First time caster advice

[milo]

If you are wanting to do some melee you might want to think about Eldritch Knight. DMG pg 197. You have to take a level in a class that has all martial weapons, then with 5 levels of wizard. You can go into the class at 7th, at 17th level you lose 2 level of casting and have an extra 5 bab.

 

[Ffaelfarrin]

Sorry for the late answer, haven't been here for a while.

For a really good guide on gishs just type "gish builds" in google and look for a link to the wizards forums.
With quite a lot of the builds presented there you will hit 5th level spellcasting.

Elso do what I have done: rework a class to your needs and check with your DM. I'm a elven Bladesinger, reworked to 3/4 spellprogression and improved Song of Celerity.
But this was only to prevent me from dipping into x classes.


In your case you could still choose to pick the Eldritch knight PrC. 9/10 Spellprogression, full BAB and one extra feat are quite nice (even though I miss the fluff of this PrC)
You'd hit 5th level spells around 15th level I guess (without calculating exactly...)

I myself never have the feeling that I am useless with my gish.
Especially now (we arrived at 8th level the session before the last) my build is really beginning to rock. AC of >35, ranged attacks (arrow and spell) and able to do quite some damage in melee (see my other thread; spell storing weapon + "combust" from the spell compendium - else vampiric touch would work quite well) speak for themselves.

I think soon I'll begin to top even our main "tank", a halfling duskblade

Any you may not forget: You can still use scrolls/wands and the like. With wizard levels (=> learn new spells) you are very versatile. Even you cant cast as much as a sorcerer. And to solve this problemm, gtet a ring of wizardry.

 

[roguerouge]

You want a warmage from complete arcane. They get armor proficiency. They've got a decent hit die (d6). And they combine wizard (many spell options) and sorcerer (you don't have to memorize which ones you'll use today). Having seen them in actual play, they're quite good once they hit 5th or 6th level.

 

[Theroc]

You want a warmage from complete arcane. They get armor proficiency. They've got a decent hit die (d6). And they combine wizard (many spell options) and sorcerer (you don't have to memorize which ones you'll use today). Having seen them in actual play, they're quite good once they hit 5th or 6th level.

LEW does not allow any of the Completes. Therefore Warmage is not an option. I am restricted primarily to the SRD, besides the homebrewed rules for the Living Enworld Campaign.

Anyways, Eldritch Knight was a no-brainer for me, being the only class to combine melee and arcane casting in a meaningful way that I could see, besides Arcane Trickster and Assassin, which were stealthbased(and one requiring me to be evil)

Any hints on setting up statistics for a crosscaster/martial character? I was looking at setting my character up this way:
Str: 12
Dex: 14
Con: 12
Int: 16
Wis: 12
Cha: 10

That way he isn't totally inept physically, but since I'm starting him off primarily as a caster, I didn't want to gimp his intellect too badly. As I said, I'm starting him off as an arcane character so that he can participate in adventures otherwise not prudent. (Doing a 3rd level adventure as a 1st level fighter is suicide) Also, noting his low strength, I planned to possible dabble in the Dragon Disciple PrC as well as Eldritch Knight to help compensate for the currently weak melee abilities. DD's BAB isn't particularly good, and it doesn't have the best caster bonus, but it does grant interesting abilities and such.

 

[Ffaelfarrin]

I think you set up your stats the right way.
Personally I'd dump Cha totally, leaving it at 8. You can use those two points better elsewhere.

Main stats should be Int and Dex for a melee oriented caster (or Dex and Int for a casting oriented fighter, respectively).

Maybe you could also drop Str by 2 points if you chose to go with weapon finesse. Yes, that'd weaken your damage noteticebly, but a gish surely has other means than strenght to deal damage (spell storing weaponfor instance, if your dm wont allow arcane strike).

I personally dont like DD very much. Dunno why, but I prefer a build as "plain" as possible without having to be a "freak"
But yes, it obviously offers some possibilities to get some str and bonus spellslots - even though your spell levels wont be progressing with it.

Oh, btw, perhaps you want to take a look at the duelist PrC. Its has quite the same style as Swashbuckler and provides some interesting benefits. Int to AC. When fighting defensively, another +1 to AC per Duelist-level. Full BAB.
Still, no spell-progression.

So I think you have to decide what you want. Do you want to be primarily a fighter who augments his fighting with a bit of magic to do more "ouch" and "argh!"? Or do you want to be a caster primarily, who wants to dabble into melee combat once in a while?
Imho the only way to achieve a good balance between melee fighter and caster is by taking and focusing on eldritch knight.

But be warned. Playing a gish can be very annoying when youre at low levels. But when you come to mid-level, they begin to rock

 

[Theroc]

I think you set up your stats the right way.
Personally I'd dump Cha totally, leaving it at 8. You can use those two points better elsewhere.

Main stats should be Int and Dex for a melee oriented caster (or Dex and Int for a casting oriented fighter, respectively).

Maybe you could also drop Str by 2 points if you chose to go with weapon finesse. Yes, that'd weaken your damage noteticebly, but a gish surely has other means than strenght to deal damage (spell storing weaponfor instance, if your dm wont allow arcane strike).

I personally dont like DD very much. Dunno why, but I prefer a build as "plain" as possible without having to be a "freak"
But yes, it obviously offers some possibilities to get some str and bonus spellslots - even though your spell levels wont be progressing with it.

Oh, btw, perhaps you want to take a look at the duelist PrC. Its has quite the same style as Swashbuckler and provides some interesting benefits. Int to AC. When fighting defensively, another +1 to AC per Duelist-level. Full BAB.
Still, no spell-progression.

So I think you have to decide what you want. Do you want to be primarily a fighter who augments his fighting with a bit of magic to do more "ouch" and "argh!"? Or do you want to be a caster primarily, who wants to dabble into melee combat once in a while?
Imho the only way to achieve a good balance between melee fighter and caster is by taking and focusing on eldritch knight.

But be warned. Playing a gish can be very annoying when youre at low levels. But when you come to mid-level, they begin to rock

I'd prefer a good balance of the two, but focusing martially later. See, LEW has a rather slow progression, and there aren't many lower level characters around, so a frontline melee'er at level one against level 3+ monsters is suicidal, whereas a Wizard might survive.

As for DD: I love dragons. If I didn't think I'd play it wrong or it'd be mechanically gimp, I'd PLAY a dragon. So becoming half-dragon without an LA and gaining D12 hit dice for it... seems nice. Not to mention the Breath weapon and elemental immunity can always be handy.

So, I want to start out as a caster, then slowly ease into melee for this character as it becomes viable. Duelist sounds like a good option for a melee-based PrC in addition to Eldritch Knight, though since I intended this character to be an Elf or Half-elf, Arcane Archer might also be a good one.

Basically, I need to start as a caster then become a more martial character as appropriate. So, I suppose Caster first, warrior second.

 

[Runestar]

You want a warmage from complete arcane. They get armor proficiency. They've got a decent hit die (d6). And they combine wizard (many spell options) and sorcerer (you don't have to memorize which ones you'll use today). Having seen them in actual play, they're quite good once they hit 5th or 6th level.

The warmage's spell list is still fairly limiting overall, IMO. Most of them just do damage.

I would classify them more as an archer-type role. They are never going to come close to replicating the utility of an arcane spellcaster. So you will be in hot soup if you ever tried to take the place of one.

 

[Ffaelfarrin]

[...]a frontline melee'er at level one against level 3+ monsters is suicidal, whereas a Wizard might survive.[...]
So, I want to start out as a caster, then slowly ease into melee for this character as it becomes viable. [...]
So, I suppose Caster first, warrior second.

Yep, then you should start of with wizard levels and then go over to fighter (what else - this is the true elven style ) and finally to EK.

If you want to take some levels in PrC's later on which dont have any spellprogression (yep, progression, not just bonus spells like the DD) then you should see to gaining spell levels in the lower levels as fast as possible. Even if you later use the higher slots for lower level spells.
Well, at least I'd aim for them