Master Spellsword: Wizard 31/Fighter 6/Rogue 3

Here’s my take on the spellsword.
I tried blending various different spellsword builds, most notably The War Wizard (Wizard 35/Rogue 3/Fighter 2 by grizzled_dwarflord, Weave Warrior (Bard 1/Fighter 13/Wizard 26) by Mithdradates, & Boccob's Magic Blade (Wizard 26/Fighter 8/Rogue 6) by Kail Pendragon.
First & foremost the master spellsword is a caster.
The AB is low & the spell DC is high, but if you get some strength gear early, you can melee away.
You can drop epic prowess & 1 strength point to boost Intelligence to 30 if you like.
Basically, a lot of fun if you like playing mages but hate wearing robes & carrying a staff, IMO.

Race: Human
Alignment: CG (Any)

Starting

Str 15 (16)
Dex 10
Con 16
Wis 8
Int 16 (28)
Cha 8


Leveling

1 Wizard – Combat Casting, Toughness
2 Wizard
3 Fighter – Still Spell, Weapon Focus: Longsword
4 Fighter - Expertise
5 Wizard
6 Wizard – Extend Spell
7 Wizard – Spell Focus: Necromancy
8 Wizard -
9 Fighter – Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy
10 Fighter – Improved Expertise
11 Wizard
12 Wizard – Spell Focus: Evocation
13 Wizard
14 Wizard – Maximize Spell
15 Wizard - Greater Spell Focus: Evocation
16 Wizard
17 Wizard
18 Wizard – Spell Penetration
19 Wizard – Greater Spell Penetration
20 Wizard -
21 Fighter – Armor Skin
22 Wizard
23 Wizard
24 Wizard – Great Intelligence I
25 Wizard – Auto Still Spell I
26 Wizard
27 Wizard – Auto Still Spell II
28 Wizard – Auto Still Spell III
29 Wizard
30 Wizard – Epic Spell: Mage Armor
31 Wizard - Epic Spell: Warding
32 Wizard
33 Wizard - Great Intelligence II
34 Wizard - Great Intelligence III
35 Rogue
36 Rogue – Epic Spell Focus: Necromancy
37 Fighter – Epic Weapon Focus: Longsword
38 Rogue
39 Wizard – Epic Prowess
40 Wizard


Skills

Appraise 29
Concentration 46
Discipline 40
Heal 43
Lore 25
Open Lock 20
Disable trap 11
Search 11
Spot 42
Spellcraft 43
Tumble 40
UMD 40


HP
362

AC
31 (basic full plate & tower shield)
66+ Buffed

AB
+29/+24/+19 (basic longsword)
BAB - 22


Saves
Fort 22 (+9)
Reflex 16 (+9)
Will 20 (+9)

PS - I'm not a well versed with pre-epic AB, so is it possible to switch some rogue levels to pre-epic & raise the AB, possibly going Wizard 30/Rogue 4/Fighter 6 (with a nice xp penalty of coarse).

Thanks,
Angelfire1

Edited By Angelfire1 on 05/27/08 03:28

Wow, no feedback at all?
Is the build so good that it leaves everybody speechless?

C'mon, I was hoping for some constructive critisism here.

Thanks,
Angelfire A dwarf will have higher con, more hitpoints and better saves. Fighter as favored class avoids xp penalty most of the lvls.
You will lose one feat. I don't thing combat casting brings much to the build, so I would have dropped that.
You will also lose one skill, eg. heal, but I still think it is worth it to take dwarf.

Maybe a dwarf should focus in an axe or hammer, just for the style bonus.

EWF (and epic prowess) comes late in a build with low AB. If you want armor skin early, you could always delay great int I.
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Quote: Posted 05/30/08 08:54 (GMT) -- Angelfire1

Wow, no feedback at all?
Is the build so good that it leaves everybody speechless?


C'mon, I was hoping for some constructive critisism here.

Thanks,
Angelfire

That happens from time to time, I hate it too...

Well, you made it tough saying you're blending builds by Mithdradates, Kail Pendragon and grizzled_dwarflord. It's like trying to jump a fence just to realize there's lava on the other side, I don't know, you chose it difficult man.

Initially, your AB sucks. I know spellswords need spellpower but +29 AB is just way too low, and with 16 strength your damage isn't surprising either. In my opinion you're a good full time caster, but spellsword you aint. Carrying a sword and casting spells doesn't make you a spellsword IMO, you need to be good at it.

Your spellpower is pretty good, with Auto Still you can take all the armor you want, so that's nice for your AC.

Combat Casting is useless unless you go for Improved Combat Casting IMO, that one can be worth it. By the way, you take Fighter but you don't take Epic Weapon Specialization, why? It is the big melee boost you get from being a Fighter, so not taking it gives me more reason to say this is no spellsword.

Quote: First & foremost the master spellsword is a caster.

The build is good, but your melee strength is crap, I'd drop the melee stuff completely at that rate. Keep the caster at first, foremost, and last.
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Edited By Thaxll'ssyllia on 05/30/08 17:04

Thanks for the feedback.

OK, I reworked the build to go Wizard 29/ Fighter 8/ Rogue 3.
I dropped Combat Casting & picked up Weapon specialization, Epic weapon specialization and + 1 BAB to bring it to +30/+25/+20 (which still is weak) & the damage bonus.
My dilemna is that even if one sacrifices casting & boosts the AB to say +37/... you still won't be able to hit the high end AC builds consistently.
That being said, I think that ANY spellsword build needs to lean heavy to either caster or melee, hence my level distribution.
Anyway, I realize it has some flaws, but it's still a fun build to play, IMO.

Thanks,
Angelfire You won't hit the high-end AC builds unless you're playing Arcane Archer or Weapon Master, that's a given so don't worry. Besides, that's what spells are for.

Specializing in one fighting style makes your build so much stronger, having a bit of everything leaves you strong in nothing, that's why the spellsword is a strong build idea: a caster with good melee presence. In my opinion, the best spellsword you can get is with Cleric instead of Wizard or Sorcerer... and the best Wizard route is attained by taking caster only at epic levels, in order to keep BAB; granted, it sucks at spell penetration, but spellpower is still neat.

The good thing is everyone likes to make builds different, if you listen too much to me you'll end with a very limited class spread.
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