Eno Remnant
2015-02-09, 09:07 PM
The Dashing Hero Handbook
By Eno Remnant
http://media.animevice.com/uploads/3/37199/645765-layfon_super.jpg
With the Dashing Hero Handbook, you too can have a constant wind ruffling your hair and outfit.
And generally just making you look more awesome than the rest of the party.
Charisma. It has to be one of the easiest ability scores to optimise, and can be applied to just about anything if you know what you’re doing. It’s the ability score of the greatest heroes and villains, who possess that special dramatic flair, the panache and audacity to do what other adventurers might consider impossible. The realm of Charisma is home to some of the greatest classes known to Dungeons and Dragons: Bard, Paladin, Sorcerer and many more.
And with a great power like this just waiting to be tapped, I decided it was time to bust open the keg of Charisma and unleash its bounty upon the masses. This, my friends, is not just the Dashing Hero Handbook—it is the Charisma Handbook. Enjoy using the force of your personality to destroy your enemies.
Increasing Charisma
All the usual techniques apply here: magic items, tomes, Wishing for Charisma, etc. In addition, the prestige class Risen Martyr (BoED), if you can handle the rather strict pre-requisites (which include martyrdom), grants an increase to Charisma at 1st and 5th level (it also makes you Deathless , which pretty much means you won’t have to worry about Constitution or fatigue—the second being something of a problem in Bard builds for reasons that will become evident later in this handbook, the first being an excuse to put more points in Charisma). Heartwarder (FoP) provides a similar increase at each odd-numbered level.
Charisma-boosting races include: Lesser Aasimar (+2 Charisma, +2 Wisdom, Daylight 1/day as an SLA, a few energy resistances and darkvision and yet it’s still LA 0. Planetouched races are unbalanced in all the right ways), Star Elf (+2 Charisma, -2 Constitution), Lesser Cansin (+2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma. Another neat Planetouched), Lesser Celadrin (+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Constitution. If the Lesser theme didn’t give it away, Planetouched), Spirit Hellbred (+2 Charisma, -2 Constitution) and Spellscale (-2 Constitution, +2 Charisma).
Templates that will increase your Charisma include Magic-Blooded (+2 Charisma, -2 Wisdom. Comes with a few situationally helpful SLAs), Half-Nymph and Unseelie Fey (+2 Charisma, +2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution. A chance to get wings and blindsense at LA 0? It’d be perfect if you didn’t have to be Evil to become one; in case you hadn’t noticed, most of my experience with Charisma is Good-aligned).
[B]Saving Throws
This is where most people assume optimising Charisma will take them. Completely understandable, since it’s one of the things Charisma does best. Two levels of Paladin (PHB. Though there are UA variants for different alignments. Including a Chaotic Good one that gives you immunity to compulsions and doesn’t clash with Bard or Battle Dancer [addressed below] alignment restrictions. Wink wink nudge nudge) will grant you Charisma to saves, as will the Nymph race (LA +7, probably wouldn’t recommend it if that’s all you’re there for) and the Witch Hunter prestige class, just to name some more popular options. Many people will attempt to find ways to apply Charisma to saves twice over, which in my personal opinion is wasteful and stupid. If you've optimised your Charisma effectively (you should easily—and I do mean easily—be able to muster 30 Charisma by level 20), you won’t be failing any saves except those thrown at you by over-optimised cheesy caster demigods.
Armour Class
After saves, this is the most common melee character application of Charisma. There are a number of options here, but my personal favourites are the one level of Battle Dancer (Untyped bonus, must be Chaotic and unarmoured [you’re optimising Charisma, why are you wearing armour?]) and/or one level of Risen Martyr (Deflection bonus, must be Good). There are other ways if you don’t want to invest a level or want to avoid a multiclassing penalty, such as the feat Divine Shield (Requires Turn Undead), but they are generally more costly and temporary.
Attack and Damage
*Cracks knuckles*
Alright, this is it. This is some of the best work I’ve ever done with Charisma. Using the tricks I’m about to list, you can dump Strength and be no worse off for it (excludes carry weight, class features and skills, naturally), even on a melee-heavy character. The Slippers of Battledancing will, if you wield a one-handed weapon and your offhand is empty, replace your Strength/Dexterity bonus to attack/damage with Charisma after moving ten feet (as a move action, so you either need to break action economy or you're only getting one attack out of it). A lot of people might argue that this is all too specific, but if you’re a Charisma-focused melee character you’re probably a skirmisher—secondary melee, not meant to stay still. In addition, it grants +5 to Tumble, +10 land speed and +2 to your initiative if you have five or more ranks in Perform, all of which will assist you in the whole “move ten feet every turn” thing. Sure, you won’t be making full-attacks without breaking action economy, but again, secondary melee (and there are ways of picking up extra move actions).
Now, Charisma to attack and damage is fun. But doing it twice over is even more fun. If you have Bardic Music (honestly, a melee Bard thrives on everything I’ve described thus far in this section, and most of that which is to come), you can take Snowflake Wardance, a feat which adds your Charisma to your attack for a number of turns equal to your ranks in Perform (Dance), and fatigues you at the end (must wield a slashing weapon and have a free hand. Bards are casters, I can’t see why this would be a problem). For double damage, add the Gauntlets of Heartfelt Blows, which add your Charisma to your attacks as fire damage.
And then we come to skill that allowed me to be competitive with my D&D group, which includes two of the most ridiculous optimisers I’ve ever had the privilege and horror to see at work. And yes, I did say skill, as in that thing you put skill points into. Oriental Adventures, while being 3.0 material, introduces the skill known as Iaijutsu Focus. This skill allows you to add damage to a melee attack based on your IF check and your ability to draw your blade immediately before attacking (Quick Draw is obviously important to this skill). While this is a fun, Charisma-based skill, its use is kinda limited; even with the best optimisation, it can only add 9d6 to damage.
But that’s what Iaijutsu Master (OA. Gotta be Lawful, which hurts if you want Battle Dancer for AC (or to be a Bard), but remember that Battle Dancer has no penalty for changing alignments. There is no entry for “ex-Battle Dancers”) is for. At 5th level, this prestige class allows you to add your Charisma bonus as additional damage to each extra damage die you gain from an Iaijustu Focus check. Every single one. If you had a +15 mod for Charisma, that’s an extra 9d6+135 damage to one attack. And while that class largely keys off you using a katana, nothing in that particular class feature requires one, so feel free to pick up a greatsword, have a friendly Wizard teleport you into an enemy’s face, use Quick Draw to unsheathe the deadly arc of steel and death you call a sword as a free action, and then absolutely wreck that enemy. It gets even better if you hit epic levels, because you can take a feat called Improved Iaijutsu Focus (Web 3.0), which uncaps Iaijutsu Focus. That’s god-slaying territory, as if you couldn’t do that before level 21 with IF.
A Paladin’s Smite Evil is pretty much the only other big source of attack from Charisma (well, that and Perform [weapon drill], but I’ve never used that before and I personally wouldn’t invest the skill points unless I had some left over that I couldn’t apply to other, more essential skills—like those covered below in the Skills section). Don’t try Ordained Champion, it’s a trap and that’s how well-meaning Clerics have been horribly crippled in the past.
Initiative
Iaijutsu Master adds your Charisma bonus to your initiative, which is nothing to sneeze at. Again, 3.0 material, up to DM’s discretion. Though if you read the relevant class feature entirely by RAW, you also add your Charisma bonus to your Dexterity bonus. Which is not something a sane DM will allow, but really it’s the writer’s fault for wording their class features so poorly.
Metamagic
Charisma is the true casting ability. None of the others can compare to it. “How can he have the audacity to say that?” you might be asking, and that’s a fair question. While I’ll admit that part of it is up to my preference for spontaneous casters over prepared (honestly, preparing the spell slots on something with the effective casting ability of an Archivist 16/Wizard 16 [yeah, I did this. Never again] is a nightmare that I do not recommend to any but the most dedicated of optimisers), but the main reason is metamagic. Charisma is home to the cheesiest metamagic tricks known to D&D players (also, Sorcerers can get away with saying “I can cast spells because I was born so fabulous that magic just came to me.” Easily the best reason ever for calling it the true casting ability :smalltongue:).
There are two feats to which I refer in particular: Metamagic Song and Divine Metamagic. The second one should be familiar to anyone who’s spent time in the D&D community—burn turning attempts to apply metamagic to spells without level increase. Since turning attempts are based on your Charisma bonus, you can see why it has a place in this handbook. Metamagic Song, on the other hand, is what you might expect. Similar to Divine Metamagic, you expend Bardic Music to apply metamagic to spells (spontaneous casting only, but not limited to the spells gained from your Bard levels) without level increase. A particularly skilled optimiser (only including myself incidentally; I’m not skilled, I just know the trick) can apply both while remaining completely SAD and losing very little on the caster level front.
Skills
Improving Charisma skills is fairly simple. Outside of the usual skill improvements (like Skill Focus and actually putting ranks into the skill), bluff gives you synergy bonuses in a lot of other Charisma-based skills, a Circlet of Persuasion gives you +3 to the same, and the feat Nymph’s Kiss gives you +2 in the same area as well as more skill points. You really can’t go wrong with any of these.
As noted earlier in the handbook, Perform (dance) is important for extending the duration of Snowflake Wardance. It also applies to the PrC Dervish, which if applied correctly can make you almost unstoppable. Iaijutsu Focus is on a similar level of value to a character, for reasons that take up half of the Attack/Damage section.
Use Magic Device, Diplomacy, Bluff and Intimidate are the most infamous of the Charisma-based skills. UMD basically lets you cast any spell in existence in exchange for the gold needed for the relevant magic item. Diplomacy, Bluff and Intimidate can let you rule the entire universe by RAW. Naturally, no sane DM allows the latter and keeps a careful eye on the prior, but all of these skills have their place and value in a Dashing Hero.
Perform (sing) can be employed at early levels to make your party love you—you need to be a Bard for this trick, but that’s a given. Allow me to paint you a picture: you stroll into a forest clearing full of bloodthirsty bandits, seemingly alone and unarmed. This type of thug likes to gloat and torment their victims, and generally isn’t on guard for an attack if you’re not brandishing a weapon at them.
That’s when you start singing. The Bard’s Fascinate ability (and I have looked extensively into the rules on fascination to make sure this works) will allow you to turn the entire band into dull-minded fools who can’t do anything other than stare at you. Even if your DM rules that they’re in a potential combat situation, that just gives them a +4 to their Will save. Which won’t be an issue, since your DC is a Perform check. And as is the general rule, skill checks > saves.
So now you have a camp of bandits unable to do anything but admire your glory. Your party has sufficient time to set up for a crushing assault from all sides. The rogue can sneak attack at least one of them before the others snap back to attentiveness, but since the others aren’t in a situation of direct, immediate danger, they should only get a new save (DM ruling, basically. They tend to err on the less fun side of this one), and you’re still making them save against a skill check. Good luck to them. Then the Wizard can blast them all with a Fireball and the Fighter can charge in to chop the bandit leader’s head off and it’s a slaughter.
Make this trick even better by obtaining a Harmonizing Quarterstaff at some point in your adventures. Harmonizing is a +1 bonus enchantment that sustains Bardic Music for a number of turns equal to your Charisma mod after you stop concentrating on it, so you can hold onto it longer. And depending on which version you use (there are two, each with different but largely equal benefits. I know at least one is in the Forgotten Realms setting), you can get a +6 to Perform (sing). Absolutely worth the cost.
The final two Charisma-based skills are Disguise and Handle Animal. Both go largely unnoticed by most players, but can have their uses. Especially Handle Animal, which—if you go about it right—can give you a small army of trained animals willing to serve as your mount, packmule or surprise cavalry attack.
Of non-Charisma-based skills, Tumble is probably the most important if you’re a skirmisher type character. I always try to gain max ranks in this whenever I build a character because of how incredibly useful it is.
Gold and Reputation
One Perform check is all you need to become famous throughout the Prime Material Plane, as well as renowned in some parts of different planes. And performing at the local tavern during the party’s downtime is a handy little way to pull some extra gold together to go towards that shiny new magic item you want.
In Conclusion
In my D&D circle, it’s a common joke to refer to me as the Bard or Paladin of the group. And whenever I build one or the other (or multiclass as both), everyone sees it as typical Eno.
What is less often mentioned—and never joked about—is how I can successfully kill most of their characters with a single attack if I choose to do so. And this is a group of some of the scariest optimisers I’ve ever seen. One even tried to come up with a hard counter to my infamous Iaijutsu Masters and failed. If you need any reason to set value in this handbook, that should be all you need. All I know how to even vaguely optimise is Charisma and—to a much lesser extent—Wisdom. And yet I can make these optimisers complain that their builds can’t win against mine (disclaimer: they have builds that can beat mine, but those are so cheesy we never take them out of theorycraft. We’re talking Pun-Pun territory here).
The Dashing Hero is a staple of Dungeons and Dragons. The mental picture most players have when they think about the game is one of those stunning sourcebook covers where the adventurers are fighting a dragon or battling their way through a dungeon. The Paladin is one of the most common classes played by new players, who want to play the shining knight who defeats evil. The Sorcerer is the most common caster for new players who can’t be bothered to get their heads around spell preparation and like the idea of gaining magic by inheriting the blood of draconic ancestors. It’s an archetype that many aspire to, and for good reason.
Hopefully, this handbook provide advice that will give your characters that edge they may have otherwise been lacking, or allow you to forge great heroes who will shine like a beacon that pushes back the darkness of your enemies.
Credit goes to Magery for suggesting I include the Heartwarden and Witch Hunter.
Disclaimer: The image used in this guide is not my own. Credit to the artist, when I figure out who that is.
Disclaimer: The X Stat to Y Bonus thread is a much better source than this handbook. It's just not as flashy and descriptive. If you're looking for more obscure Charisma optimisation, go there.
By Eno Remnant
http://media.animevice.com/uploads/3/37199/645765-layfon_super.jpg
With the Dashing Hero Handbook, you too can have a constant wind ruffling your hair and outfit.
And generally just making you look more awesome than the rest of the party.
Charisma. It has to be one of the easiest ability scores to optimise, and can be applied to just about anything if you know what you’re doing. It’s the ability score of the greatest heroes and villains, who possess that special dramatic flair, the panache and audacity to do what other adventurers might consider impossible. The realm of Charisma is home to some of the greatest classes known to Dungeons and Dragons: Bard, Paladin, Sorcerer and many more.
And with a great power like this just waiting to be tapped, I decided it was time to bust open the keg of Charisma and unleash its bounty upon the masses. This, my friends, is not just the Dashing Hero Handbook—it is the Charisma Handbook. Enjoy using the force of your personality to destroy your enemies.
Increasing Charisma
All the usual techniques apply here: magic items, tomes, Wishing for Charisma, etc. In addition, the prestige class Risen Martyr (BoED), if you can handle the rather strict pre-requisites (which include martyrdom), grants an increase to Charisma at 1st and 5th level (it also makes you Deathless , which pretty much means you won’t have to worry about Constitution or fatigue—the second being something of a problem in Bard builds for reasons that will become evident later in this handbook, the first being an excuse to put more points in Charisma). Heartwarder (FoP) provides a similar increase at each odd-numbered level.
Charisma-boosting races include: Lesser Aasimar (+2 Charisma, +2 Wisdom, Daylight 1/day as an SLA, a few energy resistances and darkvision and yet it’s still LA 0. Planetouched races are unbalanced in all the right ways), Star Elf (+2 Charisma, -2 Constitution), Lesser Cansin (+2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma. Another neat Planetouched), Lesser Celadrin (+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Constitution. If the Lesser theme didn’t give it away, Planetouched), Spirit Hellbred (+2 Charisma, -2 Constitution) and Spellscale (-2 Constitution, +2 Charisma).
Templates that will increase your Charisma include Magic-Blooded (+2 Charisma, -2 Wisdom. Comes with a few situationally helpful SLAs), Half-Nymph and Unseelie Fey (+2 Charisma, +2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution. A chance to get wings and blindsense at LA 0? It’d be perfect if you didn’t have to be Evil to become one; in case you hadn’t noticed, most of my experience with Charisma is Good-aligned).
[B]Saving Throws
This is where most people assume optimising Charisma will take them. Completely understandable, since it’s one of the things Charisma does best. Two levels of Paladin (PHB. Though there are UA variants for different alignments. Including a Chaotic Good one that gives you immunity to compulsions and doesn’t clash with Bard or Battle Dancer [addressed below] alignment restrictions. Wink wink nudge nudge) will grant you Charisma to saves, as will the Nymph race (LA +7, probably wouldn’t recommend it if that’s all you’re there for) and the Witch Hunter prestige class, just to name some more popular options. Many people will attempt to find ways to apply Charisma to saves twice over, which in my personal opinion is wasteful and stupid. If you've optimised your Charisma effectively (you should easily—and I do mean easily—be able to muster 30 Charisma by level 20), you won’t be failing any saves except those thrown at you by over-optimised cheesy caster demigods.
Armour Class
After saves, this is the most common melee character application of Charisma. There are a number of options here, but my personal favourites are the one level of Battle Dancer (Untyped bonus, must be Chaotic and unarmoured [you’re optimising Charisma, why are you wearing armour?]) and/or one level of Risen Martyr (Deflection bonus, must be Good). There are other ways if you don’t want to invest a level or want to avoid a multiclassing penalty, such as the feat Divine Shield (Requires Turn Undead), but they are generally more costly and temporary.
Attack and Damage
*Cracks knuckles*
Alright, this is it. This is some of the best work I’ve ever done with Charisma. Using the tricks I’m about to list, you can dump Strength and be no worse off for it (excludes carry weight, class features and skills, naturally), even on a melee-heavy character. The Slippers of Battledancing will, if you wield a one-handed weapon and your offhand is empty, replace your Strength/Dexterity bonus to attack/damage with Charisma after moving ten feet (as a move action, so you either need to break action economy or you're only getting one attack out of it). A lot of people might argue that this is all too specific, but if you’re a Charisma-focused melee character you’re probably a skirmisher—secondary melee, not meant to stay still. In addition, it grants +5 to Tumble, +10 land speed and +2 to your initiative if you have five or more ranks in Perform, all of which will assist you in the whole “move ten feet every turn” thing. Sure, you won’t be making full-attacks without breaking action economy, but again, secondary melee (and there are ways of picking up extra move actions).
Now, Charisma to attack and damage is fun. But doing it twice over is even more fun. If you have Bardic Music (honestly, a melee Bard thrives on everything I’ve described thus far in this section, and most of that which is to come), you can take Snowflake Wardance, a feat which adds your Charisma to your attack for a number of turns equal to your ranks in Perform (Dance), and fatigues you at the end (must wield a slashing weapon and have a free hand. Bards are casters, I can’t see why this would be a problem). For double damage, add the Gauntlets of Heartfelt Blows, which add your Charisma to your attacks as fire damage.
And then we come to skill that allowed me to be competitive with my D&D group, which includes two of the most ridiculous optimisers I’ve ever had the privilege and horror to see at work. And yes, I did say skill, as in that thing you put skill points into. Oriental Adventures, while being 3.0 material, introduces the skill known as Iaijutsu Focus. This skill allows you to add damage to a melee attack based on your IF check and your ability to draw your blade immediately before attacking (Quick Draw is obviously important to this skill). While this is a fun, Charisma-based skill, its use is kinda limited; even with the best optimisation, it can only add 9d6 to damage.
But that’s what Iaijutsu Master (OA. Gotta be Lawful, which hurts if you want Battle Dancer for AC (or to be a Bard), but remember that Battle Dancer has no penalty for changing alignments. There is no entry for “ex-Battle Dancers”) is for. At 5th level, this prestige class allows you to add your Charisma bonus as additional damage to each extra damage die you gain from an Iaijustu Focus check. Every single one. If you had a +15 mod for Charisma, that’s an extra 9d6+135 damage to one attack. And while that class largely keys off you using a katana, nothing in that particular class feature requires one, so feel free to pick up a greatsword, have a friendly Wizard teleport you into an enemy’s face, use Quick Draw to unsheathe the deadly arc of steel and death you call a sword as a free action, and then absolutely wreck that enemy. It gets even better if you hit epic levels, because you can take a feat called Improved Iaijutsu Focus (Web 3.0), which uncaps Iaijutsu Focus. That’s god-slaying territory, as if you couldn’t do that before level 21 with IF.
A Paladin’s Smite Evil is pretty much the only other big source of attack from Charisma (well, that and Perform [weapon drill], but I’ve never used that before and I personally wouldn’t invest the skill points unless I had some left over that I couldn’t apply to other, more essential skills—like those covered below in the Skills section). Don’t try Ordained Champion, it’s a trap and that’s how well-meaning Clerics have been horribly crippled in the past.
Initiative
Iaijutsu Master adds your Charisma bonus to your initiative, which is nothing to sneeze at. Again, 3.0 material, up to DM’s discretion. Though if you read the relevant class feature entirely by RAW, you also add your Charisma bonus to your Dexterity bonus. Which is not something a sane DM will allow, but really it’s the writer’s fault for wording their class features so poorly.
Metamagic
Charisma is the true casting ability. None of the others can compare to it. “How can he have the audacity to say that?” you might be asking, and that’s a fair question. While I’ll admit that part of it is up to my preference for spontaneous casters over prepared (honestly, preparing the spell slots on something with the effective casting ability of an Archivist 16/Wizard 16 [yeah, I did this. Never again] is a nightmare that I do not recommend to any but the most dedicated of optimisers), but the main reason is metamagic. Charisma is home to the cheesiest metamagic tricks known to D&D players (also, Sorcerers can get away with saying “I can cast spells because I was born so fabulous that magic just came to me.” Easily the best reason ever for calling it the true casting ability :smalltongue:).
There are two feats to which I refer in particular: Metamagic Song and Divine Metamagic. The second one should be familiar to anyone who’s spent time in the D&D community—burn turning attempts to apply metamagic to spells without level increase. Since turning attempts are based on your Charisma bonus, you can see why it has a place in this handbook. Metamagic Song, on the other hand, is what you might expect. Similar to Divine Metamagic, you expend Bardic Music to apply metamagic to spells (spontaneous casting only, but not limited to the spells gained from your Bard levels) without level increase. A particularly skilled optimiser (only including myself incidentally; I’m not skilled, I just know the trick) can apply both while remaining completely SAD and losing very little on the caster level front.
Skills
Improving Charisma skills is fairly simple. Outside of the usual skill improvements (like Skill Focus and actually putting ranks into the skill), bluff gives you synergy bonuses in a lot of other Charisma-based skills, a Circlet of Persuasion gives you +3 to the same, and the feat Nymph’s Kiss gives you +2 in the same area as well as more skill points. You really can’t go wrong with any of these.
As noted earlier in the handbook, Perform (dance) is important for extending the duration of Snowflake Wardance. It also applies to the PrC Dervish, which if applied correctly can make you almost unstoppable. Iaijutsu Focus is on a similar level of value to a character, for reasons that take up half of the Attack/Damage section.
Use Magic Device, Diplomacy, Bluff and Intimidate are the most infamous of the Charisma-based skills. UMD basically lets you cast any spell in existence in exchange for the gold needed for the relevant magic item. Diplomacy, Bluff and Intimidate can let you rule the entire universe by RAW. Naturally, no sane DM allows the latter and keeps a careful eye on the prior, but all of these skills have their place and value in a Dashing Hero.
Perform (sing) can be employed at early levels to make your party love you—you need to be a Bard for this trick, but that’s a given. Allow me to paint you a picture: you stroll into a forest clearing full of bloodthirsty bandits, seemingly alone and unarmed. This type of thug likes to gloat and torment their victims, and generally isn’t on guard for an attack if you’re not brandishing a weapon at them.
That’s when you start singing. The Bard’s Fascinate ability (and I have looked extensively into the rules on fascination to make sure this works) will allow you to turn the entire band into dull-minded fools who can’t do anything other than stare at you. Even if your DM rules that they’re in a potential combat situation, that just gives them a +4 to their Will save. Which won’t be an issue, since your DC is a Perform check. And as is the general rule, skill checks > saves.
So now you have a camp of bandits unable to do anything but admire your glory. Your party has sufficient time to set up for a crushing assault from all sides. The rogue can sneak attack at least one of them before the others snap back to attentiveness, but since the others aren’t in a situation of direct, immediate danger, they should only get a new save (DM ruling, basically. They tend to err on the less fun side of this one), and you’re still making them save against a skill check. Good luck to them. Then the Wizard can blast them all with a Fireball and the Fighter can charge in to chop the bandit leader’s head off and it’s a slaughter.
Make this trick even better by obtaining a Harmonizing Quarterstaff at some point in your adventures. Harmonizing is a +1 bonus enchantment that sustains Bardic Music for a number of turns equal to your Charisma mod after you stop concentrating on it, so you can hold onto it longer. And depending on which version you use (there are two, each with different but largely equal benefits. I know at least one is in the Forgotten Realms setting), you can get a +6 to Perform (sing). Absolutely worth the cost.
The final two Charisma-based skills are Disguise and Handle Animal. Both go largely unnoticed by most players, but can have their uses. Especially Handle Animal, which—if you go about it right—can give you a small army of trained animals willing to serve as your mount, packmule or surprise cavalry attack.
Of non-Charisma-based skills, Tumble is probably the most important if you’re a skirmisher type character. I always try to gain max ranks in this whenever I build a character because of how incredibly useful it is.
Gold and Reputation
One Perform check is all you need to become famous throughout the Prime Material Plane, as well as renowned in some parts of different planes. And performing at the local tavern during the party’s downtime is a handy little way to pull some extra gold together to go towards that shiny new magic item you want.
In Conclusion
In my D&D circle, it’s a common joke to refer to me as the Bard or Paladin of the group. And whenever I build one or the other (or multiclass as both), everyone sees it as typical Eno.
What is less often mentioned—and never joked about—is how I can successfully kill most of their characters with a single attack if I choose to do so. And this is a group of some of the scariest optimisers I’ve ever seen. One even tried to come up with a hard counter to my infamous Iaijutsu Masters and failed. If you need any reason to set value in this handbook, that should be all you need. All I know how to even vaguely optimise is Charisma and—to a much lesser extent—Wisdom. And yet I can make these optimisers complain that their builds can’t win against mine (disclaimer: they have builds that can beat mine, but those are so cheesy we never take them out of theorycraft. We’re talking Pun-Pun territory here).
The Dashing Hero is a staple of Dungeons and Dragons. The mental picture most players have when they think about the game is one of those stunning sourcebook covers where the adventurers are fighting a dragon or battling their way through a dungeon. The Paladin is one of the most common classes played by new players, who want to play the shining knight who defeats evil. The Sorcerer is the most common caster for new players who can’t be bothered to get their heads around spell preparation and like the idea of gaining magic by inheriting the blood of draconic ancestors. It’s an archetype that many aspire to, and for good reason.
Hopefully, this handbook provide advice that will give your characters that edge they may have otherwise been lacking, or allow you to forge great heroes who will shine like a beacon that pushes back the darkness of your enemies.
Credit goes to Magery for suggesting I include the Heartwarden and Witch Hunter.
Disclaimer: The image used in this guide is not my own. Credit to the artist, when I figure out who that is.
Disclaimer: The X Stat to Y Bonus thread is a much better source than this handbook. It's just not as flashy and descriptive. If you're looking for more obscure Charisma optimisation, go there.