DuskBlades and Prestige Classes

[BadMojo]

I'm not convinced of this. I have no inside knowledge, but I think of the duskblade entry as simply having accidentally failed to specify "These abilities work only with spells you cast as a duskblade," as opposed to intending to allow them to work with spells cast via levels in some other class. That would make it more consistent with precedent, as well as keeping the class from being blatantly overpowered in multiclassing situations.

Ari,

I haven't fully read through the class yet, so I actually just assumed that wording was in there. Didn't realize it was missing.

Do you have personal opinions on the design philosophy behind a class that seems to one-up both the Bladesinger and Spellsword classes?

As it stands right now, from a pure game mechanics point of view I don't see any reason why I *wouldn't* want to take all 20 levels of Duskblade. I honestly can't think of another base class that I would feel the same about.

 

[dagger]

I got those builds off the Optimization boards over at Wizards....

"extra spell wraith strike"

Say what now? Wraith strike not on spell list.

Extra Spell does not say it has to be on your spell list.

You learn an additional Spell.
Prereq: Caster Level 3rd.
Benefit: You learn one additional spell at any level up to one lower than the highest level of spell you can currently cast. Thus, a 4th-level sorcerer (Maximum spell level 2nd) Gains a new 0-level or 1st-level spell known with which to expand her repertoire. For classes such as wizard that have more options for learning spells, Extra Spell is generally used to learn a specific spell that a character lacks access to and would be unable to research.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Each time you learn a new spell at any level up to one level lower than the highest level of spell you can cast.

 

[shilsen]

As it stands right now, from a pure game mechanics point of view I don't see any reason why I *wouldn't* want to take all 20 levels of Duskblade. I honestly can't think of another base class that I would feel the same about.

Personally, I think that's a big point in favor of the class. One can always come up with flavor/concept reasons for taking all 20 levels in a particular class, but it's nice to have mechanical reasons to back that up as well.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Ari,

I haven't fully read through the class yet, so I actually just assumed that wording was in there. Didn't realize it was missing.

Do you have personal opinions on the design philosophy behind a class that seems to one-up both the Bladesinger and Spellsword classes?

As it stands right now, from a pure game mechanics point of view I don't see any reason why I *wouldn't* want to take all 20 levels of Duskblade. I honestly can't think of another base class that I would feel the same about.

Honestly, I prefer base classes that encourage you to stick with them through the entire progression. PrCs should be flavor choices or providers of new options, not optimization tools.

As far as other base classes that rarely, if ever, benefit from PrCs, I'd put forth the druid and--if one is including the new feats in PHBII--the fighter.

 

[IanB]

As it stands right now, from a pure game mechanics point of view I don't see any reason why I *wouldn't* want to take all 20 levels of Duskblade. I honestly can't think of another base class that I would feel the same about.

It seems to me this *should* be true of all base classes, so having one that works that way is a good start.

As it happens, though, there are others where I think it is worthwhile:

barbarian
druid (at least pre-polymorph changes)
monk
most base classes in a game where I expect to reach epic levels

Moving outside the realm of the player's handbook, I expect there are others as well. Off the top of my head I know the dread necromancer from Heroes of Horror is probably worth taking to 20.

 

[harmyn]

I would say the Duskblade is unique and specific enough that it shouldn't really need prestige classes. I would say the same thing about the Warlock from Complete Arcane and for the most part the Druid class from the PHB. But that's just me.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Extra Spell does not say it has to be on your spell list.

Doesn't matter. Check this thread.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Extra Spell does not say it has to be on your spell list.

Out of curiosity, what does the Duskblade's "Spells" entry say?

The Wizard, for example, states "Spells: A wizard casts arcane spells which are drawn from the sorcerer/ wizard spell list."

If the Duskblade states "Spells: A duskblade casts arcane spells which are drawn from the duskblade spell list", then I'd agree that yes, Extra Spell lets him learn Wraithstrike, but it does not say it adds the spell to your spell list... therefore while the Duskblade knows the spell, he cannot cast the spell, since it is not drawn from the duskblade spell list.

-Hyp.

 

[Sejs]

Is there any other base class or Prestige Class (that doesn't have arcane caster as a requirement) that can cast Arcane spells and gets a full BAB?

Hexblade.

I got those builds off the Optimization boards over at Wizards....

You don't say.

Heh, yeah, it being centered around Ur-Priest was kind of a hint there.

As it stands right now, from a pure game mechanics point of view I don't see any reason why I *wouldn't* want to take all 20 levels of Duskblade. I honestly can't think of another base class that I would feel the same about.

Druid, Monk, maybe Bard, Spellthief, Warlock. May be a few others. Personally, there not being a natural jumping off point in a class where you would want to go to a PrC without a second thought is a sign of good design.

Picking up a PrC shouldn't be automatic, it should be something you choose to do because it'd be appropriate for what you want the character to be.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Druid, Monk, maybe Bard, Spellthief, Warlock. May be a few others.

IMO Paladin! *says the person playing a paladin/rogue* Just ignore that last part.