Post/Author/DateTime	Post
technodemon 12-10-04, 07:20 PM	what would be best way to do a character that uses swordplay and magic or magic through swordplay? Which classes would fit this? I knwo several but the choice is hard.
SD 12-10-04, 09:53 PM	The best way? Go to the Optimization board and do a search for the word "Gish", then pick your favorite of the responses. Whichever is the best to you might as well be the best there is. The most adaptive or most efficient or quickest or most powerful way? Search for "Gish" in Optimization again, but add a keyword like efficient or efficiency. The most fun or most in-character, or most comedic way? That belongs in this forum. However, without any information, all we can do is guess at what you'd enjoy.
GnomFoo 12-10-04, 11:42 PM	well, if you dont mind a non-good character(not necesarrily evil though), you could play a Hexblade from complete warrior. They use magic(which they get at 4th level) and have up to martial weapon proficiency. They use curses, get familiars, and have some other cool abilities, as well as full BAB, and casting in light armor. They are a class like a sorcerer(but less spell focused), getting their power in the same way(innate thing you start to get at maturity). Its a pretty cool class. The "background" on them is that wherever they go, they tend to bestow bad luck perposely, or accidentally(aka, when their still klids, they keep moving because they think the house is cursed/haunted/is bad luck) They are a core class, so you dont have to multiclass(though you can) and are pretty good. They also have good roleplaying potential. Hope that helps. Other than that, there are prestige classes such as the spellsword(complete warrior) and eldritch knight(DMG). There are a few more aswell such as the bladesinger, mindspy(only spell you need if detect thoughts, which the entire Prc is based off of), and also the stonelord(not much spell casting, but a ton of spell-like abilities). All of the ones that i just listed (excluding eldritch knight) are in the complete warrior. Again, hope this gives you some ideas.
TheMightyMcClaw 12-12-04, 02:49 PM	I have a thing for warrior-mages, and two of my favorite characters have been them. Mahou Kenshi was originally just inspired by the Mystic Knights in FF5. He was a Hexblade/Sorcerer/Spellsword who specialized in fire spells and shapeshifting. He was Lawful Evil, with a vaguely Middle-Eastern style of asthetics. He was a petty warlord/evil warlock who was in the process of blackmailing royalty when he died (the campaign took place in the afterlife). He was always lying his ass of to appear innocent, while at the same time committing as many brutal atrocities as possible. "Thunder from the West" Shan Dian was inspired by reading two much Outlaws of the Marsh and playing too much Mortal Kombat. He was a Chaotic Good Chinese-themed Barbarian/Sorcerer/Rage Mage who wielded electricity spells and and a massive halberd. He was loud, quick-tempered, forthwright, and chivalrous... pretty much the opposite of the first character. Again, he was a total blast to play as. For mechanical considerations, I'd recomend the Warmage from Complete Arcane mixed with something else. I find that the warrior-mages are great for making elementally themed characters, like the above two.
Ryu Hitome 12-13-04, 01:55 AM	I have played a bard, a hexblade, and a bladesinger, and of the three, I had the most fun with my human hexblade. He walked around in a mithral breastplate and cast spells. He also had a Huge +5 greatsword that did 4d6 solid, plus another 1d6 points of damage of whatever kind of element I chose. (Energy aura from AEG) Sure, I needed a bunch of feats to offset that, but when you crit and are bouncing 9d6 points of damage... ah, life is good. But aside from that, there's always the warmage from Comp Arcane. I believe all his spells are evocations, plus he's proficient with martial weapons, can cast spells in medium armor (mithral full plate!!) and recieves his int bonus to damage on spells!
technodemon 12-13-04, 02:02 AM	Well the main I am wanting to use are quick, precise attacks with melee weapons and channel magic or secial powers though the weapons while doing the attack. Think of the concept as Riddick from Pitch Black and Chronicles of Ridiick that is fanatasy type character that use magic attack through his weapons.
TheMightyMcClaw 12-13-04, 05:43 PM	For the channeling thing, go Spellsword all the way. I think Warmage/Swashbuckler would make a good base class combo. Definitely good for killing someone quickly and gracefully and brutally. Both rely on Charisma and Intelligence, so they have nice stat synergy. I never saw Chronicles of Riddick, so I can't help you there....
UltimaGabe 12-14-04, 03:56 PM	But aside from that, there's always the warmage from Comp Arcane. I believe all his spells are evocations, plus he's proficient with martial weapons, can cast spells in medium armor (mithral full plate!!) and recieves his int bonus to damage on spells! Actually, they only get simple weapons- and although not all of his spells are evocations, they're all battle spells. Plus, he starts off with Light Armor casting (and eventually gets medium armor casting) through his class, but by spending a single feat, you can increase this by one step (so, after 10th level or so, you could be wearing Adamantine full plate and casting spells with no problem).