Warmage gish viable?

[Th3N3xtGuy]

I know Warmages are just cool sounding traps but what if you go Warmage 6/ Spellblade 1 /Raumathari Battlemage 5/Argent Savant 3 / Battlemage 5/.
Seeing if its possible to avoid Duskblade. After typing it out it actually doesn't sound that good. Oh well just throwing out ideas.

Edit:With a heavy focus on mage armor bonus and evocation to support melee.

[Pluto!]

Warmages doesn't really provide the tools to get close to opponents and hit them with things.

Honestly, Cleric/Ordained Champion is a pretty solid way of playing that concept, or just grabbing 1-2 a blasting powers on your Psigish (which is even more reasonable because you're probably going to want to find ways to abuse the action economy on those builds anyway, which equates to better blasting output).

[Th3N3xtGuy]

Okay thanks. Haha the more I typed it the more, I thought, this... isn't good

[Nihilarian]

The Warmage is squishy, has bad BAB, and lacks 90% of the spells that let a wizard turn himself into a fighter. Bluntly, they have little to offer a melee character. There are a couple of weapon summoning spells that could be useful, but not enough to carry it on it's own, and anyway I think you have to poach them from Wizard. Other than that I guess you can do what any warmage does and completely replace your spell list somehow.

[Troacctid]

Yeah, Warmages are pretty much strictly in the long-range artillery business. They have a few spells that can be used in melee in a pinch, but they're not well-suited for close combat.

I will second Ordained Champion, though. Great divine gish PrC. You just need to get some good spells to channel and you're in business.

[Mr Adventurer]

With so many reach touch attack spells though it is worth boosting your BAB if you can do it without losing spell levels. Eclectic Learning Shield onto your list, then Abjurant Champion?

[Xerlith]

With so many reach touch attack spells though it is worth boosting your BAB if you can do it without losing spell levels. Eclectic Learning Shield onto your list, then Abjurant Champion?

That's one spell. The character still lacks buffs and utility needed to gish out. The blasting is NOT what a gish makes.

Honestly, the only way of using Warmage as a base to gish is probably the Rainbow Warsnake but it comes online (without early-entry tricks!) at 16th, so not really a playable choice.

Other fixed-list casters do WAY better job on this.
Beguiler? It has just enough spells to manage self-buffing, but completely lacks the more offense-focused spells. Still, it's probably doable.

Dread Necromancer? You mean a small strike force commander with absolutely awesome set of spells and abilities? Aww yiss. A Dread Necro Illumian with Persist and Arcane Disciple: War can be a real force of nature. DR at 2nd level? Now you're the tank. Also, Charnel Touch. 4.5 damage/round. Channel Negative Energy? Yeah. Up to 5th or 8th (depending on whether you want minionmancy) you are the bringer of doom and destruction. Take a Crusader level, go into Jade Phoenix Mage (True neutrality, aw yiss) and rock out with gishness and uberbuffing your minions.

[Socratov]

one nice arcane gish is a snowflake wardance bard, going into swiftblade and maybe some other stuff...

[Xerlith]

one nice arcane gish is a snowflake wardance bard, going into swiftblade and maybe some other stuff...

That's true, an Inspire Courage-optimized bard is a gish out-of-the-box, providing damage for you, your party and your family (TM)!

With just Two-Weapon-Fighting, Song of the Heart, and Dragonfire Inspiration feats and the Badge of Valor item you can make your allies' weapons flare with new potential.

I like bards.

[Socratov]

That's true, an Inspire Courage-optimized bard is a gish out-of-the-box, providing damage for you, your party and your family (TM)!

With just Two-Weapon-Fighting, Song of the Heart, and Dragonfire Inspiration feats and the Badge of Valor item you can make your allies' weapons flare with new potential.

I like bards.

or singe weapon fisghting, using offhand for spellcasting and holding your masterwork horn, and wardancing with a rapier (or, if possible an elven courtblade) and just pinning it all. YUes, whoever says bards are lame should definitely take another look. Bards are just about the most awesome class there is.

[Mr Adventurer]

That's one spell. The character still lacks buffs and utility needed to gish out. The blasting is NOT what a gish makes.

Cool your jets, hotshot - I never said anything to the contrary. In fact, all I said is what I said: Warmage gets lots of attack roll spells, so boosting attack bonus is desirable, and Abjurant Champion is one way to do this.

[Xerlith]

Cool your jets, hotshot - I never said anything to the contrary. In fact, all I said is what I said: Warmage gets lots of attack roll spells, so boosting attack bonus is desirable, and Abjurant Champion is one way to do this.

I'm powered by cold fusion. Always cool. What I meant is that the spells using attack rolls, while, well, using attack rolls, are not what a Gish is - because that requires the character to deliver these spells with his weapons, enhancing the weapons with spells and so on.

Boosting attack rolls on a warmage IS viable with taking AC, but that's possible at 11th level at the earliest - OR by Arcane Disciple: War and DIvine Power shenanigans. Bit wonky, that method though. And it's actually not that important, since touch attacks are hard to miss even with a low BAB.

I'd argue that the best spell-channel gish would be a Duskblade3/Martial Abrupt Jaunt Wizard 4/Abjurant Champion5/Raumathari Battlemage4/Spellsword1/Ruathar3 for +16BAB, 9th level spells and easy prerequisites.

My favourite still is the Duskblade3/Paladin (Harmonious Knight)2/Warblade1/Suel Arcanamach4/Jade Phoenix Mage 1/Sublime Chord1/Abjurant Champion5/Jade Phoenix Mage +4 though. Just for style.

If we're talking easy-bake gishes, well, the Battle Sorcerer can manage 1-20 without a big problem, though it's widely regarded as suboptimal due to the spells/day loss. And honestly, it is bad. Arguably a Bard20 could do the job better, though lategame the spell level access is slower - can be rectified with Sublime Chord, so not really a drawback, mind you.

With some kinks, one can have fun with a Human Conjurer Abrupt Jaunt Martial Wizard 1/Crusader1/Eldritch Knight4/Abjurant Champion5 for some early gishing.
Early entry?
The standard Precocious Apprentice+Sanctum Spell combo. Blade of Pain and Fear, Blur, Wraithstrike, Bull's Strength are all good choices. Needs a flaw for one more feat to qualify for Sanctum Spell. Extend is always a good choice.

Abjuration Domain Martial Wizard1 is an interesting choice if you're not in need of that 10ft immediate action movement.
Fire Elf Abjuration Domain Elven Generalist Martial Wizard 1 seems a nice entry, granting a Fighter bonus feat, a spell slot/level more and more spells known without having to look for them.