What do you think of the Duskblade?

[Klaus]

Yes, my favorite arcane fighter! That said, it only has one good save and medium BAB. Still worth it in my opinion.

Thanks,
Rich

As an exercise in crunch, I copied the Sorcerer from the SRD and applied the Battle Sorcerer modifications to it. I must say, the Medium BAB doesn't bother in the least (specially since you can cast stuff like Greater Magic Weapon, Bull's Strength and True Strike), whereas the good Will save means you can leave Wisdom at 10 or 12, putting a higher number in Constitution (boosting Fort saves) or Dexterity (boosting Reflex saves).

My love of the Battle Sorcerer knows no limits!

 

[rgard]

As an exercise in crunch, I copied the Sorcerer from the SRD and applied the Battle Sorcerer modifications to it. I must say, the Medium BAB doesn't bother in the least (specially since you can cast stuff like Greater Magic Weapon, Bull's Strength and True Strike), whereas the good Will save means you can leave Wisdom at 10 or 12, putting a higher number in Constitution (boosting Fort saves) or Dexterity (boosting Reflex saves).

My love of the Battle Sorcerer knows no limits!

If you take the feat that allows you to cast in medium armor, you really do approach the 1e & 2e Magic User/Fighter.

You gotta love this game. Boatloads of different methods to achieve the character concept you envision.

Halcyon days my friends!

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Felon]

Having never actually seen one in play, it seems too powerful to me. My instinct is to think that my observations are incorrect though (since I haven't actually seen one played).

So your instinct is to trust your observations of a class that you haven't observed?

 

[Felon]

As an exercise in crunch, I copied the Sorcerer from the SRD and applied the Battle Sorcerer modifications to it. I must say, the Medium BAB doesn't bother in the least (specially since you can cast stuff like Greater Magic Weapon, Bull's Strength and True Strike), whereas the good Will save means you can leave Wisdom at 10 or 12, putting a higher number in Constitution (boosting Fort saves) or Dexterity (boosting Reflex saves).

My love of the Battle Sorcerer knows no limits!

You really think so? I would tend to think having the number of spells known reduced even farther would be a major hassle. I mean, the entire advantage of spontaneous casting is kind of a waste when you only know one spell.

 

[DreadArchon]

You really think so? I would tend to think having the number of spells known reduced even farther would be a major hassle. I mean, the entire advantage of spontaneous casting is kind of a waste when you only know one spell.

Though I haven't played one, it seems to me that the Battle Sorceror has too little Sorceror in it. I think I'd sooner play a Cleric.

(But I like the concept. If someone wanted to play one in my game, I'd let them, and I'd also give them the option for School Specialization: One additional spell known per level, one additional spell cast per level, spell known needs to be from their chosen school but daily spell need not be. Obviosuly they'd still lose two schools by specializing.)

 

[Klaus]

You really think so? I would tend to think having the number of spells known reduced even farther would be a major hassle. I mean, the entire advantage of spontaneous casting is kind of a waste when you only know one spell.

When you're sole hook is to cast spells, sure, it's a hit. But the Battle Sorcerer can fight well enough (Medium BAB + Light armor + d8 HD), besides casting spells. And Reserve Feats go a long way into lessening this disadvantage (if your known 3rd-level spell is Lightning Bolt, you'll be zapping lightning all day long).

Also, you know one spell, but you can cast it quite a few times. And if you take Heritage feats, you can gain spell-like abilities that are quite worth your while. My favorite are the Fey Heritage feats (which also contribute to Fey Skin's DR x/cold iron).

That was actually one of the reasons I spelled out the Battle Sorcerer as a full class description: to see if the hit was too great. And it isn't.

 

[frankthedm]

Then again, I'd say that other arcanists get too few bottom-tier spell slots.

They can burn GPs on wands and staves. 2250 GP for a double barreled {3rd level caster] magic missle wand when the tank is buying a 2500gp +1 full plate is quite reasonable. At mid levels a Staff of Fire is kinda cheap.

The biggest road block is psychological. Players don’t want to burn treasure. Sure there is a ‘chance’ of the wand being sundered, but what makes PCs avoid wands is that players don’t want to burn up GPs. Unlike arrows, there is no Greater Magic Wand workaround.

 

[rgard]

You really think so? I would tend to think having the number of spells known reduced even farther would be a major hassle. I mean, the entire advantage of spontaneous casting is kind of a waste when you only know one spell.

You can mitigate that. Take the arcane disciple feat or the similar feat from the Dragon mag. Doesn't increase the spells per day, but it makes up for the loss of 1 spell per level known.

Also, the 1 spell less known and 1 spell less per day does have a minimum of 1. You can't reduce it to 0. So you do get your 2nd level spell at 4th level.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[rgard]

You can mitigate that. Take the arcane disciple feat or the similar feat from the Dragon mag. Doesn't increase the spells per day, but it makes up for the loss of 1 spell per level known.

Also, the 1 spell less known and 1 spell less per day does have a minimum of 1. You can't reduce it to 0. So you do get your 2nd level spell at 4th level.

Thanks,
Rich

Hmmm...just re-read the feat from Complete Divine...does it allow you to choose from the domain for spells known or does it add the spell to your number known?

Not sure.

 

[Odhanan]

The Duskblade grew on me, sort of. At first, I didn't really bother with it, but now I can see why it would be a cool alternative to the dozen of other "arcane fighter" concepts out there. Variety is good.