In search of a class

[Nosta]

so I am trying to help a friend find a D&D 3.5 or pf class that fits the following....
use cha as its primary stat, has social skills but is easy to manage (as in dose not have large spell list to manage or other such thing)

[OldTrees1]

Cha as the Primary stat unfortunately means you are stuck with spellcasters. However Bard can use its Cha for martial combat(given certain feats or magic items) and is a skillmonkey in addition to being a spellcaster.

[Sian]

Marshal (Miniature handbook) seems an obvious fit

[OldTrees1]

Marshal (Miniature handbook) seems an obvious fit

IIRC Cha is their tertiary (or maybe secondary) ability. It is only the minor aura(+Cha mod to a specific list) that uses Cha correct?

[BowStreetRunner]

I'd go with Warlock. While it has some nice abilities, you aren't juggling a huge spell list like with most caster classes. With the Beguiling Influence invocation (+6 Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate) you can do the social thing just fine.

[Red Fel]

Warlock is a solid option. Technically, it's not terribly dependent on Cha, but any invocations that trigger a save are Cha-based, so that's something. The class itself is exceptionally easy to use; you choose a fixed number of invocations from a fixed list, many of which provide an ongoing, passive benefit (even at level 20, you have all of 12 to keep track of, super easy), and you fire lasers. Done.

It's also good as a face class, with invocations like Beguiling Influence (+6 to Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate), Charm (as the spell Charm Monster), and Devil's Whispers (as the spell Suggestion, but with some modifications).

[Malroth]

IIRC Cha is their tertiary (or maybe secondary) ability. It is only the minor aura(+Cha mod to a specific list) that uses Cha correct?


Well concidering their auras are their only real class feature that would count more as a primary ability.



I'd go with Warlock. While it has some nice abilities, you aren't juggling a huge spell list like with most caster classes. With the Beguiling Influence invocation (+6 Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate) you can do the social thing just fine.


Bard 1 with able learner/Marshal 1/Warlock 1/anything x go into dread witch,intimidate EVERYTHING.

[Red Fel]

Bard 1 with able learner/Marshal 1/Warlock 1/anything x go into dread witch,intimidate EVERYTHING.

I mean, if you really want to go that route, go into Dread Witch and Nightmare Spinner. Not only can you intimidate everything, but your admittedly short spell list now doubles as a source of pants-crapping terror. Anytime someone tries to disbelieve your illusions, BAM! shaken, no save, and they take 1d6 nonlethal damage. Oh, and 3/day you can throw a save-or-die at someone; even if they save, they're panicked and take 3d6 nonlethal. Oh, and all of your Dread Witch powers deal nonlethal damage, too.

Seriously, it's obscene how well those classes mix together. They need to just be combined into a single class called "Crap your pants and die, in no particular order."

[Gildedragon]

Binder is Cha based and fairly easy to use, provided they print out the vestige stats beforehand.
Bind DC, Sign, Influence, Abilities.
One of the feats us a must (Practiced Binder... Or Improved Binding, I forget which)
Plays well as party face.

[Nosta]

since the person playing is not like a minmaxer
she chose warlock and the DM is giving her all the social skills
and is giving her a skill point of 5+int a level
to help her out

[Waazraath]

so I am trying to help a friend find a D&D 3.5 or pf class that fits the following....
use cha as its primary stat, has social skills but is easy to manage (as in dose not have large spell list to manage or other such thing)

Well, binder is cha based, but really complicated, so probably not appropriate. There are several melee classes that have interesting, cha based abilities, BUT, it's higly dependend on the optimization level of the campaign that is played what's viable. On average, melee needs more optimization to compete with the spell casting classes to work; but alas, that often also means 'more complicated builds', with more dips / prestige classes. On the other hand: a complicated build may also be easy to manage in play.

Some suggestions:
- paladin is (partly) cha based, adds cha to saving throws, cha to attack rolls when smiting, and has a number of turn undeads / day based on cha; there is a spell less variant in complete champion, if spells are a hassle) - especially the turn undead attempts can be used in a pretty strong way, with devotion feats or divine feats, that doesn't take a lot of rescource management
- the battle dancer (dragon compendium) has cha to AC when unarmored; it's a cha based monk (so not very strong)
- the divine feat 'divine power' burns turn undead to get cha to damage;
- the divine feat 'divine shield' burns turn attempts to get cha to AC
- the feat charming the arrow replaces dex when making a ranged attack; any fey race with this is a good option for an archer
- the prestige class hellreaver (fiendish codex 2) also has nice class abilities, keyed on charisma. It's quite strong (especially for a class without spellcasting)

Example build (up to lvl 16): race hellbred - mind (fiendish codex 2); classes barbarian 1 / paladin of freedom (unearthed arcana) 4 (spell less variant, complete champion, bonus feat on lvl 4) / fighteer 1 / hellreaver 10
- barbarian 1 (feat: extra rage, racial bonus: devil's favor)
- Paladin
- Paladin (feat: any appropriate devotion feat from complete champion, like animal devotion, travel devotion or protection devotion)
- Paladin (bonus feat: power attack)
- Paladin
- fighter (feat 6 and bonus feat: improved bull rush, shock trooper)
- Hellreaver
- Hellreaver
- Hellreaver (feat 9: divine might, or leap attack, or leadership...)
- Hellreaver
- Hellreaver
- Hellreaver (feat 12
- Hellreaver
- Hellreaver
- Hellreaver feat 15: mindsight)
- Hellreaver

Cha based, easy to play, though plenty of options and interesting choices to make, I think.

For an extensive overview on abilities keyed on cha: http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=4369.0

Hope this helps!

[Honest Tiefling]

since the person playing is not like a minmaxer
she chose warlock and the DM is giving her all the social skills
and is giving her a skill point of 5+int a level
to help her out

Any reason 5 not 6? I think 6 would be fine if she's not a min-maxer and the DM can trust her not to become one. *Eyes all newbie druid players*. Might I ask what the rest of the party is?

[Nosta]

Any reason 5 not 6? I think 6 would be fine if she's not a min-maxer and the DM can trust her not to become one. *Eyes all newbie druid players*. Might I ask what the rest of the party is?

there is 4 of us in all

the girl is playing a warlock with cha flare
then another guy is playing a bard with lots of music ability
then the one is playing a fighter that runs off of Int
then I am playing a battle sorcerer that uses transmutation class spells , swiftblade that uses range weapons like Xbow