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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Feldspar" data-source="post: 3417681" data-attributes="member: 20450">NOTE: the [what] was added in by me, I'm assuming that's what was meantI'd actually say that should be changed to be "The Duskblade is what a Spellsword aspires to be."  Channeling spells through their weapon?  Check.  Casting spells in heavy armor?  Check.  You see, if I'm playing a Duskblade, I'm not going to care at all about dex - I can use a heavy shield and medium armor.  In fact, since I have proficiency with all armors, I can spend just one feat, Battle Caster from Complete Arcane, and cast spells and do all my tricks in Full Plate at 4th level.  That's very different, conceptually and style wise from the more swashbuckling style of Bladedancer.You could decide to play a Duskblade as a finesse fighter, but at some point max dex bonus could become an issue with your armor choice.  As I said in another post, the Bladedancer can get AC bonuses from increasing their Int.  Using a shield could make up the difference, but then you'll have to apply its armor check penalty to your attack roles as per the rules for Weapon Finesse.  I suppose Darkwood will help you out there, but using a shield at all may detract from the swashbuckling style you wanted to exhibit.Anyway, moving on from the AC issue, lets compare my bladedancer at 20 and a duskblade at 20:Hit die - both have d8 (the 2d4's and 4d10's in my build average out the same as 6d8)Saves - duskblade has 12/6/12 and my guy has 12/10/15Duskblade Attack bonus: +20/+15/+10/+5Bladedancer Attack Bonus: +19/+14/+9/+4 or +17/+17/+12/+7/+2Pretty similar.  With better saves, more attacks per round and adding Int to damage, I'd say my bladedancer is better than a Duskblade at playing the swashbuckler/musketeer game.Highest level of spell cast: both can cast 5th level spells, though the Duskblade gets some 6th and even an 8th (!) level arcane spell at this level.  Low spell levels are important because that's what sets the save DC.  Both would struggle, I think, getting Phantasmal Killer to live up to its name.  So both will enjoy no save spells like Melf's Acid Arrow, Enervation and, for the Duskblade, the normally 8th level Polar Ray.The duskblade has a huge edge in caster level, my guy can only get up to 13 and that's by spending a feat on.  That'll be important when that Enervation targets a foe with spell resistance.  It also increases the damage of a number of spells (not too many spells on the Duskblades list have a duration, though, so not as big an impact there), especially ones like Chain Lightning and (have I mentioned) Polar Ray.Okay, so the Duskblade has the ability to throw a large number of spells at the enemy, some of them quite damaging, and can better overcome spell resistance.  But that's okay for the Bladesinger, because there's so much the Duskblade *can't* do.  He can't teleport the party out of danger, he can't buff the Rogue with Greater Invisibility, he can't cast Displacement or Blur, he can't drop a wall of force/stone/fire/ice down to divide the enemy forces, etc.  Sure, the party's main arcane caster can do all that better ... but not once the fight has started.  They'll be concentrating on getting the heavy artillery out - the Meteor Swarms, the Disjunctions, the Power Words, etc.My Bladedancer does look at his one Song of Celerity per day and the Duskblade's four Quick Casts and sheds Elven tears (the sweetest kind) but can take some solace in the fact that, in some ways, his spell Spellsword channeling is better than the Duskblades.  "But its only three times per day" you say, "and it requires a move action to cast the spell."  Ahh, but you see the difference is in the fine print.  The Duskblade can only use this channeling with Touch spells - and really he doesn't have that many of those.  Oh, he has a lot of rays - but the fact that a ray attack is made using a ranged touch attack roll does not change its type from "Effect: Ray" to "Range: Touch".  So, you're pretty much left channeling Shocking Grasp, Ghoul Touch and Vampiric Touch aren't you?  Its still yards better than using a spell storing weapon, of course.  The Spellsword, on the other hand, "can channel any spell he can cast into his melee weapon ... Even if the spell normally affects an area or is ray, it affects only the target."  So you could drop an Ice Storm on someone without worrying about hitting your allies.  Where it could *really* get interesting is when you use something that has a duration, like Cloudkill.  It doesn't say the spell only affects that targets area, it says it "affects only the target".  So one could make the argument that it would continue to affect that target for the duration of the spell regardless of target movement <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":]" title="Devious    :]" data-shortname=":]" /> The bladedancer is really a "fifth party member" kind of character.  It adds some versatility, melee and magic, and would especially be welcome in a party where the main arcane caster has specialized for blowing stuff up and is playing something like a Warmage, Sorcerer, or Invoker.</blockquote>

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