6 man gestalt bard band party help

[gawwy]

Hi guys,

One of my friends who plays DnD with me is having a bit of a ****ty time in his life. So as a small thing Im setting up an over the top and silly dnd game to help cheer him up. Im DMing and was interested to see what the playground would do with the character generation rules im giving my players. And also for any advise. It doesn't matter if your build(s) is ulta-optimized or barely functioning, Im looking for sweet sweet metal ideas.

RULES:
40 point buy
Starting at level 11 with regular WBL
Gestalt, but one side must be bard and bard themed prcs. you can have prcs on both sides.
You can put RHD up the non bard side. No undead characters for plot reasons. Dread Necro is acceptable. As is tomb tainted soul.
You get up to 2 La for free. No more than 2la is allowed. You can have up to 1 Template. Unselie fey is +1la.
All classes get 2 more skills per level.
You get feats at every odd numbered level.

Heartfire fanner from dragon mag is allowed. My players will be allowed to ask for other dragon mag stuff so feel free to suggest stuff to make them aware of.
The Disciple of Metal homebrew prc is also allowed. Probably wont be looking at more home-brew stuff.
Pathfinder stuff is also available on request. not pathfinder bard tho.
Alternate class features on the bards are allowed/encouraged.
DFI of different energies stack. The same ones do not.


There may be room for one or two non bard characters. As long as they fill a role in the band, think manager and roadie. I had an idea for a dread pirate roadie that had a wheeled "ship" for the tour bus.

The Setting:
Recently the party managed to get wiped in the Red Hand of Doom. This was before i went away for a while so instead of reroll i basically called it and said they lost the war and Tiamat was summoned successfully.

Now ten years have past and this band is the last part of the resistance. They must conquer the five headed dragon and her demonic/undead armies.

So there will be lots of dragons and undead and a few demons/evil outsiders.

The encounters are being designed around metal/rock songs, welcome to the jungle, hells bells, thunderstruck ect ect. Any ideas for song themed encounters would be appreciated.

What builds can you come up with? What have I missed? How would you change my rules?

THERE ARE NO BAD REPLIES ONLY METAL ONES

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Combine the Frostblood Half-Orc in Dragon Magic with Desert Half-Orc, since a tundra is technically a desert, and ORKS (https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1689&bih=926&q=ork+flowchart&oq=ork+flowchart&gs_l=img.3..0.779.2727.0.2818.13.6.0.7.7.0.238.663 .0j3j1.4.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..2.11.678.efNsvwoPk MQ#imgrc=YoFkssW5-Us7wM%3A). This gets you the Dragonblood subtype, and no Cha penalty. Use the Half-Humans and Humanlike Races variant in Races of Destiny p150 to count as a Human instead of an Orc for what the character can qualify for.

The free +2 LA can be Phrenic Creature (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/monsters/phrenicCreature.htm) or Half-Fey (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040213a), or possibly Half-Dragon (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20030912a) 2 and gain the third level of that at Bard 6 so you get full BAB and all good saves at that level. Pick a variety that gets immunity to fire so you no longer have the Frostblood Half-Orc's greatest drawback. You could also use Half-Fiend (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20031010a) and put the third and fourth levels of that with class levels that get good BAB and decent base saves, and even use this variant (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060630a) for size and Cha bonuses, or just Half-Goristro to have a net +16 Str, -2 Dex, +12 Con, +5 natural armor, etc.

Trade Inspire Courage for Inspire Awe in Dragon Magic, and trade your Suggestion song for Haunting Melody per the ECS Bard ACF. Get the Dreadful Wrath regional feat since you count as Human for qualifications. Take Imperious Command in Drow of the Underdark, and say you visited the Otyugh Hole to Menacing Demeanor without spending a feat on it. Take a level of Half-Orc Paragon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/racialParagonClasses.htm#halfOrcParagon) at some point as well.

For one build you can start out Bard 8/ Dragon Devotee 1/ Half-Orc Paragon 1/ Sublime Chord 1// Fighter 3/ Template Class 1/ Fighter 1/ Template Class 1/ Fighter 5+, using the Zhentarim Soldier (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060327a) substitution levels for Fighter and the Dead Levels (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20061013a) class features. This is a melee character, you can Intimidate as a swift action every round (Never Outnumbered once per encounter) in addition to your Inspire Awe, Haunting Melody, and Dreadful Wrath. Consider including Fell Frighten Spell with an area effect such as Sound Burst.

For another build you can go with a Bard//Fighter mix with a single level dip into Half-Orc Paragon with either Spellthief or Psychic Rogue (depending on whether you want to use Wands or Dorjes from whichever list), and take Zhentarim Fighter to 9th with Scarlet Corsair (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20050805b) 5. That allows you to use your swift action Intimidate every round to affect every opponent within 30 ft., each of which are affected by your Imperious Command feat. That's still in addition to your Inspire Awe, Haunting Melody, and Dreadful Wrath fear effects. This one has considerably less spellcasting than the above build, but it's just as good at melee. Something like Bard 4/ Half-Orc Paragon 1/ Spellthief or Psychic Rogue 1/ Scarlet Corsair 5// Fighter 9/ Bard 2, possibly replacing one or both of those last two Bard levels with Dragon Devotee 1 and/or Mindbender 1. Throw on Able Learner and you've got the party trapmonkey.


If you want to keep Inspire Courage, Bard 8/ Dragon Devotee 1/ Sorcerer 1/ Sublime Chord 1+// Crusader 5/ Binder 1/ Hellreaver 5 is a superb melee support build. Use the Dragonblood Sorcerer 1 substitution level to get Draconic Heritage instead of a familiar, and you can use a Wand of Wings of Cover which still benefits from your dragonblood subtype. That wand is still an immediate action to activate per the Rules Compendium since that's the spell's casting time, as long as it's in hand or in a wand chamber of whatever weapon/shield you're holding. Bind Naberius and keep an odd-numbered ability score on Constitution, and every round use one of your Hellreaver abilities until you run out of Holy Fury points, then use Heroic Sacrifice to gain them all back for 2 Con damage. Naberius will fast heal one of that immediately, putting you at an even-numbered Con score, so you'll always have the same ability modifier on Con for ease of play. Between the Crusader stances and maneuvers for healing and aiding allies, Hellreaver abilities healing and helping every round, Bard spells with Dragonfire Inspiration of your choice of energy type (Sonic if you cast Creaking Cacophony), and Wings of Cover to protect you and everyone nearby when necessary, everyone will be extremely happy to have this character on hand.

Everyone can take Leadership and the party can get a trio of backup singers who are just there to contribute Dragonfire Inspiration of three energy types that the rest of the PCs don't provide, and/or the normal PHB Inspire Courage benefits which stacks with DFI. Everyone can take Wild Cohort (archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a) and get a Dire Eagle or Fleshraker Dinosaur at 'level -3' (requires 7th level or higher) for +3 HD and natural armor, and +1 Str/Dex with Evasion. Throw on Warbeast and/or Magebred if you can get away with it (only characters with Ranger or Druid levels are specifically prohibited from putting Magebred on their companions). That gets a warm body that makes 3+ attacks and benefits from Inspire Courage. Everyone can get Obtain Familiar and Improved Familiar for an Imp or Quasit or Pseudodragon (muse?), a spellcaster can (Draconic) Polymorph an Outsider familiar into a physically powerful Outsider form, and it's proficient in all martial weapons due to its creature type, plus it also benefits from Inspire Courage. Even without Polymorph it can use its master's skill ranks (UMD) and throw Tanglefoot Bags.

[gawwy]

I didn't know about the Hellreaver. its got some nice metal feel to it AND its got cha synergy ill definitely pass that along :)

also that custom half fiend alternative is just amazing will be using that to metal up some creatures for encounters.

Thanks for reminding me about Otyugh Hole. I might actually have them go there in an encounter.

Also while my players arnt really at the level of rules foo that you are with the orc variant mashing its definitely something ill keep in mind for future reference if I ever end up playing in a silly overpowered game :)