3.5 Archivist gish

[Brightpaw]

I know there's another one of these around here somewhere, but i was hoping to get some advice on a build that goes with archivist/warblade(Crusader)/ruathar/(sacred excorcist, maybe?)/ruby knight vindicator. A full BAB/Casting class would be preferred where Sacred excorcist is, but i'm also trying to qualify for RKV and get turning. Ruathar is also optional, but it just gives interesting abilities.

my needs happen to be somewhat specific. :p

Looking for that magical 15-16 BAB (the divine spells make this a little less important...) and a 17-19 CL for 9th level spells.

Just about any source is open from 3.5

[Jeff the Green]

To get into RKV, you'll need turning, so you definitely want to take that first level of Sacred Exorcist. If you don't want to be good, a Cloistered Cleric or Dread Necromancer dip will work too. DN will also give you unlimited out-of-combat healing with a feat, if you go that way. Another possibility is Knight of the Raven, from Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. Full BAB, turning at level 3, lose a spellcasting level at 1st. You might even combine them. If you grab turning via KotR or Sacred Exorcist, you can get rebuking from a 1 level dip in Death Delver (Heroes of Horror) and double your turn pool. Best of all, it doubles the effect of nightsticks, reliquary holy symbols, and Extra Turning.

On the martial side, I strongly recommend Crusader over Warblade. Warblade doesn't get Devoted Spirit, so you'll have to blow two feats to get into RKV. Plus the flavor fits better.

Also, don't worry too much about making it to 16 BAB. Your biggest source of damage will come from maneuvers, not full attacks, so your BAB doesn't matter too much. Besides, you should have Divine Might up anyway.

For races, you might consider Illumian. I suggest Illumians for a lot of things, but in this case it works well. You can either pick up Aeshkrau, which will let you base your bonus spells off of Strength rather than Wisdom, and make you a bit less MAD, or Naenhoon, which gives you a 2/day DMM effect, freeing up feats.

Here's the build I'd use:

Illumian (Aeshkrau)
Point buy: Str 16, Dex 8, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 14
Archivist 4/Crusader 1/Archivist 2/Knight of the Raven 3/RKV 7/Death Delver 1/Knight of the Raven 2

Without items, it gives you 10 turn/rebuke uses. With a nightstick and a reliquary holy symbol that bumps up to 22. Every two points of Charisma bonus nets you two turn uses, and each time you take Extra Turning you get 8 more.

Some feats to consider:

Divine Metamagic
Extra Granted Maneuver
Travel Devotion
Extra Turning
Battle Blessing (if it works with Paladin spells cast as an Archivist)
White Raven Tactics

[Brightpaw]

What a quick, and very helpful response. It's true i'm more worried about 9th level spells, and i'll take a look at those prestiege classes.

I'm trying to have a littlle DMM cheese. But, i don't think i want to overcheese it. I'd like to leave my DM sane.. I'll check out death delver, but my character is nuetral good. So we're more looking at turning, but there 'IS' a dread necromancer in the party already. I actually rolled the dice, and i picked up the academic priest feat to have int for my bonus spells.

int:20 dex: 18 str: 17 cha:16 Con:10 wis 11: Those are my stats, more or less. after racial adjustments (we used pathfinder races, so, LA is not as much of an issue here. i'm a drow.) So i'm pretty set so far in terms of what i'm building, just not where i'm going. Knight of the raven might be a good idea. Death delver sounds like the cheese, in terms of DMM. Oh, we are playing in Eberron, but so far all books seem open. I might be able to get by without being evil since alignments are loose in Eberron if Death delver requires it.

[Jeff the Green]

Let's see. Consider swapping your Dex and Con scores for 14 in each. You'll get heavy armor proficiency from Crusader, so you don't need a high Dex score, but Constitution is important, especially for a front-line character.

If you really want 17th level casting, you'll only be able to take full casting prestige classes other than RKV. You lose one level from Crusader and another two from RKV. You'll also have to use Sacred Exorcist for turning, which you can't enter before 8th. In fact, I would recommend using Sacred Exorcist anyway, because the fluff of Knight of the Raven is an undead slayer, which won't work well with a Dread Necromancer in the party. So a possible build is Archivist 7/Sacred Exorcist 1/Crusader 1/RKV 10/PrC 1. Contemplative works for the PrC, as would any other that gets casting at 1st.

If you're not too attached to 9th level spells, death delver is open to any alignment. As far as I know, it's the only way to get rebuke as a good character. Also, remember that you don't just want more turn/rebuke uses for DMM, it fuels Divine Impetus. So, more uses of Travel Devotion, more uses of swift action spells (Rhino's Rush)...