Feats for a Swift Hunter/Swiftblade

[gkathellar]

I've been working on an amusing Swiftblade build which uses Trapsmith, Shooting Star Mystic Ranger with Sword of the Arcane Order and Swift Hunter (and some ACF chaining) to produce a competent limited-casting charging gish. Now, I've got the leveling structure, basic strategy and similar essentials pretty much figured out, but I'm still meandering on what kinds of feats to take.

I've got open feats slots at 1st, 9th, 12th, 15th and 18th levels (and another one at 1st if I don't take weapon finesse). The build is Ranger 2/Scout 1/Ranger 3-6/Trapsmith 1/Swiftblade 9/Ranger 7-9. I've taken 2 flaws already, and all of my other feats are necessary, so no moving those around.

The obvious set is TWF, Improved Skirmish, ITWF, GTWF and Practiced Spellcaster (Trapsmith) — which nets me better damage, better AC and a Ranger/Trapsmith CL of 17/11.

However, I'm considering other options. Should I go for Shadow Blade despite its intensive feat tax? Should I switch to a Str-based build and go for the obvious charging feats to maximize charging potential? Are Improved Skirmish (+7 damage per hit, +2 AC) and Practiced Spellcaster as well worth it as I thinking they are?

EDIT: Just realized I need two more levels of scout than I thought, unless there's a trick for getting better skirmish than I'm not remembering. That cuts down my CL and removes my access to 4th-level spells unless I drop Trapsmith entirely.

[hex0]

Since you are going to try to get into Swiftblade asap (the earliest is at level 6) and focus on advancing it, would the Ranger levels really be that great?

Also the problem with Trapsmith is that you only have 5 levels worth of casting to advance.

Spellthief 4/Scout 1/Trapsmith 1/Swiftblade 9, for example. A Neraphim could steal spells for free with its Camouflage abilities, too. You could get Swift Ambusher to count with a little fudge.

There is also Dragon Devotee that gives you free sorcerer casting as well as Skirmish boosts.

[Andion Isurand]

I have an artifact to recommend, if you can obtain it:

Manual of the Winding Way (Dungeon Magazine 117, pg. 78)

+1 Wisdom increase
Dodge / Mobility / Spring Attack / +2 Dexterity increase (you recieve first of these you don't yet have)
Blindsight 30 ft.


It takes a 20 wisdom check to gain the benefit of reading each section (8 hours a day for 3 days) and you only get one chance to succeed.

[gkathellar]

Swiftblade was really just for what it can do alongside Skirmish, and before I was using Mystic Ranger, Trapsmith was the only way in. As this isn't meant to be a spellcasting build. A pure-classed Mystic Ranger with Sword of the Arcane Order can meet the qualifications for Swiftblade by sixth level, though, so I'm probably scrubbing Trapsmith. And ... no, you can't get Spellthief to count for Swift Ambusher, because Spellthief doesn't count for Swift Ambusher.

In any case, I have a handle on the levelling. Feats are the only thing I'm not sure about.


I have an artifact to recommend, if you can obtain it:

Manual of the Winding Way (Dungeon Magazine 117, pg. 78)

+1 Wisdom increase
Dodge / Mobility / Spring Attack / +2 Dexterity increase (you recieve first of these you don't yet have)
Blindsight 30 ft.


It takes a 20 wisdom check to gain the benefit of reading each section (8 hours a day for 3 days) and you only get one chance to succeed.

If I could get that at later levels, it would allow me to retrain some feats, which would be very nice. Alas, artifacts have no purchase cost, so I can't include it in the build.

[hex0]

It is in Ask your DM territory, but in the games I've played any feat that stacked Rogue levels also worked with Spellthief and Psychic Rogue

[pilvento]

Dont you need 3lvls in scout for swift hunter since the prec is skirmish +1d6/+1ac?

You may also want to check the Tempest PrC for the last lvls, it focuses in spring attacking and TWF, Complete Warrior.