Swordmage Feats

[DracoSuave]

Not bad of a setup, although dumping Wis does mean giving up Wandering Swordmage. Which is odd, because you take the class to 11th, so what PP should he be taking?

And does it work with other races? I know it doesn't with human, since you only get the one racial bonus.

Well, that's if you want to go Wandering. I didn't choose a PP simply because there are many that can go with a lightning build, and I wanted to show that taking these feats is more than possible. You could multi wizard just to get Thunderwave and Simbarch of Aglarond, for more tanking power, for example.

You could probably go Genasi, and swap how you set up Str and Dex (which would accomplish the same thing in the end), and go with a genasi PP. Spellscarred Savant?

Silverstar's pretty decent as well. That's just looking at the FRPG, there's other possibilities as well.

 

[Lord Ernie]

Not bad of a setup, although dumping Wis does mean giving up Wandering Swordmage. Which is odd, because you take the class to 11th, so what PP should he be taking?

And does it work with other races? I know it doesn't with human, since you only get the one racial bonus.

I've only built one or two swordmages myself (still have to play it), but from the looks of it, Coronal Guard is a very good Shielding Swordmage PP. It's all-out defensive, with Improved Silver Shield (10+CON Temp HP on Shield trigger) the biggest bonus. Combine that with their Encounter power (interrupt an attack and push 1 - often a counter) at 11, their utility (a +2 to AC for the encounter) at 12... looks good to me.

As for feats to spend, yeah, the fighting style feats are hard to acquire, but definitely not impossible as has been pointed out. Still, with Intelligent Blademaster, toughness, weapon proficiency and focus, at heroic and the defense feats and improved aegis at paragon, there's plenty enough choice.

 

[Xris Robin]

Reviving a second page thread to ask, does this seem viable? I'm not sure about my power selection, but I'm fairly satisfied with my ability scores. I'm obviously going for Wandering Swordmage, which is why I dropped Dex. And my PP is more important, I feel, than going for HBO/Arcane Reach. I could also drop Wis to 13 and raise Int to 18... I'm not sure.

Human Swordmage, Level 2
STR: 13
CON: 15
DEX: 10
INT: 17
WIS: 14
CHA: 08

Feats:
Intelligent Blademaster
Armor Proficiency: Hide
Durable

At-Wills:
Booming Blade
Greenflame Blade
Lightning Lure

Encounter:
Lightning Clash

Daily:
Frost Backlash

Utility:
Dimensional Warp

Skills:
Arcana
Athletics
Endurance
History
Insight

 

[muchan]

In regards to PP's, it looks like Spellstorm would be a good choice. Its class features are quite nice, and the powers give SM an incredible amount of range and control over the battlefield. It even synergizes well with Stormsoul Genasi. Swordmages also seem like the type of defeneder to really profit from Controller-like abilities as they don't really tank like fighters and paladins do. Where those classes want to keep the enemy sticky, Swordmages (especially shielding) seem better inclined to mark and then shove the enemy away.

What also makes Wizard a deceptively good multiclass for SM's is that after a close reading of the Swordmage implement entry, it looks like Swordmages can use their blades as implements for wizard powers. Unlike Warlocks and Wizards, RAW does not stipulate that their implements are limited to Swordmage Powers, but rather, any arcane power they know.

 

[WalterKovacs]

A few points:

(a) There is a heavy blade polearm, which can open up other feats. There is also the axe/heavy blade combo that is helpful if you go with con as a secondary stat. Wis is good with a polearm, con is good with an axe. [Note: A good con is also good for hide armor specialization, not to mention the initial requirement]

(b) There are quite a few swordmage specific feats, many of which are good ... you may miss out on some weapon specific feats, but you have more feats than other classes that are specific to this class. Heck, Warlord is the only melee class that has a paragon feat, and there are no feats for any melee class at epic.

(c) Paladin's that are charisma based have no benefit from the charisma towards feats either. They only really get one feat for their class, although they have a ton to choose from, in terms of the channel divinity feats. [Also, because of their dailies, they have implement powers that don't care about their weapon ... as do swordmages that don't pick exclusively weapon based powers].