Build Help: Political Classes and Prc

[rmccarver]

I am trying to build a political character who can also take care of himself. I need some ideas for classes to take that can benefit me in political affairs, including taking over guilds and in the long run nations.

Level 9.
All complete series books. All cores and DMgs. Eberron available to me. States are 18/17/16/15/14/14

[malonkey1]

Well, Bard is an obviously good start, but Rogue and Beguiler are both good as well.

Some classes of interest include:
Exemplar: You want to take 10 on Diplomacy and Sense Motive? This is your class.
Marshal: Just a dip, for the free Skill Focus[Diplomacy], and the Motivate Charisma aura (So you basically count your Cha twice on Charisma-based checks)
Spymaster: If espionage is your thing. I once played a Factotum/Spymaster that I fluffed as being basically Chuck from "Chuck"
Legendary Leader: If you're raising an army, Leadership is probably a good place to start. This helps you get more from your army, as well as giving you some save bonuses
Evangelist: Fast Talking is a handy ability if you can absorb the relatively minor -5 penalty, plus they also receive Skill Mastery in the skills you'll need.

[Astralia123]

Fantasy or more real-world type of politics?

Paladin or any sort of knights is always an available option...though not best. Alternatively, fighter, cleric, knight may all serve similar purpose.
Wizards, rogues and sometimes sorcerers are known to take their place in a fantasy type of politics settings.

Note that skills tend to play much more important roles in a game of politics. NPCs tend to multiclass in aristocrat or experts to solve skill problems. That is why being a bard, rogue or beguiler can be a good idea. You can also ask for a home-brew class variant of PC class, trading some class features for extended class-skill list and more skill points.

[Petrocorus]

Urban Savant from Cityscape can be good too, some abilities and more or less the same class skill list that the bard.

Lyric Thaumaturge (CM) can improve your bard spellcasting.
So can Sublime Chord, of course.

So dip into Mindbender (CA) can be interesting.

The feat Nymph's Kiss (BoED) is certainly interesting.

If you don't go Bard, go Beguiler, they are the 2 best classes for that.