Beguiler 5/Unseen seer 10, dunno what to finish with

[Soranar]

So I'm trying to design a magical skillmonkey that does a better job than a spellthief.

So far I'm really liking the beguiler 5 /Unseen seer 10 combo because

-I don't lose any caster level
-I get 3d6 sneak attack from unseen seer + another couple of sneak attack die from the hunter's eye spell (which I intend to persist if I don't want to lose all my swift actions at higher levels)
-I intend to get the distract assailant spell from the beguiler's advance learning
-I will be taking the craven feat

Obviously the point is to have a roguish character with spellcasting

My problem is delivering damage. My two options seem to be the following:

-Use a hand crossbow with Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Hand Crossbow Focus, Crossbow sniper so that I can deliver sneak attacks at 60 ft. Put a crystal in the crossbow so I can sneak attack undead without wasting a spell on grave strike
-Get golem strike and vine strike from unseen seer to eventually sneak attack constructs and plants

or

take arcane disciple (slime domain for acid arrow), heigthen spell and accidic splatter to get a ranged touch attack at will that scales up to 9d6 damage at level 18

I can't decide which is the better option and I'd like some input.

On the crossbow side,

I get more attacks that deliver more damage overall and I can sneak attack at 60 ft. Crossbow damage works against nearly everything.

On the other hand, accidic splatter requires a smaller feat investment
Hits more reliably
Has limited range for a long time (I don't reach 30 ft until level 12...)
Can be resisted by many creatures
Can bypass DR more easily than a crossbow bolt (especially a hand crossbow)

[A.A.King]

Keep in mind that Unseen Seer only gives you +3d6 Sneak Attack damage IF you already have a form of Sneak Attack damage. It is very DM dependant on whether or not you gain those +3d6 SA Dice when you get a temporary form of Sneak Attack (like with Hunter's eye). This also means you might not qualify for Craven (depending on your DM) because you don't have the Sneak Attack Class Feature (only a spell you cast sometimes and later may have persisted). You might just want to take a level of Rogue or SA Thug Fighter just to get one Sneak Attack Die to not have to worry about Qualifying for Craven or Unseen Seer's Bonus damage.

Personally I prefer the Crossbow over the Acid Splatter feat if only because you need a good wisdom score to cast Arcane Disciple Spells. You might even need a higher wisdom score to cast a Heightened Level Acid Arrow Spell. The feats you take for the Crossbows route are also generally more useful feats (other than Point Blank Shot of course), so it feels less like you're paying a tax to be useful in combat.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

Arcane Trickster seems like a reasonable choice, if rather unexciting. Moar Casting, Moar Sneak Attack.

[Venger]

beguilers really don't need to deal hp damage directly through their spell list, they can mostly do it through their manipulation and mind control stuff. I noticed you don't have a mindbender dip at 6 or mindsight. is there a reason?

remember beguiler comes with UMD. if you really want to blast, you can always use wands, runestaves, etc. this build isn't one that needs to deal a lot of damage with weapons, it's just not the best use of your resources. plus remember you can apply your SA damage to weaponlike spells, so go to town with ray of frost and the like in 0 lvl wands for energy damage to achieve that goal or put some ray spells in a runestaff.

[Inevitability]

Arcane Trickster seems like a reasonable choice, if rather unexciting. Moar Casting, Moar Sneak Attack.

Beguilers don't get Mage Hand naturally, though. Magical Training fixes this.

[Soranar]

beguilers really don't need to deal hp damage directly through their spell list, they can mostly do it through their manipulation and mind control stuff. I noticed you don't have a mindbender dip at 6 or mindsight. is there a reason?

remember beguiler comes with UMD. if you really want to blast, you can always use wands, runestaves, etc. this build isn't one that needs to deal a lot of damage with weapons, it's just not the best use of your resources. plus remember you can apply your SA damage to weaponlike spells, so go to town with ray of frost and the like in 0 lvl wands for energy damage to achieve that goal or put some ray spells in a runestaff.

I know a beguiler is useful without dealing damage but a beguiler has issues dealing with anything immune to mind affecting effects : undead, oozes, plants and constructs and I hate being completely useless in a fight.

Normally a sneak attack character would have the same issue but

-grave strike or a demolition crystal lets you sneak attack undead
-golem strike deals with constructs
-vine strike deals with plant types

that leaves oozes but you can't be expected to have an answer to everything and oozes are relatively rare

I might dip mindbender (for scouting)
and sand shaper

sandshaper is an odd one , it gives me a few damage spells with a weird type (dessication damage) and summons that are immune to my mind affecting effects (meaning I could spam large area of effect spells without fearing hitting them) + a bunch of buff spells I normally wouldn't get. Usually the only buff I cast is haste (which I have anyway) and the STAT boosters are usually covered by magic items.

Finally the problem with Arcane trisckster is that a beguiler doesn't have the mage hand cantrip

The problem with UMD is the cost, it can lead to a significant hit in your WBL. Although a runestaff might be a good investment. Even then you can never take 10 so I always have a chance of rolling a 1 and failing my UMD check.

So I think I'm back to the humble hand crossbow if only because it's fairly cheap and an Unseen Seer gets
medium BAB and all the knowledge skills so using knowledge devotion can improve my to hit and give me something to spend all my skillpoints on that will benefit the whole group.

[Venger]

Beguilers don't get Mage Hand naturally, though. Magical Training fixes this.

Ask your gm if he'll allow hand of the mage to count.

[Inevitability]

Ask your gm if he'll allow hand of the mage to count.

I'd seriously advice against having your persisted access to the three highest spell levels hinge on a cheap magic item.

[Venger]

I'd seriously advice against having your persisted access to the three highest spell levels hinge on a cheap magic item.

make it slotless, that way bad guys can't sunder it

[Waker]

Beguiler has a lot of skill points, why not buy a few cross class knowledge ranks for Knowledge Devotion?

[nedz]

I quite like
Swordsage 1 / Beguiler 5 / Unseen Seer 1 / Swordsage +1
followed by Unseen Seer +2 / Swordsage +1 four times.
Shadowhand stances for sneak.

You lose some caster levels, but it's a solid rogue.