Marshals bonusus are so puny why dip it

[CyberThread]

Marshals bonusus are so puny why dip it at all for the bard aura builds or anything else?

[Callin]

I usually have a decent Cha just so I can dip Marshal for my Trip Builds

[Zanos]

Many of the minor auras are decent for a Cha focused character. You can get

Cha to overcome SR(aka pretty much always overcome it)
Cha to dex checks, including initiative(!) for the entire party

The other minor auras are all very situational and build dependant. Cha to combat maneuvers is potentially good, however.

Basically a 1 level marshal dip is good for sorcerers so that they never have to worry about SR again if they want to use spells that aren't orbs, or making your party always go first.

Major auras suck.

[Greenish]

Marshals bonusus are so puny why dip it at all for the bard aura builds or anything else?Major Aura is puny. Minor Aura is just as high as you can boost your Charisma.

[Khedrac]

In play I find marshals are fairly broken - I retired one because of it - and yes, it's the minor auras that are the issue, the major ones are OK.

It's not necessarily what thy do themselves, it's what the rest of the party does when boosted by the marshal.

That, and they really don't need Skill Focus Diplomacy as a bonus feat - they will be better than a bard without it...

[Urpriest]

Marshals grant huge bonuses, yeah. Think about a typical utility-focused Marshal build, like Succubus 12/Marshal 1. If you put a base 16 into Cha and raise it with levelups, you've got a +12 Charisma bonus to apply to all sorts of things, and that's before items, which should be boosting that by 2 or 3 at least. Even if you're going for a lower-Cha Marshal build, like a party support Pixie or a Fiend of Possession, you should still be rocking a pretty high Cha.

[CyberThread]

So depending on how it is, it can be a one level dip for bards, to get skill focus diplomacy and party wide improved initiative?

[SowZ]

Cha to damage for your followers can be great got a buffing build.

[Greenish]

So depending on how it is, it can be a one level dip for bards, to get skill focus diplomacy and party wide improved initiative?It can be a one-level dip for anyone with high-ish Charisma. You could take Motivate Charisma to add your Cha twice to all relevant skills and checks, for example, or Art of War for bonus to combat maneuvers, or Force of Will (etc.) for ghetto Divine Grace.

[Thurbane]

Use Magic Device

http://i44.tinypic.com/aeqrzd.jpg

[Vedhin]

Art of War

I don't like Art of War. Motivate Strength covers bull rush and trip, and does other things besides. Disarm and sunder rarely show up, so it's no great loss.

[ben-zayb]

It's also an easy way to get an Exemplar dip, for builds that love to add every stat to certain skill checks.

[prufock]

Bard with a 1-level marshal dip for motivate charisma is great. Skill Focus (diplomacy) and double charisma! Charm Person requires an opposed charisma check to make them do something the target normally wouldn't do. Some of your bardic music abilities use a perform check as the DC, which is helped a lot by double charisma.

In addition, any cleric or paladin in your party gets a bonus to turn undead. That's nice with Divine Spell Power. Bardadin might not be a bad idea. Bardblade could work too, with Diamond Mind maneuvers and Melodic Casting.

[Talionis]

Charisma is the most flexible attribute. It can be twisted to replace so many other checks that Charisma boosting is one of the best ways to cover many different situatupions with SAD Single Attribute Dependant builds. In those builds the minor Auras can grant very large benefits. See here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125732