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[Dragonwriter]

Originally Posted by Theroc

Can a binder be an effective combatant in their own right, when compared with other classes, or is it best as smaller dip?

Yes and no... I know, not very helpful. To expand on that, they will never be as effective as a full BAB class at hitting things, but they have plenty of their own abilities to make up for that. It really depends on what style you want the Binder to be for that day.

Additionally, if a Binder succeeds the Bind check, the Vestige holds no sway at all over the PC's behaviour, correct?

Yep.

Originally Posted by Theroc

Anyone have any tips for creating a Binder? I mean, I suppose that's sorta hard to do, given how widely vestiges range in style, but I'm sure there's some things that work better than others...

You would have to choose a style first... Personally, I would go for Improved Binding at 1st level and snag one of the nicer 2nd level vestiges (Savnok is great if you are playing a bruiser, you will never have to buy armor, and see if you could retrain that once you hit 13 or 15). I would also go for getting into the Knight of the Sacred Seal PrC. It gives you better HP, BAB and some neat class features while still giving you the Soul Binding bonus.

A combo I like (while I haven't had the chance to play it) is this (in order of the multiple bindings): Savnok, Focalor, Eligor and 1 open (and buy and use the Tooth of Savnok). It gives you your own set of full plate armor, a useful ranged attack that will deal 7-8d6 damage with a decent save on it, and you can channel some elemental damage as well as having a nice little STR bonus. Of course, this is for a bruiser style character. For a sneaky guy, you might want stuff to go with Andromalius and Marchosias. It all depends on the style and what you expect to do that day.