Ways to get Arcane Strike by level 6

[noce]

I'm assuming fractional BAB is in use.

So, first thing that comes to mind is Battle Sorcerer 6, or Battle Sorcerer 5 / 1 level of any casting PrC.
Is there any other way?

I thought about Wizard 4 / Fighter 1 / 1 level of full BAB PrC that advances casting at first level, but found none you can qualify for.

[NigelWalmsley]

Depending on how you believe Versatile Spellcaster interacts with "cast spells of level X" requirements, Bard 6 or Duskblade 6 with Versatile Spellcaster might work.

[NotASpiderSwarm]

Artificers get arcane infusions of 3rd level at level 5 and hit the BAB at 6, but that would definitely be a houserule.

Everything else I can think of (Duskblade, Bard, Factotum) hits 3rd level spells around level 8, which is also when a normal Sorcerer gets the BAB. And PRCs basically all need either +4 BAB or 3rd lvl spells, or both. Unless there's an Arcane Cleric variant out there that I'm not remembering, there's not a good option.

[Rebel7284]

You need some sort of early entry to do this

Since fractional BAB is allowed you can do:
Illumian Wizard 1/Human Paragon 3/Ruathar 2
Use Improved Sigil (Krau) to be able to cast 3rd level spells at 4th to enter Ruathar. Illumians are Humanoid (Human) so should qualify for Human Paragon perfectly fine.

In similar spirit, Sorcerer 4/Full BAB 2 with Versatile Spellcaster and Heighten Spell can do the same thing.

If you have a bunch of money to throw at this, you can also hire a 10th level War Chanter to sing at you all day giving you very high BAB.

UMD and some items can also give you full BAB all day every day.
Minor Schema of Metamagic Item Infusion 6,000 gp + Minor Schema of Divine Power 11,200 gp = Full BAB all day if you can succeed on the DC 25 UMD check and then a DC 27 UMD check (unless you can convince your DM that an Ur Priest made the Divine Power schema just to lower the UMD check :smallbiggrin:)

[ZamielVanWeber]

Illumian Wizard 3/Eldritch knight 3 with Improved Sigil (Krau) and Militia has BAB 4 at 6th.

[noce]

Most things posted in this thread are debateable at best. I was looking more for "you straight up qualify without the need of RAW/RAI discussions", so I'll purposely omit my ruling opinions on this options, in order to not deviate the thread. And I'm not a fan of "you temporarily qualify if no one dispels you".

Anyway, thanks.

I was specifically looking for multiclass options that reach both bab 4 and the ability to cast 3rd level arcane spells by level 6.
I mean BAB 4 even in an antimagic field. And 3rd level spells without the use of any specific feat, or race.

There doesn't seem to be any other builds that reach such a goal. Well, it seems that the Battle Sorcerer has a nice perk, then.

[Piggy Knowles]

Death Master from the Dragon Compendium is medium BAB and gets 3rd-level spells at 5

[Calthropstu]

Step 1: be a member of an arcane race or class.

Step 2: Become employed.

Step 3: Get other members of your arcane class/race employed in same business.

Step 4: Have all of your arcane brethren stop working and demand stuff before you go back to work.

You have now achieved an arcane strike. You can even do this at level 1.

Hope this helps!

[Thurbane]

1. Contract lycanthropy to raise your HD and BAB
2. Take the feat
3. Level up until you have enough class levels/BAB to qualify for the feat
4. Get cured of lycanthropy

...pretty inefficient way to do it though.


Death Master from the Dragon Compendium is medium BAB and gets 3rd-level spells at 5

Huh. Never noticed they are medium BAB before, I'd always assumed poor BAB.

[smasher0404]

If you are playing with taint, a Duskblade (PHB II) 5/Maho-Tsukai (OA) 1 would qualify via Spell Conversion (albeit with a much narrower spell list than a battle sorcerer.)

[nedz]

Most things posted in this thread are debatable at best. I was looking more for "you straight up qualify without the need of RAW/RAI discussions", so I'll purposely omit my ruling opinions on this options, in order to not deviate the thread. And I'm not a fan of "you temporarily qualify if no one dispels you".

You are asking for early entry cheese and you seem surprised that the answers you get are cheesy ?

Rebel7284 mentioned the Illumian Improved Sigil (Krau) trick - which works with several builds.

[noce]

You are asking for early entry cheese and you seem surprised that the answers you get are cheesy ?

Rebel7284 mentioned the Illumian Improved Sigil (Krau) trick - which works with several builds.

Oh no, if I'd want cheese there are plenty of ways to do it.
I'm asking for class combinations with bab 4 and spell level 3 by level 6. Death Master was, for example, a thing I missed.

[Kaleph]

Human paragon 1 / Wizard* 2 / Human paragon +2 / Visionary seeker 1 should work with fractional BAB - please check that my math is correct, since I am multitasking right now :smallsmile:

* actually wizard, sha'ir, wu-jen, death master etc. will work.