Abjurant Champion question

[Zephiel7]

If you take 5 levels in this class and get the Martial Arcanist feature, does that mean if you have a BAB of 19 you can cast 9th level spells, or just that your caster level for the sake of determining spell penetration and versus dispel checks (not bonus spells of higher levels) is 19?

 

[Patlin]

Just the caster level, not the spells per day.

 

[Zephiel7]

Just the caster level, not the spells per day.

Oh, ok. That would prevent this class from being broken. I was surprised, because I initially thought it meant caster level as in level of spell casting class. Where was this clarified?

 

[dagger]

Oh, ok. That would prevent this class from being broken. I was surprised, because I initially thought it meant caster level as in level of spell casting class. Where was this clarified?

In the PHB? Caster level has nothing to do with how many spells you can cast or of what level.

 

[Doug McCrae]

That would prevent this class from being broken.

Abjurant Champion's broken, but not that broken. Full BAB, full caster progression, d10 hit dice plus excellent special powers. It's much better than Eldritch Knight, which is a very well balanced class imo.

It's so badly broken it's better than straight cleric. Yeah, that broken.

 

[Zephiel7]

In the PHB? Caster level has nothing to do with how many spells you can cast or of what level.

Argh my bad. I read the martial arcanist description as stating "your spell caster and caster level" increase depending on BAB instead of "your caster level in your primary spellcasting class" increase.

Too bad, I was getting some pretty good ideas too.

 

[Savage Wombat]

Has anyone suggested (and tested) a fix for the Abjurant Champion? One of my players has considered one, and I don't want it to be abusive.

 

[EyeontheMountain]

I don't really see it needing much of a fix. Yes, it is better than the eldrich knight, but IMHO, that class is awful weak. The d10 hp and the BAB are nice to be sure, but both do not mean that much for most mages, even eldrich knight types, as it is not enough to make up for all those levels of d4 hit points you need to take to get there. Sure, you can make them a bit more survivable in combat, but by the time you finish the class (or even start it at 7th level) a mage should be able to sty out of combat well enough anyway. The class does not bring them up to the level of actually being able to handle melee combat, so the BAB matters little.

 

[DogBackward]

A Duskblade with Spell Knowledge (Shield) can be pretty powerful with an Abjurant Champion, but otherwise it's not actually all that powerful. I've played several of them with different styles, and the main benefit was that they were only more versatile and fun to play than a straight warrior. They can actually match a straight combatant pretty well with a Battle Sorceror 6/Fighter 1 base, though.

 

[Dracomeander]

My favorite use for the Abjurant Champion actually makes an effective elven warrior mage.

4 levels of a warrior class (usually swashbuckler or fighter) / 2 levels of wizard (specialist if desired) / 5 levels Abjurant Champion / rest of levels Bladesinger.

With the loss of only 1 BAB, it retains viability as a combatant and has enough spellcasting to give the character the option to use magic effectively without overshadowing a dedicated spellcaster.