Fun Variants?

[malonkey1]

I'm always on the lookout for new build ideas, so I was wondering, you guys know any fun variant classes (either straight-up variants like Paladin of Freedom, ACFs, Sub levels, or just feats and options that radically change a class)?

My favorite so far is the Sword of the Arcane Order Paladin. Good for when I want a low-op arcane Gish, and just an interesting way to use the class.

[Forrestfire]

I'm a big fan of the a lot of the dragon magazine variants, like the Harbinger Bard (Dr337, gets inverted Inspire Courage that hits enemies) and the Wild Monk (Dr324, is a kung-fu bear because of Wild Shape). There's a lot of other (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=9028.0) really neat ACFs as well, but those two stand out to me.

[Troacctid]

Dark Moon Disciple substitution levels for the Monk are pretty nifty. They give you shadow blend at 7th level, making you completely invisible as long as you're in any illumination less than full daylight.

If you're looking for offbeat, High One Warrior-Wizard substitution levels are very weird. They're meant for Paladin/Wizard multiclassers. Losing that many levels of casting is pretty brutal, and it's MAD as hell; I don't think it would work very well without gestalt.

The PHB2 shapeshift variant for Druids is kind of interesting. You lose your animal companion and you can't take Natural Spell. However, it really streamlines your wildshaping, saving you a lot of bookwork. Plus, you can shapeshift as a swift action, which opens up new tactical options. I played it in an 8th level one-shot once. It was definitely fun, and played very differently.