DM given gish-gift

[LordHenry]

So, dear playground, I'd need your advice: I'm playing a daring outlaw rogue in a "high op", but only middle to low optimisation campaign. Our DM likes high extraordinary campaigns and so we all get buffed here or there: As such for plot reasons my Tiefling rogue kinda merged with a powerful former-aspect-op-wizard or somethign like that, I dont know the details yet. In any case, that gave me, among other abilities, the ability to cast spells. My progression is rogue/swashbuckler lvl (including daring outlaw) equals caster lvl. I'm Rogue 3/Swash 3 at the moment.

My question now is: What are good feats and or prestige classes to get considering these new circumstances? And to be clear, I definitely want to continue being melee focused (tm I use spells like wraithstrike, fly, invis etc.), so the advice, "never go into melee range again and entirely focus on casting" is not what i am looking for ;)

[Amnestic]

So...to clarify, you now get free Wizard spellcasting equal to your hitdice?

What books/resources do you have at your disposal?

[Bakeru]

Combat Casting is a pretty standard feat for gishes, casting in melee and all.
Then there's Arcane Strike, which lets you sacrifice a spell for bonus to attack and damage.

If equipment is something that interests you, and you're the resident skillmonkey - Arcane Thieves' Tools cost 1'400 gold and allow you to sacrifice a first level spell for +5 competence on disable device and open locks. Magic Item Compendium page 150.

[ddude987]

Prestige classes like abjurant champion and a single level of spellsword are great. Though they won't advance sneak attack.

[LordHenry]

I get wizard spellcasting with a pre-selected spelllist, which contains quite a lot of spells I immediately know once I hit the corresponding spell level. I need to progress my rogue/swash lvl's somehow to keep increasing my casting, so I'm rather limited there. However, a good prestige class might be worthwhile, if it either advances sneak attack or gives spellcasting itself (need to check the latter with my dm though.
On an off-note, I currently have 24 Int, so Im quite good there for lvl 6. Naturally, I'm not really tanky at the moment. In combat, I try not to get hit (vest of greater blinking helps a lot) and usually use swift action spells like wraithstrike and try to full attack whenever possible.

Arcane strike seems pretty good, only problem is, that I'm quite feat starved as it is. Still, this is exactly what I am looking for, a great feat for a gish. I got craven and TWF and daring outlaw so far. And I haven't even gotten the improved TWF feats yet for which I will soon qualify.

Books and sources pretty much include all 3.5 material, excluding absolutely broken stuff, which I am not looking for anyway.
Especially handy equipment for my situation (already got a belt of battle) would also be appreciated.

[Averis Vol]

if you have two divination spells, you could go into unseen seer from complete mage. Grants 9/10(?) spell casting along with SA increase and some nifty divination abilities. If that doesn't tickle your fancy, try a few levels of swiftblade to get some more combat ability and your int to init.

Can't think of any more good rogue/wiz PrC's, so hope that helps.

EDIT: Arcane tricksters another option that may work.

[nedz]

Unseen Seer is the normal recommendation for a skillgish, but if your going to have Wizard levels for free then this is pointless — well unless the spellcasting levels stack; which would definitely be an OP houserule, even for this game.

Spellthief in an interesting option, but that would be a third base class. The Master Spellthief feat is normally what you would go for, but it has the same issues as Unseen Seer.

What do you want ?

Full BAB ?
More Sneak dice ?
More feats ?
Clerical casting ?
Invocations ?

[LordHenry]

Full BAB would be nice, and SA progression seems reasonable, as this also advances my casting.
Specific feats that serve my purpose, like Arcane strike, would also be great. If I get both I don't think that it would stack and even further progress my casting, that would really be too much.

Would Arcane Strike empower both of my weapons?

[Randomguy]

I think I'd probably continue taking Swashbuckler levels and just get a few Gish feats. Like Minor Shapeshift, at higher levels, which would make you more tanky later on.

[Daftendirekt]

I second going for Swiftblade. It's got a decent bit of power and goes well with the 'dextrous fighter' shtick I imagine you're doing with a Daring Outlaw.

[nedz]

Would Arcane Strike empower both of my weapons?
One weapon — it's still a pretty good feat though.

I think I'd probably continue taking Swashbuckler levels and just get a few Gish feats. Like Minor Shapeshift, at higher levels, which would make you more tanky later on.

Sounds reasonable. With Daring Outlaw this would get you Full BAB, full sneak dice, 4+ skills per level and full wizard casting, apparently. You could dip Fighter for feats, but it's probably not worth it because it costs you skills and sneak.

[LordHenry]

Good things have been mentioned so far.

What would good gish feats be, assuming I would continue Swashbuckler for now?

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Why bother?

You're already a tri-gish. You have BAB from Swashbuckler, you have SA from Rogue, and now you have spells for free.

Why bother with anything fancy? You're well on your way to being godlike in power already.

[Randomguy]

Good things have been mentioned so far.

What would good gish feats be, assuming I would continue Swashbuckler for now?

Mostly it's just Arcane Strike and Minor Shapeshift. Extend + Persist spell might be worth it at higher levels, though, to Persist Wraithstrike and other such spells, and possibly Quicken Spell but if most of your buffs are all day buffs then Quicken won't really matter.

[LordHenry]

We also ahead of our WBL a lot, so I'm curious: What would a lesser wand of persisting (3/day you can persist 1-3rd lvl spells) cost?
Would it be possible to make it a 1/day to reduce it's cost? A persisted wraithstrike would be really nice to have, or even other buffs such as heroism or fly would be great.
Minor Shapeshift seems very nice as well, let's see if I can afford a feat for it.

[Daftendirekt]

We also ahead of our WBL a lot, so I'm curious: What would a lesser wand of persisting (3/day you can persist 1-3rd lvl spells) cost?
Would it be possible to make it a 1/day to reduce it's cost? A persisted wraithstrike would be really nice to have, or even other buffs such as heroism or fly would be great.
Minor Shapeshift seems very nice as well, let's see if I can afford a feat for it.

Keep in mind that persistent spell can only be applied to personal or fixed-range spells (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19536682/Persistent_Spell:_Fixed_Range?post_id=332022174#33 2022174). Fly and Heroism would not qualify.

[LordHenry]

ah, I forgot about that, thank you.

Still, does anyone know if such an item either exists or what it would cost? I imagine it being rather expensive, as a lesser wand of quicken is quite costly already...