Stat Increases- 2 into dexterity first, 8 into strength From here I'm going to be very general with descriptions. The point is that this build is very versitile, and I will explain more changes at the end of the build.
Pre-Epic:
Leveling Order- 10 Bard 7 Fighter 3 Harper Scout
Feats (Not in order taken) - 8 normal, 4 fighter bonus feats, 1 Harper Scout feat
Normal Feats - Alertness, Iron Will, Weapon Proficiancy Exotic, Two Weapon Fighting, Ambidexterity, Weapon Focus Longbow, Weapon Focus Two Bladed Sword, Extend Spell
Fighter Feats- Weapon Specialization Longbow, Weapon Specialization Two Bladed Sword, Improved Two Weapon Fighting, Knockdown
Harper Scout Feat- Curse Song
Epic:
Leveling Order- Your choice. You can choose to take the rest of the fighter levels early for hit points and damaging feats, or you can take the bard levels first for more spells. BUT, make sure you take your 21 Bard level at level 39 (for Lasting Inspiration)
Feats (in order taken) - 7 normal, 4 fighter bonus feats, 1 Harper Scout
Normal- Epic Weapon Focus Longbow, Great Strength 5, Lasting Inspiration
Fighter- Epic Weapon Specialization Longbow, Epic Weapon Focus Two Bladed Sword, Epic Weapon Specialization Two Bladed Sword, Armor Skin
Harper Scout- Great Charisma
Skills- (Pre-Epic and Epic) For the first 5 levels, focus on the harper scout requirements, if only to get them out of the way. Of course, this can be done later, but doing it now is much easier in my opinion. After that, micromanage your skill points to max Discipline, Perform, Taunt, Tumble, Use Magic Device, and Spellcraft. The easiest way to do this is to only boost skills during Bard levels. Trust me, you will have enough to go around, plus 3 or 4 extra in the end.
Base-Buffed AC: 23-about 38 (with Haste Spell) HP: 376-402 (+26 from Bard Song) AB with bow: 32-about 38 (Depending on Cat's Graces) AB with sword: 34-about 39 (Depending on Bull's Strength) Fort Save: 21-25 Reflex Save: 25-31 Will Save: 23-28
Damage with 2 bladed sword (main hand calculation): 1d8+13 Base 1-3 Strength bonus from Bull's Strength 2 Extended War Cry 3 Bard song + 5 Greater Magic Weapon
Total is 1d8+24 (min) to 1d8+26 (max)
Notes: This character is my attempt at a harper melee bard. It can do wonderful things with either a two bladed sword or a longbow. It's song, while not amazing, does get the job done. This build can utilize the taunt+curse song combination, as well as using knockdown and curse song. When buffed this character has a nice AC, and with some magic gear it will go pretty high.
I would like to point out that I understand this is not the conventional harper. It doesn't really sneak, although it does use invisibility spells. Also, for a melee build there is a lack of hit points. Saves are decent, but not really amazing.
Changes To the Build: I really don't know where to start here. Anything can really be tweaked to the player's decision. But I'll list some ones that I can think of.
- For more hit points, you can replace any non-epic feat with Toughness. This build with the Touchness feat would get 416 base hit points. The two feats that one would probably replace would be extend spell (really only used for one spell), or knockdown.
- Take out the two bladed sword. Most people will probably do this as it will save 3 or 4 feats, depending if the player still wants to use exotic weapons. A more practical choice would be a bastard sword. The three extra feats would let the player take Toughness, Improved Knockdown, and maybe Blind Fight. I chose the two bladed sword because I am a very big fan of it, and with it the Harper Bard can really dish out some damage. Keen Edge can also be cast on it.
- Take out the focus on longbow feats. Taking out the feats for one or the other opens more options for feats but closes some doors. With a longbow the harper bard has versitility in respect to where he places himself in combat. But without all the longbow feats, the harper bard could take improved knockdown, improved critical, and more great strength feats. The critical range on a two bladed sword with improved critical and keen edge is pretty nice.
Overall: This build has a lot of style and flair. It is good at what it does, which is mostly making your enemies' lives living hell. It will deal a lot of damage very quickly. If things get too hot, the harper bard can always back up and go ranged.
I would love to hear people's comments on this build, too, so if you have something to say let it out.
I was about to post that you might want to bump Charisma past 15 so you can get 6th level spells without magically enhancing Charisma, but then I noticed that you'd used Great Charisma as a Harper Bonus Feat. You didn't note that Charisma goes from 15 to 16 in the "Stats" section - an accident I'm sure - but I mention it here so that if anyone else misses the Great Charisma like I did at first, they'll know what is going on.
You'll need a Perform of 55 to max the 21st level Bard song. At 40th level, you'll be able to get 46 (43 from assigned ranks and 3 from the Charisma bonus) so you'll need to pick up 9 more somewhere. Magic items would work. Or you could slip in Skill Focus (to help) or Epic Skill Focus (to entirely take care of it). _________________ Disarm? That means chopping the other guy's arms off, right?
Thanks for the charisma fix! I can't correct it, but hopefully people will see your post and take it into account.
As for the Perform skill, one could probably take out one of the Great Strength feats and replace it with Epic Skill Focus Perform. The build ends with 25 strength, but the extra point isn't really doing much, so I don't think it would be a big loss. Even without the extra perform the build's bard song is pretty good.