The Arcane Tank that actually works (3.5e Optimized Character Build)

Introduction

I felt the need to see if I could make something like this work.

References

Players Handbook 1, Dungeon Master's Guide 1, Complete Arcane.

Game Rule Components

Items

Light armor, preferably a Medium Mithril armor, up until 13th level, which you should switch to Mithril full plate.

Good Finesse Weapons.

The stats were made with a 32 Point build, but are less than Optimal, Ioun stones would be Extremely useful to this build.

Progression

Starting Ability Scores (Before Racial Adjustments): Dex:16(19) Cha:17(19) Str:8 Con:13 Int:12 Wis:8

Race (Templates): Any

Starting Racial Traits:

ECL	Class/HD/LA	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Feats	Class Features	Special
			Fort	Ref	Will
1st	Warmage 1	+ 0	+ 0	+ 0	+ 2	Weapon Finesse	Armored Mage(Light), Warmage Edge	Simple Weapon Prof. Light Armor Light Shields
2nd	Ranger 1	+ 1	+ 2	+ 2	+ 2		1st Favored Enemy, Track, Wild Empathy	Martial Weapon Prof. Medium Armor
3rd	Warmage 2	+ 2	+ 2	+ 2	+ 3	Improved Caster Level
4th	Ranger 2	+ 3	+ 3	+ 3	+ 3		Combat Style(Two Weapon Fighting)	+1 Dex
5th	Warmage 3	+ 3	+ 4	+ 4	+ 3		Advanced Learning
6th	Warmage 4	+ 4	+ 4	+ 4	+ 4	Two Weapon Defense
7th	Warmage 5	+ 4	+ 4	+ 4	+ 4
8th	Warmage 6	+ 5	+ 5	+ 5	+ 5		Advanced Learning	+1 Dex
9th	Eldritch Knight 1	+ 6/+1	+ 7	+ 5	+ 5	Power Attack	Improved Two Weapon Fighting
10th	Eldritch Knight 2	+ 7/+2	+ 8	+ 5	+ 5		+1 to Warmage Level/Spells Per Day
11th	Eldritch Knight 3	+ 8/+3	+ 8	+ 6	+ 6		+1 to Warmage Level/Spells Per Day
12th	Warmage 7	+ 8/+3	+ 8	+ 6	+ 6	Cleave	Sudden Empower	+1 Dex
13th	Warmage 8	+ 9/+4	+ 8	+ 6	+ 7		Armored Mage(Medium)
14th	Eldritch Knight 4	+ 10/+5	+ 9	+ 6	+ 7		+1 to Warmage Level/Spells Per Day
15th	Eldritch Knight 5	+ 11/+6/+1	+ 9	+ 6	+ 7	Greater Two Weapon Fighting	+1 to Warmage Level/Spells Per Day
16th	Eldritch Knight 6	+ 12/+7/+2	+ 10	+ 7	+ 8		+1 to Warmage Level/Spells Per Day	+1 Cha
17th	Eldritch Knight 7	+ 13/+8/+3	+ 10	+ 7	+ 8		+1 to Warmage Level/Spells Per Day
18th	Eldritch Knight 8	+ 14/+9/+4	+ 11	+ 7	+ 8	Great Cleave	+1 to Warmage Level/Spells Per Day
19th	Eldritch Knight 9	+ 15/+10/+5	+ 11	+ 8	+ 9		+1 to Warmage Level/Spells Per Day
20th	Eldritch Knight 10	+ 16/+11/+6/+1	+ 12	+ 8	+ 9		+1 to Warmage Level/Spells Per Day	+1 Cha

Other Components

The 2 levels in Ranger early on give you a variety of weapon proficiencies and Special Abilities, as the first level of Eldritch Knight does. The Majority of your BAB comes from Eldritch Knight, your spells and surprisingly ability to wear armor from Warmage, and your Combat Feats from Ranger and Eldritch Knight. The Armored Mage ability of Warmage allows you to wear armor with 0% spell failure, however it is restricted to lighter armors, so this build is best with Mithril armors.

Highlights

There are a few ways to do this build, this is my take. This leaves you wearing decent armor. this is primarily a Spellcaster, however built to also function as a Finesse fighter, and a secondary Tank. This is by no means a high-Power build. It loses almost nothing in terms of Spell power, and gains the ability to function as a secondary tank, however as it is a finesse fighter will not deal large amounts of damage, however will get quite a few thanks to the Two Weapon Tree.

Munchkin-Size Me

This can probably be edited in a variety of ways, I am not claiming this to be the most powerful build. Spellsword could be an alternative to eldritch knight however, to make Meelee-ing more effective and to increase damage output.

Side Notes

This article had almost nothing in it. Everything but the introduction has been rewritten by me in an attempt to save the build. It is quite fun to play, although any meelee/arcane build is going to be underpowered.

Limitations

It functions primarily as a spellcaster, and it can function as a light tank.

DM Counters

I doubt it will be needed, however if it is you can always drop a dead magic zone on them.

Miscellaneous

You could also take a number of bow feats instead of the feats listed here.

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