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Hi, im a first time poster. Just wanted to say hi to everyone before i get into the nitty-gritty.

Ok, a while ago i joined a dnd 3.5e game for the first time. Though i have played 4e for over a year now, there is still a bit of a learning curve and so im not totally used to the rules (although 4e made the transition easier IMHO).
So im playing a duskblade, and having a very fun time with the class, but i come into a conundrum. My duskblade just turned lvl 12 and i looking at pretige classes to expand into to increase my abilities. But i cant seem to find any prestige class that fits duskblades, at least to my criteria needs.

Basicly, im looking one or more of the following:
A. Martial Class features
B. Spellcasting that would work with Duskblade class features or at least help augment them
C. Bluff as a class skill (not that important, but a very nice bonus)

Im not looking nto multiclass yet, and some of the fun prestige classes fit fighter/wizards than duskblades.

So far, Occultist slayer fits my criteria mosts, while Spellsword and Eldritch Knight offer some nice benefits, but are limited in long and short term advantages.
Are there any other Prestige Classes that i should look at?

May 12, 2011 -- 7:11AM, SirVire wrote:

Hi, im a first time poster. Just wanted to say hi to everyone before i get into the nitty-gritty.

Ok, a while ago i joined a dnd 3.5e game for the first time. Though i have played 4e for over a year now, there is still a bit of a learning curve and so im not totally used to the rules (although 4e made the transition easier IMHO).
So im playing a duskblade, and having a very fun time with the class, but i come into a conundrum. My duskblade just turned lvl 12 and i looking at pretige classes to expand into to increase my abilities. But i cant seem to find any prestige class that fits duskblades, at least to my criteria needs.

Basicly, im looking one or more of the following:
A. Martial Class features
B. Spellcasting that would work with Duskblade class features or at least help augment them
C. Bluff as a class skill (not that important, but a very nice bonus)

Im not looking nto multiclass yet, and some of the fun prestige classes fit fighter/wizards than duskblades.

So far, Occultist slayer fits my criteria mosts, while Spellsword and Eldritch Knight offer some nice benefits, but are limited in long and short term advantages.
Are there any other Prestige Classes that i should look at?

You could look at the Troubadour of Stars, although I have no idea how well the class would fit your character.
How important is the spell-casting aspect for your character. Duskblade really doesn't have the best spell-list to begin with, so it could be that you'll be better off just going for some sort of weapons master; although what would fit your character depends heavily on mroe information:

What race is he
What alignment is he
What deity, if any does he pay hommage to
What other skills does he have?
What feats does he have?

Unlike paragon paths and epic destinies, you aren't forced to take a prestige class, and if you do decide to take one, pretty much everything relevant to your character can be relevant in the decision. In 4e, all you need is, for instance, to say what books are available and that you're playing a "Fighter" and you immediately know for which choices you qualify. In 3.5, that's not enough - Your race, feat choices, skill choices, and spellcasting ability all go into the equation, along with (less commonly) other things like alignment, deity, region of origin, and particular exploits.

The duskblade is one of those classes that will remain reasonably solid without a prestige class. It was developed late in 3.5's lifespan; early on, most prestige classes were written for warriors or for mages, not both, and often the ones that did come out for both were designed to work as duct tape between them (the Spellsword, that you've seen, is a good example: it lets fighter-type classes meld well with separate, mage-type classes, but all of its "duct tape" is already present in the Duskblade!). As such, the duskblade has an interesting set of priorities for PrCs. The usual choice is adding spells known, especially if they're outside the usual Duskblade spell list. Remember, Arcane Channelling isn't limited to Duskblade spells alone - and since duskblades get an amazing number of spell slots for the spells they do know, they don't actually need to advance their duskblade casting as much as you'd think. As a result, you'll actually find yourself looking at classes with independent, fast spell progressions rather than those that advance existing classes, especially if that class adds to caster level (Two examples that leap to mind are Ultimate Magus and Sublime Chord, but qualifying can be tricky).

Brilliant Gameologists (where most of the good Character Optimization gurus went after Wizards did its big reshuffling during the windup to 4e) maintains a pretty good handbook for duskblades, but the site is overloaded as I type this, so I'll link to the 2007 version of that handbook on these forums. 

Although it may be a little late for your character I see Duskblade as a decent class to take into Dragon Disciple.  You may not get new spells but you should get more slots and the rest of DD is more focused towards a melee character.  Provided the DM allows you teeth and claws to count as weapons you also have a larger number of potential attacks as a full attack.

I'll reiterate you don't need a prestige class, both as a matter of rules and for your class itself.  Duskblade works fine all the way to level 20.  It's intended to be a fighter/wizard character from level one where as before it was made you had to multi-class then take a prestige class to make it work as intended where multiclassing rules don't.  If you really, really want a prestige class, fine.  Enjoy.  I'm just saying don't look at the situation as if you have to because not to means you're doing something wrong or gimping yourself.

Sorry for the delay, been busy at work. Anyway, im happy for the responses and ill try to answer them all at once.

1st:
What race is he: Tiefling 
What alignment is he: Lawful Neutral
What deity, if any does he  pay hommage to: None, but leans towards gods like Kord
What other skills does he have: high Concentration, spellcraft, and knowledge arcana. Craft, decipher script, Knowledge (nobility), Ride, Sense motive are between 5 and 4 ranks, and everything else has 2 or 0 ranks.  Mind you i just leveled up so whatever i choose ill get more skill points so for the 5-4vers, im not too concerned.  I should also mention i have only 9 Wisdom, so i have a -1 to stuff the relies on wisdom
What feats does he  have?: Iron Will, Combat expertise, Power attack, Weapon focus, Battle caster

2nd:
Im looking for a prestige class to enchance my abilities, namely martial OR arcane. I love duskblade, but im looking to specialize in something, or add to my class features. I would multiclass, but that -20% to xp is goina hurt for a while. Thats why i prioritzed what im looking for in terms of what i consider important:
A. Martial: being better in melee is being better in melee. i just havent found any i like yet
B. Spellcaster: increasing WHAT spells i know and can cast as opposed to how often would be great. not as important as martial ability, but still nice.
C. Bluff. Just a personal preference. My character is going to do a lot of lying. Not a neccessity, but nice to have if i can get it.

While i dont expressly need a Prestige class, i like to keep my options open in case i cant rely on my duskblade abilites to help me. 
In addition, I tend to build a character to concept rather than mechanical advantages, and being this is my first 3.5 character, well im destined to fudge up here and there.

hope that helps

Rogue (it's your favored class), Fiend-Blooded (Heroes of Horror), Death Delver (Heroes of Horror), Hell Reaver (Fiendish Codex 2:Tyrants of the Nine Hells), and Jade Phoenix Mage (Tome of Battle:Book of Nine Swords).

Rogue could give you more damage whenever you flank or if you go first.

Fiend-Blooded has improvements to all your ability scores and natural armor plus you get to learn new spells. Though you probably will have to use the retraining rules on page 93 of the PHB2.

Death Delver you can gain the ability to spontaneously cast cure or inflict spells not to mention you get some buff spells. Might be pretty nice if you fight alot of spell resistance creatures or golems.

Hell Reaver is great if you fight evil enemies often.

Jade Phoenix Mage could give you healing, defensive abilities, and more for when you just can't beat the enemies SR. This option would also keep your bab up. Using this class would probably involve multiclassing, you could retrain out 3 feats though if you really don't want to multiclass.


You might consider getting the Martial Study and Martial Stance feats anyways because they can provide extra defense or offense.

If you are already at level 12 of Duskblade, I would at least take level 13 too, because the new Arcane Channeling you get is really good.
And for Prestige Classes:
Eldritch Knight would not give you anything. You receive one feat and loose all other nice abilities you would receive as a duskblade.
Spellsword would not give you anything, because you already can channel spells and wear armor while casting spells.
Abjurant Champion from Complete Mage works well.
Prestige Classes which have its own Spellist could be interesting, although you would have to bother with arcane spell failure for those classes, if they do not already have a class feature which reduces their penalty. Suel Arcanamach from Complete Arcana comes into my mind there.
The classes death_isthe_begining named are also worth a look!

I've always thought that Nar Demonbinder (fron Unapproachable East) was a great way to finish off a Duskblade.  It is a 7 level prestige class that grants higher lever spell access and the Duskblade can qualify for it by 13th level.  It would need you to acquire a Summon Monster spell (either through spell research or through the Extra Spell feat) and such but the requirements are not that hard (though it might need some retraining if you are already level 12 and don't have the pre-reqs).  

That combo has always reminded me of Elric, slicing the bejeezus out of people with a magic fuelled BF-Sword on the one side and then summoning/making deals with greater demons on the other.  

As others have said, duskblades are fine without taking a prestige class. But if you still want to, I will second the notion for a Jade Phoenix Mage (Tome of Battle). Their 2nd level ability, while not as good as Arcane Strike meshes well with the duskblade's number of spells, and gives you a bit more versatility to boot. Death Delver from Heroes of Horror is fun as well, it even gives you rebuke undead for retrieve spell Neither one of these Prcs may be the top of the line for optimization, but they are fun and flavorful.

In all honesty a Duskblade is one of those few classes that does not need to prestige, it is well off on it's own. 
It all pends on how you play it, arcane strike (if I remember correctly) can churn out some nasty damage, while your teleport and skill damaging spells can help your party.
While it may sound like a good idea to prestige, it more or less isn't needed for a duskblade. However, I'll look into some and get back to you.