Duskblade class features

[Isomenes]

I grant that Duskblades come up often, but it's such a neat class. I have a couple questions for you:

Does it seem odd to anyone that Somatic Weaponry isn't a bonus feat a la Combat Casting? The spell levels and selection are significantly truncated, so it wouldn't be terribly game-breaking to throw a feat-starved martial class a nice synergy bone at higher levels.

Also, I am completely confused about the full attack channeling. The way I initially read it, and the way the phrase lobbed around here seems to imply (walking H-bomb), is that a spell affected a target with each successful attack. I ran into another interpretation that says that it only affects each target once. So, it makes things like Dispelling Touch much more sad :( Is the term "walking H-bomb" still applicable in light of the new interpretation?

At level 13, it seems like the Duskblade full attack's damage output becomes, well, mediocre compared to a Warblade 13 or even a fighter with all his feats.
(Though, there are nifty things that neither can do, such as Vampiric Touch and the sweet self-buffs like Protection from Energy.) Also, for spells that require a save (like Ghoul Touch), it would be nice to actually have to force three saves in case the first (or second) succeeds. But that's just me whining. :)

What do you think?

[Bauglir]

From what I understand, you can only affect a single target once. However, a Duskblade who smacks multiple opponents gets to hit each of them with the spell. If your DM is nice, you can channel it through a Whirlwind Attack, which could be fun in the right situations (bonus points for a spiked chain). I might be wrong about that, though. It probably wouldn't be too unbalancing to let them hit the same target multiple times with the Duskblade spell list, but there might be some cheese available for multiclassing ones, particularly if they take rapid advancement classes like Ur-Priest. However, I've not recently checked the Duskblade spell list or the Cleric one, so someone else's opinion on the matter is probably better.

[Fax Celestis]

The Duskblade doesn't get Somatic Weaponry because the Somatic Weaponry feat didn't exist when the Duskblade was made.

[shaggz076]

When you look at the descriptive text it says that you affect every one of your attacks in the round with the channeled spell. That being said you could full attack someone hitting him 3 times at 13th level and channeling vampiric touch. Each hit would deal 6D6+ weapon damage. You could also target multiple targets for example through whirlwind attack and thus hit many targets with the same spell. Now the thing I think is really interesting would be the fact that your weapon remains charged with the spell untill the end of the round meaning if after your turn someone provokes an AOO you can hit them with the spell effect as well.

Moreover it also states that you can use ANY touch attack through your weapon so you could channel those nice disintigrates and scorching rays through your weapon too.

[thorgrim29]

ohhhhhh ranged touch attacks through arcane channeling, you sir just made my day.

[shaggz076]

ohhhhhh ranged touch attacks through arcane channeling, you sir just made my day.

Yeah many people seem to assume that it is only melee touch attacks but it does specify any touch attacks in the description and anyway it would be really dumb to give so many ranged touch attacks and only 2 or 3 melee touch attacks each level. Although if you think about it you hit someone with an arcane channeled seeking ray and then you can jump back and hit them with all the ray effects you want.

[shaggz076]

I still think it is a fun little thing to Dimension hop some poor sap either up to your max height or out over a cliff. lol

All I visualize is you coming down on the guy and the next moment he does his best Wil-e-coyote impression. lol

In my eyes on of the most fun Duskblade channeled spells.

[A.Sondergaard]

Moreover it also states that you can use ANY touch attack through your weapon so you could channel those nice disintigrates and scorching rays through your weapon too.Too bad there's no such thing as a "ranged touch" spell. Specifically, unless a spell has "touch" as its range, it's not a touch spell, despite requiring a ranged touch attack. That's why there's a "touch spell" entry in the PHB glossary and index, but no "ranged touch spell" entry. This FAQ (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/Main35FAQv12212007.zip) right here dispels the myth of Arcane Channeled Scorching Rays.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Sondergaard there has the right of it. FAQ states that there's no channeling ranged spells that make touch attacks. This makes one of my current characters a very Sad Changeling in Snow, but it's true.

Also, as I recall, the "affects each target only once" part of full-attack Arcane Channeling is from the official PHB2 errata. Look it up.

Now, addressing the original points...

1. As stated, Somatic Weaponry did not exist when the PHB2 came out. Casting spells with your hands full of weapons was still sort of an elephant in the closet that Wizards kept ignoring for the sake of not angering the all-powerful Clericzilla. It's certainly feasible to houserule it in there somewhere in the first ten levels of progression, I think. However, my current strategy for dealing with this is to use two-handed weapons and Power Attack when I'm channeling; Wizards clarified somewhere that you could take one hand off a two-hander and replace it as free actions, thus freeing it up for spellcasting. It's only sword-and-board or TWFing that gives you problems.

2. As I mentioned, full-attack channeling does only effect each target once. This means the Duskblade's damage output is way less than it could be against single targets; however, it works phenomenally against grouped targets, especially with a reach weapon or Spiked Chain. You become less of a walking H-bomb and more of a walking Empowered Delayed Blast Fireball. Your niche is wiping out mooks, in the same way that the Paladin or Barbarian's niche is charging the hell out of a hard target.

To increase your damage against single targets, I recommend looking into Empower or Maximize Spell (along with ways to avoid casting-time increases, such as Rapid Metamagic or the Changeling Recaster PrC), the Arcane Strike feat, and of course, your good old friends Power Attack and Leap Attack. You're a fighter who can cast Quickened True Strikes; think about that for a moment, and I'm sure you'll come up with some ideas.

[shaggz076]

Ok so I just read the link to the FAQ that you had posted and all I can say is that a lot of the rulings listed here make the Duskblade one of the most RETARDED classes possible. The whole point of the class is to channel spells through your weapon as well as be able to cast while armed, armored and carrying a shield. What this guy is saying is you still need a hand free to cast yet it is supposed to be "Part of your statndard/full attack action" to channel the spell into the weapon. On top of that have you counted how many spells the Duskblade has that are simply Melee touch spells? By the way these FAQs have it the people who wrote this class had one of the biggest brain farts possible! Not to mention the only affect a single person once in the round? come on! So your telling me that you are to be penalized if say your fighting a single opponent? Utter stupidity!

[Nerd-o-rama]

Dunno, the class seems pretty balanced to me, regardless of the restrictions. Look at it in play, rather than just knee-jerk reacting to the FAQ nerfing.

[shaggz076]

Dunno, the class seems pretty balanced to me, regardless of the restrictions. Look at it in play, rather than just knee-jerk reacting to the FAQ nerfing.

I play a Duskblade right now and both myself and my DM agree that the ranged touch spells fall under the "Any touch spell" category. We also take the only affect the target once as "once per attack" since you know even with whirlwind attack you can only affect a target once per attack but if you full attack and have 3 attacks then by all means hit 3 times and apply the damage each time. If the fool later that round provokes the attack of oppourtunity then by all means hit him again since the spell discharges at the end of the round... We also take it that, (and check the description, my books aren't with me) casting the spell as part of a standard/full action does NOT involve putting your sword and shield away so that you can cast the spell then drawing them both again to attack during the same action. Do you see why the rulings are so utterly retarded? So unthinking compared to what the class is supposed to be (in spirit)?

[A.Sondergaard]

Penalized? How so? You're still making a full attack and essentially getting a free quickened spell, or two, with Quick Cast.
The whole point of the class is to channel spells through your weapon as well as be able to cast while armed, armored and carrying a shield. What this guy is saying is you still need a hand free to cast yet it is supposed to be "Part of your statndard/full attack action" to channel the spell into the weapon.You could aways choose not to use a shield, or better yet, you could use a buckler.

[shaggz076]

You could aways choose not to use a shield, or better yet, you could use a buckler.

Again that defeats the whole purpose of the class. Part of the ability of being a Dusk blade is casting WITH up to a heavy shield. Why even bother giving that ability or for that matter Shield proficiency? This is what I am saying, their FAQ you so kindly quted is full of holes.

[A.Sondergaard]

After 7th level, where you ignore the ASF for heavy shields, sure. That's plenty of time to pick up Somatic Weaponry. Besides, it's a trade-off pretty much every armored caster has to make. Spellswords, Hexblades, Suel Arcanamachs, and such. Heck, even clerics have to bend to this rule, which many times, DMs and players alike seem to forget this when it's time to throw down the healing spells.

Or, you could be really clever and use Improved Shield Bash and use your shield as your primary weapon. Or a gauntlet/shield combo. Cause let's be honest, we're really concerned about base weapon damage with this class.

By the way, this class lets you cast True Strike as a swift action. That reeks of two-handed Power Attack cheese. I wouldn't even want a shield.

[shaggz076]

By the way, this class lets you cast True Strike as a swift action. That reeks of two-handed Power Attack cheese. I wouldn't even want a shield.

Yes perhaps but last I checked I was playing a Duskblade not a master of Gouda. lol

[Saph]

1. As stated, Somatic Weaponry did not exist when the PHB2 came out. Casting spells with your hands full of weapons was still sort of an elephant in the closet that Wizards kept ignoring for the sake of not angering the all-powerful Clericzilla. It's certainly feasible to houserule it in there somewhere in the first ten levels of progression, I think. However, my current strategy for dealing with this is to use two-handed weapons and Power Attack when I'm channeling; Wizards clarified somewhere that you could take one hand off a two-hander and replace it as free actions, thus freeing it up for spellcasting. It's only sword-and-board or TWFing that gives you problems.

Yup. I play a Duskblade and the way I read the class is that the only effective way to use it is to use a two-handed weapon and take your hand off and replace it whenever you cast a spell. Sure, you could use a heavy shield and a one-handed weapon and take the Somatic Weaponry feat . . . but why bother?

It's a pity, since it does restrict your options a bit, but that's the way it goes. Personally my favourite approach is to use a reach weapon like a glaive. Since your AC will be mediocre, this at least means you can hurt anything that tries to get in close enough to hit you.

Another really nice trick for a Duskblade is to get a weapon with the Bloodstone property from the Magic Item Compendium. It's a +1 enchantment that gives the weapon the Spell Storing property, but only for the vampiric touch spell, and any vampiric touch spell cast into the weapon is automatically empowered. So at level 10 you get to hit someone for 5d6*1.5 damage, gain that damage in temp HP, and combine it with your weapon damage and an Arcane Channelled spell as well, all as a standard action. Not bad for a single hit.

- Saph