[D&D 3.5] Working with a mercenary leader's build.

[Jergmo]

So, folk of the Playground, I'm currently trying to get the build for a villain in my campaign set up, the leader of a very renowned mercenary group that is working for the rebels my players are fighting against. He started out originally as just a martial character, but that's naturally a bit subpar. The idea I have in mind is to have a focus on both strength and intelligence - a crafty basher, likely focusing on disarming and/or sundering. These are the attributes I have for him as of now, with a 32 pt. buy, level 8.

Str 16, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 8

I've been fiddling around with a lot of ideas for character level distribution. This is the current idea I have: 3 Duskblade/3 Swashbuckler/2 Lion Totem Barbarian, with Whirling Frenzy. Or just going for 1 level in Barbarian and have a 4th level in Duskblade, if I want to just go by the assumption that the 20% exp. penalty shouldn't hurt an NPC anyway. How does this look so far? Are there some massive holes that I'm not yet seeing?

Note: the levels in swashbuckler being for Insightful Strike at this point, mostly. Planning to have him use a greatsword.

[BenInHB]

Bladesinger isn't exactly optimized but fits well with swash and duskblade. It is keyed off INT and will advance your Duskblade casting

i ran a Pirate Captian that was a Dusk3/Swash3/Bladesinger3 and he was excellent.

Spellsong and Combat Expertise boosted his AC so high that he could casually bat away there blows and banter with/ berate the PC's as they were swinging at him. When he needed to make a hit count Channeling a strike or Truestrike+Powerattack did the trick. There attempted mutiny on his pirate ship failed... for now. They may have discovered a plot hook leading them back to a port the ship frequents and a rematch is in the making. But this time they are all a level higher and a lot better prepared.