(Pathfinder) I need a Witch King!!!

[Duncan_Ruadrik]

... as in, a Witch/Fighter?/Eldritch Knight. This way, when he conquers a kingdom and lords over it... he can be referred to as The Witch King.

I have little experience with "gishes"... unless you count 2e Fighter/Mages.

Is a witch/Eldritch Knight a good idea? Is a Wizard a better spellcasting base for such a thing? Im a big fan of INT based casting, so I would prefer not to go with Sorcerer.

any help, hints, or advice is much appreciated!

[nyarlathotep]

You have to be way more specific with regards to what sort of character you are building. Are we talking the Lord of the Rings Witch King, just someone who uses that as a title, or what.

As you have provided none of these I will post my stats for Skeletor.

Cleric/Holy Vindicator. Feats: Willing Deformity

He casts buff spells pre-combat (divine might, righteous might, etc.) and then uses channel smite for all of those sword energy fights with He-man.

[Duncan_Ruadrik]

nah, just someone that uses that title, not THE Witch King of LoTR fame.

Just a guy who happens to have Magic user levels, some fighting prowess... and who dreams of carving out a kingdom to rule over. Though, I do somewhat thing of him as a sort of antithesis to the Witch King of Angmar.

Im thinking: Fighter 1/Witch 5/ Eldritch Knight 4

but, if Witch isnt that great for a gish, I suppose I'd roll with a wizard.

game probably be around level 10 ish, so effectiveness around that level would be needed.
Sorry for not being clear about all that to begin with, today im in a daze.

[Doc Roc]

Are we allowed out-of-PF sources?

[Duncan_Ruadrik]

Are we allowed out-of-PF sources?

erm... sure? my group has access to all 3.5 material, but we do try to keep it as PF as possible. However, if we need a feat or something to really tie the build together, we let it happen.

Abjurant Champion however, is generally a no no.

For once, im not the GM, so Im not sure exactly what my limitations are, as that was not made clear. However, most 3.5 material is fine.

[nyarlathotep]

It would be possible to just use the final magus playtest.

[Duncan_Ruadrik]

It would be possible to just use the final magus playtest.

Yes, yes it would. However, I am not a fan of it for some reason. I dont know why, but it as a class does not flow for me. It jsut seems to fill the same niche that can be filled via core: i.e. caster PrCing out to Eldritch Knight. plus, an Eldritch Knight can cast spells and fight better, if I am not mistaken.

[nyarlathotep]

Perhaps Anti-paladin/Cleric into Holy vindicator if you aren't absolutely married to the whole arcane caster thing, because honestly they work better as the whole spellcasting overlord type.

Alternatively you could go anti-paladin/sorc into dragon disciple and/or eldritch knight as paladin plays to a sorc's strengths more than straight fighter would and as a battle you would be dealing with the same sampling of buffing every day anyways.

[Duncan_Ruadrik]

oh. I am absolutely married to the whole arcane casting thing. married happily and well for many a year... I'll tell you a secret... Never go to bed angry.

Anyway... Sorcadin you say? hm. I was considering that the other day, but it just wasnt quite what i envisioned.... all charismatic and holy/unholy and stuff. I was going for more of a strategist/smart guy build... hence the INT based casting as a preference.

[nyarlathotep]

A witch with a strength domain patron could work (for cleric buffs) going into eldritch knight, but that is sacrificing part of the witch's main appeal, the hexes. Additionally if armor is a part of the image there is no realistic way to get that on a witch without a lot of grasping at weird sources or sacrificing more caster levels.

[Duncan_Ruadrik]

well... +1 twilight mithril chainshirt might do the trick. :smallwink:

[Duncan_Ruadrik]

My maim question is whether or not I should go Witch or the more standard wizard for this idea...

[kiryoku]

or a mithral breastplate with twilight, nimble (eberron), and gith(-5%arcane failure for 900gp) template from unearthed arcana.

light armor
5 ac, 6 max dex, o check pen., o% arcane failure

[Deity]

My maim question is whether or not I should go Witch or the more standard wizard for this idea...

I wouldn't recommend gishing with a witch. A large part of the witch's power comes from debuffing, and you would not be able to get the DC's high enough to matter with the sacrifices in both caster level, and witch level in the case of hexes.

That isn't to say you couldn't make an effective character by focusing on buff spells (strength patron) and self-targeting beneficial hexes (fortune, flight, healing come to mind), but the wizard makes a much better gish chassis.

If you are set on witch for the flavor, then you do get the benefit of access a small bit of healing magic the wizard doesn't get, which can be nice, if a little minor.

[Sarakos]

I know you said you're married to arcane spellcasting but have you considered psionics?

Dipping a level of fighter for the proficiencies and going psion the rest of the way can make a good Int based gish. Also psionic powers aren't affected by Arcane spell failure. although the psion is a squishy class by nature

If not, I'd suggest going Wizard into Eldritch knight rather than Witch. The wizard loses the least in class features out of all Pathfinder classes for prestiging except for maybe cleric. An elf Wizard with the Elven curve blade would work very well I think.

Free proficiency in a 2h 18-20 crit range weapon that's weapon finesseable. Making it keen and picking up critical focus when you qualify for it would allow your Witch king to take the best advantage of the Eldritch Knight capstone. Elf is quite obviously THE wizard class for all its racial features and the +2 dex is perfect for finessing a (free!) Curve blade

Since you said the character was to be an intelligent and strategically minded person, Conjuration seems like the school to specialize in for the Battlefield control spells

Making your weapon a bonded item gives you some handy and useful abilities but if your DM is one who might sunder your weapons or have guards remove your weapons before meeting important figures then having assassins jump you it might be better to simply get a familiar

[Paul H]

Hi

Looked at 10th lvl character combis from:
1) Wiz 5/Ftr1/EK 4
2) Witch 5/Ftr 1/EK 4
3) Magus 10

First off, all ave same BAB & wpn access, though the Magus has better amount of spells per day. Pure clasing gets you more spell points or HP from 'Favoured Class'

Wiz combi

Better choice of arcane spells. Arcane Bond, plus specialisation abilities. Scribe Scroll plus one other bonus feat. Problems casting spells because of Arcane Spell Failure.

Witch combi

Limited choice of spells, but does include some Divine ones, like the Cure series. Some nice Hexes, and Spell Familiar. (Not the othe Arcane Bond choice). Same ASF problem as Wizard.

Magus

Limited choice of spells (though you can add others from Wizard list). Nice abilities like TWF with spells & wands. Bonus Fighter feats, counts as 5th lvl Ftr (at Magus 10) for Ftr feat access. Lt & Med armour prof. (No ASF in these). Hvy armour at 13th lvl. Loads special abilities, like spell familiars, extra spells, bonuses to weapons (elemental/keen, vorpal, etc), plus many more.

Personally, I prefer Magus, but I do have a Sorc/Paladin/Dragon Disciple (Gold Dragon wannabe) for flavour........... :smallbiggrin:

Thanks
Paul H

[Infernalbargain]

Depends on how heavy you want to focus on casting vs. fighting. A popular fighter/caster build is draconic sorc 1 / pal 4 / dragon disciple X / stuff. EK's better for caster/fighters

[WinWin]

Dread Witch prc from Heroes of Horror. If you can't get people to love you, then you should have them fear you...

I am unsure how fear escalation works in PF, but if it similar to 3.5 then you are looking at some serious zone control. Once a battlefield is cowering in fear, even a wizards BAB becomes a serious threat.