Min/Max Boards

eh. I developed this tactic while playing with a group who had a horrible time killing big enemies.  little stuff they had no trouble with but with big 'end' guys, demons, dragons, anything that was a single large creature the party just could not lay out the damage to kill it without taking massive damage.  I play a duskblade in plate armor and a great sword.  had the sword enchanted with a +2, spell storing, and shock (+1d6 electric damage).  I could burn a huge amount of spells FAST and deal a huge amount of damage.  use the smiting spell (twined shocking grasp), end action.  next turn move adjacent to monster, cast true strike, end action.  cast blade of blood as swift action, channel twined shocking grasp, discharge twined shocking grasp, burn level 3 spell slot for arcane strike.  level 12

+43 to hit 2d6+1d6 electrical+3d6+3d4+30d6 electrical+10 (36d6+3d4+10)

with the big monsters the DM was using it was enough to cripple the monster.  I could only do this like 4 times a day.  then I started taking levels of PrC dragon disciple.  if you want I can dig up the build its around here somewhere and I can post it or pm you with it.  point buy system. 

you have to be very careful how you expend your spells.  if you use too much on smaller guys then you can't go nuke when you need to.  my duskblade took more prep and more careful expenditure of magical resources than the wizard of our group.  we had a wizard8/fighter4, a psiblade12, a rouge12, a NPC cleric12 and then me. 

if your group isn't having as much trouble holding its own then I would suggest a slightly modified version of the above build.  or you can take the build as is and only use the nuke as a last resort.

two different types of charge.  one is a feat applied metamagic and the other is a class ability that casts as you swing your weapon.  if you have a book reference to look at, however, I would be glad to entertain the discussion that it does conflict.

Nanshork well I don't normally allow PCs to take monsters with HD as a playable character.  when I do I usually use the class advancement for race.  so the racial HD and bonuses become a character class.

very rarely have I allowed the characters to play a monster with a HD, when I do I make all PC have the same starting HD so they are all equal (use the advancement for the base monster) and then start them at first level in their classes.  have never had a problem and never had a complaint.  which is funny cause players will find all kinds of things to complain about.

I know you talk about the vampiric touch spell being the 'bread and butter' of the duskblade, but I didn't go that way.  I ran my duskblade on shocking grasp.  using the feat smiting spell (phb2 pg92) allowing me to 'channel' a spell into my weapon (shocking grasp), it then stays there for up to a minute.  next round as a swift action cast blade of blood and pay the 5 hp, as my standard action cast shocking grasp I hit for 13d6+weapon damage.  it gets better when I used twin spell (23d6+ weapon damage).

yea I took vampiric touch as a spell I could use but I generally didn't use it as I was pumping all my upper spell slots with shocking grasp.

well the disenchanter is given as a magical experiment.  so you could have it created by a mad wizard.

the issue with the absent character spending his/her money on magic items that may be better than what the group has looted isn't much of an issue as long as every member is given the option of being DM.  that will still keep them on a near equal footing.

characters who leave the group for a time don't get a share of the party loot.  they are not there to get a cut.  pretty simple.  now what I have done is give the character an amount of cash equal to a standard share.  if they have been gone for a level or two then I instead give them the WBL difference for their time absent and let them buy equipment with that.  once they rejoin the group, there may be some spare equipment they can use.  some groups have sold off spare stuff and others have held on to it, so no way to tell.  but that is between the group and the character.  generally this doesn't make the absent character stronger than anyone else.

what is the AFB you mentioned?

page 119 BoED

looks like exactly what your looking for.

I see the WBL as what the character has managed to keep up to this level.