Glaivelock E6?

[bot]

Hi,
I'm trying to get ideas for cool character builds for a upcoming E6 scenario. The main point is that it has to be effective at preferably ALL levels, as we'll slowly play our way from 1st to 6th lvl+ (This GM is cheap on xp, but that's another talk and I'm fine with it)

I don't know much about Warlocks, let alone Glaivelocks - but do you think it's possible to play an effective 1st through 6th lvl Warlock? And how would you build it?

[Fouredged Sword]

Well, depends on how much cheese you want to pull out, but yes, it can be effective. 3d6 can be boosted to 4d6 with items if I remember right. The fighter over damages you, but you get touch attacks.

Just remember your roll in the party. A warlock isn't a spellcaster, they are damage dealers.

Eldrich spear is good at those levels. Eldrich glaive is also nice. Eldrich claws may be better due to getting no iteratives, so two claw attacks are better than one glaive.

Max out UMD, as scrolls are cheep in E6 and money is a river.

[Fates]

Eh-hem. Warlocks do have several functions outside of pure damage, actually. There are many invocations open to you that will allow you to function in several other facets, and with all the feats you'll be getting, you'll be able to take Extra Invocations aplenty after sixth level. Self-buffs like spider climb, beguiling influence, and see the unseen can fill several party niches. Darkness and miasmic cloud are useful for a smaller degree of battlefield control, and Baleful Utterance has countless uses in and out of combat if you're creative enough. (Some may prefer hammer blast)

Likely your biggest choice will be what lesser invocation to choose, as you will only have one. The best option is generally fell flight. Being able to fly for 24 hours at will can give a HUGE advantage in e6, and will make you totally untouchable by the majority of the enemies you face. Flee the Scene is also good if you're a coward, as is Walk Unseen. Sudden Swarm, the Dead Walk, and Charm are also solid options, but I'd still go with Fell Flight unless you have a really good reason to take one of the others.

In short, yes, the Warlock functions fairly well in e6- in fact, it probably does better there in comparison with other classes than it does in the typical D&D game, as its abilities are all at will. You won't be doing massive damage with your eldritch blasts, and unfortunately will fall just shy of being able to take the awesome Hellfire Warlock PrC, but with Eldritch Claws you should be able to dish out pretty respectable damage in melee until you can fly and screw everyone else.

EDIT: OH, and as fouredged pointed out, UMD is your friend, and warlocks are great at it because they can take 10 starting at 4th level. Get scrolls for situational utility and wands for oh-so-useful spells like web, grease, prestidigitation, and maybe a bit of healing.

[Dead_Jester]

Hi,
I'm trying to get ideas for cool character builds for a upcoming E6 scenario. The main point is that it has to be effective at preferably ALL levels, as we'll slowly play our way from 1st to 6th lvl+ (This GM is cheap on xp, but that's another talk and I'm fine with it)

I don't know much about Warlocks, let alone Glaivelocks - but do you think it's possible to play an effective 1st through 6th lvl Warlock? And how would you build it?

Glaivelocks aren't great for E6 because they can't get an iterative attack on the glaive (they end up with, at best, 5.75 bab). You could probably pull a Warlock 2/Crusader 4 thicket of blades build using the glaive, but a Crusader 6 gets better maneuvers and a second attack.

Straight Warlock should do fine in E6, or Warlock 5/something else 1, although Warlock 6 allows you to pick a lesser invocation (Aka, either permanent flight or permanent invisibility, your choice). Dipping any Sneak Attack class nets you an additional d6 of damage, but without stealth, it would be difficult to use it.

Getting a Chausuble of Fell Power gets you extra EB damage, and is always good. Abusing Summon Swarm is always useful (never the rats though, the bats are great because they fly and make people bleed, while the spiders are untargettable except by AoE damage). With the pile of feats you get from E6, you can always grab a few things here and there, like Child of Shadow stance for easy concealment, and maybe a soulmeld. PB shot and precise shot could also be useful.

[Person_Man]

I'm not particularly fond of the Tier 4 Warlock, especially for E6 games. You're looking at 1, maybe 2-3 attacks per turn (if you can get a good attack of opportunity combo in there), for meh damage, and if you're lucky you might be able to work a Save or Suck effect into it which are not much better then similar effects you can get from Feats. And with your hit point and AC issues, you're going to have a tough time on the front line.

What's your build goal? If you just want all-day front line combat with a cool extra effects, you might want to look at the Druid, Wildshape Ranger, Binder, Psychic Warrior, Tome of Battle, or Magic of Incarnum. The last two do particularly well in E6.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Eldritch Glaive doesn't add Str to damage, so you may as well get Weapon Finesse. It's only better than other eldritch shapes when you get a BAB of 6+ for multiple attacks, which you won't see on an E6 Warlock. So you're spending resources and getting closer to danger to not even improve your damage. Its only advantage in E6 will be its capability of making AoO's, and maybe combining it with Power Attack if your DM lets you.

If you're into touch attacks for nonphysical power attack damage, Pyrokineticist (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/pyrokineticist.htm) or some variant (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040625e) would probably be a better choice. The energy lash can't AoO, but it can definitely power attack because that's a feat that can be used with a standard whip.

Eldritch Claws is definitely going to be the better choice here. Two attacks even at 1st level, and deal Unarmed Strike + EB damage including Str bonus as it normally applies to unarmed strikes. You don't get the benefits of making touch attacks, but you can make a big strong caster style character. Considering E6 allows up to a +4 LA for a reduced pointbuy instead of taking the actual level adjustment, go with something like Water Orc (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/elementalRacialVariants.htm#racesOfWater) Half-Goristro (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060630x&page=1) (Str +8, Con +8, size increase (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm#sizeIncreases), +5 natural armor, two slam attacks which count as two-handed weapons, DR 5/Good or Cold Iron, etc.). With zero pointbuy that would have Str 28, Dex 6, Con 22, Int 6, Wis 6, Cha 6. I'd take a level of Crusader at 1st or 2nd for Martial Spirit and armor proficiency, Eldritch Claws is a feat and not an invocation, so it doesn't suffer ASF, but you can't add an Eldritch Essence to it. Take Improved Unarmed Strike and (Improved) Multiattack and do either 2 slams for 1d6+13,and unarmed strike secondary 1d3+4, or 2 eldritch claws EB+1d3+9 and 2 slams secondary 1d6+13. Note that a Goristro's slam attacks count as two-handed weapons, and considering a Dragon's tail slam does 1.5 Str even as a secondary attack, the slams should follow suit.

[Yogibear41]

Clawlock+Chasuble of Fell Power+Mortal Bane = 2 attack for your unamred damage +6d6+ str modifier at level 6 warlock. If you are actually playing e6 and you get bonus feats you can go for the fey heritage feats and end up with DR5/cold iron at level 6. If your are allowed 3.0 material and happen to be playing something considered as a monstrous race, you can take thick-skinned feat from savage species 3 times to increase the dr up to dr10/cold iron, or just take it 2 times for dr9/cold iron.


Can't actually take clawlock until level 3, but you can take mortal bane at level 1 to give your self 3d6 ranged touch attacks 5/day per mortalbane feat.

[bot]

Thanks for the replies guys, really cool!!

The reason why I thought Warlock could be cool was both especially that I wanted something that was both new and could work all day long. Sorry I should have posted that as part of the OP.

From what i gather from you guys, and mixing it up with reading abit of handbooks, it looks like warlock might not be all that great in E6 except for fly all day at lvl 6 theres nothing really amazing to be had (+ limited use pr day amazing damage).


What's your build goal? If you just want all-day front line combat with a cool extra effects, you might want to look at the Druid, Wildshape Ranger, Binder, Psychic Warrior, Tome of Battle, or Magic of Incarnum. The last two do particularly well in E6.

I love Tome of Battle, but looking for something different.

Perhaps Incarnum that you mention could be fun to try, but that is something i know even less about. If you could help me out with a build for perhaps the first 2, maybe 3 levels I would be very thankful :-)

[Person_Man]

I love Tome of Battle, but looking for something different.

Perhaps Incarnum that you mention could be fun to try, but that is something i know even less about. If you could help me out with a build for perhaps the first 2, maybe 3 levels I would be very thankful :-)

It's a very crunchy, fiddly, but rewarding subsystem.

The most important thing to remember about Incarnum is that you can change your soulmelds every day. So you're not locked into any particular build, and can experiment from day to day without ever worrying about running out of resources, since soulmelds are continuous.

Having said that, here are some strait forward options:

Totemist 2 options:

2 for Girillion Arms soulmeld bound to Totem Chakra, giving you 4 claw attacks.
Dragon Tail (Dragon Magic) for a tail attack.
Chaos Roc's Span (Dragon Magazine 350) for 2 wing buffet attacks. Rageclaws or Blood Talons for Die Hard (excellent at level 1-2).
Threefold Mask of the Chimera for Immunity to Flanking (if you know your DM is fond of Rogues)
Wormtail Belt for the Natural Armor bonus.


Totemist also has some cool breath weapons, mobility, and Save or lose effects. If you decide to take more levels of Totemist, you can get more soulmelds, another chakra bind, and more essentia (which will increase various bonuses).

Incarnate 3 options:

Astral Vembraces (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20060217a): DR 2 + (2*essentia)/magic. If you go Incarnate 4, you can also bind it to your Hands chakra for 2 Slam attacks.
Mantle of Flame: 1d6 + (1d6 * essentia) retributive fire damage against most enemies that hit you in melee.
Dissolving Spittle: Standard Action ranged touch attack that deals 1d6 + (1d6 * essentia damage) acid damage. Basically Eldritch Blast that deals +1d6 extra damage.
Necrocarnum Circlet bound to Crown Chakra. This gives you a free, at will, renewable Animate Dead. You can Animate anything with a number of hit dice equal to your meldshaper level (Incarnate class level). The Incarnate's most powerful option, basically a second Tier 4 character you control if you decided to go Incarnate 6.
Spellward Shirt for fairly high Spell Resistance, if defending against magic is a big problem.
Theraputic Mantle: Increases the effectiveness of any "spell or effect that heals hit point damage" on you by Spell Level + (2*essentia invested). The overlooked trick with this soulmeld is that it specifically works on any effect that heals hit points, and not just spells. Which means you can stack it with Divine Spirit, a Vampiric Weapon, Fast Healing, etc, making you very hard to kill, making Incarnate 3/Crusader 3 a very tempting choice for an E6 game.
Skills! A low level Incarnate can get +6 to +12ish to almost any Skill, which makes Factotum, Rogue, Ranger, Binder, etc good multiclass options.

The amount of essentia you have and the essentia capacity is a bit tricky. In general, you'll only have enough essentia to fill half of your soulmelds, and your essentia capacity will be between 1-3. But the math generally works quite well in E6, and you can expand either with the right Feats and/or magic items.

I know a LOT more Incarnum if you decide to get into it. But this is more then enough to get you going.

[bot]

Thanks Person_Man!

I've been reading your post and the Magic of Icarnum during the weekend whenever I had a few mins.

An idea I've been throwing around is making a Totemist Duskling with the Feral template +1LA. The Duskling mostly for RP reasons and the Feral for both RP, but mostly power reasons. We haven't used the Feral template before, so I guess I might be able to use it (I've heard its considered rather OP normally)

We don't use DragonMagazine nor Flaws - but what would you suggest as level 1 feat and powers? I recon Girillion Arms would be nice level 2 choice

[Person_Man]

Thanks Person_Man!

I've been reading your post and the Magic of Icarnum during the weekend whenever I had a few mins.

An idea I've been throwing around is making a Totemist Duskling with the Feral template +1LA. The Duskling mostly for RP reasons and the Feral for both RP, but mostly power reasons. We haven't used the Feral template before, so I guess I might be able to use it (I've heard its considered rather OP normally)

We don't use DragonMagazine nor Flaws - but what would you suggest as level 1 feat and powers? I recon Girillion Arms would be nice level 2 choice

If you're taking 2 levels of Totemist, then yes, the traditional choice is Girillion Arms bound to Totem for 4 claws, Basalisk Mask bound to Totem for at will Stone to Flesh (1 round duration), or Blink Shirt bound to Totem for at will Move Action Dimension Door. Round out the rest of your soulmelds with something from the list I posted above.

But I wouldn't bother with Feral unless your DM allows you to use level adjustment buyoff.

It robs you of 1 Hit Dice, which is important, because 5 Hit Dice gives you an essentia capacity of 1, whereas 6 hit dice gives you an essentia capacity of 2. (+1 for any soulmeld bound to your Totem chakra, in either case). This can be very important, depending on your soulmeld selection. It also robs you of a Feat (that you'd normally get at 6th level), Skill points, Saving Throw bonuses, hit points, maybe 1 BAB, etc).
Feral gives you 2 claws. But Totemist already gives you 4 claws, and additional claws don't stack. (It's not like you grow additional arms).
Feral grants you Pounce, but only for the first round of combat. But Pounce and free movement (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103358) are actually quite easy to get. Totemist itself can grant Pounce with all natural weapons with the Sphinx Claws soulmeld bound to your Hands chakra.
Fast Healing 2 is nifty in that it saves you from having to spend money or a couple of feats on some other method of healing. But it's not strong enough that it makes a difference in combat.
+6 natural armor is very nice, but it's mitigated by the -2 Dex penalty from the template, and there's lots of ways to get AC.
Everything else Feral gives you can basically be summarized as "more damage per round." But the Totemist can already rock out a ton of damage per round, so it doesn't really add much to your character.
It's a 3.0 template, and your DM is going to look at it and smell cheese. If you're going to use cheese, you might as well get something more impressive then just damage.

[Zonugal]

I still think a level of Warlock can be nice for something like a wizard or a rogue. Unlimited ranged attacks that target touch AC aren't bad and you get some flexibility with what least invocation you want as well.


But I wouldn't bother with Feral unless your DM allows you to use level adjustment buyoff.
[LIST]
* It robs you of 1 Hit Dice, which is important, because 5 Hit Dice gives you an essentia capacity of 1, whereas 6 hit dice gives you an essentia capacity of 2. (+1 for any soulmeld bound to your Totem chakra, in either case). This can be very important, depending on your soulmeld selection. It also robs you of a Feat (that you'd normally get at 6th level), Skill points, Saving Throw bonuses, hit points, maybe 1 BAB, etc).

Unless you are allowed to go from a 32 point-buy to a 25 point-buy.

[bot]

If you're taking 2 levels of Totemist, then yes, the traditional choice is Girillion Arms bound to Totem for 4 claws, Basalisk Mask bound to Totem for at will Stone to Flesh (1 round duration), or Blink Shirt bound to Totem for at will Move Action Dimension Door. Round out the rest of your soulmelds with something from the list I posted above.

But I wouldn't bother with Feral unless your DM allows you to use level adjustment buyoff.

It robs you of 1 Hit Dice, which is important, because 5 Hit Dice gives you an essentia capacity of 1, whereas 6 hit dice gives you an essentia capacity of 2. (+1 for any soulmeld bound to your Totem chakra, in either case). This can be very important, depending on your soulmeld selection. It also robs you of a Feat (that you'd normally get at 6th level), Skill points, Saving Throw bonuses, hit points, maybe 1 BAB, etc).
Feral gives you 2 claws. But Totemist already gives you 4 claws, and additional claws don't stack. (It's not like you grow additional arms).
Feral grants you Pounce, but only for the first round of combat. But Pounce and free movement (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103358) are actually quite easy to get. Totemist itself can grant Pounce with all natural weapons with the Sphinx Claws soulmeld bound to your Hands chakra.
Fast Healing 2 is nifty in that it saves you from having to spend money or a couple of feats on some other method of healing. But it's not strong enough that it makes a difference in combat.
+6 natural armor is very nice, but it's mitigated by the -2 Dex penalty from the template, and there's lots of ways to get AC.
Everything else Feral gives you can basically be summarized as "more damage per round." But the Totemist can already rock out a ton of damage per round, so it doesn't really add much to your character.
It's a 3.0 template, and your DM is going to look at it and smell cheese. If you're going to use cheese, you might as well get something more impressive then just damage.

Thanks!
Perfectly good arguments, I agree. We don't use pointbuy and no LA buyoff (or what its called). No sense in using a chessy template if the result is suboptimal.

So which feat would you choose at level 1? Would it be a better solution to be a Azurin instead of Duskling, since they get the extra feat?

Considering the medium BAB and Girillion Arms is -5 to hit then how am I supposed to deal a decent amount of damage? Are there build-in ways to get around the bad to-hit?

I like the blink shirt, pretty cool - but I don't get Basalisk Mask really. Isn't the 1 rd duration just a best case we both lose a turn?

[Fouredged Sword]

Well, if you can't think of a good feat, then extra essence is ALWAYS a good option. You can't have enough essence.

If you want to maintain the feral feel to the character, a level of whirlpounce barb is a nice add at level 3. You can easily get 5 attacks at full bab at 3rd level, and extra rage as your 3rd level feat gives you enough uses to be use most combats.

Multiattack can be useful as well.

[Person_Man]

Thanks!
Perfectly good arguments, I agree. We don't use pointbuy and no LA buyoff (or what its called). No sense in using a chessy template if the result is suboptimal.

So which feat would you choose at level 1? Would it be a better solution to be a Azurin instead of Duskling, since they get the extra feat?

Considering the medium BAB and Girillion Arms is -5 to hit then how am I supposed to deal a decent amount of damage? Are there build-in ways to get around the bad to-hit?

I like the blink shirt, pretty cool - but I don't get Basalisk Mask really. Isn't the 1 rd duration just a best case we both lose a turn?

Azurin and Duskling are both respectable choices. Azurin gets bonus Feat, Duskling gets the Con and movement bonus. Warforged (Slam, immunities), Mongrelfolk (+4 Con ,-2 Int, -4 Cha), and Water Orcs (+4 Str, +2 Con, -2 Int, -2 Wis, -2 Cha, Darkvision, Swim), and any of the various Dwarf races are all decent choices as well. If you go with any of the last three, you might also want to tack on the Dragonborn template (+2 Con, -2 Dex, wings or a breath weapon which replaces most of your base racial abilities but not ability modifiers, can be added as a +0 template to any race)

My Feat suggestions are Multiattack (reduces attack penalty), Improved Unarmed Strike (gives you an extra attack, since you'll be using claws most of the time, and thus won't want to hold a weapon), Aberration Blood/Inhuman Reach or Willing Deformity/Deformity Tall (+5 reach), Martial Study/Martial Stance (plenty of options), Touch of Golden (deals Dex damage), and Fearless Destiny (don't die once per day).

Basalisk Mask is useful because during the round that the enemy is stone, an ally can Sunder them, basically ignoring their AC, hit points, and most special defenses they might have. It's not useful against mooks, but it's great against boss enemies.

[bot]

Well, if you can't think of a good feat, then extra essence is ALWAYS a good option. You can't have enough essence.

If you want to maintain the feral feel to the character, a level of whirlpounce barb is a nice add at level 3. You can easily get 5 attacks at full bab at 3rd level, and extra rage as your 3rd level feat gives you enough uses to be use most combats.

Multiattack can be useful as well.

Yeah, I guess that would be a pretty ok feat if nothing better presents itself.

Prereq for multiattack is 3 or more natural attacks. But a totemist doesn't qualify for that do they? Even at lvl 2. Or is it sufficient just to have it via a soulmeld? (what does RAW/RAI say about it?)

[bot]

Azurin and Duskling are both respectable choices. Azurin gets bonus Feat, Duskling gets the Con and movement bonus. Warforged (Slam, immunities), Mongrelfolk (+4 Con ,-2 Int, -4 Cha), and Water Orcs (+4 Str, +2 Con, -2 Int, -2 Wis, -2 Cha, Darkvision, Swim), and any of the various Dwarf races are all decent choices as well. If you go with any of the last three, you might also want to tack on the Dragonborn template (+2 Con, -2 Dex, wings or a breath weapon which replaces most of your base racial abilities but not ability modifiers, can be added as a +0 template to any race)

My Feat suggestions are Multiattack (reduces attack penalty), Improved Unarmed Strike (gives you an extra attack, since you'll be using claws most of the time, and thus won't want to hold a weapon), Aberration Blood/Inhuman Reach or Willing Deformity/Deformity Tall (+5 reach), Martial Study/Martial Stance (plenty of options), Touch of Golden (deals Dex damage), and Fearless Destiny (don't die once per day).

Basalisk Mask is useful because during the round that the enemy is stone, an ally can Sunder them, basically ignoring their AC, hit points, and most special defenses they might have. It's not useful against mooks, but it's great against boss enemies.

yes ok cool - I might switch to Azurin for the extra feat - tho in E6 looking abit ahead might speak in favor of the Duskling as feats become less pricy as the levels rise (but that's probably abit longer ahead in the game then we're going to play it). I'll consider the dragonbown template, not sure i like it flavorwise this time around, but might be tempted.

How does Improved unarmed strike give extra attacks?

Clever trick with the sunder - didn't think about that.

[Fouredged Sword]

You can make unarmed strikes as normal attacks even if you are using all your hands to make claw attacks. It gives you back your normal iterative attacks.

[bot]

You can make unarmed strikes as normal attacks even if you are using all your hands to make claw attacks. It gives you back your normal iterative attacks.

But couldn't I just as well use a weapon in my normal hands? Or do you mean that by bab 6 I would get another attack, but not until then?

[Fouredged Sword]

You want to use that hand to make a claw attack. This gets you all your claw attacks AND a normal attack.

Normally you would be restricted to bites, gores, or such, and they don't come in sets of 4.

[bot]

You want to use that hand to make a claw attack. This gets you all your claw attacks AND a normal attack.

Normally you would be restricted to bites, gores, or such, and they don't come in sets of 4.

Hmm ok, just to see if I understood (which i don't think I do). So grill arms gives me 4 arms that I can use for the normal 1+3 attacks. And because I don't have improved unarmed att, then my 1 attack at full bab is only partly used, where imp. unarmed suddenly makes it fully useable and gives me an extra att?

[Fouredged Sword]

When you full attack and have natural weapons you can do one of two things.

You can

A - Make a full attack with iteratives with a normal weapon and add your attacks from all your natural weapons at -5.

or

B - Make an attack with one set of your natural weapons at full bab and the rest of your natural weapons at -5, and no attacks with manufactured weapons.

Grill arms gives you TWO arms and FOUR claw attacks, meaning it uses your two hands you normally wield a weapon in. This normally locks you into option B, and prevents you from using iterative attacks.

Unarmed strikes don't use your hands, so you can still take option A and use your claws.

[Person_Man]

Fouredged is correct. Unarmed Strike means you never have to give up a claw attack. If you have the money, you could also buy a Fanged Ring (Dragon Magic) instead. It grants Imp Unarmed Strike and a few other benefits, but IIRC it's a bit pricy for a low level game, so you probably wouldn't be able to afford it until ECL 6ish.

Alternatively, you could get armor spikes and use them instead. But they're a martial weapon (which Totemists are not proficient with). And most DMs are nice treat Unarmed Strike as natural weapons (which is a debatable point), so that they would benefit from Sphinx Claws and Heart of Fire soulmelds.

[bot]

Ahh, finally I think I understood. Thanks both :)

On a different note, what options do I have in the realm of survivability? Any way of healing myself using soulmelds or feats f.x.?
Probably we won't have access to magic items outside of probability (e.g. can't buy items that would be nice, simply hope we roll one on a treasure chart)

[Talionis]

Ahh, finally I think I understood. Thanks both :)

On a different note, what options do I have in the realm of survivability? Any way of healing myself using soulmelds or feats f.x.?
Probably we won't have access to magic items outside of probability (e.g. can't buy items that would be nice, simply hope we roll one on a treasure chart)

Most of the healing from Soulmelds would be in the provisions of Incarnates and not Totemists, but with feats, especially the number of feats you get in E6 yes, you can get some healing. Since you can pick up Incarnate Soulmelds with a feat the Therapeutic Mantle adds an extra point of healing per essentia in it. That doesn't sound like much, but add that with the Martial Spirit Stance from the Devoted Spirit discipline (from Tome of Battle -- the stance maybe added as a feat). You heal for each melee attack you make. Then you remember that you make a lot of attacks as a Totemist and you get quite a bit of healing.

Totem Avatar adds some hitpoints, but I'm not sure you get enough bang for your buck to use that Soulmeld.

There are one or two Incarnum Feats that allow you to gain additional hitpoints and grant one additional essentia. I'm away from books and don't know how well they work in an E6 game. From memory, one of them grants hit points per Incarnum Feat, which may work well in an E6 where you could opt to get quite a few Incarnum Feats since most (if not all of them) grant one extra essentia.

[IronFist]

+1 to Clawlock.
I'm pretty sure a Clawlock would be one of the top damage dealers in an E6 environment.