We start playing the worldwound campaing (please no spoiler!) and my character idea is a greenhorn that comes to the worldwound and develops (I think at level 10 this evolution is finished) to a badass lieutanant (I think at 'apocalypse now' or 'starship troopers', I hope you know what I mean). Regarding his henchmans he is a tough bastard but they like going with him since if they follow the orders the probability for surviving is quite high.
I just become desparate finding the right class for him. We are playing with the mystic extension and I have read about the Marshal-
At the moment I am between the bard (maybe a controller?) and the paladin, since I like having some skills I was thinking about multiclassing them but I am not sure whether the build is to weak in high levels (we are playing up to level 20).
I would be really if you could just share your ideas about realizing the idea above.
Thanks in advance!
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You might want to consider one of the following ideas:
1. Battle Herald (multiclass bard/cavalier prestige class though evangelist cleric/cavalier and sensei monk/cavalier are arguably better entries).
2. Virtual multiclass (advanced class guide) feats would let you do the bard/paladin (or possibly fighter or cavalier) thing too.
are you just starting at lvl 1?
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Bard does the Marshall path better than Paladin mechanically.
Multi-classing would be interesting, and fine at the very highest levels (at 20th, a Bard 16/Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) 4 is actually probably better than a Bard 20), but maybe a problem in the mid-levels...7th level is where Bard gets super awesome. So...maybe Bard to 7, then Paladin for a bit, then back to Bard.
Or something like that.
@Declindgrund: Yes, we play from 1 to 20 straight through.
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You could consider a Ranger with companion bond instead of the more common animal companion. In the worldwound I would guess you'll face a ton of Demons so Favored Enemy (Evil Outsider) would be a pretty nice thing to share around the party. Rangers tend to have decent skills too. It's not as Marshal-orientated but could work, Rangers are badass.
Bard Inspire Courage does not have to be singing or tapdancing. It can also be screaming words of encouragement or motivating commandoes (Perform Oratory), like good officers.
Battle herald does what you want to, but also take a look at Bard VMC with Chevalier.
Have you considered a Skald? They mix the bard and barbarian but allow others to rage along with them. They also get medium armor and martial weapons.
Thanks for all your advices! I was thinking going this way:
Level1-Level5 Bard (Arcane Duellist) with variant multiclass cavalier
Level6-Level15 Battle Herald
But the Skald is very attractive too.
Play a Path of War Warlord if 3rd Party stuff is cool.
Luckily I'm an expert on Marshalls. To the 2 people who know me IRL, I hope you're laughing right now.
As the GM for a group of 2 I had to build a couple NPCs to round out the party or risk reworking the entire AP I was running, and one of them was an Arcane Duelist 4 / Standard Bearer Cavalier 2 / Battle Herald X, finished off with more levels in Bard. This guy was not just a monster in combat, but a valuable support for the other 3 with the ability to grant bonuses to saves, CL checks against SR, rerolls, and even attack and damage. By the end he was granting +10 to attack and damage, +4 to Fortitude saves, and +4 to CL to beat SR constantly. He took Riving Strike and the Order of the Staff to debuffing saves while dealing damage and used a Reach build for some control. In addition, the class gets a bonus to the Morale of any army they lead. It's altogether a versatile class that you will thoroughly enjoy.
I read into the Path of Warlord and that is just great stuff and it looks like a lot of fun to play, unfortuntely our GM does not allow the third party rules. So I will go with the Battle Herald. I would like to ask a few questions since I stuck a bit with the logic of the build.
Just for your information. My race will be an aasimar halfling (Immortal Spark/Azata-Blooded). My stats at the moment are: Str8; Dex 16; Con 12; Int 14; Wis 12; Cha18 with a 15 points buy.
Why is (almost) everybody building a battle herald going into Arcane Duelist? What you get is Arcane Strike (to me this is a +1 DMG), Rallying Cry (Su)a plus against fear and despair Effects and Combat Casting (a +4 for defensive defensively). Since 1. I am not a damage dealer Arcane Strike has just a side effect, 2. if I go only 4 Levels Bard I have only 1st level Spells. So Combat Casting is ok, but not that important.
But maybe I am overlooking something here.
Since I would like to go primary Bard in the first levels I see two options for me:
1. I go bard with Variant Cavalier which means I loose my third level Feat, but get Order and Challenge. Can go 5 Level straight Bard which means I will get 3rd level spells. Problem here is I am not sure how to deal damage with only one feat, and if I am suppose to skill to damage at all. Taking Flagbearer on first Level I can take Weapon Finess on the 5 th and have to buy an agile weapon. Derwish is not even possible in this build.
2. I go bard with one or two level Cavalier but I will not have 3rd level spells, since I am not really familiar with the cavalier I would like to know if this build would be better and compensate the trade off (skills, spells).
Where should I go 1. or 2. for the Battle Herald (Badass Marshal) build?
Thanks a lot in advance!
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I am playing Wrath of the Righteous as well. Using an Arcane Duelist Bard/Evangelist of Milani (to max out inspire damage [master and grand master performer feats], flagbearer and milanis sacred damage bonus second boon) I plan on dual pathing Marshall and Trickster (since both have nice things for bard in them)