Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Arminel 02-25-06, 05:44 AM	Two of my favorite classes melded into one! The ultimate Diplomat/Knight who can sweet-talk his way out of anything and be a shining light in the midst of battle. I just have some questions on what to do with him :\ Oh, and the Paladin would be the Paladin of Freedom (ftw). First of all, I take it Devoted Performer can't be taken to amplify my character at all. But what I like about the idea is bardic music in the middle of battle or a celebration, not to mention he has strong saves in all categories plus Divine Grace with a high charisma since he will be a Bard as well. However, someone said that I'd be better off doing a Fighter/Bard because I get the saves and base attack bonus but the character is more flexible overall with the feats. But I have this idea in my head of a mounted knight in Mithril Full Plate of Speed with a mithril Longsword in one-hand and a shield in the other singing at the top of his lungs using his suit's haste and Disguise Spell to drop two Sound Bursts at well-timed intervals. What do you guys think? ;3
RaspK FOG 02-25-06, 08:50 AM	Since you go gestalt, Bard/Paladin is better than Bard/Fighter, unless you go for a more warmongering style; I like the style better too. ;)
Kintara 02-25-06, 12:25 PM	Frostburn has a feat called Snowflake Wardance, which allows you to add your Cha modifier to your attack. Take Divine Might, too. When you really want to get going with the slaughter, use your Divine Might and start Snowflake Wardancing and then burn a Smite Evil. Now that's Charisma synergy. ;) Anyway, I wouldn't take the Speed armor, personally. Bards get Haste on their list, so you might as well just cast it yourself. Are you playing 3.0? If it's a 3.5 game, remember that Haste doesn't give a partial action anymore (so no double spellcasting). It's still a great buffing spell, though.
Thindelock 02-28-06, 12:53 PM	First of all, I take it Devoted Performer can't be taken to amplify my character at all. That's totally up to DM interpretation. Look at the short description of Gestalt: The process is similar to multiclassing, except that characters gain the full benefits of each class at each level. So, let's say I was a Psion//Wizard gestalt. At 20th level, I would be considered fully a 20th-level Psion and a 20th-level Wizard. Feats or prestige classes that required Arcane Caster Level 20 or Manifester Level 20 are open to me. No, let's look at Devoted Performer: If you have levels in paladin and bard, those levels stack... So, Paladin and Bard levels stack. As a 1st-level Paladin//Bard gestalt, you're considered fully a Paladin1 and a Bard1. Thus, as I see it, Devoted Performer would let you stack those two, giving you the same effect as a Paladin1/Bard1 in a non-gestalt game. However, a DM is also within rights to put the emphasis on the "overlap" clause of Gestalt: If the two classes you choose have aspects that overlap (such as... class features common to more than one class), you choose the better aspect. By this logic, Devoted Performer gives you a bard effect every time you take a Palidan level, and a pally effect every time you take a Bard level. Thus, when you take BOTH levels at the same time, the two are considered in overlap... you get the same bard effect from your Bard and Pally levels, at the same time, so you only get it once. This is an interpretive argument... not strictly by the letter of the rules, but just as viable. The feat could still be handy if you decide to Prestige out of Bard into a class that didn't have Music progression, because your Pally levels would still give you that. Finally, just like class-hybrid prestige classes are banned, a lot of DMs ban the class-hybrid feats for much the same reason. So yeah, it's essentially DM's call. It's worth asking.
Shwepie 03-06-06, 04:56 AM	If your DM allows it, s/he'd probally have your smite damage and bardic music uses cap at lvl 10. If you had a really nice DM, you could end up with 40 smite damage/bardic music uses. ^^
Delfedd 03-06-06, 06:53 PM	I would also suggest checking out "Heavy metal" from Dragon. I don't remember which one, but it tells how to play a single class bard in heavy armor. Perhaps you could simply take Improved armor casting (or whatever it's called) from complete arcane. Full mithral plate is a medium armor, so that'd be really effective.
Cathon 03-06-06, 08:24 PM	Paladin/Bard also could be a good choice to prestige into Spellsword. I've got a Paladin/Bard gestalt character, but I can't say I have any great advice other than to pick up the spell from Complete Adventurer that doubles the effect of inspire courage. I'm also planning on picking up Arcane Strike from Complete Warrior so I can channel spells into offensive strikes when need be. One of the tough parts is deciding on feats since you only have so many to spread between improving as a paladin and improving as a bard, and Paladin is already choosing between general combat feats and divine feats, and Bards between spellcasting feats and bard song feats so there are a lot of choices to make. Personally, I decided to go with a lance as my primary weapon, for the reach and eventual use with a mount. (Most of our adventures are seaborne at the moment, so I'm waiting on being able to summon a Hippogriff.) I therefore also grabbed quickdraw, so if I need to I can drop my lance, and full attack with a longsword. Obviously, any spell that you can use to buff up yourself and your companions before the combat starts frees you up to attack more during combat.
JulesCARV 03-06-06, 11:24 PM	Why prestige into Spellsword? You lose caster levels without gaining BAB, and the you can already do arcane casting as a bard in light armor, and you can take that up to medium armor with a feat (Battle Caster), and you can take that up to heavy armor by using elven darkleaf or mithral. Granted, you can't wear adamantium full plate, but with an ASF of 35%, even a 10th level spellsword can't ignore arcane spell failure from full plate.
CaoSlayer 03-07-06, 08:27 AM	I would also suggest checking out "Heavy metal" from Dragon. I don't remember which one, but it tells how to play a single class bard in heavy armor. Perhaps you could simply take Improved armor casting (or whatever it's called) from complete arcane. Full mithral plate is a medium armor, so that'd be really effective. competence with medium armor + battlecaster... very nice combo if you have enough spare feats, that isnt usual so it is usually wiser to level dip into fighter/barbarian/ranger/paladin/cleric , each of this classes also opens a wide array of options like getting access to turn undead. The thing of the paladin/bard gestalt it is that they can get ridiculous powerful with the turn undead feats... fast healing/bonuses to hit and damage/persistant spells with the plus that charisma it is your main stat so you can perfectly end with 30 charisma granting you several uses of these feats.