Author Topic: Feat selection for a gestalt Duskblade/Beguiler  (Read 4241 times)

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genuine

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Feat selection for a gestalt Duskblade/Beguiler
« on: January 10, 2011, 12:04:10 PM »
Quick character/situation summary: We're starting level 1. Any published WotC book is kosher, but no homebrew or dragon material. He is a human with the draconic template (Thus human and dragonblood feats are available). As stated in the title, we are using gestalt rules and I am planning on a Duskblade/Beguiler mix. Stats are Str 12, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 18, Wis 8, Cha 10.

Whether I end up focusing on melee, casting, or skills is going to depend a bit on the rest of the party configuration. For now, I am looking at survivability in melee, as class features will do the casting/skill job just fine without being powered by feats.

I really am just looking for advice on his two level 1 feats. I'm tempted to just take the easy route and grab an exotic weapon proficiency and power attack, but I can't help but feel like better options should be available. Arcane Disciple is tempting, but I'm not sure of what god/domain to pick. For the moment, battle caster to get into some medium armor could be useful until it gets retrained later on.

Opinions?


Hallack

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Re: Feat selection for a gestalt Duskblade/Beguiler
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2011, 12:16:18 PM »
Arcane Disciple is not an option due to low Wisdom. 

You wouldn't go wrong with Exotic Weapon Proficiency, especially for a reach weapon (Spiked Chain).

For the other feat I would consider Combat Reflexes to take more advantage of reach for more attacks.  You'll get way more out of it than Power Attack at first level.  If you want Power Attack, pick it up at 3rd level or later. 

Going more the Caster direction you could enhance your spells with various feats but as you do not know what particular direction you will develop I suggest Versatile Spellcaster is a great option.  It will increase your number of high end spells allowing you to use lower slots (the zero level ones at first level) that likely would otherwise sit and do little to nothing. 
This feat is probably one of my favorites for the Beguiler in early play though its usefulness is greatly determined by a groups play style.

May be back with more later but for now...cheers.
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Bloody Initiate

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Re: Feat selection for a gestalt Duskblade/Beguiler
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2011, 12:20:24 PM »
Grab Power Attack, and I would say Knowledge Devotion but the description text shows 5 ranks in a knowledge skill as a prerequisite so you can't get it til level 2 unless your GM is nice (The chart shows no prerequisites). Darkstalker is an excellent feat from Lords of Madness that keeps many perception abilities from circumnavigating your Hide and Move Silently checks or Invisibility.

Make sure you grab Arcane Strike later. Duskblades and Beguilers both have a TON of spells, so you can power it pretty easily.

I might drop his dex and increase his strength were I you, but that's a personal preference. 12 strength is pretty shabby for a melee character, but you can work around that later. I'd commit to either strength or dex rather than attempting to keep both workable.

You might also consider increasing your wisdom to later take advantage of the Arcane Disciple feat, which will benefit both your Beguiler and Duskblade sides. However you're already pretty MAD, so it's looking like abandoning that route will serve you best.

Here are links to the Duskblade and Beguiler handbooks, as well as the Familiar handbook for fun.

EDIT: Since you're a melee Beguiler, consider the Group Fake-Out skill trick followed by a nice area spell. It's a combo that looks good for normal beguilers but they don't use it due to preferring to avoid melee. You're different, enjoy it.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2011, 12:38:29 PM by Bloody Initiate »
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genuine

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Re: Feat selection for a gestalt Duskblade/Beguiler
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2011, 12:54:11 PM »
Yeah... missed Arcane Disciple needing the extra wisdom. Arcane Disciple and Knowledge Devotion are both on my list, but they require higher level to grab.

As for melee damage, power attack is great but I'm anticipating most of my damage coming from arcane channeling. Power attack and high strength often seems less useful for a Duskblade than for a more classic melee type. I'm concerned over his durability, which is why I've currently got dex higher than str. But maybe I should reverse those; after all the beguiler spells have some decent defensive capabilities.

I'd grab exotic weapon proficiency in a heartbeat except that I don't anticipate having a great deal of equipment control in this campaign. I'm going to run with a standard reach weapon and use natural attacks if I get forced into fighting close (draconic template gives claw attacks), I wouldn't even consider it if I wasn't also considering weapon finesse and using exotic proficiency to get a finesse-able reach weapon.

I actually hadn't considered combat reflexes... it'll probably be a good choice; unless I drop his dex down though.

Bloody Initiate

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Re: Feat selection for a gestalt Duskblade/Beguiler
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2011, 01:10:03 PM »
Well you've created a sort of weird combination with two classes that fill very different roles. It's not a bad combination, but a Duskblade normally fills a damage role while a Beguiler ends up being more of a controller. Your ideal high-level rounds will probably involve using every bit of action you can get out of a round just to use both your classes. What you're creating is looking more like a magical rogue variant where your get your concealment from spells not skills, and your extra damage from channeling and arcane strike instead of sneak attack.
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Hallack

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Re: Feat selection for a gestalt Duskblade/Beguiler
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2011, 01:29:52 PM »
If grabbing a Guirsarme (along with claws) or similar then don't grab EWP.

There really are a lot of good feat options depending on what you want the character to do.

Duskblade//beguiler is just going to be solid all around.
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Rebel7284

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Re: Feat selection for a gestalt Duskblade/Beguiler
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2011, 01:39:27 PM »
You can't take power attack with 12 Str.
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Dictum Mortuum

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Re: Feat selection for a gestalt Duskblade/Beguiler
« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2011, 02:01:16 PM »
IMO swap dexterity and strength if you go melee.
Your race is awesome. If that's point buy, I'd tone down intelligence to 15-16, to get extra physical stats. Unless you want to use beguiler's save-or-sucks a lot.
Forget exotic weapons, you've got claws. (Also, you can use the claws for attacking, as secondary natural weapons, all with a penalty of a standard -5, without problems on your main weapon. This is awesome :p).
Definitely knowledge devotion, with beguiler's huge skill points per level and your intelligence.
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Hallack

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Re: Feat selection for a gestalt Duskblade/Beguiler
« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2011, 02:21:38 PM »
Plus as I recall Duskblades get all Knowledge skills which greatly helps spend those beguiler skillpoints on Knowledge Devotion skills.

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Dictum Mortuum

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Re: Feat selection for a gestalt Duskblade/Beguiler
« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2011, 02:37:26 PM »
Plus as I recall Duskblades get all Knowledge skills which greatly helps spend those beguiler skillpoints on Knowledge Devotion skills.



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genuine

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Re: Feat selection for a gestalt Duskblade/Beguiler
« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2011, 02:37:58 PM »
Hmmm... toning down int might be a good idea in general. With the Draconic template, I can get Str 18, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 10 instead of 12, 14, 14, 18, 8, 10; for the same point buy.

I think that's definitely better. Much better attack, the same dex, better con, all for the cost of 4 skill points and one lower save DCs.

So I think I'll definitely get Power attack for one of my first level feats.

Also, it occurs to me that I need to ask my DM about his stance on components/somatic issues while using a two-handed weapon. I may need to spend a feat on eschew materials.

Hallack

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Re: Feat selection for a gestalt Duskblade/Beguiler
« Reply #11 on: January 10, 2011, 03:37:37 PM »
The better spread of points would indeed be a big boon for you.
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Dictum Mortuum

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Re: Feat selection for a gestalt Duskblade/Beguiler
« Reply #12 on: January 10, 2011, 04:25:19 PM »
Hmmm... toning down int might be a good idea in general. With the Draconic template, I can get Str 18, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 10 instead of 12, 14, 14, 18, 8, 10; for the same point buy.

I think that's definitely better. Much better attack, the same dex, better con, all for the cost of 4 skill points and one lower save DCs.

So I think I'll definitely get Power attack for one of my first level feats.

Also, it occurs to me that I need to ask my DM about his stance on components/somatic issues while using a two-handed weapon. I may need to spend a feat on eschew materials.

If you check the Duskblade's handbook, I have a link from a wizard's article that says that you can hold a two-handed weapon with one hand. Moreover removing your hand from the weapon and re-gripping it are both free actions. I don't know if the links/attachments work, but with a little search, you might be able to find it.
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genuine

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Re: Feat selection for a gestalt Duskblade/Beguiler
« Reply #13 on: January 10, 2011, 04:32:39 PM »
Hmmm... toning down int might be a good idea in general. With the Draconic template, I can get Str 18, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 10 instead of 12, 14, 14, 18, 8, 10; for the same point buy.

I think that's definitely better. Much better attack, the same dex, better con, all for the cost of 4 skill points and one lower save DCs.

So I think I'll definitely get Power attack for one of my first level feats.

Also, it occurs to me that I need to ask my DM about his stance on components/somatic issues while using a two-handed weapon. I may need to spend a feat on eschew materials.

If you check the Duskblade's handbook, I have a link from a wizard's article that says that you can hold a two-handed weapon with one hand. Moreover removing your hand from the weapon and re-gripping it are both free actions. I don't know if the links/attachments work, but with a little search, you might be able to find it.

I do know this, and have used that article on the one time I had another player who thought you had to drop a weapon to cast. What I need to check is whether I can use that one free hand to use both somatic and material components. I've had DMs insist that a spell with both somatic and material components requires 2 free hands, not one. So, if I want to cast, say, charm person (V, S) I can do so freely, despite carrying a Guisarme. But if I want to cast Color Spray instead (V, S, M) then I'd have to drop/sheathe my weapon.

If a spell with both somatic and material components requires two free hands then eschew materials or somatic weaponry is required for a melee caster. And eschew materials is a smidgen better than somatic weaponry (no requirements, save 5 gp on a spell component pouch).

Black Knight

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Re: Feat selection for a gestalt Duskblade/Beguiler
« Reply #14 on: January 11, 2011, 02:22:46 AM »
Since you are focusing on survivability in melee for your 2 feat choices, consider taking:

Martial Study:  Crusader's Strike
Martial Stance:  Martial Spirit

Less effecient than taking a level in Crusader, but Martial Spirit might be worth the feat expenditure.

Cheers.
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Ithamar

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Re: Feat selection for a gestalt Duskblade/Beguiler
« Reply #15 on: January 11, 2011, 04:00:38 PM »
Versatile Spellcaster is pretty much always useful.

If the DM will let you retrain feats, take Precocious Apprentice.  It will be handy for the first few levels, and then when it drops off, just train it away into something like Blind-Fight or Combat Reflexes.
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genuine

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Re: Feat selection for a gestalt Duskblade/Beguiler
« Reply #16 on: January 11, 2011, 04:54:30 PM »
I wonder if I could talk the DM into allowing me to use the Duskblade's arcane attunement castings to power Versatile spell-casting.  Not really RAW, and certainly not RAI, but still...

As it is, I think I'm going to run with either versatile spellcaster or precocious apprentice. I'm also tempted to get Heroic Destiny followed up by Fearless destiny later on.

Being able to avoid death can be invaluable, and a reroll every day is at least decent.