Rhaegar14
2021-05-10, 02:18 PM
Hey Playground,
Talking with some friends of mine got me to crack open my 3.5 books and toss some builds around in my head for the first time in literal years (my game groups have all gone to 5e). It's been a fun return to how much time I used to spend theorycrafting this edition of the game.
Swiftblade has long been the build that I've said to myself "If I ever get to play 3.5e again, this is what I'm rolling" and I noticed the other day that Beguiler can actually very easily qualify if you're going for an optimization level/tier that's a little lower than Focused Transmuter Wizard. However, the traditional Swiftblade build (at least as I think of it) is Wizard / Swiftblade / Abjurant Champion, as Abjurant Champion lets you get all the way to Swiftblade 9 without sacrificing that 9th level spells by level 20 benchmark. While Beguilers can technically qualify for Abjurant Champion (thanks Dispel Magic), they don't benefit as much, if at all, from some of its key features; they have no Abjuration buffs to add class level to, extend, or cast as a swift action. Casting Dispel Magic as a swift action will be useful when Dispel Magic is relevant, but the point still stands that they don't have the spell list that Abjurant Champion was designed around. Arcane Boost still retains some niche uses even if you take the Arcane Strike feat, and five levels of d10 hit die, full base attack bonus, and full spellcasting progression is still better than Eldritch Knight, but this got me thinking about alternatives all the same.
So my question to the Playground is: If you played a Beguiler/Swiftblade out to total ECL 15 or 16 and wouldn't/couldn't take any more levels of Swiftblade, how would you build from there?
Talking with some friends of mine got me to crack open my 3.5 books and toss some builds around in my head for the first time in literal years (my game groups have all gone to 5e). It's been a fun return to how much time I used to spend theorycrafting this edition of the game.
Swiftblade has long been the build that I've said to myself "If I ever get to play 3.5e again, this is what I'm rolling" and I noticed the other day that Beguiler can actually very easily qualify if you're going for an optimization level/tier that's a little lower than Focused Transmuter Wizard. However, the traditional Swiftblade build (at least as I think of it) is Wizard / Swiftblade / Abjurant Champion, as Abjurant Champion lets you get all the way to Swiftblade 9 without sacrificing that 9th level spells by level 20 benchmark. While Beguilers can technically qualify for Abjurant Champion (thanks Dispel Magic), they don't benefit as much, if at all, from some of its key features; they have no Abjuration buffs to add class level to, extend, or cast as a swift action. Casting Dispel Magic as a swift action will be useful when Dispel Magic is relevant, but the point still stands that they don't have the spell list that Abjurant Champion was designed around. Arcane Boost still retains some niche uses even if you take the Arcane Strike feat, and five levels of d10 hit die, full base attack bonus, and full spellcasting progression is still better than Eldritch Knight, but this got me thinking about alternatives all the same.
So my question to the Playground is: If you played a Beguiler/Swiftblade out to total ECL 15 or 16 and wouldn't/couldn't take any more levels of Swiftblade, how would you build from there?