Hells' Minstrel - 34 Bard/ 5 HS/ 1 Paly

[Kallan/ Kallana]

Minstrel of Hell
Subrace: Prismatic Half-Dragon
Bard/ Paladin/ Harper Scout

This a build that I have been think of for a while, especially considering the amount of elemental damage the Hells can dish out.
The point of this build is to have 7 of the 8 epic spells, A rockin bard/ curse song that would make Robert Plant proud, Hells' worthy saves - plus immunity to all elemental damage.
This build is tested, but not played.

Level Progression: 23 bard/ 1 paly/9 bard/2 HS/ 1 bard/ 3 HS/ 1 Bard

Starting Stats / Subrace/ LVL 40/ LVL 60

STR: 8/10/10/10
DEX: 12/10/10/10
CON: 15/15/24/28
INT: 13/12/12/12
WIS: 8/8/8/8
CHA: 17/19/22/30

Max Skills: Tumble, UMD, Perform, Discipline, Concentration PP- 19

LVLS
1. Bard - Toughness, Curse Song
2. Bard -
3. Bard - Spell Focus (enchantment)
4. Bard - CON
5. Bard -
6. Bard - Greater Spell Focus (enchantment)
7. Bard -
8. Bard - CON
9. Bard - Spell Focus (transmutation)
10. Bard -
11. Bard -
12. Bard - CON / Greater Spell Focus (transmutation)
13. Bard -
14. Bard -
15. Bard - Spell Focus (abjuration)
16. Bard - CON
17. Bard -
18. Bard - Greater Spell Focus (abjuration)
19. Bard -
20. Bard - CON
21. Bard - Alertness
22. Bard -
23. Bard - Great CHA
24. Paladin - CON/ Spell Focus (illusion)
25. Bard -
26. Bard -
27. Bard - Greater Spell Focus (illusion)/Spell Focus(divination)
28. Bard - CON
29. Bard -
30. Bard -Greater Spell Focus (divination)/Spell Focus(conjure)
31. Bard -
32. Bard - CON
33. Bard - Iron Will/ Greater Spell Focus (conjure)
34. Harper Scout - Lasting Inspiration
35. HS -
36. Bard - CON/ Great CON
37. HS -
38. HS -
39. HS - Great CON/ Great CHA
40. Bard - CHA

Read Necromancy Book

LL's
8 stat points to CHA
2 stat points to CON
6 x Epic Spell Focuses
Free Feat or LL enchantment for +14 GMW



SAVES Naked

Fort - 30
Reflex - 28
Will - 29

HP Naked at lvl 60 - 884
with item bonus +12 HP=1000

Pros:
High Saves
Mad Buffer
7 epic Spells
Great bard/ curse song
High HP for a bard
Discipline is class skill for bard
Can read scrolls


Elemental Immunities with subrace:
Fire - 25%
Elec - 25%
Cold - 25%
Acid - 25%
Sonic - -25%

Elemental Immunities with Harper Secret:
Fire - 50%
Elec - 50%
Cold - 50%
Acid - 50%

Cons:
Buffer only until high lvls
Low Ab - don't plan on hitting anything
Low AC but thats what EV is for


Epic Bard Spells
You must have 25 levels of bard in order to learn these spells, be level 40, have a base charisma of 30, and have the epic spell focus feat in the spell's school, and find someone or something to teach you the spell.

Chant of Warding
School: Abjuration
-----
Description:
The bard utters a powerful chant, his words shaping the fabric of what might be, wrapping the bard in protective wards.
-----
Effect:
For one turn per bard level, the caster receives damage reduction equal to his charisma modifier/+20.


Calling of the Heart
School: Conjuration
-----
Description:
All bards can heal the aches of the body and the soul with their music; the greatest bards can give their music form to act on its own volition.
-----
Effect:
The bard summons a healing spirit which is invincible in combat and which lasts for one round per two casterlevels. Each round, the spirit fully heals the nearest ally and removes any negative effects.


Winter is Coming
School: Divination
-----
Description:
The bard's grave proclamation freezes the air around him as winter's chilly grasp comes calling.
-----
Effect:
For one round per two points of the bard's charisma modifier, all enemies in a large radius around the bard are frozen. Will not work on creature immune to petrification.


Hear Me Roar
School: Enchantment
-----
Description:
The bard binds a powerful sound elemental to his will, banishing all silence in the area.
-----
Effect:
Every creature in a gargantuan area, enemy and friend alike, are stripped of all silence and deafness effects, and made immune to those effects for one turn per casterlevel.


Possum's Farce
School: Illusion
-----
Description:
Perhaps the greatest trick in nature is convincing one's enemies that you are dead, a threat to them no longer. The master bard takes this a step further, fooling death himself.
-----
Effect:
Each member of the caster's party is protected from death, as if by a Stone of Rebirth. The next time they are killed, they rise again, the bard's illusion taking their place in the beyond.


Dirge of the Deathless
School: Necromancy
-----
Description:
When a bard weeps, even Death himself must pause; his bony hands clench around his scythe and he bows his head to mourn those who pass.
-----
Effect:
Each memeber of the caster's party is rendered immune to stun, fear, and critical hits, for 1 round per 2 casterlevels of the bard.


Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken
School: Transmutation
-----
Description:
The bards song charges the air around the their allies, thickening it to provide support and protection.
-----
Effect:
Each member of the caster's party is rendered immune to knockdown for one round per casterlevel, and granted 1000 temporary hit points (to a maximum of 2000).

So what do you think? - I'm open to suggestions.

[bort]

I made a similar build (progression and subrace wise) but took 3 monk instead of paladin for the increased speed and AC, taking save feats to make up for the loss of the Paladin level.
With 50% immunity to all elements and 100% sonic from the bard horn, it's very easy to gear for most runs, with a druid it's a cakewalk.

This looks like it would be great fun to play.

Did you consider taking 2 levels of Paladin for Aura of Courage (fear immunity)?
Could be handy..

Also, there's a bio-bug regarding subrace damage vulnerabilities; which means although the Harper Secret (and the bard horn) combine to give you 100% immunity to sonic inspite of the Prismatic vulnerability, every time you die and get res'd a 25% vulnerability to sonic is added, which will quickly take you down to 75% immune, then 50% etc etc.
The good news is that it's easy to fix. Just quickslot the Harper Secret to unequip it and reequip it every time you die and get res'd and you will once again be 100% immune (- hells penalties).
(You could do this with the horn, but it means losing your spells).

p.s. You might want to add Tumble as a class skill and use of Epic Warding from Dachy staffs via UMD as more pros to the build

[fragment]

Heal them: as bards get a number of heal spells - most notably healing circle - I'd advice to get some heal skill, if neccessary in place of pick pocket.

No CON in LL: as far as I know, you do not gain hitpoints retroactively in legendary levels for CON gains? If that is so, nearly everything else will be better, e.g. 2 DEX for 1 more reflex save. Or switch two great CHA feats for great CON and get CHA instead of CON in LL.

[bort]

fragment said:

Heal them: as bards get a number of heal spells - most notably healing circle - I'd advice to get some heal skill, if neccessary in place of pick pocket.

Ah yes. This was where i messed up my build, don't make the same mistake! Healing circle adds some nice regen (IF you have good heal skill), even if you can only cast it a few times a day (i.e. dexer) it's useful. With a caster bard, you should have quite a few castings once you've loaded up on dachy gear.

[Naeblis]

Would you make any significant changes if you used Chaos Gnome subbie instead of Prismatic?

Have you tested this in Hell yet?

[Senaattori]

Well u would get exp penalty.. but 2 free feats (chaos gnome has curse song and SF ench) making caster bard with chaos gnome myself..