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Dusk Eclipse
2010-11-19, 03:57 PM
Ok I will try to make a gestalt ECL 10 character for an arena game hosted on Myth-weavers, the thing is that I have some restriction on the sources.

As I am going with a non-monstrous gladiator I will have access to the PHB I and II, DMG I and II, the MM 1 and other six sources.

Which sources do you think that would benefit me more? the only ones set in stone are Complete Mage (Hear of____ spells and Abjurant Champion) and Spell compendium, others I am not so sure.

gbprime
2010-11-19, 04:36 PM
Depends on what your magic class is going to be. If wizard, then Races of the Wild and Unearthed Arcana get you an Elf Wizard with the Domain wizard abilities... more spells per day.

Actually... does Unearthed Arcana use up one of your 6 books, considering that's where Gestalt comes from? It would seem that one is free.

When considering gestalts, the alt class stuff for rogues from Unearthed Arcana is awesome. Rogues with fighter feats instead of sneak attack (and all those lovely skill points) really power a gish build.

Example...

1 - Fighter 1 - Elf Domain Wizard 1 - gets you fighter bonus feat, +1 BAB
2 - Rogue 1 - Wizard 2 - the alt rogue gets you a fighter bonus feat, wizard is +1 BAB
3 - Rogue 2 - Elf Wizard 3 - the alt rogue gets you a fighter bonus feat, +1 BAB
4 - Rogue 3 - Wizard 4 - +1 BAB
5 - Rogue 4 - Wizard 5 - fighter bonus feat, wizard bonus feat, +1 BAB
6 - Rogue 5 - Wizard 6 - wizard level gets you your +1 BAB this time around
7 - Rogue 6 - Wiz PrC 1 - fighter bonus feat, +1 BAB

Etc.

Morbis Meh
2010-11-19, 04:43 PM
Go DMM (divine meta magic) cleric for best results as a gish char. So you would need complete divine. As for what to gestalt it with I think a warblade would be a good combo or a swordsage so your other source would be Tome of Battle (if allowed) if not just substitute those classes with a rogue and btw use the spell compendium for a better spell selection.

SurlySeraph
2010-11-19, 05:03 PM
@^: Errata made DMM only apply to divine spells, so he'd need to take Southern Magician (from some Faerun book) as well as Sacred Exorcist to get DMM.

Tome of Battle is very good, of course. Complete Arcane for the Arcane Strike feat, Split Ray, and various others is good. A lot of gish builds put 1 level in Spellsword (Complete Warrior), but it's not worth spending a source on a single not-all-that-special level.

@V: Gah, you're right. CompWar is valuable, then.

AslanCross
2010-11-19, 06:15 PM
Tome of Battle is very good, of course. Complete Arcane for the Arcane Strike feat, Split Ray, and various others is good. A lot of gish builds put 1 level in Spellsword (Complete Warrior), but it's not worth spending a source on a single not-all-that-special level.

Isn't Arcane Strike from Complete Warrior?

Anyway, the Eberron Book Five Nations has the Knight Phantom, which is sometimes said to be what the Eldritch Knight should have been. That's if you want to take the mounted route, though.

Thrice Dead Cat
2010-11-19, 06:25 PM
Complete Mage is great for Abjurant Champion and some decent spells. Spell Compendium is great just for the shear density of spells, naturally. Assuming you're not using house rules to make Mage Armor work for Abjurant Champion, Book of Exalted Deeds is a must for (Greater) Luminous Armor.

Complete Warrior offers Arcane Strike, which is useful for nabbing extra to-hit and damage, as well as some tactical feats like Shock Trooper, which can be grabbed via the Heroics Spell. Complete Champion also has some uses with Knowledge Devotion.

This page is great if you love the haste spell, too. (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/prc/20070327)

Magic Item Compendium is very much like Spell Compendium in uses.

Coidzor
2010-11-20, 03:40 AM
Isn't Arcane Strike from Complete Warrior? That seems to be the case, yes.

So, the level of Spellsword is accessible at least as well if one wants that feat.

Eldariel
2010-11-20, 04:31 AM
Spell Compendium is obvious. Law Devotion and Knowledge Devotion (not to mention Spont. Div) are probably good enough to warrant Complete Champion, and Complete Warrior is worth your while. PHBII is obvious for Celerity & co. and Savage Species is worth considering if you want to ABUSE Polymorph with Assume Supernatural Ability. That's about it off the top of my head.

EDIT: Oh yeah, ToB is a great call if you want something not-quite-as-retarded-as-Assume-Supernatural-Ability. Heroics+ToB base works great anyways, and you can go like Barbarian 2/Warblade 8 for 5th level maneuvers while still getting Barb Pounce and like Improved Trip or so.

GoodbyeSoberDay
2010-11-20, 05:21 AM
This post is made under the assumption that your Arena match is relatively high op.

Here's a sample build that uses PGtF, CA, SC, CM, ToB and CC as the outside sources.

Human Transmuter, Spontaneous Divination
Level|Side1|Side2|Feats
1st|Wizard 1|Warblade 1|Iron Will, Extend Spell, Scribe Scroll
2nd|Wizard 2|Warblade 2|
3rd|Wizard 3|Warblade 3|Adaptive Style
4th|Wizard 4|Warblade 4|
5th|Wizard 5|Warblade 5|Power Attack
6th|Incantatrix 1|Warblade 6|Combat Reflexes, Persistent Spell
7th|Incantatrix 2|Warblade 7|
8th|Incantatrix 3|Warblade 8|
9th|Incantatrix 4|Warblade 9|(general feat), (Fighter bonus feat), (Bonus meta feat)
10th|Incantatrix 5|Warblade 10|

The idea is to nab a custom magic item of spellcraft, persist a bunch of crazy-useful arcane spells, and go to town with warblade maneuvers. Here's a list of short duration persistable and hours-long buffs of note, bolded being the key contributors, italics being ill-gotten gains from a dubious interpretation of Spontaneous Divination:

1st: Critical Strike, Mage Armor, Karmic Aura
2nd: Heart of Air, Alter Self, Swift Fly, Wraithstrike, Hunter's Eye
3rd: Anticipate Teleportation, Heart of Water, Arcane Sight
4th: Greater Invisibility (or Greater Mirror Image), Ray Deflection, Heart of Earth
5th: Greater Blink, True Seeing, Bite of the Wereboar, Nightstalker's Transformation

An optimized Warblade 10 is a force in battle. Now imagine that Warblade 10 except always invisible, flying, targeting touch AC, dealing decent sneak attack, deflecting all ranged touch attacks, and so on.

true_shinken
2010-11-20, 07:11 AM
Races ofthe Dragon andDragon Magic both have good stuff. Wings ofCover, Versatile Spellcaster, Ferocity of Sanguine Rage...

Dusk Eclipse
2010-11-20, 07:17 AM
First thanks for all the info guys, this is really helping me.

Second there are some houserules for the game, I'll try to post a link when I get to a proper computer (poating from phone)

And third I have considered to actually be a monstrous combatant, and I actually though of playing a steel dragon, do you think that would be advisable?

true_shinken
2010-11-20, 07:40 AM
First thanks for all the info guys, this is really helping me.

Second there are some houserules for the game, I'll try to post a link when I get to a proper computer (poating from phone)

And third I have considered to actually be a monstrous combatant, and I actually though of playing a steel dragon, do you think that would be advisable?

Alternate form is awesome if you are set on breaking it, but otherwise I wouldn't do it.

GoodbyeSoberDay
2010-11-20, 03:52 PM
First thanks for all the info guys, this is really helping me.

Second there are some houserules for the game, I'll try to post a link when I get to a proper computer (poating from phone)

And third I have considered to actually be a monstrous combatant, and I actually though of playing a steel dragon, do you think that would be advisable?It depends on where the LA/RHD falls, and how "old" you want your steel dragon to be. You'll want to maintain full casting. In any event, if you're going the dragon route, the obvious choice is to continue the sorcerer progression. In that case, Dragon Magic and Races of the Dragon are nice.