going to be garbage. No armor since he doesn't like Magus or Alchemist. Size penalties up the wazoo. There's no salvaging it. Miss chance buffs and temporary hitpoints from vampiric touch are going to have to make up most of his defense.
This guy knows what he's talking about. Finesse is for rogues and dervish dancers.
Humans get an extra skill point, not an extra HP.
Human would be good if you can think of an extra feat you'd really like. More feats = better at fighting of course.
I believe the statement that prompted this was advocating human over elf (the OP's original race choice). When you look at it in terms of opportunity cost, humans do in fact get +1 hp / level and have the same skill point totals, compared to an elf with all other considerations being equal, due to the differences in constitution and intelligence balancing against bonus skill ranks.
I'd agree that human is likely the go-to race for an eldritch knight build - elves are great casters due to the spell penetration equivalent, but that's much less of a draw if your focus is self-buffing for combat ability. Probably not worth taking a hit to con. Plus, EK tends to be rather feat intensive, so human helps. I'd stay away from half-elf unless you're planning to put a roughly equal number of levels in fighter and wizard. Having two favored classes gives you exactly 1 hit point if your end goal is fighter 1 / wizard 9 / EK 10... and even if you balance fighter/wizard, you could just be a human and take Toughness as your bonus feat. You'd pick up far more HP and skill ranks than the extra favored class would give you, and only lose out on Skill Focus and some ancillary benefits.