[3.5] need help picking a feat

[macdaddy]

I am building a 7th level gish for a campaign and don't know what to take for my last feat.

I am going fighter 2 / focused specialist transmuter 4 / spell sword 1 to be followed by abjurant champion


My current feat selection is:
1: practiced spell caster
Human bonus: Combat casting
Martial wizard: improved initiative
3: knowledge devotion
F1 power attack
F2 combat reflexes
6: ???

Feats i am considering:
Extend spell: minimal usefulness until you get persist or quicken.
Travel devotion: one free 30' move once per day as a swift action
Law devotion: exchangeable +3 ac/hit once per day for 1 minute


Current spells memorized:
1st: grease, nerveskitter x2, fist of stone x2, shield
2nd: glitterdust, Wraithstrike x2, alter self x2 (i have a wand of mirror image)
3rd: haste x 2, heart of water, Dimension step

Banned schools: evocation, necromancy, enchantment
Thanx in advance


===>[Available Books]<===
All core
All complete
Phb2
Maybe book of exalted deeds

[edited: added bold to available books]

[Flickerdart]

Extend is really good for hours/level spells. Greater Magic Weapon or Magic Vestments suddenly last for the entire adventuring day.

[macdaddy]

Extend is useful, but I think its limited.

Sure, Greater Magic Weapon and Greater Mighty Wallop are good for all day use, but there are not all that many useful hour / level spells I have available to me where I can drop them in a + 1 spell slot. Those are 3rd level spells for example, and I can't extend them until I hit 9th level. If I need to I can "retrain" and swap out something for extend or whatever later.

Extend with Meta Magic School Focus is kick ass. But I don't see anything I can drop to get it (Practiced Spell caster and Knowledge Devotion are too good to lose).

I am really interested in what I can add for me that will be a good addition until level 9, when I will add in Arcane Strike (unfortunately minor shape shift has to wait until 12th).

[Fax Celestis]

Arcane Strike is good gish-fuel, as are some of the reserve feats. Blade of Force is pretty good and means you don't need to ghost touch your weaponry (and if you're a crit-fisher, the extra damage multiplies on crit as it is a fixed value). Minor Shapeshift is basically bottomless temporary HP.

Smiting Spell is funtimes in the right build too.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Trade your Fighter 2 bonus feat for Dungeoncrasher, and get the spell Melf's Unicorn Arrow from PH2. It doesn't specify which direction the unicorn arrow has to come from, so have it appear above each target and bull rush/dungeoncrash them into the ground. Put Combat Reflexes at 6th level.

[SinsI]

Extend is really good for hours/level spells. Greater Magic Weapon or Magic Vestments suddenly last for the entire adventuring day.

Extend is useless. At low levels you can't afford the +1 level on spell slot, at high levels you can afford far superior metamagic rod of extend

[macdaddy]

I agree with Sinsl about extend. A lesser rod of extend would handle any needs better than the feat.

For suggestions, they have to be something i can use.

Arcane strike: love it, but you need 3rd level spells, which i don't get until 7th.

Minor shapeshift: like it, but i don't get polymorph and 4th level spells until 9th.

Blade of force: sweet, never saw this one before! Unfortunately, almost all force spells are evocation, which is banned. There are some conjuration force spells but none higher than 4th level, so this would never be worth more than +3 or 4 damage. Nice, but kind of limited and it eats a swift action, so no wraithstrike with it. still, its an option to consider.

Smiting spell: i liked this, its like adding in the class feature of a duskblspell sword as a +1 spell level. Unfortunately, as a transmuter, There aren't too many spells i could use on it.

Dungeon crasher is not in an available book. I added available books to the op.

[Fax Celestis]

There are some conjuration force spells but none higher than 4th level

Heighten Spell is your friend.

[macdaddy]

Absolutely, heighten spell helps. But, i won't be able to take that feat until 15th (arcane strike at 9th, minor shapeshift at 12th).

Plus i think I'd rather have a 6th level spell instead of a heightened orb of force....

Anyway, its still +4 to damage when not usany other swift actions. So still something to consider.

[Fax Celestis]

There's also PF's Arcane Strike:

Arcane Strike (Combat)

You draw upon your arcane power to enhance your weapons with magical energy.

Prerequisite: Ability to cast arcane spells.

Benefit: As a swift action, you can imbue your weapons with a fraction of your power. For 1 round, your weapons deal +1 damage and are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. For every five caster levels you possess, this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.

[macdaddy]

No, there isn't. See the OP for available books.

[Maginomicon]

Arcane Focus is an obscure absurdly powerful feat for gishes. It gives you the ability to gain the arcane equivalent of psionic focus. This allows you to expend arcane focus as a free action to instantly "take 15" on a Concentration check. This is enough to auto-succeed at most Concentration checks to cast defensively (or to cast when distracted or damaged or whatever), especially if you've been maxing out your Concentration ranks. Combat Casting? Please, I want an auto-success!


Arcane Focus [General]
Through concentration and preparation your mind can hold special magical energy.

Prerequisites
Ability to cast 1st-level arcane spells.

Benefit
As long as you have at least one arcane spell slot available (either a prepared arcane spell or the ability to cast an arcane spell spontaneously), you may make a DC 20 Concentration check to gain arcane focus. This use of Concentration requires a full-round action that provokes an attack of opportunity. Once you acquire arcane focus, you remain focused until you expend it, become unconscious, fall asleep, or cast all available arcane spells.

When you have arcane focus, you may expend your focus as a free action on any single Concentration check you’re making at that moment. If you expend your focus for this purpose, treat your Concentration check as if you rolled a 15 (similar to taking 10). You may expend your arcane focus in this way even if you could not normally take 10 on a skill check, such as during combat.

You may instead expend your arcane focus as a free action to activate an arcane feat you possess and gain one of the benefits of that feat.

Special
A wizard may select Arcane Focus as a wizard bonus feat.


Further, Arcane Focus has a couple of successor feats that take advantage of arcane focus. My favorite of these is Potent Dweomercraft.



Potent Dweomercraft [Arcane]
You can spot the weaknesses of your opponents.

Prerequisites
Wis 13, Arcane Focus, ability to cast 2nd-level arcane spells.

Benefit
When you expend your arcane focus, you may select one of the following three benefits.

Damaging Spell: The next melee touch attack spell you cast within the same round you expend your arcane focus deals 25% more damage.

Spell Critical: You double the threat range (19-20) of the next melee touch attack spell you cast within the same round you expend your arcane focus.

Weaving Strike: You gain a +2 competence bonus on the next melee touch attack you make with a spell. You must cast the spell within the same round you expend your arcane focus.

Special
A wizard may select Potent Dweomercraft as a wizard bonus feat.

[Zombulian]

There's always the Lady's Gambit feat. Pretty good for gishes.

[macdaddy]

As the opening post states, I cannot use Dragon magazines. Just Core, PHB2, All completes, and Spell compendium.

[Equinox]

I would advise something a bit off the beaten path: Animal Devotion (http://dndtools.eu/feats/complete-champion--57/animal-devotion--76/). As a swift action, +4 Sacred Strength bonus (which stacks with pretty much everything, and scales with levels), or gain flight for one minute.

Either kick some serious ass, or useful utility.

[macdaddy]

I would advise something a bit off the beaten path: Animal Devotion (http://dndtools.eu/feats/complete-champion--57/animal-devotion--76/). As a swift action, +4 Sacred Strength bonus (which stacks with pretty much everything, and scales with levels), or gain flight for one minute.

Either kick some serious ass, or useful utility.

That's interesting, and one I never thought of.

[SinsI]

How about Toughening Transmutation?

[macdaddy]

Thats basically cast a transmutation spell, and on the round you cast it you get DR 5...

Seems pretty useless to me. Most of my spells will be cast either well before combat(Alter Self, Greater Magic Weapon, Greater Mage Armor, etc al), or the first round of combat (Haste, Fist of Stone, etc).

Although I guess on the round I cast wraithstrike it would kick in....

[SinsI]

It is only useless if you plan to never get hit. Since you are a close combat specialist transmuter, it is going to be very handy.

[macdaddy]

The problem I see with Toughening Transmutation is that it lasts ONE round. Since I won't be casting many transmutation spells where I can be hit (swift spells being the exception), it is so situational as to be nearly useless. If it lasted 1 round per level of the spell cast.... then I would certainly consider it.

Hm, I just saw Improved Toughness was made "decent" in 3.5 with the +1hp per level. Unfortunately, because I banned necromancy, I do not get False Life, so this feat would be worth a few extra hp's for my wimpy guy (has 43hp, this would make it 50hp).

But, all things considered, I will probably go with Law devotion. The +3 to AC or to Hit for 1 minute is a decent buff. After reading the Stand Still feat, I would take that, because it, in conjunction with being enlarged or something would give me a 20' reach and could use my AoO to keep people at bay or force them to go VERY slow to get next to me... but, its in the psionic book, so I doubt I will be able to get it.