Spellcasting, Charisma-Based "Thayan Knight" character... Halp meh!

[Rossebay]

Alright, so I've got Hexblade 2/Exoticist 1 figured out.
We're level 6. I want to emphasize Charisma, Strength, and Constitution. Though I also had thoughts of becoming a Necropolitan, to further emphasize Charisma.

Ideas so far: I want to be a Spellfire Wielder. My previous build was Hexblade 2/Exoticist 1/Battledancer 1/Sorcerer 1/Spellfire Channeler 1.
Charisma to AC and such. But, now I've got this image of a longsword and Tower Shield-wielding knight in black armor and red cloth, defending his Red Wizard and Black Flame Zealot companions...

I still want Charisma to Armor Class, but I can't seem to find any ways to make that possible. I'd also like Charisma to attack or damage.

What's the ultimate way to get Charisma to as many stats as possible for an Armor-Wearing melee character, while also gaining some spellcasting capabilities and maintaining decent damage?

[Randomguy]

Check out the x stat to y bonus thread. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125732) Perhaps one of the most useful optimization threads there are.

At a glance, there seems to be quite a few ways to get cha to AC, mostly from races and prestige classes, but I'll let you look through it.

[Rossebay]

Check out the x stat to y bonus thread. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125732) Perhaps one of the most useful optimization threads there are.

At a glance, there seems to be quite a few ways to get cha to AC, mostly from races and prestige classes, but I'll let you look through it.

I literally forget about this list every time.

Arcane duelist it is! Thanks a lot!

[Randomguy]

Arcane duelist it is! Thanks a lot!

You realise that class has poor BAB and doesn't advance spellcasting, right? It's only really worth it if you're gestalting.
You'd be better off taking 2 levels in monk and a feat; it's the same level and feat investment (since mobility is basically a feat tax) but you also get bonus feats and evasion. Or even 1 level in monk instead of 2, for less of an investment.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You realise that class has poor BAB and doesn't advance spellcasting, right? It's only really worth it if you're gestalting.
You'd be better off taking 2 levels in monk and a feat; it's the same level and feat investment (since mobility is basically a feat tax) but you also get bonus feats and evasion. Or even 1 level in monk instead of 2, for less of an investment.

He could go Cobra-Strike Monk (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#cobraStrike) 2 and then also get Arcane Duelist 2 or 3, and with Ascetic Mage he'll get his Cha bonus to AC twice.

Also consider Blackguard 3/ Mystic Wanderer 1 for obvious reasons.

[Rossebay]

Problem: I want to wear armor, so I need the Charisma to AC while armored.

[Randomguy]

I just realised you wanted an armour wearing character. In that case, monk wouldn't work, but arcane duelist would.

If you're evil, you could take a couple of levels in paladin of tyranny or paladin of slaughter for cha to saves, or swap those out for cha to AC using an ACF. You could then go into blackguard for more cha to saves (or for cha to saves the first time)

If you take enough levels to grant you rebuke undead, you can take a few divine feats: Divine shield and either Sacred Vengeance or Divine Might, the latter only if your charisma bonus is more than +7.

There's also a feat that gives you your shield bonus as a bonus to touch AC instead of regular AC, which you may find useful.

In fact, you should probably check out all of the sword and board handbooks.

[Rossebay]

I just realised you wanted an armour wearing character. In that case, monk wouldn't work, but arcane duelist would.

If you're evil, you could take a couple of levels in paladin of tyranny or paladin of slaughter for cha to saves, or swap those out for cha to AC using an ACF. You could then go into blackguard for more cha to saves (or for cha to saves the first time)

If you take enough levels to grant you rebuke undead, you can take a few divine feats: Divine shield and either Sacred Vengeance or Divine Might, the latter only if your charisma bonus is more than +7.

There's also a feat that gives you your shield bonus as a bonus to touch AC instead of regular AC, which you may find useful.

In fact, you should probably check out all of the sword and board handbooks.

Oooh... Paladins, huh? That's a definite possibility.
Plus, the smiting is nice. And it actually fixes my BAB problems. I was losing too many and too many feats on Arcane Duelist. Thanks!

[eggs]

Arcane Duelist can be sweet, but not so much in this setup.

My ideal would basically be:
Bard 7/Spelldancer 1/Arcane Duelist 2/Sublime Chord 2/Abjurant Champion 5/Sacred Exorcist 3
with
1. Combat Casting, H. Dodge, F. Melodic Casting, F. Endurance, 3. Extend Spell, 6. Elusive Target, 9. Persist Spell, 12. Practiced Spellcaster, 15. Doomspeech, 18. Arcane Mastery
(requires +1 armor of Mobility by level 8, +1 skillful weapon by level 9).
Works fine without flaws, but loses Doomspeech and Elusive Target and delays Melodic Casting - nothing crippling, but a lot of fun options disappear.

Basically, look scary in Mithril Breastplate, and scare things with weapons drills. Until level 9, act as a basic Bard gish. Get a wand chamber of Whirling Blade and go crazy with ranged area charisma attacks. At level 9, start Persisting all those silly self-only spells Bards get (Improvisation, Mirror Image, Swift Fly, Swift Invisibility, Magic Savant, etc). At level 11, the whole thing comes together when you get to persist Sirine's Grace, Thunderlance and Ruin Delver's fortune for Charisma to attack, damage, saves, AC and AC (again). Also persistant Draconic Polymorph, but it's in best taste not to talk about that.

Edit:
In this situation, you might be able to use portions of that.
If your Hexblade is already in play, you could probably do worse than:
Hexblade 2/Exoticist 1/Hex3/Suel Arcanamach 4/Spelldancer 1/Abjurant Champion 5/Arcane Duelist 3/Blackguard 2 (or Paladin of Tyranny, if the feats don't work out)

I'm not going to try to work out a good level progression, but I think this would be solid at most levels, if you can cram all the prerequisites in, as well as Persist by level 11 or 12.