Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Bard-of-all-trades 08-05-04, 12:46 PM	I made a character in 2nd Ed. that was the youngest of twelve brothers and was shipped about from kith and kin as he was growing up. He was small and sneaky when he was very young and got himself into a lot of trouble at the behest of his brothers (rouge). He was shipped off to his uncle to get straightened out. His uncle was a lumberjack that was in charge of the territory (ranger). This uncle was under the local lord and thought the guards of the local keep could teach him a thing or two and toughen him up (fighter). He did well in the guards and found himself drawn to the local taverns where singers and troubadors would put on shows for the locals. He also had some talent and joined their ranks (bard). He traveled with them for some time and seemed to have a natural affinity for the spellcasting he picked up. The leader of the troupe introduced him to a mage and suggested he become his apprentice (wizard). In 2nd Ed., he was a 5th level mage with a really long history. My question is - would this be a playable character in 3E? I figure he'd be a Rog1/Ran1/Ftr1/Brd1/Wiz5. Oh and he's human as well. I'm asking because my DM really wants me to play him and to make him this uber-multiclass character from his background.
MoogleEmpMog 08-05-04, 12:55 PM	That much multiclassing followed by a focus on Wizard will probably leave the character weak. My suggestion to keep the flavor and lose the weakness would be to use a combination of Rogue, Wizard, Arcane Trickster (DMG) and Prestige Bard (Unearthed Arcana). This covers his sneaking, singing and spell-slinging skills and makes him reasonably good at all three. Some limited time in the town guard sounds like the Militia feat (Player's Guide to Faerun, IIRC). And his wilderness experience just sounds like backstory and having a higher Str and Con than an average wizard. I don't have my books handy, so no build right now, but that's the gist of how I'd stat out this character - especially since he wasn't Dual-Classed in 2e.
Cold Napalm 08-06-04, 01:58 AM	Or drop bard all together, just have him have perform... Drop the ranger, you just spent time with your uncle...maybe some wilderness lore to show that. Now you have rogue 1. fighter 1 mage whatever...which isn't too bad. You can even enter arcane trickster or eldritch knight/spell sword for an actually useful character ;) .
mellowship 08-06-04, 05:33 AM	Originally posted by Cold Napalm Or drop bard all together, just have him have perform... Or Virtuoso levels. If you have a couple of rogue levels and maxed-out Perform, Virtuoso is really easy to get into and gives you bardic music and full spellcasting with d6 HD.
Enoch Van Garret 08-06-04, 08:27 AM	rogue 3/ wizard 4/ virtuoso 1/ Arcane Trickster X makes a nice lead-in to this build, getting you bardic music and some of the beginner Virtuoso performances to play with as you start off Arcane Trickster. This build hits a good breakout-point around level 10, when you've got good skill ranks, bardic music, virtuoso performances, 3d6 sneak attack, ranged ledgermain 1/day, and 4th-level spells. further progression can swap around between ArT and Vrt at your discretion, depending upon how you like it. a final build might not be too bad at Rog3/Wiz4/Vrt6/ArT7. As for the rest of the character flavor, just take Track and Militia as feats. That will land you proficiency with all martial weapons and the ability to track, and rogues have wilderness lore (or Survival, in 3.5) as class skills, I believe. You're essentially trading in the levels of fighter and ranger for rogue levels accentuated with feats. With a race of human you should have no trouble meeting feat and skill requirements for Virtuoso and Arcane Trickster.
iN.fuSioN 08-06-04, 02:48 PM	Human paragon also fits the build (versatility is the human number 1 feature) and makes Survivial a class skill for all of his classes.
eudas 08-06-04, 03:01 PM	1. which of these roles do you really want the character to pursue? Ie, which of those is his primary class and which of the others are his secondary/disposable classes? 2. others have already made some good recommendations if you want to pursue either the a) rogue/wizard/at progression or b) the virtuoso/at progression. 3. personally, i would a) only pick up ranger levels if you wanted track/TWF/Endurance b) only pick up fighter levels if you needed the hp/bab/free feats c) only pick up the bard levels if you absolutely have some strange attraction to it, since perform is a rogue skill as well. that leaves you with rogue and wizard, which sends you down the rog/wiz/at path, with possibly a few ranks in survival to replace the ranger level and maybe a max of 2 fighter levels, again only if you absolutely need the extra feats. *shrug* just my $0.02. Go Rogue, +survival ranks, +perform ranks, Wizard levels, -> Arcane Trickster. That's my vote. eudas