Borrowed Power: Spellthief/Warlock/Binder

[eversilentone]

Hi folks,

I wonder if someone wouldn't mind casting their eye over this for me? For reference, my DM is fine with Precocious Apprentice giving early access for PrCs, including casting level 1 spells. I haven't worked out the skills, but I think with Human and Able Learner I wouldn't need too high an INT to meet them.

Human Spellthief 1/Warlock 2/Binder 2/Unseen Seer 2/Anima Mage 10/Uncanny Trickster 3

ECL	Class	Class Level	Class Features	Feats
1	Trickster Spellthief	1	Sneak Attack +1d6, Spells (Bard Progression, must include 2x Divination)	Extend Spell, Able Learner (Human), Craven & Precocious Apprentice (for Flaws: Murky Eyed & Non-Combatant)
2	Warlock	1	Invocations (must include Darkness), Eldritch Blast
3	Binder	1	Soul Binding	Improved Binding
4	Warlock	2	Detect Magic
5	Binder	2	Pact Augmentation, Supress Sign
6	Unseen Seer	1	Sneak Attack +1d6, +1 Warlock Level Casting	Master Spellthief
7	Unseen Seer	2	Silent Spell, Advanced Learning (Hunter's Eye from Ranger list)
8	Anima Mage	1	+1 Binding Level, +1 Warlock Level Casting
9	Anima Mage	2	Exploit Vestige, +1 Binding Level, +1 Warlock Level Casting	Blend Into Shadows
10	Anima Mage	3	Vestigal Awareness, +1 Binding Level, +1 Warlock Level Casting
11	Anima Mage	4	+1 Binding Level, +1 Warlock Level Casting
12	Anima Mage	5	Vestige Metamagic 1/day,+1 Binding Level, +1 Warlock Level Casting	Persistent Spell
13	Anima Mage	6	+1 Binding Level, +1 Warlock Level Casting
14	Anima Mage	7	Vestige Metamagic 2/day,+1 Binding Level, +1 Warlock Level Casting
15	Anima Mage	8	+1 Binding Level, +1 Warlock Level Casting	Darkstalker
16	Anima Mage	9	Vestige Metamagic 3/day, +1 Binding Level, +1 Warlock Level Casting
17	Anima Mage	10	Vestige Casting, +1 Binding Level, +1 Warlock Level Casting
18	Uncanny Trickster	1	Bonus Trick, Favourite Trick	Expel Vestige - too late to be worth it?
19	Uncanny Trickster	2	Bonus Trick, Favourite Trick, Advances Anima Mage for +1 Binding Level, +1 Warlock Level Casting
20	Uncanny Trickster	3	Bonus Trick, Favourite Trick, Advances Anima Mage for +1 Binding Level, +1 Warlock Level Casting

Assuming this works, the result would be 16th level Warlock invocations (10 of up to Dark), Binding at 16th level (7th level vestiges, up to 3 at a time), Steal Spell as 17th level Spellthief (up to 8th level), and with Persistent Hunter's Eye (via Anima Mage's Vestige Metamagic) able to Sneak Attack Eldritch Blast for 7d6+Craven, enabled via Blend Into Shadows for hide on demand and safeguarded with Darkstalker. Lastly, Able Learner and a CHA focused character means UMD is definitely on the table (shame I couldn't fit in Warlock 4 for Deceive Item!)

Am I missing something? Any suggestions on how to improve this? I know I could use a different caster instead of Trickster Spellthief, which would free up the feat slot for Master Spellthief, at the cost of 1d6 Sneak Attack down the line.

Specific request: what alignment to play (I know Binders can have alignment requirements, and that Warlocks require either Chaotic or non-Good)?

Thanks in advance for your help!

EDIT I just realised (the benefit of typing it up like this...) that I won't actually have any level 1 spell slots from which to cast Hunter's Eye, and given that's part of what got me on the build that's not ok! So if I changed it to Trickster Spellthief 2/ Warlock 1/ Binder 2/ Unseen Seer 2 (advancing Spellthief)/ Anima Mage 10/ Uncanny Trickster 3 then it would be invocations as an 11th level Warlock (7 of up to Greater), Binding at 16th level (7th level vestiges, up to 3 at a time), Steal Spell as a 17th level Spellthief and all the rest is the same with reduced Eldritch Blast damage, but with a free feat at 1st level as there's no need for Precocious Spellcaster. I think that works?

[Troacctid]

You're missing that Master Spellthief improves the level of spell you can steal, but not your capacity for holding stolen spells. You'll be able to take their 8th level spell...but you can only hold a total of 1 spell level at a time, so it will drain away uselessly.

[eversilentone]

Thanks for the reply. I've made an edit to the first post, but that won't help me here. I've seen you post that before but not really looked into it; I guess from a RAW perspective it's a spot on assessment (I can't see any other way to read the absence of reference to spell levels that can be held). We can only speculate about RAI, I just presumed (wrongly) it was like so many of the other feats that advance one class feature when multiclassing (like Swift Hunter). My bad I guess! If that's the case then it makes no sense sticking with Spellthief and I may as well go any other CHA-based arcane caster, which is a shame as I thought the concept was kind of cool :(

[Jowgen]

The question of how Master Spellthief works is one of contention. Not heated contention mind you, since the feat doesn't get mentioned anywhere else, so there is not a lot to go on in terms of building arguments, really making it more of an agree to disagree/ask DM kinda deal.

I personally subscribe to your initial reading, that the feat progress the Steal Spell ability as whole, rather than a specific sub-section of it that excludes a supposed "store spell" sub-ability. It keeps with the convention of multiclass feats, avoids dysfunctions, and fits with the "as if he were an 8th-level spellthief" line of the example (i.e. the stealing method of an 8th level spellthief would invovle being able to store up to 8 levels worth of spells).

It all comes down to the question whether you think that "steal spell" as used in the verbiage of the feat is intended to distinguish a specific function of "steal spell" as in the ability, of that the feat was just worded somewhat poorly in a way that allows you to read that distinction into it.

[Anthrowhale]

You could do Bard 1/Trickster Spellthief 9/Sublime Chord 1/Anima Mage 9. Use (Improved) Bind Vestige to qualify for Anima Mage.