Combat beguiler

Well, the Beguiler would be a poor BAB class that would get great use out of such a weapon.... :p

It'd then have the same HD and the same BAB as Rogue and Bard, supposedly "secondary combatants." And would be wearing basically the same armors. Except...access to many, many more spells than the bard, rogue's trapfinding, class ability to take shadow spells to break the only "limit" on the class's spell selection, free feinting, and all those other juicy class features....

Wizards and Sorcerers don't need help, either. They can use a plethora of buff/debuff spells to increase their attack bonus or lower the enemy's AC. And bs on the roleplaying reasons to not og into Eldritch Knight. It's an utterly flavorless, generic fighter-mage. It can be molded to fit whatever vision you have of your particular fighter-mage. The reason people don't take EK is the loss of 2 CL (one at level 1, one on a Fighter type class to get the proficiencies). And there are other options to make such a build easier in splats. Abjurant Champion is full BAB and full CL. Spellsword helps to cast in armor. Practiced Spellcaster makes lost caster levels a little less painful.

You want to have a medium BAB without leaving your full spellcasting class at all? Meet Joe the Fighter. Joe wants to go straight Fighter 20, but is wondering why there's no option in such a career path to cast spells like a wizard of half his level. He wants to know how many bonus feats he needs to trade for that.


Back to trying to be helpful instead of just arguing on the basic premise of what you want... If you want a swordsman that uses Illusions, why not just do some Fighter/Illusionist combo with whatever dual advancement prestige class you like the most. Be a gnome, take some racial Illusionist substitution levels. Maybe go into Shadowcraft Mage if you want. It's only 5 levels, you could do that AND Abjurant Champion in a 20 level progression, I think. Look at Spell Compendium. Some of the Illusion spells in there would fit with your vision, and aren't available to Beguilers, except via the extra learning class feature. Bladeweave and Spectral Weapon in particular.

If you want to make a new base class tailored to your idea, you could also use Swordsage as a base. The Shadow Hand discipline has a few maneuvers that fit, but you'd need to reconfigure it or make a whole new discipline more focused on creating illusions, and less on all the other stuff it currently includes (turning ghostly, walking on air and water, ability damage, paralysis....). One of the first level maneuvers create a shadow duplicate of your blade that attacks as you do, so it's harder for the foe to avoid your strike. Mechanically, it lets you roll 2d20 and take the higher value. If you pick the lower value (or roll identical) and it hits, both the real and phantom blade hit, so you deal extra damage. Seems to be along the lines of what you want. And Swordsage is conveniently already a medium BAB class geared towards combat.
 

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Well, the Beguiler would be a poor BAB class that would get great use out of such a weapon.... :p
What great use?

They could attack for (let's take a big weapon like a greatsword) 2d6 + crappy Str. It hardly seems game-breaking to me.

Of course, they could invest heavily in Str or other attack/damage bonuses, take Arcane Strike, take melee feats rather than caster feats... in which case, it again doesn't seem particularly game-breaking if they get a weapon that is, considered in itself, better than something a default beguiler, focusing on his enchantments and illlusions, could get.

It'd then have the same HD and the same BAB as Rogue and Bard, supposedly "secondary combatants."
Rogues get sneak attack, and bards are hardly secondary combatants.

And bs on the roleplaying reasons to not og into Eldritch Knight. It's an utterly flavorless, generic fighter-mage.
Which is all the roleplaying reason not to go into it anyone should need.

Back to trying to be helpful instead of just arguing on the basic premise of what you want...
By all means!

If you want a swordsman that uses Illusions, [...]
Good suggestions, many of which I've known but forgotten about, thanks.
 

Which is all the roleplaying reason not to go into it anyone should need.

I disagree. The utter lack of flavour is the best thing about EK, because it allows you to continue using the existing flavour of your original fighter/wizard build, without having to make any concessions for what new fluff a new prc may bring, or worry about it being incompatible.

It is simply an extension of a fighter/wizard multiclass. Why should it bring new flavour to the table?

Which class would you say can put this to best use, and what is the worst unbalancing effect they can achieve with it?

There are not many, but they do exist.

One would be a large character who has gone into warhulk (a 10th lv prc which grants +0 bab). Fey monsters benefit as well (since they get just 1/2bab, like that master of the hunt npc in MM5). Though in theory, they are simply better off trying to access a source of divine power instead (though a skillful weapon would be more reliable, and could serve as a backup if divine power is not available).

Interesting enough, they are all more common as npcs than PCs...:p
 

One would be a large character who has gone into warhulk (a 10th lv prc which grants +0 bab).
Might this be a problem with the PrC (3.0, right?) rather than the weapon enhancement?

Fey monsters benefit as well (since they get just 1/2bab, like that master of the hunt npc in MM5). Though in theory, they are simply better off trying to access a source of divine power instead (though a skillful weapon would be more reliable, and could serve as a backup if divine power is not available).

Interesting enough, they are all more common as npcs than PCs...:p
So a DM wishing to curtail abuse, rather than banning the enhancement, might simply refrain from abuse.
 

There have been worse enhancements than Skillful, I believe there was even one where you added half your arcane caster levels to attack rolls (it didn't give you any more iterative attacks, but it was still nasty). I wouldn't suggest boosting up the BAB of the class, as the Beguiler is quite powerful and fairly balanced as it is. Taking a level or two of Fighter would increase your attack bonus a good deal, especially if you take weapon finesse or weapon focus.

Otherwise, I suggest the Arcane Strike feat from Complete Warrior: You expend a spell slot to get +X to your attack rolls and +Xd4 damage on each successful attack for a round (where X is = to the spell level). It balances it out fairly nicely I think, allowing casters to kick some ass every once in a while, at the expense of their magic. As long as you make sure to keep investing in your weapon and perhaps Combat Expertise/Power Attack you should be just dandy. Finally, Law Devotion and Knowledge Devotion from the Complete Champion are interesting and flavorful as well, though Law Devotion is difficult to use without a cleric level for extra turn attempts.

Edit-Another alternative, check out Battle Sorcerer from Unearthed Arcana/the SRD: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#sorcererVariantBattleSorcerer
 


Might this be a problem with the PrC (3.0, right?) rather than the weapon enhancement?

Possible. The prc had +0bab progression, but granted +2str at each lv. Which is normally balanced outside of bab-adjusting spells such as divine power or tenser's transformation.

Also being large, it was clearly not designed for PCs (though it is not impossible for a player to enter it).

So a DM wishing to curtail abuse, rather than banning the enhancement, might simply refrain from abuse.

Aww...but that's half the fun...:p

Or at least I think the designers were entertaining such a thought when they released options that clearly appeared to favour npcs over PCs...
 

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