Hexblade Spells from the PHBII?

[Shisumo]

I was wondering which spells from the PHBII deserve to be on the hexblade class list, despite inexplicably not being included.

Here are some of the ones I'm thinking about:
1st level - blade of blood, burning rage, whelm
2nd level - black karma curse, dimension hop, dispelling touch, increase virulence, Kelgore's grave mist, whelming blast
3rd level - alter fortune, curse of arrow attraction, energy aegis, energy vulnerability, halt, hesitate, inevitable defeat
4th level - baleful blink, doom scarabs, greater mirror image, mass whelm, phantom battle, slashing dispel, stifle spell

Are there others, or some reason why these aren't good ideas?

Also, completely separately, how exactly does phantom threat work? Since "flanked" isn't a condition, I'm at a bit of a loss for how the spell actually functions...

[Overlard]

I wouldn't have the whelm spells. They just don't seem very hexbladey to me. And phantom battle seems a bit too large-scale for the hexblade.

[Grynning]

The spell itself is a mind-effecting illusion, but it doesn't create a condition per se. Creatures affected by the spell are considered flanked, which means that others get a +2 bonus attacking them, and rogues can sneak attack them for the duration of the spell.
The will save in this case works like any other, you make it, the illusion doesn't affect you.

Regarding Hexblades, if you're going to house-rule things in to make them more useful, give them more spells per day. They're extraordinarily weak compared to other melee/spell hybrids as they are. I like them a lot, but why would I be a Hexblade when I have PHBII? Duskblades cover the melee/offense side very well, and if you want more sneakiness and illusion, be a Beguiler.

[Shisumo]

The spell itself is a mind-effecting illusion, but it doesn't create a condition per se. Creatures affected by the spell are considered flanked, which means that others get a +2 bonus attacking them, and rogues can sneak attack them for the duration of the spell.
The will save in this case works like any other, you make it, the illusion doesn't affect you.

That's pretty much the way I was planning to run it, but what that actually means is that attackers are considered to be flanking it (which has a game effect), not that it is flanked (which doesn't technically).

Regarding Hexblades, if you're going to house-rule things in to make them more useful, give them more spells per day. They're extraordinarily weak compared to other melee/spell hybrids as they are. I like them a lot, but why would I be a Hexblade when I have PHBII? Duskblades cover the melee/offense side very well, and if you want more sneakiness and illusion, be a Beguiler.

It's actually for a gestalt hexblade//rogue that one of my players is running currently, and what she likes about them is the curse. (I'm also offering her an Extra Curse feat [+2/day, a la Extra Rage and Extra Smite], though she hasn't decided whether she's going to take it.) The only reason this came up was because I was trying to assemble a single spell list for her.

[Shisumo]

I wouldn't have the whelm spells. They just don't seem very hexbladey to me. And phantom battle seems a bit too large-scale for the hexblade.

I think I agree with your point about phantom battle, and mass whelm probably has a similar problem, but the single-target whelms seem to basically be "I scare you to death" which is very much in line with the hexblade feel to me.

[Reel On, Love]

Cloud of Knives definitely needs to be a Hexblade spell.

[Person_Man]

Hexblades have seriously nerfed caster level, = 1/2 their Hexblade level, +4 if you take Practiced Spellcaster. And they have a lot of dead levels. So I'm definitely in favor of expanding their spell list.