Bardic Sage

[Shadowscale]

I really wanted to build a caster/skill monkey character. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions for level progressions, dips, or prestiege classes.

[Rebel7284]

There are many ways to approach this, although based on your title, I have a feeling you are leaning toward bard.

Rogue 1/Wizard 4/Unseen Seer
Factotum 8/Chameleon
Bard/Virtuoso/Sublime Chord/Virtuoso
Beguiler/Shadowcraft Mage
Cloistered Cleric
Archivist
Wizard/Paragnotic Apostle/Loremaster

[Coidzor]

The Bardic Knack ACF lets a Bard have a pretty good skill check even in the skills they don't invest points in.

[Shadowscale]

There are many ways to approach this, although based on your title, I have a feeling you are leaning toward bard.

Rogue 1/Wizard 4/Unseen Seer
Factotum 8/Chameleon
Bard/Virtuoso/Sublime Chord/Virtuoso
Beguiler/Shadowcraft Mage
Cloistered Cleric
Archivist
Wizard/Paragnotic Apostle/Loremaster

Yeah, sorry I know I wasn't real clear. I'm trying to play a quintessential bardic sage while playing to its flavor and differences from the typical bard. I just didn't know what classes and abilities to make it more effective and entertaining.

[Coidzor]

Yeah, sorry I know I wasn't real clear. I'm trying to play a quintessential bardic sage while playing to its flavor and differences from the typical bard. I just didn't know what classes and abilities to make it more effective and entertaining.

So you are in fact using the UA variant. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#bardVariantBardicSage) From what I've always been able to gather, it's not really going to play all that differently from most bards, though it's going to push you away from being as likely to devote resources to being a melee bard at least to some extent, IIRC.

Well, you were going to want a decently high intelligence anyway, but you don't really need one higher than 16, and then only if you're staying Bard rather than PrCing out to Sublime Chord, since all Int does is check whether you can cast the spell or not. That's not as much of an impact on MAD as it might have been if you weren't wanting to have a bunch of skills though. Other than that, I suppose the biggest impact is that you're going to really want a Crystal Echoblade or to take that one feat that lets your bardic music last for longer or for you to cast while singing(unless you can somehow convince your DM to just backport that particular part from PF).

I can't really think of many primo choices for your free extra Divination spells and you go past level 10 you'd still want to go into Sublime Chord 8 or 9 times out of 10, so in all likelihood that's just 4 or 5 of your low level spells, one of which is a cantrip, though I suppose being able to grab an extra, non-detect magic cantrip could be nice and flavorful, especially if you're playing a variant of the game with at-will cantrips.

[Shadowscale]

I really wanted to play to the sage flavor of being studious, and with lots of knowledge. More of an oracle/bard with good spells and better skills than say a wizard. I know there's lorekeeper, but I was wondering if there were other options?

[Diovid]

Build: Bardic Sage 4, 5 or 6 / Marshal (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20030906b) 0 or 1 / Dragonfire Adept (https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060912a&page=2) 0 or 1 / Urban Savant 9 / Paragnostic Apostle 5
Race: Gnome
Possible Feats: Obscure Lore (Complete Adventurer), Trivial Knowledge (Races of Stone), Knowledge Devotion (Complete Champion), Master of Knowledge (Heroes of Horror), Draconic Aura (Dragon Magic), Draconic Knowledge (Dragon Magic), Breadth of Knowledge (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/spelltouchedFeats.htm#breadthofKnowledge)

Urban Savant is from Cityscape and Paragnostic Apostle is from Complete Champion.

[Shadowscale]

Build: Bardic Sage 4, 5 or 6 / Marshal (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20030906b) 0 or 1 / Dragonfire Adept (https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060912a&page=2) 0 or 1 / Urban Savant 9 / Paragnostic Apostle 5
Race: Gnome
Possible Feats: Obscure Lore (Complete Adventurer), Trivial Knowledge (Races of Stone), Knowledge Devotion (Complete Champion), Master of Knowledge (Heroes of Horror), Draconic Aura (Dragon Magic), Draconic Knowledge (Dragon Magic), Breadth of Knowledge (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/spelltouchedFeats.htm#breadthofKnowledge)

Urban Savant is from Cityscape and Paragnostic Apostle is from Complete Champion.

Thank you so much for all the help, this looks fun to play, and rather unique to try to write a character for.

[RavynsLand]

Obligatory mention of the Chordsage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?338243-Chordsage!&p=1). ^_^