The first character I played in Neverwinter Nights. At that time she was only Karna the Amazone, but as she developed into an epic bard she got the thousand tunes. She was originally a Fighter/Bard and served well under Lord Nasher in the quest to save Neverwinter. When Hords of the Underdark introduced the weapon master, she became one of them.

After that she has been played all the way to level 40, and this build is the final Karna after some back and forth. She has been redesigned in the pre-epic leveling order. She was also originally a longsword master, but I decided to change that to scimitar, because that made her even more lethal. The epic progression is how I felt she would develop best level by level when I played her.

There are a lot of Bard/Fighter/Weapon Master builds here, but only one other that goes epic bard
Ruinous Raconteur /Bard 23/Fighter 10/WM 7 by Mithdradates. The two builds are quite different and both are very nice. RR goes for massive criticals with scythe, while Karna goes for as many criticals as possible with scimitar. Skills and feats selection are somewhat different, making tactical differences between them.

Karna the Amazone of thousand tunes (Bard 21/Fighter 12/Weapon Master 7)
Human, any non lawful (Karna is neutral good)
PvM and PvP (non devastating critical). Playable level 1-40
STR: 14 (24)
DEX: 14
CON: 14
WIS: 8
INT: 14
CHA: 14 (16)

01: Bard(1): Luck of Heros, Dodge
02: Fighter(1): Weapon Focus: Scimitar
03: Fighter(2): Expertise, Mobility
04: Fighter(3): STR+1, (STR=15)
05: Fighter(4): Weapon Specialization: Scimitar
06: Fighter(5): Spring Attack
07: Fighter(6): Whirlwind Attack
08: Bard(2): STR+1, (STR=16)
09: Weapon Master(1): Improved Critical: Scimitar, Weapon of Choice: Scimitar
10: Weapon Master(2)
11: Weapon Master(3)
12: Weapon Master(4): STR+1, Blind Fight, (STR=17)
13: Weapon Master(5)
14: Weapon Master(6)
15: Bard(3): Curse Song
16: Weapon Master(7): STR+1, (STR=18)
17: Bard(4)
18: Bard(5): Still Spell
19: Bard(6)
20: Bard(7): STR+1, (STR=19)
21: Bard(8): Epic Skill Focus: Taunt
22: Bard(9)
23: Bard(10)
24: Bard(11): STR+1, Great Strength I, (STR=21)
25: Bard(12)
26: Fighter(7)
27: Fighter(8): Great Strength II, Epic Weapon Focus: Scimitar, (STR=22)
28: Fighter(9): CHA+1, (CHA=15)
29: Fighter(10): Epic Weapon Specialization: Scimitar
30: Bard(13): Epic Fortitude
31: Bard(14)
32: Bard(15): CHA+1, (CHA=16)
33: Bard(16): Epic Will
34: Bard(17)
35: Bard(18)
36: Bard(19): STR+1, Toughness, (STR=23)
37: Fighter(11)
38: Fighter(12): Epic Prowess
39: Bard(20): Lasting Inspiration
40: Bard(21): STR+1, (STR=24)

Note: I chose to take bard levels from level 21-25 to get the level 4 spells early. You can take fighter levels here instead if you prefer the epic scimitar-feats early instead.

Skillset (total 263 pts.): Distributed/Modified/Bard song
Concentration: 27/29/35
Discipline: 43/50/56
Intimidate: 4/7/13
Perform: 37/40/40
Spellcraft: 43/45/51
Taunt: 43/56/62
Tumble: 40/42/48
UMD: 22/25/31

Equipment: Mundane scimitar, full plate and tower shield
Basic stats:
BAB: 28
AB: 40
DAM: 1d6+13 (13-20 x3)
AC (naked/full plate and tower shield): 20/30
HP: 436
Saves (Fortitude/Will/Reflex): 26/23/25 +9 vs. spells

I consider her eversinging (2100 rounds pr. restperiod) so stats with no additional buffs are:
AB: 42
DAM: 1d6+16 (13-20 x3)
AC: 35
HP: 460
Saves: 28/26/27 +10 vs spells

Buffed with Bull's, War Cry, Curse song, GMW, Haste, Keen Edge, Mage armor, Wounding whispers):
AB: 56/51/46/41/56, another +6 with Epic Taunt
DAM: 1d6+20 (10-20 x3) +5, + 1d6+21 pr. hit suffered
Average 225HP damage/round against AC 50 (no DR or critical immunity)
AC: 45
Using expertise against the toughest AB-builds: +5 AC/ -5 AB

Other vitale skills and spells:
- Epic Taunt DC 62 agaist casters (giving them 30% spell failure). Only the most intellegent wizards and/or epic concentration may hope to save that.
- Improved invisibility (ignores 50% of all incoming hits)
- Silence agains mages
- UMD 25 (scrolls and holy Avenger) against mages
- See invisibility agaist hidden foes

Finally:
The spellcasting DC is low so I recommend selecting defensive spells. The spell buffs are not easy to dispel. Mordenkainen disjunction or a lucky roll with Greater dispelling is required. Spellcasting play is made easy with the still spell. That feat can be dropped for extend spell or maybe armor skin (take toughness pre-epic).


Added link - Kail Pendragon

Edited By Kail Pendragon on 10/11/06 08:46

The key ability for Concentration is Constitution, so intelligent wizards won't be any better off than anybody else.

*edit* Oh, yeah, nice build .

A couple things I'd change, though:

-Luck of Heroes is something to take if you don't have anything else to spend pre-epic feats on, and no WM build will ever have that problem. I'd replace it with Knockdown, which is currently lacking.

-I've found that Bard spells are best used, in most cases, as pre-combat buffs, meaning you can just take your armor off to cast them. This being the case, I prefer Extend Spell to Still Spell, even in str-based Bard builds.

-You're taking 21 Bard levels anyway, and you can take LI at Bard 20. Why not take it a LOT earlier, since it's probably the most important feat in the build?

*edit 2* I see now on that last point that you're taking a lot of Bard in epic to preserve BAB, so I guess not a LOT earlier. But still, you could delay your Fighter levels and take LI at 33, or 36 if you wanted early EWS, which would be, IMO, significantly better.

Edited By Nimueh_Leafbow on 10/11/06 05:37

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Cheers,
Kail
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Quote: Posted 09/25/06 11:58:10 (GMT) by xitooner

I find its better to be flexible, THINK, and know your enemy.