Sollir Furryfoot said:
What level is your binder, btw? I haven't heard of many folks who play them in a high level game, any chance you could give a quick summary of your experience with it so far?
Just reached 19th after that fight.
A binder is a lot of fun to play, and you always have lots of interesting options. My DM is allowing any and all vestiges from official sources, which helps because the more recent ones seem more powerful than the ones in Tome of Magic.
Power wise, it can't compete with the druid (obviously!) or with other spellcasters, but if fills the role of meat shield amazingly well - two good saves, damage reduction, temorary hit points, called armour, dex bonuses and the like. I have also maxed out my constitution, so a lot of hit points. The soul guardian - immunity to energy drain came in very handy in the last session and I now have what is basically mind blank as well, so my character is very hard to take down.
We have lost one of our players at the moment, which means we are missing our cleric and our duskblade. However, I am able to fill in with healing and magic item use.
It is useful to have information about what you are up against (although sometimes you get misinformation) but I have started using Expel Vestige and my vestige phylactery to swap vestiges around as needed.
I struggle to inflict damage, but with a druid and a rogue making up the rest of the party it really isn't an issue for the group.
I could have gone down the route of improving my charisma and relying on the various vestige powers which force saving throws, but I had the feeling I was going to struggle to keep the DCs high enough to be challenging for opponents. I'd be interested to hear of anyone trying that method.