I need a little help with my build whether it be critiquing or whatnot. We're getting ready to start a campaign of my friend's. We're going gestalt and so far I've picked warblade/wizard at 5th level. I figured it had some decent synergies, such as INT to a bunch of stuff from the warblade, d12 HP, and all saves are nice (thanks to the whole INT to reflex). We rolled for ability scores and I had AWESOME rolls. Our DM was kind enough to give us all one ability that brought our classes together, IE, I got casting in light armor, my other friend with a fighter/cleric can use bonus feats for divine spells, etc.
Anyways, this is what we're looking at so far:
Neutral Good Human Male
Gestalt Warblade/Wizard 5
Abilities Scores:
Strength: 16, Dexterity: 14, Constitution: 16, Intelligence: 18, Wisdom: 15, Charisma: 13
Feats: Armored Caster, Power Attack, Fearless (From FR), and that's all I can think of so far for that.
He's going to be a real cocky, in your face kind of guy, so he'll be using buffs and debuffs alot. I don't see him using illusions much.
On maneuvers...I'm completely lost. I've never made a TOB character before, so I'll need some major help with that.
So uh, how am I doing so far and what can I do to improve? Thanks in advance guys!
You should definitely be a Specialist wizard, or better yet a Focused Specialist. I would pick either Transmutation or Conjuration. It's just too good for a gish. Your typical gish shtick is going to be to use arcane strike to fuel massive power attacking charging goodness. The more spell slots you have, the more you can do this.
Abrupt Jaunt is also good.
You also might consider a 1-level Barbarian dip for Lion Totem (pounce: full attack on charge) and Whirling Frenzy (extra attack on rage) variants.
Use a big 2-Handed Bludgeoning weapon (for Greater Mighty Wallop (ab)use). Make sure to get the Valorous enchantment on it.
Maybe I'm dumb but I can't seem to find "Armored Caster." Is that a home-brewed feat that your DM gave you? Light armor should be fine, especially with Twilight Mithral Breastplate and Thistledown to reduce ASF. There are much better choices than Fearless. Take Extend instead. Gish/Gestalt characters are feat-starved as it is, so you have to be very selective.
Here are some good feats to pick up as soon as you can meet the pre-reqs:
Stormguard Warrior (ToB): This can make for some insane power attack damage.
Leap Attack (CAd): More power attack goodness
Arcane Strike (CW): This is great because since its a free action, it won't get in the way of maneuvers and spells. Combine this with Wraithstrike, lots of attacks (like Avalanche of Blades maneuver) and full power attack for destruction. Ask your DM if you can take this as your Warblade bonus feat at 5th
you're also going to want the standards like Improved Initiative, Extend Spell, Persistent Spell, Quicken Spell
Maneuvers are pretty easy. Just pick the ones you like. White Raven has Battle Leader's Charge, White Raven Tactics. Tiger Claw has Sudden Leap (great if you can't get pounce, or to reposition yourself after a charge), Blood in the Water can be good too (although its better for TWF builds), Diamond Mind has some really good ones like Emerald Razor Strike, and the ones that allow you to use a concentration check in place of a save, Avalanche of Blades, Diamond Nightmare Blade, and of course Time Stands Still. Iron Heart Surge is indispensable. Stone Dragon has some manuevers that overcome DR. Go crazy!
One piece of advice is to make sure you map out which maneuvers you're going to need to meet the prerequisites for the higher-level maneuvers that you want, because you have to plan ahead.
thats just a few things i could think of AFB. There are tons of gish resources in the Handy Links stickied at the front page of the forum. Good luck!
Greater Wallop? Sounds handy...what's that from?
As for weapons I'm thinking eventually getting a keen jovar...yes...
Thanks for the further input!
Edit: As for gestalt rules...we're allowed to use any base class and any PRC that isn't just two classes thrown together (hence the free casting in light armor) with some class abilities thrown on. As for the lion's totem idea...nice...really nice...er...mean. I meant Battle Caster for the Feat. Armored Caster is a class ability...silly me.
Oh, update...I can start off with the + 1 Keen Jovar... mwahahahaha.
H: Power Attack
1: Extend Spell
3: Improved Initiative or Quicken
5: Arcane Strike (Beg your DM to allow it as a bonus feat)
That's only if you're going to go straight wizard20/warblade20, which i don't recommend. You might consider Master Specialist or Archmage. If so, then you may have to fill those slots with prereq feats.
Keen Jovar might sound like a good idea, but the damage from a blunt weapon is going to scale much more simply because of Greater Mighty Wallop. it increases the size category of your weapon for each 4 caster levels. Plus, you're too feat-starved to take EWP unless youre going for a battlefield control build with a spiked chain.
Greater Mighty Wallop is from Races of the Dragon.
Oh my... using my dice program I'm cranking out 450-500 damage. Not much by some of the stuff on these boards, but quite a bit by our group's standards. I think I WILL be using a big bludgeoning weapon and greater wallop.
You're right about the whole battle caster feat. I don't need medium armor and it doesn't fit my character anyways. So master specialist in conjuration or transmutation... hm... I'll probably give up illusion and enchantment because they really don't fit this guy's style. I'm kinda loathe to give up evocation because of the same reason.
So which side should I give up a level for the barbarian? I mean, I can give up a caster level for pounce and get the caster level back via a feat or items, or I can give up the ability to use two stances at once...
Out of curiosity, are there any skill tricks in particular that'd be handy?
Just a little thing about arcane strike: as mentioned, it's a free action. You don't use a 9th level spell to do 9d4 damage. You sacrifice nine 1st level spells if you want 9d4, or one 1st level and four 2nd level, or three 3rd level, etc...
edit: oh, you're by no means limited to 9d4 by the way...
the 9d4 is piddly compared to the +9 to hit. With a 2h weapon, leap attack and the valorous enchantment, you get a 1:4 ratio for your power attacks on a charge.
That means you can sacrifice spells, cast Wraithstrike and charge, to potentially convert your entire BAB into x4 damage: thus, just from power attack alone you can add 9d4+80 damage per hit.
You should have 6 attacks: (4 from BAB, 1 from Haste, 1 from whirling frenzy). Now, add all your other damage modifiers (+5 from GMW, at least +18 from STR (thats a conservative number), and some other damage from other buffs and stuff...) and you should be doing ALOT more than 400-500 dmg/rd.
give up necro, ench and evoc. The only thing you're really going to miss from necro is false life. you'll be ok without it. Use Shadow Evocation to get contingency and any other evoc spells you need.
give up 1 level of Warblade for 1 Barbarian. Spells > maneuvers
@Jordain_Vizier: That is actually up to DM interpretation because DMs can limit the number of free actions you can take in a round. So don't count on it. Just check with your DM
Skill tricks are usually pretty good, so just take whichever ones you qualify for. you will have plenty of skill points with your high int.
You may want to consider the Incantatrix PrC, so you can get free Persistent spells.
check out Treantmonklvl20's sig, go to every link, read each one of his handbooks. pick the spells that you think will benefit you. keep in mind he is writing for straight casters so you'll have to think carefully about what spells will help a gish. pay special attention to hr/level buffs and stuff.
Yes..incantatrix is a very nice PRC...very nice. But if I do take that, I'll most likely go only regular specialist...giving up 4 schools just doesn't seem wise.
Oh, more good news. Our DM houseruled that spellcasters don't need feats to craft magical items, just the other prerequisites, such as XP, the spell, time... Yeah, I might have to make myself a crown with protection from evil on it.
Alright, this character is starting to shape out very well. Is there any weaknesses I should be aware of or traps that I might be setting myself up for with my feat/class choices?