
silvershadow21 |

I'm currently in a roleplay-heavy game (so things like combat are not the biggest deal but still very present) and have reached level 4 as the 3rd party Death Mage (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/super-genius-games/death -mage). My mage in particular is a Dhampir and has taken the Shadow Mage route.
The thing is, she is a debuffer kind of character in a party that has little damage output. We have a ranger who does natural weapons for damage and a small-sized rogue. Instead of replacing her as a character I was wondering if there was a decent way to build her up in the Eldritch Knight prestige class or another way to add to her build to increase damage output. I'm not necessarily looking to minmax, mostly looking to see if the build is worthwhile or if there's another preferable option. I like that she debuffs, it's just that her debuffing isn't very helpful if someone can't follow it up with damage in combat. I'm quite open to suggestions.
Thoughts?

Angry Wiggles RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32 |

Eldritch knights can be fun, but many people find them a little underwhelming. Personally, I would recommend that you try out Arcane Trickster. If your GM will allow you to retrain a trait into Magical Knack, this should serve you well.
First, take two levels of Ninja. With the vanishing trick Ninja Trick, and the Charisma based Ki Pool, you should be able to get a decent sized ki pool to guarantee yourself sneak attack damage when you need it.
Buy a Cracked Orange Prism Ioun Stone to give you Mage Hand as a cantrip, and take the Accomplished Sneak Attacker feat to bring your sneak attack total up to 2d6, and you now qualify for Arcane Trickster. Now you can sneak attack with normal attacks, or with the wide variety of damaging spells from shadow evocation and conjuration that your shadow mage specialization has given you.
I would wait to do this until after you could cast Animate Dead, so that the awkward levels can be covered by additional attacks from your minions, and you can use them for flanks to further guarantee sneak attacks.
It sort of feels in theme to me, like you're weakening them so that you can pull them down yourself from the shadows.