[3.5] Gestalt Dread Necro Build

[Kaustic]

One of my friends is currently playing a Cleric//Bard and not enjoying himself very much. I'm thinking of taking the mantle over and letting him play something that he would enjoy.

That said, he pretty much is the party healer/buffer.

My thoughts are to build a Lockdown type character to help the group out.
Build I have so far that comes to mind: Dread Necromancer 20//Bard 1/Crusader 19

32 point buy, no flaws.

Feat ideas so far:
Dragonfire Inspiration
Dragonic Heritage(Battle Dragon for Sonic Damage)
Song of the White Raven

Using either the Spiked Chain or Guisarme/Armor Spike for more BFC. We severely lack proper BFC and reading over some other guides on healing, if we can keep the enemy from doing harm, you heal more in the long run.

Any thoughts or improvements?

[gorfnab]

The Requiem (LM) feat will let your bardic music abilities affect any undead minions you control.

[Zilzmaer]

The general rule of thumb is to have your non-initiator levels be an even number, due to the way it scales; if you want to have unread minions, you could throw in a level of Wizard specializing in Necromancy, for the Enhanced Unread ACF in Unearthed Arcana. The Str/Dex boost wouldn't stack with Undead Mastery, but the extra 2 HP/HD should stack with it, Corpsecrafter, and Desecrate, for an extra 8 HP/HD.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You can't get Draconic Heritage unless you have a level of Sorcerer or the Dragontouched feat.

You're only going to be able to use bardic music 1/day with that build, Song of the White Raven stacks your levels for Inspire Courage bonus but nothing else.

You don't have Song of the Heart, Inspirational Boost, or Words of Creation in that build. That makes it not really even worth using Inspire Courage.

I'd recommend going all or nothing with Bard. Maybe do something like this build (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=252815#4), gestalt with Dread Necro 20. Be sure to get Versatile Spellcaster, and check out the Fear Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=3809.0).

Depending on your level, you can begin play with some extremely strong minions. Awakened Skeletons of Cave Trolls, Razor Boars, and Arrow Demons are a suitable replacement for an entire party.

[Amnestic]

Leave Bard at 3 or 4 (I like 4 better) if you're going into a Bardblade/Bardsader build.

Make sure you take the feats listed above. They're essential for Inspire Courage stuff.

If you want Draconic Heritage for sonic, I'd dip Dragonfire Adept 1 which gives you Dragontouched to allow you to pick it up.

Maybe DFA 1/Bard 3/Crusader 16.

Otherwise I'd just use a race (Silverbrow Human) which gives you Dragonblood and ignore Draconic Heritage entirely.

[eggs]

Horned Harbinger from Faiths and Pantheons is one of those classes that goes from crap in normal games to a really useful class in gestalt. I'd seriously consider it for any necromancer - probably even more than Crusader, if you plan on using your actions to do Dread Necromancer-related things (level doesn't matter all that much in IC builds; action economy and daily uses are usually the bigger problems).

[ShneekeyTheLost]

My suggestion:

Dread Necro5/Dread Witch4/Dread Necro11//Bard4/Warblade5/War Chanter10/Warblade1

Here's why:

The first half of your build is a typical setup for Dread Necro. Pick up Aura of Terror and Animate Dread Warrior or Animate Skeletal Champion, plus probably Kelgore's Grave Mist for your Advanced Learning.

The problem with this build is the enormous amount of feats required, so you'll have to make some choices.

On the one hand, you'll want DFI stuff. Dragontouched, Draconic Heretage, Song of the Heart...

On the other hand, you'll want your DN stuff. Corpsecrafter, some way to Persist (either Southern Magician + DMM Persist or NaenHoon + Persist) for your Aura of Terror.

Unfortunately, you probably won't have enough feats for both, so choose wisely.