sleepy
2008-09-14, 01:22 AM
So somehow I got a character concept into my head I'd like to play. Somewhat based on the Word Bearer chaos space marine chaplain fluff, I envision this zealot overflowing with psychotic conviction, far beyond the point of reasonable and well within the realm of dangerous. He is the sort who will charge into battle unleashing litanies of hatred while his sword rises and falls, terrifying foes and encouraging allies with his blind certainty. He is a man who will stand on a rooftop demagogue-ing to the populous, dispelling fear, inspiring mob mentality, and quite possibly inciting riots. He is a fearless man who won't hesitate to cross blades, but can back his steel with magic of the sort that can be hurled like blasphemy with more determination than scholarly understanding. Ever confident, there would be few tasks he would admit no knowledge of how to approach, and he would catch his allies up in his raging arrogance and accustom them to the chaos he would incite. He would worship Chaos itself and unleash it on the world in all its mind-warping glory.
So I started looking at mechanics that would fit this guy. He needs to be somewhat combat capable, have some, but not full, spellcasting (preferably spontaneous), a high Charisma, and hopefully some mechanical way of emphasizing his endless, ensorcelling sermons.
Then I realized, oh snot. That would be a bard. I'd have to heavily reflavor pretty much every class feature and most spells (grease = warping chaos? suddenly, the guard's sword begins to twist and writhe with a mad refusal to retain the confines of its shape?), but bard definitely meets my requirements by the numbers better than anything else could.
Thing is, I have always ignored Bard-related material across the splatbooks and have no real experience with arcane spellcasting either. I understand bards are godawful unless you want to cheese Diplomacy (I do not) and what with prestige classes usually requiring specific feats/skills/tenancies/fluff, I find it difficult to imagine something built for a bard to go into looks anything like this guy. Hell, I don't even know where to start looking for Bardic Music feats or interesting spells.
So, help me out. What are some cool options I could look at to help make this barddemagogue happen? I'd love to hear about some options for bards that this guy might do... if it requires yet-more reflavoring that seems to be the soup of the day, though if it's straight up not fitting the concept I wouldn't want it for the build.
((incidentally, anyone running a 3.5 pbp want to host this character? I promise unique reflavored spell descriptions, extensive character sketch, and other fluffy goodness ;) ))
So I started looking at mechanics that would fit this guy. He needs to be somewhat combat capable, have some, but not full, spellcasting (preferably spontaneous), a high Charisma, and hopefully some mechanical way of emphasizing his endless, ensorcelling sermons.
Then I realized, oh snot. That would be a bard. I'd have to heavily reflavor pretty much every class feature and most spells (grease = warping chaos? suddenly, the guard's sword begins to twist and writhe with a mad refusal to retain the confines of its shape?), but bard definitely meets my requirements by the numbers better than anything else could.
Thing is, I have always ignored Bard-related material across the splatbooks and have no real experience with arcane spellcasting either. I understand bards are godawful unless you want to cheese Diplomacy (I do not) and what with prestige classes usually requiring specific feats/skills/tenancies/fluff, I find it difficult to imagine something built for a bard to go into looks anything like this guy. Hell, I don't even know where to start looking for Bardic Music feats or interesting spells.
So, help me out. What are some cool options I could look at to help make this barddemagogue happen? I'd love to hear about some options for bards that this guy might do... if it requires yet-more reflavoring that seems to be the soup of the day, though if it's straight up not fitting the concept I wouldn't want it for the build.
((incidentally, anyone running a 3.5 pbp want to host this character? I promise unique reflavored spell descriptions, extensive character sketch, and other fluffy goodness ;) ))