Warrior-Mage Prestige Classes: which are viable & which are not

[charlesatan]

Indeed, and I've noticed something else interesting (for those who like monk/sorcerer combos):

Activating Arcane Strike is a free action that adds an unnamed bonus to your attack and damage rolls.

Ascetic Mage allows you to use a swift action to add an unnamed bonus to your attack and damage rolls.

Assuming you burn a separate spell slot for each feat, is there any reason these two feats couldn't be activated in the same round, and is there any reason to think the bonuses wouldn't stack?

By RAW, no. They'll stack. But bear in mind when Complete Warrior and Complete Divine was being written, there wasn't swift actions yet. (Hence the Divine feats in Complete Warrior was a free action to activate instead of the subsequent swift actions to activate it.)

Both are untyped bonuses so they'll similarly stack.

You'll be burning a lot of spells though...

 

[Diirk]

After three pages of discussion, much of it mentioning armor, I'm surprised that I'm the first to point out that a Twilight Mithral Chain Shirt costs only 9100 gp and has no ASF chance, and I'm only going off of the SRD and PHB II so far.

Am I missing something? Isn't a twilight chain shirt only 5100gp? (100gp chain shirt, +1000 gp mithral for light armour, +4000gp for +2 equivalent)

 

[Patlin]

Am I missing something? Isn't a twilight chain shirt only 5100gp? (100gp chain shirt, +1000 gp mithral for light armour, +4000gp for +2 equivalent)

You need a minimum +1 enhancement to put any equivalent features on the armor.

Well, that's not it... you included that in the +2. Perhaps it will make more sense to me when I'm less sleepy.

 

[DreadArchon]

Am I missing something? Isn't a twilight chain shirt only 5100gp? (100gp chain shirt, +1000 gp mithral for light armour, +4000gp for +2 equivalent)

You're completely right, it's actually even easier than I thought.

I was going by weapon tables for cost.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Another thing I haven't seen anyone address is the Warmage. By putting in 6-7 levels in the class and spending one feat you can cast in heavy armor. You can also use small shields. Mix in a couple fighter levels to get the proficiencies and feats, then switch to EK for the rest of the way.

Thats my character.

DS

 

[Victim]

Another thing I haven't seen anyone address is the Warmage. By putting in 6-7 levels in the class and spending one feat you can cast in heavy armor. You can also use small shields. Mix in a couple fighter levels to get the proficiencies and feats, then switch to EK for the rest of the way.

Thats my character.

DS

Warmages don't really have many buffs for melee though, so there's not much synergy in the multiclass.

 

[Machiavelli]

Yeah, the only truly effective way I can see to use a Warmage's spells to buff his attacks would be Arcane Strike. Unfortunately, though, it would seem that the Warmage Edge class ability (one of the WM's best) does not work with Arcane Strike.

After buffing your attacks, of course, you'll want to figure out how to get your warmage to survive melee combat, with his pathetic d6 hitdice and the MAD you're setting up between Str, Con, and Int.

There are far more powerful character sheet builds out there. I wouldn't worry about this one.

 

[Razilin]

for warrior-mage builds, i've traditionally used ftr/wiz/spellsword/EK, but with the advent of swift/immediate spells and abjurant champion, the old builds quickly lose their potency.

i agree that abjurant champion is...excessively...viable. they can make most standard action spells swift spells for a limited number of times per day AND they can sacrifice spell slots for boosts (the most nifty one being energy resistance). suddenly, i no longer need to prepare protection from energy. indeed, i can prepare a crapload of utility spells, thanks to arcane chanelling, which makes those non-combat spells useful for a temporary boost.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

After buffing your attacks, of course, you'll want to figure out how to get your warmage to survive melee combat, with his pathetic d6 hitdice and the MAD you're setting up between Str, Con, and Int.

Thats easy....not all warriors have to be melee centered. All those snazzy bow feats work well with your ranged touch spells.

Greatbow (item) - 130' range increment
Accuracy (spell)- 1st level spell, doubles range increment to 260'. You could maybe push this to 390' with the extra range weapon ability, but I am not certain if it stacks. I am thinking it does.
Smiting Spell (feat)- Can imbue an arrow with a touch spell
True Strike (spell)- +20 to hit
= Firing at a guy 2600' away (3900' if stackable) with full attack bonus and blast him with your favorite touch spell to boot. Chance of him noticing where you attacked from - 0%, and thats with no adds to your hide spell and a big fat penalty due to full plate armor.

How about defense?
Who wants to attack a guy standing in the middle of a cloudkill spell with a fireshield and a ring of blades going?

And if things get real bad.....Maximized Empowered Greater Fireburst.

DS

 

[wildstarsreach]

Thats easy....not all warriors have to be melee centered. All those snazzy bow feats work well with your ranged touch spells.

Greatbow (item) - 130' range increment
Accuracy (spell)- 1st level spell, doubles range increment to 260'. You could maybe push this to 390' with the extra range weapon ability, but I am not certain if it stacks. I am thinking it does.
Smiting Spell (feat)- Can imbue an arrow with a touch spell
True Strike (spell)- +20 to hit
= Firing at a guy 2600' away (3900' if stackable) with full attack bonus and blast him with your favorite touch spell to boot. Chance of him noticing where you attacked from - 0%, and thats with no adds to your hide spell and a big fat penalty due to full plate armor.

How about defense?
Who wants to attack a guy standing in the middle of a cloudkill spell with a fireshield and a ring of blades going?

And if things get real bad.....Maximized Empowered Greater Fireburst.

DS

I thought that 5x the range was the maximun. That would be 1300/1950. Still an incredible shot.