Necromancer/Swashbuckler Gestalt - Ideas for stuff

[Genth]

So I'm starting a new game soon, starting at 6th level, with Gestalt. The setting is that of a somewhat post-apocalyptic Necrocracy - a powerful undead force has destroyed several kingdoms and is seemingly unstoppable. Kind of going for a 'you're powerful, but also it's completely hopeless. Go ahead, kill 50 undead soldiers with ease. There. Are. More." sort of vibe.

My concept is for a Necromancer specialized wizard/Swashbuckler. Essentially they are from a Noble Elven family, who had been training under one of the most prominent necromancers of the region - their mentor. Before the Necrocracy revealed itself, however, most of the more powerful necromancers vanished - including their mentor. Now they are searching through the land for their mentor. Yes, playing a Necromancer in an anti-undead campaign. They are beholden to the idea that undead are tools, for short-term use only. You don't take a lit branch you've used from the bonfire to light a torch, then just throw it to the side still burning, why would you pull out the negative energy to make undead and just leave it around after you've finished using it?! The Necrocracy is a perversion of their arts.

What I'm looking for is help with feat and spell choices - I'm not sure if I should basically leave the Necromancer side to be powerful by virtue of still being a wizard, and focus on Swashbuckling, vis-versa, or somewhere between the two. Ideas I've had:

Get into the Dimensional Dervish feat tree and dance from foe to foe stabbing while my undead hold them in place.
Go for spell focus (necromancy), and get into the Undead Master/Charnal soldiers route, fighting alongside a bolstered, powerful mini-horde.
Entirely go for Swashbuckler-buffing feats, weapon focus and the "I'm a fighter, honest!" lines.

Any other ideas, or advice?

[Geddy2112]

A lot of spells in the necromancy school are not those that directly deal with undead. Likewise, the ability to control the hordes of the undead running around are incredibly useful.

Are you set on wizard? If you went sorcerer or oracle, it would be a little less MAD as you could focus totally on charisma instead of charisma and intelligence. If you do go wizard, go with the inspired blade swashbuckler, which allows you to get panache from INT, and it gives a bonus to the rapier. It does lock you into the rapier though, so if you were set on another weapon you gotta do something else. You could even be a cleric and do necromancy that way, if you so decided. Cleric and oracle will let you use armor, which is a big sell with swashbuckler. Both classes have easy ways to channel negative energy and just grab command undead as a feat.

I would go with the"fight and cast alongside undead horde"
Get dex to damage with your weapon(so you can dump strength) and probably call it good for martial feats. You are better off casting most of the time, using your sword to defend yourself just in case. Consider the disruptive and spellbreaker feats, since you will qualify for them as a good counter caster setup. Undead master seems insanely useful in this kind of campaign, and if you are going necromancy anyways the spell focus can't hurt. Metamagic feats are obviously always good.

For opposition schools(assuming necromancy school is your arcane school) I would choose enchantment and illusion. Undead are immune to both of these with very rare exception(dirge bard, threnodic spell, etc). Unless you can dedicate two slots to these, you will lose out on buffs like illusion, mirror image, heroism, and the like, but you can probably manage. In this kind of game, abjuration is worth it for just protection from evil alone. Conjuration is just too powerful, as is transmutation. I suppose you can oppose evocation if you really need illusion or enchantment spells.

[Genth]

A lot of spells in the necromancy school are not those that directly deal with undead. Likewise, the ability to control the hordes of the undead running around are incredibly useful.

Are you set on wizard? If you went sorcerer or oracle, it would be a little less MAD as you could focus totally on charisma instead of charisma and intelligence. If you do go wizard, go with the inspired blade swashbuckler, which allows you to get panache from INT, and it gives a bonus to the rapier. It does lock you into the rapier though, so if you were set on another weapon you gotta do something else. You could even be a cleric and do necromancy that way, if you so decided. Cleric and oracle will let you use armor, which is a big sell with swashbuckler. Both classes have easy ways to channel negative energy and just grab command undead as a feat.

I would go with the"fight and cast alongside undead horde"
Get dex to damage with your weapon(so you can dump strength) and probably call it good for martial feats. You are better off casting most of the time, using your sword to defend yourself just in case. Consider the disruptive and spellbreaker feats, since you will qualify for them as a good counter caster setup. Undead master seems insanely useful in this kind of campaign, and if you are going necromancy anyways the spell focus can't hurt. Metamagic feats are obviously always good.

For opposition schools(assuming necromancy school is your arcane school) I would choose enchantment and illusion. Undead are immune to both of these with very rare exception(dirge bard, threnodic spell, etc). Unless you can dedicate two slots to these, you will lose out on buffs like illusion, mirror image, heroism, and the like, but you can probably manage. In this kind of game, abjuration is worth it for just protection from evil alone. Conjuration is just too powerful, as is transmutation. I suppose you can oppose evocation if you really need illusion or enchantment spells.

Heh, MAD isn't an issue. Rolled 4d6b3 for stats, got an 18, 3x16, a 12 and a 10. My GM was flabbergasted.

I am using the Inspired Blade archetype, and am pretty set on Wizard.

Was considering enchantment and divination for my opposition schools, as the illusion buffs I feel I'll need.

Had not considered the anti-spellcaster feats, good to keep in mind, and so I will go for the undead master stuff, thanks!

Still open to other opinions as well! :)

[Pyromancer999]

What archetype(s) are you using for Wizard?

There are two in particular for Necromancy-focused Wizards, at least from Heroes of Horror:

1) Hallowed Necromancer, which uses Necromantic Magic to fight Undead. It gets Turning, can convert necromancy spells into Cure spells to harm undead(which are eventually maximized), can spontaneously metamagic spells to better damage undead with uses of the cure conversion ability, and can also end expend uses of that ability to protect yourself against undead attacks, like death effects and negative levels.

2) Undead Lord: The archetypal necromancer, which gets Command Undead, a boatload of extra necromancy spells, can cast each of the Animate Dead line as if one level lower, and can choose a corpse companion(like the Cleric counterpart to this archetype) for an arcane bond.

So those may/may not be of interest to you.

Also, if you plan on using spells in combat, maybe Magus would be of interest. You can still get Swashbuckler Deeds(although none of the passive "If you have at least 1 point of panache in your pool" ones) by going Flamboyant Arcana(nets you a couple of the basic deeds) -> Arcane Deed(nets you any Swashbuckler deed that a Swashbuckler of your level could get, with restrictions noted above) multiple times. Make sure to take Broad Study at 6 to use your Wizard spells with Spell Combat and Spellstrike. Also select Kensai for a bunch of Int-based combat bonuses and specialization with one weapon like Inspired Blade does. Can also double-down on weapon specialization and go Bladebound, although that will delay your ability to gain Magus Arcana until 6th.

[Geddy2112]

Heh, MAD isn't an issue. Rolled 4d6b3 for stats, got an 18, 3x16, a 12 and a 10. My GM was flabbergasted.

I am using the Inspired Blade archetype, and am pretty set on Wizard.

Was considering enchantment and divination for my opposition schools, as the illusion buffs I feel I'll need.

Had not considered the anti-spellcaster feats, good to keep in mind, and so I will go for the undead master stuff, thanks!

Still open to other opinions as well! :)

Dem stats...dios mio!! Yeah, the fact that you are "dumping" strength with a 10 is pretty zesty statwise. Since you are going inspired blade, it is probably worth trying to parry every attack you see in a day, as long as you are not intentionally frontlining. Divination is a decent school to toss, but having detect magic take two slots sucks. Once you have an improved familiar this won't be a problem though, so I think you are OK on this front.

Also, get improved familiar at level 7 no questions asked. There are a ton of good choices, but the best have hands and can speak; therefore can use wands. Hands/speech and good SLA's make the best familiars.

[Genth]

What archetype(s) are you using for Wizard?

There are two in particular for Necromancy-focused Wizards, at least from Heroes of Horror:

1) Hallowed Necromancer, which uses Necromantic Magic to fight Undead. It gets Turning, can convert necromancy spells into Cure spells to harm undead(which are eventually maximized), can spontaneously metamagic spells to better damage undead with uses of the cure conversion ability, and can also end expend uses of that ability to protect yourself against undead attacks, like death effects and negative levels.

2) Undead Lord: The archetypal necromancer, which gets Command Undead, a boatload of extra necromancy spells, can cast each of the Animate Dead line as if one level lower, and can choose a corpse companion(like the Cleric counterpart to this archetype) for an arcane bond.

So those may/may not be of interest to you.

Also, if you plan on using spells in combat, maybe Magus would be of interest. You can still get Swashbuckler Deeds(although none of the passive "If you have at least 1 point of panache in your pool" ones) by going Flamboyant Arcana(nets you a couple of the basic deeds) -> Arcane Deed(nets you any Swashbuckler deed that a Swashbuckler of your level could get, with restrictions noted above) multiple times. Make sure to take Broad Study at 6 to use your Wizard spells with Spell Combat and Spellstrike. Also select Kensai for a bunch of Int-based combat bonuses and specialization with one weapon like Inspired Blade does. Can also double-down on weapon specialization and go Bladebound, although that will delay your ability to gain Magus Arcana until 6th.

Asssuming for 2) you're talking about the Undead Master archetype, I hadn't seen it before, it looks perfect! (Thankfully GM has waved the alignment restriction)

I looked long and hard at the Hallowed Necromancer, but it's a problem I just can't get over - how does Turn Undead solve anyone's problems?! I mean, especially in this campaign, you're just sending the bodies away for a wee while, far better to wrest control and then destroy them.

I probably wouldn't go for Magus as I do want to keep both full casting and full BAB. Spellstrike is nice, but I'm more about positioning and manipulating the battlefield. Nevertheless, thanks for the help!