Building a Swiftblade sword-chucker

[A_S]

Hey, y'all.

I'm working on a build for a gish whose schtick is spamming Whirling Blade for MASSIVE DAMAGE. I'm going with Wizard 6/Swiftblade 9/Abjurant Champion 5 for maximal blade-spamming potential (2 standard actions + metamagic = a lot of swords chucked per round). So, I need advice on two things:

1. What race should I choose? I need one that grants proficiency in a martial slashing weapon, ideally one that can be used 2-handed (for power attack). The obvious choice is Elf, for racial Longsword proficiency. I've considered Fire Elf (for the extra Int) and Desert Elf (for Scimitar proficiency), but I'm not sure if there are better options out there. If it's something that can pick up the Dragonblood subtype without a feat, that's a bonus (since it grants easy access to Practical Metamagic), but unfortunately both Forestlord Elves and the Dragonborn template lose racial weapon proficiencies. So, what should I pick?

2. Whirling Blade's phrasing ("You make a normal melee attack, just as if you attacked with the weapon in melee") opens it up to all kinds of cool combos. For instance, in a past IC contest, I used it to trigger Improved Grab, making it function as a ranged pull. Since this build is effectively a ranged blaster on a gish chassis, rather than a grappler, I won't be going that route, but there must be other tricks you can pull off with access to a ranged attack that counts as melee. Any advice for me?

All 1st-party 3.5 books are legal, but no Dragon. Thanks!

[Darrin]

1. What race should I choose? I need one that grants proficiency in a martial slashing weapon, ideally one that can be used 2-handed (for power attack). The obvious choice is Elf, for racial Longsword proficiency. I've considered Fire Elf (for the extra Int) and Desert Elf (for Scimitar proficiency), but I'm not sure if there are better options out there. If it's something that can pick up the Dragonblood subtype without a feat, that's a bonus (since it grants easy access to Practical Metamagic), but unfortunately both Forestlord Elves and the Dragonborn template lose racial weapon proficiencies. So, what should I pick?


Deepwyrm Drow? Hmm... shortsword and rapier are not slashing weapons, though. And I'm not sure you can mix Deepwyrm with Lesser or Savage Progression Drow to avoid the LA.

How about Dragonborn Neraph (Planar Handbook)? They get martial weapon proficiency due to the Outsider type, so they keep that when they go through the Ritual of Rebirth.

Otherwise, Dragonfire Adept 1 gives you Dragontouched, or you can take the Draconic template as a racial class level (RotD p. 70).



2. Whirling Blade's phrasing ("You make a normal melee attack, just as if you attacked with the weapon in melee") opens it up to all kinds of cool combos. For instance, in a past IC contest, I used it to trigger Improved Grab, making it function as a ranged pull. Since this build is effectively a ranged blaster on a gish chassis, rather than a grappler, I won't be going that route, but there must be other tricks you can pull off with access to a ranged attack that counts as melee. Any advice for me?


Hmm. Best I can come up with off the top of my head would be Knock-Back + Improved Trip. Due to the S&F errata, though, some DMs don't allow the attack->trip->attack combo to work.

[A_S]

Losing one level off the build means no 9ths. I'd rather spend a feat on Dragontouched. But Dragonblood isn't really a requirement, just a luxury; Arcane Thesis is gonna be my major source of metamagic reduction. So, know any good elf subraces I might not have heard of :P ?

Neraph is an excellent suggestion, but I just don't like them. They're like sissy Slaad, and Slaad are gross in the first place. I'd probably rather be a level 0 savage Tiefling if I'm going for outsider goodness.

*edit* And, the S&F errata seem pretty unambiguous, you only get Attack+Trip with Knockdown. Might still be worthwhile. Thanks for the tip.

[Shining Wrath]

Have you considered Bloodstorm Blade, a PrC from ToB? At 4th level you gain the ability to make a full attack with a mix of thrown and melee attacks, including all thrown. At 10th level you gain the ability to attack every enemy within range with your thrown weapon at full BAB.

[A_S]

BSB makes great builds, but being a heavy gish is integral to the build concept (it's part of an attempt to make a 4-man party composed entirely of gishes who also differentiate themselves along stereotypical D&D 4-man party lines). So, losing 5+ caster levels (for a ToB dip plus BSB levels) isn't an option.

*edit* Also, it's looking like I'm not even going to be able to fit Power Attack into the build, so probably no point in coming up with melee combos, unless they don't require any feats. Current build:

Fire Elf

Stats (28 point buy):
Str: 16
Dex: 16
Con: 12
Int: 16
Wis: 8
Cha: 6

1 - Wizard 1 - Combat Casting, Expeditious Dodge
2 - Wizard 2
3 - Wizard 3 - Spell Mastery
4 - Wizard 4 - Int 17
5 - Wizard 5 - Mobility
6 - Wizard 6 - Signature Spell (Whirling Blade)
7 - Swiftblade 1
8 - Swiftblade 2 - Int 18
9 - Swiftblade 3 - Arcane Strike
10 - Swiftblade 4
11 - Swiftblade 5
12 - Swiftblade 6 - Quicken Spell, Str 17
13 - Swiftblade 7
14 - Swiftblade 8
15 - Swiftblade 9 - Twin Spell
16 - Abjurant Champion 1 - Str 18
17 - Abjurant Champion 2
18 - Abjurant Champion 3 - Arcane Thesis (Whirling Blade)
19 - Abjurant Champion 4
20 - Abjurant Champion 5 - Int 19

ACF's: Abrupt Jaunt, Focused Specialist (conjuration), Martial Wizard, Skilled City-Dweller (Ride > Tumble)

[Darrin]

I'd probably rather be a level 0 savage Tiefling if I'm going for outsider goodness.


Ooo... Savage Progression Dragonborn Tiefling didn't occur to me. That should work dandy.



*edit* And, the S&F errata seem pretty unambiguous, you only get Attack+Trip with Knockdown. Might still be worthwhile. Thanks for the tip.

Well, the Divine section of the SRD rather unambiguously did not include the errata (although this may be due more to negligence than by intent). By RAW, the 3.5 SRD supercedes the S&F errata.

[WhatBigTeeth]

Whenever a build is focused on spamming low-level spells, I get tempted to throw Sorcerer in. Between arcane fusions, arcane spellsurge and twin spell, you could spam 9 or so whirling blades each round, with the possibility of some extra metamagic tossed in the mix.

[A_S]

Unfortunately, you can't get both 9ths and the extra standard action from Swiftblade if you use Sorcerer. I'm using Signature Spell instead.

*edit*
Well, the Divine section of the SRD rather unambiguously did not include the errata (although this may be due more to negligence than by intent). By RAW, the 3.5 SRD supercedes the S&F errata.
Ooh, cool, I forgot it was reintroduced in the 3.5 SRD, since it's not in the regular feats section.

[mattie_p]

Playground, we're talking about a sword-chucker and this hasn't popped up yet?

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l3o85y3yGJ1qarkg3o1_400.jpg

If you have no idea what this is, go here (http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/03/02/episode-001-were-going-where/). Now. If you never played Final Fantasy 1 on the NES - then you have issues.

Disappointed.

[A_S]

Playground, we're talking about a sword-chucker and this hasn't popped up yet?

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l3o85y3yGJ1qarkg3o1_400.jpg

If you have no idea what this is, go here (http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/03/02/episode-001-were-going-where/). Now. If you never played Final Fantasy 1 on the NES - then you have issues.

Disappointed.
Okay, so definitely stick with Fire Elf, is what you're saying.

[sketchtb]

Hahaha just spent the last 2 days reading 200+ of those, awesome...