Build 1: Duskblade 13 / Abjurant Champion 5 / Champion of Corellon 2
-Feats-
1. Combat Expertise
2. Combat Casting (Duskblade)
3. Knowledge Devotion
6. Arcane Strike
9. Weapon Focus Longsword
12. Mounted Combat
15. Dodge
18. Extra Spell (Insert nice touch spell of 4th level or lower here. Shiver touch works nicely.)
i like this a lot. you are correct when you say only 2 levels is really necessary from an optimizing pov. i like the level 7 ability too, whichwas why i left that there. but the lev 13 duskblade ability is good also. in addition, keeping this to 2 level of cocl reduces MAD, always good. these are my numbers 16, 15, 15, 15, 13, 5 +6 to distribute among them (not exceeding an 18). so maybe 18, 18, 16, 15, 13, 5. i dont know yet, i HATE having such a low dumpstat.
*If flaws are allowed, use the following setup:
1. Power Attack, Knowledge Devotion, Weapon Focus Longsword
2. Combat Casting (Duskblade)
3. Combat Expertise
6. Arcane Strike
9. Mounted Combat
12. Dodge
15. Extra Spell (Wraithstrike. Do not argue, just shut up and do.)
18. Extra Spell (Insert nice touch spell of 4th level or lower here. Shiver touch works nicely.)
no flaws allowed...
-Notes-
* Full Arcane Channeling
* 18 level Duskblade Casting (5th levels spells! Disintegrate anyone?)
* Dex to damage in addition to strength
* Simple and elegant in design.
Honestly Champion of Corellon is only good for at most 2 or 5 levels. If your looking to use it for flavor that is fine, but for optimizing purposes 2 levels seems the way to go. The suggested build gives you full arcane channeling which is the key reason to go Duskblade past level 5. An example of the usefulness of this:
Full Attack Sequence with a longsword: = +21/+16/+11/+6
With Knowledge Devotion (Assuming you rolled a 36+): = +26/+21/+16/+11
Burning a 5th level spell for Arcane Strike (Free Action / Untyped Bonus): = +31/+26/+21/+16
For simplicities sake let us assume an 18 strength score: = +35/+30/+25/+20
Make the longsword a +5 weapon: = +40/+35/+30/+25
Now let us throw on a Haste-like-effect: = +40/+40/+35/+30/+25
As you can see with only a few simple optimizations your bonus to hit is quite high. But what is the point of this massive bonus to hit if your damage output is minimal? Let us look at your damage output shall we? A quick side note, use your swift action to cast Wraithstrike, your power attack will thank you for it.
Base Weapon: +5 Longsword = 1d8+5 damage (6 min || 13 max damage)
18 Strength: +4 damage = (10 min || 17 max damage)
Wield your longsword in two hands: x1.5 damage = (12 min || 19 max damage)
18 Dexterity: +4 damage = (16 min || 23 max damage)
Knowledge Devotion: +5 insight bonus to damage = (21 min || 27 max damage)
Arcane Strike: +5d4 untyped damage = (25 min || 47 max damage)
Power Attack: -20 to attack for +40 to damage = (65 min || 87 max damage)
Full Arcane Channeling with Vampiric Touch: 10d6 damage = (75 min || 147 max damage)
So with 5 touch attacks at a +20/+20/+15/+10/+5 to hit, each one does a minimum of 75 damage up to 147 maximum damage. If all of them hit that is easily 375-735 damage with one full attack. Also note that you only burned one 2nd, 3rd, and 5th level spell to pull it off. Your a Duskblade! You have a LOT more spells to go through before your ready to call it a day.
wow thank you! nice work. i cant spend too much time responding, because i am heading to work soon, but ill try to touch on a few points.
abjurant champion... does the duskblade have any decent (or at all) abjurations? or is he in there for his other skills? i really love vamp touch, how much would that heal? also, im not too familiar with duskblade spells (yet), is it a decent list? you mentioned disintegrate...
the only problem i have is that..well, this doesnt fit any need in the party. because im the more experienced player, i usually end up haveing to fill the need left over by everyone just picking what they want. we have 2 paladins (one is a centaur-he always likes doing "funny" things), the other wants to be a hunter of the dead later on. we have a samurai (oa version. he might go into the older master samurai prc later), and we have a druid. to me that leaves a skillmonkey/trap finder, and an arcane user could be psionic)...
so i have been trying to find a good gish to make me feel good about myself lol. i AM bookmarking this write up you did though, it is awesome. the most interesting build ive discovered is rogue/warlock/daggerspell mage, but again, i dont know how powerful warlock invocations can be. i WANT to be a melee gish like youve provided, but im afraid we'll all die from a trap if i cant slip that in there somewhere