| zauriel56 |
I was thinking of doing an eldritch knight, I was thinking Half-elf with ancestral arms(bastard sword), Arcane Focus and Arcane training with the +2 going to int so ability scores would be
Str- 15 (+1 from Transmutation school)
Dex- 15
Con- 14
Int- 14 +2 = 16
Wis- 10
Cha- 7
Wizard transmutation (enhancement) specialty opposition schools- enchantment and illusion (I want necromancy for false life at later levels)
Arcane Bond- Ring
Spells
detect magic
mage hand
read magic
enlarge person
mirror strike
expeditious retreat
mage armor
feat- combat casting
traits- arcane temper, deft dodger
I was wondering if this seems viable for pfs, and whether or not I should do this at first level or take a level of lore warden first?
wear a haramaki and carry a buckler and bastard sword.
| Blakmane |
You should pick up magical knack as one of your two traits, to keep your caster level at full.
I also seriously recommend getting early access at level 3. This requires you to pick up either the aasimar race or the divination (scrying) subschool. Sucks to have to choose these but especially in pathfinder which doesn't go very high level wise it makes a big difference.
I'm assuming you are aware ancestral arms does not get you early access to EK? You just want it for the bastard sword?
*edit*
beware of dropping illusion as it has a lot of really good EK buffs (mirror image, displacement, greater invisibility etc etc). Evocation might be a better bet as you will have awful save DCs anyway. All schools apart from enchantement are painful to drop though I guess.
| Blakmane |
Any reason you are set on transmutation subschool? When you hit EK you won't be advancing your school powers anyway.
I know divination doesn't really 'gel' as well with the conceptoutside of true strike, but getting into eldritch knight at level 3 instead of level 7 is a really really really big help.
Deadmanwalking
|
Yeah, what Blakmane said. If you go Diviner (Scryer Subschool) you get to take one level of Wizard, one of some Martial Class (Lore Warden's solid), and then Eldritch Knight, which is a much better build for PFS on a profound level, since you wind up with four more levels of Eldritch Knight.
The spells are meh, but the power is cool even with only one level, and the ability to take 10 levels of Eldritch Knight starting with your 3rd level is amazing.
Also, by opposing Illusion, you're losing out on Mirror Image, which is probably the best defensive spell in the game. I'd be inclined to go with opposing Evocation instead. There's enough offensive spells in pother schools if you really want to use them.
If you go Divination, rearranging your stats a bit might be in order...Str 16 seems a very good call one way or another.
| LoneKnave |
If you are OK with Aasimar (are there any other race qualifiers? I forget), I actually like to go with archetypes/schools that have more built in scaling.
Spellslinger for example doesn't get scaling school powers with wizard levels, but the replacements he gets all scale organically with spell levels.
And yes, I know spellslinger is not PFS legal, but you get the idea.
| zauriel56 |
I could play up the idea of divination as my character just wanting to "Know" as much as possible, originally the transmutation school was so I could go ahead and bump Str or dex to 16 as needed. My heart is pretty set on half-elf for race tho, but divination school could work. And I will drop illusion for evocation as an opposed school.
Stat wise change to...
Str 16
Dex 12
Con 14
Int 16 (+2 from racial)
Wis 10
Cha 8
?
And should I start with wizard or lore warden?
Lore warden gives more health and skill points, but wizard has the spells.
| LessPopMoreFizz |
If you are OK with Aasimar (are there any other race qualifiers? I forget), I actually like to go with archetypes/schools that have more built in scaling.
Spellslinger for example doesn't get scaling school powers with wizard levels, but the replacements he gets all scale organically with spell levels.
And yes, I know spellslinger is not PFS legal, but you get the idea.
What stinks is that the Aasimar variant bloodline with a +Int boost only has a level 2 SLA.
Now if you wanted to build a Sorcerer into an EK... you have a good option to build off of.
| BadBird |
Divination has perfect flavor for an Eldritch Knight - what could be deadlier in hand-to-hand combat than having a sense of what your opponent is going to do before he does?
I like the flavor of the bastard-and-buckler combo, but I would at least consider just going Weapon Finesse with an Elven Curved Blade in two hands, focusing on dexterity, and taking just enough strength to Power Attack with it. With early entry into EK for almost full BAB, you can dish out plenty of damage with two-handed power attack, and plenty more if you get an agile weapon.
| LessPopMoreFizz |
Divination has perfect flavor for an Eldritch Knight - what could be deadlier in hand-to-hand combat than having a sense of what your opponent is going to do before he does?
I like the flavor of the bastard-and-buckler combo, but I would at least consider just going Weapon Finesse with an Elven Curved Blade in two hands, focusing on dexterity, and taking just enough strength to Power Attack with it. With early entry into EK for almost full BAB, you can dish out plenty of damage with two-handed power attack, and plenty more if you get an agile weapon.
If you're going to have Weapon Finesse anyway, it might be better to just take Piranha Strike so that you can use it when you're forced to fight with your dagger.
Gives you more point buy to put into Con for good measure.
| zauriel56 |
Well the idea of using the bastard sword and buckler lets me cast and fight, maybe not at the same time but still... I know a Dex build would probably be more optimized but I don't want to be all optimization and little fluff. I want a good mix. Btw for my first feat I figured weapon focus and second either combat expertise, or power attack. I figure once I have enough I'll invest in mithril chain and a mithril buckler.
| BadBird |
I'm naturally drawn to the Elven Curved Blade + Power Attack setup specifically because of the flavor myself, but I like the sword and buckler combo as well. At lower levels, they're actually going to turn out pretty much the same anyways - buckler defense instead of a little more dex, a little more strength damage instead of a little more power attack damage.
As far as getting armor goes, do note that the spell Mage Armor lasts for hours and is the same as putting on a normal chain shirt. Eventually you can do better with enhanced mithral armor and arcane armor training, but until then, Mage Armor is a very good thing. The level 1 spell Shield actually completely outclasses a buckler without some serious enchanting, but its much shorter duration. In situations where you have the option to cast Shield before combat, you can just two-hand your sword and leave the buckler on your back if you want.
If you're playing PFS (and thus won't hit levels where you're going to be using swift actions much), you should consider Arcane Strike and Arcane Armor Training. On rounds you cast, you use your swift action for armor training; on rounds you fight, you use your swift action to add damage. Arcane strike is particularly useful early, since you automatically have a magic weapon regardless of what you hit something with.
| BadBird |
Also note that PFS grants a Wizard a free Spell Focus feat to replace Scribe Scroll. With a free Spell Focus, you can grab things like Spell Specialization or Mage Tattoo nice and easy, and that can be useful for the limited casting an Eldritch Knight does.
For example, if you take Spell Focus: Evocation free, you can grab Spell Specialization: Scorching Ray at level 5 when you get the spell and immediately have two rays instead of one long before you should. Once you hit level 7 and its not doing your Scorching Ray any good anymore, you can change it to Fireball and have maxed out Fireball early. Then you can change it back at level 9 when Fireball is almost maxed out anyhow, and Scorching Ray is now 3 rays early. Fun.