How would you build a factotum/Sublime chord?

[(Un)Inspired]

I've been talking to a DM who told me that he would allow Factotum spell caster to qualify for Sublime chord and that got me thinking...

With the above allowance, what would you put together for a build that included both of these elements?

Sublime chord is probably my favorite prestige class and I'm totally blanking on the best way to connect it to Factotum (my second favorite base class).

I know that whatever gets cobbled together is gonna be mad to a certain degree. I've done a lot of soul searching and I think I'm at peace with that. I'd like to counter that by running as many things off of int and cha as possible.

I know I need to get bardic music onto the build before 10th level to qualify for sublime chord.

What do you guys think? What build would you find most interesting to play? Lets say... all 3.5 material and no dragon magazine content?

[EugeneVoid]

You always have option to take 1 level of Bard.

You could always go
Bard 1
Cha 15
Precocious Adept
Heighten Spell + Easy Metamagic (Heighten) or something
This gets you third level spells with one level dip, though it is quite disgusting as you dont get really any spells.

[(Un)Inspired]

I could just take 1 level of bard but I'm using the factotums SLAs to qualify for sublime chord. Just a single level of bardic casting would feel very... vestigial? IDK i think I'd feel better with a single level in a prestige class that grants bardic music than a single level of bard itself. Maybe I;m just being crazy though.

[WhamBamSam]

He's letting Factotum casting count? And here I was thinking we'd need Earth Spell cheese or something to fit in 8 levels of Factotum.

It's not so MAD, really. If the Factotum is doing the Iajutsu Focus thing or wants to do a lot of UMD, he needs Cha anyway, though perhaps not as much as you need for sublime chord.

You might as well just go with the Cha thing and gish it up with Iajutsu Focus. Say Factotum 8/Bard 1/Warblade or Crusader 1/Sublime Chord 2/Abjurant Champion 4/Jade Phoenix Mage 4. Either just be a Gnome or take EWP for a Gnomish Quickrazor, then go nuts. Throw on Snowflake Wardance, because why not?

Alternately, Factotum 8/Bard 2/Sublime Chord 10 and ask your DM if Bardic Knack works with Cunning Knowledge. All the skillmonkeying. 9th level spells. Whoo.

[Crake]

He's letting Factotum casting count? And here I was thinking we'd need Earth Spell cheese or something to fit in 8 levels of Factotum.

It's not so MAD, really. If the Factotum is doing the Iajutsu Focus thing or wants to do a lot of UMD, he needs Cha anyway, though perhaps not as much as you need for sublime chord.

You might as well just go with the Cha thing and gish it up with Iajutsu Focus. Say Factotum 8/Bard 1/Warblade or Crusader 1/Sublime Chord 2/Abjurant Champion 4/Jade Phoenix Mage 4. Either just be a Gnome or take EWP for a Gnomish Quickrazor, then go nuts. Throw on Snowflake Wardance, because why not?

Alternately, Factotum 8/Bard 2/Sublime Chord 10 and ask your DM if Bardic Knack works with Cunning Knowledge. All the skillmonkeying. 9th level spells. Whoo.

You wouldnt really need earth spell cheese. Heighten, sanctum and versatile spellcaster can get you 3rd level spells with 2 1st level spellslots, although you'd need high enough cha to get 2 bonus 1st level spellslots, but there are plenty of ways to get cha that high.

[(Un)Inspired]

Is there any reason to use bard levels or something like warrior skald to get bardic music? I could switch those two levels of bard for one level of warrior skald and one level of battle dancer to ad my cha to ac.

Couldn't I get into JPM using heroics and maneuver granting items? If I am gonna try to Gish is it worth it to even go for JPM? Devoted spirit is pretty cool but desert wind is kinda meh. Would I be better off with abjurant champion and maybe unseen seer? (Or some other prc that gives full casting and at least medium bab)

[WhamBamSam]

Is there any reason to use bard levels or something like warrior skald to get bardic music? I could switch those two levels of bard for one level of warrior skald and one level of battle dancer to ad my cha to ac.

Couldn't I get into JPM using heroics and maneuver granting items? If I am gonna try to Gish is it worth it to even go for JPM? Devoted spirit is pretty cool but desert wind is kinda meh. Would I be better off with abjurant champion and maybe unseen seer? (Or some other prc that gives full casting and at least medium bab)Warrior Skald requires two feats you wouldn't otherwise take, and requires points in a non-Dance perform skill, which is frustrating if you want Snowflake Wardance. It would, however mean that a 3/4 BAB class could still get you to 16.

I mostly was thinking of JPM for Empowering Strike and Devoted Spirit Cha synergy stuff. It does come up just short of 7th level maneuvers, though you could fix that by going Factotum 8/Bard 1/Crusader 1/Sublime Chord 2/Abjurant Champ 3/JPM 5 instead.

Personally, I'd go with Factotum 8/Bard 1/Battle Dancer 1/Sublime Chord 2/Abjurant Champion 4/Unseen Seer 4 over the same build with Warrior Skald in it, unless you cheese your way in with Heroics (Power Attack is something you can probably afford to spend a feat on because Polymorph and Wraithstrike, but Cleave is a waste).

The Bard 2 build isn't a Gish. That was for Bardic Knack, so you can act like you have one rank in any skill whenever you make a skill check, and can then Cunning Knowledge all the things, though that may or may not actually work. Ask your DM.

[(Un)Inspired]

Ahhhh thanks for clearing that up. Even though you wrote about it I completely forgot about bardic knack.

I was thinking about taking power attack and just heroic sing my way into cleave.

[Rebel7284]

Paladin with Harmonious Knight substitution levels gets bardic music AND a relevant Charisma to saves.

If LA buyoff is allowed, you can always go Primordial Half-Giant as a race for sexy +4 Int, +4 Cha (and some other perks) for only 1 LA.

[(Un)Inspired]

Paladin with Harmonious Knight substitution levels gets bardic music AND a relevant Charisma to saves.

If LA buyoff is allowed, you can always go Primordial Half-Giant as a race for sexy +4 Int, +4 Cha (and some other perks) for only 1 LA.

What level does harmonious knight get bardic music?

[Rebel7284]

Level 1. Replaces smite evil as I recall. The champions of valor web enhancement is available on the wizards site with more details.

[(Un)Inspired]

Thanks for the heads up ill check that out. It's a shame that would lock the character into paladin alignment wise

[Rebel7284]

Thanks for the heads up ill check that out. It's a shame that would lock the character into paladin alignment wise

You may be able to combine it with Paladin of X variants. Ask your DM. I personally see nothing wrong with a harmonious paladin of freedom, the flavor makes more sense to me that way.

[(Un)Inspired]

True but it still rigidly traps me in a paladin alignment.

[Nihilarian]

Why not take a level in Virtuoso?

Or Prestige Bard, if the DM allows it.

[Gotterdammerung]

If your dm is allowing prestige classes to work with factotums casting, and if dragon magazine is allowed , why not take A look at heartfire Fanner.

[(Un)Inspired]

Virtuoso looks like a pretty great fit. It laughably easy to get into for a factotum.

While I normally love Dragon magazine, the DM who told me he would let me play this build doesn't allow it. Probably the most tragic news of my entire life.