Help! Diplomancer Ringmaster!

[Whisperer]

Hey all,

I'm about to start on a campaign very (very, very) shortly and I'm still stuck on my build. What I'd like to do is go for a diplomancer type build that I can use to introduce the more melee-oriented character I had originally in mind, as a cohort. I'm also considering adding in the Apprentice/Mentor chain for an artificer cohort to offer the party support.

In case it helps, the concept I had in mind was for the diplomancer to be the leader of a traveling circus, and the party's face, most likely with a focus on Handle Animal in the early levels before moving to something... else. The what, is the question.

As I like to avoid MAD issues, I wanted to focus almost entirely on charisma to further flesh out the character. My thought was that the Sorcerer route might have nice synergy, and as the character will be a gnome, Shadowcraft Mage stood out as a nice possibility. Especially for flavor synergy with the circus theme. The other idea would be to go the binder route, as to have options in terms of what I can offer the party as a support character, day by day. The last idea I had was to go the psionics route for a mentalist type, but it intimidated me a bit (I'm still catching up from 2ed days).

I need your advice on how to flesh out this build. Basic rules in effect are pretty much anything 3.5 is good, leadership is approved, LA buyout is approved, psionics are approved. Characters start at fourth levels, with wealth by level. Multi-class penalties are unfortunately in effect.

Keep in mind I'm not looking to be a powerhouse (diplomancer aside of course), as I'll have my melee cohorts for that. I'm also hoping to not be feat-intensive, so I can take more flavor-type feats with this char (like business/merchant type feats, landowner, etc).

The details I'm playing with so far are... Half-Fey Gnome (Chaos, Desert, or Whisper), with dips into binder, bard, factotum, and marshal (not necessarily in that order) to bring about a decent diplomancer, possibly a dip into Beast Heart Adept to push the circus ringleader angle, and from there either more binder, or sorcerer (for cha synergy and leading into Shadowcraft Mage), or warlock (CG or CN), or.. not sure. Warlock in particular had some appeal due to the half-fey synergy (especially MammonAzrael's rewrite (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=226021), that focuses on fey heritage), binder has appeal as a class in general (I really like the flexibility and style), and Sorc/Shadowcraft fits thematically (but does intimidate me a bit in terms of complexity. Psion wouldn't be out of the question, so long as solid advice was offered on how to use it best with the theme of this build (as it's a new system for me).

So... If you're still reading, thanks in advance for any insight. I'm lost in the air and I need at least a core four-level build to start with over the next day or so. I don't mind researching more, just don't want to shoot myself in the foot with the early levels of the build by missing something I'll need later.

Thanks again!

[Waker]

Well, for a Diplomancer, one of the best dips you can take is a level of Rogue with the Changeling racial ACF from Races of Eberron. Gives you two extra skill points, reduces the time needed for Gather Information/Sense Motive and lets you take a 10 on Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate and Sense Motive, all in exchange for Trapfinding.
If your DM is willing to work with you, you go try and convince him to mix and match this with the Psionic Rogue.

[Whisperer]

Well, for a Diplomancer, one of the best dips you can take is a level of Rogue with the Changeling racial ACF from Races of Eberron. Gives you two extra skill points, reduces the time needed for Gather Information/Sense Motive and lets you take a 10 on Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate and Sense Motive, all in exchange for Trapfinding.
If your DM is willing to work with you, you go try and convince him to mix and match this with the Psionic Rogue.

Thanks for the response! Indeed, I'm aware of the benefits of both Changeling and Half-Elves for diplomancer builds. However the gnome base race is pretty much the only thing I'm definitely trying to keep here. I suppose he could be a Passer changeling that's settled into a gnome form, but I think that'd be complicating things rather much (there's already the half-fey heritage involved, mechanical racial restrictions, etc). So, I'd like to stick with a gnome (though I'm still open on subtype, mostly between the three I've listed).

If I go with a Whisper Gnome, I could potentially dip a bit further into Psionic Rogue without multiclass penalties, but it would depend on how much it brings to the table to make it worth it for the theme of the build (and how complex the mechanics become to balance).

Any other thoughts?

[Waker]

While I had seen you mention Shadowcraft Mage, I hadn't noticed you specifically said you wanted to play as a Gnome.
Well, if you wanted to play as a Gnome with a knack for talking to people while having a strong connection to animals, you might also consider going with Bard and taking the Nature Bard (UA pg 58) and Gnome Bard (RoS) acfs. The 3rd level of the two won't mix, but the rest are fine.
This would give you a character who is focused on Charisma for spellcasting, has a healthy complement of skills, an animal companion (you are the ringmaster after all), Wild Empathy (and as a Bard, you have the charisma for it.)
The upside of it is that if you want to, you can still take Shadowcraft Mage, since bards have no shortage of illusion spells. If you feel like being very silly, you can also take Obtain Familiar, since you are still an arcane spellcaster.
Not suggested, but you could also consider taking levels of Beastmaster.

[Whisperer]

Aha, not a bad idea at all! There might be some overlap on the cantrips of the first level of Gnome Bard, depending on which subrace I go with, but it's a decent alternative. Nature Bard has even more appeal for thematic reasons, and I might be able to tack on the Urban Companion switch with it, if I don't go the Obtain Familiar route (feat-starved). I guess the question is how big a loss are the inspirations and bardic knowledge.

The 3rd level incompatibility doesn't worry me much as I probably won't be able to dip more than a level or two due to multiclass penalties. Best I've been able to do about that with the DM is agree on a switch of my preferred class to one of my choosing, but that's probably going to be Binder or Warlock. I'm leaning towards those two, as they're a simpler setup than Shadowcraft Mage, albeit much less powerful.

Any thoughts on stopping at Binder 2 and not going for the third level, which combined with Improved Binding offers the very tasty Paimon? Is the second level even worth it if I don't go further?

I'll post a build for further critique or ideas once I push further on it.

[Waker]

As far as which Gnome subtype to go with, I'd suggest the standard Rock Gnome or the Forest Gnome. Both retain Bard as the favored class and Forest Gnome meshes quite well with Nature Bard.
Losing Bardic Knowledge and Inspire Courage do sting a little bit. The former is useful to have, but not required. Inspire Courage loses much of its shine if there aren't a fair number of melee in your party. In any event, if you wanted to mix in Binder or Warlock, that can be done easily enough. I would suggest Binder though.

1 Nature Gnome Bard Feat-Still Spell
2 Nature Bard
3 Binder Feat-Improved Binding
4 Nature Bard
5 Nature Bard
6 Anima Mage Feat ???

I wouldn't necessarily suggest that build, but it would progress both Bard and Binder magic. You would lose quite a few skill points and your animal companion wouldn't progress with the class.