Beginner in need of multi-class advice...

[Ormiss]

Hi,

I'm a long time lurker and reader of the D&D manuals but I've never actually DMed or played 3rd edition D&D before. (I DM a lot of other campaigns, mostly homebrewed ones.)

My problem is, my friend wants to play an Eldritch Knight, but he doesn't want to be primarily Wizard in his beginning levels (as he would be if he were going straight for the PrC, 1st level fighter, 5th level wizard...) but rather focus on fighting.

The question is, looking at the rules (and reading various posts) I get the feeling that multi-classing with a spellcasting class (5/5 fighter/wizard, for instance) is not a good idea. My concern is that his character will not be as powerful as he should be.

What are your thoughts on this? What would you recommend?

Thank you for stopping by!

 

[Demoquin]

There is a post not too long ago labeled " Is this a gamebreaker" it shows an Eldrict Knight there. You might get some ideas there.

 

[Thanee]

1-2 levels in a fighting class (i.e. Fighter, if going for Fighter/Wizard, or Paladin, for the Paladin 2/Sorcerer 6/EK) are a good enough base already; even with the 5 Wizard (or 6 Sorcerer) levels, if the character has the right ability scores (good Str/Con (also Int (or Cha), of course, for the spells)) and focuses on combat feats (Power Attack, Cleave, Weapon Focus, etc), then picks up a few nice buff spells (False Life, Bull's Strength, Shield (works well in combination with a two-handed weapon), etc), the character should not need to fear melee combat.

Bye
Thanee

 

[billd91]

What's the player's eventual conception? Does he primarily want to have a PC who casts powerful spells and does a little fighting on the side, or is mostly a fighter who does a little spell-casting on the side? Ideally, he should probably should be encouraged to think of the character in one of those two ways.
If he wants to play a primary caster, tell him that it's OK to invest in the fighting first, but also try to keep the fighter levels down to the absolute minimum that will allow him to qualify for the prestige class. Otherwise, the upper end of his spellcasting will be noticeably stunted compared to single-class casters of the same character level and some of the CR-appropriate monsters he may face (and their SR numbers). There are, of course, ways around some of that now (Practiced Spellcaster feat for one thing as well as Spell Penetration), but because spell-casting itself doesn't build in a multi-classing way like BAB and save bonuses do, he's well advised to keep in mind what level of spell-casting he wants to attain as he charts out his character's course.

 

[ajanders]

An alternative thought

My problem is, my friend wants to play an Eldritch Knight, but he doesn't want to be primarily Wizard in his beginning levels (as he would be if he were going straight for the PrC, 1st level fighter, 5th level wizard...) but rather focus on fighting.
The question is, looking at the rules (and reading various posts) I get the feeling that multi-classing with a spellcasting class (5/5 fighter/wizard, for instance) is not a good idea. My concern is that his character will not be as powerful as he should be.
What are your thoughts on this? What would you recommend?
Thank you for stopping by!

I've tried a build like this, though I used a sorceror instead of a wizard.
I ran into two problems, one of which was definitely related to being a sorceror...the other was related to being an eldritch knight.
Being a sorceror required more levels for my spellcasting prerequisites. I also made some mistakes in spell selection.
Fortunately, being a wizard bypasses both these problems.

The other problem, however, may be more severe in your case. If you want to fight in D&D, you need armor. Trying to fake it with Dodge and Expertise doesn't work. A slung shield doesn't work. Reach weapons to keep people out of melee with you can work, but you need a partner or a really effective weapon. (though you might try a reach weapon with Improved trip). Once you meet a critter with reach or missile attacks, you're in trouble, however.
Magic can start to solve the problem, but mage armor and shield peter out pretty rapidly...say, by sixth/seventh level.

The answer is simple, though perhaps cheesy.
Find a suit of armor...or at least a type of armor...you can live with. Chain shirt and shield work very nicely.
Take spellsword until you knock down your spell failure chance to 0...or low, at least. You get some other nifty powers and a half-rate BAB and spell advancement, too.
After you have everything you want out of spellsword, switch over to Eldritch Knight for the full BAB and spell advancement.
You'll not really regret satisfying the prereqs for Spellsword, either.
Good luck!

 

[Shadeus]

Another option to solve the "no armor" problem is to use spells (obviously). Greater Mage Armor gives a +6 armor bonus. You can have a Shield spell that gives another +4. Haste is another that adds to AC, so does Cat's Grace. Throw on Displacement or Blur and any foe has a miss chance no matter how good they are.

So you definitely have some options. But that means you use your spell slots to be an effective fighter and they aren't available for fireballs and the like.

Can an EK be an effective front line fighter alone? I would say no. Can they be a second line fighter to aid the first? Absolutely. And the class has the versitility to pick up attack spells to do things a fighter couldn't possibly do.