Eldritch knight feat choices

[jasin]

Is Whirlwind Attack worth the bother for an eldritch knight with a reach
weapon? Spring Attack seems pretty nice (approach, strike, move away forcing the enemy to provoke an AoO closing), and from there it's not much further to WWA...

But is it worth delaying Power Attack for? With sort-of-medium BAB, the eldritch knight won't be in a position to use Power Attack all the time, but when he is (true strike!) it'll be *very* useful.

What about if you plan on using thunderlance (from FRCS) as much as you can? 4th-level, gives you a retractable, up to 20 ft. long lance of force for 1 round/level... 20 ft. natural reach WWA!

Is Arcane Strike (from CW) worth it? It doesn't really compare with spells of appropriate level if you have the spell for the job: bull's Str is +2 attack, +2 or +3 (an eldritch knight most likely has a two-handed weapon) damage for minutes, burning a bull's Str with AS is +2 attack, +2d4 damage for 1 round. But having AS allows for greater versatility: prepare some spells that you might need like detect secret doors or halt undead, then burn them with AS if there are no secret doors to look for or undead to halt that day.

BTW, for an Arcane Striking eldritch knight, specializing in divination seems like a fun, non-obvious choice: if you don't need your extra divinations, just burn them for attack/damage bonuses with AS!

 

[Thanee]

Uhm... AFAIK WWA only attacks adjacent squares, not the whole threatened area.

I personally think the feat is completely useless. Surely not even close to Power Attack.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

A really nasty Eldritch Knight would be one with Combat Reflexes, Improved Trip and a reach weapon.

With Enlarge Person / Polymorph you have huge options to increase your Trip checks.

Militia (regional feat from Player's Guide to Faerûn) is also something to look at, if you can get regional feats, that is. It allows you to become an Eldritch Knight without losing a single caster level before entering the PrC. A good feat to represent the fighty background of a character as well.

Power Attack and probably also Cleave are must-haves for pretty much any fighter-type IMHO.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Voadam]

Uhm... AFAIK WWA only attacks adjacent squares, not the whole threatened area.

I personally think the feat is completely useless. Surely not even close to Power Attack.

Bye
Thanee

It says reach, not adjacent. With Thunderlance or a reach weapon, enlarge person, or polymorph WWA can be worthwhile.

WHIRLWIND ATTACK [GENERAL]
Prerequisites: Dex 13, Int 13, Combat Expertise, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, base attack bonus +4.
Benefit: When you use the full attack action, you can give up your regular attacks and instead make one melee attack at your full base attack bonus against each opponent within reach.
When you use the Whirlwind Attack feat, you also forfeit any bonus or extra attacks granted by other feats, spells, or abilities.
Special: A fighter may select Whirlwind Attack as one of his fighter bonus feats.

 

[Crothian]

Arcane Strike is a great feat. IMC one of the players has it and the +4 to hit and +4d4 for 4 rounds of combat at the expense of a 4th level spell has been more then worth it.

 

[Thanee]

It says reach, not adjacent.

Ah, must have confused it with the 3.0 version then.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

Arcane Strike is a great feat. IMC one of the players has it and the +4 to hit and +4d4 for 4 rounds of combat at the expense of a 4th level spell has been more then worth it.

That would be pretty good, indeed, but, alas, it only counts for a single round.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Crothian]

That would be pretty good, indeed, but, alas, it only counts for a single round.

Bye
Thanee

pg 96 Complete Warrior

"You must sacrifice one of your spells for the day to do this, but you gain a bonus on all your attack rolls for 1 round equal to the level of the spell sacrificed, as well as extra damage equal to 1d4 points x the level of the spell sacrificed."

 

[Voadam]

The mobility chain also leads to a nice tactical feat in the Complete Warrior that allows you to ignore power attack damage from the person you dodge and to have one flanker miss you and strike another flanker, a good defensive follow up to the dodge and mobility feat.

Combat reflexes is also good for combo with Thunderlance if you have a decent dex.

Quint Wizard has a 3rd level spell that for 1 round/level grants you a fighter bonus feat you qualify for. Can be nice for an EK.

d20 modern has a great feat that allows you an AoO when someone you dodge misses you.

I play an EK who uses thunderlance all the time. He has dodge and the d20 modern feat and I'm thinking about following up the mobility chain. He does not have true strike or power attack.

 

[jasin]

pg 96 Complete Warrior

"You must sacrifice one of your spells for the day to do this, but you gain a bonus on all your attack rolls for 1 round equal to the level of the spell sacrificed, as well as extra damage equal to 1d4 points x the level of the spell sacrificed."

That's what Thanee said, no? It lasts for one round.

"A bonus [...] for 1 round equal to the level of the spell". A bonus that is equal to the level, and lasts for one round. Not "a bonus for 1 round per level of the spell".