[3.5] Illumian Battle Sorcerer/Swiftblade build help

[Extra Anchovies]

I'm building a Swiftblade gish. Battle sorcerer spell selection will focus on a few key buffs (haste, fist of stone, nerveskitter, etc). Illumian because Aeshkrau lets me change my casting stat to Strength. Bye-bye Charisma, hello SAD gishing. A few questions, though:

1. Where should I go after Battle Sorcerer 6/Swiftblade 10? I'm trying to focus more on combat than on casting, but I'd be fine just advancing Battle Sorcerer from that point on. Not sure what class to finish off the build with.

2. If I wanted a familiar who can fight with me, should I take Dragon Familiar or Improved Familiar? I'll be taking the Forlorn flaw and Obtain Familiar to let Swiftblade levels stack with Battle Sorcerer levels.

3. If I were to cast a spell on myself that increased my casting stat, would I gain bonus spell slots from the increase? e.g. if I cast Fist of Stone to increase my strength from 18 to 24, would I be able to cast an extra spell of each of 1st-3rd level and 5th-7th level, as long as I cast those extra spells during Fist of Stone's duration?

ETA:
4. Should I take the 10th level of swiftblade, or not? I'm not sure if the capstone ability would be super useful.

[Requiem_Jeer]

For one, Aeshkrau only handles bonus spells, your DCs would be terrible if you bother taking any spells that use them and you still need 19 charisma to learn 9th level spells.

Secondly, About the bonus spells issue: If it did work, and you DM is justified in ruling that in order toget bonus spells you have to have the stat when you take 15 minutes at the start of the day to refresh them in order for it to count, it would place those slots at the bottom of the spell list, like increasing maximum hit points by boosting constitution.

Thirdly, Abjurant Champion is the normal standby for such a build idea.

Fourthly, Improved familiar is probably the better bet.

[Extra Anchovies]

For one, Aeshkrau only handles bonus spells, your DCs would be terrible if you bother taking any spells that use them and you still need 19 charisma to learn 9th level spells.

Secondly, About the bonus spells issue: If it did work, and you DM is justified in ruling that in order to get bonus spells you have to have the stat when you take 15 minutes at the start of the day to refresh them in order for it to count, it would place those slots at the bottom of the spell list, like increasing maximum hit points by boosting constitution.

Thirdly, Abjurant Champion is the normal standby for such a build idea.

Fourthly, Improved familiar is probably the better bet.

Thanks for pointing out that I'd still need Charisma to determine if I can cast; that's not quite as good as I thought it was. Maybe if I can get DM approval for that 3rd-party feat that switches the casting stat wholesale... It's called Lost Tradition, I think. ETA: I don't plan on taking spells that allow saves, so save DCs don't really matter.

The bonus spells thing makes sense, yeah.

As for Abjurant Champion, I'll certainly keep that in mind. It's full BAB/full casting, so by the end I'm casting as a 17th-level sorcerer (-1 spell known/level, -1 spell/day/level), but its side abilities don't look like much. Spell slots are very much a premium with Battle Sorcerer, and most if not all will be spent on buffs; I'll also be wearing armor, because I can do that with Battle Sorcerer. Grab Battle Caster at 1st level and bust out the mithral full plate. Not that full BAB/full casting isn't worth it, mind you; it's probably still going to be what I finish off the build with.

Are there any familiars that are especially worth taking from the Improved Familiar list if I want something that can assist in combat? Dragon Familiar at 12th level gets me an 8-HD medium-sized gold dragon, which looks really nice. Not sure how it's worse than what I'd get from IF.

[ShurikVch]

Aeshkrau works only with bonus spells, not normal spells

If your Cha < spell's level, you can't cast it at all