Need a class/variants suggestion

[Laharal]

Hello dear playgrounders,

After a dip in Pathfinder, I'll begin another 3.5 game within an homebrew world (game already on the way, lvl 11-12).

I need some suggestions as to what would suit what I feel like to play.

-The world is large, detailed, ''open-world'', with lots of personal, main and side quests.

-RP will be medium to heavy has decisions can have an impact and npcs will constantly give PCs interactions.

-The main quest is a twist on the classical sorcerer gone mad and begins to destroy the world by hurling comets on cities.. while raising an orc army ;)

-------
I thought on playing a tactician that would try to dig information on the best ways to sabotage the enemies' threat, recover powerful artifacts, plan hit and run missions, etc.

I picture a captain of a special force unit. A leader of commandos, a '' behind the lines operations'' planner, a guy who can be useful on the battlefield but that the skills/powers are strong in the RP/Kingdom(Resistance)-building parts of the game.

I'm open to any class, variant, combo.

I've found the 3rd party Tactician for Pathfinder

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/classes/tactician

Any suggestions suitable for 3.5 ?

Many thanks!

[daremetoidareyo]

Magic, Psionic, half caster, or mundane?

Melee focused battlefield control or special ops focused strategy to achieve a goal?
Melee focused will be more flanking and buff oriented where special ops would be a little more like an intruder/spyssassin.

For melee focused, I would look up teamwork benefits (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=4862.msg68838#msg68838) (click the spoiler) and maybe craft a ranger/duskblade or wilderness rogue/scout towards them.

For spyssassin, I would look at mindspy from CW and figure out a military way of getting there, but maybe entering through factotum/chamelion is fun.

[Troacctid]

First thing that jumps to mind is Unseen Seer (CC). You have the skills you need to interact with NPCs and gather information, you have excellent tools for scouting and gaining intelligence, you're no slouch at stealth and infiltration, and you can deal decent damage in combat with sneak attacks. Rogue 1/Wizard 4/Unseen Seer X is the standard build, although you may want to take the 5th level of Wizard for the Spontaneous Divination ability (CC), and there's merit to replacing the Rogue dip with a Psychic Rogue (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040723b) dip.

Urban Savant (CS) is another great prestige class for the job. You specialize in knowledge, and can peek at your enemies' statblocks. Full casting, lots of skill points, and good class skills make it a great option for any caster that can meet the requirements.

Seer (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/classes/psion.htm) is also a very strong choice. You have some of the best scrying and divination effects in the entire game, as well as a variety of other psionic powers that can help with whatever else you need.

Bardic Sage (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#bardVariantBardicSage) could be good as well. You're very good at social interaction, you have lots of skill points, your spells provide nice utility, and you're a competent support mage in combat. I'd recommend prestiging into Lyric Thaumaturge (CM) or Urban Savant, and Sublime Chord (CAr) once you hit high levels.

Beguiler (PH2) is a good base as well. Top-notch for stealth and social encounters, with lots of skill points and great spells. Your role in combat is to buff your allies, debuff and distract your enemies, and control the battlefield.

A theurge class such as Eldritch Disciple (CM), Anima Mage (ToM), or Arcane Hierophant (RW) would also be appropriate. While you'd have fewer skill points, you'd make up for it with the additional utility of your other magic progression.

And of course, you can never go wrong with Druid. Extremely powerful and flexible, and can fill basically any role you want.

I'm just skimming the surface here. There are like a bajillion ways to do the stuff you're talking about.

[AvatarVecna]

Bard 4/Warblade X focusing on the White Raven discipline will work wonders. You'll have a good social skills base with decent saves, BAB, and HP. You'll have Bardic Performance (improved by some White Raven thing), and you'll have other maneuvers allowing you to be pretty effective. Also, you might be interested in the War Chanter PrC from Complete Warrior. You could paste it into the above build, or you could go just Bard/War Chanter, either works out okay. Another good PrC for buff-focused Bards is War Weaver, which lets you put single-target buffs on a group of people you travel with regularly.

If you don't want to be a Bard (because you view the character as being too Lawful or something), a good Paladin can serve you well, as could a Marshal. Also, you might be interested in the options presented in the "Heroes of Battle" supplement.

[daremetoidareyo]

If you're going for a tactician like character, you can bend a caster to it so easily.

But if you want a mundaner route:

rogue or ranger 5/6 into trapsmith / wildsoul?. Trapsmith gives you haste and a bunch of terrain alteration spells. Fabricate and stoneshape. Lots of skill points. You can sneak like crazy. You can bring good firepower. What you are going to need are scouting networks, wild souls summons can hook you up with a bunch of unicorns and fairies.

Maybe ranger 6/trapsmith 5/spellsinger 1/sublime chord X?? with perform (weapon drill). Use your traps to make danger rooms for the other PCs. Max out craft trapmaking.

[Laharal]

Many thanks for all your input.

Do you think that I can convert the Tactician (Pathfinder) back to 3.5?

I really like all your suggestions as they include many types of abilities/archetypes. I'll dig into them soon.