The Cursed Minstrel (Bard 21/Shifter 10/Druid 9) - Epic Character Builder's Guild

Story
The battle was over, it had been more of a massacre than a battle, in truth. Prince Gilliam's army had been quite literally crushed beneath the heel of the Lord Valot's own forces. The surviving men wiped the blood from their weapons, preparing to set up camp and drag off their dead or wounded. They had destroyed the largest of Gilliam's forces, and there was but one more, much smaller, contingent of men a few hours ride to the south. They had time to rest, eat, and interrogate the dying enemy before that force would arrive to be massacred. The sun was beginning to set, the orb slowly dipping down below the horizon. The men joked jovially about ghosts in the darkness as they went about their business.

A call rang out through the forming encampment, men looking up and around, eyes gradually finding the source of the alarm. A figure, riding out from the setting sun, heading towards them. The figure couldn't be made out, men putting their hands to their faces to shield their eyes for a better look. This failed, and they waited. One man, after all, wasn't a threat to their army. The figure rode closer, at a fast gallop, until it reached the killing fields. It slowed, then, to little more than a trot, almost in reverence as it passed the corpses of the fallen. The sharper eyes could make out the figure now, a gruesome sight, and certainly otherworldly. It was a female, or what was left of one, her skin long since rotted from her face, leaving only the bone beneath. She wore a tiara upon her head, small and out of place. Rising up over her shoulder was a Scythe's blade, massive and looking well-used. She sat astride a pure black mare, the steed's face as emotionless as the skeletal figure atop it.

A man, a Captain in the army, stepped forward as the figure drew near, raising his hand to signal a stop. The woman did so, her mare stomping the ground once before coming to a rest. "What is your business with this army, dead one?" The skeletal woman didn't move, her socket-less eyes staring down the captain a moment before she spoke, the voice seeming otherworldly, dark and forbidden. "You will abandon these fields, let loose the prisoners you have taken, and never step foot in Prince Gilliam's lands again."

This drew laughter from the onlooking crowd, though uneasy laughter, faced with the fearsome visage of the Risen. The Captain spoke once more, "And who are you to give such an order? Why should the royal King Valot's army make way before you?" The skeletal figure stayed still once more, and then slowly swung her leg over her mount, her feet hitting the ground beneath her, the mare trotting a few yards away, waiting. She raised her arm, unclasping the scythe from her back and gripping it in one hand to her side. She strode swiftly towards the Captain, not speaking, no emotion upon her skeletal face. She raised her scythe, gripping it now with both hands, and drew back, feet now from the man. He seemed about to speak, and then abandoned that idea to fumble with his swordbelt, the metal ringing clearly as it left the scabbard.

A moment later, the man fell to the ground, his head rolling a few feet away, a look of horror etched upon his face. The Cursed Minstrel, she was called, named such for an affair and a murder in the royal courts. Bound, now, to the Prince Gilliam. She was the Minstrel, and she sang her tune that day to each man who opposed her.

Build
The Cursed Minstrel
Playable from 1-40, Designed for PvP
Human
Chaotic Neutral

Starting Stats
Str- 8
Dex- 14
Con- 10
Wis- 14
Int- 14
Cha- 16

Leveling [The spacing is to prevent

]
1 ) Druid( 1 ) - Alertness, Knockdown
2 ) Druid( 2 )
3 ) Bard( 1 ) - Exotic Weapon Proficiency - Note: Max Skills
4 ) Druid( 3 ) - Dexterity
5 ) Druid( 4 )
6 ) Druid( 5 ) - Weapon Focus: Scythe
7 ) Shifter( 1 )
8 ) Shifter( 2 ) - Dexterity
9 ) Shifter( 3 ) - Empower Spell
10 ) Shifter( 4 )
11 ) Shifter( 5 )
12 ) Shifter( 6 ) - Improved Knockdown
13 ) Shifter( 7 )
14 ) Shifter( 8 )
15 ) Shifter( 9 ) - Improved Critical: Scythe
16 ) Bard( 2 ) - Dexterity - Note: Max Skills
17 ) Bard( 3 )
18 ) Bard( 4 ) - Toughness
19 ) Bard( 5 )
20 ) Bard( 6 ) - Dexterity
21 ) Shifter( 10 ) - Undead Shape
22 ) Bard( 7 )
23 ) Bard( 8 )
24 ) Bard( 9 ) - Dexterity - Epic Weapon Focus: Scythe
25 ) Bard( 10 )
26 ) Druid( 6 )
27 ) Druid( 7 ) - Armour Skin
28 ) Druid( 8 ) - Dexterity
29 ) Bard( 11 ) - Note: Max Skills
30 ) Bard( 12 ) - Epic Prowess
31 ) Bard( 13 )
32 ) Bard( 14 ) - Dexterity
33 ) Bard( 15 ) - Epic Skill Focus: Discipline
34 ) Bard( 16 )
35 ) Bard( 17 )
36 ) Bard( 18 ) - Curse Song - Dexterity
37 ) Bard( 19 )
38 ) Bard( 20 )
39 ) Bard( 21 ) - Lasting Inspiration
40 ) Druid( 9 ) - Dexterity

Ending Stats
Str- 8
Dex- 24
Con- 10
Wis- 14
Int- 14
Cha- 16

Skills (The totals are calculated while shifted)
Discipline: 42+10+5=57 Total
Hide: 42+7=49 Total
Move Silently: 42+7=49 Total
Perform: 42+3=45 Total
Taunt: 42+3=45 Total
Use Magic Device: 42+3=45 Total

HP
278/278 Unshifted (Max Rolls)
497/411 Newly Shifted (Max Rolls)

AC [Effective AC in Brackets]
40 Naked, Shifted, Unbuffed
+5 Bard Song
+4 Barkskin
+4 Haste
+3 Mage Armour
+2 Cat's Grace
[+2 Curse Song]
=
55 Total (I know the math is wrong, I hit the cap, I believe)
[=57 Total]

AB [Effective AB in Brackets]
37/32/27 (Critical: 19-20/x4)Non-Magical Scythe, Shifted, Unbuffed
+5 Greater Magic Weapon
+4 Empowered Bull's Strength
+2 War Cry
+2 Bard Song
+1 Blood Frenzy
+Haste
+Keen Edge
[+5 Curse Song]
[+6 Taunt]
=
46/41/36/46 (Once again, I know the math is wrong. I have no idea why...shifting is confusing)
[=57/52/47/57]

Damage (Fully Shifted and Buffed)
2-8 crit: 19-20/x4
+14 Slashing
+2 Slashing
+5 Physical
+3 Bludgeoning
=
26-32 Crit: 18-20/x4

Saves (Shifted and Buffed in Brackets)
Fort - 22[29]
Reflex - 29[31]
Will - 24[28]

A few notes from the author:

I adore Shifters, and trying to find inventive ways to make them effective. I've tried everything from a Pally/Kobold to a Barbarian/Risen, but for some reason I had never thought of doing a Bard/Risen. Bard seems like the -perfect- companion. Some of the best buffing spells in the game, Bard/Curse Song, Taunt, Tumble...it's just -made- to be.

So, I tried it. And, to be honest, it's probably one of the best Shifters I've ever made. I'm not sure how it would rate against another Risen Lord, but it's quite appealing to me. It has an excellent buffing arsenal (though the druid buffs would be easily dispelled, and the bard buffs only a bit less easily) with Keen Edge, GMW, Empowered Bull's Strength, Barkskin, Improved Invisibility, and a ton of others. If required, I suppose I could list the essential spells for the build.

It's my first build contribution to these forums, so I'm sorry if I did something wrong, I tried my best, promise. Also, I know there are a few problems with it. First being that Curse Song is achieved so late. The only way to fit it in earlier would be to put off something like Toughness, which might be a better choice, as the Risen has excellent staying power with it's immunities.

Anyway...

Pros:
All those juicy Risen Immunities
A great (or at least in my opinion) AB/AC for a Risen Lord
Excellent buffing arsenal

Cons:
It's damage is a little lower than I would like
It suffers from Heal Vulnerability
Has pretty low saves, and no evasion. Not a problem for mind spells, though.

As I said, this is my first real official build. I've made builds before, naturally, but never really thought they were good enough to be posted here. This one's a more unique look on Risens, and I liked the outcome, so here it is.

If anyone has -any- suggestions at all (That means you, Mithradates, you professional, you!) feel free to post them. Questions are fine too, and I'll try to answer them as quickly as I can.

Edited By Acothea on 05/20/06 14:14

this is cool
there are only 2 builds I know like this

and one is mine

woohoo

good job
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They were all dead. The final gunshot was an exclamation mark to everything that had led up to this point. I released my finger from the trigger. And then it was all over. The storm seemed to lose its frenzy. The ragged clouds gave way to the stars above. Nice Risen Lord build, and a good writeup for it. The Risen Lord is a pretty good form, what it lacks in offense it makes up for in longevity.
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Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience. No one has any ideas on how to improve this? I know it can't be perfect. =P Well, you're going dex in a build with no uncanny dodge, but dex is the only relevant combat stat the risen lord doesn't override. So it's pretty much up to you as a player to avoid getting flatfooted if you can.

I'd arrange things to put curse song pre-epic, so you have it while levelling. And probably drop empower spell for extend spell (so you don't have to unshift to buff as often).

Not sure what else I'd try to change given the requirements and constraints of the class selection and so forth.

Maybe I'd drop 3 druid levels for 3 bard levels and get an epic bonus feat, or even 3 shifter levels to get some of the epic shifter forms as options.
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Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience. Yeah, I'm thinking Curse Song would be better to replace Toughness, as a Risen Lord might not need that HP as much while levelling, whereas Curse Song is -very- useful.

As for the Empower, it's to maximize AB. The only spell that needs empowered is Bull's Strength, but it's a pretty essential one. 7 Strength gives you, effectively +4 AB in Risen Lord (due to Risen having an odd strength score). This is especially nice if your server has a lot of low ability items, like +4 Strength, +3, +2, etc...because only one Ability bonus item will work in Risen, so rather than having only, say +4 Strength, you have +11. *shrugs*

I took the 9 Druid for at least a little bit of protection against dispelling. There are at least 3 Buffs that are necessary from Druid spells, and on the server I play on there are low-level dispell rods in abundance. I know the extra levels aren't much, though, and I'm sure that if your server isn't the same as mine you could go for more Bard instead. Alright, I've changed my mind. Dropping two levels of Druid would let me keep 1 4th level spell slot, which is enough for an Empowered Bull's Strength (which can be recast to get maximum, assuming you don't have a resting limit on your server). Then 2 more Bard would give me 23 Bard, which is enough to take Lasting Inspiration on a Bard Bonus Feat rather than using up a normal feat, which opens you up for another feat...which feat I have no idea, lol. I'll revise the build in a few minutes, after I figure out where I'd like to go with it. Alright, here's the updated progression:
Bard 23/Druid 7/Shifter 10

Leveling [The spacing is to prevent

Edited By Acothea on 05/21/06 23:34

Quote: Posted 05/21/06 23:32:35 (GMT) -- Acothea

Leveling [The spacing is to prevent ]

Just do it like this: (8[i][/i]).
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Quote: Posted 04/26/06 12:05:52 (GMT) -- Ithacan

[...]Harper Scout, the only class so powerful it's capped at five.
[...]

Edited By FinneousPJ on 05/22/06 12:58