Most Unique/Creative/Cool Builds with the weird restrictions my friend's DM imposes?

[Caligstro Smith]

So, I've been talking with a friend recently about a campaign he's in, and it seems that his DM has been pretty restrictive in terms of characters/builds. The DM doesn't have a very good understanding of game balance, and also arbitrarily bans things for a variety of reasons. There are some other in-game restrictions that have been placed on the party as well, pretty much also arbitrarily, and are ones that NPCs and enemies apparently get to completely ignore, and which can often specifically hard counter my friend's character's abilities, making most encounters very binary: either he can actually contribute at all, or he's utterly useless (it's starting to approach being a 50/50% toss up per fight). Apparently the DM's getting tired of his cleric archer or something... IDK.

Anyway, he's been getting pretty discouraged by the game recently, and I've been trying to brainstorm up some "cool" or "interesting" builds that still work well/are effective, but I thought I could ask for some other ideas for him? What are the coolest &/or most unique/creative &/or most powerful (this last one is my curiosity really) builds that could be made under these limits?

Here are the restrictions he's under:
1) 11th level character (they don't gain exp in this game, they just level once every 3-5 months of sessions, so... virtually never.)
2) Books: PHB, DMG, MM1 + Completes + Tome of Battle + Spell Compendium + Magic Item Compendium.
3) Psionics are banned.
4) Duskblades are banned (yeah I know, weird)
5) You can only take 1 level of cleric.
5a) Divine Metamagic is... strongly discouraged. "Maybe" you can use it.
6) 21k gp, hard limit. You do not have ANY of your gear while in a town. You also do not OWN ANY of your gear, and it could be taken away by the party's employers at any time, for any reason.
7) Crafting magic items is banned.
8) Custom magic items are banned.
9) Early entry/similar tricks are banned (if they're even possible with these other limits, idk for sure)
10) Evil characters are banned.
11) Characters with secrets or separate motives not part of "the plot" are banned. (I'm not joking)
12) The employers are all epic level spellcasters and cannot be deceived by anything players do. (idk why they don't just do everything themselves, but apparently they don't feel like it or something)
13) Diplomacy and similar things are banned.
14) Leadership and its variants are banned.
15) The party already has an ubercharger, a monk, a rogue+two-weapon fighter, and a wizard (and the group frowns on overlap, even with very different kinds of builds for the same classes ◔_◔ ).


I've already suggested a thicket of blades crusader and a master of many forms druid.

[luthais]

If he isn't the only one in the group feeling this way, I'd suggest blowing off the employer and riding into the sunset. The DM sounds like he is only interested in railroading his plot, so throw a curve at him and quit. When he pitches a fit and demands why, let him know in very clear terms what he is doing that killed all the fun. I think, no matter what we come u with here, the DM will place another rule to ban it. Sorry I couldn't really help with your original question, but I hope it gets better for your friend.

[Jeff the Green]

I'd love to help, but I'm pretty sure prolonging this DM's tenure is Evil and I'd lose class features.

[Aegis013]

If Thicket of Blades 'Sader and MoMF Druid aren't doing it, you could go for a Bard.

Your team seems relatively melee heavy, and a good chunk of desirable options for Bard are available to you within the book and wealth restrictions. With an Inspire Courage focused Bard you could be a real force multiplier for your group without overlapping too much with the Wizard.

Virtuoso and Sublime Chord, the usual go-to Bard PrCs are both in the books available.
Badge of Valor is available from MiC.
Inspirational Boost spell is available from SpC.
Lingering Song feat from Complete Adventurer.

You could still have +4 to hit and damage for everybody, which isn't too shabby, it's especially excellent for anybody utilizing power attack, such as the uber-charger.

The things you wouldn't be able to get that you might want to at least ask for include:
Dragonfire Inspiration feat (Dragon Magic), Words of Creation (Book of Exalted Deeds), Song of the Heart (Eberron Campaign Setting), Vest of Legends (DMGII).

If you could get a feat from Frostburn, you could even throw in some ToB and utilize Snowflake Wardance if you wanted.

If all of these were allowed you could have +12d6 fire damage per hit (possibly less dependent on DM's interpretation of Words of Creation) for all your melee guys, on top of a pretty hefty bonus to attack/damage.