My warrior-mage has 4 Fighter levels--let's make them count!

[mirivor]

Sorry, don't have time to read all replies.

1) Monkey grip in the 3.5 CW explicitly states that it cannot be used with a double weapon.

2) I don't understand your statement regarding Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting. How will it help? You are already fighting with a light weapon in your off hand, so that feat wouldn't have any effect.

3) I would lose PA. You are already suffering a -2 to hit and don't need any further penalties. Why take both the two-weapon fighting path and the two-handed weapon fighting path? You should focus on only one because your feat selection is already extremely limited by your two-weapon selection.

4) Take Two-Weapon Defense. You already have a decent dex to gain TWF, so I would build on that and make your AC higher.

5) What about Combat Casting? Surely you could only use that feat all the time.

6) Improved Toughness will only help you.

Just some ideas.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Never take Combat Casting where Skill Focus (Concentration) is a possibility.

 

[Felon]

I'm looking at havoc mage now, and that means two-weapon fighting is flat-out. Actually looking to do monkey-gripped bastard sword. That's 2d8 damage, which is very close to the range of a large greatsword's 3d6 without mandatory two-handed wielding. Now I can use a buckler in one hand, grip it two-handed when advantageous to do so and suck up the -1 penalty. Using it in conjunction with whirling blade will be much more effective.

Of course, dropping 2WF means fewer attacks per round (only one when I'm doing havoc mage battlecasting), which means weapon spec is not nearly as good an investment for four levels. If I only do a couple levels of fighter, I'm initially at fewer hit points than I would be, but getting into havoc mage faster where I get a d8.

So, here is a rough prospectus up to 10th level:

1st--Fighter. Feats = EWF (bastard sword), Monkey Grip, Weapon Focus (BS)
2nd--Fighter. Feat = Power Attack
3rd--Warmage. Feat = Practiced Spellcaster
4th--Warmage.
5th--Warmage.
6th--Warmage. Feat = Battle Caster or Cleave, maybe Imp. Toughness or Imp. Buckler.
7th--Havoc Mage.
8th--Havoc Mage.
9th--Spellsword. Feat = Arcane Strike
10th--Havoc Mage.

EDIT
Average HP 47.5 (compared to a straight fighter's 59.5 and straight warmage's 37.5)
BAB +7
Caster level 10th
Able to toss a 10d6 fireball and attack with a big-ass bastard sword as a full-round action. Or for synergy fans, cast fist of stone to gain +6 Str, or True Strike, or cast Whirling Blade (which at the very minimum will grant a second attack at highest BAB).

And advancement's pretty open-ended. I can go another level as Havoc Mage to advance spellcasting, or take levels in Spellsword or Eldritch Knight to gain bonus feats. Dragon Disciple was another interesting suggestion. A couple levels of that would not only bolster my hit points, increase my strength, and add a little AC boost, but I'd get some natural weapons. I'd qualify for Multiattack. Then I would have a couple attacks at -2 that would go with the bastard sword and that ameliorates the issue with my lower BAB putting me behind fighters in regards to number of attacks per round.

 

[Thanee]

Isn't Monkey Grip -2 to attack?

Seriously, I don't think that's a good idea! Your attack bonus is already not at full scale. Just use Power Attack, if you want to deal more damage and can afford to hit less often.

You could get Cleave early then, which is great to have at the low levels especially (if you don't start out high, that is ).

Bye
Thanee

P.S. What book is Havoc Mage from?

 

[Felon]

Isn't Monkey Grip -2 to attack?
Seriously, I don't think that's a good idea! Your attack bonus is already not at full scale. Just use Power Attack, if you want to deal more damage and can afford to hit less often.

You could get Cleave early then, which is great to have at the low levels especially (if you don't start out high, that is ).

If it has a high AC, I'll use a spell against it or, after becoming a havoc mage, true strike. And I'd say it looks like I get more damage from the large bastard sword than from power-attacking. It's also worth noting that the -2 penalty from Monkey Grip only applies to the attack wtih the oversized weapon, not to all attacks that round (unlike Powe Attacking). That's important when I'm battlecasting a scorching ray.

P.S. What book is Havoc Mage from?

Miniatures Handbook. 5-level class, d8 HD, medium BAB, good Fort and Will saves. Grants the ability to cast a spell and attack with a weapon as a full-round action.

 

[Octal40]

Have you thought about going Fighter/Warlock? Warlocks have average BAB (better than sorc/warmage), can wear light armor, don't need reagents for their spells (so you don't need Quick Draw to empty your hands to grab reagents for a spell). They have limited powers, but you could focus on the offensive only stuff. Even the buff invocations (similar to a spell) that they do have are self only. Considering the type of character you're making, a nice bonus feature of the class is that they never run out of spells. They can always blast away or buff up whenever they need to. They also gain damage reduction and have great UMD abilities. They're in the Complete Arcane if you're interested.

Only problem you may have is I'm not sure how well the Havoc Mage PrC will work with them.

 

[Felon]

Only problem you may have is I'm not sure how well the Havoc Mage PrC will work with them.

Well, it won't, just like it won't provide an entrance to spellsword or eldritch knight. It won't get improved by the Practiced Spellcaster feat either. It has some things to offer, like medium BAB and the DR, but firepower and PrC-accessibility aren't among them.

 

[Octal40]

I would disagree that Warlocks don't have the firepower. They can blast away every round, all day long.

The PrC-qualifying issue is definitely there, but it's nothing that can't be smoothed over with your DM and a houseruling.

 

[Felon]

I would disagree that Warlocks don't have the firepower. They can blast away every round, all day long.

But I wouldn't say someone with an unlimited supply of firecrackers has real firepower

One of the benefits of being a warrior-mage is supposed to be it doesn't matter so much if you run out of spells--you have your martial skills to fall back on. Now, a warlock fire a single bolt that does 1d6 each odd level. That's actually not a lot of damage compared to what I can do with even a first level lesser elemental orb (1d8 damage every odd level, not to mention my warmage edge). Sure, the warlock can fire them all day, but a wand has pretty much the same net effect. And I won't be getting access to those high-level blast-shape invocations.

 

[winterwolf]

Better late than never

I just joined this forum (this is my first post) and had to post here as this topic here is very similar to what I just finished playing. I know you said 4 levels in fighter, but I played a lvl 2 psychic warrior/level 2 monk (eventually picking up wizard 3/ eldritch knight all the rest of my levels). It was quite effective... as a human, i took no multiclass penalty (with wizard being designated as my favorite class and the other 2 classes being the same level). This character used a katana (and took exotic weapon proficiency to use it one handed). He would then use it 2h for damage, but had the option to flip to one hand for use with spells and the monk's unarmed attack/stunning blow/ deflect arrows ability. The psychic warrior also gave him access to inertial armor (a free +4 armor bonus) and the monk levels gave him the wisdom bonus to ac and the option to use improved unarmed strike with spells (plus evasion...really nice to have as a wizard). What is really nice about psychic warrior is that at fourth level, they can pick up weapon specialization as a fighter...my character never did, but someone else might want to...
Not only that, my character looked pretty awesome... he was designed to look like a samurai, kimono and all...