Roguish Bard?

[TheCrowing1432]

So I had an idea of a character I wanted to make, but I dont know if its feasable.

Its basically a combination of Rogue/Bard/Master Thrower.

Hes a sort of jack of all trades/streetwise guy, who hides in plain sight of the law.

Just your average bard playing for gold, when hes not stealing.

The idea would be he would play music to distract people, and then *fwip* launch a dagger from under his sleeves at someone who isnt expecting it and they take sneak attack damage. He would then use his bardic music/bardic magic to either keep people distracted or make it so it wasnt him.

But I dont know how much Rogue/Bard levels I would need, ideally id like to get sneak attack and bardic music as high as feasably possible, but I dont know how I should go about that.

[Gwendol]

So, Fascinate using bardic music affects one (1) spectator at level 1, 2 at level 4, etc. Then you throw a dagger at someone (?) to do what again? I suggest not to kill your marks, but rather to use music to enthrall them, and then simply empty their pockets while you perform. That way you can skip rogue and stick with bard.
Maybe go shadowdancer in order to escape effortlessly?

[TheCrowing1432]

Well the Bardic music was to set up sneak attacks without flanking/sneaking.

[Gwendol]

Yes, but why attacking if you want to steal their gold? If you plan on killing first and stealing from the dead, there are surely better ways than this.

[Troacctid]

You could go Bard/Assassin? Assassin is much better than Rogue, and Bards qualify for it easily. Use your bardic Fascinate ability to get your three rounds of study to make a death attack.

Make sure to check out the skill tricks in Complete Scoundrel as there are some good ones for your concept. Also, you can improve Fascinate by using a masterwork harp or lyre to target an additional creature, or pan pipes to increase the save DC by 1, as per Complete Adventurer. And Obtain Familiar is an excellent feat to take, as familiars share all your skill ranks, so while you're distracting someone, they can use your Sleight of Hand ranks to pick the mark's pockets. (Imps are particularly great for this if you're also willing to take Improved Familiar.)

[TheCrowing1432]

Hmm Assassins only get up to 5d6 Sneak Attack bonus though, you think that would be enough? Besides being in the city, I did plan to fight monsters with this.

[Marlowe]

In general straight Bard is better at almost everything than Bard/Rogue. It took me a while to figure this out.

I don't believe Fascinate works in combat, so this build's not going to be much use for fighting monsters. In a city a Bard will have more lucrative (to say nothing of less stone-cold evil) things to do.

EDIT: You might want to look at the Cloaked Dancer PrC as this sort of Bait-and-Switchblade is its whole thing. Be aware it isn't very good. Like a lot of Bardic PrCs. Too many of which seemed to be written under the impression that Bard was a weak class that needed lots of options to hone one aspect of its abilities at the expense of others, and thus turn it into an arty version of some other class.

[Troacctid]

Hmm Assassins only get up to 5d6 Sneak Attack bonus though, you think that would be enough? Besides being in the city, I did plan to fight monsters with this.

It's enough to power sneak attack feats. Take the ambush feats from Drow of the Underdark that make the target of your sneak attack sickened and shaken, and they'll take a -4 penalty to save against your death attack. And if they survive, they'll take the penalty to their attack rolls too. Toss in Staggering Strike for good measure and they won't be able to chase you if you run away. You don't need a lot of dice for this stuff. You just need enough to stack up the debuffs.

If you're trying to maximize sneak attack as a source of damage, that build will look very different and will probably not be interested in levels of Bard. But don't overrate sneak attack. Tons of enemies are immune to it, and even if you can set it up reliably, it's still only damage. It doesn't fundamentally change what your character can do.

[Psyren]

Fascinated does not deny Dex bonus so you cannot set up sneak attacks that way. It does apply a penalty to Spot so you could hide somewhere and play before sniping but I don't think that's what you had in mind.

[nedz]

Consider Rogue 1 / Beguiler 4 / Unseen Seer 10
5d6 sneak and level 7 spells at level 15, oh and the spells are the kind you are looking for.

Changling Rogue or Spellthief are slightly better here, but not by too much.
Rogue 2 can be had, if you must have evasion.

[Troacctid]

Fascinated does not deny Dex bonus so you cannot set up sneak attacks that way. It does apply a penalty to Spot so you could hide somewhere and play before sniping but I don't think that's what you had in mind.

It doesn't deny them Dex to AC, but I'd argue that since they cannot take actions until the Fascinate effect ends, you should be able to catch them flat-footed with it. They can't act until you release them, so you get the first move.

[Chronos]

If you want a use for sneak attack on an assassin, learn the assassin spell Cursed Blade (Spell Compendium), and take the feat Arterial Strike (Complete Warrior). The feat means that enemies you Sneak Attack continue to bleed, taking one damage per round, until the damage is healed. The spell means that the damage you deal can't be healed until the victim receives a Remove Curse. Put them together, and unless your target can get a Remove Curse on about ten minutes' notice, they're dead.

And the one thing that a rogue can do that a straight bard really can't is trapfinding. But you can fix that with a one-level dip. There's very little reason to go further than that.

[Psyren]

It doesn't deny them Dex to AC, but I'd argue that since they cannot take actions until the Fascinate effect ends, you should be able to catch them flat-footed with it. They can't act until you release them, so you get the first move.

Right, if they haven't acted yet in combat they will be flatfooted, but attacking one of them will break the effect on everyone else. In fact, even drawing or aiming a weapon automatically breaks it. Again, they haven't acted so they'd be flatfooted but at best you would hit one guy.

[Marlowe]

Here's a funny idea. How about Bard/Warlock/Eldritch Theurge? You can satisfy the Warlock side of the prerequisites with one Warlock level and one feat (Practiced Spellcaster: Warlock).

Sure Sneak Attack has a certain bleached, back-alley allure, but it's a demanding, flighty thing that's never there when you most need it and promises more than it delivers. Eldritch Blast will always be with you and you won't have to keep buying it dinner.

Of course, you'll have to be Chaotic or Evil. But since your MO here is going to be murdering street-corner johns for loose change, I doubt that that will pose a gigantic problem.

[Troacctid]

Here's a funny idea. How about Bard/Warlock/Eldritch Theurge? You can satisfy the Warlock side of the prerequisites with one Warlock level and one feat (Practiced Spellcaster: Warlock).

Sure Sneak Attack has a certain bleached, back-alley allure, but it's a demanding, flighty thing that's never there when you most need it and promises more than it delivers. Eldritch Blast will always be with you and you won't have to keep buying it dinner.

Of course, you'll have to be Chaotic or Evil. But since your MO here is going to be murdering street-corner johns for loose change, I doubt that that will pose a gigantic problem.

Eldritch Theurge doesn't progress any Bard class features and loses all the Bard skills and skill points, so it's somewhat less than optimal. For a Warlock Bard, I'd be more inclined to go Prestige Bard or Virtuoso. They don't progress your Bard casting, but they give you the skills and the bardic music, and it only takes a one-level dip in Beguiler or Bard, respectively, to qualify for them.

[Marlowe]

The OP hasn't expressed any interest in Bardic class features beyond Fascinate. Seems like a moot point.

And "doesn't advance your Bard casting" is a huge downside.