PDA

View Full Version : [3.5] Duskblade Questions



Thurbane
2009-03-22, 08:26 PM
Hi all,

I’ve not yet played or DMd a Duskblade, and I just had two quick questions:

1.) Is Arcane Strike a good feat for the Duskblade?

2.) Is Abjurant Champion a decent PrC for the Duskblade, and if so, should he take a dip, or the whole five levels?

Also, as a general query, any tips or tricks for optimizing the Duskblade, other than the class handbook over the WotC forums? This will likely be a character that starts at level 1 and works its way up to about 13th or so…

Cheers - T

Thurbane
2009-03-22, 08:40 PM
Oops, just noticed this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107655)...

Darrin
2009-03-23, 07:35 AM
Hi all,
1.) Is Arcane Strike a good feat for the Duskblade?


Yes, this is a great feat for Duskblades. Although you do get a decent number of spells per day, gaining new spell levels is pretty slow and you only get spells up to 5th level. However, looks like you can do a "nova strike" as a free action, sacrificing all of your spells for an additional +1d4 extra damage for every spell level you sacrifice. There are trade-offs... certain spells will give you better damage on channeling (but full-attack channeling doesn't really kick in until Duskblade 13), and you want to avoid spending spells on arcane strike that you're going to need later. But a bonus to hit and extra damage as a free action? That's all frosting on the cake.



2.) Is Abjurant Champion a decent PrC for the Duskblade, and if so, should he take a dip, or the whole five levels?


Full-attack arcane channeling and quick-cast trumps anything Abjurant Champion can give you. Straight Duskblade is probably going to be stronger than anything you can multiclass into. The primary use for Abjurant Champion is to preserve both your BAB and caster levels if you do multiclass into something else.

For example, if you did something like Bard 1/Duskblade 9/Sublime Chord 2, you'd want to take Abjurant Champion 5 to keep your BAB and caster level as high as possible. You lose full-attack channeling, but gain 6th-9th level spells. You will lose another +1 BAB if you take it all the way up to 20, since there aren't enough full-BAB/full-CL PrCs out there to fill in the last three levels.