[3.5] Bard Vampire Lord build help

[Malak'ai]

Hey there Playgrounders,

I'm looking for help to build a level 18 Vampire Lord with the base race/class of Elven Bard.

Now, before people start rattling off their idea's, there are a few things that need to be said.
Race/Class are non-negotiable as the campaign uses ONLY core races, and I WANT Bard.
Only THESE sources allowed as they are the only ones I have access to without the internet: Core/SRD (No Psionics)
Complete Arcane/Warrior/Adventurer/Divine
Races of the Wild/Stone/Dragon
PHB2
Deities & Demigods
Magic Item Conpendium
Non-Gestalt and NO LA buy-off so I have to suck up the LA

With that said, here's the statline of the base (level 1) Elf:

STR: 12
DEX: 17
CON: 14
INT: 13
WIS: 11
CHA: 18

So, how would you advise progressing this character?
What I'm looking for is a kind of Marius/Angel cross over.
Also not looking to have hordes of followers so no Leadership.

[Malak'ai]

Wow... Basically 11 hours and no reply... Guess no-one has any ideas on this one...

[Piggy Knowles]

Doesn't the vampire lord get Leadership as a bonus feat? That makes the whole no-leadership thing a bit tough. Not to mention the fact that you'll have had to have created at least 10 vampires just to qualify.

Anyhow, you're looking at 10 character levels total, which rather limits what you can do. Sublime Chord, for instance, is right out. And the primary ways of optimizing Inspire Courage aren't open to you... no Words of Creation or Song of the Heart will leave you with an inspire courage ceiling of +2, or +4 with items.

Still, +4 inspire courage isn't too terrible, even if it's not spectacular. You could probably do OK with a straight bard, taking Requiem so that you and any of your vamp buddies can be effected. You might also have fun taking some levels in Master of the Unseen Hand, since the vampire lord gets telekinesis at will. I'm not a huge fan of the Unseen Hand capstone, but Bard 5/MothUH 5 is about as simple as it gets, and you'll have CL 17 on your telekinesis, which isn't bad. Combine that with the full attack telekinesis ability, and you'll be able to full attack with a BAB of +17, which almost catches you up to where you should be.

EDIT: Forgot to mention sources. Master of the Unseen Hand is in Complete Warrior. It's a full BAB prestige class that doesn't advance casting, but boosts the caster level of any telekinesis effects you have. It's got a few nice boosts to telekinesis, but the best by far is the ability to use the "combat maneuver" option to attack with weapons telekinetically, using your caster level as your BAB and your casting stat in place of strength.

[Dictum Mortuum]

Still, +4 inspire courage isn't too terrible, even if it's not spectacular. You could probably do OK with a straight bard, taking Requiem so that you and any of your vamp buddies can be effected.

Actually, by spending 1400 gp and a 1st level spell known, he can get to +6 (inspirational boost and the thingy from Magic Item Compendium).

Oh scratch that, inspirational boost is from spell compendium, so it's up to +5.

I agree with you on MotUH however, it seems to fit the template nicely.

[Piggy Knowles]

Actually, by spending 1400 gp and a 1st level spell known, he can get to +6 (inspirational boost and the thingy from Magic Item Compendium).

Oh scratch that, inspirational boost is from spell compendium, so it's up to +5.

I agree with you on MotUH however, it seems to fit the template nicely.

Unless I'm missing something obvious, I actually was including the MIC Badge of Valor. Actually, I was also including the Vest of Legends from the DMG2, which I just noticed is not on the OP's source list, so it may only be +3.

So +2 from 8 levels in bard and +1 from the Badge of Valor. Dip into Dread Pirate for another +1 to bring it up to +4 total.

[Dictum Mortuum]

Unless I'm missing something obvious, I actually was including the MIC Badge of Valor. Actually, I was also including the Vest of Legends from the DMG2, which I just noticed is not on the OP's source list, so it may only be +3.

So +2 from 8 levels in bard and +1 from the Badge of Valor. Dip into Dread Pirate for another +1 to bring it up to +4 total.

Yes, you're right. Somehow I managed to skip your second paragraph :p

[Malak'ai]

Maybe I should clearify the Leadership bit. I know the Vamp Lord gets it as an ability but the game this character may turn up in uses a modified version of the feat that limits it's ability to abused, so I wasn't looking for it to be cheesed out.
Also the concept is a Marius (from The Vampire Cronicles) and Angel (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel) cross over. So a sage like champion who, even though he does have people who "follow" him of their own accord, he is essentually a "Lone Wolf".

[Piggy Knowles]

I guess a good question would be - what do you want your character to actually be able to DO?

I know you mentioned a Marius/Angel cross-over. I'm not familiar with Marius, but Angel can be covered primarily by RP, as long as he's reasonably tough/strong and halfway decent at fighting. So what is it that you want your character to do? If you give me a list of things that you want your character to be capable of, I can try to put something together within those sources.

[Malak'ai]

Marius is an Ancient. One of the most powerful of the Vampires in Anne Rice's novels. He was Enkil and Akasha's keeper for nearly 2000 years. He is a powerful telekinetic, able to augment it fire, able to heal himself from being burnt to the bone.

What I want the character to do? As I said in my last post, he's supposed to be the ancient sage/champion NPC who will fight beside the party sometimes and offer any knowledge he finds out reguarding their mission.

EDIT: So lots of Knowledge, Gather Info ect in way of skills. And yes, be a powerful fighter as well.

[Piggy Knowles]

From looking that over, I'd probably still go with some sort of Master of the Unseen Hand.

Basically, your ability as a warrior is going to be diminished by the fact that your BAB is going to be completely tanked thanks to the +8 level adjustment you've eaten. Master of the Unseen Hand fixes that somewhat, since you can use it to attack with your caster level and mind, which will be pretty decent.

OK, thinking about Angel as a sort of dark crusader, how would something like this look?

Elven Vampire Lord, Bard 3/Paladin 2/Master of the Unseen Hand 5

1. Bard1- Combat Expertise
2. Paladin1-
3. Paladin2- Devoted Performer
4. Bard2-
5. Bard3-
6. Master of the Unseen Hand1- Improved Trip
7. Master of the Unseen Hand2-
8. Master of the Unseen Hand3-
9. Master of the Unseen Hand4- Knock-Down
10. Master of the Unseen Hand5-

You would also, of course, already have Altertness, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Iron Will and Leadership as bonus feats.

Devoted Performer lets you remain a bard even though you're also a paladin. If you were allowed to use the Paladin of Freedom (Chaotic instead of Lawful), you could skip it and instead take something like Obscure Lore (+4 bonus to bardic knowledge).

Definitely max out Concentration, and all the Knowledges and Gather Info checks you want. Some social skills wouldn't be bad ideas either. Even though you can force people to do your will with a stare, Diplomacy is often the better option.

You'd end up with...


BAB +9
Charisma bonus to all your saves
Decent skills
Bardic knowledge and limited inspire courage/competence
Ability to attack with weapons telekinetically, with a BAB of +17, using Charisma instead of Strength
A bunch of other cool telekinesis maneuvers, including the ability to maintain sustained force as a move action, fling people around easier, etc.


The Knock-Down feat from Deities & Demigods lets you make a trip attack as a free action any time you deal more than 10 points of damage with a melee attack, which is pretty nice. If your DM rules that wielding weapons telekinetically doesn't count as a melee attack, you may want to drop Combat Expertise/Improved Trip/Knock-Down. However, they're still useful feats, especially when combined with your alternate form.

It doesn't necessarily fit the theme of Angel, but your most effective combat method will probably be your wild shape ability from the vampire lord template. Wild shape into a dire bear or legendary eagle and smash things into pulp, while still able to fling people around telekinetically, or control the weather, or what not. You can even still wield weapons with your mind, if that's what you'd like.