Swiftblade or Incantrix for Gestalt Gish?

[Rossebay]

Which is going to turn out better? -1 on Metamagic (always) giving me many more options for spellcasting (Sorcerer), or Swiftblade for the combat bonuses and such?

Either way, I can persist Haste, right?

I won't lose caster levels either way.

[Dusk Eclipse]

If you can have two prestige classes in your build why not both? Incantatrix is stronger prg. class and since it is gestalt you could use another melee class like Warblade to keep high BAB.

[Circle of Life]

Incantatrix is marginally less useful for a sorcerer, since you don't have naturally absurdly high int fueling your spellcraft. Obviously you can obviate this issue with enough opt-fu, but still.

If you have to pick one, I'd say Swiftblade, because a Swiftblade with no lost caster levels is something to behold. That, and it won't make everyone else at the table cry themselves to sleep like the Incantatrix will.

[kestrel404]

First: No, you cannot persist Haste. It is not a fixed range spell (the close range varies based on caster level).

Personally, I'd recommend Swiftblade, with something to fill in the missing caster levels on the other side of the Gestalt. And while you might not be able to Persist haste, there are a number of ways of getting large number of castings of a specific spell.

[Rossebay]

Are there any known ways to persist haste at all?

[Circle of Life]

Occular Spell might do it. Don't have Lords of Madness handy, but if Haste qualifies, it becomes a ray with a 60 ft (fixed!) range.

[kestrel404]

You CAN persist the Ranger 2 spell 'Swift Haste' (Complete adventurer, page 151). So either Ranger 8 or Archivist 3 spellcasting + Divine Metamagic (or some other way to get a free persist on a divine spell) will do it. And as the text of the spell reads 'you are hasted, as the spell' or something very close to that, it should count for swiftblade.

Might I suggest considdering a Duskblade//Archivist gestalt? Duskblade is alwyas nice for a Gish, and Archivist will get you the spell you want (and yes, they can cast Haste from a 3rd level spell slot (as a divine spell, but that's not specified in Swiftblade), and you can advance Duskblade casting from Swiftblade while advancing Archivist casting on the other side.

[Rossebay]

Occular Spell might do it. Don't have Lords of Madness handy, but if Haste qualifies, it becomes a ray with a 60 ft (fixed!) range.

Arcane Thesis will allow me to cast it as a 9th level spell when using Ocular Spell and Persistent Spell. Thanks! That'll work.

And, thanks, but I already have the majority of my build worked out.

[sreservoir]

why not take incantatrix 3 and then go swiftblade? then you can cast an ocular haste and persist it. 5th level slot.