duskblade

[Diomeneus]

putting aside the highly contrasting opinions of the duskblade...
What feats are good for a duskblade? It seems there are no real easy feats to take that increase a duskblades magic capabilities (which, by the way, kinda suck, even moreso for a character with level adjustment +4)

I know metamagic feats are handy and all, but none of htem seem all that handy for a duskblade levels ten and under.

my dm is using the spell point variant on spells per day (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/spellPoints.htm)
and i initially liked the sounds of power attack and maximaze spell (blade of blood). The problem lies in that maximize spell raises it by 3 levels and a duskblade under level 13th can't cast 4th level spells, making that feat pretty much useless until higher levels.
It says that you can't raise a spell past the level you can actually cast... so most metamagic feats are either useless to me or don't effect any spells on the duskblades list.

it would be lovely if anyone could take a look at the duskblades spell list and tell me of any feats that can enhance his magical capabilities?

I'm know a load about a lot of feats... just this is the first class i've ever made that has had to concern itself with magic.
(i'm making a stonechild duskblade)
it has some high advantages and high dissadvantages. ECL +4 for stonechild, making a 5th level duskblade vs a stonechild duskblade MUCH more magically adept.

looking around i've decided that spell focus (evocation) or even (transmutation) are both good schools for a feat. But those aren't metamagic and any good feat in PHBII or complete arcana has "any metamagic feat" as a prereq. sucky! sucky hardcore!

 

[brehobit]

Sudden maximize might be handy on occasion
Weapon focus will be a biggy. Hitting=good.
Depending on your wisdom, arcane discipline (I think that's the name) might be a good way to get access to a few more spells. Not too huge as a duskblade, but being able to do (for example) some healing might be huge (not to mention wand usage of CLW...)

Other than that I don't really have much of a clue. I think the fey heritage feat chain _might_ be good, but it will eat all of your feats forever.... Works a bit better if you all use flaws to get bonus feats...

Mark

 

[Diomeneus]

sorry i don't have access to any books other hten core for the next 6 hours.... what does arcane disciple do again? (hitting isn't a big deal, that level adjustment +4 takes care of hitting)
also, weapon focus (a spell) might be handy.... but which spell on the DB list would actually benefit from it a lot?

edit: i imagine it allows me to learn an extra spell... but can that spell be any arcane spell or does it have ot be another one off of the DB list... which has no healing... i would love alittle healing... wooooooo!

 

[Dracomeander]

Arcane Disciple adds the spells of one Domain to your spells known list provided you have the requisite Wisdom and spellcasting level to access the spell. However, you also need 4 ranks of Knowledge (religion) and spellcraft to acquire the feat.

 

[Diomeneus]

bah! that won't help me at all... my character doesn't have ranks in either of those .. does have lots in knowledge (arcana) though... thanks anyways

edit: that and his wisdom blows...

for level 5
str 22, dex 13, con 20, int 18, wis 8, cha 8
if your curious on why the first 4 are so freaking high take a look at the "stonechild" race in "races of stone" book. Beleive me it comes with some high negatives... like higher attacks, but less of them because a human (or any other race) duskblade will have a higher BAB if htey are hte same effective character level. As well as less powerful spells, the human duskblade is 2 levels ahead of the stonechild one as far as spells go.

 

[Diomeneus]

one more thing that could help me... seeing as almost all duskblades past level 4 will use heavy mithral armor if they can afford it... isn't there a feat or something that allows you to move at normal speed in medium or heavy armor or something? that would be terribly useful.

 

[mikebr99]

one more thing that could help me... seeing as almost all duskblades past level 4 will use heavy mithral armor if they can afford it... isn't there a feat or something that allows you to move at normal speed in medium or heavy armor or something? that would be terribly useful.

That is a class ability of Champion of Corellon Larethian (RoW)... not sure if it's a feat.

Mike

 

[zeb.hillard]

The problem is, that with the Duskblade you have just as much reliance on your spells as a normal fighter has with his weapons. If you give up the caster levels by taking a race with a high level adjustment, not only are you losing hit points, save modifiers, and base attack bonus...you're losing access to higher level spells and heavier armor capabilities (Thus doing yourself a negative on both Armor Class to survive combat, and lengthening the amount of time you'll be in combat due to a lower to-hit).

Sudden Empower works well, but I think it has any other Metamagic feat as a prerequisite. Still Spell is a minor adjustment to spell level that will let you ignore somatic components (And this ASF if you're casting with a Heavy Shield or heavier armor than you can wear). Early on, you'll want to focus on survivability and endurance. I'd suggest swift spells that increase your defenses and True Strike to make sure you connect when you start swinging (Quickened True Strike + Full Power Attack with a Greatsword ends quite a few fights at level 5).

 

[Diomeneus]

ya the level adjusment is definately hurting my spells (i'm planning hte character out from levels 5 to 20 completely)

hit points and AC i'm not concerned about... the race more hten makes up for both (+8 to con really helps and +4 natural armor does too)

 

[zeb.hillard]

I would still be highly cautious...in a 5th level group, regardless of your racial constitution modifier, you're only packing 13 hit points. I've seen characters in games against EL1 creatures with 13 hit points go down. Adamantine Chain Shirt for minor damage reduction, and I'd suggest a large shield (Even with the penalties to your casting) to help out until you start to really exist off the spells.