Bard/Rogue build idea's - Focused on role-play

[OrphanFelix]

What's up guys 'n' girls!

I'm a long time 3.5 player and casual DM'er. I usually played some mindcontrol psionic weirdo with a way to high intelligence than what was good for him. Now is the case that one of my friends is going to be DM, and he restricted the use of anything except for the core books plus the Complete books.
There will be more role-playing than combat, and i can't play my trusty psionic character. So i'm kind of stuck in getting a background story and somehow also optimizing the build a little.

So, here is the question: could someone give me some advice on how to play a bard who might multiclass into rogue?

Thanks in advance boys an grills

[Troacctid]

The classes don't combine well. Multiclassing puts you behind on spellcasting, and most of what you get is redundant. There's also no real support for this particular combination—there aren't any prestige classes or feats or anything to incentivize it, like there are for combos like Rogue/Wizard or Scout/Ranger.

What you might do is take only a single level of Changeling Rogue. It gives a significant bonus to social skills, which is pretty good on a bard, and if you take it at level 1, it gives you 16 extra skill points. Of course, since you don't have Races of Eberron, you can't actually do this.

Another thing you could do would be a Sublime Chord + Unseen Seer combo. That would work well, although it would only show up at higher levels.

[Warrnan]

It depends on what you are wanting to do. Bard and rogue have a lot overlap for sure. Typically I would reccomend rogue 1 + the able learner for open lock and disable device.

Rog1/bard8/ virtuoso1/ sublime chord1/virtuoso9 will give you 9th level spells, 18 levels worth of bardic music, and the rogue utility skills maxed out.

Its probably the most powerful option if you desire maximum spell power and inspire courage buffing.

However. If you are jonesing for some sneak attack with a side of arcane casting then rog1 + able learner/ bard4/ unseen seer5/ virtuoso1/ sublime chord1/ virtuoso 9 would bet you 3d6 sneak attack, hunter's eye from advanced learning for caster level /3 more sneak attack, 14 levels of music progression and 9th level spells.

Unseen seer is no doubt better for a wizard but this could be a fun build if you love sneak attack.

*swordsaged* lol

[OrphanFelix]

And what if would play a rogue/duelist kind of guy masquerading as a bard? Would that be feasible?
As in going full on for the sneakattack damage, next to being a trickster in the roleplaying. And of of that while pretending i'm just a bard who is lucky with hitting people.

Note: I'm also looking for role-playing hooks

[Warrnan]

Well a pretty standard rogue build would be something like rogue 4/ swashbuckler16 to get full sneak attack and a high base attack for all your rapier fencing needs. I reccomend 2 weapon fighting for maximum sneak attack goodness. Utilize use magic device and a handful of ranks into perform (sing) to be a dashing swordsman with a flair for singing. Some ranks in bluff make you a believable bard of sorts. Speaking or singing in combat is a free action. Bardic music however slows down your swashbuckling time by roughly one round.

Once again able learner and rogue will keep UMD and rogue utility skills easily accessible.

The singing swordsman is a very believable Disney- esque bard.

[Troacctid]

What do you mean by "masquerading as" a Bard? Do you mean you want to trick people into thinking you have arcane spellcasting, or disguise yourself as a member of a bardic college, or something?

[OrphanFelix]

Well a pretty standard rogue build would be something like rogue 4/ swashbuckler16 to get full sneak attack and a high base attack for all your rapier fencing needs. I reccomend 2 weapon fighting for maximum sneak attack goodness. Utilize use magic device and a handful of ranks into perform (sing) to be a dashing swordsman with a flair for singing. Some ranks in bluff make you a believable bard of sorts. Speaking or singing in combat is a free action. Bardic music however slows down your swashbuckling time by roughly one round.

Once again able learner and rogue will keep UMD and rogue utility skills easily accessible.

The singing swordsman is a very believable Disney- esque bard.

I was reading some more and saw that swashbuckler was not that great to put many levels in. But i'm not sure, i have never seen someone play it. would it be better then just full on rogue?

Disney-esque is awesome fluff though

[OrphanFelix]

What do you mean by "masquerading as" a Bard? Do you mean you want to trick people into thinking you have arcane spellcasting, or disguise yourself as a member of a bardic college, or something?

Yeah, something like that. Just to throw something in the mix and make the roleplay a little more interessting then just the usual story about how my parents died early and i had to do it all by myself and yada yada

Maybe my character bluffed himself into the palace by pretending to be a bard, and now he stays there and plays some GoT-like game.

[Troacctid]

Rogues do have the Perform skill. You could be a minstrel without any levels in the Bard class. Give yourself a high Charisma score and use feats like Combat Panache and Frightful Presence.

Spellthief would work great as well, since they scale with Charisma and actually have some native casting. They don't get Perform, but they do get Tumble, which doubles as a Perform skill.