Spellsword
Complete Warrior p79

Originally introduced in Tome and Blood, Spellswords are spellcasters who have managed to blend the art of wearing armour and hitting foes over the head with big swords as well as wielding magic. They forgo some spellcasting powers in return for great proficiency with weapons and the ability to use those weapons as a conduit for their magic. There are no organisations of spellswords and each one is unique. They may not even use swords, prefering other weapons such as staffs, spears or whips.

Game Rule Information

Below I present the entire text for the Spellsword class. I have done this largely because I have a spellsword in an ongoing campaign and therefore having this information to hand is extremely useful. Also the changes that have been made to the rules for Spell Failure have necessitated an overhaul of that aspect of the character.

Hit Die: d8

Requirements

To qualify to become a spellsword, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:

Base Attack: +4
Feats: Proficiency with Basic Weapons and any other three Weapon Group Feats; proficiency in light, medium and heavy armour.
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 6 ranks.
Spells: Able to cast 2nd-level arcane spells.
Special: Must have defeated a foe through force of arms without recourse to spell-casting.

Class Skills

The spellsword's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Knowledge (any) (Int), Jump (Str), Profession (Wis) and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the spellsword prestige class:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The spellsword gains no additional proficiency in any weapon, armour or shield.

Spells per Day: At every odd numbered level gained in the spellsword class, the character gains new spells (and spell points) per day as if she had also gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class she belonged to before adding this prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained, except for an increased level for spell-casting. If a character had more than one arcane spellcasting class before beoming a spellsword, she must decide to which class she adds the new level for the purpose of determining spells per day.

Ignore Spell Failure (Ex): As spellswords gain levels they become masters of casting spells in armour and while using shields. Beginning at first level and at each odd numbered level thereafter the character gains the following feats in this order: Ignore Spell Failure (Light Armour), Ignore Spell Failure (Medium Armour), Ignore Spell Failure (Shields), Ignore Spell Failure (Heavy Armour) and Ignore Spell Failure (Tower Shields). The spellsword does not need to meet the prerequisites of these feats in order to select them. If the spellsword already has one of these feats then he may select another.

Bonus Feat: At second level, a spellsword advances his art gaining a bonus feat. This bonus feat must be either an item creation feat, a metamagic feat or drawn from the list of bonus feats allowed to a fighter. The attention of players is drawn to the new feat Spellsword Cache that duplicates the class ability of the same name was available to spellswords in version 3.0 of the game.

Channel Spell (Sp): At fourth level a spellsword can channel any spell she can cast into her mêlée weapon. Using this ability requires a move action, and the spellsword uses up the spell point or fatigues herself just as if she had cast the spell. The channelled spell affects the next target the spellsword successfully attacks with her weapon (spell resistance and saving throws still apply). Even if the spell normally only affects an area, or is a ray, it affects only the target. A spellsword can channel her spells into only one weapon at a time. Spells channelled into a weapon are lost if not used in eight hours.

Multiple Channel Spell (Sp): A 10th level spellsword can channel two spells into her mêlée weapon, using a move action to channel each one. Both channelled spells affectt he next target the spellsword successfull attacks with her weapon, in the order they were placed into the weapon. As with the channel spell class feature, saving throws and spell resistance applies normally. Each time a spellsword uses multiple channel spell, two of her five channel spell uses per day are expended.