Inspire Awe Bard

[Von.]

Hi everyone! :)

New memeber here looking for help. Hope someone can help me.

Here some specific
Race: Drow (all the party member are drow)
Level 8
Manual: 3 bases (PH, DM, MM), PH2, all the Complete (no Psionic), UA, BoVD, BoED, Miniature Handbook , Races of Stone, Dragon Magic, MiC, SpC, Player's Guide to Faerun, Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, Magic of Fearun, Underdark, Drow of the Underground

As the title says I'm trying to create a Bard based on Inspire Awe and ,why not, fear effect.
This is my build so far:

Bard 7/Marshal 1
Feat:
Melodic Casting
Imperious Command
Dreadful Wrath (if the DM agrees on changing the race prereq.)

Skill Trick: Never Outnumbered

What do you think?...there's any interesting option I could use?

Thank you for any advice :)

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

This build (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?252815-3-5-Evil-Campaign#4) (skip to the third paragraph) does it quite well, but it looks like you don't have Heroes of Horror or ECS available, so no Haunting Melody or Dread Witch. Take a look at the Fear Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=3809) for more tips and tricks.

[Von.]

Thanks for the link :) I've already read those guide and it helped a little, but I still have doubts XD

So for the next levels the build would be like:
Bard 7/Marshal 1/Nightmare Spinner 1/Bard 1/Sublime Chord 2/Nighmare Spinner +4/X 4
I put X 4, because even Sublime Chord +4 will be fine, even if I could take level in other PrC to gain more class abilities.

My biggest problem/doubt is about feat:

1° ???
3° Melodic Casting
6° ??? (Song of Silence???)
9° Imperious Command
12° ???
15° ???
18° ???

If there are no other good option a can always take Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse (just to hit some scared foe sometimes ). But still I've some "feat slot" free.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Get Melodic Casting at 1st level if you can't use Dreadful Wrath.

Make your levels go Bard 1/ Marshal 1/ Bard 6 starting out, since Marshal gets Intimidate as a class skill. You'll need to spend two skill points per rank in Intimidate from Bard after that, but you can still have max ranks for a class-skill in Intimidate for the rest of your career. Put Imperious Command at 6th level, and get armor with the Fearsome property in Drow of the Underdark (which is a more recent version than MIC).

Other good feats to consider include Lyric Spell in Complete Adventurer, Obtain Familiar and Improved Familiar (CW, CS, PGtF, and DMG have lists for familiar choices), and a regional feat like Blooded or Swift and Silent.

Why Marshal? Motivate Charisma won't boost your bardic music unless it actually involves making a Perform check, it doesn't increase the DC of Haunting Melody. I would recommend replacing Marshal with Warlock, get the Darkness invocation (which is a Darkness spell-like ability with unlimited daily uses), and use the feat Blend Into Shadows from Drow of the Underdark, and At Home in the Deep would also be useful. That way you can hide as a swift action every round, so you'll always be hidden on your opponents' turns.

Everyone in the party should get a Ring of the Darkhidden (MIC).

[Gabrosin]

See if you can get Champions of Ruin approved as source material, then you can take Doomspeak.

[marphod]

Manual: 3 bases (PH, DM, MM), PH2, all the Complete (no Psionic), UA, BoVD, BoED, Miniature Handbook , Races of Stone, Dragon Magic, MiC, SpC, Player's Guide to Faerun, Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, Magic of Fearun, Underdark, Drow of the Underground


That's book selection is a little haphazard. Does your DM have a reason?

(Dragon Magic and Races of Stone, but not Races of the Dragon or Dragonomicon? No Races of the Wild of Races of Destiny? Miniature's Handbook but no Book of 9 Swords? Various Forgotten Realms stuff but neither Champions of Valor or Ruin?)

What aspects of UA? Item Familiars? Bloodlines (and what interpretation)? Prestige Ranger/Bard/Paladin?

---

Is your DM handwaving the LA+2 since you are all Drow? Are any of the Drow variants allowed? (Umbragen, shadow infused drow from Eberron -- Warlock favored class, and keep the Elf racial abilities rather than the drow weapons/will save, plus a +2 to Move Silently/Hide and the usual Drow SR, Darkvision, Light Blindness and Spell Like abilities)

Any Templates allowed?

--

If you can get your DM to tweak the Drow Paragon class to improve your arcane casting, rather than Wizard Casting by class name, it might be worth taking a level or 3 (2 is pointless).

Pick up some metamagic feats. Fell Frighten would require Libris Mortis, but its worth petitioning for.
Knowledge Devotion is worth getting (knowledge check as a free action to get additional damage based on type), Complete Champion.

Lyric Spell might be worthwhile if you've pegged your Charisma and are worried about running out of spell slots.

Metamagic Song with Chain Spell, Sculpt Spell, or anything else, really.

If you can get Dragonic Blood, Dragonfire Inspiration.

[Von.]

Those are the manual the DM has and plays with(so he knows them better)
Anything outside that book is not sure.
The campaign will take place in the Forgotten Realms, so other setting manual are not allowed for sure (if they were i would have taken the Bard AFC :smallbiggrin:)

From the UA I can take the alternative class feature, and use the paragon/prestige class as well...don't know about bloodline but i don't really like them.
I don't think they would be really usefull in this build.
Never really understood how Item Familiar works and why so strong, but I don't think the DM would allow them.
No Template allowed and no LA pay off.

By the way, I spoke to him and he accepted Requiem and Haunting Melody, so i guess the feat problem is pretty much solved.
Thanks for all the advice on the feat. I'll try to decide on my own which fit in better..

When I saw the Drow Paragon I thought it would have been nice if it weren't "wizard" only, but since I already got some "exeption" I prefer not to ask for too many,
plus it's not that necessary...

I took Marshal 1 to pump all Charisma based skill(like Intimidate) and those bardic music that rely on the Perform check result, is it really that bad of a choice?
I like your Darkness combo but it would work better with a rougish melee, but it's still a nice defensive option for a no cambatant.