Zallama Inish is a character I want to actually play.
It's a Gnome Eldritch Knight, with the following advancement:
Swashbuckler (Inspired Blade) 1/Wizard (Scryer) 1/Eldritch Knight 10/Hellknight Signifier 8.
I'm of course taking Magical Knack to regain caster levels, but I'm not sure what feats to end up taking. I'm planning on using Still Spell to mitigate some Spell Failure, using a Buckler and Rapier. The only problem is I don't know what feats to take.
I'm starting at level 8 with standard WBL, and the following ability scores: (baseline)
STR: 9, DEX: 16, CON: 12, INT: 16, WIS: 10, CHA: 11
So what do you think I can do with this?
If you're Dex based to begin with, just use Mage Armor and forget about spell failure.
Mage Armor doesn't feel like enough AC.
EDIT: I should expand a bit. I'm going to be a fair bit of a frontliner, so I feel using armour will be a fair bit more effective than just Mage Armor.
If you're a swashbuckler, you're only using light armor anyway. Chain shirt's max AC is +4, same as Mage Armor, but with the necessity of taking multiple feats in order to negate spell failure, or taking Still Spell as you have planned, but that leaves you effectively two levels behind most casters, and you're already behind from multiclassing and taking the gish route.
True, eventually you will get into magic item territory to bring your AC higher than mage armor, but by then you'll have access to plenty of spells to negate attacks, such as mirror image, stoneskin, etc.
I mean, what's your goal? To be a fighter who can cast, or to be a caster who can fight? My suggestions favor the caster who can fight, as I believe that is a more powerful long-term option.