This is my way to try to emulate the PrC Eldritch Knight (available in the PRC) with Bioware classes. The result is pretty good, beating the DD3 Eldritch knight on some aspects, although not everywhere. I know, I just love to combine two fields that are not meant to be with, but a sword backed up with magic is just so cool.
The build I am presenting here is dual-wielding dwarven waraxes (crit 16-20/x4, 7 attacks per round with haste), full-plated, and mainly uses magic for buffing. You can use some spells when your axes don't go through, but you don't have the spells DC of a dedicated wizard, so don't get your hopes too high. The waraxe as a weapon of choice is personnal (look damn cool). You can safely exchange it for double axe, battle axe or warhammer with the same stats, or some other weapon of your choice.

Advantages
-Access to all the arcane best spells, although you'll mainly use the buffs.
-2-3 Epic spells (including epic warding, which will help you greatly)
-Auto-still spells
-7 attacks per round with crit on 16-20/x4
-Leveling past 20 is a piece of cake
-Very flexible on skills selection (the detailled build below is an example that can easily be customized), and allows many skills
-Strengh based dual-wielder (AB and damage depends on strengh both, and AC isn't dependant on dex)

Disadvantages
-This build is mainly offensive, neglecting the defensive part. Generally, spells will help on defense, but the main defense is attack, and this build generally cuts through pretty much anything before the forementionned thing gets a chance to attack.
-Law AC (see above)
-Low HP (318 if dices maxed, see above)
-Low AB (31 with non magical gear), but this si'tn such a big problem at epic levels, from what I've seen
-Saves are not high, although they are not low. Spellcraft gives a nice bonus against spells though
-Early levels are difficult, since HP and AC are low (use a shield at first), and the second attack comes at 10th level only
-Very little flexibility on the feats choice or on the levels order, and no flexibility on the abilities
-Another weapon master build ; here, weapon master gives strengh to the build, but isn't necessary. The build is still strong without the weapon master

Details

Race : Human preferably, any is doable (half-orc is not recommanded because of the intelligence decrease, neither are gnomes or halfelings because of the strengh decrease)

Alignment : Any

Base Attributes
STR 14 (20)
DEX 15
CON 14
WIS 8
INT 16 (20)
CHA 8

Leveling Guide
Level 1 Fighter
Levels 2-9 Wizard
Levels 10-13 Fighter
Levels 14-20 Weapon Master
Levels 21-39 Wizard
Level 40 Fighter

Final Level Distribution
Fighter 6
Weapon Master 7
Wizard 27

Attribute Bonuses
First 4 to intelligence
Last 6 to strengh

Feats
Level 1: Dodge, Mobility, Exotic weapon profeciency
Level 3: Spring attack
Level 6: Expertise, Still spell
Level 9: Wirlwind attack
Level 10: Weapon focus (dwarven waraxe)
Level 12: Two weapon fighting, weapon specialization (dwarven waraxe)
Level 15: Ambidextry
Level 18: Improved two weapon fighting
Level 21: Improved critical (dwarven waraxe)
Level 22: Extend spell
Level 24: Epic weapon focus (dwarven waraxe)
Level 27: Epic prowess, Combat casting
Level 30: Auto-still spell 1
Level 32: Auto-still spell 2
Level 33: Auto-still spell 3
Level 35: 1 Epic spell of your choice (recommanded : Epic warding)
Level 36: 1 Epic spell of your choice (recommanded : Epic mage armor)
Level 38: 1 Epic spell of your choice (recommanded : Hellball)
Level 39: Improved combat casting
Level 40: Epic weapon specialization (dwarven waraxe)

Skill selection :
Concentration and Spellcraft are required (and useful), and discipline is also very important.
I recommand Lore, Tumble, Disable Trap, Open Lock. With 20 Intelligence in the end, you can afford quite a few skills, even cross-class.

One last thing, this build has been tested by me on several worlds, and it works fine.

Any comment ?
_________________
If you call IGMS, Harm, Mestil's acid shield, the Bigby hands or Devastating Critical balanced in your post, don't expect me to like you.

I'm sorry about my bad english, I'm french.
In every lie lies a part of truth.

Edited By Agifem on 10/07/04 08:21

Interesting build. I have two thoughts:

1. If the wizard levels are mainly for buffing is it necessary to go all the way to Wizard 27? Wouldn't those levels be better spent on the martial classes to improve AB?

2. If you're taking Exotic Weapon Proficiency for Dwarven War Axes, and going to dual-wield, why not specialize in Double-Bladed Axe? Reason being that doesn't a two-handed weapon give you 1.5 x strength bonus in damage?

Thanks for posting!
Kaliban.
Quote: Posted 10/07/04 07:58:44 (GMT) -- Agifem

This is my way to try to emulate the PrC Eldritch Knight (available in the PRC) with Bioware classes. The result is pretty good, beating the DD3 Eldritch knight on some aspects, although not everywhere. I know, I just love to combine two fields that are not meant to be with, but a sword backed up with magic is just so cool.
The build I am presenting here is dual-wielding dwarven waraxes (crit 16-20/x4, 7 attacks per round with haste), full-plated, and mainly uses magic for buffing. You can use some spells when your axes don't go through, but you don't have the spells DC of a dedicated wizard, so don't get your hopes too high. The waraxe as a weapon of choice is personnal (look damn cool). You can safely exchange it for double axe, battle axe or warhammer with the same stats, or some other weapon of your choice.

Advantages
-Access to all the arcane best spells, although you'll mainly use the buffs.
-2-3 Epic spells (including epic warding, which will help you greatly)
-Auto-still spells
-7 attacks per round with crit on 16-20/x4
-Leveling past 20 is a piece of cake
-Very flexible on skills selection (the detailled build below is an example that can easily be customized), and allows many skills
-Strengh based dual-wielder (AB and damage depends on strengh both, and AC isn't dependant on dex)

Disadvantages
-This build is mainly offensive, neglecting the defensive part. Generally, spells will help on defense, but the main defense is attack, and this build generally cuts through pretty much anything before the forementionned thing gets a chance to attack.
-Law AC (see above)
-Low HP (318 if dices maxed, see above)
-Low AB (31 with non magical gear), but this si'tn such a big problem at epic levels, from what I've seen
-Saves are not high, although they are not low. Spellcraft gives a nice bonus against spells though
-Early levels are difficult, since HP and AC are low (use a shield at first), and the second attack comes at 10th level only
-Very little flexibility on the feats choice or on the levels order, and no flexibility on the abilities
-Another weapon master build ; here, weapon master gives strengh to the build, but isn't necessary. The build is still strong without the weapon master

Details

Race : Human preferably, any is doable (half-orc is not recommanded because of the intelligence decrease, neither are gnomes or halfelings because of the strengh decrease)

Alignment : Any

Base Attributes
STR 14 (20)
DEX 15
CON 14
WIS 8
INT 16 (20)
CHA 8

Leveling Guide
Level 1 Fighter
Levels 2-9 Wizard
Levels 10-13 Fighter
Levels 14-20 Weapon Master
Levels 21-39 Wizard
Level 40 Fighter

Final Level Distribution
Fighter 6
Weapon Master 7
Wizard 27

Attribute Bonuses
First 4 to intelligence
Last 6 to strengh

Feats
Level 1: Dodge, Mobility, Exotic weapon profeciency
Level 3: Spring attack
Level 6: Expertise, Still spell *
Level 9: Wirlwind attack
Level 10: Weapon focus (dwarven waraxe)
Level 12: Two weapon fighting, weapon specialization (dwarven waraxe)
Level 15: Ambidextry
Level 18: Improved two weapon fighting
Level 21: Improved critical (dwarven waraxe)
Level 22: Extend spell *
Level 24: Epic weapon focus (dwarven waraxe)
Level 27: Epic prowess, Combat casting *
Level 30: Auto-still spell 1
Level 32: Auto-still spell 2 *
Level 33: Auto-still spell 3
Level 35: 1 Epic spell of your choice (recommanded : Epic warding) *
Level 36: 1 Epic spell of your choice (recommanded : Epic mage armor)
Level 38: 1 Epic spell of your choice (recommanded : Hellball) *
Level 39: Improved combat casting
Level 40: Epic weapon specialization (dwarven waraxe)

Skill selection :
Concentration and Spellcraft are required (and useful), and discipline is also very important.
I recommand Lore, Tumble, Disable Trap, Open Lock. With 20 Intelligence in the end, you can afford quite a few skills, even cross-class.

One last thing, this build has been tested by me on several worlds, and it works fine.

Any comment ?

Personally I would probably go Wizard 23/Fighter 10/WM 7. You lose one Wizard bonus feat, so I'd probably get rid of Hellball. I would pick up Toughness to help your HP, and maybe Blind-Fight as well, since as of 1.64 True Seeing won't help you hit enemies with concealment bonuses.

I would probably get rid of combat casting and Improved Combat Casting. You can avoid AoO's by casting in Defensive Casting mode, so no need to waste 2 feats. If you go Dwarven you get +2 Con at creation (-2 Cha though, and 1 less feat and 1 less skill credit per level), so that would add another +40 HP to your character, in addition to Toughness.

Also, why no Dev. Crit? You should be able to get your Str high enough with this kind of build. Even if you server doesn't allow Dev. Crit., higher Str would get you a better AB, and certainly Overwhelming Crit would be helpful (another 3d6 damage on a critical).

Also, I agree with the above poster. Although dwarven waraxes may look cool, I probably wouldn't dual-wield them, as this will give you a -4 penalty to your AB. Using a double-axe you would only suffer a -2 penalty to AB, and you would do at most 2 points less damage on a successful hit. Alternatively, using a Greataxe would save you 4 feats (Exotic + 3 dual-wielding feats), and get you a better base damage, although you'd lose a couple attacks per round.

If you want to maximize your AB, you will want as many Fighter and WM levels as possible pre-epic. If you go Fighter 9/Wizard 4/WM 7 pre-epic, you get a pre-epic AB of +18, which should be 2 points better than the build you have now. Of course, then you can't take Auto-Still Spell I until level 33 at the earliest, but you should still be able to get Auto-Still Spell III by level 36, since that will end up as a Wizard bonus feat level. Like i said earlier, any weapon choice is valid, some better than others. Sure, double axe gives +2 AB, but it's easier to find a good dwarven waraxe (even two) than a good double axe on many servers. Also, 2 weapons look cooler than a double one.

27 Wizard ? Well, strange thing, i never thought about dumping more levels elsewhere. 27 gives me 2 free epic feats, and this build being short on feats, i thought it could use them. 23 wizard is nice too, losing an epic feat and a little power/duration on spells in exchange for 2 BAB, 2 non epic combat feats and up to 24 hp. It's up to you. I guess i had planned max wizard and thus i didn't need more than 6 fighter and 7 weapon master.

Why human instead of dwarf ? dwarves look ugly, smelly, and i like good-looking characters. But dwarf remain a valid choice if you can find the lacking feat and can stand the loss of a skill.

Why improved combat casting ? Well, this is a combat caster, the choice seemed obvious. Defensive casting mode is an active combat mode, takes time to activate.

Why no blind fight ? I need that feat, but i couldn't afford it. Like i said earlier, this build is short on feats.

Why no dev crit ? First cos i don't have 25 strengh. Second cos i have neither cleave nor overwelming crit. Third, read my signature.
_________________
If you call IGMS, Harm, Mestil's acid shield, the Bigby hands or Devastating Critical balanced in your post, don't expect me to like you.

I'm sorry about my bad english, I'm french.
In every lie lies a part of truth.

Edited By Agifem on 10/08/04 14:55

Quote: 
Why human instead of dwarf ? dwarves look ugly, smelly, and i like good-looking characters. But dwarf remain a valid choice if you can find the lacking feat and can stand the loss of a skill.
Also, you will lose one feat. Thus making your feat progression much harder and tighter. Iv made a simmular build like this one and seen 2 builds that went almost the same. but mine started with 23 wiz 8 fgt 7 wm and then i remade him to 25 8 7. altho, i went for Elf, subrace drow as i wanted a drow spellsword. a lil question, do u get 4 apr with only 6 fgt and 7 wm preepic? anyway, nice build, love that combo He's got 16 BAB at 20th lvl, so yes he does get 4 apr.

Cheers,
Kail
_________________
Stand and fight, live by your heart
Always one more try, I'm not afraid to die
Stand and fight, say what you feel
Born with a Heart of Steel! Did you consider using Bladesinger instead of EK? You get a hit on spells, for certain, but the rapier or LS aspect of the BS class would go well with WM. Also, you get the great uplift to AC from intelligence, which complements the wizard's attribute. Erm, this is not PRC (if that's what you're talking about , I don't know anything about it!).
_________________
"And one calculates time from the dies nefastus on which this fatality arose – from the first day of Christianity! – Why not rather from its last? – From today? – Revaluation of all values!"
Quote: Posted 12/21/04 13:54:48 (GMT) -- Khandahr

Quote: 
Why human instead of dwarf ? dwarves look ugly, smelly, and i like good-looking characters. But dwarf remain a valid choice if you can find the lacking feat and can stand the loss of a skill.
Also, you will lose one feat. Thus making your feat progression much harder and tighter.

Sort of. If you were going to include toughness, as a previous poster suggested, you could drop it and be a dwarf instead. Same hp, better fort saves, +2 v poison/magic, variety of combat training options along with some other minor benefits against 1 sp/level.