Hello everyone, this is the first time i request a build, and i do it because i'm not used to making melee characters. What i would like is a halfling with good damage potential. I want rogue for sneak attacks and i want strength for extra damage, hide/movesilently is apprisiated but not necessary. With a high strength char i assume i will need heavy armor to get good enough ac to survive. the bonus sneak damage is mainly for party play so its the strength that is priority. I have no real preference for weapon but a medium size would be good for x1.5 strength damage. Most important is playability at levels 5-15. bard is for becoming RDD so more than one level is ok if there will be any decent benefits from it. World is low magic, so i dont want to count on magic items for survival. Improved knockdown might be usefull too, not sure though.

I will think about it myself and see if i can get an idea of myown, but any suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance for all help. And dont even think about going human as it wont fit the concept. Sorry for late reply, this is how I would do it.

Rogue(13), Bard(17), Red Dragon Disciple(10), Halfling

Halfling: (Fearless, Good Aim, Lucky, Skill Affinity: Listen, Skill Affinity: Move Silently, Small Stature)
01: Rogue(1): Knockdown
02: Rogue(2): Ro: (Evasion)
03: Rogue(3): Blind Fight, Ro: (Uncanny Dodge I)
04: Rogue(4): STR+1, (STR=15)
05: Bard(1)
06: Red Dragon Disciple(1): Weapon Focus: Rapier
07: Rogue(5)
08: Red Dragon Disciple(2): STR+1, (STR=18)
09: Bard(2): Lingering Song
10: Red Dragon Disciple(3)
11: Red Dragon Disciple(4): (STR=20)
12: Bard(3): STR+1, Curse song, (STR=21)
13: Red Dragon Disciple(5)
14: Red Dragon Disciple(6)
15: Red Dragon Disciple(7): Improved Critical: Rapier, (CON=16)
16: Red Dragon Disciple(8): STR+1, (STR=22)
17: Rogue(6)
18: Rogue(7): Still Spell
19: Rogue(8)
20: Bard(4): STR+1, (STR=23)
21: Red Dragon Disciple(9): Epic Weapon Focus: Rapier, (INT=16)
22: Red Dragon Disciple(10): RDD: (Darkvision), (STR=27), (CHA=16)
23: Rogue(9)
24: Rogue(10): STR+1, Armor Skin, Crippling Strike, (STR=28)
25: Bard(5)
26: Bard(6)
27: Bard(7): Epic Prowess
28: Rogue(11): STR+1, (STR=29)
29: Bard(8)
30: Bard(9): Great Strength I, (STR=30)
31: Bard(10)
32: Bard(11): STR+1, (STR=31)
33: Bard(12): Great Strength II, (STR=32)
34: Bard(13)
35: Rogue(12)
36: Bard(14): STR+1, Great Strength III, (STR=34)
37: Bard(15)
38: Rogue(13): Improved Evasion
39: Bard(16): Great Strength IV, (STR=35)
40: Bard(17): STR+1, (STR=36)

STR: 14 (36)
DEX: 12
CON: 14 (16)
WIS: 8
INT: 14 (16)
CHA: 14 (16)

Hitpoints: 384
Skillpoints: 321
Saving Throws (Fortitude/Will/Reflex): 23/22/24
BAB: 25
AB (max, mundane rapier): 43 (melee), 29 (ranged)
dmg mundane rapier: 1d6+19(15-20/x2)
AC (naked/mundane armor only): 26/33

Concentration 43(46),
Discipline 43(56),
Lore 8(28),
Perform 32(35),
Taunt 43(46),
Tumble 40(41),
UMD 42(45)

70 points left for hide, MS and spellcraft or whatever rogue skills you want, like open locks, trap-skills etc.

Spells known/pr day
5/5 5/5 5/5 4/5 4/3 4/3 3/1

Bardsong gives:
AB:+2 dmg:+3 fort:+2 Will:+3 Ref:+2 hp:+22 AC+5 Skill+5

You are very feat-starved. I couldn't even find room for IKD or heavy armor, so you must go with medium, you AC should still be quite okay. You are also skill starved, I would need about 150 OR MORE points to get all I wanted. *sigh*

15 bard or more gives you +5 GMW, and you have other good bard spells too, like stat buffs/darkness/keen etc. You could go for 20 bard and 10 rogue instead, to get lasting inspiration, just be sure to get 20 bard on a feat level(f.ex. 39).

The rapier is a bard proficiency and gives you a good crit range for a 2 hander.

You get a versatile little bugger, at least if you want to. His AB is up there with other melee builds, but with Bard/Curse song and good buffing capabilities you can shine even without a party.

Hope this was helpful.
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Quote: Posted 03/06/06 18:56:45 (GMT) -- FinneousPJ
Trollborn Asgardian by the master of the Norse legends, Grimnir himself!

I would drop Still Spell for IKD. You won't be casting a lot of spells during combat, Bards are mostly buffers anyway (and several key Bard combat spells are verbal only, so can be cast in armor anyway - i.e. Warcry).

I would also drop a few points off of UMD to boost Hide/MS (leave UMD at 35, that's plenty for almost all items, unless your PW has some specific item you really want that needs more). You could also drop a few off concentration (again, you won't be doing a lot of casting in combat).

Both IKD and Hide/MS are key to taking advantage of the sneak damage.

Nice build.

TM

Edited By Tattoed Monk on 03/23/06 19:24

I think the ability to cast, for example, Improved Invisibility in combat, wearing armour, is well worth sacrificing the +4 on the Discipline check that IKD gives you. Yes, you may not need that ability in every fight, but when II runs out against that big boss you'll be glad you chose Still Spell. On that point, Darkness is castable in armour and, basically, it shuts down BioWare's AI... so, perhaps it's not a pressing issue without Improved AI haks/PvPing. Well, that was a rant!

Concentration is also used against Taunt. Well, I've always thought that arguing on skills is quite useless because they're really the most environment dependent (oh and personal preference!) part of our builds. That's what I think, for what it's worth
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The world is grey, the mountain's old
The forge's fire is ashen and cold
No harp is wrung, no hammer falls
The darkness dwells in Druin's halls...

~ Summoning - Khazad-Dúm

Edited By FinneousPJ on 03/23/06 19:54

Quote: Posted 03/23/06 19:52:53 (GMT) -- FinneousPJ
<SNIP> +4 on the Discipline check that IKD gives you. <SNIP>

But as a Halfling I think that IKD will allow KD to be used on Large beasties as well as mitigate the Medium beasties getting a bonus to the KD attempt, due to the Halflings size being small. I suppose you're right. I still wouldn't swear that IKD is superior to Still Spell.
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The world is grey, the mountain's old
The forge's fire is ashen and cold
No harp is wrung, no hammer falls
The darkness dwells in Druin's halls...

~ Summoning - Khazad-Dúm Well, if he were a wizard or sorc, I would agree. But he's a bard. Imp Invis lasts 1 turn per level, and he has 17 caster levels. 17 turns should be plenty for a boss fight. Like I said, many of the Bard's combat spells can be cast in armor anyway (darkness, warcry, etc.). And, he's only in medium armor anyway, so he'll still have pretty good odds of success if he really needs to cast something in combat. His biggest problem would be if he gets hit by Mord's and loses all his buffs, but then he's not going to take 5 rounds to stand still and recast all of them anyway.....

TM I posted that it was how I would do it. He is feat-starved, so both IKD and Still Spell SHOULD be there, even Heavy armor. Here's a few thoughts. He said low-magic world, which was PART of the reason for 15+ bard. If GMW ends, or gets dispelled during battle, it might be crucial to get back up. It is a strength build, so he does not under any circumstances DEPEND upon sneak damage. He has KD for when that is useful, and still spell for when that is needed. In this build, Strength and even using 2-hander, still spell is better than IKD IMO, since damage is good anyhow. Remember that his Bard-song increases his KD chances, so he has okay chances for success. About skill allocation, take your pick. His skill-set is so huge, he can't under any circumstances get enough skillpoints.

From what I could see, he asked for Rogue 28/Bard2/RDD10, but in a party, or even alone, this is how I would do, bard really increases your versatility AND effectiveness.

The end result i was quite satisfied with, it's the leveling order that causes some grief, since I was unsure of 8 bard or 8 rogue pre-epic. It's nice to see that Sten gets some responses in this thread though, he should have some food for thought at least.
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