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The party is starting from level 1. We are all gestalt. I want to make a super shining knight. We have most divine and arcane covered (it being gestalt and all).
Our GM has encouraged the following idea and I very much enjoy the flavour of it. It's pure inspirational superhero:
Paladin//Bard/Cavalier/Battle Herald.
As I say, we start at level 1 and that is the direction me and the GM have agreed on. What advice does anyone have? Longspear might be in order for the banner, and just risking the Arcane Spell Failure for armour might have to be done. I don't want a mount. I do want to be all about Iomedae.
My idea is that she's near unkillable (Paladin) while giving huge bonuses to her party members.
We are doing a version of Rise of the Runelords on hard mode to balance the gestalt.
Cheers, any advice welcome.
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I would just say Paladin/Bard, forgoing the other two. You're going get enough nice things with those two alone that you don't want to delay. I would consider the Diva archetype for Bard as it eventually gets the ability to cast in both medium and heavy armor. Besides that consider Aasimar as your class so you can use the favored class bonus to increase your Inspire Courage by 1/2. Also check out Master Performer and Grand Master Performer if your DM allows Factions or is willing to waive/swap the faction rep prerequisite as a level prerequisite.
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I always forget Arcane Duelist is a thing. Getting an Arcane Bond (yay being able to upgrade it as though you had the magical crafting feat!) is pretty awesome along with Arcane Strike and Combat Casting (other feats are kinda bleh). The only thing Diva really has to offer you in earlier armor progression, so Arcane Duelist does seem the way to go between the two.
Another Bard archetype you may want to consider is Sound Striker. Not only can you inspire your allies with your words, but you can crush your enemies with them as well! It's particularly beautiful when you consider Weird Words when used in conjunction with Smite Evil. Extra Damage, bypass DR, up to 10 attacks in one round.
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"Near unkillable" how opposed are you to an oracle dip?
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"Near unkillable" how opposed are you to an oracle dip?
As we have a gestalt party, I don't want to tread on the specialist divine's toes too much. I'm also quite keen on the sword-wielding Iomedae superhero thing. I think we have an Alchemist/Scholar (3rd party class) for our knowledge/skill monkey.
I'm not really looking for insane optimization, just something which makes the concept work very well. Good optimization. That's why Paladin/Arcane Duelist (maybe Battle Herald) appeals, she's just a top class melee fighter with maximized Charisma and inspirational abilities.
I was talking only a dip, for side step secret
Paladin/Evangelist Cleric?
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I was thinking about Paladin/Arcane Duelist Bard. They eventually get heavy armour, but what is most interesting to me is that they get Weapon Bond (Paladin) and Bonded Weapon (Bard) at the same time (5th level) so she can make herself the most uber sword imaginable.
Arcane Duelist has a really large (and unpleasant) opportunity cost of never being able to cast spells when you aren't waving your sword around, though. Which really sucks in, say, the social situations Bard spells otherwise excel at.
I'd advise just Buying Craft Magic Arms and Armor instead if you really want to upgrade the sword.
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Whats your availability for 3rd party?
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Arcane Duelist has a really large (and unpleasant) opportunity cost of never being able to cast spells when you aren't waving your sword around, though. Which really sucks in, say, the social situations Bard spells otherwise excel at.
That's not especially a problem, we have more than one 1/2 Bard. She's all about being a knight, waving her sword about is her thing.
Whats your availability for 3rd party?
Should be alright. GM is allowing Psionics and the Scholar class so far. Psionics is not something I'm interested in though.
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I would say Paladin/Bard Is strong...you will hit like a Simi-truck. You will have the skills to make you really good out of combat as well as in combat. Big down side is that you don't get Heavy armor Proficiency at least till later with some Archetype.
Another good option is Paladin/Sorcerer/Eldritch Knight- screw stepping on toes as you stomp the field with Divine Physical might backed up by Full arcane casting.
option 3: Half-elf Paladin/Oracle- Paragon surge shenanigans. Have access to so many spells both divine and arcane. You can always have the answer with a cast of Paragon surge. You also will have full Heavy armor Proficiency to boot. Forget about there being a party and be the leader and caring if they aren't doing something since you can do anything you want. Laugh at everyone else because your stupidly strong combo is wrecking the day.
There is plenty of options.
Another option Is Swashbuckler/Paladin (taking dangerously curious for UMD) for a straight martial approach that uses wands to boost his defenses.
paladin/arcane duelist would be awesome. full BAB, all amazing saves, lots of skills, enormous survivability (just from LoH, plus you can cast all your spells in mithril breastplate starting at 1st level...), great Cha synergy, the ability to have an insane weapon at 5th level... the only real downside is that it is fairly MAD (need str and cha, want dex, should have at least a little int, and don't really want to dump con/wis cause it hurts your sweet sweet saves). if you have a high point buy or good rolls though you'd be in good shape. if you're ok switching from iomedae to sarenrae, a pally/dawnflower dervish would be pretty sick too.