Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Midnight Son 07-19-05, 06:18 PM	I'm planning to build a Dwarf Bard 16 Fighter 4 My stat spread is 18, 17, 16, 14, 12, 11 My inspiration in part comes from the feat Battle Caster that allows you to wear armour one category higher than normal & still cast without ASF. My first question is - Can this feat be taken multiple times? I'm guessing not as usually it would mention in the feat if you could. But I would love to be a Bard in Full Plate :) I want to be in the middle of every battle swinging my axe & singing in a deep baritone. I can't decide whether normal Dwarf or Gold Dwarf is better. Normal Dwarves lose Cha, ouch, but I also want reasonable Dex which Gold Dwarves lose. Anyway I was thinking Str 18, Dex 16 (14 if Gold), Con 14 -> 16, Int 12, Wis 11, Cha 17 (15 if normal) Am I correct in thinking that I don't need to max out my Cha? I mostly plan on taking spells that Buff me as opposed to ones with DCs, so I really only lose the bonus spells. We will be starting approx level 6-8. So Bard 4, Fighter 2, + extra in Bard. If Battle Caster can stack I will eventually go for some Adamantite Full Plate & I can drop the Dex , maybe even swap the Con & Dex stats. If Battle Caster doesn't stack, which would be better an Adamantite Breastplate or Mithril Full Plate? Adamantite has DR, Mithril just has better AC. Feats - I would like Battle Caster (obviously), Weapon Focus & eventually Specialisation in Dwarven Waraxe. I'll be a follower of Heala (?spelling). Is practised Caster worth it for this build? I can take feats from SRD, Forgotten Realms, Complete Arcane & the 3.0 Sword & Fist etc once my DM 3.5 approves them. If anyone knows good feats outside these sources I might be able to get them if I have some info to go looking for them. I want to give you more back story, but damn, look at the time, I have to start working now :(
Leewei 07-19-05, 06:24 PM	Dex bonus in full plate armor isn't exactly something to worry about. Go Gold and get Gauntlets of Dexterity(+6) if need be.
X-Codes 07-19-05, 06:31 PM	Battle Caster is a very weak feat considering how easy it is to get light armor. Start with Mithral Full Plate and use that as the base item for Celestial Armor instead of Chainmail. You get an Armor bonus of +11 (+8 normal, +3 enhancement), Max Dex of +9, Armor Check penalty of -1, ASF of 10%, it's light, weighs 12.5 lbs, and you can cast fly 1/day (CL 5).
FarKadeNear 07-19-05, 06:37 PM	Are you stuck on fighter in your build? I have found the warchanter PRC to be a good one for fighter bard types. something like bard6/warchanter4/bard10 simple and effective. You get the coveted 16 bab and some very nice bardic abilities. inspire toughness and recklessness to name the ones that matter. In any case feats to look in to if you are able to take them include: Lingering song Song of the Heart Words of creation(if exalted) With those and a Battle Horn you will get very good bonuses to your inspire courage. very good for being in the middle of things. FKN
PhoenixInferno 07-19-05, 06:42 PM	If you have Dragon magazines, you could use Memory Smith (one of my personal favorite Dwarf PrCs). Full Bardic Music advancement, full lore advancement, slight reduction in skills/level, but 10 extra spells added to your spell list.
Midnight Son 07-22-05, 06:13 PM	Would Celestial Armour be in Book of Exalted Deeds? It sounds expensive :) but fly would be nice. I was thinking of get fly as one of my spells, then I checked the Bard Spell List :( Warchanter, is that in Races of Stone? Wouldn't that build get a exp penalty for multi class? (Stupid rule that IMO, tends to get overlooked if you can build a good back story for the DM which is a relief) I'm leaning towards Gold at this point. I mostly want decent Dex for defense against touch attacks.
Kintara 07-22-05, 06:17 PM	PrCs don't incur XP penalties like base classes do.