Duskblade/Knight Phantom

[draconicgodking]

So I've only just learned of this Knight Phantom prestige class and I think to myself; "If I could start this off as a Duskblade there's no telling how much fun I could have with it; just use the steed to charge into a group of enemies, free action phantom blade, quick cast channel vampiric touch, full round attack, laugh maniacally atop mound of corpses". However a lot of rules have to be bent or interpreted just right in order for it to even begin to work and being the ever cautious gamer I am I have decided it best to put the idea to the masses and see where they carry it. so assuming your DM allows the extra spell feat to get you the needed phantom steed spell and overlooks the wizard/sorcerer/bard restriction of the text, how would you approach this build?

here is a link to the info on both classes for those who don't know them:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20050706a&page=4
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20060905a

[IAmTehDave]

So I've only just learned of this Knight Phantom prestige class and I think to myself; "If I could start this off as a Duskblade there's no telling how much fun I could have with it; just use the steed to charge into a group of enemies, free action phantom blade, quick cast channel vampiric touch, full round attack, laugh maniacally atop mound of corpses". However a lot of rules have to be bent or interpreted just right in order for it to even begin to work and being the ever cautious gamer I am I have decided it best to put the idea to the masses and see where they carry it. so assuming your DM allows the extra spell feat to get you the needed phantom steed spell and overlooks the wizard/sorcerer/bard restriction of the text, how would you approach this build?

here is a link to the info on both classes for those who don't know them:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20050706a&page=4
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20060905a

You can't get full round channel AND phantom blade until level 23. (Full round channel is Duskblade 13, phantom blade is KP 10)

Also: If you use Extra Spell to get Phantom Steed as a level 3 spell, you'd need to be able to access 4th level spells, which is level 13. So you wouldn't be able to get the feat until level 15, and then enter Knight Phantom at level 16.

I like the idea, but it's not feasable at all. :(

(Edit: Full Attack Channel is level 13, not 12.)

[Cog]

Finding a way to get Wraithstrike as a spell known would probably be more efficient, and whichever method you're using for Phantom Steed (Extra Spell is debatable) should work as easily for that.

[Piggy Knowles]

I would check out Phantom Rush (http://community.wizards.com/content/forum-topic/3420731), by Tempest Stormwind.

There's some moderate cheese in the build as presented (namely, using a bloodline level to qualify for Dragonmark Heir with only three levels of Duskblade), but if it doesn't sit well with you, you can drop the level of Spellsword and take Duskblade 4 instead. Basically, it qualifies for Phantom Knight early by taking a level in Dragonmark Heir for the lesser mark of passage, which gives it Phantom Steed as an SLA.

[Pluto!]

Duskblade and Knight Phantom don't mix particularly well.

Earliest access via Extra Spell is after Duskblade 13, probably at ECL 16 after considering feat slots, so on one hand, you're going to get all the Duskblade's most compelling class features, but on the other, the only KP ability you're going to probably fit into the build pre-epic would be Countenance of the Phantom. It's a kind of fluffy ability, but considering the loss of a caster level, 2 CL boosts and 2 feats sunk into the class prereqs, the end result is pretty bad.

Knight Phantom can be a pretty cool endcap to the usual Abjurant Champion structure (Full BA 2/Wizard 4/Spellsword 1/Abjurant Champion 5/Endcap 8), and can even be decent as a central PrC in slower-developing builds like [LA +0 Outsider of choice] Conjurer 5/Knight Phantom 10/Abjurant Champion 5, but Duskblade outdoes its most commonly appealing abilities natively (the chassis and armor) and takes long enough to get into the class that the KP's abilities don't actually do much of anything.

[Piggy Knowles]

Even without the early entry cheese, a Duskblade 4/Dragonmark Heir 1 or a Duskblade 6 with the Lesser Dragonmark (Mark of Passage) feat can enter Knight Phantom just fine.