[3.5] Mundane VoP Build

[Soranar]

I think I went about this the wrong way

There's more to DnD than what you contribute to a fight

With that in mind

Race: Changeling
Alignment: any good
Template: Dragonborn of bahamut (for wings though your mount could provide that so you can skip it)

Alternate class features and substitution levels

Rogue
- social intuition

Level 1 Rogue Wild cohort (very useful bodyguard that you can boost with your auras)
Level 2 Marshal
Level 3 Marshal Skill focus: bluff
Level 4 Marshal
Level 5 Marshal
Level 6 Charlatan Knowledge devotion (Marshal has all knowledge skills, so will exemplar) or craven
Level 7 Charlatan
Level 8 Charlatan
Level 9 Charlatan Craven or knowledge devotion
Level 10 Charlatan
Level 11+ Exemplar
Level 12 Quick draw
Level 15 TWF
Level 18 ITWF

Ok so this is a counterintuitive build, it's a mundane class optimized for diplomancy and bluff (CHA is your main stat)

Social rogue means you can take 10 on all social skills and you start with 10x4 skillpoints
Charlatan makes you a pseudo EX caster
Wild cohort grants you a warrior mount that you ride everywhere
Marshal lets you motivate Charisma (minor aura) + 1 major aura to boost your allies
Exemplar gives you all skills (so Iaijutsu focus is fair game) and you can take 10 on it with the exemplar ability, same with the knowledge skills)
You can throw daggers to trigger iaijutsu focus due to wonky writing of the skill
Craven gives you some kind of bonus damage to let you pull your weight for a bit, marshal lets you grant move actions to other more combat oriented classes

Just about all of your abilities are EX

Your damage is not spectacular but your skills give you enough versatility to help out in most encounters and, since you take 10 on everything, nothing is up to chance.

[pabelfly]

I think I went about this the wrong way

There's more to DnD than what you contribute to a fight

With that in mind

Race: Changeling
Alignment: any good
Template: Dragonborn of bahamut (for wings though your mount could provide that so you can skip it)

Alternate class features and substitution levels

Rogue
- social intuition

Level 1 Rogue Wild cohort (very useful bodyguard that you can boost with your auras)
Level 2 Marshal
Level 3 Marshal Skill focus: bluff
Level 4 Marshal
Level 5 Marshal
Level 6 Charlatan Knowledge devotion (Marshal has all knowledge skills, so will exemplar) or craven
Level 7 Charlatan
Level 8 Charlatan
Level 9 Charlatan Craven or knowledge devotion
Level 10 Charlatan
Level 11+ Exemplar
Level 12 Quick draw
Level 15 TWF
Level 18 ITWF

Ok so this is a counterintuitive build, it's a mundane class optimized for diplomancy and bluff (CHA is your main stat)

Social rogue means you can take 10 on all social skills and you start with 10x4 skillpoints
Charlatan makes you a pseudo EX caster
Wild cohort grants you a warrior mount that you ride everywhere
Marshal lets you motivate Charisma (minor aura) + 1 major aura to boost your allies
Exemplar gives you all skills (so Iaijutsu focus is fair game) and you can take 10 on it with the exemplar ability, same with the knowledge skills)
You can throw daggers to trigger iaijutsu focus due to wonky writing of the skill
Craven gives you some kind of bonus damage to let you pull your weight for a bit, marshal lets you grant move actions to other more combat oriented classes

Just about all of your abilities are EX

Your damage is not spectacular but your skills give you enough versatility to help out in most encounters and, since you take 10 on everything, nothing is up to chance.

So where's Sacred Vow, Vow of Poverty, and the exalted feats?

[MaxiDuRaritry]

<snip>

Just remember that you lose all of your changeling abilities. Changeling racial ACFs are some of the best out there, but you'll completely lose your racial abilities.

[Soranar]

So where's Sacred Vow, Vow of Poverty, and the exalted feats?

Right, I forgot the feat tax for vow of poverty

I guess I can remove craven and trade sneak attack for a feat (martial rogue) , there aren't that many useful sacred feats except nymph's kiss and vow of nonviolence, you wisdom isn't that high so intuitive strike won't help much either.

knowledge devotion + iaijutsu focus will have to be enough, you can use skill tricks to trigger iaijutsu focus too

ideally you take flaws to count for VOP (though playing VOP is already a huge debuff)

[Soranar]

Just remember that you lose all of your changeling abilities. Changeling racial ACFs are some of the best out there, but you'll completely lose your racial abilities.

I know but the flight thing is a must and, even with a flying wild cohort mount, it's risky not to be able to fly at all

[MaxiDuRaritry]

You don't have to take incarnum classes to make use of soulmelds so long as you've got enough feats to burn.

[Thurbane]

Stumbled across something while looking for something else entirely.

Bad news for VoP giants, I am afraid (at least by strict RAW):

Normal
As an improvised weapon, a 40- to 50-pound rock deals 2d6 points of damage with a range increment of 5 feet, and such a rock can be thrown only as a full-round action.

So technically, rocks are not simple weapons.

[edit] Also, another thing I just found. CW p.158 has more details on improvised weapons.

Also, if you're talking about use as a shield, there nothing I'm aware of that allows improvised weapons to be used as shields. Cover, maybe.

One of the things it includes is as follows:

Defense: Objects with lots of surface area (such as tables) grant you a +2 shield bonus to Armor Class (or a +4 shield bonus to AC if you use the total defense action), but require two hands to use.

So apologies to loky1109.