E6 DFI build.

[Tvtyrant]

I am working on a buffing build based around dragon fire inspiration. Using my groups normal stat distribution (18, 16, 14, 14, 12, 10.) Level 1-2 are a little weak, but by level 6 it adds +4d6 damage to all hits by the party and has strikes to make its own combat interesting.

Bard 1 0 d6 Inspire Courage +1, Extra Music feat
Harmonious Paladin of Freedom 1 1 d10 Inspire Courage +2,
Harmonious Paladin of Freedom2 2 d10 Charisma score to all saves, Dragonfire Inspiration feat (2d6 damage to all attacks)
Marshal 1 2 d8 Charisma to all dexterity checks,
Marshal 2 3 d8 Grab Resilient Troops for saves bonus for everyone
Crusader 1 4 d10 5 second level manuevers, grab Words of Creation for 4d6 damage to all attacks.
77 HP before con, 89 with con. Strength 14, Dexterity 12, constitution 14, wisdom 10, intelligence 16, charisma 18.

Marshal is basically the best 2 level dip I could find that had a good will save (needed for Words of Creation.) Any better suggestions would be welcomed.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I'd just go Silverbrow Human (Savage) Bard 6, with the Healing Hymn, Spellbreaker Song, and Bardic Knack ACFs. Your feats should be DFI and Melodic Casting at 1st, along with Versatile Spellcaster and Wild Cohort if you can use flaws. Your 3rd level feat should be Ancestral Relic, make it a custom Runestaff (MIC p224). Your 6th level feat is Words of Creation, plus you can trade your Suggestion song for Song of the Heart. Your first virtual feat should be the E6 Bard capstone feat.

1st: +1d6; At Bard 1 DFI adds +1d6.
2nd: +2d6; At Bard 2 you cast Inspirational Boost and DFI adds +2d6.
3rd: +3d6; At 3rd level you should have a Badge of Valor so DFI adds +3d6.
3rd or 6th: +4d6; At 3rd level you can take Song of the Heart so DFI adds +4d6, though you should trade your Suggestion song for it at 6th level without spending a feat on it.
6th: +7d6; Words of Creation doubles the effect when you start singing, the Badge of Valor has to be added on after you've started, so DFI will add +7d6.
1st virtual level: +9d6; With Bard 6 you can get the E6 capstone feat that increases your base Inspire Courage to +2, so DFI adds +9d6.

Your Wild Cohort can start out as a Magebred Warbeast Riding Dog trained for war. You would need to be able to reach 7th level to exchange it for any of the 'level -3' companions, so I would just keep it as that one unless you want something with a better attack routine. You can use a shortbow with DFI, cast Glitterdust, and UMD wands such as Web and Wings of Cover.

Consider taking one level of the Half-Fiend Template Class (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20031010a), you never have to take more levels of it (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20030824a), it doesn't count against your maximum number of levels in E6, and the Outsider creature type gives you proficiency with all martial weapons, among other benefits. You'll also get two claw attacks at your highest bonus plus DFI when you full attack, which is better than most full BAB characters can boast in E6.

In that case make your ancestral relic a masterwork x3, wand chamber x3, elvencraft composite longbow. That counts as a quarterstaff and a longbow, so you can put staff properties on it and have three wands at the ready whenever you're holding it. The maximum magical value of an ancestral relic is half the values given on the wealth by level table in the DMG, so you should be able to count E6 virtual levels toward that. When the party would sell junk loot for half value, buy it from the pool for that price, you'll get a cut of that back when the cash is split and you can sacrifice the full value of that loot into your relic to upgrade it. You can change as much of its properties as you want to each time you modify it, including removing existing properties to make room for new ones, so you can switch out what spells it gives you for example. If you replace one or more existing spells with spells of equal value, and the relic's magical properties don't change in value, then the time it takes to modify it is multiplied by zero, which means you don't even need to spend a free action to do it.

[Twilightwyrm]

Silverbrow Human Bard 3/Harmonious Paladin of Freedom 2/Marshal 1 might be your best bet if DFI buffing is, strictly, what you are going for. Bard 3 gives you 1st level spells (and thus access to Inspiration Boost without a wand), and inspire competence (which in turn gives you access to Song of the Heart, which automatically increases your Inspire Courage by +1). You can always get Song of the White Raven via feats alone. With this set up, assuming no magic items, you can get +8d6 damage with words of creation (+2 Inspire Courage (Bard), +1 Inspire Courage (Paladin), +1 Inspire Courage (Inspiration Boost) x2 (Words of Creation). With a Badge of Valor, you get an extra +1 (giving you a +10d6) and if you ever get enough money for a Vest of Legends, it will go up to +12d6 (because it will make you count as an 8th level bard). Further, if you are willing to play the Mandolin while doing so, you will gain an additional +1 (because DFI goes off of attack bonus, rather than damage bonus), for a grand total of +14d6 damage to all attacks your party makes. Not bad for a 6th level character.

[Seerow]

How are you getting 77 hp without con?

I didn't notice any note of houserules for hit points, and with your hit dice you should have 6+2d8+3d10 = 32hp pre-con, and 44 with con. Even if you played with maximized hit dice it would be 52 without con and 64 with con, significantly lower than you indicated.



Also for general advice, BF is right that if your main focus is Inspire Courage optimization, straight Bard is your best bet. That said I like your build a bit better. With your +5000xp you can take Song of the Heart to get up to 6d6 bonus damage, which is very solid. You won't have the bard spells, but you can use wands of any bard spells (so grab a wand of inspirational boost for more IC boosting fun! 1 wand will last you for most of your career), and getting maneuvers and marshal auras adds a lot of extra tools to your repertoire to help mix things up.

Song of the White Raven is hit or miss. If you're going to go full bard or grab a wand of Inspirational Boost, that's going to eat your swift action when you want to start singing anyway, so getting to sing as a swift action isn't as useful. On the other hand if you stick with the current build and don't want to use Inspirational Boost for some reason, Song of the White Raven is invaluable because it lets you effectively get your first round back in exchange for a lower damage boost.


Edit: Forgot Song of the Heart requires Inspire Competence. Yeah, you're probably going to want at least 3 levels of Bard in that case, unless you can find another way to Inspire Competence. Unfortunately those Paladin sub levels don't get it until level 6 which is far too late to be of use.

[Tvtyrant]

How are you getting 77 hp without con?

I didn't notice any note of houserules for hit points, and with your hit dice you should have 6+2d8+3d10 = 32hp pre-con, and 44 with con. Even if you played with maximized hit dice it would be 52 without con and 64 with con, significantly lower than you indicated.

You know, I did it on a calculator so I probably hit multiply by accident somewhere.

Sounds like Song of the Heart and Inspirational Boost are the best bets for cranking up the Inspiration. Vest of Legends requires Heroics, so unless we are assuming a world of cheese it doesn't exist in E6.

So Bard 3/Harmonious Paladin of Freedom 2/Crusader or Marshal 1? I suppose I could got full Bard, but is 2 2nd level spells per day (3 known) really better then infinite uses of 5 2nd level maneuvers?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You know, I did it on a calculator so I probably hit multiply by accident somewhere.

Sounds like Song of the Heart and Inspirational Boost are the best bets for cranking up the Inspiration. Vest of Legends requires Heroics, so unless we are assuming a world of cheese it doesn't exist in E6.

So Bard 3/Harmonious Paladin of Freedom 2/Crusader or Marshal 1? I suppose I could got full Bard, but is 2 2nd level spells per day (3 known) really better then infinite uses of 5 2nd level maneuvers?

I'd prefer to never stop inspiring, since you can keep it going between encounters, and start every encounter with a Glitterdust. Plus the skills and spells are better for noncombat situations and versatility in general, which I'd prefer over more combat capability since everything will die quickly to your energy damage anyway.