Spellsword, any good?

[metalbear]

I recently bought Complete Warrior, and I am intrigued by the Spellsword PrC. I was wondering if the forum could help me find the best way to build an effective and fun to play Spellsword. Any suggestions would be great, as I am a relatively new player. Thanks.

[Amiria]

Spellsword is only good for a dip. The first level is great, if you take the second for the feat then also take the third, but not more.

Spellsword has easy requirements. Two good saves and the reduced spell failure chance are nice. Twilight Mithral thistle-down padded Breastplate FTW.

Even in older gish build it is used only as a dip combined with Eldritch Knight (DMG). Nowadays it is commonly combined with Abjurant Champion (Complete Mage) (or Knight Phantom (some Eberron book), but that class isn't significantly better than Eldritch Knight).

The channeling of melee spells through your weapon isn't worth the loss of all those caster levels.

[Aerogoat]

That class presents itself as a 10 level prestige class, but that's a lie. Spellsword is only arguably worthwhile for a maximum of 5 levels. After that it doesn't gain much and continues eating your caster levels.
And there are definitely better options available:

Runesmith from Races of Stone gives free armored casting at level 1.
Abjurant Champion from Complete Mage has 5/5 BAB, 5/5 Casting, d10 HD and easy qualification. It's generally a good follow-up for your first Spellsword level.
Eldritch Knight gives far batter spellcasting

The Duskblade base class and the Smiting Spell feat from the Player's Handbook II make the Channeling ability a bit repetitive.

Fighter 2/Wizard 4/Spellsword 1/Abjurant Champion 5/Eldritch Knight 8 is the standard build for the Fighter/Wizard archetype.

[edit:]Here's a link to the Knight Phantom class Amiria mentioned. Personally, I dislike the class because it's essentially a more restricted Eldritch Knight and because I think Armor is overrated.

[metalbear]

What book could I find Eldritch Knight in?

[Amiria]

Fighter 2/Wizard 4/Spellsword 1/Abjurant Champion 5/Eldritch Knight 8 is the standard build for the Fighter/Wizard archetype.

Well, some people say that the 2nd fighter level is a waste and that you should rather take two wizard levels instead (PRC BAB requirements).

Not I ! Take the 2nd fighter level, for the BAB for the hp, for the feat. Gishes are not good if they are too squishy and can't hit anything.

What book could I find Eldritch Knight in?

Dungeon MAster Guide, or SRD, like I said in my first post.

[Iku Rex]

The Eldritch Knight is in the DMG/SRD

[Aerogoat]

What book could I find Eldritch Knight in?

It's in the Dungeon Master's Guide. Here's a link.

It's a very basic class, it doesn't really give any fancy abilities, but it is good for filling in the last few levels of a Gish build.
Sacred Exorcist from the Complete Divine also does a good job of filling in dead levels, but it encourages a specific fluff for the character. EK doesn't.

[pinkbunny]

If you ever hit epic, it looks like a delightful class for using the Practiced spellcaster feat with, as you don't get extra spells for CLs at that point.

[nargbop]

Spellsword is quite nice in combination with other prestige classes.
One player in a game I'm in right now is a Sorcerer / Spellsword / Abjurant Champion . He is very difficult to hit, very difficult to enchant, and discharges awesome lightning through his sword in every fight. Abjurant Champion allows swift casting of abjuration spells, and spellsword adds a Lightning Bolt or other spell to the first successful hit in a fight. It's very, very effective when he needs to bring down enemies fast.
We might have some trouble facing something with electrical and fire resistance.

[mostlyharmful]

If you want the flavour at full caster go for a +1 Twilight Mithril Chain shirt, Mithril buckler wearing wiz, If you make them an Elf you can even use half decent weapons. And thats all without dropping feats, caster levels, skills or even much cash