Somebody was yelling loud enough to distract me, which irritated both me and my audience. My audiece--both of them--followed my gaze when I stopped playing. He was a big guy, dressed in ragged leather and carrying a big ugly ax over his shoulder, and he was yelling at me. I stared at him. "You have a problem?" I said. I didn't speak loudly, but my voice carries. Training, you know. "Yeah," he yelled back. "You. Shut the ---- up and let a man drink in peace!" He didn't look like he needed to drink any more, but there was no point in saying so. I smiled and shook my head at him. I caught half my audience--that would be Tiff, my friend, grinning at me. Tiff knew what was coming. His date--the other half of my audience--seemed worried and distracted, distracted enough to accidentally flash a bit of ankle. Nice ankle. I admired Tiff's taste. "Friend," I told the drunk. "You don't want to do this." He walked up to me, his hip knocking Tiff a bit. He kept looking bigger as he approached; a bloody damned mountain, he was. His beard needed trimming. Tiff, still grinning, stood, shot me a wink, and escorted his date a safe distance away. "Why the hell not?" said the drunk. "Gonna hit me with your lute?" "It's a mandolin," I said. "And no, it just isn't a fair fight." He laughed. "Think you're pretty good, eh?" He pulled his axe. I have to admit, he drew it with some flair--nice, smooth motion over his back, ending in a ready position. Whoever he was, the son of a *** knew how to handle his blade. "Show me then!" By this time everyone in Shakey's was giving us lots of room, and Shakey was looking a bit, well, shakey. "No, it isn't that," I said. "It's just the stakes aren't the same. The worst you can do is kill me, but I can make you a laughingstock from the Eastern Sea to the Grimwaste." That seemed to confuse him for a second, but then he scowled and said something about my singing that wasn't nice at all. I admit it--he got to me. I was now, officially, annoyed. I called him something I'd first heard a farmer call a recalcitrant pig, and the drunk took it much harder than the pig had. He started to take that step that would have put him too close. My hands were still on the mandolin. I struck a chord and said, "Ever heard this one?" and murmured softly. He froze in place, ax half raised, an ugly expression on his face. His face wasn't frozen, in fact, he could still move it. He made it uglier. And he could talk. He said things that weren't at all nice. Tiff said, "Gonna do it?" I glanced over at him and smirked. "Why not? He's ugly. He deserves it." "Damn right," said Tiff. "That was my favorite song he interrupted. Well, excuse me if I get out of earshot." "Don't blame you," I said. I smiled warmly into the frozen drunk's face and started running a riff on my mandolin. "This is called, 'The Ballad of Dristan Mabb.' Feel free to hum along. You'll probably pick up the tune by the eightieth verse or so." I'd have to appologize to Shakey for clearing his place out. But there is no substitute for the chance to teach someone manners. I started the first verse.
---
Okay, this is my first build. I'm submitting it mostly because I'm sure some of you clever people can tell me how to make it better. The idea isn't anything new: a generally useful guy who might suck on his own, but everyone wants in the party. My goals were really topnotch bardsong and enough cleric levels for resserection. Trying him out on a medium-high magic server, he actually did better than I'd expected, but I have no doubt at all I'm missing some obvious ways to improve him. There was a build I stole a lot from, it was Bard/Cleric/Paladin, and I'd like to link to it, but for some reason the search engine isn't showing it now.
Oh, my apologies for any spelling errors: I'm extremely dyslexic.
Race Human Alignment Chaotic Good
PVM Playable 1-40 on medium or high magic server. Low magic server, probably not so much.
Starting
Str 14(22) Dex 8 Con 10 Wis 16(18) Int 14 Cha 14(16)
1. Q: You know you can re-shuffle the levels and get much less of experience penalty, right? A: I know. I probably should have. But I wanted to get Lasting Inspiration as soon as I could.
2. Q: What's up with taking fighter levels and no weapon specialization? A: Erg. Medium-high magic server. And there weren't any feats I was willing to give up.
3. Q: Why not lose some INT points and get some Con? The hitpoints SUCK. A: Yeah, but, well, I just have this thing for skill points. And for a support character like this, I can even justify it. Sort of.
4. Q: Why not take toughness earlier, so you can, like, survive for a while? A: Um...um....because?
5. Q: Why knowledge and Strength? A: Knowledge for Knock (generally useful to a party) and strength for Stoneskin plus the brief strength boost. But there are probably better choices. I'm open to suggestions.
6. Q: All those skillpoints, and no Spellcraft? Are you stupid? A: Yes. I should probably lose taunt, but I was thinking it might make him more generally useful.
So...hit me.
Edited By FinneousPJ on 05/28/07 11:55
Well, first there's some things I've got to point out as a mod. You forgot to put the class spread in the title. You forgot to put your finishing STR score in beside the starting one You're supposed to tell the maximum HP, I'd think that is obvious. I'm feeling generous so I gonna fix those for you. You owe me one
And beside those superficial points: what the christ do 10 ranks in heal do? In spellcraft you'd at least get a small bonus to saves vs spells (+2 with 10 ranks).
I'd take Cleric earlier to get Divine Power. I'd go with 15 pre-epic BAB to exploit DP, too.
Lingering Song is useless after you get Lasting Inspiration, you might want to reconsider that feat. You can easily swap that for one extra epic feat by moving Ftr4 to epics.
Seems like a fine build, except the HP _________________ " -- They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more."
- Pozzo in Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
Quote: Well, first there's some things I've got to point out as a mod. You forgot to put the class spread in the title. You forgot to put your finishing STR score in beside the starting one You're supposed to tell the maximum HP, I'd think that is obvious. I'm feeling generous so I gonna fix those for you. You owe me one
Damn. I tried to be careful on that, too. Check. I owe you one. Won't happen again.
Quote: And beside those superficial points: what the christ do 10 ranks in heal do?
Cure poison or disease up to DC 43. I agree, it worthless if I'm taking some cleric levels earlier, and I should.
Quote: Lingering Song is useless after you get Lasting Inspiration, you might want to reconsider that feat.
Oh ho! Good know! When the description of LI says "ten times normal" I'd thought "normal" included LS. Yep.
Quote: You can easily swap that for one extra epic feat by moving Ftr4 to epics.
I think I'm missing something; if I move a Ftr level to epic, don't I drop down to three attacks? Or will more cleric levels instead of bard levels fix that fix that?
Many thanks for the comments; that's exactly what I was looking for.
(I wish there was a "preview" function here; with all the editing of quotes I did, I have no idea how this is going to appear.
*squeezes eyes shut and clicks submit*)
Quote: Posted 05/28/07 13:09 (GMT) -- skzb
Quote: Lingering Song is useless after you get Lasting Inspiration, you might want to reconsider that feat.
Oh ho! Good know! When the description of LI says "ten times normal" I'd thought "normal" included LS. Yep.
OK, hyperbole. It's not useless, but hardly useful. See, ten times normal makes 100 rounds. With LS you get a 105 rounds. It does not become 15 x 10, but 10 x 10 +5, and a 5% increase in duration isn't worth much.
Quote: Posted 05/28/07 13:09 (GMT) -- skzb
I think I'm missing something; if I move a Ftr level to epic, don't I drop down to three attacks? Or will more cleric levels instead of bard levels fix that fix that?
Yes, that's exactly the point. You lose one attack, so DP gives you one attack at full AB. See, DP works like this:
Your AB now: 36/31/26/21 After DP: 40/35/30/25
Your AB with 1 less FTR: 35/30/25 After DP: 40/35/25/40 _________________ " -- They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more."
- Pozzo in Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
Edited By FinneousPJ on 05/28/07 13:36
An interesting concept, to be certain. And I agree, exploiting the Divine Power extra apr would certainly be nice - but, as it sounds like you built it specifically for your world, it's very possible that Divine Power does not grant extra apr (as most PWs don't).
Quote: Posted 05/28/07 16:23 (GMT) -- mantis3
An interesting concept, to be certain. And I agree, exploiting the Divine Power extra apr would certainly be nice - but, as it sounds like you built it specifically for your world, it's very possible that Divine Power does not grant extra apr (as most PWs don't).
It's the default DP, we don't consider PW specific quirks here. _________________ " -- They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more."
You're supposed to tell the maximum HP, I'd think that is obvious. I'm feeling generous so I gonna fix those for you. You owe me one 
