Help with the design of a thespian, entertainer & acrobat.

[blaggart]

Game group starting new campaign. New campaign is to be gestalt builds bent around entertainment. I chose the acrobat (because nobody else did) and will go with Halfing (again nobody else did) and he is mute (my reasoning for going the acrobatic path "no voice needed") My problem is deciding upon a mix of classes that blends well for this concept. We are starting out as 5th level and melee prowess is secondary "on the back burner".

My original thought was Warlock / Rogue with maxed tumble, jump and the acrobatic feat. My 3 least Warlock inc's 1) the +6 to bluff, intimidate & diplomacy ck's 2) the +6 to jump, tumblke and balnce cks 3) spider climb.

a pre thanks for any and all input

Blaggart

 

[Infiniti2000]

With combat being secondary, are you gonna just sit there all night and say nothing? Doesn't seem like very much fun at all for RP intensive gaming. It's not going to be very immersive when you actually can't "be" (i.e. talk) in character. Does your group do a lot of RP-acting in a session?

A mute might be an interesting one-shot, but I'd suggest rethinking that concept. When I think acrobat, I think monk/rogue, but I understand that would be a common choice, so warlock/rogue seems pretty good.

 

[blaggart]

I will be the primary DM so having a "less" involved pc fit the bill just fine. The party thus far consist of a Human Bard (Jester build) / Rogue, 1/2 Elf Casanova swooner type Swashbuckler / Rogue the party straight man like Dean was to Jerry, Shapeshifter role playing Bard / Rogue the actor of the group (shapshifts into area's figure heads & impromptu act ensue’s) w/ mimic feat to sound similar if not identical., and my Warlock/Sorcerer/Rogue physical humor including magic tricks and support comic much like the midget from Penn & Teller.

B;aggart

 

[szilard]

Hmmm....

What about Beguiler/Swashbuckler?

-Stuart

 

[Vuron]

Hmmm....

What about Beguiler/Swashbuckler?

-Stuart

As the character is mute I think that would pretty much limit his ability to cast spells with Verbal components. Sure in theory he could get silent spell but without metagaming it seems pretty dubious

As for communication I assume that if the DM allows it one or more characters in addition to the PC could have a form of sign language (much like undercommon used to be) and they can serve as translators for the character.

It definitely limits any of the verbal uses of common social skills. Bluff could still easily be used for Feints but not neccesarily fast talk situations and things like diplomacy would be very difficult.

 

[Tonguez]

Warlock/Rogue/Pyschic Warrior

 

[IamTheTest]

Monk 5?

 

[Heckler]

As the character is mute I think that would pretty much limit his ability to cast spells with Verbal components. Sure in theory he could get silent spell but without metagaming it seems pretty dubious

Beguilers automatically get Silent Spell at fifth level.

 

[Sejs]

Well, let's see here. First off, as an acrobat, you're going to want steady and regular access to which skills...

Tumble, Balance, and Jump are definites. Probably also Climb, otherwise you're mostly an, er, terrabat. Groundcrobat. Because of the speed penalties related to jump checks you're probably going to want some way to move quicker than normal. Because of your focus on mobility you're also not going to want much in the way of armor.

Ninja works well for skills, mobility (particularly climb/jump), and nets you your wis bonus to ac when nakers.

Scout works well for skills, and movement speed.

Monk works well for skills, movement speed, and ac (wis bonus again), but you have to be lawful.

Rogue works well for skills.

Now as for your other half - if you're mute, most spellcasting would be something to avoid. If magic is something you want to do, warlock invocations don't have verbal components, and neither do psionic powers. Personally, I'd lean more toward psionics myself.

All that having been said, how about a halfling ninja/psychic warrior? Your wisdom pulls double-duty as it's key for both classes, and it's pretty easy to reconcile the two thematically - your ninja abilities are an offshoot of your psychic warrior powers or vice versa. As an added bonus, you can pick up some of those tasty psionic feats like Speed of Thought and Up the Walls, further adding to your already impressive mobility.

 

[Vuron]

Beguilers automatically get Silent Spell at fifth level.

Would you take the class if you couldn't use it's primary ability (spellcasting) for 4 levels?

Not to mention the fact that the silent spell would have to be used on every spell with a verbal component which ends up costing the beguiler a bunch of power.