Sweet Cheezus

[Duke Arioch]

Compared to what you guys were tossing around before, this is fine.
Duskblade is a good class (What, tier 3?) and Recaster is going to allow you to no doubt pick 2 sweet spells, but at the cost of BAB progression and a caster level. Whatever it is you add, considering the losses, you're nowhere near broken. 3/day swift spells and sudden Metamagic are pretty sweet for the Duskblade. Are you going to level 4 or all 5? Because the space spell adjustments would be neat with a Duskblade.

I'm curious though, what 2 spells are you considering picking up?

I am not sure if I am gonna get all five levels. The 5th level does not progress BAB nor saves. All it gives is metamorphic spell (space) thingy. That, actually, is one of my questions: worth taking that 5th level?

I was thinking something along the line of wraithstrike and shivering touch. Those are my first choices. Although combust and haste sound sweet too.
I can get haste 1/day if I take arcane disciple, but I am not sure I will do that being changeling (no ability mods) and playing in 32 pt buy AND domain spells being 1/day.

I was thinking of getting STR 16, DEX 10 (might drop to 8 if I choose arcane disciple), CON 14 (maybe 12 instead?), INT 16 (thinking of getting 17 here, maybe?), WIS 10, CHA 8. I got 2 pts left, and I will probably take some from other scores and raise INT some more.
We are starting @ lvl 3, flaws/traits are allowed. Inatentive/shaky/absent minded are no-brainers. I would have 5 (or 6) maxed skills. 8 pts would go to spellcraft (req for recaster) others to knowledge skills (arcana, nature, planes and, possibly, religion). I don't think concentration is a must-have, since A LOT of the spells I would use in melee are swift actions. Your thoughts on this so far?

On another note, when we met to introduce our characters, I jumped up and yelled" Ooh, ooh, me first! ME FIRST!!" And then I started with something like this: "I am playing a dragonwrought loredrake shadow dragon kobold sorcerer 5, incantatar 1, and I am casting as a lvl 9 sorcerer; that is to say, I cast lvl 4 spells and on next level I get 5th level spells." He nearly fell off his chair, then asked to see my sheet. Warforged player nearly collapsed with laughter at this point. Then he looked at me and asked: "Is this cos I wanna play planar shepherd?" And I asked him: "What do you think?" And that was it. He relented the druid idea, and we had a nice talk with DM concerning what to pick up next.
All is well that ends well XD

 

[Empirate]

Great story, I was hoping it'd play out something like this!



Concerning your build idea:

Int isn't all that important for a Duskblade. After all, the save DCs on your spells hardly matter at all, and bonus spells are not that great, either, since your base allotment of spells/day is already pretty wicked. I'd drop Int to 14 and get an item to raise it later on. That leaves more points for Str and Con.

Con 12... I'm not feelin' it. You're primary melee, you're not supposed to hang back in second row ever. You only have a d8 HD. You need that Con as high as can be, really. I'd go Str>Con>Int>Dex>Wis>Cha for my Duskblade stats.

Also, to quote a person wiser than me:

Let me save everyone a bunch of time: your first four feats (or 4 of your first 5 if you're human) will be power attack, knowledge devotion, obtain familiar, and arcane strike. Don't argue it, don't question it, just accept it.

You should obviously invest in at least one rank in every knowledge skill that's useful for knowing about creatures: arcana, nature, religion, planes, dungeoneering, local. Investing more ranks will make you hit that much harder.

I'm of divided opinion on Arcane Disciple. It requires a lot of investment, and a very good choice of domain to pay off. At low to mid levels, you won't be feeling the positive effects much, while you'll be doing a lot of thinking along the lines of "if only I hadn't put so much in Wis and invested more in Con/Int/whatever instead!". Arcane Disciple can be good, but IMO it's more a feat for Beguilers/Warmages/Dread Necros.

Concentration can't be neglected IMO. Sure, many spells you cast in melee will be swift actions to use - but then, that's not true of all of them, and you'll never be out of melee if you're doing your job.

No formed opinion on the last Recaster level - except I don't think it's worth it going into that PrC at all if you don't plan on getting something specific out of it. A lost spellcasting level in exchange for just a (very) few extra spells known doesn't make me happy.
How about Sandshaper instead, if you can get the fluff to fit? Lots and lots of extra spells known at first level, lower level versions of self-buffing staples like Bull's Strength and Endurance among them.

 

[Duke Arioch]

I know INT plays little role for DB spell-wise. The intention was to get those precious skill points to fuel knowledge skills/devotion (2+INT suxx). I am still thinking on dropping concentration, but I do agree with CON being very important. On Arcane disciple, though - my thoughts exactly. 1 precious feat, plus making my char MAD doesn't seem a good choice just to get a couple of 1/day spells. Now if we rolled for ability scores, and if I had good rolls, that might be worth consideration.
And, yeah, I read and reread that DB handbook, and although I don't agree with everything written there, 95% stuff written is gold, including the feat choices on first couple of levels. I do have two extra feats to take on lvl 1 (via flaws), and one should definitely be metamagic for meeting recaster req. Other meta is locked on lvl 12 feat slot. So, 1st (power attack, f:meta (maximize?), f:versatile spellcaster), 3rd (knowledge devotion), 6th (obtain familiar), 9th (arcane strike), 12 (meta (arcane thesis?), 15 (improved familiar (?)), 18th (???). Now, I need two meta feats before lvl 12, but I am stumped at which ones I should get. Extend is duplicated via cheap lesser meta rod. Maximize is good, as is empower. And all three benefit from recaster class ability, so I am guessing one of them. Arcane thesis is a nice one but I don't know which spell to apply it to (and I am unsure it is a good choice here, since I will have only one other metamagic). Some meta feats that don't actually work meta-like (ie. arcane thesis) seem good, but I really don't know if any exist beyond that one.
Now, recaster is something I really wanna take - not just because it can give me the wraithstrike and shivering touch (which should both be on DB spell list anyway, IMHO) goodness, but because I really like changelings and I never had a chance of playing one before. This matches the fluff AND gives some nice abilities. And don't doubt the power of those two spells, ESPECIALLY with DB's daily allotment of spells. They are good, heck, they are AWESOME. And I wouldn't feel bad for taking them, because I would be gaining them on late levels.
Now, I was even thinking of going DB 13/recaster4/warshaper3 for STR/CON boost, immunities and reach. But that way I wouldn't get lvl 5 spells, and those would come pretty late level to be of any use (mainly because first 13 levels are pretty much locked on DB).
Thx for your insight XD

 

[Empirate]

You're welcome!

Aren't all Warshaper class features usable in your alternate/polymorphed/Alter Self/wildshape form? Would a Changeling gain the benefit at all times because of your race, or are you limited there? If the former, Warshaper 2 should be a no-brainer as soon as you can go in, of course.

And do you actually have a DM who allows Shivering Touch as is, no save, no nothing? I know I wouldn't...

 

[Duke Arioch]

You're welcome!

Aren't all Warshaper class features usable in your alternate/polymorphed/Alter Self/wildshape form? Would a Changeling gain the benefit at all times because of your race, or are you limited there? If the former, Warshaper 2 should be a no-brainer as soon as you can go in, of course.

And do you actually have a DM who allows Shivering Touch as is, no save, no nothing? I know I wouldn't...

They should be, since Minor Shapechange (Su), although working similar to Disguise Self (Sp) is polymorph effect.

Yeah, he will allow it as is, since he is pretty much RAW oriented DM. In any case, I will not abuse it (I have some concience). But, as I said, I haven't decided yet on those two flying spells. Combust and haste are all good.
But, hmmm... something occured to me. Is taking a familiar with poison as natural attack plus picking up Venomfire (Serpent Kingdoms) viable? I am not all that familiar on errata and other stuff concerning that spell, so I don't know how the venom actually works after being affected by the spell. I know it is overpowered, and I won't take it, but I am just curious.

 

[Empirate]

Venomfire only works when the opponent is actually affected by the poison. If they make their save vs. the poison, Venomfire doesn't come into play. Nevertheless, this is one potent spell to go with your (Improved) Familiar. If you can get access to a Druid spell, that is.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

You're welcome!

Aren't all Warshaper class features usable in your alternate/polymorphed/Alter Self/wildshape form? Would a Changeling gain the benefit at all times because of your race, or are you limited there? If the former, Warshaper 2 should be a no-brainer as soon as you can go in, of course.

By RAW, a changeling qualifies for Warshaper. Granted, the Warshaper PrC was created before the Changeling race was published, so I'm sure that's not how it was intended. But I've made characters that can take the PrC at 5th level, simply by being a Changeling with a full BAB melee class.

 

[Duke Arioch]

Venomfire only works when the opponent is actually affected by the poison. If they make their save vs. the poison, Venomfire doesn't come into play. Nevertheless, this is one potent spell to go with your (Improved) Familiar. If you can get access to a Druid spell, that is.

There are two ways to look at how it works (although I agree with your interpretation); one is it still requires fort save, other that it blasts anyway if attack lands and deals damage, independently of save. In any case, since the spell lasts 1hour/lvl, it is a cast&forget thing. And, a potential that a target who fails that fort save and gets nuked by 20d6 acid +falling asleep is... disturbing.