Gestalt debuffer build help

[Buddy76]

So I'm joining a gestalt game where we're staying away from tiers 1 and 2. My table already has a Warblade//Duskblade for damage, and another player is building some sort of healer//skill monkey so I was thinking about playing a debuffer for support. I'm thinking about a Dread Necromancer// Hexblade, maybe going into Dread Witch on one side. I'm still thinking about race.

Any suggestions regarding feats, spells, prc's, etc? I have some experience with DN but none with Hexblade. Necropolitan is not an option but I am considering Tomb-Tainted Soul. All 1st party books and Dragon Magazine are allowed, but I can't take prcs on both sides simultaneously and no theurge classes.

Thanks!

Edit: It's a 3.5 game

[ViperMagnum357]

First off, grab the Dark Companion ACF from PHB 2 to replace your familiar, and consider moving out of Hexblade after 5 levels. Any alignment restrictions? Both Paladin of Tyranny and Blackguard offer Aura of Despair to reduce saves by 2. If you have access, you can consider the Unseelie Fey template from Dragon Compendium with the Winter ability-only works out to 5 feet, but the save penalty is Cha straight up, so it can be boosted easily. You can grab Bind Vestige and Improved Bind Vestige to get the Aura of Sadness from Focalor, to save the Binder Levels.

To make better use of Auras, you can grab 2 Levels of Marshal and Dilate Aura from Fiendish Codex 2-that puts most of your abilities into Charisma.

[Buddy76]

Great suggestions! I'll definetily take dark companion and black guard 3 (the rest of the party is either evil or neutral). Marshal 2 dilate aura, bind vestige and improved bind vestige are almost a sure thing as well.

I was thinking about sticking to Hexblade until at least level 7, but I guess the curse is just not that good.

Winter unseelie fey fits thematically, since we're kind of the special forces of an arctic kingdom, but the DM has vetoed anything with level adjustments (I'll still try to convince him to allow it, though).

On a side note, Iwas just reading that guide for the DN: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?214212-Reanimated-Dread-Necromancer-Handbook
A saw a build called the scarecrow that looks really cool, but is it legit?

[ViperMagnum357]

Unseelie Fey is arguable-based on the entry, the LA should be +0 as spelled out in the statblock, but because this was not included separately after alignment some hardline DMs may rule it inaccessible, or allow it but force you to make a roll on the vision table rather than picking like the explicit Flight table. Poorly edited entry, but a reasonable DM will probably allow it-in any case, you break even on net ability adjustments and balance the gains with an Iron vulnerability, plus have to switch any RHD to horrible Fey RHD, so it is not completely over the top like Half-Minotaur. The power of Winter Chill is worth broaching the subject with your DM.

Dread Witch is probably a pass-most of the power comes from being a 4/5 caster built off a Tier 1 caster like a Wizard or Cleric, where it becomes a 'win more' build by abusing Absorb Fear to gain extra spells and caster levels. The Horrific Aura is a poor Capstone for a debuffer build, and the rest is kinda meh-I would pass in this sort of build.

As for where to go with the rest of your build in a Gestalt-there are surprisingly few worthwhile debuffs not already mentioned, that are not based on a Bard or level 3+ spells on a Tier 1 or 2 spellcaster's list. Last time I put together this kind of build, I decided the best course of actions were: take a full caster in parallel, take a Skill Monkey in parallel, Initiator in parallel; or go for broke with auras, and start looking at the Draconic auras plus any dips that provide any sort of passive or Swift abilities, like the Devotion feats after a Cloistered Cleric 1 dip. Basically quantity over quality-since you are aiming for Tier 3, maybe look at some Initiator levels to make use of passives and Swift actions-leave yourself open to some generic attacks or low-rent spellcasting for your standard actions.

Alternatively, you can put together a mounted build on the cheap to get some combat effectiveness without going Ubercharger-look at classes with Special Mounts and 'Full Mounted Attack', like the Ashworm Dragoon; or possibly the Cavalier, since it stacks with Paladin levels for a mount. This is a decent Mount handbook: [[http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=25.0]]

[liquidformat]

you might look at going bard7/dread witch instead of dread necromancer; you can become a really powerful debuffer/crowd controlish with haunting melody and Doomspeak feats (melodic casting is also nice though only worth it if you can keep perform as a class skill for the whole build), and Inspire Awe ACF. Later on Nightmare Spinner adds in some nice synergy.

If you are allowed to abuse the two sides of your build ie using one side to qualify for things on the other and have prcs at the same time on both sides, as well as have enough feats; you can go with Hexblade5/paladin of Tyranny 2/swiftbladex. No point in taking swiftblade to 10 since you will never get high enough spells but going up to 9 isn't bad, otherwise 3 or 6 are decent exit points. Arcane Duelist is another interesting prc you might check out. Granted swiftblade is web enhancement and Arcane Duelist is 3.0. otherwise Abjurant Champion is always a good choice even if you have to take combat casting.

I don't think scarecrow will work as presented, dread necromancer doesn't have any ability to turn or rebuke undead so NaenHoon is completely useless. Also having slay mate is an important part of making that build functional which is also up to your dm....

[PunBlake]

Dragon Mag #339 has the [Hex] feats in Class Acts that give alternate uses of Hexblade curses, among other things. Generally, they're not worth a feat / multiple [Hex] feats a lot of them require. I would suggest asking your DM to treat them as ACFs instead, allowing you to trade your normal -2 on everything curse for, say, -4 on one save type only, chosen at use (Curse of Failure).

Even without this, consider (later in the game) taking the Vexing (cost +1) weapon special ability at the end of the article. It gives a free action (touch-attack-based, no save) curse that works similarly to defending, but requires a Hexblade's curse to use.

Remember that Hexblade's spell list is actually not terrible; it's a lot like assassin's, but with access to some better tricks. Consider trying to get you Hexblade spells to an equivalent of Hexblade 14 using prestige classes with actual class features (Spellsword 1, Abjurant Champion via Protection from X, Knight Phantom via Phantom Steed, others) for polymorph access, get a wand and wand chamber for your favorite weapon, and go nuts. You can stop earlier for access to Alter Self and similar cheese if desired.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Dread Necromancer// Savage Bard with the Inspire Awe ACF, and trade another song for Haunting Melody (ECS). Get the Ghostly Visage familiar as well.