What's a good high-charisma build? Or, can Bards be useful?

[youspoonybard]

Because of the +1/5 levels, isn't the Bard's "BAB" pretty good nowadays?

I mean, it works out to having a Full BAB and +5 to damage...

 

[Snipehunt]

Because of the +1/5 levels, isn't the Bard's "BAB" pretty good nowadays?

I mean, it works out to having a Full BAB and +5 to damage...

Not quite = +19/ +4 damage, no extra iterative attack. Still very good. I see it more as making up for having a sucky strength compared to the melee types and no special attacks like rogues and monks. You give up sneakiness to get good BAB.

Bards are great, though. I saw a bard get up to around +35 on diplomacy without trying that hard. Melted the hearts of enemies right away. The barbarian and battle wizard players complained about talking to things and stuff all the time. Good times.

 

[Zaruthustran]

Again, making a saving throw could easily mean the difference between surviving, or rolling up a new character.

Yeah, it seems a waste to have a high Charisma and NOT have Divine Grace.

Divine Grace is available through Paladin, Holy Liberator, and Contemplative (the Mysticism domain).

So how about:

Human Paladin 2/Cleric 4
Str 14 Dex 10 Con 12 Int 8 Wis 14 Cha 16
Feats:
1 Power Attack, Weapon Focus: Greatsword
3 Divine Might
6 Leadership

Or...
Human Bard 6/Horizon Walker 1/Holy Liberator 2
Human Bard 8/Holy Liberator 2
Feats and stats?

Or...
Human Barbarian 2/ Bard 4/ Templar (of Myhriss, Greyhawk god of love and romance--one of two gods with whip as a favored weapon) or Lasher
Str 14 Dex 10 Con 14 Int 14 Wis 8 Cha 14
1. Combat Expertise, Improved Trip
3. Weapon Focus: Whip
6. Leadership? Or Iron Will and go for Holy Liberator?

Or...
Human Cleric (domains: Trickery, Knowledge)
Str 8 Dex 10 Con 14 Int 14 Wis 16 Cha 12
1. Spell Focus: Enchantment, Improved Init
3. Scribe Scroll
6. Leadership

Comments on these builds?

-z

edit: Divine GRACE, not Divine Favor

 

[Thanee]

Divine Grace!

Bye
Thanee

 

[The Souljourner]

Thanks... that was bugging me too Divine Favor = spell, Divine Grace = paladin ability.

I really like the idea of taking a couple levels of holy liberator, I may need to do that with my bard

-The Souljourner

 

[jgsugden]

If you want to do more role playing, I suggest a rogue. They have lots of charisma based skills. They also have a lot of opportunities to create role playing opportunities.

Talking your way out of incarceration can be fun.

 

[Camarath]

OH, and psion (telepath) can be pretty evil.

I have to second this. Psion (Telepath) can be a very fun build. Its power will vary quite a bit though depending on how your DM runs Charm. You might consider playing a Paladin/Psion if you want a bit more direct combat.

 

[Norfleet]

The party can never have too many roguely people. Rogues are synergistic: The more rogues you have, the easier it is to pull sneak attacks, when you have rogues bouncing all over the place like berserk slinkys. With a large assortment of skills, and a good multiclass choice, you can easily make use of high charisma on a rogue: A blackguard multiclass can even let you keep some more sneak attack.

 

[The Souljourner]

*LOL* "rogues bouncing all over the place like berserk slinkys"

I think bards trump rogues when it comes to roleplaying opportunities. Of course, you can run a rogue a lot like a bard, but then why not play a bard?

Bards are the friendliest and most likeable characters in the game, and you should take advantage of that.

I'm looking forward to playing my new bard more than any other character, simply because he'll be more over the top and fun than any character I've ever played. Of course, you can be over the top with a fighter too, but it just doesn't have the same ring to it, if you know what I mean.

-The Souljourner

 

[Al]

The infamous paladin1/telepathX is an exceptional build for high Charisma characters. Not only is the telepath one of the best Charisma-build classes out there (combining one of the best sets of powers and a decent set of Charisma-based skills), adding paladin pushes it over the top. Not only do you gain your (maxed out) Charisma modifier to saves, you gain full armour and shield proficiency, which blends well with the psion's ability to manifest powers whilst armoured.