Spellslinger, Melee Fighter, Eldritch Knight, Mix

[UnboltedAKTION]

Yep... That's the idea for my next character. I plan on playing an Eldritch Knight with the Spellslinger archetype as the caster base and in the fighter area I want to duel wield gun and sword together. Now I know this seems like a stretch (it probably is) but here's the idea.

Pros::

Although he will have magic the main focus will be on his duel wielding. All of his feats will be combat feats so he can be a formidable opponent up front and at a range. Although his spells will be his weakest point he won't be using a lot of saving throw spells. The spells he will use will be reserved for buffing himself and direct damage using his Arcane Gun ability.

Cons::

The biggest problem will be the slow progression of the character. Most of which will be feats, considering he'll need feats for his range attacks, swords, and eventually dual wielding and with only levels as a wizard for 6 straight levels he'll lack a lot of those until later. He'll initially start off doing good damage with his guns but not much else until he starts taking Eldritch Knight at about level 7, after that with the full BAB and d10 hp, melee combat will be more viable. Also, even though magic isn't going to be his strong suit he's giving up four schools for the school of the gun ability. He may not have a strong focus in magic but that's still a hefty price.

Question that need answering::

1. What should his ability scores be assuming the use of 15 point buy? Right now he's a human and his scores are 14,14,14,14,8,10 (I may take leadership so I don't want his charisma too low)
2. What feats should I take in the long run?
4. How many levels of what should he take? Right now the idea is level 1 fighter, level 5 Spellslinger, and 10 levels in Eldritch Knight.
5. Possibly the most important question; which spell schools should I give up?

[Sylvanite]

I made a thread about this style build (though not dual wielding) a little while ago, but it didn't get much play.

My thoughts are that you should stick to just a gun...for the simple reason that you won't be able to cast spells if both hands are full. That's a bigtime hassle. Also, you can save on point distribution if you don't have to worry about Strength.

Other than that, I think you can do some good stuff as a gun style character. Fighter 2/Spellslinger 8/EK 10 (not all in that order, but all together like that) is probably how I'd do it.

I'd probably make divination, enchantment, and necromancy opposed....but I could be argued out of that.

[UnboltedAKTION]

Sylvanite wrote:

I'd probably make divination, enchantment, and necromancy opposed....but I could be argued out of that.

Why enchantment?

I know necromancy and illusion are on the drop list for me.

[Maxximilius]

If you're going spellslinger, you want to keep Evocation and Necromancy, if only for the potential x3 critical on debuffs and on Enervation.

[ShadowcatX]

You might consider gunslinger in place of fighter. Another option is to take myrmidarch magus in place of wizard, it'll get you the feel you want without sacrificing as much BAB. I'm not sure it is necessarily better than spell slinger though. (Interesting note, spell slinger doesn't require the spell to be a wizard spell. Could that be abusable?)

As to stats, I'd definitely accent the more important stats more, even at the expense of strength constitution, and charisma (and 1 point of leadership isn't worth that much, especially since leadership is only a maybe).

12, 18, 12, 14, 8, 8