Duskblade Capstone?

[heavyfuel]

What would be a good capstone for a Duskblade in e6? I was thinking something like the Paladin, only instead of having the weapon always "Good", having it always "Magic", but it seems too weak for a capstone feat.

Before anyone suggests, I'm not giving him Full-Attack Channeling.

[Aegis013]

How about Arcane Strike, even if you don't meet the prerequisites?
It would be possible to qualify via Heighten Spell and Versatile Spellcaster though.

My other suggestion is a feat that grants the Duskblade a version of Arcane Fusion; where they can give up 2 spell slots to channel 2 touch spells with a single standard action attack.

[heavyfuel]

How about Arcane Strike, even if you don't meet the prerequisites?
It would be possible to qualify via Heighten Spell and Versatile Spellcaster though.

My other suggestion is a feat that grants the Duskblade a version of Arcane Fusion; where they can give up 2 spell slots to channel 2 touch spells with a single standard action attack.

I think the Arcane Fusion one is a tad too strong, dual shocking grasp + quickcast shocking graps + weapon damage = 15d6 + Weapon damage. No thanks haha

The Arcane Strike ability is really nice though! I'll use this one and the player will rejoice for sure! Thanks!

[Fable Wright]

My current Duskblade's capstone feat is that he can use Arcane Channeling as an Attack action 1/round, so long as the attack isn't the first attack in a full attack. It lets you use your iterative, thematically works with the full attack, and is pretty handy.

Alternatively, maybe just let the player channel only on the first attack action of a full attack.

EDIT: I wouldn't go with Arcane Strike as a capstone. Really, at 6th levels, Duskblades can just cast all of their spells per day; burning them for a worse effect than just casting a spell is a really, really poor capstone.

[Rebel7284]

Full attack channeling is probably fair power-wise, even though the class waits until level 13 to grant it...

[Coidzor]

Full Attack Channeling or Channeling on something like Pathfinder's version of Cleave should be OK, I'd think.

[Falcon X]

My only problem with Arcane Strike is that it is very likely that the player already chose that feat early on in the character build.
I would find an ability that is not also a feat.

Possibilities:
A. Quick Cast At-Will: To a good optimizer, this could be game-breaking, but you could limit it to only channeled spells or only spells on the duskblade's original list.
B. Overwhelm Defences: The sheer magical energy flowing through your blade bypasses one type of defence. Likely deflection bonus, armor bonus, or all defences produced by spells.
C. Vorpal Weapon (Or Speed weapon): All weapons wielded are treated as Vorpal.
D. Island in Time (Eternal Blade): The Eternal Blade (ToB) is another class based out of elven swordsmen, so it's a good place to borrow from. If Island in Time is too powerful, you can borrow a different one.
Still, if you feel that Duskblade is underpowered, The Eternal Blade is one that you could borrow several abilities from and give some ancestral flavor to the Duskblade.

[DarkSonic1337]

At level 6 Duskblade doesn't really have the sheer number of spell slots to really like Arcane Strike. Imo Arcane Strike doesn't really shine for them until level 11, where they've got 3 attacks (4 with haste, which you should have from somewhere by now) on a full attack and more low level spell slots than they know what to do with.

A much more appropriate capstone would be to hijack the Magus's spell strike ability, which allows you to substitute a melee attack whenever you'd be able to make a melee touch attack to deliver a spell. In other words, a straight upgrade to arcane channeling (available at Magus level 2 :p. Magus really is just a better Duskblade.)

Spell combat (available at Magus 1!) Would be an even better capstone. As a full round action, make a full attack and cast a spell, but take -2 to attacks for that round (including attacks made to deliver the spell). Notice that this isn't limited to touch spells, which is what makes it such an attractive ability. You can do things like cast dimension hop to teleport into place for a full attack, or full attack and then cast obscuring mist defensively for some concealment.

[facelessminion]

How about just cutting out the middle man, and having the capstone for Duskblade be to make them into a Magus? :p

[TiaC]

How about full-attack channeling with the limitation that it burns a spellslot per attack?

Maybe allowing them some way of buffing without losing attacks?