Feats for a Fighter-Mage

[lacunae]

Anyone have suggestions for a Fighter-Mage and future Eldritch Knight??? He's mostly Mage with a dash of Fighter. He has a fondness for his Bastard Sword, which he dreams of forging into a weapon of great power. Now almost 4th-level, when he reaches 6th he'll get two feats - a wizard bonus feat and his regular 6th-level one. Also another fighter feat at 7th for the PrC EK.

Currently he has:
@ Spellcasting Prodigy
@ Dodge (House-ruled to be a constant +1 Dodge AC bonus)
@ Exotic Weapon Prof. Bastard Sword (for coolness, mostly)
@ Craft Wondrous Item

The wizard feat will definitely be Craft Magic Arms and Armor

I'm having trouble deciding what to give him for the others to make the most of his abilities. He has good stats all round, 17 int, 14 str con and dex. Saves will be F+5,R+3,W+4 at 6th. Don't like Still Spell as it doesn't suit his style.

 

[Asmo]

Improved Initiative is a must imho.

Asmo

 

[Wish]

It depends on what's available in your game. If the builder books are still in, I'd go for Combat Reflexes to set up for Expert Tactician. That's a great feat for a fighter mage, because you'll be able to cast your own greater invisibility spells. Alternately, you could take point blank and precise shot to improve your ability to hit with ray spells (thus fully exploiting both your spellcasting and good BAB from EK). Finally, if you intend to be mostly a spellcaster, look at spell penetration. With that feat, you will be equivalent to a full mage in terms of defeating spell resistance.

Also - I think you should have Scribe Scroll somewhere on your feat list.

 

[demiurge1138]

I agree with Asmo; Improved Initiative is a must-have feat. So is Combat Casting. What's the use in getting toe-to-toe for fighting if you roll a 2 on your Concentration check and provoke AoO from everyone in reach?

Demiurge out.

 

[lacunae]

It depends on what's available in your game. If the builder books are still in, I'd go for Combat Reflexes to set up for Expert Tactician.

An interesting idea...I will definitely consider this. The downside is I won't be able to cast Greater Invis. till 9th level - assuming my DM lets me find/buy/research the spell. So it's a pretty long-term investment for a single 'trick' - especially one that lasts only 1 rnd/lvl. But it's a good one

Also - I think you should have Scribe Scroll somewhere on your feat list.

Oh, it's there alright - along with all those (effective) armor and weapon proficiency feats.

 

[Cyraneth]

I don't know if you're playing FR, but there's a perfect PrC in Unapproachable East for your character: the Raumathari Battlemage. I know it's campaign-specific, but a flexible DM could easily be persuaded to adapt or adopt it.

Besides Exotic Weapon Proficiency (bastard sword), you need Combat Casting and any metamagic feat to qualify, but that's really just up to you. Check it out, in any case.

- Cyraneth

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Unless you need it for Rumathari Battle Mage, don't touch Combat Casting with a ten foot pole.

You're a wizard, so skill points shouldn't be a problem. By the time you're ninth level, you'll generally autosucceed on you defensive casting checks anyway. Before then, you'll have a very good chance without it. And, if you still think you need help with that, take Skill Focus: Concentration instead. It's almost as big a bonus and it also applies to casting spells when damaged during the casting (readied action, etc). That's one check that almost never becomes autosuccess and combat casting doesn't help with.

You need to define your role in battle and use it to your advantage. The EWP indicates that you're best set up for melee combat with backup from spells. For that, Combat Reflexes and Expert Tactician are very good (Blink and Improved Invis always set them off and Glitterdust will often do so). Other possible routes are: Power Attack and cleave or sunder (useful in combination with Heroism, and blink/Gr Invis style attack buffs as well as True Strike and Improved Trip; Sunder would set you up for the CW Combat Brute tactical feat which removes the opportunity cost from sunder like Imp Trip does for Trip), Expertise and Improved Trip (very useful with Enlarge Person or Polymorph--even more useful if you have combat reflexes, expert tactician and a reach weapon too), or Mobility and Spring Attack (very useful for a fighter with lots of potential mobility (haste, expd retreat), and limited hp and iterative attacks--also sets you up for Elusive Target (CW tactical feat, IMO very good) at 9th level.

But if you're really going for ranged combat, you want Point Blank and Precise Shot. No self-respecting archer or ray attack specialist should be without them. Unfortunately, until Imp Precise Shot, there's not much else for you except WF: Ray and Empower/Maximize Spell (useful for beefing up Scorching Ray to use in higher level slots).

If you want to be the fireball/magic missile artist, you've already shot yourself in the foot with the fighter level (all you get out of it is hit points and fort save if you're not making ranged or melee attacks and those don't make up for losing spellcasting advancement) and you should stop while you're ahead rather than losing another caster level on Eldritch Knight. If you insist, however, Spell Focus, Spell Penetration, and the greater versions thereof are useful for most spellslingers.

 

[DiFier]

what about

Weapon Focus (bastard sword)

 

[lacunae]

.
You need to define your role in battle and use it to your advantage. The EWP indicates that you're best set up for melee combat with backup from spells.

That seems the best plan.
Aside from the prestige possibility, it seems I have 2 routes suiting the character's personality:
1. Combat Reflexes/Expert Tactician for the extra attack.
2. Power Attack/Cleave for extra killing power.

(Tripping doesn't suit his style and I'm not interested in the Spring Attack thing after having recently played a high-level Incarnate PrC Druid whose baseform changed to a converted 1st-edition Quickling.)

Thanks for the help!

 

[Darklone]

Don't go the Power Attack & Cleave route. CR + ET gives you extra attacks more often and Power Attacking will only be worth it for you with True Strike.