Binder advice

[Blackhawk748]

ok a friend is playing a Binder and the only advice that i know to give him is, take Expel Vestige and Practiced Pact Maker, id like to give him some more advice so any help is appreciated

[Gildedragon]

Improved binding you mean

Rapid pact making is okay
Practiced binder is useless to him
Binder (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=2942.0) Handbooks (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19871830/Consolidated_Binder_Handbook)

[Blackhawk748]

sorry i meant Skilled Pact Making

[Gildedragon]

Skilled pact making is so so: in my opinion negotiator or open minded (to get more synergy points) are better.
Also a failed binding check isn't that big of a deal

Improved binding is what they'll want to have

[Psyren]

Ignore Special Requirements is another must-have. The inter-Vestige politics lack intuitiveness and are thus difficult to keep track of, and some of them have particularly difficult rituals to call upon them (e.g. Leraje is very useful at low levels but also difficult to summon for a neophyte Binder.) This feat will let you mix and match vestiges without worry, and call upon them while adventuring even in less convenient surroundings.

[avr]

Some binders focus on vestiges which buff them for melee. If this is one of them, the basic feat(s) for whatever melee style they're going for are important (Power Attack, or TWF, or whatever).

Similarly if they're going for the Knight of the Sacred Seal PrC they'll be needing Weapon Focus.

[FreakyCheeseMan]

The whole "Binding Check" thing throws a lot of people off - people are used to situations (like the Truenamer) where failing a casting-related check means something horrible has gone wrong, or at least your spell fails.

Failing a binding check, however, actually means very little. You're supposed to role-play some aspect, and, if certain rather specific situations come up, you're required to act in a detrimental way. And by "Required," I mean "It's up to you, but you take a -1 on rolls for a while if you don't."

So, to refresh - if you fail the (fairly reasonable) DCs, and if you come into a situation where it's even relevant, and if it's a situation where it's massively to your detriment to act in a certain (often rather flexible) way... then you take a -1 on rolls for a while. (EDIT: That also means that "Rapid Pact Making" is useless, as you can do that anyway- you just take a penalty on the check.

Honestly, I think that the whole "Poor Pact" thing is mostly there for flavour - a binder that could never pass a single check would still be less limited than an out-of-the-box Paladin.

The truth is, Binder is a tough class to mess up - you don't have to choose spells like a sorcerer or a wizard, you aren't dependant on any stats, you don't need to conserve resources throughout the day, and your most relevant choices (what vestiges you bind) can be re-done overnight with no penalty.