Spell Blade Build Suggestions

[Astral]

I actually have no idea how I'd do it. Too many attributes spread, and if I mc 4 fighter or paladin pre-epic I only get epic spells/focuses at lvl 27 and I end up with 25~ CL which I consider abysmal even against a mord scroll.

Anyone ever played one to epics and can share some wisdom? I prefer a sorc over a wizard but I'm open minded.

[One Two Three Five]

Wait till the alleged

possibility of a spellsword path or focus open for the future

Otherwise, don't bother. You'll have a bad time. Or, like, idk, Bard 20/Fighter 4/PDK 6.

[msterswrdsmn]

I played one years ago (Ryang the sorc/fighter) Suggestions?

Disable Disable Disable
Your AB isn't going to be spectacular, even with the new 3/4 BAB boost. Instead of constantly trying to jack up your AB....just lower your enemies AC. Blindness. Paralysis. Bigby's. Grease. Web. All of these will inflict heavy AC penalties. Even characters with uncanny dodge will still loose their dodge sources of AC. This is typically a -6 AC on builds with 30 ranks of tumble; more if there are other sources affected by any of the above conditions.

Multiclass
Even with the 3/4 AB, you'll need some extra HP and discipline, which you can't get from caster classes.

At least one spell focus
You can get more, but its possible to get away with just one. You just need to figure out one that fits your playstyle. Ryang was most effective against battleclerics, largely due to his evocation focuses (Mords+bigby's+sunburst+acid sheath usually made the fight very one sided)

Try to figure out what spell focuses best support your imagined playstyle. Enchantment, evocation and illusion would work well. Necromancy, divination, and transmutation, however, probably wouldn't help much; you don't have a whole lot of freedom with feat selection

[One Two Three Five]

The 3/4ths ab got removed today.

[msterswrdsmn]

...Lol. I was wondeirng how long that was going to take. NEVERMIND. The above -can- work, but with the way the power creep has been over the last few years, its not something i'd recommend trying unless you really like making things difficult.

[Rabbid]

In all honesty if you want to do a spellblade like character now, I'd suggest (and stronly push) either Battle bard (Bard/Fighter) or Bardadin (Bard/Paladin[blackguard if evil]/Fighter)

Also, while divine and not arcane, Battle cleric is another option.

As it stands, wizard/sorc don't blend well into a Spellblade, so I'd either try something like the above or wait for the potential Spellblade path.

[Kirito]

Since I'm playing a spell blade at the moment I have to disagree that they aren't good. Maybe not optimal, but they can survive on their own by drawing in 1-3 at a time.

Parry is very helpful here, as is going dexterity based to build up your AC

(However the 3/4 AB loss is somewhat annoying... it cold have at least been pushed into a separate path rather than cut altogether)

[Rabbid]

Since I'm playing a spell blade at the moment I have to disagree that they aren't good. Maybe not optimal, but they can survive on their own by drawing in 1-3 at a time.

Parry is very helpful here, as is going dexterity based to build up your AC

(However the 3/4 AB loss is somewhat annoying... it cold have at least been pushed into a separate path rather than cut altogether)

It was cut so that they can actually make a path while keeping the iconic "vanilla" mage exactly that.

Give it time and we may see a path. But with /all/ mages regardless of path having 3/4 BAB it made it more difficult to build and balance a path for spellblades while still keeping the traditional mage. I have heard rumblings of a path but I wouldn't hold my breath for it anytime soon.

[Kirito]

It was cut so that they can actually make a path while keeping the iconic "vanilla" mage exactly that.

Give it time and we may see a path. But with /all/ mages regardless of path having 3/4 BAB it made it more difficult to build and balance a path for spellblades while still keeping the traditional mage. I have heard rumblings of a path but I wouldn't hold my breath for it anytime soon.

Yup, but it would also have worked to revert the the mages later on when the path was ready, and allow existing mages to take it via a trainer thus giving an option not to invalidate existing (non path) "spellblade" mages.

[Peppermint]

As far as I know, there's no spellsword in the works now, though as mentioned in the patch notes, it's something I'd be open to in the future. It's something I think would be super cool, and have toyed with from time to time. It also wouldn't surprise me in the least if another developer wanted to take this on as a project. Unfortunately, the addition of the mage BAB bonus made the introduction of a spellsword path next to impossible; and by the same token, it made the addition of further actual mage cookies* very difficult, too.

I do sympathize with anyone that was adversely impacted by this reversion (especially those that had planned dedicated spellswords). In an ideal world, this patch would have gone in much sooner, though unfortunately, real life does sometimes get in the way.

(* i.e. my current project)

[RamblerTeo]

play a bard or cleric, closest thing u'll get

[Astral]

Truth is I've played bard wm, bard bg, bard fighter, bard cot, favoured soul cot, favoured soul bg and b-cleric (with charisma) only in the past few years (Bard junkie here) so I guess I'll wait and see if there's any other changes to melee mage potential in the future. Thanks everyone.

[Seven Sons of Sin]

I would play an evo cleric with Air/Cold Domain, or a druid, if I wanted to play any kind of spellsword build.