Zolthux's Guide to the Eldritch Knight

(Updated: 08/12/2014)

I. The Basics

Welcome to my first guide. This is a somewhat ambitious project as it seeks to give players suggestions in optimizing one of the most versatile characters to create: The Eldritch Knight (Also known as "Gish")

I will be using Treatmonk's color coding for convenience and coherence with the other guides

RED will be used for options that should be avoided

Orange will denote options that should be approached with an open mind.

Green will represent good options, which in certain situations may be the best

BLUE will represent options that will be regarded as "The best" most of the time. These are usual safe bets and you will be glad you have them

I would like to take a moment to talk about optimization versus fun. Pathfinder is a game that's played with other people, usually friends. It's also a roleplaying game, and as such we should not lose sight of what's important: To create a character who makes roleplaying sense, and that will not overshadow the other characters, but will also pull his own weight.

Some of the terms I will use throughout this guide are:

HD = Hit Dice, or character level. Given that this is a multiclassed character, I will be using it to avoid confusion.

CL = Caster Level For the purpose of spell learning. I understand there are ways to boost caster level (The Magical Knack trait, items), so when I talk about "CL", remember it means "effective level for the purpose of which spells are learned".

ECL = Effective Caster Level. This includes aforementioned bonuses and will come into play for certain spells and effects.

II. The Magus and the Eldritch Knight

        If you are reading this, one of the first questions you may have is "Why not just play Magus? It's a base class designed for this purpose!", which is a legitimate concern. The Magus class was built with the spell and melee idea in mind, with its 3/4 BAB and ECL = HD. However, The Eldritch Knight has a few advantages:

1) You can make it a spontaneous caster if you prefer them over prepared casters

2) You can have some abilities from other classes due to your inherent multiclassing

3) You have access to more (and better) spells.

4) You can potentially make your BAB higher.

5) You simply want more control of what your character can do.

If you want to simply play a Magus, then I would suggest you check out the Guide to the Magus. If you wish to continue to seek an EK build, then read on.

III. Introduction to the class

        So why do you want to play an Eldritch Knight? The usual reason is because you want to be in melee and hit things with your weapon of choice, but also be able to dish out spells for extra damage, buffs for yourself, and basically have an answer to every situation. You could have picked a divine caster and called it a day, but you want the big flashy spells the Arcane arts will teach you. I like to think of the gish as more than a caster that swings a sword, and more of a combination of  Swiss Army Knife and Nuke Arsenal, which is what we are here to build.

It's also important to understand your role. You will not be tanking (although you can) and you won't be the primary spellcaster (although you could be). Remember: you may be able to do anything, but you can't do everything.

In any case, the prerequisites for the class are very straightforward:

- Proficiency with all martial weapons

- Able to cast level  3 arcane spells.

That's it. No feat taxes, no wasted skill ranks, just these two requirements. If you meet the prerequisites, you gain access to a class that has full BAB, d10 HD, 9/10 Spellcasting levels (you lose 1 spellcasting level at level 1 unfortunately), 3 bonus combat feats, the ability to qualify for fighter-only feats (and feats that care about your casting class, if there are any), and an awesome capstone ability (Free quicken to any spell on a crit? Hooray!)

Unfortunately, this won't be easy, as there are several problems that need to be overcome first.

- Armor and spells

- Which classes to take?

- Prepared Vs. Spontaneous casting

- Balancing BAB, Caster Level, and abilities

I will discuss each of these issues in their respective sections now

IV: Armor and you.

If you are going to be in melee battle, then you will be getting hit. AC will be important to you, even though you won't be tanking. Regardless of your class combination, you will still want AC. Unfortunately, armor and spells do not get along, as there is an Arcane Spell Failure chance attached to armor. I present  4 different ways to deal with this issue.

1) Arcane Armor Training  + Mithril Chainshirt: At the cost of a swift action, cast your spells with no AFC. The chain itself gives a +4 to AC, but can be enchanted up to +9 AC, not to mention abilities can be added to it. At higher levels, however, Quicken Spell becomes too precious to compromise. One way around it is to quicken spells with verbal components (True Strike, for example), or to use quicken Spell on Still Spells. However, if you are in a campaign where you don't expect to reach very high levels, then this is your best option. (Quickened True strike is a good use of a level 5 Spell slot, so I'd say that it won't be a huge issue until CL 11-12, which can be around HD 13-15).

2) Wear no armor: This will require a high dex (which puts the gish in danger of MAD), but  at lower levels Mage Armor and Shield can pick up the slack until you get your hands on bracers of armor.  Or just get a haramaki/silken ceremonial robes and enchant it all the way to +6 AC. Cheaper than Bracers. Also, pair it up with a Mithril Buckler. Alternatively, Just be dex-based. Dervish Dance allows you to dump Str and focus on Dex. If you want to eschew strength for dex (which is a very common thing nowadays), then you will need either the aforementioned Dervish Dance feat, or an agile weapon.

3) Still Spell: It will essentially send you back 2 caster levels, as your spells will be prepared as a spell slot higher, but you can wear any armor you want without fear of AFC. Of course, this will cap you at lv 7 or 8 spells (depending on build), and also depends if you are spontaneous or prepared.Finally, remember that a still spell frees both your hands so you can wear a shield, or wield a wand in your off-hand.

4) Focus on spells that make this a non-issue: You can use a lot of spells with durations of 10min/level or hour/level, so you can cast them before you need them, then put your armor on. I make this orange because it limits your spell selection. Also, eventually you can use quickened still spells and wear whatever armor you want without fear of AFC.  Finally, a lot of high level spells are verbal only (Power Words, Time Stop)

Whatever route you choose, here is a list of spells that can be cast without Somatic Components

0: Flare, Light

1: Feather Fall, Hold Portal, True Strike, Ventriloquism

2: Blindness/deafness, Blur, Knock

3: Displacement, Suggestion, Tongues

4: Dimension Door, Geas (lesser), Shout

5: Contact Other Plane, Teleport

6: Geas/Quest, Suggestion (Mass)

7: Phase Door, Power Word Blind, Teleport (Greater), Teleport Object, 

8: Charm Monster (Mass), Irresistible Dance, Power Word Stun, Shout (Greater)

9: Mage’s Disjunction, Power Word Kill, Prismatic Sphere, Teleportation Circle, Time Stop, Wail of the Banshee

I will go more in depth with spells later, but for now I wanted to focus on verbal-only spells. These are the ones found in the Core Rulebook, but I'm sure there are some in the other books.

V. Class. Because you have plenty of it

V.1: The Caster

        Since the requirement for EK is being able to cast 3rd level arcane spells, we have to heavily invest in our caster class. I’m not going to suggest using Bard, Magus, or Summoner because those classes already have ¾ BAB and 6th level spells to balance all their class abilities. Going into EK for a partial casting, ¾ BAB class actually results in losing more than what is gained. So we will stick to the full casting arcane casters.

Below is an overview of the casting classes:

Wizard: The first pick. you only need 5 levels to qualify, which is enough to see benefits from some of the schools (For example, Transmutation). You also have  access to one metamagic feat along with arcane bond. You have to choose 2 opposing schools (whatever), and you do NOT get bonus spells as you go into EK, so be aware of that (Although scrolls are cheap). Also, Metamagic cannot be used on the fly, so that's an issue if you are caught unprepared.

Sorcerer: A sorcerer needs 6 levels before being able to qualify for EK, as they learn spells one level later than wizards. However, there are advantages to level 6: your saves go up by +1, and so does your BAB.  Sorcerers know fewer spells, which is fine since chances are you are not the primary spellcaster in the party. True Strike, Mirror Image, Haste, and such are your friends. you can just learn one spammable spell (such as a damage dealer like Scorching Ray or Dragon's Breath).  You also have a bloodline arcana, which will help with some spells. Remember: Sorcerers are specialists, and you are already specializing in fighting and casting. Also, see if the level 1 and 3 powers complement your fighting style.

Witch: While it doesn't have a lot of the big flashy spells Sorcerers and Wizards are known for, they have access to many good ones, as well as spells typically reserved for divine casters. Being able to heal yourself is a huge advantage over the other 2 classes and should not be underestimated.

Also, I assume that you will take your levels in EK as soon as you meet the prereqs, and after hitting level 10 will go back to your casting class of choice. You could plan it so that you hit EK10 at level 20, but then you will be playing catch up with your BAB Through most of the campaign. And that sucks.

V.1.1: The Wizard: Power Through Knowledge

As I said before, the wizard has some very good things going for it. You only need 5 levels, which is conveniently the number of levels you need to get your first bonus feat. You should still consider waiting till level 6 however, as many school powers care about half your wizard level, rounded down. In this spirit, I will now look at the different schools:

Abjuration: The energy resistance won't be too relevant at low levels (it's mostly all physical damage), and at higher levels you can just make yourself immune with spells; but the protective ward is a nice +1 AC (+2 at level 2) that stacks with everything, as you won't have Rings of Deflection then. However, once you get ahold of these rings, this is pretty much a dead ability. The Banishment subschool is very situational, although the Counterspell subschool gets an honorable mention for having a useful level 1 ability. That Caster level check will probably be easy to pass for enemy casters, but it's still disruptive enough (get it?) to make it worth noting. Spell-wise, given that you want to cast buffs on yourself, and abjuration has stuff like shield, resist energy and dispel magic, you might not want to ditch it as a prohibited school.

Conjuration: Conjuration spells ignore SR. That's important. Also Grease, Mage Armor (good at low levels), Mad Monkeys (Good if your ECL = HD) and all summoning/teleportation spells. You cannot prohibit this school. Ability-wise, The vanilla school offers a ray touch attack (sure why not?), and longer lasting summons (you can summon flank buddies), which isn't very exciting. The Teleportation subschool will let you teleport 10-15 feet, depending on how many levels of wizard you wish to keep. The Creation Subschool allows you to have some versatility, as you can create the right tool for the job, or just make a weapon on the fly (which you can then enchant with GMW for a quick +X weapon).

Divination: The initiative bonus is very nice. Prescience (Forewarned subschool) is awesome: Rerolls are precious. Scryer is not something for you. Divination spells are pretty weak. There are a few gems at different levels, but they really don't do much for you. True Strike is great for you. See Invisibility will help you later on, and Detect Magic is always good to have. But really, if it weren't for true strike, I'd say prohibit this school and let the cleric in the party use Detect Magic and See Invisibility.

Enchantment: You're not focusing on DC-based spells to do charm/compulsions. If you want this school, all you're really giving up is Heroism and Greater Heroism. Yes, that sucks, but you can look for Morale Bonuses Elsewhere. The wizard powers aren't that great for you either. You can prohibit this school without missing out on much.

Evocation: Admixture is the way to go. Intense Spells won't do much for you, as you get 2 or 3 extra points of damage (hell at level 20, it's a +4 to damage), but you can combo is with the ability to make your damage whatever you want/need. The spell "Dragon's Breath" however, lets you do the latter without having to specialize. So if you want to use AOE damage spells, let that level 4 spell be your go-to spell, and choose another school. However, if you go this route, you get a blast spell for each level, which is nice. You probably want to focus more on fighting than blasting, though. Whether or not you like it, don't ban it.

Illusion: The powers do not affect stuff that have more HD than your wizard level, and you're multiclassing. This is bad for you. Spellwise, color spray at low levels will spell death for any enemy. One failed will save and they are at your mercy.  Illusion also has the invisibility spells, which you can put to use. You won't be scouting, but greater Invisibility helps you hit more, as you make your opponents flat footed,  and invisibility can save your life. Also, displacement is a great buff which has no Somatic Components. Don't prohibit, but don't specialize.

Necromancy: The powers are useless to you (Vanilla power makes you MAD, the other is only good if you want to be a necromancer, and the third one makes you a weak healer), and most of the spells are pretty bad. False Life is something you can get in potion form, and you're not the debuffer, so the "penalty" rays and enervation/waves is not your role. Despite it all, Blindness can potentially end an encounter (and it’s Verbal!) and Enervation is a VERY powerful spell.

Transmutation: This school has most of the spells that you want. The power at level 1 is amazing for you. Shapechange can have some awesome utilities, but I think that the +2 you can get at level 5 to any stat is better. I recommend picking this as your school.

Universalist: If you don’t want to ban any schools, you can go the universalist route. Hand of the Apprentice gives you a ranged attack with a good attack bonus (int instead of dex). If you want to be a universalist, first ask yourself if being able to cast any spell is worth losing a spell each level. Depending on that, it’s orange to green.

Don’t forget: You can still prepare spells from your barred schools by using 2 spell slots: Say you specialized in Transmutation and barred necromancy, and you get 5 level 2 spells a day (including Int bonus). You choose Bull’s Strength as your bonus level 2 spell. You also want False life, so you prepare it with 2 spell slots. Now you have 3 slots + False life + Bull’s Strength. You have 5 spells available to you at that level. Now let’s say you went Universalist. You have 5 spells available flat. There is no “Difference”, but now you also lost the Transmutation school powers. If you find yourself needing a spell of a certain school more than once per day, then you might want to reconsider your barred school choices

While we're talking about wizard, remember: Once you go Eldritch Knight, You won't get the bonus 2 spells per level, so get ready to start investing more money into your spell book. Also, I think you get the bonus school spell per level even if you multiclass, so that's good for you.

V.1.2: The Sorcerer: The Innate Power

The sorcerer is a strong option for the Eldritch Knight. The main drawbacks are that you cannot retrain spells while on your EK levels, so you must choose spells carefully. You also have a small number of spells known (which, as I said before, should be all the spells you need). Finally, you're charisma-based, which means you need to focus on an ability that has little use outside of your spells. Why would you choose Sorcerer then? Because sorcerer, being spontaneous, has that casting versatility the wizard lacks. Also, during your EK levels, you still gain new spells for leveling, erasing the need to buy spells (which is useful if you are in a campaign where you have little access to new spells). Also, your bloodline will give you a couple of extra spells, one thematic feat, and the level 1, 3 and 9 powers, which is more class abilities than what you get as a wizard. You can add metamagic feats to your spells on the fly. Finally, you don't need to worry about such things as prohibited schools.

Just like I addressed the Wizard Schools, I will now address the sorcerer bloodlines. Please note that I am looking at them based solely on their level 1, 3, and 9 powers (because I assume you will be wearing a Robe of Eldritch Heritage to bump Sorcerer level to 10 at least), Bloodline Arcana, and level 1 and 3 bonus spells.

REMEMBER: I AM LOOKING AT THE BLOODLINES FROM A MULTICLASSING STANDPOINT.

Aberrant/Warped: The bloodline is ridiculous. You essentially get half of Extend for FREE on all your polymorph spells.  There are some EK builds that like to turn themselves into big monsters and smash stuff, and this bloodline is great for them. However, everything else falls short. Long Limbs does not help you, as you are not relying on touch spells, the ray doesn't help you either, as you have a sword that hits harder and has unlimited uses. The Warped alternative is interesting, but too random to be reliable. Enlarge person is a good spell to have (even if its casting time makes it unappealing), and See Invisibility can help you spot...stuff? then again, perception is not a class skill for you. The level 9 ability (and 13 if you took one level of your martial class, and hit HD20) helps against crits and sneak attacks, which is pretty good when you think about it, albeit situational. Still, Fortified armor isn't cheap.

Abyssal/Brutal: contrary to what some might think, you don't need to be evil to use this bloodline. The arcana is useless to you, so you could replace it with the Brutal Alternative. A static +2 to spell damage is very little, but at least will see use. However, then you'd be giving up the level 9 ability, which is a +2 str bonus that stacks with everything. By level 20 (again, assuming 1 martial class level) it becomes +4. Cause Fear is not very useful, especially once monsters you face pass the HD cap, and Bull's strength will become useless once you get some good stat boosting items. Claws can help in a pinch should you lose your weapon, and the resistances are always welcome, even if weak. I originally gave it red, but after some thinking I made it orange. Maybe The Strength Boost had to be balanced with a crummy arcana.

Accursed: Hooray for perception as a class skill! unfortunately, that's the only thing it has going for it. It lacks an arcana (counting as a hag? not for us). The debuff Spells, as I said, are not for us either. We want to be more aggressive. If you really want, you can slap on a debuff on a spell-storing sword, but really, there are other options. Horrific Visage offers a Sorcerer-level-based DC effect, so that's out the window. Wretched endurance is nice, but does not make up for this bloodline.

Aquatic/Seaborn: I guess if you have a sea campaign, this might be useful? Hydraulic push can be a cool control spell, Slipstream gives you a swim speed. Dehydrating touch deals nonlethal damage, so make sure not to use it. Aquatic adaptation seems redundant when you are given slipstream for free, but I guess if you need to swim that badly at level 3, it's an option. Seaborn has a better Arcana (boosting ECL by 1 if you are in a large body of water, but water blast is another sorcerer-level based DC effect.

Arcane/Sage: This bloodline is boring, but it's good, really good. The spells could be better (Then again, invisibility is good as I mentioned earlier), and arcane bond gives you a familiar. Metamagic adept is precious: You can use a metamagic feat without increasing casting time, meaning that you could make your spells still without increasing casting time a few times per day. The EK’s capstone ability (Spell critical) greatly benefits from this if you went the Arcane Armor Training Route. New Arcana is also great, as you get an extra spell. However, what you should look at is the Sage bloodline. You make intelligence your main casting stat instead of charisma. Now you can have skill ranks! This is big for you. Also you lose the arcane bond and gain an arcane bolt. It's something you probably will never really need. Really, removing charisma as your casting stat is what makes this bloodline worth it.  Also, knowledge (Any) as a class skill. You'll have the ranks to put it to good use. All in all, Arcane/Sage has abilities that remain relevant through all 20 levels.

Boral/Rime-Blooded: First off, you get rage at level 5. Rage is a level 3 spell, that's neat. Enlarge person is also useful, so the spells are nice. Cold Steel allows you to make your weapon Frost, and at level 9 Sorcerer, icy burst. It saves you money on enchanting your weapon, although it can only be used a (very) limited number of times per day. If you have Quicken Spell Like Ability, then you can activate this ability as a swift action 3 times per day. Icewalker gives you a resistance, and a campaign-dependant situational ability.  The same applies to the level 9 ability. The Arcana can be useful if you cast Cone of Cold or Cold Ice Strike, or another [cold] spell that allows a save. Rime-blooded  offers a nice alternative, turning any cold spell into Slow for one round, and replaces the level 9 power with an AOE attack. The DC will be equivalent to your level 3 Spells during your EK levels, bumping up to level 4 beyond that, and it will hit for 6 to 10 d6, so that can be useful in a pinch. All in all, Rime-Blooded makes for a pretty useful bloodline: Good level 1 and 3 spells, a level 1 ability that is relevant to what you want to do, a resistance, and an AOE attack. If your campaign is in a cold place, this might be blue.

Celestial/Empyreal: The celestial arcana is not useful for you, you won't be doing any summoning. Heavenly Fire can be a heal in a pinch (1d4+10 if target is good), or to damage evil stuff (Ignores immunities).  I like Celestial resistances, as it give you TWO resistances, which increase to 10 at level 9. Wings of Heaven works like Fly, which is always welcome. Beyond that, you get bless and Resist Energy as your spells. I'm a huge fan of any bloodline that gives spells outside of the Sorcerer/Wizard list, so Bless is welcome at lower levels. The Empyrial bloodline, however, is far better. You can use your Wisdom instead of Charisma to calculate all sorcerer abilities! your will save will go up through the roof. Sacred Cistern will let you channel energy, although it will be a very weak version (3d6 heal, capping at 5d6 for you). Still, making you wisdom-based is worth the bloodline. Also, it opens up the (powerful) combination with Sohei Monk. (Which will be discussed when we look at specific builds).

Daemon: Arcana works if you're blasting mooks, so it has some good uses. The level 1 ability is lame (nonlethal damage? really?) Resistances are just like the ones from the Abyssal Bloodline, and Age Out seems interesting, though I'm sure that it's easier to get a cleric to cure you. There are 2 bonus debuff spells (like the Accursed bloodline), and that's about it.

Deep Earth/Bedrock: The arcana has some situational uses, but you are not relying on DC-based spells, you want to fight stuff. Tremor allows you to trip foes at a distance. At low levels, you'll be reliably dropping enemies prone. Thanks to the robes, the multiclassing won't hinder you until level 10 or so. Afterwards, you can either use Quickened true Strike or cast True Strike and use quickened spell-like ability to get a +20 to the attack roll and trip on the same turn. This is a pretty awesome ability if you commit the feat to make it work. Rockseer helps you underground, although that's really the rogue's job, or the job of someone with perception as a class skill. Crystal Shard is situational, but not terrible. If you don't care for the Arcana, consider the Bedrock alternative: You will probably never use the arcana, but Iron Hide is essentially Stoneskin without the 250gp cost.

Destined/Karmic: The arcana has some good uses. Luck Bonuses stack with your other bonuses, and there are some good personal spells. For instance, you can cast Mirror Image and get a +2 luck bonus to saves for a round. Touch of Destiny gives you some nice offensive bonuses, and you can use it on party members. Fated requires you to be on a bad situation (being caught in the surprise round), which is a nice safety net, but even then, it's just a +1 or +2 bonus. It was meant to be allows rerolls, which as I said before, are precious. Karmic relies on you failing a defensive cast check and getting hit. Avoid.

Djinni/Marid/Efreeti/Shaitan: These bloodlines are pretty similar, so I'm looking at them together: The Arcana allows you to change the type of damage of your spells to the corresponding energy depending on bloodline (So, same as the elemental bloodline). At level 1, you get an elemental ray (same as the elemental bloodline), and at level 3, you gain resistance to your corresponding element (Same as...I see a pattern here) . Their level 1 and 2 spells are good all around, so they have that going for them. The level 9 abilities for the Efreeti bloodline complements your fighting abilities, Djinni lets you turn into a whirlwind (like air elementals do), Marid gives you a weak blast ability, and Shaitan gives you the ability to bull rush opponents with spells, although you should not expect it to be successful.

Draconic/Linnorm: Perception as a class Skill. Mage Armor as a bonus Spell, so you don't need to feel guilty for having it on your spell list, Resist Energy has enough versatility to be worth the spell slot. The Arcana makes you more blasty, so that's good for some builds (and if you don't have a bow, a scorching ray will hit nicely at a distance). The Claws, just like with abyssal, are useful if you lose your weapon. The resistances are good. Resisting 5 for one element AND Natural armor bonuses to AC. The Breath Weapon is good too, as it's essentially a level 4 blast spell, which scales up with your sorcerer level. Also, it lets you go into a Dragon Disciple build. The Linnorm option allows you to give up your blastiness for a small, situational AC boost, (Does it stack with the bloodline power? if not, forget it) and the ray is more useful than the claws. Still, if you choose this bloodline, just stick to Dragon, no need to go Linnorm.

Dreamspun/Visionary: This bloodline has some control abilities, but it has support for making opponents fall asleep. If you can knock an enemy helpless, you can insta-kill it with the help of your party members. The Arcana is great, too; You can start battle by shooting your opponent with a spell, and gain a bonus to AC/Saves. Even a Scorching Ray will give you a +1 to AC and saves against the target.        Combat Precognition boosts your initiative, which is always welcome, but the level 9 ability is not very helpful to you. The Visionary wildblooded archetype makes it so you only need one hour of rest to prepare spells. The level 9 ability can be awesome, as it gives you some insight into what to expect. You also get sleep at level 3 (which for you means that it won't be very useful by the time you finally get it) and Augury (it's one of those "work with the GM to see what happens" spells). All in all, the bloodline offers a few solid options, and useful bonuses.

Elemental/Primal: Do you like Blasting? You do? Awesome! You get Burning Hands AND Scorching ray as bonus spells, and they deal damage equal to your element of choice (So I guess you can shoot a vitriolic ray? or freezing hands?). Just like with the Genie bloodlines, you gain resistance to your element and a ray you can shoot things with. Your level 9 ability gives you an AOE spell that can further punish your opponents for failing their save. If you choose the Primal alternative, you can trade in your arcana for bonus damage, but you lose the AOE blast for something you probably will not be using (a boon to summoned creatures). All in all, it's a solid choice for gishes who want to damage with both melee and magic.

Fey/Sylvan: Remember how I've been saying not to focus on DC-based spells? Well here we have an exception. a +2 Bonus to compulsion spells? that's a lot! That's like, 2 feats for free. The level 1 power uses up a standard action to deny your opponent its attack for the turn. Even though it has no effect on its defensive abilities, there is one of the big bad, and a party of you, that round will be more useful to your party. Woodland Stride is good if you are in a forest setting or something. The level 9 ability is awesome. Free greater invisibility for a few rounds a day is nothing to scoff at. I already discussed the advantages invisibility has in combat. You also get entangle (usually a druid spell) for free at level 3, which has many utilities and remains relevant at higher levels. It also has synergy with your Woodland Stride ability. Avoid the Sylvan Wildblooded archetype: The Animal companion will be considerably weaker. If you want the companion (maybe a character concept/ campaign thing?) take the Boon Companion Feat.

Infernal/Pit-Touched: Just like Fey gives you a bonus to Compulsion spells, Infernal gives you a bonus to Charm spells. Protection from Good probably won't be any help to you, but Scorching Ray is always nice to get for free. Corrupting Touch does not do much for you. Infernal Resistances let you resist fire (one of the most common types of energy damage), and against poison. No complaints on hellfire. If you go for the Pit-touched alternative, you give up a great bloodline power (then again, how many Charm spells do you really think you're going to be using?) to gain a bonus to intimidate checks (not really worth it though). The level 9 ability, Tough As Hell, essentially says "You gain Toughness for free". Should you hit level 13 sorcerer, you get it AGAIN.

Maestro Bloodline: I honestly wish the powers did not have powers with DC's and HD caps dependant on your sorcerer level. I really do. The Arcana is amazing for you, as all your still spells will give you a +1 Caster level. There's not much to add to it. OK spells, but reserved more for full sorcerer.

Oni: Buffs charisma-based skills, and deals nonlethal damage with its level 1 power. Not awesome. Altered Form and Gaseous Form aren't very useful for gishes, although this is an interesting option for more sneaky types. Maybe a Ninja/Sorcerer trickster in an eastern setting? But this is not for this guide. Spellwise, Ray of Enfeeblement and Invisibility just reinforce my trickster assessment.

Orc (From Orcs of Golarion): Extra Blast damage! Extra senses! (Darkvision). Bonus to Attack and Strength rolls! Bonuses to AC! and then bonuses to Strength! Begs for Quicken Spell-Like Ability and Opportunistic Gambler abuse. Amazing bloodline overall. Bull's strength will retain some use until you get your hands on a belt of +6. This is an amazing bloodline, although I think it's even better when the powers are obtained via Eldritch Heritage. All in all, a half-orc Orc-bloodline sorcerer/Barbarian Gish drips with flavor.

Pestilence: Sickened immunity is nice, and that's about it. This bloodline is good if you have a campaign with a lot of swarms (maybe some sewer crawl thing?), but even if you encounter them, you are not using a lot of Mind-Affecting Spells. Plague's Caress is a decent debuff that allows no save. Beyond these abilities, there is nothing that really jumps out from this bloodline.

Protean/Anarchic: The ray that functions as a tanglefoot bag can be very disruptive to casters. Resistances are good, no arguments against them here. The bonus spells are good for you: These are some good defensive spells that you will be eventually happy to have. The Arcana is good if your GM likes to use enemy NPCs to try to dispel your buffs. This bloodline is nice if you want to be anti-caster, and the Anarchic wildblooded archetype supports this. This is not a terrible bloodline, but you have to remember what your strengths are.

Rakshasha: Good bloodline, but not for you. Arcane Tricksters might enjoy the bonus to bluff, ability to read minds, and to hide their alignment. This does not benefit you. The Spells aren't useful for you either.

Serpentine/Envenomed: Very Solid Bloodline. The level 1 Power gives you an extra attack. Think of it as getting Two Weapon Fighting for free. Serpentfriend has some uses, the viper familiar will be useful, as it scales up with your total character level (though its abilities and AC scale up with your sorcerer level, plus the bonus from your Robes). Snakeskin gives you a small boost to AC that stacks with amulets of Natural Armor, so go for it. The bloodline arcana is situational, but that's where the Envenomed archetype picks up the slack: your arcana is replaced with a bonus to some Dex-Based skills, and instead of a familiar, you gain the ability to poison your weapons.

Shadow/Umbral: You are not here to stealth. Leave that to the rogue/Ninja/Arcane Trickster/Other scouting class. If you decide to make some Dex-based sneaky type, consider this bloodline; but for our purposes, this is not going to help you.

Starsoul/Void-Touched: Let's start with the basics: Dazzled is one of the weakest debuffs. Minute meteors is a weak save-for-half attack that deals little damage. Void Walker is not bad, and not needing to breathe might even save your life someday. Aurora Borealis can have some uses, as damage is welcome. Void-Touched changes the arcana to silencing opponents who fail their saves. A wizard getting caught in one of your Dragon Breath Spells is not gonna be casting spells next round. Void Field deals damage and creates a deeper darkness effect that can mess up your opponents. All in all, not a very strong bloodline option for you.

Stormborn/Arial: The DC for your sonic and electric spells increases. So far so good, it's like getting Elemental Focus (Sonic) and (Electric) for free. If you want to blast, though, I would recommend you pick up the extra damage bloodlines instead, but whatever. Thunderstaff makes your weapon Shocking. Not bad, not necessarily a good use of your standard action, but the duration increases with your level, so eventually it becomes worth using. Stormchild gives you resistances, and later on helps against concealment. Thunderbolt is a good ability, no arguments for it. Arial replaces the Arcana with a +2 Caster level boost if you're out in any form of precipitation (Do GM's ever do rain?) and Windcaller has a lot of uses.

Undead/Sanguine: The spells are OK. False Life is a good option for gishes. Your level 1 power just makes an opponent shaken, the level 3 ability gives you DR against nonlethal damage and resistance against cold, and the level 9 ability is another AOE blast. So why is this red? Because there are other bloodlines that give you level 3 resistances and a level 9 blast, but have better low level powers and arcanas. Sanguine gives you a boon when using necromancy spells (Can't think of many spells that would benefit from it, aside from False Life) and the ability to heal by drinking the blood of your fallen enemies (Would the party be OK with this?). All in all, not a very strong bloodline for you.

Verdant/Groveborn: This bloodline is surprisingly better than I originally thought. The Arcana works like the Linnorm Bloodline, you gain a boost to AC whenever you cast a personal Spell. You gain access to some druid spells, namely Entangle (see my Fey comments for why it's good) and Barkskin (No longer will you need to occupy your neck slot with an amulet of natural armor!), Tanglevine has uses similar to the ones discussed in the Deep Earth bloodline, but it can also steal and disarm opponents. Photosynthesis is a funny ability that gives you the benefits of a ring of nourishment constantly. Massmorph synergizes with Entangle to control the battlefield (or to simply help you flee). Groveborn is worse, as it has a boost to summoned creatures, and to using mind control on plants. Also, given that you only need 2 hours of sleep a day and 15 minutes to prepare spells, you might want to look into an item creation feat like scribe scroll to put those extra hours to good use (Incidentally, one of the bonus feats is Craft Staff).

As you can see, the sorcerer possesses a lot of different abilities that fit thematically with your gish build. The sorcerer meshes well with many of the martial classes, especially the paladin. However, because you are one level behind on spell progression, you cannot take too many levels in non-spellcasting classes if you want high level spells.

V.1.2.1 Tattooed Sorcerer

I am writing this in its own section because of how good it is. The tattooed sorcerer archetype swaps your level 1 power with a familiar. In addition, you replace Eschew Materials with Varisian Tattoo, which increases your caster level by 1 when casting spells of a school of your choice! These abilities are definitely worth what you lose. If you care that much about eschew materials, you can also pick up the feat False Focus and get yourself a 100gp holy symbol tattoo, and open up your options even further.

V.1.3 The Witch: Power at any cost

The Witch has some interesting abilities that make it a very appealing caster class choice for Eldritch Knights. First off, they get spells from both divine and arcane sources, so they can cure themselves while casting buffs. Unfortunately, they lack some of the really good spells from both classes, but the versatility makes up for it. Since you will take 5-6 levels in witch before you take your first level in EK, you will have anywhere from 3 to 4 hexes. Now, you're not going to get much benefit out of Save-based Hexes. Although, they will have the DC of your level 3 spells. I know people go witch for the Slumber Hex, but for us this ability will not be that great. I'm sure we can theorycraft some way to make the save in the 30's, BUT it's not practical. Also, with the advent of Advanced Race Guide and an errata, Half Orc Witch EK just needs to max STR and CON pretty much, as their casting becomes con-based (please note that you do NOT get bonus spells as per table 1-3 on the core rulebook if you have an intelligence of 10).

Either way, Below are the hexes broken down.

Blight: Even if you went full witch, you wouldn't take it, no reason to take it now.

Cackle: While it has synergy with the other hexes, you want to be fighting, not sacrificing your move action (and full round attack action) to maintain your hexes. I'd make it red, but I think that would be shutting down a whole slew of tricks.

Cauldron: Free Brew Potion feat, and you have the ability to cast heal spells, so you can make healing spells for the party (if they contribute to the material costs, of course.)

Beast of Ill Omen: Don’t give enemies a reason to kill your familiar. Also, Witch-based DC issues.

Charm: Next!

Child-Scent: What.

Coven: What's up with covens? If you have another witch, or a character with the accursed bloodline, you can go for it, but it still wouldn't be blue

Disguise: Not a useless ability, so if you have nothing else that interests you, you won't regret this.

Evil Eye: Great Hex. Even if they make the save you can keep it ongoing with cackle. You will lose your ability to full round attack, but you will give your opponent an ongoing penalty. Also, You can reuse it on your target by choosing a different penalty.

Feral Speech: Better than not being able to talk to animals?

Flight: Here we go. First you get Feather Fall (Could save you), then you get levitate (does not help us getting up close and personal, but it gives you options), then you get Fly (remember you get a +1 Bonus for attacking from higher up). Definitely a hex to take.

Fortune: Another great Hex. Very limited use, but it helps you and your allies hit. Also, I love the idea of a cackling witch laughing maniacally as it smashes things with a sword.

Healing: lets you heal stuff once per day each without wasting spell slots. What's not to like?

Misfortune: Allows a save, so you will see it lose power at level 8 or so (When you stop taking levels in witch)

Nails: While I'm all for extra natural attacks, the fact of the matter is that you can't use this if you're wielding a weapon 2 handed, and as a secondary attack, you take a -5 penalty and deal less damage.

Poison Steep: Too much work for too little reward.

Prehensile Hair: Remember what I said about nails? Well, now you can hit things with your MUSTACHE.

Scar: Requires a Save, but you can use it on your team members to use your ally-buffing hexes from any range (up to 1 mile). Bad in a vacuum, but it has combos.

Slumber: You can take it at low levels and use it to straight up kill opponents early on, but you will hit diminishing returns around level 8-9. This is the best witch ability, but only when going full witch.

Swamp Hag: Too situational.

Tongues: It saves you the spell slot when you need it.

Unnerve Beasts: Situational level-based DC.

Ward: You cannot use it on yourself. You can be a good team member and take this hex, though. But I advice against it.

Water Lung: There are other ways to breathe water. This isn't a very good one. If you need to, just buy a potion of water breathing

Additionally, Witches get spells from their patrons. Because they only get these spells at certain witch levels, I will only look at their first 3 spells for the purpose of this guide.

Agility: Getting Cat's Grace and Haste for free is nice, jump...not so much, but 2 out of 3 is not bad at all

Ancestors: Weak, redundant effects. You could do better.

Animals: Remember your role. This isn't it.

Death:  See above.

Deception: You don't get invisibility regularly, so this is nice.

Element: You don't get a lot of the flashy evocation spells wizards and sorcerers do. Fireball is a classic spell, and you can put a shocking grasp in a spell storing weapon

Enchantment: We already went over this

Endurance: This is a very all-around good list. You never know when you're going to need endure elements, Bear's Endurance is a great buff for you, and Protection from Energy is versatile enough to always have a use.

Healing: Let the cleric handle it

Insanity: It's like I'm really a bard!

Light: Just buy an item that gives you darkvision. Problem Solved.

Moon: Great synergy between the first 2 spells, Owl's Wisdom is a good buff spell.

Occult: Detect Undead and Command Undead do not help you, and you can get Twilight Knife as a witch. No need for this.

Plague: Similar issues as Occult

Portent: The saving Grace here is Ill Omen, which you already get from the witch spell list

Shadow: Not for you

Spirits: Ghostbane Dirge a decent enough spell, when heightened, and invisibility has its merits as mentioned above.

Stars: Not for you

Strength: Now we're talking! A bonus to attack and damage, A bonus to Strength, and an enhancement to your weapon! take this Patron.

Time: Silence has uses, Haste is awesome. That's about it

Transformation: Bear's Endurance and Beast Shape have their uses in battle. Polymorph spells have a variety of uses outside of combat, too.

Trickery: If you want to me more defensive than defensive, this has mirror image. Sweet!

Vengeance: Weak damage spells, and then one that deals nonlethal damage. Moving on.

Water: Even on a sea campaign, the other dedicated casters have better options. You could take it to save them the spell slots, though.

Winter: Not very good for you. You want stuff that boosts you, not give your opponents ongoing nonlethal damage.

Wisdom: If you want to be more defensive than offensive, magic vestment is great. Shield of Faith and Owl's wisdom are also spells that remain relevant.

Now that we have covered hexes and patrons, let's talk about the familiar. Since the rules say that your total character level determines its Hit Die, Hitpoints, saves, BAB, and Skills, multiclassing does not affect it. However, your 6 witch levels will also give it +3 to AC and Alertness, Empathic Link, Improved Evasion, Share Spells, Store Spells (all level 1 abilities), plus Deliver Touch Spells (Level 3 ability) and Speak with Master (at level 5) along with 8 intelligence.

When you can, the Improved Familiar feat to upgrade it to one capable of using UMD to activate wands on its turn (like the Memphit)

For which familiar to choose, I suggest you check out the Witch guide.

V.1.4: Prepared Vs. Spontaneous: The age old question

I mentioned earlier the advantages that sorcerer had over prepared casters, but I will discuss that more in depth here:

Prepared casters have the advantage of picking their spells each day. Also, when they prepare their spells, they can choose which metamagic feats to apply. This lets them cast meta-enhanced spells without having to spend a full round action like sorcerers do.

Unfortunately for them, they don't get their extra spells via leveling up because that only happens during class levels, not EK levels, lots of money will be spent on your spellbook.

Sorcerers have more versatility during the day. You can have 1 blast, 1 buff and 1 utility spell, but 5 spell slots. So you can either shoot 5 blasts that day, or use your utility spell 5 times to get around skill challenges, or just buff the party if that is what's needed. Additionally, they have access to metamagic on the fly. This gives them more options as to what to do when. Got captured and tied up? cast a still silent fireball, kill everything in the room, then turn yourself into a smaller/bigger creature to get out. Fighting creatures with SR? cast your spells as piercing. The list goes on.

The biggest advantage the witch and wizard have over the sorcerer, though is that they get spells at lower a lower level, which may restrict how many non-casting levels you want to take.

There is no "Right or wrong" choice here because of all the different ways to qualify for EK. The combinations of classes will be discussed later.

V.2: The Melee Class

The other requirement for Eldritch Knight is proficiency with all martial weapons. This means that you will need levels in classes that are proficient with martial weapons.  Here are the choices:

Fighter:  Bonus Feat at level one, good Fort, and that's about it. Nothing too exciting, but it's useful! The extra combat feat is always welcome. You can go into fighter level 2 for another feat, but ask yourself if that extra feat is worth losing another caster level down the line. Also, EK stacks with fighter for the purpose of getting fighter-only feats

Ranger: You get a bunch of abilities that need to scale up with level so it's not necessarily a good idea at first glance. The Guide Archetype can give you a +2 to attack/damage once per day to damage against an opponent, which is good. Compare it to a lv2 Paladin’s Smite Evil. Second level of ranger gives you a combat style feat, and Perception as a class skill is neat.

Paladin: Smite evil 1/day at level 1? Yes! Ignore that DR! Good Fort and Will (and let's face it, multiclassed characters usually end up with crummy saves compared to their single class kin). At level 2 you add your cha to saves (Amazing if you are a sorcerer/Paladin). However, as mentioned above, 2 levels in a non casting class (plus the mandatory first level of EK) can put a dent on your spellcasting prowess. Also you have to be LG, so there's that. That's more of a roleplaying thing however. I will make this Orange as it only really meshes well with Sorcerer.

Barbarian: Rage! But you can't cast spells while raging. The Bonuses from Rage are worth it, and level 2 gets you a Rage power (See above about a second level in the martial class, though)

Cavalier/Samurai and Gunslinger:  I know it’s disheartening to see the classes PF introduced get the red here, but these classes are designed with Paizo’s “20 level base class” mantra in mind. They have abilities that scale (Quite nicely) as they level, which makes them poor choices for multiclassing. The other classes have an ability that works well at level 1 in a vacuum, while these classes have abilities that get better as the class progresses. Also, there may be restrictions on what can be played depending on setting and campaign. Maybe your next game is not suitable for mounted combat, or guns are not allowed.

V.2.1: The Fighter: Because you like feats

Fighter is a class that doesn't get a lot of crazy abilities, but it makes up for it by giving you feats. Bonus Combat feats every even level. This makes the fighter viable for both level 1 and level 2 multiclassing. Good Fort save matches up well with the Eldritch Knight's Good Fort save. Fighter levels stack with EK levels for the purpose of Feats, you can have an effective level of 12 for the purpose of fighter feats and still cast lv9 spells as a wizard.

If you wish to take 2 levels in fighter, then I would suggest looking into archetypes.

Tactician gives you a higher bonus to initiative, more skill tanks, and although you lose one of the 2 feats, the second one can be Skill focus, a combat feat, or a teamwork feat (Although that's not so great).

 Unbreakable gives you Endurance and Diehard at level 1, making you tougher to kill.

In conclusion, the Fighter does not really have any abilities that truly shine. Unlike the other classes, since you only have 1 or 2 levels in fighter, there aren't many options to customize this part. Also, Fighter and EK levels stack for meeting Feat prerequisites, that’s important, too.

V.2.2: The Ranger: Know your Enemy

The first level in ranger gives you a bunch of abilities that are all over the place. Tracking, wild empathy, and favored enemy are all level 1 class abilities. From there, Favored Enemy deserves special mention.  The +2 bonus goes a long way, but it's situational (depending on what you choose).

You can take a second level in ranger and get a combat style feat. However, even with the new choices in the APG, there isn't anything that truly jumps out. You could take Two Weapon Fighting, and make some interesting spell-casting, two weapon fighting character. But that will take your character even longer to blossom.  The Two-Handed Weapon style gives you Power attack for free. I really can't think of a good reason to go ranger 2 when you can just get the feats from Fighter levels, though. The only real advantage Ranger has is the extra +2 to Reflex saves. Now that I'm done bashing the ranger, let me just add that the Guide Archetype is awesome. Instead of that +2 to attack and damage against a favored enemy, you can add that +2 to attack and to damage rolls until your target dies once per day.

V.2.3 The Barbarian: Channel the Anger

Barbarian gets a bunch of instantly-gratifying abilities at level 1. Fast movement Gives you an extra 10 feet of movement per round. You can get to your opponent before they can get to you.

You also gain the ability to rage. A hefty +4 to strength and Constitution, plus a +2 Bonus to will Saves. Sure there's an AC penalty, but you know what's another good way to keep yourself from dying? kill the enemy first.

If you go for second level, you can’t be caught flat-footed. Additionally, you open up rage powers: Here's a summary (please note I'm skipping everything with a level requirement beyond 2):

Animal Fury: You get an Extra Attack. Enough said.

Auspicious Mark: kind of a gamble, especially when you consider that you are spending 2 rounds of rage (which is limited for you) to do it.

Lesser Beast Totem:  See the Witch Nails entry for how I feel about it.

Brawler: If you want to get this, just get lesser beast totem.

Lesser Chaos Totem: You are losing a caster level to get a deflection bonus and a +1 to saves against certain spells. Not worth it.

Energy Resistance: Resist 1 against an energy: Sorcerers give you Resist 5.

Ferocious Mount: What mount?

Lesser Fiend Totem: A half Orc Barbarian/Sorcerer can get 2 extra attacks per round at a -5 penalty with the bite and gore attack. If you are going to choose a rage power, the extra attack ones are among the best.

Good for what Ails you: it just suppresses the effects

Guarded Life: You could have just gotten 1 level in Unbreakable Fighter, or be a half orc

Lesser Hurling: Moving on.

Intimidating Glare: Maybe if you are a half orc barbarian/sorcerer. Then again, ,maybe not.

Knockback/Knockdown: If you want to do CMBs, go with a bloodline like Verdant. Your BAB will be higher that way

Liquid Courage: Alcohol is bad for you, mkay

Moment of Clarity: Good in theory, bad in practice. You have limited rage rounds, and that spell better be worth it.

No Escape: creatures usually fight to death.

Overbearing Advance: You are not doing maneuvers.

Powerful Blow: +1 Damage. Next!

Quick Reflexes: This isn't bad, honestly. It's basically combat reflexes when raging.

Raging Climber/Leaper/Swimmer: Not for us.

Reckless Abandon: You might as well just take a level in fighter and take Weapon Focus. Awesome for straight up barbarian, bad for you.

Roaring Drunk: Let's not forget the primary objective

Rolling Dodge: There are spells that help you against ranged attacks if you really want to.

Roused Anger: Pass.

Scent: My issue with this rage power is that you don't rage long enough to make it worth it.

Smasher: There are better ways to destroy stuff.

Lesser Spirit Totem: It may be an extra attack, and you get to add your Charisma (I'd rather add strength), however, I don't think you can add bonuses like power attack, or rage bonuses, to it.

Staggering Drunk: Nope!

Strength Surge: +2 to a CMB. What Combat Maneuvers do you really need to do?

Superstition: +2 to saves against spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities. What's not to love? by the time you're raging, you won't be casting spells anymore

Surprise Accuracy: Remember what I said earlier about Weapon focus.

Swift Foot: Just take the Fleet Feat. You already have Fast movement, how much more movement do you need?

World Serpent Totem: Situational!

So there aren't any rage powers that justify getting that second level. Personally, I would take 1 level in barbarian, but these rage power reviews can be useful for other multiclassed characters. Still, Barbarians have synergy with sorcerers, which is a pretty cool character concept. Also remember that these ratings are based on taking 2 levels of barbarian and do NOT reflect how useful they are for a full-level barbarian

One more thing: Although you  cannot cast spells while raging, the Urban Barbarian archetype lets you reduce the bonuses of your rage (to either +4 to one stat, or +2 to 2 stas; while losing the AC penalty and Will save bonus) and still be able to cast spells. It is up to you to decide if this is worth it, however, as you will have very limited rounds of rage, and you want to take advantage of the bonuses while you have them.

V.2.4: The Paladin: In the name of Good

First off, a disclaimer:

Do not play lawful stupid. Play Lawful, and play good. There are plenty of discussion as to what constitutes being in "the paladin's code".

Paladin is a great class for gishes who favor the melee part over the spellcasting part: they have a lot of good low level abilities (And in fact, most of their class Ability progression comes in the shape of more of the same class ability per day).

Smite Evil 1/day means that against the BBEG you will ignore its DR, and add your charisma to your attack roll. You also get a deflection bonus, which will probably just overlap your Ring of Deflection. Also, you get to add your pally level to your damage rolls when smiting.

Paladins have several abilities that are dependent on their charisma. This makes it a class that meshes well with Sorcerer, and nothing else (Hence the color). For Paladins, my recommendation is take TWO levels of paladin, or none at all. As good as Smite Evil is, Divine Grace is the real reason we dip into paladin. Adding your Charisma to your saves is a BIG boon to you (remember: crummy saves). Especially if you care about charisma to cast spells. Finally, Lay on hands gives you 1d6 self-healing, which is a small heal outside of battle.

V.2.5: Archetypes: A short look at what makes you unique.

Due to popular demand, I'm going to look at archetypes for the three melee classes that I suggested earlier. However, much like I did with the barbarian rage powers, I will look at them with the assumption you will take at most two levels in the class. Also, I will omit any archetypes that have no benefits at level 1 or 2.

V.2.5.1 Fighter: Because a +1 from Bravery isn’t that great

Archer : Archer? Blue? I know right? but if you are already dedicating 2 levels to fighter for the feats, replacing Bravery's bonus (+1 to will against fear effects) with a +1 Bonus to Perception is more than welcome.

Armor Master: There are some builds that can use a shield. Either by Shield Bashing so that it can be used both as weapon and shield (with the right feats) or sword and board with still spells. If you are one of those builds, you can get a benefit from here. Otherwise, avoid.

Brawler: A +1 Bonus to a few combat maneuvers (that aren't trip or grapple) isn't that impressive.

Cad: See above. Getting Stealth as a class skill may be good for dex-based builds, but those may want to consider using Ranger as their martial class.

Corsair: Pirate campaigns hooray! If you want to cleave, this bumps up to blue. Unfortunately, Cleave is kind of a situational feat, so your Mileage May Vary on this one.

Dragoon: Are you doing a Mounted campaign? This may be awesome or not awesome depending on that.

Free Hand Fighter: +1 to CMB and CMD for Disarm and Bluff to feint/create diversions. Yay?

Gladiator: I don't know about performance combat. I'm sure it has some cool things, but pass.

Lore Warden: (From Campaign Setting: Pathfinder Society Field Guide): Consult with GM before taking this archetype just in case they want to keep it PF Books-Only. The boost to skills is awesome. Getting Combat Expertise for free on top of your other bonus feats is good, too. If you want to focus on something like tripping (which is good, as it denies your opponent a full round attack action and gives you an Attack of Opportunity), Free combat expertise is good as it removes the feat tax. Great Synergy with Wizard as you get lots and lots of skill ranks. Also, maybe some Toppling Magic Missile build with the trip feats.

Mobile Fighter: +1 against getting paralyzed, slowed, or entangled. It could save you, but there are better options.

Phalanx Soldier: see Brawler.

Polearm Master: This is good for a full fighter, as it makes you very control-oriented. My question is, why not use Armor Spikes?

Rondelero Duelist (From Inner Sea Prime): Similar benefits to Armor Master. However, remember that with a buckler, you can sword and board without needing Still Spell (Though it's still a good option)

Roughrider: Mounted Campaign, and even then, it could be better. I mean, if you want to be a mounted combatant gish, cast Mount instead of having to take care of a mount.

Savage Warrior: +1 against energy Drain and Death effects is great. Unfortunately, the bonus does not go a long way at this level. If you are in a position where you need a bonus against a drain effect, just get the cleric to cast it on you, or get a consumable item.

Tactician: Lore Warden's Skill boon + Archer's +1 to initiative. Plus, you can choose teamwork feats and Skill focus as bonus feats (if you're into that sort of thing). Sadly, you lose the level 1 feat.

Tower Shield Specialist: you need to be wearing a tower shield, and you don't get the benefits for using one that the full class does.

Two-Handed Fighter: Although you COULD take the Power Attack chain and sunder stuff, do you really think you're going to need this small bonus?

Unarmed Fighter: I'm SURE there are uses for this, but I don't see them.

Unbreakable: Diehard is a good feat as it essentially increases your Hitpoints the same way Orc Ferocity does. Its main drawback is its feat tax, which you also get for free. That makes it very enticing. Tough as Nails is only a +1 to will saves against mind-affecting effects, but at least it's better than bravery.

Weapon Master: I like to think one of the advantages of the gish is that you can carry many different types of weapon on your (Crushing, piercing and bludgeoning) on top of your usual weapon. That way when you need a specific type of damage, you can cast greater magic weapon on a side weapon and get bashing/slashing/piercing. Of course, you could just cast Versatile Weapon on your main weapon and problem solved. Either way, that +1 to CMD against that weapon being sundered is not great.

V.2.5.2: Ranger: Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the class.

Freebooter (From Pirates of the Inner Sea): This reminds me a lot of the bard's Inspire Courage, except that it's a move action at level 1. Also, notice that you have unlimited uses per day. I personally prefer this over favored enemy, if for no other reason because of the unlimited number of uses per day.

Guide: At level 1 you can give yourself a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls once per day against one enemy. Reminds me of the Paladin's smite evil, except it's not restrictive, but it's not as good. Nonetheless, this is an amazing ability.

Trapper: If you are Dex-Based, this is blue. If your party lacks a rogue, You can fulfill the role quite well. You will have perception as a class skill, and will be able to disarm traps. Additionally, you have access to spells to enhance this (such as knock). Trapper Wizard is awesome.

Trophy Hunter: If you REALLY want a gun, try this, You might as well just take levels in gunslinger, though. At least as a Ranger you get some nice benefits.

Urban Ranger: For our purposes, Trapper is better.

Warden: Lose a favored enemy AND your combat style feat.

Wild Stalker: You get a +1 bonus to perception (So far so good), but you lose your first favored enemy (not so good, then again, we take archetypes to make the favored enemy better), at second level, you gain uncanny dodge, which means you can NEVER be caught flat footed. And THAT is good. You miss out on your bonus combat feat though, but if there was a feat with no prereqs that said "You cannot be caught flat footed", you'd probably want to take it.

 V.2.5.3: Paladin: The “We will compromise Smite Evil and Divine Grace” Edition

Divine Hunter: Precise shot has a lot of us use, as it benefits your rays greatly, and the loss of heavy armor proficiency is not a big loss at all. However, think about it: You're mostly melee. If you are going to shoot your opponent, it's probably on the surprise round, or if you are simply too far from your opponent. When this happens, you won't be taking the penalty. Treatmonk mentioned it once. However, you are virtually losing nothing to gain some extra versatility, so by all means, do it.

Empyrial Knight: Next!

Holy Gun: Your Smite evil is now restricted to guns. Also, you lose Detect Evil to have that gun in the first place. I guess you can use that gun. Unfortunately, this guide is trying to focus more on the standard melee build.

Holy Tactician: Smite Evil will deal half the damage (which to you is a very small change), but you also give a lesser version to your allies. I'm sure your allies will appreciate a ~+2-3 bonus to attack rolls and a +1 to damage. Note that this is a competence bonus, so the bard in your party will probably wind up overlapping your bonuses.

<I went over the Oaths, but none of them made me go "wow I could totally use this!" or "Wow this totally makes losing <insert ability here> worth it!"

Sacred Shield: The Party will love you. You lose out on the offensive benefits of your smite, but keep the AC bonus. Additionally, your allies only take half damage from all attacks of that monsters (ie: BBEG). If you get your hands on a Silver Smite Bracelet, you get an additional +1 to AC.

 V.2.6: Special Mentions:

While these classes usually do not meet the prerequisites for the EK, certain archetypes/types do. So I will mention them here:

V.2.6.1: Sohei Monk: The Special Mention

The Sohei monk gets a special mention here, as it’s proficient with all martial weapons, and thus it qualifies for the Eldritch Knight. The Sohei monk benefits from a high wisdom, which meshes well only with the Empyrial Sorcerer. This combination can be devastating, as it’s a class that adds both its Dex AND Wisdom to AC. Also, you get a +2 to your saves at the cost of a loss of 1 point of BAB. Don’t forget: your Monk level + BAB from other classes stack together to calculate your Flurry of blows BAB.

V.2.6.2: Oracle: The other Special Mention

Oracles with the Metal and Battle Mysteries can take the Skill at Arms Mystery at level 1 to become proficient in all Martial Weapons. This opens up the floor for some divine spells to go with your Gish. Of course, in order to avoid being MAD (Multiple Ability Dependancy) you should multiclass it only with Sorcerer. Oracle 1 or 2 will give you Mysteries and spells. Even though this goes into the realm of theorycraft, it might be interesting to see some Oracle 4/Sorcerer 4/Mystic Theurge 2/Eldritch Knight 10 build. This gives you Cleric Spells with a CL of 6, Sorcerer spells with CL of 15, and a BAB of 15. (I am of the school of thought that your BAB should be at least 15 for a melee-oriented character). You can also go Oracle 2/Sorcerer8/EK10 to have a Sorcerer CL of 17, and a few small divine spells (Plus your oracle mystery spell)

VI: Mix and Match

So I've written about 3 different casting classes and 4 different melee classes, but now the question becomes: What goes well with what?

So as you can see, the recommended Mixes are Wizard FIghter (the standard Gish, CL 18, and BAB 15); or Sorcerer Fighter (same statistics). Also Paladin/Sorcerer is strong with CL17, and BAB16, and a huge boost to saves. Fighter/Witch and Sorcerer/Barbarian are good too, but not as optimal. They still have quite the flavor, though. Ranger, as I mentioned before, should be looked at with a more open mind. Ranger has a lot of good options, and a reflex save. My main issue is not that the Ranger is bad, but the FIghter is just better for our purposes.

VII. Skills: I can't think of anything creative to say here

First off remember: You don't have to be the skill monkey in the party (That is usually the Rogue's job). Also, depending on your build, some skills will be class skills for you, and your stats will help some of the skills.

The EK's class skills are Climb, Knowledge (nobility and royalty), Linguistics, Ride, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, and Swim. Regardless of the path you take, you will have these skills. Sadly, aside from spellcraft (which every caster gets) they won’t be of much use for you.

Here are the skills the casting classes have in common, though:

(Yes, I'm aware I left off the Wizard having every knowledge the other 2 lack, I'm not remaking the graph, though)

The melee classes are all over the place skill-wise, and a lot of them are on the EK skill set

Before I discuss each skill separately, let me just write a few words about putting ranks in skills:

First off, if you can afford it, put a rank in each of the skills you have as class skills. Secondly, because many skills have static DC’s for common checks, it’s worth to put enough ranks to reliably make the check you need. Either aim for a +10 skill bonus (if you can take 10 on the skill), or enough so that even if you roll a 1, you still make your check. Consult with GM before claiming that rolling a nat 1 on a skill check can still be successful, as per RAW, a nat 1 on a skill check it’s not an auto-fail.

Now let's look at each skill and look at their merits.

Acrobatics: Put 3 ranks in it and forget about it. If you ever need to fight defensively, you can give yourself an extra +1 dodge bonus when do, and a +2 bonus when you take the total defense action.

Appraise: Has anyone ever used this skill? I think in my years playing this game, I've only used it a handful of times. Nonetheless, maybe your GM approaches it differently. Given that you need a DC 20 check to identify the value of (most) items, you realistically need a 10 on your skill bonus to take 10 on your check. If you’re a wizard, put 1-3 ranks in it, then forget about it. If you’re a sorcerer, put a few more than that. Bottom line: Don’t invest heavily in it, but put at least a rank to enjoy the +3 class skill bonus.

Climb: You have access to fly spells, so you probably won't have to worry about this. At the same time, Martial classes generally have this as a class skill. It's also a Str-based skill. My advice? Put a rank on it and forget about it. With an 18 Str and 1 rank, your climb bonus is +8, which lets you take 10 on climbing rocks/trees/other natural rough surfaces.

Craft: If you're going to be making stuff, you better be using item creation feats. which require a spellcraft check

Diplomacy: Here is my issue with it: If you have it as a class skill and the charisma to pump it, then you went sorcerer/Paladin, which means you don’t get enough skill ranks to invest in it. Even if you can’t max it, it’s still not a bad option. ESPECIALLY if you are in an urban campaign, as you will eventually need help from someone. The DC for an indifferent person won’t be more than 17 (Assuming they have a 14-15 charisma) , so with a 20 charisma and +3 for it being a class skill, you already have a +8. Then apply ranks as needed. If you are playing Pathfinder Society, this jumps up to at least green, as having social skills is good (and a lot of players dump charisma.)

Disable Device: Not your usual role. If you took the seeker archetype, sure go for it.

Disguise: Not a class skill for you, and you won't have much use for it.

Escape Artist: Ring of Freedom of Movement.

Fly:  You don't need many ranks here. Your casting class will give you a +3 bonus to it. Additionally, Spells like Fly and Overland Flight add half your ECL to your Fly check. Since the DC to hover (very common use of the fly skill) is 15, try to aim for a total fly skill of 13-14. Let’s say that you use Overland Flight as your go-to flying spell (more on that later) , your ECL should be 11-12, meaning that by then casting Fly/OF will give you a +5-6 boost to your check, with the +3 for class. Long Story short, the maximum number of ranks you will need is probably 5. If you’re dex-based, then just put 1 rank in fly. One more thing: Remember you can’t put ranks in fly until you have a reliable mean to fly every day (so basically, wait till you can cast fly to start putting ranks in it)

Handle Animal: You're not a druid or a ranger (well, you may be a ranger, but still). HOWEVER, if you plan to summon, you WILL need handle animal to give animals instructions beyond “kill that”. If you plan on using summons tactically (you should), I highly recommend ranks in this.

Heal: I don't think people use this skill. Also, there should be a healer in your party.

Intimidate: If you go Sorcerer/Barbarian, it's not a terrible idea. It's very flavorful. In Combat, you could give your opponents a debuff without having to spend resources.

Knowledge: The "Big Four" are Arcana, Religion, Nature, and Planes, as they cover the majority of monsters you will encounter. Depending on your class, put ranks on it if you can afford it. Only reason it's not blue is because different classes have different numbers of ranks available. If you have the ranks to spare, put ranks in the other knowledge types.

Linguistics: Invest as needed. Each rank is one more language after all.

Perception: Most used and abused skill in the game. If you can get it as a class skill via traits, martial classes, or bloodlines (Draconic!), then it's even better

Perform: Leave that to the bard, and the Maestro bloodline. If you are going to take Dervish Dance to make a Dex-based fighter, then put 2 ranks in (Dance), as it’s one of the pre-reqs. Also, if you want to take a few levels in duelist (More on that later), put 2 ranks here.

Ride: This varies from campaign to campaign. Usually a fly/overland flight spell will cover this, and eventually, teleport will probably take care of your transportation issues. Only reason it's not red is because of the aforementioned campaign issues

Sense Motive: Class Skill for EK, but relies on wisdom. Unless you're Empyrial, you will not have a good wisdom bonus.

Sleight of Hand: Not here.

Spellcraft: The skill of casters: Unlike Knowledge Arcana, this refers to having the technical know-how of magic.  Also, if you want Spell Perfection, you need 15 ranks in this.

Stealth: You're not the sneaky type. Later on you might want to invest in it, as you may want to use invisibility to sneak up to an opponent to get bonuses to attack. I’m not saying max it, but you get a big bonus for casting invisibility (+20 if moving), why not add a little extra?

Survival: 1 rank in it lets you know north. But it's a largely useless skill for you.

Swim: See Climb

UMD: So good (especially if you went sorcerer) this whole entry is blue. If you are a wizard/Witch, pick up Pragmatic Activator as a trait to use int instead of cha.

VIII. Feats:

Pathfinder has released Five books (Core, APG, UM, UC, ARG) rich with feats for gish characters. I will look at the feats by book in order to make them easier for players to look up

VIII.1 Cooking with The Books:

Core Rulebook: The "Bread and butter" feats. This are the generic but good feats and quite possibly the bulk of feats for you

Advanced Player's Guide:A Opens a lot of interesting niche options for your character. Most of the book focuses on stuff introduced in the APG itself, so some stuff might seem TOO situational

Ultimate Magic: You gain access to more caster-oriented feats for the spellcaster side of your character. It also brings forth the Eldritch Heritage Feats, which make the eldritch knight an even more versatile character

Ultimate Combat: You gain a lot of combat feats here (remember how EK gets 3 combat feats for free?)

Advanced Race Guide:  More restrictive about the feats you can take because they are race-based, but some really are worth it. If nothing else, it gives you the spell Paragon Surge.

Other Books: Inner Sea Guide, Inner Sea Magic, and such.

VIII.2: Core Rulebook

Acrobatic: Like all the feats that give a +2 to two skills, this is one you may want to avoid. Not much to say here. I will omit all further "+2 to two skills" feats henceforth.

Agile Maneuvers*: Weapon Finesse without the dex requirement. For those of you who don't know, if you try a combat maneuver with a fineasseable weapon, you can add your dex instead of str mod. The advantage agile maneuvers has is that you can do it with ANY weapon. However,  Weapon finesse also applies to attack rolls, so poor agile maneuvers gets left in the dust.

Alignment Channel: I can't think of a way a gish can have access to channel energy, let alone need this feat. I will omit all feats based on channel energy henceforth

Arcane Armor Training*: At low levels, this feat is great. If you are in a campaign that does not go into high levels, all you need is a mithril chain shirt (Arcane Spell Failure = 10%), and basically you are spending a swift action to cast with no issues. At the same time, you get to enjoy the AC bonus from your chain, which can be enchanted later on. Sadly, this feat loses a lot of steam when it starts clashing with quicken spell (please refer to the list of verbal only spells at the beginning of this guide). I want to say that AAT is a good feat until level 12-13. If you plan on playing beyond that, this might actually be a trap, as you can get bracers of armor +6 and cast quickened spells.

Arcane Armor Mastery*: Off the top of my head, I can't think of armor that gives 20% ASF chance. I'm sure you can combine shield and armor to add up to 20 to best use this feat. However, it's a second feat investment, and realistically, AAT is all you're going to be needing.

Arcane Strike*: This feat is great. You spend a swift action to get a bonus to all damage rolls for a turn . It's interesting to note that it does not clash with AAT, as you are either hitting or casting. By the time you reach the capstone ability, you may want to rethink when you want to use AStrike, as it can interfere with spell critical. However, that won't happen for a while. The bonus damage stacks with power attack, and unlike power attack, it does not give you any attack roll penalties.

Armor Proficiency chain: You don't need it, as your martial class should give you this.

Augment Summoning: Summoning is a very versatile tactic in PF. You can get flank buddies, meatshields, extra perception checks, you name it. Eldritch Knights have access to all 9 levels of summoning spells. If you want to fight and summon strong creatures (like an arcane version of a druid?) go for it. Spell Focus (Conjuration) as a prereq hurts a bit, but there are some really good conjuration spells.

Blind-Fight*:  I don't like this feat because if you need it, you are already screwed in one way or another. It gets some love later on in the books, but for now, take it only if you want it to be thematic for your character, or are a human in a campaign full of dark caves/you are in a campaigns with lots of invisible attackers.

Catch Off-Guard*: This might be cool for monks and such, but it's not quite what you're looking for.

Combat Casting: Sooner or later you will need it, and you will be happy you have it.

Combat Expertise*: you already have 3/4 overall BAB, and will probably be power attacking. Also, as important as AC is, you have the ability to turn yourself invisible or make mirror copies of yourself to avoid attacks. It does open up a bunch of feats though:

                    Disarm: if you want to focus on this, you can just cast Pilfering hand and call it a day.

                    Feint: Cast Vanish on yourself to make your opponent flat footed against your next attack, or    greater invisibility later on

                    Trip:  Toppling Magic Missile. Plus, a lot of creatures have high CMD's versus trip (or simply can't be tripped). This is green because trip is one of the better combat maneuvers. If you want to                  invest in a CMB chain, you could do a lot worse than this.

Whirlwind Attack*: WAAAAY too many feat taxes. And you lose your haste attack!

Combat Reflexes*: Good for Dex-based gishes. With greater trip and a reach weapon, you can toppling magic missile someone, hit them on the way down, then hit them again for trying to get up. Fun times.

Stand Still*: Maneuvering people is good in PF, but for an AOO, I'd rather just smack them for damage. Is it possible to just trip them instead?

Critical Focus: Confirming crits is good. ESPECIALLY if you are playing a class that does things upon critting stuff (like casting free quickened spells.

Bleeding Critical*: so simple. So good. ongoing stackable 2d6 bleed damage.

Blinding Critical*: allows a fort save (most monsters have good fort saves) and the DC is based   off your BAB, which is 3/4. The BAB req is very high. Personally, I'd just use spell critical to cast                heightened blindess or power word blind (both are verbal-only spells!)

Deafening Critical*: Deafening does not do as many cool things as blindness. It messes up casters,but I think critting squishy casters is rewarding by itself.

Sickening Critical* The debuff is nice. -2 to all rolls. It doesn't stack and once it goes off nothing else happens for a minute. HOWEVER, if you connect it with a spell critical, you are increasing               the DC of whatever spell you cast by +2, and that might be worth something.

Staggering Critical*: Staggering your opponent prevents them from taking Full Round Attack          actions, and limits what they can do per turn. Multiple crits increase the duration of the debuff

Stunning Critical*:  As a Wiz 5/Fighter 5/EK10, by level 20 you can get the necessary 17 BAB,             unfortunately, your won't be able to take the feat (20 is an even level). Plus your CL is 14. if only.          (Maybe as a half Elf you can cast Contingency calling Paragon Surge to go off when you cast              Transformation? Too cheesy?)

Tiring*: Nice simple debuff, but it's more of a feat tax for...

Exhausting Critical*: -6 to str AND dex with no save! This is like hitting your opponent with  TWO                   Bestow Curses at the same time.

Critical Mastery: You need to be level 4 fighter, level 10 EK to take this feat, meaning only 15 levels of caster. No thanks.

Deadly Aim*: Power Attack for Rangers. This guide focuses on the melee version of the gish, so I'm making all archery feats red. For the record, I'm not condoning eschewing ranged attacks altogether, you do have access to scorching ray. Too bad Deadly Aim doesn’t apply to it.

Defensive  Combat Training*: To me this feat is better suited for half BAB casters, since they get the most benefit out of it. You? you have 3/4 BAB, you have an easier time getting out. If your GM likes to grapple you a lot, get a ring of freedom of movement and/or a restraining order.

Disruptive And SpellBreaker*: This counters Combat Casting. Spellbreaker further punishes casters for trying to use spells in your vicinity. Whether you want to take these feats falls more under what you want your character doing. Your character hates casters? go for it. You want to just bash things and want more feats to bash more things? avoid these as they are situational.

Dodge*: +1 to AC. Is that +1 worth a feat to you?

Mobility*: if you like to move around the battlefield a lot, try this feat out. You make opponents waste their Attacks of Opportunity.

Spring Attack*: helps with the mobility, helps use touch attacks. Check with GM to see if you can use this with a fly or overland flight spell to emulate Fly-by attack.

Wind and Lightning Stance*: First one gives you 20% concealment against ranged attacks. Alright, I guess that can be useful. Second one gives you 50% concealment from all attacks if you spend 2 move actions in a turn...I'm not feeling it. You lose out on a turn to get the effect of a spell you can cast. While we're at it, you can do a better Wind Stance with a spell too!

Endurance*: A bunch of plusses to specific things, plus you can sleep in armor. You are going to be wearing light armor which dons quickly anyway

Diehard:* it does you a lot of good. It keeps you alive. Just remember that you would want to avoid being at this state.

 NOTE: If you want Diehard, I suggest you take the unbreakable fighter archetype

Eschew Materials: Sorcerers get it for free, and most players just ignore material components anyway

Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Elvish Curve Blade and Falcata come to mind. If you are a Half-Elf, you can get this for free by trading out Skill Focus.

Extra Lay on Hands: Sorcadin gets Lay on Hands for 1d6 a few times per day. I don't think another 2d6 heals per day are worth the feat. Just buy a wand of cure light wounds or something.

Extra Rage: If your martial class is barbarian, I STRONGLY recommend this feat. Six extra rounds per day go a long way.

Fleet: If you care that much about movement speed, use expeditious retreat, or just cast one of the flying spells on yourself.

Great Fortitude + Improved: Being a martial character, you will have a decent fort save. Sorcadins have high saves as it is, so they don't need this feat. Non-sorcadin builds might want to consider bumping their save (though I'd recommend worrying more about will saves)

Improved Counterspell: If I'm going to counter spells, I'd rather just burn a dispel magic or greater dispel magic.

Improved Critical: Get a keen weapon, or cast keen edge.

Improved Familiar: If you have a familiar, take this. Having a flying familiar like an Azata carrying a wand of Protection from Evil essentially gives you 2 rolls to overcome mind-affecting evil effects.

Improved Initiative*: I don't need to tell you why this is good.

Improved Unarmed Strike*: Not good either. Classes that can benefit from it (mostly monk) have increase damage when using unarmed strikes.

[At this point I’ll skip all the feats that require IUS as a prerequisite, as they are either based on WIS, which only Sohei monk variants care about, or are improved grapple, which a gish can do via a spell like telekinesis anyway]

Intimidating Prowess*: Why don’t barbarians get this as a bonus feat at level 1? Even though this feat is not very good, intimidating CAN be a good way to give your opponent a debuff at lower levels.

Iron Will + Improved: Multiclassing to a melee class + EK having low will are good reasons to consider these feats. Will saves are usually the ones that can screw over a PC the most.

Leadership: If it’s not banned at your table (oh God, why isn’t it?!?), take it.

Lightning Reflexes + Improved: A boon to saves is good, BUT usually reflex saves are to avoid falling prone (which becomes needless once you can fly) and taking less damage (and in some cases, none at all). However, you should be able to tank a few hits. If you went ranger gish, you should actually have a Reflex save. Sorcadins have high saves as it is anyway, Fighter gish does get that extra lv1 feat, but I think there are better feat options.

Lunge*: This really depends on what you want to do. The -2 Penalty is not that big of a deal, though be advised that too many attack penalties will make you waste rounds. Of course, you can also cast Enlarge Person and gain reach, along with more damage. Or you can use both. I’m not making it red because it has uses, but I'm not making green because it’s too dependant on personal taste and playstyle.

Mounted Combat Feats: That’s more of a campaign-dependant thing, I’m trying to make a general guide here.

Power Attack*: Melee class? Meet damage output. Even Dex-based gishes should get their str to 13 and take this feat. Two-handed weapon gishes will benefit from this even more!

Cleave + Great Cleave: In theory it sounds awesome. In practice...not so much. you give up your full attack action to hit 2 enemies with a better hitchance on the second target. The enemies have to be next to each other, and you take a penalty to AC. This is a good feat when fighting hoards of lower level monsters, at which point an AOE spell will suffice...Probably.

Bull Rush: I’m sure this is fun to do to monsters, but it doesn’t do that much, and it deals no damage.

Overrun: Is this a thing people use?

Sunder: Of the power attack-based combat maneuvers, this is my favorite. Doesn’t mean you should use it, and I’m sure that some GM’s will hate you for constantly making them recalculate enemies’ attacks.

Quickdraw*: Once your BAB becomes 1 or higher, you can draw a weapon as part of your movement. Also, this feat does not let you draw potions, scrolls, whatever. Finally, Gloves of Storing.

Improved Shield Bash*: Shield bashing is very feat heavy, but can be one of the best ways to have access to shield AC and have a weapon. Think Captain America. Also it’s cheaper as the ehancement bonus applies to both attack/damage and defence. With that being said, I shall reiterate it’s just too damn feat intensive.

Skill Focus: Skill focus for the sake of skill focus is not a very good investment. You can use it to meet the prereq for Eldritch Heritage, which is cool and all. If you are a half elf, OR a human who picked that one alternate racial trait, then enjoy your free skill focus, though. If you decide to take it, I suggest  Skill Focus: Perception or skill Knowledge: One of the big four.

Spell Focus + Greater: You should not rely on DC-based spells, given that you are trying to have a high combat stat and decent casting stat. IF you have a way to reduce your MAD (For instance, a scarred Witch Doctor gish), then it may be worth upping your Save DC’s.

Spell Penetration + Greater: If you go the sorcerer route, Piercing Spell is all you need. If you go the prepared route, ask yourself how many times you will be facing a creature with SR on any given day. Even if you do fight something with SR, you have your sword to bash it with.

Step Up: Description makes it sound like a better version of Fleet, until  you read the long description.

Strike Back: Kind of a cool idea, but you have other ways to hit things that try to do that stuff.

Throw Anything: Good for certain classes...Not this one though.

Toughness: +1 HP per level is not bad at all, especially since almost half of your HD will be D6s. I’d put it blue, but there are players who don’t choose to prioritize it over other feats. Ultimately, if you are trying to go for a build that requires feat chains, don’t sit down and weigh the pros and cons of choosing Toughness over something your build needs.

Two-Weapon Fighting: First off, you are at the equivalent of ¾ BAB, and this slaps on another -2 penalty. Secondly, you don’t get a lot of bonuses that get added to each attack (like sneak attack, Smite Evil, or Favored Enemy), so consider if extra hits really do that much more damage than a few big hits. Thirdly, there are other feats you might want to pick up instead. With all that said, if you buy a boot blade, you can use your main hand and your foot to fight, while keeping a hand free for Dervish Dance. When it comes to the chain, I would not do Greater TWF. Improved gets a pass, but remember youre hitting at a -7 penalty (-5 for second attack, and -2 for TWF)

Vital Strike + Chain: Largely regarded as a trap, I feel that this feat is a bit underrated, as it’s almost guaranteed to see use at least once per encounter (move up to opponent, Vital Strike). Now, you have to remember: you only add your weapon damage die, so if you have a weapon with a high damage die, this feat will do a lot more danger. for example, say you are using a scimitar. You hit and add 1d6 damage (3.5). This is fine. Players will take Weapon Specialization for a flat +2 damage. Now consider using an Elven Curve Blade (1d10), you are adding 5.5 damage on average. This is actually a noticeable difference. This feat depends on a few things to be considered: opportunity cost of other feats you could have taken, and weapon damage.

With all that said, I would advise against the chain, as it’s too feat intensive, and if i had 3-4 feats to spare, I’d go Eldritch Heritage, or pick up the bread-n-butter feats like Improved Initiative, Toughness, etc.

Weapon Finesse: As I said before, Dex-based fighting trades damage output for consistency, as it makes you less MAD. If you are going dex-based, this is of course blue. The reason this is green is because Dex-based builds are highly recommended.

Weapon Focus: A flat +1 to attack rolls goes a LONG way. Especially when you are using Power Attack and such things that drop your attack roll. It also opens up bunch of other feats, like Dazzling Display (if you are into that), and Weapon Spec/Greater Weapon Focus (EK levels count as fighter levels for the purpose of feats, so you can actually eventually qualify!)

Item Creation Feats

Brew Potion: Potions are good if you want to help out your fellow party members by letting them crib off some of your buffs in liquid form. For you, not as good as you can use scrolls.

Craft Magic Arms and Weapons/Rod/Staff/Wand/Wondrous Item/Forge Ring: This is campaign-Specific. Even if your game allows it, you have to take into consideration wealth balance and time to craft stuff.

Scribe Scroll: Cheaper version of Brew Potion for the purpose that you need it for. scribe your own utility spells so you can have more blast and buff in your memorized spell repertoire.

Metamagic Feats

Empower Spell: This is not a very good feat for you. For starters, you are already behind on casting, for second, using it on spells like Fireball just means you are casting spells at a lower DC (compare casting a level 3 fireball versus a level 5 Cone of Cold for example, Cone of Cold has a higher cap and a +2 DC). Empower Spell does work well with Scorching Ray, making each ray +2d6 damage, up to +6d6. Idk if that’s worth it to you though. Also, I’m not entirely sure what the consensus is on this, but some people say that after the errata saying that static bonuses also increase (like if you cast Cure Medium Wounds at caster level 10, you’d be healing 3d8+15). Anyway, if that is the case, you could make an argument for casting empowered Mage Armor/Shield, using level 3 spells to get +12 to AC (6 from mage armor, and 6 from shield). By extension, I guess any spell that buffs you by a fixed amount would increase its boost (no idea if this means that an empowered Bull’s Strength gives you a +6). Anyway, that’s assuming this works that way, because opening such a floodgate leads into stuff like Empowered Invisibility (+30 stealth when moving), Empowered Greater Magic Weapon (+6 attack and damage at CL 16), empowered True Strike (+30 to a single attack. Could you imagine using Spell Perfection to cast quickened Empowered True Strikes?), so tread carefully.

Enlarge Spell: The range on these type of spells already is enough to hit your target so no need for it

Extend Spell: For a mere +1 slot increase, you get to DOUBLE the duration of your buffs! Now we’re talking! you can actually get away with casting long-lasting buffs at the beginning of your day and having them last the whole day. Even minute/level last a long time when extended. Also, summon spells will last much longer (though that might be a little redundant).  This is a highly recommended spell.

Heighten Spell: If you don’t plan on going the preferred spell route, avoid this feat. While it has uses, those uses are mostly overshadowed by Persistent Spell.

Maximize Spell: +3 is very rough. You could do Maximized Scorching Rays for 72 damage, or Maximized shocking Grasp for 60 (which, by the way, is not a bad idea if you can use the capstone ability of the EK Prestige Class: Spell Critical.) If you are going to use this feat, do not use it in conjunction with spells that require a save, as that +3 level increase will really hinder you. Besides, spells which require some sort of touch attack are better for you due to your improved BAB and higher damage. And for the sake of completion, I will point out that casting a Maximized summon monster spell will summon the maximum number of possible monsters if you use the lower level summoning alternative.

Quicken Spell: Excellent choice at higher levels. I know I just decried Maximized Spell for its +4 increase, while blue-lighting this feat. Quicken spell has always been a staple for high level casters, and here is no different. From being able to quickly slap on a buff, maybe deliver some extra damage in the form of a quickened <insert damage spell>, taking advantage of your last iterative attack with a quickened true strike (it doesn’t provoke), this feat gives you a lot of options. Granted, if you are using armor, it will interfere with casting (don’t take a 10% chance of wasting a spell slot), so pick, choose, and use carefully.

Silent Spell: A situational spell, which works well with invisibility, as you become downright unpinpointable (that’s a word now). While it has its uses, it’s nowhere near as useful as

Still Spell: Do you want to wear full plate and still cast spells? here is your answer. By removing the somatic components out of your spells, you do not have to worry about arcane spell failure. Wear a tower shield and full plate! The reason this isn’t blue is because it does have a +1 metamagic increase, and you are already a full spell level behind (or more), so this basically means you are 2 spell levels behind (in other words, you can cast still fireballs at the same time your wizard friend is casting level 6 spells.

Widen Spell: Please don’t.

COMING SOON: Fighting Styles, Feats and Traits, Spells, Sample Builds