New Players

[Fire Wraith]

Well, you'd also be a pretty high level mage too, even if not a full-on DC/slots build.

[Ryoko Honda]

I'm likely going to go with rapier.

[Garage Trashcan]

FireWraith's post is pretty much a 10/10 in a class breakdown.

I'm tempted to agree with Blessedcurse here in that Longsword/STR is the way to go over rapier, simply because of the damage. You're really not gonna want lower than a 14 STR at all as a melee (and I have an epic DEX ranger with 10 base, trust me, you miss the damage). Starting with 12 or 14 DEX isn't gonna hurt you too much AC-wise as Blessedcurse said, since reaching the +3 or +4 Dex cap in armor isn't too hard with buffs.

[Deleted]

Basically there are two build paths here ability score wise. One where you start with a base 13-14 Dex and don't go any higher (except for maybe +4 item enhancement to insulate against a cat's grace dispel) and one where you get your base dex to 18+ (through a combination of starting Dex and Level ability increase).

If you go the base dex 13-14 route then longsword and mixing some of your ability score boosts into strength is will be key.

If you go the base dex 18+ route then weapon finesse and rapier are the way to go.

As Demonic_Angel mentions above, if you go the base 18+ dex build route you have to be sure not to totally ignore your Strength, otherwise your damage and your crits (however frequent) will be low. Eventually you'll be trying to fit a +12 enhancement bonus to Dex, +12 enhancement bonus to Int and as much Strength enhancement as you can muster. That is a lot of maxed out body slots.

The 14 Dex build (sort of a sweet spot) can basically just use a cat's grace spell with elven chain armor and devote all their body slots to Strength/Intelligence bumps with a touch of Constitution in the mix. The top end BAB's will be about the same and the AC differential will be about 3 points in favor of the base dex 18+ build but your top end damage will be quite a bit higher (even without weapon specialization).

If you go Strength/Intelligence Eldritch Knight you might have to squeeze a light armor weapon proficiency feat into the mix (I can't remember if bladesinger gets that by default or not) so that you can wear light armor.

I've found that Fighter/Wizard/Bladesinger and Wizard/Eldritch Knight/Bladesinger are both fairly survivable builds (unless you get dispelled, that always sucks) on CD having played both here.

One thing to note, I don't think a combat casting bladesinger is super viable. I've seen it attempted, but if you are looking for an offensive casting wizard who can use a rapier well, then I would go straight up Wizard/Eldritch Knight and hang to the back until you need to plug a gap for your meleers.

As I mentioned before with your super high AC and wards (stoneskin, ghostly visages, etc.) you are going to be drawn to melee, because you will be harder to hit than the others in your group. That means if you try to cast you are going to AoO and at times seem to be flat-footed until you pick a target and re-engage in melee. For bladesinger (of any but even more so high Dex build) losing your dex and dodge bonuses to AC hurts.

[Ryoko Honda]

Wizard24/Fighter4/Rogue2 (or Bard2)

STR:10
DEX:17->22
CON:10
WIS:8
INT:18->20
CHA:8

Fighter Levels
Discipline,

Rogue Levels:
Tumble, UDM,

Level Spread:
1.) Wiz / Experties
2.) Fighter / Wep Feness
3.) Wiz /Wep Focus: Rapier
4.) Wiz
5.) Wiz
6.) Wiz /Improved Experites / Extend Spell
7.) Wiz
8.) Wiz
9.) Wiz /Blind Fight
10.) Wiz
11.) Wiz /Metamagic: Max
12.) Fighter / Knock Down, Impr Knock Down
13.) Wiz
14.) Wiz
15.) Wiz / Improv Crit: Rapier
16.) Wiz
17.) Wiz / Craft Wand /or potion
18.) Wiz / Combat Casting
19.) Wiz
20.) Wiz
21.) Wiz / Epic Wep Focus: Rapier
22.) Wiz / Greater Spell Pen
23.) Wiz
24.) Wiz / Epic Spell: Mage Armor
25.) Fighter / Skill Dump (Discipline)
26.) Rogue / Skill Dump (Tumble)
27.) Fighter Weapon Specialization Rapier/ Epic Wep Spec: Rapier
28.) Wiz / Epic Spell: Mummie
29.) Rogue Skill Dump Use Magic Device
30.) Wiz / Epic Spell: Greater Ruin or Hellball


Notes:
-For skills, Tumble, Discipline, Concentration, Spellcraft, Use Magical device and anything else you like.


That was my old server build. What would the Long sword build look like?

[Deleted]

That depends on what path you want to take and whether you want to be a sun-elf (+2 INT, -2 CON) or moon-elf (+2 INT, -2 CON). I am guessing since you'd like to cast Epic spells you'd shoot for the more arcane build and if you do the strength build sun-elf is a little more beneficial statistically.



Str 15 (+12 enhancement = 27 but I would devote most of your epic level increases to Strength)
Dex 14 (+4 enhancement can be from items or cat's grace spell)
Con 12 (14 - 2 for sun-elf) (you probably won't have enough body slots here for a full +12 enhancement bonus, but you I'd try to boost this with items as you can)
Int 15 (14 + 2 for sun-elf) > 20 (all stat increase up to level 20) (+12 enhancement = 32 for a +11 bladesinger class AC bonus)
Wis 10
Chr 10

You can min/max your Strength (to a 16) a bit more if you bump down your Wisdom or Charisma to an 8, that would really depend on whether the character you envision is particularly unwise or particularly un-charismatic. If not I would not bump it and use my first epic ability score bump to raise it to 16.

Keep in mind with practiced spellcaster your spell effects (duration, damage, etc.) are calculated using the higher casting level, the actual number of spells available to you will be based on your wizard (1 per)/eldritch knight (1 per)/bladesinger (1 per 2 levels [on levels 1, 3, 6, 9, 11]).

*denotes a bonus feat

Concentration 4+ (no problem wizard class skill), Lore 3+ (no problem wizard class skill), Tumble 3+ (cross class skill)

General note on class skills: Pick up Discipline when it is available and don't forget to max out Tumble during your bladesinger levels.
Option feats that can be useful in this build: power attack (for when you want a little more stank on it), cleave (nice to get extra attacks sometimes)
Bladesinger bonus feats are very limited as I recall metamagic, improved crit (rapier, longsword), practiced spell caster (I think) so you may get to pick a metamagic you like other than still spell for the bonus feat at level 17.

Wizard 1: combat casting
Wizard 3: weapon proficiency (martial)
Wizard 5: *still spell (effective caster level 5)
Wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 1: dodge, *weapon focus (longsword) (effective caster level 6)
Wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 4: expertise (effective caster level 9)
Wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 4/Bladesinger 1: (effective caster level 10)
Wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 4/Bladesinger 2: *practiced spellcaster (wizard) (effective caster level 11 - only gets +1 from the practiced spellcaster feat here)
Wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 4/Bladesinger 3: light armor proficiency (if you don't get it from bladesinger)(effective caster level 12)
Wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 4/Bladesinger 5: *improved critical (longsword) (effective caster level 14 - practiced spellcaster bonus +2 from bladesinger levels 2 & 4)
Wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 4/Bladesinger 6: toughness [extra hit points are nice] (effective caster level 15 - practiced spellcaster bonus +3 from bladesinger levels 2 & 4 & 6)
Wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 4/Bladesinger 7: (effective caster level 16)
Wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 4/Bladesinger 8: *bladesinger bonus feat (effective caster level 17 - practiced spellcaster bonus maxed at +4 from bladesinger levels 2 & 4 & 6 & 8)
Wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 4/Bladesinger 9: available feat of your choice (effective caster level 18)
Wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 5/Bladesinger 11: epic feat 1 (effective caster level 20)

Honestly that will hold you for 6-9 months of play at early epic I'd focus on boosting Strength and doing an epic toughness or two. Also I don't really recall the epic level spell magic system here, but I don't believe it works through epic feats you take at level up. Someone who has used it can chime in.

I'd probably be tempted to go 10 levels of wizard to get an extra feat I can use for item creation rather than get the extra 2 hp per level from Eldritch Knight. So my final level 30 build would probably be Wizard 10/Eldritch Knight 9/Bladesinger 11.

[Ryoko Honda]

Yah sun elf.

[Ryoko Honda]

Thinking meta-Magics would be like Extend, and Max?

[Ryoko Honda]

I have question though. Don't Elves give you Rapier / Long sword, already as bonus feat?

[onivel]

Nov 27, 2015 2:48:13 GMT -5 Ryoko Honda said:

I have question though. Don't Elves give you Rapier / Long sword, already as bonus feat?

yes .. those come with the elven racial weapon proficiency

[Deleted]

You do, but you need martial weapon proficiency to qualify for Eldritch Knight.

[Ryoko Honda]

Oh. That makes sence. Mmm- Alright. I'm glad i have pretty good idea. I've been working on my profile, and some details or personality, and so on.

[Mystic Warden]

Nov 26, 2015 19:29:29 GMT -5 Fire Wraith said:

As far as stats, I'd suggest sticking to DEX and INT. As most elven subraces, you'll get a bonus to one or the other (Sun Elves get +2Int, Moon Elves the standard +2dex, etc). Your target INT will probably be 20 (to let you cast 9th level spells), since with gear/buffs at/near epic you should be able to get +12 int on top of that, giving you 32 for +11 AC bonus.

Maybe I am missing something here, but isn't 31 the maximum ability score available on the server (giving +10 bonus)?

[Ryoko Honda]

I think i'm gonna need to rebuild. Since last night we decided on Storyline that will allow me to play Nyacelil! But, only like 2 levels!

[Remmy]

Nov 28, 2015 14:31:53 GMT -5 Mystic Warden said:

Nov 26, 2015 19:29:29 GMT -5 Fire Wraith said:

As far as stats, I'd suggest sticking to DEX and INT. As most elven subraces, you'll get a bonus to one or the other (Sun Elves get +2Int, Moon Elves the standard +2dex, etc). Your target INT will probably be 20 (to let you cast 9th level spells), since with gear/buffs at/near epic you should be able to get +12 int on top of that, giving you 32 for +11 AC bonus.

Maybe I am missing something here, but isn't 31 the maximum ability score available on the server (giving +10 bonus)?

Maximum ability score is your current base score+12 from items and buffs.  So if your character has a base of 19 in a stat then the maximum it can hit is 31. If however you have a 22, then it will be 34.