Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 faeline Apr 23, 2008 14:34:59	Hi all, thank you for taking the time to read this. I'm about to join a campaign as the party bard/gish, and I have read through pretty much the CO boards, but still, I was hoping that someone would have a better idea on how to do this. Setting: Forgotten Realms Race: Human Alignment: Neutral Good Deity: Deneir Starting Level: 4 Starting Stats: Str 11 Dex 16 Con 14 Int 16 Wis 12 Cha 17 (I got lucky on my rolls!) My current build is: 5 Bard/1 Swashbuckler/3 Lyric Thurmaturge/1 Eldritch Knight/2 Sublime Chord/8 Eldritch Knight Feats I will take are: Melodic Casting Knowledge Devotion Snowflake Wardance Protection Devotion Arcane Strike What I'm looking here is something to replace Eldritch Knight, whether it's 3/4 BAB or Full BAB. I've seen Sacred Exorcist, and although it would be the top choice, I'm afraid it would not match the flavor of my character. My top choice would be a PrC very Knowledge/Lore related. So far, the DM has made it clear that Tome of Battle is disallowed, as well as Abjurant Champion is from Complete Mage. For now, I'm pretty much assuming it's Core + Completes + Races + FR Stuff. Thanks in advanced!
#2 juton Apr 23, 2008 14:49:07	If you're ok with a BAB less than 16 you could take 8-10 levels of Unseen Seer from complete mage. 3/4 BAB and 6+int skills per level. Spellsword and Dragon Slayer are two other popular dips but would make things tight on feats.
#3 Wyvernhand Apr 23, 2008 15:29:04	Try this...swap the 1 level of Swashbuckler for Marshall from MH. That'll give you 1 minor aura to have up, which should be Motivate Dex. This sends your +init mod into the stratosphere, which is a good place for it. It also gets you the weapon proficencies you need for EK or SpSword. A great gish type spell to tack on your spells known is Whirling Blade from CArcane reprinted in Spell Compendium. It lets you make melee attacks out to a range of 60' in a line against targets you designate. That means you have a friendly-fire friendly ranged attack that scales with level and allows you to apply all applicable weapon feats to it, such as Power Attack and Snowflake Wardance. 2hand PA with a greatsword with optimized bardsong running is a lot of damage. If you don't mind being Lawful Good, the Devoted Performer feat from CAdventurer gives nice synergy between Paladin and Bard. Paladin4 gives Divine Grace (yay saves), Smite 1x (yay Power Attack!), and Turn Undead (yay Divine Might!). Then your Bardiness gets some much needed defense as well as awesome cha synergy. This makes getting into Sublime Chord kind of tough though, but is a stronger "gish" idea. As long as you are maxing out you +cha for all this juicy synergy, consider adding Sudden Stunning (DMGII +2000g) to your weapon. It uses your swift action to force a reflex save based on your +cha and 1/2 your level on a foe you strike or be stunned for 1d4+1 rounds. Its also useable +cha times per day, which is more than enough with a cha in the mid to upper 20s.
#4 ninjarabbit Apr 23, 2008 15:43:07	Try this if you're okay with less than 16 BAB bard8/marshal2/sublimechord2/sacredexorcist8 14 BAB, 9th level spells, turn undead to fuel divine feats
#5 faeline Apr 24, 2008 10:38:30	Thanks for the great ideas Marshal seems pretty good, will be seeking approval from the DM