Why is this prestige so good?

[Kurald Galain]

I recently heard about the prestige class, Raumathari Battlemage, and according to google this is one of the best gish prestiges around.

Only I fail to see why. I mean, sure, it has 9/10 spellcasting so on most levels it's better than pure wizard, and it gets cleric BAB; but the prerequisites are somewhat annoying (combat casting and EWP). What I don't get is the abilities... sure, casting spells through your sword is cool - but you can only do this once per day, and only on a 1st level spell. Then you get a free no-level-adjustment silent or still spell... but this also works only once per day, and a spell-slinging sword-chucker is not exactly known for being stealthy anyway. Only at level 7-10 of the prestige class does it seem somewhat worthwhile, for you get sudden quicken/maximize - but you could have taken the feats for that instead of combat casting and EWP.

So why is this considered better than the full-BAB Eldritch Knight, for instance, or the gish-in-a-box Duskblade? Am I missing something?

[Nebo_]

At a glance, it's because it doesn't lose the caster level at level 1. Most of the other Gish PrCs lose one at first level.

[Chosen_of_Vecna]

Well to be fair, he does get +1 to CL and saves for spells involving his sword. And most Gishes have to take Combat casting to get into one of their PrCs anyway. And you sure as hell aren't ever going to sudden Quicken anything. And you can take just 4 levels and then bail over to another full casting Gish to get even more nice benefits.

[mostlyharmful]

Nope. I'm not seeing it nither. The +1 Caster level thing is ok and if you can find lots of self buffs with a material component of 50gp or less it wouldn't be bad for a level but the feat prereqs are suck on a stick, the high level stuff isn't all that thrilling, certainly not worth slogging through so many levels of meh and there are plenty of full BAB classes that only lose one caster level or give more interesting things.

Yeah, it doesn't suck too bad so if you've got a fluff reason there's nothing too bad about it and you can jump after five levels without losing much of anything (not really gaining anything special or anything).

Something to remember, if you go into this low the amount of feats and money invested in it can really hurt, esspecially if you aren't relying on divine caster friends with weapon/armour buffs and if you go in high there are PrC that are faaaar better for the levels/feats.

[Tengu]

Battle Spell is not once per day, but once per day per two levels (at least that's how I understand the ruling) - at level 10, you can Maximize any spell you cast 5 times per day.

Also, what Chosen_of_Vecna said.

[mostlyharmful]

Battle Spell is not once per day, but once per day per two levels (at least that's how I understand the ruling) - at level 10, you can Maximize any spell you cast 5 times per day.

If so it's a lot more effective a Gish class, but not all DMs would rule that way as it's a little iffy (I would though).

[FlyMolo]

ERm, full casting, channeling, free sudden metamagic, and bonuses on attack rolls while channeling a spell, saving you a standard action?

Why NOT take this prestige class?

[Kurald Galain]

ERm, full casting, channeling, free sudden metamagic, and bonuses on attack rolls while channeling a spell, saving you a standard action?

Why NOT take this prestige class?

For starters, it doesn't have full casting. Second, I wasn't asking "why take this prestige" but "why is this prestige considered so good"? It obviously is better than not prestiging (for a gish, at least) but apparently far from the best either.

Well, casting through your sword essentially means that a touch spell now deals an additional 1d8+2 or so damage. Wheee!

Battle Spell is not once per day, but once per day per two levels (at least that's how I understand the ruling) - at level 10, you can Maximize any spell you cast 5 times per day.

I don't think that's true. I think you can quicken one spell, silent a second, and empower the third. Even if it were true, this prestige class would be rather weak until you reach its 8th level.

[kamikasei]

ERm, full casting, channeling, free sudden metamagic, and bonuses on attack rolls while channeling a spell, saving you a standard action?

Why NOT take this prestige class?

You have to take a couple of undesirable feats and acquire proficiency with martial weapons? (Hmmm, would being an Elf, say, weasel around the wording of that?)

[Chosen_of_Vecna]

Well, casting through your sword essentially means that a touch spell now deals an additional 1d8+2 or so damage. Wheee!

Only if you don't know how to use it. Since the average Gish is capable of Wraithstrike Power Attacking for tons, not to mention that Gishes have high Str and damage.

The best use is a channeled Combust into a Whirling Blade Spell in the same round you Wraithstrike, Power Attack for full.

That pretty much insta-gibs a 60ft line.

[Miles Invictus]

I don't think that's true. I think you can quicken one spell, silent a second, and empower the third. Even if it were true, this prestige class would be rather weak until you reach its 8th level.

Note the wording. If you could only apply one specific metamagic effect per day, it would be phrased as "At 2nd level, you may apply Silent Spell to one spell per day as a free action. At 4th level, you may apply Still Spell to one spell per day as a free action..." to eliminate any ambiguity. Instead, it speaks in general terms "You may apply a single metamagic feat...", "gains a third/fourth/fifth battle spell...", etc, and expands the list of options you have.