Dex Eldritch Knight build opinion


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I have an idea of an Eldritch Knight build with dex, and i would like some opinions. No Magus! I love the class but this time i would like to make a full caster. We start at level 1 and we will arrive at level 20 at the end. I would create a human fighter 1/arcanist(blade adept) 9/EK 10 that fights with a scimitar. We have 30 points for abilities and my build is this :

Str 10
Dex 16
Con 14
Int 17+2
Sag 12
Car 10

I will give 1 points to int, so it will arrive to 20, and the others 4 to dex. As arcane exploit i will take from the 9 level of blade adept Spell Strike (exploit level 5) and Eldritch Blade (exploit level 7).

For the feats:

1°:Weapon Finesse, Toughness, Dervish Dance
3°:Arcane Armor Training
5°:Exploit extra (Dimensional Slide)
7°:Arcane Armor Mastery
9°:Quicken Spell
11°:(Metamagic feat), Exploit extra (Hasted Assault)
13°:Improved Critical (scimitar)
15°:(Metamagic feat), Spell Perfection (Quicken Spell Vampiric Touch)
18°:
19°:

My master give me the opportunity to don't make a swift action for Arcane Armor Mastery, so it will always be active, and i will take a Celestial Armor, if i find one. I took Spell Perfection with the Quickne Spell for the possibility to combine it with Spell Strike, so i will make all my attack and cast the spell without increase my spell slot always (a bit like a Magus spell combat, but only with vampiric touch and without the -2 to attack roll).

What do you think? Is it a good build or not? Should i change somthing? Thank you and sorry for my bad English.


That build would work, but it would be pretty low sword damage. On an Eldritch Knight like that, I would get more DEX - INT is good for spells, but DEX is good for everything else. Dual Talent Human or Elf gets a bonus to DEX and INT, which is very useful.

Spell Strike seems like a great idea for an Eldritch Knight, but as levels go up it becomes less useful if you have a strong weapon attack and strong spell choices that aren't touch spells. It's not that Blade Arcanist is bad, but just that other options are better.

Instead of Dervish Dance and Fighter 1, consider Inspired Blade Swashbuckler 1 and Fencing Grace. Very similar, but you get much more fun stuff from Swashbuckler. Fencing Grace also allows you to use a light shield or buckler, which don't get in the way of casting spells.

Another option is to use an Agile elven curved blade in two hands, with Power Attack. This does a lot of damage, especially at higher levels.

Instead of Fighter, you can take a level of Urban Bloodrager plus the feats Mad Magic and Extra Rage. This gives you a big DEX bonus and let's you use a Furious weapon, while Mad Magic let's you still cast spells.

For spellcasting class, I really like Exploiter Wizard to get Wizard level spells but also Arcane Pool. The spell Battering Blast is very, very strong if you use it on an Exploiter Wizard.

The feat Dimensional Dervish is very powerful, but high level.

Anyways, that's some stuff to consider.


Aranel2000 wrote:

Str 10

Dex 16
Con 14
Int 17+2
Sag 12
Car 10

Sag?

I'm not that experienced with EK builds, but BadBird's sugggestions seem solid.

If you go with your build as-is remember that you can't take dervish dance at level 1 (need 2 ranks in "perform: dance")


One interesting option for dex-based Eldritch Knights is to use the Elven Battle Focus feat to get Int-to-damage with a finessable elf weapon. Elven Curve Blade and Elven Branched Spear are the best options for this, depending on whether you want critical hits or reach.

Don't bother with Arcane Armor Training; spending your swift actions every round isn't worth it. Instead I would recommend picking up the Prestigious Spellcaster feat.


I will back up favoring DEX.

An Eldritch Knight with high DEX can quite effectively make use of ranged attack roll spells that don't require a super high DC. Just having enough intelligence to cast all your spells should cut it.


Here's a straightforward Eldritch Knight that uses a few tricks to improve effectiveness in combat:

Elven Force-Warrior
(30-point) 13STR, 17/19DEX(+1), 14\12CON, 16/18INT(+2), 10WIS, 9CHA
Urban Bloodrager 1/ Exploiter Wizard 6/ Eldritch Knight 8
Trait: Magical Knack

1UB. Weapon Finesse
2EW. {Exploit: Potent Magic}
3EW. Extra Rage
4EW.
5EW. {Exploit: Metamagic Knowledge - Intensify Spell} / Mad Magic
6EW. +W: Craft Magic Arms and Armor
7EK. +EK: Power Attack / Spell Focus: Evocation
8EK.
9EK. Spell Specialization: Battering Blast
10EK.
11EK. Dazing Spell
12EK. +EK: Improved Critical - Elven Curved Blade
13EK. Quicken Spell
14EK.
15EK. Spell Perfection: Battering Blast

With one level of Urban Bloodrager, Extra Rage and Mad Magic, you may enter a Controlled Bloodrage for 11 rounds per day. While in Controlled Bloodrage, you gain +4DEX and benefit from a Furious Weapon, and because of Mad Magic you may still cast spells. So you get a nice combat bonus for 11 rounds per day with no penalties. A Furious, Agile elven curved blade with Power Attack and high DEX is very dangerous - by level 11, it can do almost 30 damage per hit. Because you have very high DEX, you don't need Arcane Armor Training at all.

A Furious, Agile elven curved blade gives bonus enhancement while using Controlled Bloodrage, and lets you use DEX for damage. As an Elf, you gain elven curved blade proficiency automatically. Since it's important to have an Agile, Furious weapon, you get Craft Magic Arms and Armor at level 6 to make your own weapon.

At high level, you can cast Quickened Storm Step to teleport as a lightning bolt with a swift action, which does some damage too.

With Exploiter Wizard and Potent Magic, you can add +2 to the Caster Level of a spell. With Spell Specialization you can add another +2 to the Caster Level of a spell. So you can add up to +4 to Battering Blast. Battering Blast becomes very powerful if you add to the Caster Level and cast it with Intensify Spell. At level 11, Intensified Battering Blast with +4 Caster Level will throw 3 force missiles that together do 21d6 force damage, and can also push back and knock down the target. Your Game Master might get annoyed watching you throw big monsters around...


BadBird wrote:

Here's a straightforward Eldritch Knight that uses a few tricks to improve effectiveness in combat:

Elven Force-Warrior
(30-point) 13STR, 17/19DEX(+1), 14\12CON, 16/18INT(+2), 10WIS, 9CHA
Urban Bloodrager 1/ Exploiter Wizard 6/ Eldritch Knight 8
Trait: Magical Knack

1UB. Weapon Finesse
2EW. {Exploit: Potent Magic}
3EW. Extra Rage
4EW.
5EW. {Exploit: Metamagic Knowledge - Intensify Spell} / Mad Magic
6EW. +W: Craft Magic Arms and Armor
7EK. +EK: Power Attack / Spell Focus: Evocation
8EK.
9EK. Spell Specialization: Battering Blast
10EK.
11EK. Dazing Spell
12EK. +EK: Improved Critical - Elven Curved Blade
13EK. Quicken Spell
14EK.
15EK. Spell Perfection: Battering Blast

With one level of Urban Bloodrager, Extra Rage and Mad Magic, you may enter a Controlled Bloodrage for 11 rounds per day. While in Controlled Bloodrage, you gain +4DEX and benefit from a Furious Weapon, and because of Mad Magic you may still cast spells. So you get a nice combat bonus for 11 rounds per day with no penalties. A Furious, Agile elven curved blade with Power Attack and high DEX is very dangerous - by level 11, it can do almost 30 damage per hit. Because you have very high DEX, you don't need Arcane Armor Training at all.

A Furious, Agile elven curved blade gives bonus enhancement while using Controlled Bloodrage, and lets you use DEX for damage. As an Elf, you gain elven curved blade proficiency automatically. Since it's important to have an Agile, Furious weapon, you get Craft Magic Arms and Armor at level 6 to make your own weapon.

At high level, you can cast Quickened Storm Step to teleport as a lightning bolt with a swift action, which does some damage too.

With Exploiter Wizard and Potent Magic, you can add +2 to the Caster Level of a spell. With Spell Specialization you can add another +2 to the Caster Level of a spell. So you can add up to +4 to Battering Blast. Battering Blast becomes very powerful if you add to the Caster Level and cast it with Intensify Spell. At level 11,...

why not 9 levels of Ek and 5 levels of wizard instead of 6 and 8?


Same BAB, more Arcane Reservoir points. Also, level 6 is +1 to all saves. You don't have to go Exploiter 6; going EK sooner does mean bonus feats one level sooner.

I just noticed I actually marked EK starting at 7 on the build by mistake. Oh well.


Perhaps tattoo for an additional caster level +1? Instead of crafting?


Yeah, Tattoo is also useful. A +1 is a pretty small difference though once you have the +4; I think it would only actually improve BBlast on one or two levels.


Thank you for your answers, im sorry that i didn't early...

BadBird i prefer to be a human fighter/arcanist, because i like the concept, but you give me many ideas with the feats! So thank you! I decided to take also the VMC Magus, so it will feel a bit more gish. Thank you all again and sorry for my bad English!

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