Dread Necromancer Gish

[Blackhawk748]

I shall be starting at ECL 2 and i will begin play as a Mechantatrix, with the LA, and one level in Dread Necro. My plan currently is to buy off the LA asap, and then go Dread Necro for 8 levels, after which i will go into Eldritch Knight. Now this build only gets me to lvl 18 and im sure there is a better way to do this, its just that i get into Eldritch Knight with no effort. My first level feat is taken up by Tomb Tainted soul and i may take some flaws for a few more feats, but as of now its not necessary.

[Xerlith]

I'd run with Battle Dancer1/Dread Necro8/Abjurant Champion5/Sandshaper2/EK4 or
Paladin of Tyranny2/Dread Necro 8/AbjChamp5/EK 5

[WhamBamSam]

If you're locked into Mechanatrix, then it doesn't work (also, why Mechanatrix, don't they have a Cha penalty?), but I'd probably just go Naenhoon Illumian Dread Necro 20, gishing it up with Persisted Divine Power and Righteous Might through Arcane Disciple (Competition). Naenhoon Illumian gets you a poor man's DMM (2/day, but works with Arcane spells and isn't locked into a single metamagic, probably your best option since Southern Magician+DMM doesn't work by RAW). So you burn a few rebuke attempts each day on a Persist and an Extend and alternate between Divine Power and Righteous Might. If you can acquire a Slaymate, you can also Extend your various necromancy stuff for free.

At high levels, you'll get Greater Consumptive Field through Advanced Learning. So your buff routine will shift to the following:

Day 1: Extended Persisted (Naenhoon) Divine Power, Extended Persisted (Naenhoon) Righteous Might
Day 2: Extended (Slaymate) Persisted (Naenhoon) Greater Consumptive Field, any other Persisted Spell (at level 18+, you can Naenhoon Persist Greater Visage of the Deity, though you can't extend it)
Rinse and repeat.

Tomb Tainted Soul is basically a required Feat Tax at first level if you aren't going undead in the forseeable future. With no flaws, I'd probably do something like this...

1 - Tomb Tainted Soul
3 - Arcane Disciple (Competition)
6 - Extend Spell
9 - Persist Spell
12 - Martial Study (Battle Leader's Charge)
15 - Martial Stance (Leading the Charge)
18 - Your Choice: Consider Invisible Spell, for Slaymate Shenanigans, Sanctum Spell, to bring Divine Power down to 3rd level for the purposes of Lesser Metamagic Rods, Obtain Familiar for a buddy who can share your buff spells, or another metamagic feat like Maximize if you feel like saving your second bit of Naenhoon Metamagic on even numbered days, or just want to eke out a bit more mileage from your Slaymate.

Alternately, it might be worth it to switch Persist Spell and Martial Stance around in the progression and go Dread Necro 10/Jade Phoenix Mage 8/Dread Necro +2 or Dread Necro 10/Jade Phoenix Mage 10. You lose out on the Lich transformation, a few caster levels, a few Advanced Learnings, and have to be non-evil, but you get a considerably bigger bonus on Leading the Charge for your many undead minions, a few more maneuvers, and the ability to fire off Empowered and eventually Quickened spells after hitting someone with a martial strike.

It might possibly be worth it to dip Warblade 1 at 9th level to get Battle Leader's Charge, White Raven Tactics, some third maneuver, and Leading the Charge while saving feats. If you dip Warblade 1, don't take more than 5 levels of JPM, since you can't lose more than two caster levels. Something like Dread Necro 8/Warblade 1/Jade Phoenix Mage 5/Dread Necro +6.

Alternately, since your 12th level Advanced Learning should probably be Animate Dread Warrior anyway, get yourself a pet White Raven Warblade/Crusader, along with the usual DFI Bard. If your DM is really nice, you might be able to stumble upon a Song of the White Raven Bardblade or Bardsader to turn into your undead minion and get both for the price of one.

Not needing Martial Study/Stance would allow you to focus your feats more on spellcasting stuff, or would free you up to take Ride-by Attack and Spirited Charge. Ride in on an undead horse or a zombie dragon or something dealing massive damage with the usual Spirited Charge/Valorous Lance rigamarole, and looking badass doing it.

[Blackhawk748]

While all of that looks awesome, i am locked into Mechanatrix. (We rolled on a random chart for our race and class) But you did give me a lot to consider, and Xerlith why Sandshaper in the first build?

Also this may be helpful, heres what i rolled 18, 16, 16, 16, 15, 14

Str 16
Dex 16 (14)
Con 14 (16)
Int 16 (18)
Wis 15
Cha 18 (16)

The number in Parenthesis is before after racial mods

[WhamBamSam]

That's unfortunate.

Why so much Int? You don't need it for that much, so I'd probably switch it with Con, since you aren't going undead, or maybe Wis, for one extra spell level through Arcane Disciple without items.

You could still get Persisted Divine Power through Sanctum Spell and a Lesser Rod of Persist, though that might get books thrown at your head, depending on the table.

Maybe something like this...

Dread Necro 8/Warblade or Crusader 1/Jade Phoenix Mage 4/Abjurant Champion 5/Spellsword 1/Jade Phoenix Mage +1

That's 16 BAB and 9th level spells, with a free Empower after smacking someone with a martial strike. Mounted Combat/Ride-by Attack/Spirited Charge is a hefty feat tax, but it might be worth it, since the damage you can deal with a Valorous Lance and Spirited Charge is just plain silly, and leading an undead army into battle from the back of a Zombie Dragon might just be too cool to pass up (it certainly would be for me :smalltongue:).

Alternately, being a planetouched qualifies you for Dreadful Wrath, which gives you frightful presence whenever you cast a spell or charge (so basically all the time). Between that, Fell Frighten/Black Lore of Moil, Daunting Strike, and other standard fear-op fare, you can lock down enemies pretty hard. Not getting 4 levels of Dread Witch really hurts though, unless you can get your hands on some of the butterflies from Dragons of Faerun that eat immunity to fear, and Dread Witch loses a caster level while only having 1/2 BAB, so it's going to make gishing difficult.

Also, what else is in the party? If there's, say, a DFA around, you can get your out of combat healing from his lightning breath instead of spending a feat on Tomb Tainted Soul.

[Blackhawk748]

The party consists currently of a Raptoran Warlock and a Dvati Warblade

[Nihilarian]

Have you considered the Jade Phoenix Mage? Or Duskblade so you can channel some spells through your weapon?

[WhamBamSam]

If the Warlock had a means of dealing electricity damage at will, that'd save you the trouble of Tomb Tainted Soul, but I don't know of one offhand.

Leading the Charge should be a no-brainer choice for a Dvati Warblade regardless of party, and they really have no excuse for not having it when their buddy is walking around with an army of undead. Hell, if the Warlock has The Dead Walk there'll be even more incentive. So you don't have to worry about any Jade Phoenix Mage chicanery unless you're really enamored with the Devoted Spirit School and/or Empowering Strike. Mostly, you just need to worry about your BAB to gish effectively, possibly with a bit of other stuff to spice it up, such as Power Attack, Dreadful Wrath, or the like. If you can find a way to persist it, Arcane Disciple for Divine Power is the simplest way to go, but that might not be viable as a Mechanatrix without getting into higher grade cheese like Incanatrix or Anima Mage.

[Xerlith]

Sandshaper dip is for the bunch of spells. It was a build off the top of my head - it'd be probably better taken earlier on.

[Blackhawk748]

Wow, that is a lot of spells, im probably gonna do that at some point