Greetings, fellow COpters! My group is starting preparations for a new campaign, and I am in need of some direction regarding my character.
First, the essential campaign information.
[spoiler]
Allowed books: Core + Completes+PHBII, ToB, and Sandstorm, and a 3rd party book called Beyond Monks. Also the Dragon Compendium. That's it, though. The GM won't approve stuff outside of these. He wants to keep the ruleset down to what he knows best due to limited time.
High magic. Starting at level 3. UA Vitalizing Spellpoint variants are in use, so Con is even more important. Also, Conjuration(Summoning) spells don't exist. Summons are unique and must be quested for. Classes too, actually. Any PrC listed I plan on questing for if I can, but that means that the build must be able to stand on its own without it if need be. Any PrC must be taken in its entirety before beginning a new one. Oh, and the GM doesn't like dual-progression classes like Mystic Theurge or Enlightened Fist, and hates dual-progression feats (Ascetic Mage, Daring Outlaw, Swift Hunter, etc.) Multiclassing is difficult: if we start with a multiclassed character, we advance the age category by one. Each time we take a new base class in-game, we need a year of downtime to train.
The setting is a land-heavy world with bodies of water scattered about. The GM pretty much just took a topographical map of Venus and added water. Dragons rule the world as overlords, but largely leave the lesser races to themselves as long as they don't get in the dragons' way. That means, though, that no dragon-centric stuff is available to players: no feats, classes, gear, or spells.
[/spoiler]
Character concept is a soft/internal-style martial artist who attacks with melee touch attacks. Something along the lines of Tai Chi or Dim Mak, or a focus on touch spells. The idea is to debuff/BC, and maybe damage as a secondary concern. Ideally, I'd like to be a gnome, but it's not set in stone. We're restricted to PHB races, though, with the exception that core elves have been replaced by grey elves.
So what I need help with is narrowing down which classes to use. Since I'm focusing on melee, survivability is an issue. BAB isn't a huge concern, since the focus is touch attacks, but it is more important than, say, for a BC wizard. Since most of the interesting touch effects in the game are spells, casting is important (unless there are monk/rogue feats for that kind of thing).
Some potential builds (not exhaustive):
[spoiler]
Martial Artist5/Tanterist10/???:
Martial Artist is a base class from Beyond Monks (explicitly approved by the GM). It's a mix between fighter and monk, with a barbarian-esque surge ability and sneak attack-like finishing move. It's actually very balanced, and flexible enough for my purposes. The Tanterist is a PrC from the same book that specifically deals with Dim Mak-like effects, but it's kind of weak.
Spellthief6/Osteomancer10/???:
Osteomancer is from Dragon Magazine Compendium. 1/2 spell progression, 3/4 BAB, and gets interesting bone-based abilities (like bone spikes). Spellthief looks interesting as a start, since I like playing rogue-types. May throw in Abjurant Champion for CL tricks later in the build.
Duskblade/???:
An Unarmed Strike Duskblade could work out rather nicely, but I'm starting to get tired of playing Duskblades all the time. It's a definite possibility, though.
Warmage5/Sandshaper10/???:
I know, Warmage is weak, but it's also a good excuse to go Sandshaper all the way. Fits the concept less closely than the others, but still doable. Sandshaper fits the world nicely too.
Combat Sorceror/Spellwarp Sniper5/???:
Another possibility, in the same vein as the warmage/sandshaper above. Not a close fit to the concept, but it has flexibilityand spellcasting power. With one of those combat variants and the Metamagic Specialist ACF from PHBII, it's at least solid.
[/spoiler]
Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.