Eldritch Knight core class - help me build

[Kaodi]

Hmmm...

Eldritch Knight Base Class
d6 hp, medium atk, good will save, 4 + Int skill points/level (concentration, craft, decipher script, handle animal, heal, intimidate, knowledge, profession, ride, spellcraft), Int based spellcasting, simple and martial weapon proficiency, light and medium armour proficiency, 0 and 1st level spells at 1st, 2nd at 4th, 3rd at 7th, 4th at 10th, 5th at 13th, 6 at 16th, 7th at 19th, maximum of 3/day (and a slower progression to that as well). Bonus Ftr feats at 2nd, 8th and 16th, bonus Wiz feats at 1st, 4th, 12th and 20th, eldritch knight levels counts as half for qualifying for fighter feats. Have a spellbook, and gain only one free new spell a level, but can learn more as a wizard, albeit scribing takes twice as long.

At 20th, you'd have atk +15, fort +6, ref +6, will +12, 7th level spells and 14 feats.

 

[Arkhandus]

Meh. I'm not a big fan of familiars at all, so I say no.

Too bad about cutting the item creation feats. This would be a great choice for a "magic sword/armor maker" class. I'd say let him choose item creation feats as well as fighter feats, whenever he gains a bonus feat.

Except the character could just take Craft Magic Arms & Armor normally as his or her 6th-level character feat. It doesn't have to be available as a class bonus feat. Just sayin'.



Still don't think the class should be getting so many bonus feats, though. And I don't think they need/warrant a familiar, either (besides, you could always just allow that broken Obtain Familiar feat in the campaign, which the Eldritch Knight could take as a normal character-level feat at some point).

If changing the class to be more of a wizardly sort.... I'd say remove the bonus feats, grant one spell freely learned and added to the spellbook at each level in the class beyond 1st, give the same number of initial spells scribed as a wizard (except make it 1 + Int mod spells of 1st-level, instead of 3 + Int mod), keep the current bard-like progression of spells per day, and make the spellcasting otherwise identical to a wizard's.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

If you're going to hold back the magic so much, you may as well play a Duskblade

He said he wanted to make a balanced class.

or Hexblade.

They're hardly better at spellcasting than Paladins, and get a limited list of spells known, to boot.

I think the class is pretty good as is. My suggestion would be to cut back the bonus feats to only 5th and 15th levels (generally pretty dead levels). Amored Spellcasting (ability to cast in light armor) can be considered the first level "bonus" feat. To replace the loss, give the EK a fortitude equivalent of the Grace class feature of Swashbucklers, to effectively make fort. a "medium" save. Alternatively, just copy the Battle Fortitude feature of Scouts, although I don't see why this guy would get an initiative bonus.

Also worth checking out is 1) Class feature swaps in Complete Mage. There's a pair intended for Fighter 1 / Sorcerer X combinations; and 2) the Mageblade from Arcana Unearthed/Evolved. Different system, where spells are weaker and go to 10th level, so getting access to 8th level spells isn't as big a deal. (Plus, they don't break into 8th level spells till after 20th level anyway) It's a cool, fresh, and balanced way of doing the fighter/mage, and you may want to incorporate ideas from the class's use of a single weapon for channeling spells.

 

[trav_laney]

Well, I playtested this design last night, using a 12th level EK.

I tested both the spontaneous, Charisma-based version and the spell-preparing Intellience-based version, and I like Intelligence better. Sure, it is not as versatile. But this class does not necessarily need versatility in the spellcasting department: more often than not, an EK would end up casting the same spells over and over again.

He didn't do as well in battle as I thought he would have: the ability to cast spells in armor was nice, but the lack of a shield and the low hit points kept him off the battlefield more than I would have liked. Whenever faced with any significant threat, the EK had to spend the first 3 or 4 rounds buffing up, and by that time, the other party members had neutralized or diminished the threat to the point where the EK was no longer needed.

He certainly did shine when fighting other spellcasters, however. A fighter-type character with a high number of ranks in Spellcraft, the Improved Counterspell feat, and a reach weapon? Fuhgiddabowdit. The low Reflex save was the only thing to be wary of.

So I guess it wasn't too broken...I might have to bump the hit dice up a bit, but other than that it was fairly fun to play.

 

[theredrobedwizard]

I was coming here to ask him to consider the Duskblade; but appearantly that class is one of the "OMG TEH BORKED NO 1 UZ IT LOL" classes around these parts. Seriously, I had a Duskblade in my last group, from level 1 to level 14. She didn't seem overpowered; the lack of utility spells basically makes her a good melee fighter (through the Channeling ability) with a ranged back up. The other characters didn't have a problem with her, and several commented that she was less powerful than a Wizard, due to the lack of depth of her spell selection.

Duskblade is like Mystic Theurge is like Warlock is like (Tome of Battle Classes), they all look terribly powerful on paper, but might actually be weaker than average in actual play.

That tangent aside, I don't like classes that give "-10% to arcane spell failure"; it's much easier to just give "May cast spells from this class in Light Armor", then progress to Shields, then Medium Armor, etc.

Edit:

I tested both the spontaneous, Charisma-based version and the spell-preparing Intellience-based version, and I like Intelligence better. Sure, it is not as versatile. But this class does not necessarily need versatility in the spellcasting department: more often than not, an EK would end up casting the same spells over and over again.

If it doesn't need versatility, wouldn't Charisma Based non-prepared work *better*? Especially if he's going to be casting the same spells over and over again? Just a little confused by that statement. Prepared Casting = More Versatility, More Options; Non-Prepared Casting = Less Versatility, More Spells of the same type.

-TRRW

 

[Gort]

That tangent aside, I don't like classes that give "-10% to arcane spell failure"; it's much easier to just give "May cast spells from this class in Light Armor", then progress to Shields, then Medium Armor, etc.

Yeah, echoing this. It's pretty bad when you have to buy a new armour type every couple of levels because your spell failure percentage keeps changing. I much prefer the "you may cast in a particular class of armour or lighter" mechanic.

 

[Cabral]

[off-topic]Actually, my primary concern with Duskblades is those numerous spells per day combined with Complete Warrior's Arcane Stike. Even then, it doesn't seem that amazing. Better than the standard, but broken? No, I don't think so.[/off-topic]

 

[llamatron2000]

For those of you who care, here's an updated version of the intelligence-based one, put on the 200-point model suggested by the anime d20 SRD. I think it might be too frontloaded, but then...a lot of classes are.



TABLE: The Eldritch Knight
Alignment: Any

Hit die: d8

skill points: 2+ intelligence modifier
class skills: The eldritch knight’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Swim (Str).

Fighter BAB
Good Fort save

1st level abilities: arcane strike, armored mage
bonus feats at 5, 10, 15, 20th levels

spells per day

------Spells per day-----
lv 0/1/2/3/4/5/6
1 3/1
2 4/1
3 4/2
4 4/2/1
5 4/3/1
6 4/3/2
7 4/3/2/1
8 4/3/3/1
9 4/3/3/2
10 4/4/3/2
11 4/4/3/2/1
12 4/4/3/3/1
13 4/4/3/3/2
14 4/4/4/3/2
15 4/4/4/3/2/1
16 4/4/4/3/3/1
17 4/4/4/3/3/2
18 4/4/4/4/3/2/1
19 4/4/4/4/3/3/1
20 4/4/4/4/3/3/2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Class features:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
An eldritch knight is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, medium, and light) and shields.

Spellcasting
Eldritch knights gain and cast spells exactly as wizards do.

Armored caster
An eldritch knight can cast eldritch knight spells while wearing light armor(and shields) without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. However, like any other arcane spellcaster, an eldritch knight wearing medium or heavy armor incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component (most do). A multiclass eldritch knight still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.

Arcane Strike(Su)
An eldritch knight can use this ability as a free action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. You can channel arcane energy into a melee weapon, your unarmed strike, or natural weapons. You may sacrifice one of your spells for the day(of 1st level or higher) to do this. You gain an attack bonus on all attack rolls for 1 round equal to the level of the spell sacrificed, and a damage bonus of 1d4 x the spell's level. The bonus to your attack rolls cannot be higher than your base attack bonus.

Bonus Feats
Bonus feats selectable are fighter feats, metamagic feats, creation feats, and battle caster.