3.5 Race/ Class help

[Pin-head Larry]

Hello, I am having some trouble deciding on what to make my 3.5 character. The group has a rogue 13, pally, sorcerer, and a druid all 12. The sorcerer and druid I feel are on the slow side and kinda suck. My last character was a cleric 6/ fighter 6. Groups main healer. I'm looking to stay melee but I need more damage and versatility. DM has me with 18,17,17,16,15,13 two medium wondrous items, and 30k. All books are allowed.

[Zweisteine]

Unless your DM regularly gives you such high abilty scores, play something so MAD it's normally unplayable (maybe a monk?). Or play something devastatingly effective. Just don't play anything remotely SAD, like a wizard.

If you want melee power and versatility, play either a Warblade or a Swordsage. If for whatever reason you want to be healing people in combat, Crusader works about as well.

Warblade has the best combat ability of the Tome of Battle classes, but Swordsage has a bit more versatility.

If you want even more out-of-combat versatility, play a straight Cleric (with PrCs). Use divine metamagic and persist spell to always have Divine Power active, and use your other spells for whatever seems good at the time.

But seriously, the best healing is a Wand of Lesser Vigor. Give it to the druid (because it's on his spell list). In-combat healing is weak, so leave that job to minor magics out of the fight. Only when you get stuff like heal is healing in a fight worth the effort.

[Pin-head Larry]

Warblade looks like a good class all the way up. The intelligence bonuses are nice but those maneuvers are amazing. Thanks for the assistance.:smallwink:

[Bloodgruve]

Dip Bard1 with Warblade and take Song of the White Raven feat and maybe Song of the Heart also for Inspire Courage. +'s to hit and damage are always good.

Also your Gish options are pretty strong for your stat spread.

Blood~

[Segev]

Racially speaking, Silverbrow Human is a strong choice for bards because if the dragon bloodline traits they get. In particular, it opens up access to Dragonfire Inspiration as a feat, which lets you swap out the +x morale to hit for +xd6 fire to damage when using Inspire Courage. This applies to you, to the druid in wild shape, to the druid's animal companion, to the paladin, to the rogue (who is probably already maxing out his attacks-per-round to maximize his sneak opportunities)...

[docnessuno]

Important:
The following build requires a tiny bit of DM's fiat (Allowing the Harmonious knight "inspire courage" ability to count as bardic music to qualify for feats and PRCs, and allowing it to improve with your bard effective level).

Race:
Silverbrow human (middle-aged)

Stats:
Str 19 (18 -1 age +2 level)
Dex 16 (17 -1 age)
Con 16 (17 -1 age)
Int 16 (15 +1 age)
Wis 14 (13 +1 age)
Cha 18 (16 +1 age +1 level)

Build:
Warblade 2 / Paladin (Harmonious knight) 2 / Warblade +6 / Seeker of the song 2 (Future: Warblade +X)

Feats:
Flaw: Apprentice (entertainer) / Able learner [This feat is not mandatory]
1: Skill focus (perform)
3: Knowledge devotion (K. Arcana)
6: Song of the White Raven
9: Dragonfire Inspiration
12: Words of creation

Important items:
Vest of legends (MiC)

Skills:
13 ranks in Knowledge (arcana) and Perform, required to qualify for Seeker of the song.

Analisys:
Inspire courage +8 and dragonfire inspiration, with the possibility of having them out at the same time, on top of a pretty good Warblade chassis with Cha to saves as an additional bonus.

[John Longarrow]

Hmm... You have outragous stats to begin with, so go with something totally over the top!

Pixie.

Drop that 18 into dex to get a 26. Dump stat STR since you get a -4.

Go 3 levels in Swordsage, 3 levels in Warblade.
Take Shadow Hand to get dex to damage.
Take exotic weapon - Spiked chain to get reach while hitting next to you.

Then comes the over the top.
One level in Sorcerer (grab Shield spell) with combat casting.
Start leveling in Abjurant Champion.

As you will probably be about 12th level, this gives you a BAB of 6 on a flying invisible creature with an incredibly high AC. You should be +14 or better to hit with the chain before factoring in magic/MW with maneuvers on top.

Your AC will be Dex+Wis (Wis should 20-something) for 29+ with a shield spell up. Grab Combat Reflexes and fly over the Paladin. You should be able to cut most things that get too close to him to ribbons.

Even better, play a good pixie and grab Luminous Armor when you get 2nd level spells. That should be about when you get your 3rd level of Abjurant Champion, so your AC will be wicked high.

Just remember to get an anklet of translocation to pop away from grapplers!