I've just started a new campaign, and I'm looking for advice on my character progression. I've picked a Bard (Arcane Duelist) as my class, Half-Orc race with the alternative racial traits Chain Fighter, Sacred Tattoo and Intimidating. Stats are 17,12,12,14,7,14.
Looking to pick a class to get me martial weapon proficiency to take advantage of Chain Fighter, and allow me the use of a spiked chain as I'm planning on following the Combat Expertise tree.
Campaign is aiming to finish around level 10-12, and I'm looking at the Dragon Disciple PrC at level 6
So, what would people suggest?
The rest of my party is a Rogue, Cleric, Monk and Sorcerer.
2 levels of paladin with bard is incredible if you have the alignment.
Urban barbarian will grant you rage a few rounds a day and improved speed, so that may be your best bet. Fighter (maybe some unarmored archetype) will be second best but will allow you to start tripping without AoO at level 1.
Unfortunately, there's no alignment where a paladin can also be a bard. Otherwise, yes, it would be a very solid 2 level dip. (Though, IMO, still secondary to urban barbarian.)
Just remember, spiked chain no longer has reach.
Pathfinder bard doesn't have alignment restrictions.
/floored
You're totally right. . . I love this game.
ShadowcatX wrote: Urban barbarian will grant you[...]improved speed Nope, it gives you Crowd Control, which replaces Fast Movement.
Btw, this archetype/class-combo works really well. Good class skills, good abilities that mix well and lots of flavour. I'm playing one in PFS right now. Solveig Meginsdottir, a Kalsgardian ex-skald, who took up adventuring life to find her father's murderer's.
I suggest getting Arcane Strike and something that increases your Performance rounds. Lingering Song perhaps? Otherwise you should concentrate on staying alive, picking some defensive abilities and feats, to savour that sweet sweet combat mastery this combo provides.
The spike chain is pretty lame in PF. In fact it is in every way inferior to the heavy flail. You could finesse it, but finesse eats a feat and non-sneak-attack finesse builds don't do significant damage. And if your stats are in the usual order you already have strength as your high stat.
If your reason for dipping is just to get spiked chain don't bother.
If you want what spiked chain was in 3.5 you want to take the whip mastery feats. Remember, whip is a one handed melee weapon. It provokes like a ranged attack, but it is not a ranged attack. You can make your rolls with strength and add strength to damage and even wield it two handed for +3 power attack and 1.5x strength mod to damage unless it's been changed since the CRB third printing.
The only long run multiclass that won't hurt your endurance by cutting into inspire courage rounds is cavalier->battle herald. Dips are possible though. Fighter 2 for the feats or some variety of barbarian 1 for rage and possibly fast movement are the good options I think. Ranger isn't going to get you as much as fighter on a 1-2 level dip. Cavalier is a terrible dip and only worth it if you really want to boost your BAB off battle herald at the expense of casting.
I wouldn't dip if you want to go dragon disciple. The logic of taking a multiple of 4 levels of a medium BAB class doesn't really apply to bards. At 5 they lose a point of BAB, but they and everyone else in the party get +1 to hit and damage from inspire courage. I'd delay until at least 8 to get move action perform from bard 7, especially if you want to use lingering performance.
Might I suggest the whip?
I'm playing a similar character right now (Half-orc arcane duelist) and the whip has been working out great. A masterwork whip with Weapon Focus (whip) means that you get +2 to CMB on trip attacks, which you can do at range and you aren't at risk of being counter-tripped. Weapon Focus (whip) is worth it as it can be be used as a pre-req for Dazzling Display (as a half-orc bard, your intimidate should be huge). Ultimate Combat, if someone in your group has it, also adds scorpion whips that do lethal damage and a tree of decent whip feats.
You already have the whip proficiency from bard, so you can keep your standard orc proficiencies, including the awesome falchion (for when more direct damage dealing is needed). There wouldn't be a need to multiclass until Dragon Disciple, which would keep your spell progression and bardic music up. The strength bonuses from Dragon Disciple would work well with trips, too.
I think your party may have issues:
bard, rogue, monk, cleric, sorcerer - You have a bunch of fragile melee types. There is no obvious ranged attacker. More info on the other players plans would help - the monk could be an archer or the cleric could be a front-line type (although that presents other issues).
sieylianna wrote: I think your party may have issues:
bard, rogue, monk, cleric, sorcerer - You have a bunch of fragile melee types. There is no obvious ranged attacker. More info on the other players plans would help - the monk could be an archer or the cleric could be a front-line type (although that presents other issues).
That's a good point. Inspire courage is at its best with TWFers in the party. Monks TWF equivalent flurry and rogues usually TWF. That's a good reason to not go dragon disciple.
On the other hand Dragon Disciple has d12 HD which means it actually brings your HP up in spite of losing favored class letting you be the tank. Sort of. 1 HP per level starting halfway through your career isn't going to put you where a martial character would be.
I think with both a rogue and monk that more inspire is better. It would be different if you were already locked into a noncombatant or selfish archetype, but AD has all the important stuff for a bard in combat.
clawoftiamat wrote: Pathfinder bard doesn't have alignment restrictions. But paladin does...
rkraus2 wrote: clawoftiamat wrote: Pathfinder bard doesn't have alignment restrictions. But paladin does...
Meaning there is one out of nine alignment choices where it is a valid multi-class...
To address the OP unless you are desperate to boost saves(paladin)or drastically combat feat starved (fighter) it simply isn't an awesome choice to multi as so many really nice upper end abilities get pushed back, or taken off the table for a sub level 21+ game.
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