[3.P] Swift"blade" Build advice needed

[CaptainLettuce]

Hey there Giants! Playgrounders? Forum goers. Long time lurker, first time poster here. I've played quite a bit of DnD 3.5 and Pathfinder in my day, but for the most part I've played straight PsyWar's, with a brief campaign as a factotum, so I find myself quite a bit outside of my wheelhouse. A friend of mine is starting up a new campaign, and I've been planning a character for it but I'll need The Collective's help, as things aren't quite coming together for me. I need you, Obi-Playground Kenobi. Here is what I know for absolute certain.
Our characters will begin the campaign at Level 7. A distinction between character level and ECL was not made, but knowing the DM, I have serious doubts as to his willingness for level adjustments.
I can safely assume that I'll have the normal character wealth of a 7th level character.
All official WOTC material from 3.5 (and 3.0 material if not gruyere level) is legal, including Dragon Magazines outside of the Compendium. The DM did note that he *prefered* the campaign be psionics free. Also, Pathfinder material is legal. The DM has explicitly said that wherever something exists in 3.5 and Pathfinder, we will be using the better of the two -- Power Attack for example.
The party will likely be three players counting myself, with the possibility of a fourth. All I know about the other party member's intentions at this point is that one of them plans on building some sort of standard issue ClericZilla.
Perhaps most importantly, feats are assigned a la Pathfinder, at every odd level including numero uno.


With this information in mind, I decided that the only path forward was to be a gish boy. Not to be confused with fish boy. I've always been enamored with the Swiftblade prestige class -- I love the flavor, and mechanically, I love that it lends itself very well to a more martially focused gish, while adding extra actions also gives you the opportunity to be a switch-hitter so to speak. I'm completely married to the idea of taking the full nine levels of Swiftblade. Swiftblade was my high school sweetheart, I can't imagine my life without her. The tenth level of Swiftblade holds little value to me. Although saying that I fully understand the value of a Time Stop spell would be a blatant overestimation of my own abilities, I feel like it's much better suited for a wizard with less martial intentions that myself. I would even go as far as to say that ninth level spells are not a priority for me, let alone a requirement. I wish that I had a stub of a build to show you all, or basically something to show you at all to help you help me, but I've been having some serious struggles with the build thus far. But I do have some talking points! Or goals? I'm not entirely sure what to call them.

Currently my plans to be an elusive target come down to some feat selection, and levels in Abjurant Champion, specifically for the use of Greater Luminous Armor. I don't technically have a plan for how to deal with the ability damage, and any advice in this regard would be greatly appreciated. Dodge (specifically expeditious Dodge) and Mobility are obvious inclusions as they are required for entry into the Swiftblade prestige class. This DM has also ruled in the past that Dodge (and derivatives) and Mobility can be taken using a single feat. My rudimentary plan to get those said feats is currently Monk - well, a Dragon Magazine monk ACF that I believe is called "Cobra Strike". I know that on this forum and at basically any table, the taking of even a single level of monk is considered to be High Heresy, but note that I've already condemned myself to hell by admitting that I am willing to forgo 9th level spells. More on Monk at a later spoiler tag. Other obvious feat inclusions would be Elusive Target. The Swiftblade feat for Swiftblades, yeah? I expect judicious use of power attack, and I would like said power attacks to not kill me, if at all possible. Extra feat(s) which I know I won't have could be put to use in the form of Improved Initiative? Thematically it feels right, and I here that if you're not first, you're last.


I believe that a Trapsmith entry would be easier, what with all the crazy stuff that I'd really like to cram into my build, but there are many more arcane spells I'd like to cast than just haste. Like Wraithstrike maybe. Or Greater Luminous Armor. Especially those two. Though speaking of entry into the Swiftblade class, I had considered using some mild cheese in qualifying for this prestige class (and any other, technically). In our playgroup, Versatile Spellcaster cheese has been used before to meet the requirements of being able to cast 'X' level spells, within reason. I have no reason to believe that said cheese will not be allowed here, to shave off two levels of a spellcasting class such as wizard or sorcerer.


My plan for dealing damage is... well, Power Attack, Arcane Strike, and Shadowblade. I wouldn't be opposed to Skirmish damage, or other forms of precision damage like sneak attack honestly, if thats the way the Collective deems the build to go. Coincidentally, I'm completely invested in Shadowblade as I also plan to take the Gloom Razor tactical feat, as it lends itself nicely to the passives from Swiftblade's mega-haste. On the topic of the monk levels, I can substitute the second level of monk for the Exemplars of Evil "Invisible Fist", trading out evasion for the ability to become invisible once every three rounds as a swift action. Between Gloom Razor, and the plethora of ways even I could think of to become invisible, denying opponents Dex should be an easy feat. I guess another potential reason to consider more precision damage? Furthermore, does a Hit and Run Fighter's Dex to damage against flat-footed opponents stack with Shadowblade? Who knows?!

As I alluded to in the thread title, I had planned on the character remaining unarmed, so to speak. Note that this is not of a high priority to me, as if we're being honest with each other, I doubt that this character will be making regular use of Flurry of Blows anyway with what little monk progression I think we can squeeze out. That being said, what is of high priority to me (right now, I suppose my opinions might change after seeing what you more experienced players have to show me), is the Pathfinder "Snake Style" feat chain. I saw it after I'd written down Cobra Strike monk on a sheet of paper and thought to myself "wow! It fits both mechanically and thematically!" As I was unfamiliar with the feat chain, I'll summarize it below, or in nested spoilers. The cap of the Snake Style feat chain is "Snake Fang". It requires Combat Reflexes, Improved Unarmed Strike, the previous two snake style feats, Acrobatics 6, and Sense Motive 9. The just of it reads that when an opponent's attack misses me, I can make an unarmed strike against that opponent as an AoO. If this AoO hits, I can use an immediate action to make another unarmed strike against the same opponent. Another one. Snap Kick and Arcane Strike, anyone?


SO, in summation, my mind went to a thousand different places at once. Although I have a clear idea of what I imagined this character to be, I've never found myself more at a loss for how to put it together. I apologize in advance for spoiler mishaps and generally inane, rambly walls of text. Hope to hear from y'all soon!

[Epic Legand]

Take a look at PF Unchained monk, you get full BAB. Combine with Kung fu genius and you get INT to AC. Take 1 lv. Then 5 levels of Wizard, school focus on conjuration for the 10' teleport. This qualifies you for the sun school feat ( free attack with every teleport), stack snap kick. Take 2 pf feats Favored Prestige Class and Prestigious Spellcaster – d20PFSRD. This gives you BACK one of your lost levels in spellcasting. Not just caster level, but the full level for spells know and other progressions. It only works for one level, but one level of spell casting is powerful. All this means you come in with BAB +4, Lv 1 Swiftblade who casts as a 6th lv wizard. For feats, I would go with Dodge/Mobility, Favored Prestige Class, Prestigious Spellcaster , Sunschool, See if you can swap your Lv 1 Monk feat for Kung Fu Genius. If Flaws are available, take 2, See if traits are a choice as well. I hope this helps.

[Hiro Quester]

I'm similarly enamored with Swiftblade as a fun class to play. Options, options, options. Particularly in a small party, you have the extra action in which to do both BFC and frontline damage-dealer.

My favorite build is a hit-and-run swiftblade. Something like Sorcerer6/Swiftblade9 or 10/Unseen Seer 4 or 5.

Unseen Seer lets you put Hunter's Eye on your spell list, which as s sorcerer you can spam (and eventually persist) to get an extra 1d6 damage per 3 caster levels. That extra damage should stack with the Unseen Seer's sneak attack, and with the skirmish-like bonus damage for moving of swiftblade.

So you hide in shadows, maybe cast grease or other BFC to make the enemy flat footed, then dash out, murder him and then hide in shadows again.

Getting a Collar of Umbral Metamorphasis lets you apply the Shadow creature template for 10 minutes total/day. That gives you hide in plain sight to hide after moving and attacking.

At higher levels add a pair of slippers of battle dancing, and you are adding your charisma bonus to attack and damage whenever you use the swiftblade's extra move action, then full attack. And with spring attack you can dart away again if need be.

there is lots of fun to be had here.

BTW: I do like the idea of the Swiftblade 10 ability. It gets you Time Stop a bit earlier than you would get 9th level spells. Plus it's better than the 9th-level time stop, because you control the duration (it's not random).

It means you are never caught in combat without your buff spells, because you can always make time to cast them. That's the ability that will make you always super-effective, because you can always make time to get just the right buff's or BFC spells cast.

[Eldariel]

I generally would still suggest getting as much casting as you can. Simply because higher spell levels means more metamagic, more options, etc. 9th level slot can include Persistent Haste the oldfashioned way too, sparing your combat actions. That goes great with Widened Antimagic Field to screw all magic item warriors over; you have your full Haste and Swiftblade benefits thanks to Extraordinary Haste while enemy is denied their magic items, magic weapons, supernatural abilities, etc.

Thus I would certainly go Wizard 6/Swiftblade 9/Abjurant Champion 5. 17 levels of casting, 17 BAB, all the wonderful class features of Swiftblade and Abjurant Champion. Doubly so since you want to be hard-to-hit.

Conjurer specialisation would open up the absolutely amazing Abrupt Jaunt ability (PHBII): Teleport 10' as an IMMEDIATE action Int times per day. Basically, dodge attacks, get out of spell effects, surprise-block enemies' movement and get AoOs, etc. Seems right up your alley complementing Swiftblade superbly giving you another angle of evasion of just "not being there to be hit".

Now, you might ask how to fulfil Swiftblade entry requirements but you can do that fairly easily with Uncanny Forethought [Exemplars of Evil]. Just leave the slots open and use them to cast Haste as full-round actions.

Other than that, Martial Wizard [SRD] would grant you two feats for entry and e.g. Fire Elf/Gray Elf would grant you the prerequisite Martial Weapon Proficiencies to enter. This would save you quite some trouble as the entry prerequisites are a bit harsh.

Reach weapon two-handed would be the easiest option feat-wise and synergise extremely well with Abrupt Jaunt (AoO, Teleport, AoO again) and Combat Reflexes. As a Wizard you can of course take Improved Trip and Knock-Down [SRD], which further complement this angle. Enlarge Person or Polymorph into some bigger biped and terrorise the battlefield with AoOs.

[Hiro Quester]

Eladriel's is a good build.

I'm gonna disagree minorly with Eladriel on the need to persist Haste, though. It's useful, but hardly necessary. And there are other useful things to persist. After swiftblade 3 you can cast Haste as a free action, without using a higher slot. And with a high dex and your spellcasting stat as a bonus to initiative, you always go first, anyway. So you can have haste whenever you need it. Instantly, without costing an action.

Plus the roleplaying aspect of Swiftblade as a speed addict is fun, but only if you are not perpetually accelerated. You can play it all antsy and impatiently "jonesing" for a speed hit, and jubilant when you are finally accelerated again, sullen and moping when your teammates want to waste time preparing, when you are all stir-crazy to just get going and feel like your normal "fast" self again.

[Not that I'm condoning or romancing addiction; I know it's a serious issue IRL. (I'm not condoning it IRL any more than my playing a rogue condones stabbing and stealing IRL.) But playing a swiftblade as a speed addict just seems a natural and fun/funny roleplaying hook to mess around with. And persisting Haste just nullifies all that.]


Let me add the mandatory Practiced Spellcaster feat at 9 or 12 (to catch up the caster levels you lose in Swiftblade). With practiced Spellcaster your CL will still be the same as your character level. This equally potent spells is another reason I'm fine with not getting 9ths, but instead getting Swiftblade 10's well-controlled, flexible, predictable-duration time stop.

It's that time stop that lets you be impatient and antsy and reluctant to wait while your friends spend A G E S preparing for a fight. You can cast, as a free action, a huge and deliciously invigorating HASTE in a 7th level slot to get two full rounds of preparation time, whenever you need it.