Song of the Angels (Bard 26 / Paladin 4 / RDD 10)

[johannhowitzer]

Hey all! I had the concept for a battle bard, which I'm sure has been done before, but I looked at the HGWiki build list and didn't see this combination, so I thought I'd offer it up and see what reactions it gets. I'm fairly new at HG, but I know my way around... it's just I'm still new enough to make some obvious mistakes. By all means, let me know if I do. Also, I do not yet have any secret subraces, so I'm using the next best thing. If you have a better subrace unlocked, by all means use it.

Human (Subrace: Half-Dragon - White)
Starts Lawful Neutral, will need some alignment shifts early on
Abilities (start/subrace/end):
STR 14 / 16 / 36
DEX 8 / 9 / 9
CON 15 / 15 / 18
INT 14 / 12 / 14
WIS 8 / 8 / 8
CHA 16 / 16 / 30

Leveling:
1-3 Bard
**Alignment change**
4-6 Paladin
7-8 Red Dragon Disciple
9 Paladin
10-17 Red Dragon Disciple
18-40 Bard

Skills: Concentration 25 (by level 24), Discipline 63, Heal 61, Perform 63, Taunt 63, Tumble 60, UMD 63

Pre-epic feats: Power Attack (before level 6), Great Fortitude, WP Exotic, Divine Shield (at level 6), Extra Turning (at level 9), WF, Imp Crit, Blind Fight
Feats during Epic levels: CC, ICC, Lasting Inspiration, Curse Song, Toughness, Lingering Song, Great Charisma I, Still Spell, Epic Skill Focus (perform)
Feats during LLs: Auto-Still I, Auto-Still II, Legendary Fortitude, Great Strength I-IV

This build is capable of party buffing and standing on its own. I recommend the Bastard Sword, though other weapons are certainly an option, and some may want to use the WP Exotic feat slot for something else. Divine Shield will provide a 10-16 AC bonus ten times per day, and Taunt and Curse Song will help make up for less-than-amazing AB. Pally levels are taken exactly where they need to be, to provide the feats necessary for DS and to give a fourth attack per round. Paladin, in fact, offers many bonuses to this build - heavy armor, higher saves, temporary burst of AC, and martial weapons if you choose to use them. RDD provides the obvious bonuses, including the invaluable 8 to STR. CHA tops out at 30 to gain the various Bard bonuses that require it, such as the bardsong stoneskin effect.

All in all, I think it's a very balanced fighter that should be able to deal some respectable melee damage and defend itself, and it also provides some powerful party buffs. But who am I to judge? Comment!

[Raj]

I'd drop still spells, because the spells you really need to cast in the middle of the combat (displacment, warcry, sometime balagarn ) don't have somatic component
the power attack/divine shield/improved turning won't work best with only 4 paladin levels ( no HG custom bonus to duration )

30 cha and no epic spells ( or 1 from book ) seems pointless to me, so i'd use those still spell/divine shield feats for 2 more epics, or 3 more dropping lingering song+toughness+esf:perform ( a little sacrifice but won't ruin the build )

[ekstroem]

It may be worth reading the threads for the Singing Dragon or for the Dragon Crooner. Almost same builds as yours.

Cheers,

Claus

[atomicsomething]

johannhowitzer said:

Leveling:
1-3 Bard
**Alignment change**
4-6 Paladin
7-8 Red Dragon Disciple
9 Paladin
10-17 Red Dragon Disciple
18-40 Bard

You take up to level 20 : 10RDD/4Pally/6Bard.
This combo gives you a BAB of 15, leaving you with 3 attacks.

johannhowitzer said:

Skills: Concentration 25 (by level 24), Discipline 63, Heal 61, Perform 63, Taunt 63, Tumble 60, UMD 63

Concentration of 23 wont be any help.

johannhowitzer said:

Power Attack (before level 6), Divine Shield (at level 6), Extra Turning (at level 9)

As said by Rajah, these are useless. The AC provided by Divine Shield counts towards the 20 Dodge Cap. @ 40, you will have at least +10 boots, +4 Dodge AC from Haste and +5 AC from lvl 26 bard song. Meaning it will gives at most 1 AC points.

johannhowitzer said:

Great Fortitude, LL Fortitude

Without taking them, your fort save will be above 70 ...

johannhowitzer said:

Epic Skill Focus (perform)

You'll have 46 level bard, meaning you would need a perform of 92 at level 60. Your perform at 60 will be 79 (skill + cha), hence you'll need only one item with perform boost with or without this.

johannhowitzer said:

CC, ICC

As a tank, you'll be front line and pummeled all the time. Better skip those and go for better concentration.

johannhowitzer said:

CHA tops out at 30 to gain the various Bard bonuses that require it, such as the bardsong stoneskin effect.

Dont expect bells and whistles with the stoneskin effect. With 46 level bard, you'll reach 23/+11 at 60. In LL, this will be enough for guardians in Maze but that's about it (sssith needs least +12 iirc).
Rajah mentionned already the epic issues (only one and enchantement is definitively not the best one, on purpose i think ) so it would be one decent epic OR good gmw.