Singing, slashing and telling his way from the 1st to the 40th, PvM. All high-level bards are excellent for group PvP.
The entire room fell silent. It was full of drunk warriors and their wives. All were celebrating the success of their last raid. Chief Beorn Bearhug was the host, and there were guests from all the neighbouring settlements. Even the few Sveamen living across the border was invited. Their leader was Sigurd Tambarshivers. A man known for his rivalry towards the men from Beorns household.
Many had wondered about that invitation, though it was not that strange in itself except that everyone knew about the hatred between Beorn and Sigurd. The truth behind it was that Beorn had gotten to know about a raid that Tambarshivers had pulled 2 weeks earlier, killing many of his kinsmen, and taking their kids and wives back as perhaps slaves or who knows what. A lone trell had gotten away and he had also recognized the Sveamen.
Beorn had invited them here to get his kinsmen back, or to avenge them all. Blood called for blood. His eyes were narrow as he stood upon the table. The huge axe he usually wore had, like all weapons in such gilds, been left at the entrance. They all knew what that meant. The chieftain was about to tell one of his famous tales, tales told while singing. He started out, his mighty voice filling the room. Shivers went down the spine of each and every one in the room, so grand was his voice, and the influence of his voice on others.
This time there was something sinister to his tales though, and soon he was on the theme of Sveamen, and how great Nidinger they all were. The tale went on, telling of many Svea-warriors who had no courage, sneaking around at night and attacking and plundering old men, women and children. He weaved on, captivating the room, keeping sure he had everyones attention. The tale soon became more specific, telling of some men butchering good people just because of some petty old rivalry. He neared the end of the tale, and sung out to the room the name of the greatest Niding known to Odin. "His name was Sigurd TambarShivers!" the mighty voice rang out. A gasp went through the crowd. Not being stupid, Sigurd had anticipated that and acted accordingly. He stood up, using the power in his legs and body to tip the table which Beorn stood upon. Beorn was a bit caught by surprise, but managed to keep his balance while he landed. Sigurd was over him before he could react though, and connected a mighty punch to Beorns head. The punch was so powerful that he sent the Weaver of Tales crashing into the wall.
Beorn had been out a winternight before, and was back on his feet in an instant. His vision swam, and his jaw hurt like crazy. He deflected two more blows from the Sveaman as he closed the distance. Shaken by the blow he had caught, he just tried to get in close to get his arms around Sigurd. He didn't dare trying to trade blows as Sigurd had the upper hand. His quick rush had succeeded and Beorn had his arms connected behind Tambarshivers back. A roar escaped his lips and his arms tightened like a wolf ready to attack. Sigurd put his arms to Beorns head and started to push, trying to break his neck. Locked in this dance of death both men used all their might trying to get the upper hand. Beorn using the bearhug which he was famous for to break Sigurds back, while Sigurd did his best to resist and to push Beorns head back.
Several seconds they were locked in stalemate, then a mighty voice again filled the room. the voice of the warrior-skald Beorn Bearhug. The voice of the Skalds, as the saying goes, is capable of making boys into men. It certainly seemed to give Beorn more strength at least, because he slowly but surely gained the upper hand and Sigurds back bent slowly but surely backwards. Sigurd yelled out in pain and low crunchy noise came from his back and he fell limp to the floor, unconsious.
SVEAMEN! You got 24 hours to deliver my captured kinsmen and all their goods back to me. Sigurd Niding at my feet is still alive and well. Fail to comply and I will break his back like a rotten twig and give him back like a crippled cow. Now LEAVE! His mighty voice rang out, the Sveamen almost ran from the room. Beorn stood there, his ears ringing from the strain. His arms ached and blood ran from his mouth. Two of his teeth were gone forever. Still it was the moment of his greatest triumph, breaking the honour and name of the Tambarshivers forever and getting his kin back all the same. He knew that he had been close to be brought to Odins table in Valhalla this night, but his thread of fate was indeed longer still. ------
A few notes. First, a Niding (from the story) is not an insult thrown by children. It is the worst stamp a Viking could get and he got it if completely honourless or if he did other atrocities (as seen by the society). It was not given out easily, but once received it was harder still to atone for. Revenge of blood, or Blood-feuds were common in cases such as the above. 1 part drew blood, and the other had to pay back at least equally. Needless to say it often ended with one side destroyed. It was not very common though, but it happened.
Second. The build would hold more power if you took all 10 levels of RDD, but rp-wise it would be wrong. There were no Dragons in Norse religion, but great serpents, like Jormundgandr the son of Loki. Other two great serpents were Nidhoggr, also known as "corpse-eater" and Fåvne, a Lind-serpent guarding a treasure that grew with the Serpent. So no wings.
Now to the main thing, the build itself.
Bard(27), Harper Scout(5), Red Dragon Disciple(8), Human
5th: Ethereal visage, Greater Dispel, Healing Circle, Mind Fog, Summ.Creature V
6th: Dirge, Energy Buffer, Ice Storm, Mass haste.
Bard Song unbuffed and naked(lvl 21 song): AB +2, Dmg +3, Fort+2, Ref+2, Will +3, hp +30, AC +5 and skills +9.
Curse song will give the same negative numbers to opponents, all of this lasts 100 rounds.
He can reach bardsong lvl 24 on his own (I think) which will increase hps and skillpoints, nothing else.
Chain-shirt would probably be the best armour to use, since he can easily almost max out his DEX. Note that HS and Bard spells can give a real nice both CHA and DEX boost.
40 AB ain't truly rocking, but consider Bardsong and buffs, plus cursesong and Taunt and you should hit most opponents at least in PvM. I haven't done the calculations on Buffed AB.
And oops, reviewing the build I can see that I have not put any skillpoints into Spellcraft.... Do it if you want, perhaps take from Taunt or whatever. Darn, skills always end up being a pain for me...... I would like to have listen too, since Bard- and cursesong can tip detecting in your favour, but you must rely on Balagarns instead.
Quite versatile character, which can help a party, buff and fight quite well. In addition to that, he has a decent Icestorm too . If you invest a little into Rogue skills he can sing those to decent levels too. The only pain in bards is their hp's.
I really hope the community likes this build and the story that tags along, which btw has a unique class-combo.
Thanks goes to FinneousPJ for helping me with this build. _________________
Quote: Posted 03/06/06 18:56:45 (GMT) -- FinneousPJ Trollborn Asgardian by the master of the Norse legends, Grimnir himself!
Edited By Grimnir77 on 05/18/06 19:42
Great story Grim! Your build's name could be used to address the builder too
Nice build, you already addressed the reason why you don't go for RDD 10. I guess you do not get Heavy Armor for the same reason, vikings had no full or half plate back at their time.
I'd get Toughness instead of WP: exotic and I'd focus on Battle axe, your HPs are lowish, I think the build would benefit from it more than the small extra damage Dwarven Waraxe gives you.
Kudos to the King of Norse Legend! (aka Grimnir77)
BTW, I always loved the way you introduce the PvM/PvP nature of your builds
Cheers, Kail _________________ To hear the sound of Freedom, many gave their lives They fought for you and me Those memories will always live inside us, and now it's our time to be free
Edited By Kail Pendragon on 05/18/06 19:51
Superb story. Epic Bard. Harper Scout. No wings. I love it.
I agree though, that the dwarven waraxe is costing you a feat that could be better spent (and arguably, spent more in-character) on Toughness. A battleaxe or greataxe would be just as accurate, and with magic weapons coming into play, the dwarven waraxe's extra 1 average damage per hit on a diceroll doesn't look like it's worth a feat.
Edit - woops, just checked, none of the classes in this build get martial proficiency for free. So he'd have to be spending a feat anyway. It might be possible to switch to mace, morningstar, or spear and remain incharacter, however... but the axe is iconically Viking and can't be faulted at all. _________________ Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience.
Edited By Xylophone on 05/18/06 20:02
Nice Story, I enjoyed it. The only "norse" dragon with wings I can think of is the Dragon from Beowulf (which was anlgo-saxon as I recall).
I would have gone for a longsword for a weapon and gone for a martial weapon proficiency instead of an exotic. A skald would have been a norse nobleman and more likely to carry a sword than an axe. The longsword was also the most common Viking weapon. As for armor, you would probably see banded mail and possibly even plate mail as vikings salvaged armor from conquered foes. This would also bump up your AC a bit. It might also be worthw
Out of curiosity, why Harper Scout? It doesn't seem to add much and it isn't very Norse either. Fighter could have netted you armor and weapon proficiencies, netted you an extra feat, an extra AB, an extra attack and would have been more in keeping with the Skald concept.
Other than those thoughts, a nicely made build. _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
Thanks for all your comments, appreciated.
I'll adress a few. First the armour, it's not only for the rp. You can defend having half-plate or breast-plate. Full-plate was an invention which came around at the same time as the arquebus and has hardly ever been used. But this character can on his own reach at least +10 to Dex, which will give +8 to AC when wearing Chainshirt. There is a difference of only 1.
Like Xylo noted, you ain't getting any martial proficiency's, so I picked Waraxe because of it's size.
That aside, not really any weapons in NwN that suits the Viking, except spear. They used swords that were shorter and heavier than the medieval longsword. They used axes and some kind of hammers, but those don't look like the NwN ones. For 2-handed weapons(they preferred shields) They had a kind of Halberd and spears.
Why harper indeed? Well, it's an extension of the bard-class, and adds more than taking more bard, f.ex. Curse-song, adding CHA and DEX buffs(almost to the max). Though it don't suit Norse theme in itself, the character is a skald. That is what is seen. Dragon-disciple in a setting that doesn't have Dragons? That is for muscles and longevity. Oh, if anything has been done to death, it's the different Fighter/Bard/RDDs In his original incarnation he was exactly that. But now he is what he is supposed to be, a skald who can fight, pure and simple.
And a little half off-topic in the end here: There is no such thing as Norse nobility. Norway had a brief period with noble's, but that was when we were ruled by swede's many hundred years later. Can you imagine the horror of being ruled by swede's?????
*edit* Like Finn says, it was his idea. Don't forget the fine boosts to saves when caught in a pinch either. _________________ I see the fear you have inside, you can run but never hide. I will hunt you down and tear you limb from limb.
I run the Pre-Epic Builders guild. Join and share your experience.
Edited By Grimnir77 on 05/19/06 15:40
Nice.
I'd recall 'twas my idea to use HS in this build (I always tell people to use HS ), so do not question its usefulness (I believe Grimnir made a good point already ) _________________
Quote: Posted 04/26/06 12:05:52 (GMT) -- Ithacan
[...]Harper Scout, the only class so powerful it's capped at five. [...]
Grim: Nice story; very themed, indeed! Just a thought on the blade, and agreeing that the longsword would work for you, as it seems to be the closest to what the Vikings and Flemish "actually" had; from early times, it's true, they carried a short sword, meant to be carried in one hand, with a shield in the other. Very much Celtic, too, pre-Normans, but it was longer than the Roman gladius, or gladiator's blade. The NWN longsword is not the same as the medieval knight blade, which was the "sword-and-a-half" (or bastard sword), and carried by the army so to speak, with the full sword (great sword) being reserved for the few and the strongest. Just a thought, and might want to check out this site for some historical ideas (it's loaded with blades, and quite interesting): http://www.accucom.net/medsword/ There are of course many others. On the other hand, with your class combo, since you don't get martial, unless its RP, the axe is better; not like you need the shield for an AC boost on this build.
As to armor, chain or any type of mail would seem to work; yes, okay, full plate wasn't invented yet, its development making the shield obsolete (and with the sword and a half, a shield would only slow the knight down) - so I can see your point. But the sword issue vs. the axe, just make sure to cast it bronze, else Odin might get upset with you
Otherwise, a very nice touch; nice build and authentic, gives it a lot of character, with a story-line, too.
As to your comment about horror over being conquered by the Svedes, well, no more so than England taken by the Normans, about which the French still brag (but, that the French, at least the Northerners, were Germanic-Latin with the great Chalemagne being none other than Karl zie Grosse -- just makes the Germans laugh; then again, the English, they were Saxons (from Germany); but those Saxons, both them and the Normans were from the same place originally, which . . . would . . . be . . . Thanks again for your help, btw; and really like this story, and this build. Definitely earns its wings...*grin*
Deborah "Tyr"
Edited By Robert Tyr on 05/20/06 05:46
I liked the story, it's the most entertaining part of builds IMO.
Well, I'd only place one point about your armor: you don't get Uncanny, not much to do about it though... but as for mobs, a full plate would serve better, even if you could end losing total AC, and ok, it's an RP build, no Full Plates back then, but when the enemies are about are you going to tell them that for cover?
Man, I didn't know I was attending to a Norse History class... for free!
The quote from Ithacan in Finn's signature pretty much sums it all up for the HS.
. If you invest a little into Rogue skills he can sing those to decent levels too. The only pain in bards is their hp's.
(I believe Grimnir made a good point already 
)
Grim: Nice story; very themed, indeed! Just a thought on the blade, and agreeing that the longsword would work for you, as it seems to be the closest to what the Vikings and Flemish "actually" had; from early times, it's true, they carried a short sword, meant to be carried in one hand, with a shield in the other. Very much Celtic, too, pre-Normans, but it was longer than the Roman gladius, or gladiator's blade. The NWN longsword is not the same as the medieval knight blade, which was the "sword-and-a-half" (or bastard sword), and carried by the army so to speak, with the full sword (great sword) being reserved for the few and the strongest. Just a thought, and might want to check out this site for some historical ideas (it's loaded with blades, and quite interesting): http://www.accucom.net/medsword/ There are of course many others. On the other hand, with your class combo, since you don't get martial, unless its RP, the axe is better; not like you need the shield for an AC boost on this build.