Need Help Building a Fighter/Mage

[kenobi65]

You might want to take a look at the Battle Sorcerer variant in Unearthed Arcana.

You lose one spell per day, and one spell known, at each level, but you gain (IIRC):
- d8 hit dice
- BAB as a cleric
- A martial weapon proficiency
- No Arcane Spell Failure in light armor

 

[ElvishBard]

Well, the eldritch knight from the DM's guide is perfect for this sort of situation. Your BAB will be good and you will only lose 2 levels of spells. Using mithrial armor will reduce spell failure, or you could get still spell and apply it when you fear wasting a spell.

 

[Thanee]

Definitely go for Eldritch Knight.

If you want the Fighter bonus feat, a Fighter 1/Sorcerer 6/Spellsword 1/Eldritch Knight X is pretty good.

Of course, that 2nd Fighter level is pretty tempting, but I would try to keep the spellcasting high, given, that you are the only arcane caster, and if you are looking at two levels in a fighter class, maybe Paladin 2/Sorcerer 6/Spellsword 1/Eldritch Knight X would work well, unless you dislike Paladins for some reason... some nice synergy there. Of course, for only one level, Barbarian offers the biggest benefit (you just cannot qualify for Spellsword then)... Barbarian 1/Sorcerer 6/Eldritch Knight X with Extra Rage would be quite nasty, if you can also qualify for Combat Expertise and thus Improved Trip (especially, with an Enlarge Person in place, that would also work well with Combat Reflexes).

Practiced Spellcaster is pretty much a must-have, and Arcane Strike is a good choice later on, of course (in case of the Barbarian, you would need to check with your DM, whether he allows it to be used while in Rage beforehand, the ability & feat descriptions do not really say anything about it, so it's just a matter of personal decision).

As for spells, take a minimal amount of combat spells and a good selection of utility spells, that should work out nicely.

As for armor, if you have access to BoED, the twilight enchantment can reduce arcane spell failure, so you could use a twilight mithril shirt (or with Spellsword even some bigger armor probably) without any ASF at all.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Hodgie]

Begin as fighter for the HP. A good goal is 2 fighter 4 sorcerer then into Spell Sword. Spellsword beyond 5 isn't as good, so consider Eldritch Knight. Arcane Strike from Complete Warrior can also be pretty powerful.

 

[moritheil]

Well, the group needs a Wizard, but he doesn't want to play one.

I totally relate. My party of 9 level 2-3 chars was nearly slain and was forced to flee with their wounded after an encounter with a CR 5 air elemental. If they'd had dedicated wizards in the group, the encounter would have been a joke.

Incidentally, if the BABs are a problem, you can take that nifty feature that lets someone use 3/4ths BAB progression. That and a level in fighter should make War Mage a more palatable mage choice for someone who wants to not suck at melee - although you still won't be a good fighter.

Of course, your group is still hosed for arcane utility spells, then.

 

[Jdvn1]

Incidentally, if the BABs are a problem, you can take that nifty feature that lets someone use 3/4ths BAB progression. That and a level in fighter should make War Mage a more palatable mage choice for someone who wants to not suck at melee - although you still won't be a good fighter.

That's a good idea. I forget the name of it, but it's a weapon ability found in Complete Adventurer.

 

[Raflar]

Personally I like the Warmage, but I just started to play one. It's definitely not for the utilitarian spellcasters. But for sheer firepower you can't compete. You have access to all evocation and damage-conjuration spells. As for the poor BAB - who cares? I think 90% of the spells are all Ranged Touch Attacks with NO SAVE!...

On a different note I do like the suggestions being made here for Prestige Classes as I was actually looking for the same thing. Currently I have 2 levels of Warmage and 2 levels of Scout. I thought about Eldritch Knight but found it a bit bland, but it may be my best bet.

But I digress, if you want to be good at all kinds of spells, Warmage is not for you then.

 

[Thanee]

I thought about Eldritch Knight but found it a bit bland, ...

Well, not anymore than the Fighter or Wizard class.

Don't forget, that Eldritch Knight is a purely mechanical class to fix fighter-mage multiclassing. It does not have any class-related flavor, but it also does not interfere with any character-flavor, so can be used for pretty much any fighter-mage concept, which I think is pretty cool, actually.

Bye
Thanee

 

[the Lorax]

Here's what I've got for the build so far, would love some input!

Sorceror @ 1st lvl
Fighter @ 2nd lvl
Human Paragon @ 3rd-5th lvl
Sorcerer @ 6th-7th
Spellsword @ 8th

Not bad, but if you are looking for this type of build I would recommend:
Human Paragon 1 @ 1st lvl
Sorcerer 1 @ 2nd lvl
Human Paragon 2 & 3 @ 3rd-4th lvl
Fighter 1 @ 5th
Sorcerer 2@ 6th
Spellsword 1,2,3,4 @ 7th-10th
Eldritch Knight from 11 to 20th

My rational is that Human Paragon has better skill points than Fighter or Sorcerer, so might as well take advantage of that at 1st level. The rest basically follows your theme.

At 20th level (assuming you ever get there) you are looking at:
BAB: +17
Sorcerer spell-casting: 15th level
BASE saves before stats and items of:
Fort - 14
Ref - 5
Wil - 13

Now that keeps your theme more or less intact.

Me? I'd want ranger instead of fighter (starting with Ranger) and might not take 3 and 4 Spell Sword.
Yes I'd have to use a feat for heavy armor which I'd never use, but then I'd be getting +2
reflex, Track, Favored Enemy and many skill points in exchange.

 

[malien]

Hmmm... there's been some pretty good suggestions made here while I was at work. Got my brain thinking! Though someone made me wonder... what about a warlock? I mean, I know I said before my DM wouldn't allow it, but now I've been given reason to believe he'd relax that said rule.

I've never played a warlock, and my DM has my Complete Arcane... what do you all think it would do for the combination? Like, Warlock/Fighter instead of Sorcerer? Or is there another top BAB-having class that might work better?

The concept I'm going for, after all, is the mystic wandering fighter-type. Someone from the less regal places of the world, that has needed to develop in both sets of abilities to survive on his own. That sort of thing.