Help with a 3.x Undead-killing Bard

[Dozen]

Oh, okay, sorry. You see, I take alignment very seriously. I don't expect my players to understand and follow it all the time(anymore), but I always well define my NPCs- This way I know what would they do in depth. True Neutral(Evil) supposed to mean a True Neutral character with Evil tendencies; that is, if there is a situation where the True Neutral philosophy doesn't apply, or where she presented with a choice between a good deed and an evil one all within reason, she'd more likely commit the evil act.
Let's say she saw someone taken captive by troglodytes (who only take captives to sacrifice them) while hunting a vampire. On one hand,
1. She likes her friends and the party also made a nice first impression(at least I hope so). They all are Good aligned, so she'd get goodie points if she helped.
2. One of her allies also saw what happened and is already determined to tell the rest.
On the other:
1. She's couldn't care less for the prisoner.
2. She wants to hunt down that vampire as part of her personal quest, and every moment spent on something else is a waste.
(She didn't think all this trough, obviously. When you followed a philosophy for a while, these just sort of pop in.)
For the usual Neutral character, the choice would be to honor their friendship and go with them; but she's willing to commit an evil act, so she cast Modify Memory on her teammate and told no one what she saw, indirectly causing the death of an innocent. She doesn't WANT the poor fella to die - she's not a sadist or anything - and wouldn't off him herself, but she's selfish enough to put her own ends before the other's.
Note that this deed also doesn't oppose True Neutral beliefs; she has not risked a change of alignment, she only did something her Good friends would have frowned upon, had they found out.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

That 's about what I figured...

And the thing is, the Infernal heritage puts a little "born bad" into the mix, a game mechanic manifestation of the character's tendencies.

 

[Dozen]

I think I get your point, but I don't see it. Even if she had devil blood, what's the benefit in depending on it? A sonic ability? As a bard, she can get a lot of those. Without the risk of damnation due to spamming unarguably evil magic, I might add. Because the Neutral Evil afterlife? You don't need to pass especially high Knowledge checks to realize Hades is a bad vacation spot for pretty much everyone, and definitely not the best plane to spend eternity on for a depressed bard who hates ghosts. It happens to be aboundant in ghosts, deafening wind and depression.

Also, feat deprivation says 'no'.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I understand feat deprivation!

It's partly about flavor. (Mostly, personally.) Despite it's name, though, it has no alignment- you may have hellish blood in your veins, but it doesn't control you; it has no alignment tags on it anywhere.

It's also partly about having a magical AoE sonic attack that:

1) does direct damage, so is not a charm/enchantment/mind-affecting magic that undead may be immune to; and

2) is unlikey to be resisted or reduced by targets' defenses; and

3) does not provoke AoOs when used; cannot be taken away; has no components; cannot be disrupted

 

[Dozen]

It's partly about flavor. (Mostly, personally.) Despite it's name, though, it has no alignment- you may have hellish blood in your veins, but it doesn't control you; it has no alignment tags on it anywhere.

An Evil spell either comes from an evil source, or does something evil. Spells (or stuff like them save for invocations) originating from Evil outsiders should always be Evil. The WotC guys and a lot of other publishers just made a habit of forgetting about their own rules, ala mindless natives with alignment other than TN or throwing the Evil descriptor at Necromancy spells like it was candy.
It's a shame tough. All your other points are valid. I'd be willing to houserule out the Sorcerer req. if you find something similar without heritage. Or you could just drop the whole sorcerer thing and help me find something else.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

WotC hasn't forgotten anything.

The ability granted by Infernal Sorcerer Shout is like those gained from the similar feats Arcane Strike, Spellfire Wielder, Celestial Sorcerer Lane, Draconic Breath, certain reserve feats (like thë ones I pointed out upthread) and certain alternative class features: a Supernatural Ability that lets you channel raw spell energy into another form. It is NOT a spell. Because of this, it has no ASF, no disruption chance, no components, and no alignment.

As for other options, but for the stuff Dandu mentioned in this thread and the one I linked to, Bards are not that good against undead in general.

It's kind of like you're a weaker Fighter- your best options besides multiclassing into another base class or anti-undead PrCl is get decent armor and an Undead Bane or Disruption weapon. Your spell list beyond the buffs and the Cures are not going to be of much help.

 

[Dozen]

*sigh* Yeah. Bards have it hard. I found some fairly good options since, but in the end the best I could take are still the old meta feats and boring DDs to buff the light spells. Dissapointing Maybe I should build upon Song of the Dead+Debuff Enchantments instead with maxed necromancy. Meh, but if there IS no better option within my self-inflicted limits, then so be it. Thanks again for the Reserve feat tip.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Forgot some stuff!

If you start encountering a lot of incorporeal undead, keep the Transdimensional Spell feat in mind.

As a bard, you have access to all kinds of magic items- wands & rods are your friends. Wands of CLW; Metamagic Rods...just do a quick scan.

You might find something useful in the Warlock class, Ranged or Melee, worthy of a dip.

 

[Dozen]

Metamagic Rods I like. Thanks! Wanna see the build when it's ready?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Post it!

If you're lucky, someone who is a better optimizer than I- and there are a LOT of them here- will see it and help you tweak it further.