Best / most common "dip" class?

[Kahuna Burger]

What class are you most likely to find yourself dipping into (or at least considering it / wishing the multiclassing penalties would allow it) for a character you are building primarily in a different class or multiclass? Fighter for the feat(s)? Rogue for the skills/SA? Barbarian for the speed? If you start out considering a dip and end up with a full multiclass it still counts. Assuming 3.5 core classes....

 

[Voadam]

Rogue, Fighter, Barbarian, Ranger.

I've done rogue a bunch of times, usually as an add on for monster HD+ ECL concepts. I've done it with an aranea warshaper4 rogue 2 and with a fiendish troll rogue 1. The skills and sneak attack are nice when considering what to add on to the base creature when working with a high level group and you are limited to a level or two.

Fighter and Barbarian I've done to make brutes more brutish. I had an advanced gargoyle (size large) fighter 2 barbarian 1 for a fiend oriented planescape game that went well.

Ranger is for the eldritch knight demon hunting path and wanting to start with tracking, a bunch of skills, and favored enemy evil outsider. And to use cure light wound wands.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Barbarian, mostly for +10ft move but rage is a good addition for anyone who beats people up for a living, including druids.

 

[Pbartender]

In our group, the most common dip is two levels of Fighter...

The two bonus feats are the big draw, but... Proficiencies with practically all armor and weapons, +2 BAB, +2 Fort saves, and 2d10 hps is a good additional combat boost for any character who isn't a fully-fledged spellcaster and who can do without extra skill points.

 

[crazy_cat]

Either 2 levels of Fighter (Feats and BAB) or a couple of levels of Rogue (Skills)

 

[Simia Saturnalia]

When I'm having a party, I always use Fighter brand dip.

 

[Drowbane]

Brew's Top 5

5th: monk (1 level for Wis to AC)
4th: barbarian (1 level + Extra Rage feat; often splashed with fighter or warblade)
3rd: rogue (1 - 3 levels)
2nd: warlock (1 - 3 levels)
1st: fighter (1, 2 or 4 levels)

 

[Shade]

Two levels of rogue, for evasion, a bunch of skill points, and Tumble as a class skill at those levels.

I like playing Dextrous fighters.

 

[blargney the second]

As both DM and player, my dip classes of choice are:
1) Fighter. It's like tofu - it just soaks up the flavour of everything around it.
2) Barbarian. With all the alternate class features, it's quite versatile nowadays.
3) Warblade/crusader. They multiclass very nicely.
4) Divine mind. It's a surprisingly good dipper.
5) Scout/warlock/rogue. For the extra d6s; these are very build-dependent.
6) Some sort of spellcasting class to round things out a bit.

 

[dystmesis]

Dips of levels 1, 2, and 4 for fighters. Dips of 4 levels for any 3/4 BAB class, because remember, you only lose out on BAB at levels 1, 5, 9, etc. Dips of 2 levels in any 1/2 BAB class for the same reason.

However, with all the prcs there are in the various splatbooks, dips are a lot siller. You only need one level of Ur-Priest and several levels in some other prc to get 9th level spells, for example. Or your wizard can go just one level of dragonslayer for weapon and armor proficiencies and not lose out on any spellcasting, etc.