Dusk Raven
2018-08-18, 07:01 PM
So, I'm working on a 3.5 or Pathfinder NPC who's meant to be a high-ranking commander of a vampire faction/army. She's a female human, and I've decided her base class will be Bard, as she is fluff-wise an extremely talented and enchanting singer. While her first 5 levels will be easy enough, I'm not sure where to go with the rest of her build and I want to weigh my options:
-Dirgesinger is an obvious choice, and it's prereq feat Requiem will likely be needed for this sort of concept. However, they don't get casting progression (which is admittedly an easy homebrew fix), making them an okay PrC all in all.
-Seeker of the Song adds a lot of new uses for Bardic Music, and can even use multiple Bardic/Seeker effects at once. If combined with Dirgesinger, one can buff allies and debuff enemies at the same. While it seems to be one of the better Bard PrCs, it hamstring's a bard's spellcasting progression (like the Dirgesinger), delegating the Seeker to musical buffing.
-Sublime Chord has less progression for Bardic Music in exchange for basically becoming a full caster, with a few new uses for Bardic Music that enhance one's spellcasting or produces magical effects. Of course, it obviously doesn't mesh with the above two.
-Lyric Thaumaturge - not a whole lot really jumped out at me when I looked over this class, but it seems to generally enhance a bard's pre-existing spellcasting. May be a good option if I don't know what else to pic.
-Virtuoso: Bardic Music en masse. Useful for commanding (or hindering) armies, but not neccessarily what I have in mind.
-Multiclass with Cleric, likely with the Death and Domination domains. Maybe even Cloistered Cleric - the reduced hit points aren't a problem for a vampire, and there are a few neat perks. However, I suspect I'd have to really commit to this, making it largely incompatible with going too far in the above PrCs - casting classes don't do well as dip classes, I think.
I have an idea of what I'd conceptually like to do - a Bard whose doesn't go for physical attacks, and prefers to attack with magic or hinder enemies with music (if not directly harming them with her voice). However, mixing in the Vampire template changes things up a bit, and I'd like some advice on how these options (or any others) might work out for an undead NPC boss.
-Dirgesinger is an obvious choice, and it's prereq feat Requiem will likely be needed for this sort of concept. However, they don't get casting progression (which is admittedly an easy homebrew fix), making them an okay PrC all in all.
-Seeker of the Song adds a lot of new uses for Bardic Music, and can even use multiple Bardic/Seeker effects at once. If combined with Dirgesinger, one can buff allies and debuff enemies at the same. While it seems to be one of the better Bard PrCs, it hamstring's a bard's spellcasting progression (like the Dirgesinger), delegating the Seeker to musical buffing.
-Sublime Chord has less progression for Bardic Music in exchange for basically becoming a full caster, with a few new uses for Bardic Music that enhance one's spellcasting or produces magical effects. Of course, it obviously doesn't mesh with the above two.
-Lyric Thaumaturge - not a whole lot really jumped out at me when I looked over this class, but it seems to generally enhance a bard's pre-existing spellcasting. May be a good option if I don't know what else to pic.
-Virtuoso: Bardic Music en masse. Useful for commanding (or hindering) armies, but not neccessarily what I have in mind.
-Multiclass with Cleric, likely with the Death and Domination domains. Maybe even Cloistered Cleric - the reduced hit points aren't a problem for a vampire, and there are a few neat perks. However, I suspect I'd have to really commit to this, making it largely incompatible with going too far in the above PrCs - casting classes don't do well as dip classes, I think.
I have an idea of what I'd conceptually like to do - a Bard whose doesn't go for physical attacks, and prefers to attack with magic or hinder enemies with music (if not directly harming them with her voice). However, mixing in the Vampire template changes things up a bit, and I'd like some advice on how these options (or any others) might work out for an undead NPC boss.