Need help making the Fluff match Crunch.

[Legendairy]

First off, thanks in advance playgrounders!

Ok, to the issue the DM who is also a player (we switch DMing so we both get a chance to play occasionally), needs his DMPC to match the fluff of his story. I personally told him to remake the character as he is DMing right now. So the short version is his character is a Rock Gnome who is fairly educated his parents are collegians of sorts, well the PC/DMPC is currently a 7th level fighter and he is thinking about multi-classing bard for the bardic knowledge ability. He was going for the battlefield controllish type and he already has his feats set pretty much, his Cha is average, so I guess what I am asking is this; Is there a way to semi optimize a fighter build that has some sort of bardic knowledge but can still contribute. Here is the breakdown of his Scores and feats as of now and some future planned ones.

Str 17
Dex 13
Con 20
Int 16
Wis 16
Cha 10
Feats: Education, Combat Exp., Underfoot combat, Confound the big folk, Titan Fighting, Dodge, Shield Ward, Shield Specialization, Close-Quarters Fighting

He is pretty committed to being a sword(hookhammer) and board type but he wants the bardic knowledge stuff for the fluff of the educated gnome. Me being the other DM and telling him he hasn't actually "played" the character I said he can re-build from the ground up. So if you can provide a build based on both the fluff and crunch that sticks to the original design great! If you can provide a ground up build that accomplishes the same thing Melee strong gnome that is educated another GREAT! Again, thank you playgrounders!

[nobodez]

Well, there are a few options.

First, he can just put ranks in the relevant knowledge skills (even with CC skills, a half rank allow him to roll), which will allow him to have a semblance of Bardic Knowledge without actually having to multiclass.

Second, you do realize that the Gnome Hooked Hammer is a double weapon, right?

[Legendairy]

1) Yeah, He is hurting on skills I think and is kind of spread thin because of pre reqs and whatnot
2) I am indeed aware it is a double weapon, are you aware you can use either side one handed :smallwink:
"A creature wielding a gnome hooked hammer in one hand can’t use it as a double weapon"

Thank you for the advice.

[Waker]

He could take a few levels in Factotum. He'd get a good amount of skill points and Cunning Knowledge, while still maintaining good combat abilities. Plus since he has decent Intelligence, he could use the other class features.

[nobodez]

1) Yeah, He is hurting on skills I think and is kind of spread thin because of pre reqs and whatnot
2) I am indeed aware it is a double weapon, are you aware you can use either side one handed :smallwink:
"A creature wielding a gnome hooked hammer in one hand can’t use it as a double weapon"

Thank you for the advice.

1) With a 16 Int he shouldn't be hurting that badly, I mean, he's got 5 skill points per level. Also, how's get getting the requisite tumble ranks for "underfoot combat" and "confound the big folk" as a fighter?
2) Wait, so he's using a tiny hooked hammer at a -2 penalty? Why? I mean, there's no reason to use a smaller two-handed weapon instead of a proper sized one unless he's literally had no chance to get to a town to pick up a proper sized one (and in that case, what did he kill to get a tiny double weapon?).

[Legendairy]

He is using the gnome alternate skills in cityscape I believe to get tumble instead of ride. Where is this -2 coming from? http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Double_Weapon says nothing unless I'm missing it *shrugs*
I have suggested the knowledges and his answer was "he has educated so thu are all considered trained anyway" he is wanting something more akin to bardic knowledge. Factatom should work, I just dunno if he has the book or not and he doesn't like using PDFs.

Sorry for all the grammatical errors, I am now on the phone.

Edit: also the weapon doesn't matter :smallsmile:

[Waker]

Without trying to stray from the original topic, but your reading of the hooked hammer is a bit off. When it refers to a creature using it one-handed, it means a creature one size larger, hence the -2 penalty from using a tiny hammer that nobodez is mentioning. The hammer is listed a a two-handed weapon for a character of the appropriate size.

[Legendairy]

It is very possible I am mistaking and probably am lol either way the weapon isn't an issue. He is using a light pick not the gnome hook hammer, memory issue about a previous discussion him and I had it would seem.

[Juntao112]

Have him take the Jack of All Trades (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#jackOfAllTrades) feat.