A singing ranger? Well that's what this is. The bard helps out with the Ranger's AC. This isn't a major AC build, but it manages a fine AC in hide armor. The AB is also a little low, but it buffs up nicely. I didn't intend for this build to dual wield, rather go sword and shield, but it does have that ability. All things considered, by no means an uber build, but it should do nicely in low to mid magic PVM settings where devastating critical has been banned.
Thanks goes to Cinnabar Din for convincing me to post this build.
Advantages -5 favored enemies and bane of enemies. It would be nice to have few more favored enemies, but the critical immune groups like undead and constructs have been covered, as have the ubiquitous humans and dwarves. -Level 16 Bard Song and Curse Song. He gets all the bells and whistles of the bard song, i.e. +5 dodge AC and +2 AB for himself and his alies and -5 dodge AC and -2 AB for his enemies. -Level 5 Bard Spells. He can cast them stilled or extended and while they can be dispelled, he isn't very buff dependent. He also has the nice weapon buffs like greater magic weapon and keen edge. -55 Taunt. 59 after he uses bard song, 60 vs. favored enemies. He's pretty much guaranteed to taunt a non caster, and has a good chance of taunting a caster and inducing 50% casting failure. -Better than average AC. With +5 equipment he has 57 with out a shield and a 65 with a shield in hide armor. He could increase that by 1 in splint mail/chain shirt. -Okay buffed AB. He has a 42 which is lowish for a melee build, but bard song raises that to 44 and war cry to a 46, which is pretty good. Toss in curse song and taunt and even dual wielding scimitars he should be able to hit fairly regularly. -Maxed out UMD. -Ability to set deadly traps in hide armor. He can recover his own traps as well. He can't craft or recover other traps, so he has to get them from merchants or those who do craft them.
Disadvantages -Low Hitpoints. 364 is pretty low for a melee type. -Mediocre Saves. They are around 30 vs. spells, since the best a mage can get is 30+spell level without buffs, they aren't bad and bard song will raise them a bit higher. Against any effects other than spells he's in trouble. -XP penalty at level 39. Not much of problem but it should be noted.
Song of the Wild
Race Human
Alignment Any Non Lawful
Base Attributes STR 15 DEX 14 CON 12 INT 14 WIS 8 CHA 14
Attribute Bonuses All 10 increase Strength
Final Level Distribution Bard 16 Fighter 1 Ranger 23
Final Attributes STR 28 DEX 14 CON 12 INT 14 WIS 8 CHA 15
AB and Damage (no buffs, mundane scimitar) 42/37/32/27 9+1D6 (18-20 x2) (44/39/34/29 14+3D6 (18-20 x2) vs. Favored Enemies)
(+4 to strength [Bull's Strength], Bard Song, War Cry, Haste, Greater Magic Weapon, Keen Edge, Scimitar) 53/48/43/38/53 21+1D6 (15-20 x2) (55/50/45/40/55 26+3D6 (15-20 x2) vs. Favored Enemies)
(+12 to strength, Bard Song, War Cry, Haste, Greater Magic Weapon, Keen Edge, Scimitar) 57/52/47/42/57 25+1D6 (15-20 x2) (59/54/49/44/59 30+3D6 (15-20 x2) vs. Favored Enemies)
(As above with second scimitar) 53/48/43/38/53 25+1D6 (15-20 x2) 53/48 17+1D6 (15-20 x2) (55/50/45/40/35 30+3D6 (15-20 x2) Vs. Favored Enemies) (55/50 22+3D6 (15-20 x2) Vs. Favored Enemies)
AC 22 (no buffs, no equipment) 41 (+4 to dexterity [Cat's Grace], Hide Armor, Bard Song, Haste, Mage Armor) 44 (As above with Tower Shield) 57 (+4 to Dexterity, +5 Hide Armor, +5 Ring of Protection, +5 Amulet of Natural Armor, +5 Boots of the Sun Soul, Haste, Mage Armor, Bard Song) 65 (As above with a +5 Tower Shield)
Final Saves (Vs. Spells) Fortitude 22 (31) Reflex 21 (30) Will 18 (27)
Level 4: Cure Critical Wounds, Dismissal, Improved Invisibility, War Cry
Level 5: Ethereal Visage, Greater Dispelling, Healing Circle, Mind Fog _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
Edited By Mithdradates on 07/31/06 21:34
Glad you decided to post this one Mith. Solid build: level 16 Bard/Curse Song, Bard spells, big UMD, Taunt, Bane, great damage output, tons of ways to buff yourself. What's not to like? XP penalty at level 39? Pshaw I say! Nice work Mith. _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
A bardic woodsman, a.k.a., the singing ranger? COOL, Mith (me likes, too
Not overly buff-dependant you say? Well take IC then, drop lingering song, perhaps, or IKD. IC and scims is great for clearing mobs.
Very nice build, a combo I've tried myself once. In some settings you can even use Padded to get the "full-plate" AC when you're not caught flat-footed. _________________ Dragonlance ROH is back, better than before! and I spend a little time here WoG
Well done Mith, nice build. Pity this ranger/storyteller doesn't get an intro story, guess he'll have to sing it himself
Cheers, Kail _________________ Stand and fight, live by your heart Always one more try, I'm not afraid to die Stand and fight, say what you feel Born with a Heart of Steel!
I didn't see myself fitting IC into the build and, since I could cast keen edge, I figured I would still get a ton of crits with the scimitar. Still it could be nice to have IC, though with his AB I don't see him making great use of a 45% crit threat range.
As to buff dependancy, I should have specified dispellable buffs. He is going to rely on bard song, keen edge and greater magic weapon. His other buffs would consist of Cat's Grace, Bull's Strength, Haste, Improved Invisibility, War Cry, and Wounding Whispers. If he gets stripped of those, he's only really going to miss Haste and Improved Invisibility, and it wouldn't take long to put those two back up (at the very least Haste so he can bug out).
Don't worry I do have another build with a story in me. I just need to replenish my creative juices a bit. _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
I have been thinking of something like this for a long time. I had never thought of using the bard spells, although looking at this it seems ridiculous not to.
one suggestion, is you want to increase HP (at the expense of AB) you can drop strength by 1 to start, put those points into CON, then drop one great strength and put it towards epic toughness. -1 AB and -1 damage for 60HP. Not a great idea but still something to keep in mind.
Not that I think HP is a realy problem here. With the buffs losing HP shouldn't be a big concern.
As usual, well done Mith. _________________ “If you bring a Ranger with you, it is well to pay attention to him...”
*ding* Its not a Dwarf.
A bardic woodsman, a.k.a., the singing ranger? COOL, Mith (me likes, too 
Not overly buff-dependant you say? Well take IC then, drop lingering song, perhaps, or IKD. IC and scims is great for clearing mobs.