Jade Phoenix Mage advice

[Myrddin0001]

Hello Playground, so in the campaign I'm running I'm letting another player DM for a while to let the party level a bit before they get too heavily into my plot arc. So, I'm going to play a JPM using this chassis:

human Blood of Siberys Battle Sorcerer 4 (taking prof. in long sword) with the fire spell sphere focus variant/ Unarmed Swordsage 2 (focusing on Shadow Hand and Setting Sun)/ JPM 1

ability scores: str 12 dex 18 con 16 int 10 wis 14 cha 14

feats: adaptive style, practiced spellcaster, weapon finesse, arcane strike, knowledge devotion, empower spell

I'll be focusing on buffs and battlefield control spells. This is as far as I've gotten with the build plan so any advice or observations would be greatly appreciated!

[OverdrivePrime]

So, you're a battle-dancer kind of build with a focus on field control and buffs? What are you looking to gain from Jade Phoenix Mage? Do you plan to focus on kung fu fighting?

Maybe it's just been a while since I've played 3.5, but most of the time when I play a JPM, I'm looking to mate it up with 4 levels of wizard/wu jen and 1-2 levels of warblade, or 4-6 levels of bard and a couple levels of crusader.

Battle Sorcerer + Unarmed Swordsage is pretty interesting, and sounds like it could be a lot of fun. Just don't let yourself fall into the role of melee beatstick. It sounds like your unarmed swordsage and JPM levels are to make enemies sorry they closed to melee with you, rather than dealing with your magic at range.

Oh, and maybe I'm just cheesy like this, but with a JPM build, there's almost never a good reason to not get at least two levels of Abjurant Champion - all five if you can fit it in.

[Twilightwyrm]

Well, the first thing I'm noticing is, you are lacking Superior Unarmed Strike. If you truly plan to fight unarmed (since you are taking the Unarmed Swordsage variant, It is safe to assume you are), this feat is an easy way to increase your damage.

[Xerlith]

I would rather pick Minor Shapeshift than SUS. It gives you natural attacks on top of other things. I see you want to nova with Arcane Wrath + Arcane Strike. I think you'll burn through your slots too fast, though.

[Myrddin0001]

thanks for the replies! I forgot to put in Superior Unarmed Strike but I will be taking that. Yes my focus will be kung fu fighting and the JPM is good fluff plus crunch for that. Our whole party is T3-T4 so I'm not looking to break the game or anything I just like the flavor of the mechanics.

[Xerlith]

I want to point out a simplified math - the Superior Unarmed Strike gives you at best about 3 points damage increase - a miniscule benefit for the cost of a feat. You're better off grabbing the Minor Shapeshift feat for options.

As a swift action you may grant yourself:
+2 to your melee damage OR
a primary claw attack dealing 1d6 damage OR
+2 to your jump, swim, climb and balance checks OR
+5ft to your movement OR
+HD temporary HP.

The bonuses last round per level of the highest-level polymorph spell. One benefit at a time. Additionaly you gain a +1 caster level when casting Polymorph spells.

Second thing is... Arcane Wrath, if it didn't use up your swift, would be infinitely better than Arcane Strike. Now it's just better. Having both the feats seems a bit... Redundant to me.

[John Longarrow]

If you can fit it in, TOB has a feat that gives you dex to damage with Shadowhand weapons when in a shadowhand stance. Unarmed is one of the weapons. The feat is Shadow Blade.