Soul Drinker help

[Desiani]

So I am debating a few different character concepts for my next PF game. I want to have this PrC as the destination. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/s-z/souldrinker

The stuff I need help with is the starting class. I've mulled over Magus as a start due to the natural mix of melee and magic. Though I've never been fond of the class mechanics, as well as the level drain not stacking with the spells through the sword.

My next consideration was a Spellslinger Wizard. While not the most melee Oriented classes, the caveat being spellslinger uses a gun. Now the main point for this class was because of the non wasted spell +1's as well as the ambiguity of the 'touch attack' phrase.

My DM is a pretty 'by the book' DM. He dislikes rule arguments to favor the player because... he likes to kill us. The reason I'm bringing this up because by RAW a gun hits the touch AC if it's within the first range increment. While unlikely, there is a solid chance I can get it ruled that the level drain can be used by the gun per this mechanic.

The next and last class is the BloodRager from the ACG. The downside to this class is that the +1 to spells goes minimized to the max. The upside is a full BAB, high hit die, armor and the Rage ability in the first 5 levels.

If anyone finds another base class that would help give the start to my soul eating way please post the pros and cons of said class. Please keep in mind that I would like to try maximising the use of the level drain feature. I just find it pretty cool and love the fluff of the PrC! :)

[Psyren]

The energy drain does not work with any touch or ranged touch attack you happen to make; rather, it gives you a specific melee touch attack ability, usable as a standard action, and if you connect with that special ability you will drain energy from the target.

Given the poor BAB, weak fort save and caster-friendly abilities of this class (e.g. recharging staves and restoring spell slots), it suggests to me that you shouldn't be using this with a gish at all; this has primary caster written all over it. If you're worried about landing the touch attack safely, just incapacitate or your target first with a sleep, paralysis, stun or similar effect and drain them at your leisure. I would go with wizard, sorcerer, or maybe cleric or oracle for this one.

[Desiani]

The energy drain does not work with any touch or ranged touch attack you happen to make; rather, it gives you a specific melee touch attack ability, usable as a standard action, and if you connect with that special ability you will drain energy from the target.

Given the poor BAB, weak fort save and caster-friendly abilities of this class (e.g. recharging staves and restoring spell slots), it suggests to me that you shouldn't be using this with a gish at all; this has primary caster written all over it. If you're worried about landing the touch attack safely, just incapacitate or your target first with a sleep, paralysis, stun or similar effect and drain them at your leisure. I would go with wizard, sorcerer, or maybe cleric or oracle for this one.

It doesn't have that poor of BAB... 1/2 bab progression, while not super friendly for melee, isn't horrible. I do appreciate the warning that it is probably a caster main progression. That said, it is still the destination I want to end up and I still want to focus the touch attack as the main theme to the character.

With that said would you happen to have the advice I asked for in regards to which pros and cons the base classes you think would fit this this theme, I would appreciate it greatly.

[grarrrg]

It doesn't have that poor of BAB... 1/2 bab progression, while not super friendly for melee, isn't horrible.

1/2 Bab is _literally_ the worst Bab can get.

You can actually enter Souleater without any casting, but given that it progresses it you may as well make use of it.
Overall I'm not very impressed with the bonuses.
I'd suggest a melee heavy entry, and don't bother sticking around for the full 10 levels.

[Psyren]

With that said would you happen to have the advice I asked for in regards to which pros and cons the base classes you think would fit this this theme, I would appreciate it greatly.

I did give you advice, no need to get snippy. Play whatever you want.

[Grim Reader]

The class does not seem to offer much to a melee oriented build. d6 hd and worst BaB. If you do want to go that way, a Cleric seem your best bet.

I'd have a look at the Soul Eater Handbook (http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-character-optimization/threads/1022476)too. While it is a different class, it has a lot of relevant info on ways to use the energy drain.

[Anlashok]

Magus - The touch attack you like is asynergistic. The magus is there to spell combat and spell strike. Magii have MAD issues and taking soul drinker puts more emphasis on pumping your attack stat (because of your now terrible BAB) and constitution (because of your worse HD and fort). In terms of class features I'm just not seeing what the Magus gains here. The soul pool abilities are nice, but nothing in the class really augments the core of the Magus' abilities.

Spellslinger - Yeah, you're gonna have to find a very fast and loose and player friendly DM to ever have someone consider reading Energy Drain as activating on any touch attack. Otherwise this is probably the best entry among everything you've listed, because most of the soul drinker's strengths come from augmenting true casting.

Bloodrager - Suffers from the same problem as the magus. The bloodrager chassis is all about buffing up and hitting hard, energy drain throws a wrench in that. On top of all that you're wrecking your melee stats by cutting your fort save, HD and BAB in half. The bloodrager can't sustain a high casting stat, so your saved based SLAs won't work very well. Recharging and restoring spell slots are still nice, but neither are very high impact for you.

Overall this class is going to struggle as a melee character and by far your best bet for such a class is going to be the Cleric, as it's the only class who's competent enough at melee while simultaneously having the casting ability to make its features somewhat meaningful.

The HD scaling for the soul pool is a bit quirky too. Lots of mechanics that give you benefits for killing things have a bag of rats clause in them, but the soul drinker's specifically refers to soul drinker class level. Means if you bail out early you can farm low level stuff for souls. Probably not the right game for that, but an interesting quirk if you can make it happen.