Ability Score/Opposition School Advice

[TheBDU]

Hi guys, I'm going to make a STR based Eldritch Knight this time around and am having difficulty building my character. I will be Fighter 2/Wizard 8/Eldritch Knight 10. I plan to use a greatsword and focus on self buffing/debuffs while using Necromancy nukes for Spell Critical. I plan to use AoE (preferably Necromancy for flavor) for waves of trash mobs and think I still need a decent DC. Think of light armor wearing "death knight" (thanks to the CRAZY decision to get rid of Still Spell, seriously why?).

I am dumping CHA completely and setting STR to 16 and INT to 17 (19 after Human bonus). I can't decide what to set for DEX CON and WIS. I am considering to go 12/12/12 but I'm not sure.

In case it makes a difference, I will be taking Arcane Armor Mastery, so I will be limited to light armor and possibly medium mithral armor. I want 0 arcane spell failure.

I don't plan on being the main tank and will be self buffing and flanking mages/key opponents while Valerie and Amiri take the brunt of the damage.

Regarding spells, I will be specializing in Necromacy for flavor (this is mandatory for the build), but I can't decide which two opposing schools to take.

Any help will be appreciated, thanks for your time! I realize that this is kind of a "meme build", but outside of the specific aspects that I want my character to have, I want to optimize it to be the best meme that it can be!

[Balkoth]

Out of curiosity, why are you doing Wizard/Fighter instead of Magus?

Opposition just means your saves get lower. As such, Conjuration is pretty safe unless you plan on using Cloudkill.

[CHAO$$$]

Divination is the best opposition school imo.

[For_Science!]

Divination is an almost cheesily safe opposition school; at last count, there are five divination spells in the entire game.

[Balkoth]

Originally posted by CHAO$$$:

Divination is the best opposition school.

Yeah, Conjuration and Divination would be really save choices. Or even Transmutation.

[TheBDU]

Originally posted by Balkoth:

Out of curiosity, why are you doing Wizard/Fighter instead of Magus?

Opposition just means your saves get lower. As such, Conjuration is pretty safe unless you plan on using Cloudkill.

I really want to use a greatsword, I do in every game. Magus is actually the perfect class for me except for that one issue :(

[Balkoth]

Magus can use a Greatsword. They have martial weapon proficancy. Spell combat just doesn't work with them. But going Wizard/Fighter you wouldn't have that anyway.

Using Magus you would have full spellcasting progression.

[TheBDU]

Divination seems to be the one to oppose then. Now I just need to decide whether I should go 10 DEX 16 CON or 14 DEX 14 CON. Thanks so much guys!

[TheBDU]

Originally posted by Balkoth:

Magus can use a Greatsword.

However, he loses the ability to use Spell Combat, which is his key feature.

[Darkfireslide]

To be honest if you want to focus more on the martial aspect of the build then Strength should be your 19 to start, not Int because all of your spells will be buffs that don't actually rely on save DCs, which are the primary reason to get an incredibly high score (and bonus spells per day, ofc, but you're mostly in it for the self-buffs anyway). The nice thing about this is that you can make great use of a lot of the polymorph spells while having a reliable melee platform to fall back on. Necromancy lets you summon things (another stat independent spellcasting choice) to help you pick off those high value targets, too.
Point is, you only need 19 Int to cast 9th level spells and really it sounds like you want to do a largely autoattacking EK, which is fine. So start with 16 Int and give yourself those headbands of Intelligence as you find them but keep building your Strength as you level (at least, I'm pretty sure that's how it works).
Drop Illusion and maybe even Evocation. Both of these are largely save-DC dependent schools and don't contribute to the overall design. Who needs Fireballs when you can just haste yourself and your army of undead or summoned creatures to smash everything?

[Balkoth]

For the build you want the three main stats you want are Strength, Dex, and Intelligence (or Charisma if you go Eldritch Scion)

Secondary are Wisdom and Con, you need these for Fort and Will Saves.

Originally posted by TheBDU:

Originally posted by Balkoth:

Magus can use a Greatsword.

However, he loses the ability to use Spell Combat, which is his key feature.

You can still cast spells. You get full spellcasting progression. You also get a whole bunch of buffs you can apply to your greatsword.

You're just looking to buff spells anyhow. Spell Combat is worthless for that.

[djinnxy]

divination and abjuration. fairly easy choice imo.

[Darkfireslide]

Originally posted by Balkoth:

Magus can use a Greatsword. They have martial weapon proficancy. Spell combat just doesn't work with them. But going Wizard/Fighter you wouldn't have that anyway.

Using Magus you would have full spellcasting progression.

Alright but Magus only gets up to 6th level spells while EK gets up to 9th level spells.

[TheBDU]

Loving the replies, why is divination an easy choice though djinnxy, wouldn't i need it for defensive buffs?

[Balkoth]

Originally posted by Darkfireslide:

Originally posted by Balkoth:

Magus can use a Greatsword. They have martial weapon proficancy. Spell combat just doesn't work with them. But going Wizard/Fighter you wouldn't have that anyway.

Using Magus you would have full spellcasting progression.

Alright but Magus only gets up to 6th level spells while EK gets up to 9th level spells.

Very true. I forgot about this bit.

[Balkoth]

Originally posted by TheBDU:

Loving the replies, why is divination an easy choice though djinnxy, wouldn't i need it for defensive buffs?

There just aren't many divination spells in the game. Making it worthless.