Playable from level 18 - 40 .. PvM or PvP Build
Difficult to play until level 18


Libertine Defender
Bard14/ Shadowdancer10 / WeaponMaster16

Also known as the Versatile Rake and the Exquisite Dandy, the Libertine Defender is a build that requires extreme patience and skill. It's a build that never actually matures until somewhere in the mid to late 20's, and even that is questionable. The Libertine Defender comes from the city streets, and courts both high women and low. He swings into battle with a deadly hand axe and shield, and the handaxe, keened, will crit on a 16-20/x4. With a naked AB of 43, he can effortlessly raise it to 56 without any items, and then is all but impossible to hit with both Epic Dodge and Improved Invisibility.

If he needs more of a defensive presence he can quickly make his AC 44 without any items. Combined with Epic Dodge and Improved Invis, he is nigh impossible to hit. With no magic items at all, he challenged a 40th level buffed fighter with magic gear and made mince-meat of him with just an ordinary handaxe. He averaged 1 critical in every attack routine. The Libertine Defender also is highly skilled in many areas, and is able to max Hide, Move Silently, Spellcraft, Tumble, Discipline, a 23 Perform, 30UMD, and a 20Concentration. And, when all else fails, he can still Hide in Plain Sight.

The Libertine's saves are his weakness. He does sport a 36 Reflex and backs it up with Improved Evasion and Defensive Roll. His Fortitude Save is low, thus Epic Fortitude was chosen. His Will save is also low. However, he supports that with Slippery Mind, Bardsong, and Protection from Alignment(lasts 14 hours) which should more or less take care of any Will Save issues.

If he can get access to a Charisma-boosting item, he will also gain accesss to 5th level Bard spells.

Human
14Bard/10SD/16WM
Alignment: Any non-lawful

Str11
Int 14
Wis8
Dex17(30)
Con10
Chr14

Hit Points= 324
Naked AC w/Shield: 30
Naked AB: 43/38/33/28

Buffed/Hasted/BardSong/CurseSong (no items)
AC: 46(51 in Expertise)
AB: 56/51/46/41/36


1Bard, Dodge, Martial Weapon Proficiency
2Bard
3Bard, Weapon Focus: Hand Axe
4Bard, Dex18
5Bard
6Bard, Mobility
7Bard
8Bard, Dex19
9ShadowDancer, Expertise
10Shadowdancer
11Shadowdancer
12Shadowdancer, Spring Attach, Dex20
13Shadowdancer
14Shadowdancer
15Shadowdancer, Whirlwind
16Shadowdacner, Dex21
17WM
18WM, Weapon Finesse
19WM
20WM, Dex22
21Bard, Great Dex I
22WM
23WM
24WM, Great Dex II, Dex25
25WM
26Shadowdancer
27Shadowdancer, Epic Dodge
28WM, Dex26
29WM
30WM, Great Dex III
31WM
32WM, EWF: Handaxe, Dex28
33Bard, Improved Crit: Handaxe
34WM
35WM
36WM, Epic Prowess, Epic Fortitude, Dex29
37Bard
38Bard
39Bard, Curse Song
40Bard, Dex 30

Fort:19(28)
Reflex:36(44)
Will:18(26, and still slippery mind, protection from Align)

Final Skills:
Hide: 51
Move Silently:51
Perform:23
Discipline:43
Spellcraft:45
Concentration:20
UMD:30
Tumble:40
Intimidate:4

Favored Spells

1st: Protection from Alignment(1 hour per level)
2nd: Cat's Grace, Bulls Strength, Ghostly Visage, See Invisibilty
3rd: Keen Edge, Wounding Whispers, Invis Sphere
4th: Improved Invis, Warcry
5th: Ethereal Visage

Other Features:

Curse Song: Enemy suffers -2 hit/-3damage/-3AC with no save

Shadowdaze: 1x/day, lasts for 5 rounds

Shadow Evade: when he runs out of Improved Invis, this is a good back up. He can cast it 3x/day, and gets 20%Concealment, +4AC, and 10/+3DR. This lasts for 5 Rounds.

Summonshadow: 1x/day

Hide in Plain Sight: Unlimited

Epic Dodge

Improved Evasion

Slippery Mind (Will Save rerolls)
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The build seems awkward, and is, but is surprisingly effective in short bursts. He would do well in PvM, and may even have some success solo. And even though he seems a bit limited in weapon choice, he can still maintain a good AB with no Weapons of Choice. It should be noted that this build would have extreme difficulty surviving solo until he reaches Level 18 and can gain Weapon Finesse. The build would work much faster if one abandoned the Handaxe Template and just went with a finessable weapon from the Simple list (i think it's only sickles and maces). A Mace wouldn't be a bad alternative. You lose one crit modifier and the ability for him to keen edge it, but it would make him a bit more versatile and would also allow him to take Weapon Master at level 13. This would effectively raise the AB by one, and you could still gain Epic Dodge by lvl 27. It would also free up a feat in Epic, and allow you to take Armor Skin, Lingering Song or Extra Music, or to even drop Epic Fortitude and take two more Great Dex feats for even 1 more AB increase. In that model, his naked AB would be 45. And his AC would improve by one. However, I am a fan of the Handaxe.
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Edited By Kail Pendragon on 10/14/07 13:37

Interesting build Grizz (love your backstories on your builds). Just a thought: if one were to give up the martial proficiency and choose from the simple weapons list, I'd recommend the Sickle. You can cast Keen Edge on it for a better critical chance... and nobody uses sickles, so you get style points, too.
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Quote: Posted 06/06/05 16:51:53 (GMT) -- Cinnabar Din

Interesting build Grizz (love your backstories on your builds). Just a thought: if one were to give up the martial proficiency and choose from the simple weapons list, I'd recommend the Sickle. You can cast Keen Edge on it for a better critical chance... and nobody uses sickles, so you get style points, too.

Yeah, I actually considered that as well. When I first created it, I actually forgot that handaxe wasn't a simple weapon, so in testing I got totally fubared. I was like, "How in tarnation is the hatchet not a simple weapon?!? It's a hammer with an edged side for Pete's sake!"
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Ariel, Ookla, RIDE! One note. I am fairly sure that you will need a base 15 Charisma in order to cast 5th lvl bard spells. If you do not have the requisite base Charisma, you do not get the opportunity to choose a 5th lvl bard spell. A charisma item will not help.

Otherwise, I like it. I would prolly go 17/10/13 for a better bard song over the extra feat and ab increase, but I am a bardophile, so that is a personal preference. (truth be told, I would consider 23/10/7. Lose just one feat, but get access to Lasting Inspiration or even great dex or chr as the bard feat.) Great concept, though.
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Quote: Posted 06/06/05 20:52:46 (GMT) -- Yar Stardawg

One note. I am fairly sure that you will need a base 15 Charisma in order to cast 5th lvl bard spells. If you do not have the requisite base Charisma, you do not get the opportunity to choose a 5th lvl bard spell. A charisma item will not help.

That is correct. Your unbuffed stat is what determines the level of spells you can cast. A very nice build though...I also like bards a lot.

Steve
Quote: Posted 06/06/05 20:52:46 (GMT) -- Yar Stardawg

One note. I am fairly sure that you will need a base 15 Charisma in order to cast 5th lvl bard spells. If you do not have the requisite base Charisma, you do not get the opportunity to choose a 5th lvl bard spell. A charisma item will not help.

Otherwise, I like it. I would prolly go 17/10/13 for a better bard song over the extra feat and ab increase, but I am a bardophile, so that is a personal preference. (truth be told, I would consider 23/10/7. Lose just one feat, but get access to Lasting Inspiration or even great dex or chr as the bard feat.) Great concept, though.

Good point abou the Charisma. I had someone recently sell me on the idea that 5th level Bard spells aren't a necessity. I disagreed, but after built this character, I tend to agree with him (if you're out somewhere, you can say "I told you so").

But anyways, I feel that it is always good to go deeper into Bard if you can. However, going any deeper would really require a stronger commitment to Charisma. At the expense of Dexterity. I already sank 7 feats into getting Weapon Master, and by Jove I'm gonna get my money's worth. I really felt 19 were in order, but that watered down the 4th level spell casting power. 14Bard gives a nice even 3 4th level spells, and the Songs are roughly the same in potency.

And besides, he's a rake, a Beau Brummel, a fop. He can work a crowd, but he's no Second Coming.
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Ariel, Ookla, RIDE! Note that you can use hand axes if you're a monk. So you can use them with a high UMD skill, too.
I think there's no need to take the WP:Martial feat.
Quote: Posted 09/20/05 12:40:25 (GMT) -- Olivenmann

Note that you can use hand axes if you're a monk. So you can use them with a high UMD skill, too.
I think there's no need to take the WP:Martial feat.

Not real sure where you are coming from here. UMD skill does not grant you weapon proficiencies no matter how high it is. It will grant you access to items that are restricted by race, class, gender or alignnment, but you still need to have proficiency in that weapon.
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Ariel, Ookla, RIDE! UMD doesn't let you use anything you don't have the proficiencies for (armor, weapons) - only Class and alignment restricted items.

IMO, trying to get WM without fighter or CoT for the bonus feats is kind of a REALLY bad idea but it's cute
Quote: Posted 09/20/05 13:26:13 (GMT) -- grizzled_dwarflord

It will grant you access to items that are restricted by race, class, gender or alignnment, but you still need to have proficiency in that weapon.

Waa - we were posting at the same time. Items that are gender restricted (I didn't know that one!)... The CODI char creator allows you to make a character which is neither male or female gender..........

Edited By Jennalee on 09/20/05 14:01

Quote: Posted 09/20/05 13:27:11 (GMT) -- Jennalee

IMO, trying to get WM without fighter or CoT for the bonus feats is kind of a REALLY bad idea but it's cute
Fear not, this is an old build and was more of an exercise than anything. Not even sure why I posted it. How the OP was able to wade through the murky quagmire of builds in this forum, and find this one, is the greatest mystery.

Hopefully, he will sink back into the depths to be lost once more.
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Ariel, Ookla, RIDE!

Edited By grizzled_dwarflord on 09/20/05 13:44

Sorry people, my fault. I thought my rogue could use handaxes because of his high UMD skill. Which was completely wrong (handaxes are in the weapon prof.: rogue).

How I found that interesting build? Of course with the Character Build Search (I just looked for a Bard/Weaponmaster build):

http://web1.vattnet.com/staffan/search/builds.htm

Thanks for correcting me!