Eldritch knight feat choices

[Thanee]

Well, I normally find Great Cleave to be a wasted feat, only useful in extremly limited circumstances.

And isn't a good old-fashioned fireball enough to take care of the low-level goons?

Bye
Thanee

 

[Darklone]

Which DM, jg? You? ?

I would take either the Cleave route or the Whirlwind route... IMHO, if one was worth it, you didn't need the other one. That martial weap prof feat from PGtF looked nice, but I think a melee EK needs that Fighter level as well as the extra bonus feat.

Great Cleave: Veryvery worth it if you use your highest level spell slots (sorcerer preferred) for Arcane Strike.

 

[Thanee]

Great Cleave: Veryvery worth it if you use your highest level spell slots (sorcerer preferred) for Arcane Strike.

Blowing two feats for the ability to quickly dispatch a bunch of low level goons every couple dozen fights?

I don't think so.

Bye
Thanee

 

[jgsugden]

A point with great cleave - if you have power attack and a good attack bonus, it can be just as useful as whirlwind against low level goons and medium goons. My epic rogue/barbarian tends to get *GREAT* use out of great cleave. He chrages into battle, power attacks for a gross amount and then whacks away until one of his foes doesn't drop (ie; has more than 80 hit points). Then he uses his expert tactician to finish off that enemy and continue cleaving against anyone else that might drop.

The use of great cleave is a factor of campaign style. If your DM only uses small numbers of powerful creatures, it is likely a wasted feat. If they use huge numbers of lower level monsters, it can be very powerful.

As for an EK, I think you can get superior effects from PA and GC when compared to a fireball spell in some situations. For instance, a high level EK with shapechange and other spells can get a huge reach and massive damage per attack, especially with PA, arcane strike and other magics factored into the equation. I wouldn't expect it to be too hard for an EK to generate 60 points of damage in a cleaving circle based upon a colossal creature's reach ...

 

[Thanee]

Hmm... at the level you can shapechange, stuff that drops with 60 points of damage can easily be ignored and be taken care of with collateral damage.

But you're right, it's surely a matter of campaign style.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

As for an EK, I think you can get superior effects from PA and GC when compared to a fireball spell in some situations.

One in a million situations, maybe.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Evilhalfling]

reaching for answers

Well the Eldrich Knight in my campaign went a similar route -
1F - chain, combat expertise
3W - combat reflexes
5W - craft arms and armor, improved trip
1EK - improved disarm
He and the cleric made a great team, She stood in front, while he knocked over the enemy, then she pounded the prone pratfaller.
btw how did the PC know he would end up with a magic reach weapon at 6th level ? what did he use before that?

 

[Oscar carramiñana]

Eldritch Knights can go a lot of different ways.

Whirlwind is very expensive in terms of feats. There are a few 'must have' feats that I wouldn't want to pass upon to get it early.

My upcoming human EK (sorcerer/fighter/EK) plans to go with:

1S: Power Attack, Cleave
3S: Weapon Focus
6S: Quickdraw
7F: Great Cleave
8EK: Combat Reflexes

Try this another PC human (paladin4/sor6/EK ) I know you lost five spellcasting levels but you gain access to divine grace and divine feats( divine might and vigor) and still spell to wear armor is fine the weak point of EK is the low hit points.

 

[Darklone]

Thanee: Some weird combination of MiniHB feats (Powerful charge and upgrade), smite, Power Attack, a little bit reach and high strength makes cleaving even through big mooks possible