We're all following a strange melody
We're all haunted by a tune
We're following the piper
And we dance beneath the moon for him
And we dance beneath the moon

Quote Originally Posted by Rattenfänger von Hameln


Ich bin der wohlbekannte Sänger,
Der vielgereiste Rattenfänger,
Den diese altberühmte Stadt
Gewiß besonders nötig hat;
Und wären's Ratten noch so viele,
Und wären Wiesel mit im Spiele;
Von allen säubr' ich diesen Ort;
Sie müssen mit einander fort.


Rattenfänger von Hameln
NE Changeling, Bard 5/Fatemaker 10/Master of Flies 5

Into the street the Piper stept,
Smiling first a little smile,
As if he knew what magic slept
In his quiet pipe the while;

Spoiler: Build
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Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1st Bard 1 +0 +0 +2 +2 Bluff 4 ranks (4), concentration 4 ranks (4), diplomacy 4 ranks (4), disguise 4 ranks (4), escape artist 4 ranks (4), intimidate 2 ranks (2), knowledge (nature) 4 ranks (4), perform (pipes) 4 ranks (4), sense motive 4 ranks (4) Quick Change Bardic music, loresong, mimicking song, fascinate, inspire awe
2nd Bard 2 +1 +0 +3 +3 Bluff 1 rank (5), concentration 1 rank (5), diplomacy 1 rank (5), disguise 1 rank (5), escape artist 1 rank (5), knowledge (nature) 1 rank (5), perform (pipes) 1 rank (5), sense motive 1 rank (5), use magic device 1 rank (1)
3rd Bard 3 +2 +1 +3 +3 Bluff 1 rank (6), concentration 1 rank (6), diplomacy 1 rank (6), disguise 1 rank (6),
intimidate 1 rank (3), knowledge (nature) 1 rank (6), perform (pipes) 1 rank (6), use magic device 1 rank (2)		 Skill Focus (Bluff) Inspire competence
4th Bard 4 +3 +1 +4 +4 Bluff 1 rank (7), concentration 1 rank (7), diplomacy 1 rank (7), disguise 1 rank (7),
knowledge (nature) 1 rank (7), perform (pipes) 1 rank (7), use magic device 3 ranks (5)
5th Bard 5 +3 +1 +4 +4 Bluff 1 rank (8), concentration 1 rank (8), diplomacy 1 rank (8), disguise 1 rank (8),
intimidate 1 rank (4), knowledge (nature) 1 rank (8), perform (pipes) 1 rank (8), use magic device 1 rank (6)
6th Master of Flies 1 +3 +1 +4 +6 Bluff 1 rank (9), concentration 1 rank (9), disguise 1 rank (9), perform (pipes) 1 rank (9), use magic device 1 rank (7) Dark Speech Summon swarm
7th Master of Flies 2 +4 +1 +4 +7 Bluff 1 rank (10), concentration 1 rank (10), disguise 1 rank (10), intimidate 1 rank (5),
use magic device 1 rank (8)		 Swarm shape 1/day
8th Master of Flies 3 +5 +2 +5 +7 Bluff 1 rank (11), concentration 1 rank (11), disguise 1 rank (11), perform (pipes) 1 rank (10), use magic device 1 rank (9) Swarm shape 2/day, pied piper
9th Fatemaker 1 +5 +2 +7 +9 Bluff 1 rank (12), concentration 1 rank (12), diplomacy 3 ranks (11), intimidate 3 ranks (8), use magic device 1 rank (10) Doomspeak Take-charge appeal
10th Fatemaker 2 +6/+1 +2 +8 +10 Bluff 1 rank (13), diplomacy 1 rank (12), intimidate 3 rank (11), perform (pipes) 1 rank (11), use magic device 1 rank (11), Swift Concentration skill trick Confidence of the Fated 1/day
11th Fatemaker 3 +7/+2 +3 +8 +10 Bluff 1 rank (14), diplomacy 2 ranks (14), intimidate 3 ranks (14), perform (pipes) 1 rank (12), use magic device 2 ranks (13) Sneak attack +1d6
12th Fatemaker 4 +8/+3 +3 +9 +11 Bluff 1 rank (15), diplomacy 1 rank (15), disguise 1 rank (12), intimidate 1 rank (15),
perform (pipes) 3 ranks (15), use magic device 2 ranks (15)		 Wanderer's Diplomacy Aura of confidence (+1)
13th Fatemaker 5 +8/+3 +3 +9 +11 Bluff 1 rank (16), diplomacy 1 rank (16), disguise 2 ranks (14), intimidate 1 rank (16),
perform (pipes) 1 rank (16), use magic device 1 rank (16), Never Outnumbered skill trick		 Take-charge appeal
14th Fatemaker 6 +9/+4 +4 +10 +12 Bluff 1 rank (17), diplomacy 3 ranks (17), disguise 1 rank (17), intimidate 1 rank (17)
perform (pipes) 1 rank (17), spellcraft 1 rank (1), use magic device 1 rank (17)		 Sneak attack +2d6
15th Fatemaker 7 +10/+5 +4 +10 +12 Bluff 1 rank (18), diplomacy 1 rank (18), disguise 1 rank (18), intimidate 1 rank (18),
perform (pipes) 1 rank (18), spellcraft 3 ranks (4), use magic device 1 rank (18)		 Sickening Strike Confidence of the Fated 2/day
16th Fatemaker 8 +11/+6/+1 +4 +11 +13 Bluff 1 rank (19), concentration 2 ranks (14), diplomacy 1 rank (19), disguise 1 rank (19), intimidate 1 rank (19), perform (pipes) 1 rank (19), spellcraft 1 rank (5), use magic device 1 rank (19) Aura of confidence (+2)
17th Fatemaker 9 +11/+6/+1 +5 +11 +13 Bluff 1 rank (20), concentration 3 ranks (17), diplomacy 1 rank (20), disguise 1 rank (20), intimidate 1 rank (20), perform (pipes) 1 rank (20), use magic device 1 rank (20) Sneak attack +3d6
18th Fatemaker 10 +12/+7/+2 +5 +12 +14 Bluff 1 rank (21), concentration 3 ranks (20), diplomacy 1 rank (21), disguise 1 rank (21), intimidate 1 rank (21), perform (pipes) 1 rank (21), use magic device 1 rank (21) Undead Empathy Ego manifestation, take-charge appeal
19th Master of Flies 4 +13/+8/+3 +5 +12 +15 Bluff 1 rank (22), diplomacy 1 rank (22), intimidate 1 rank (22), disguise 1 rank (22), use magic device 1 rank (22) Swarm shape 3/day
20th Master of Flies 5 +13/+8/+3 +5 +12 +15 Bluff 1 rank (23), diplomacy 1 rank (23), intimidate 1 rank (23), disguise 1 rank (23),
use magic device 1 rank (23)		 Swarm shape (plague), insect plague

Spoiler: Ability Scores
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32-point buy: Str 10/Dex 12/Con 12/Int 16/Wis 10/Cha 16
Boost Charisma every 4 levels.


Spoiler: Spells
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Bard spells known:
0- Prestidigitation, Detect Magic, Light, Mage Hand, Message, Lullaby
1- Grease, Silent Image, Improvisation, Share Talents
2- Glitterdust, Silence, Sonorous Hum

Spoiler: Bard spells per day
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Spells per Day
Level 0lvl 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
1st 2 - - - - - -
2nd 3 0 - - - - -
3rd 3 1 - - - - -
4th 3 2 0 - - - -
5th 3 3 1 - - - -


Fatemaker spells known:
1- Charm Person, Sanctuary, Expeditious Retreat, True Strike
2- Resist Energy, Invisibility, Darkvision, Bull's Strength
3- Haste, Suggestion, Nondetection, Tongues
4- Restoration, Charm Monster, Stoneskin, Neutralize Poison

Spoiler: Fatemaker spells per day
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Spells per Day
Level 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
9th 0 - - -
10th 1 - - -
11th 2 0 - -
12th 3 1 - -
13th 3 2 0 -
14th 3 3 1 -
15th 3 3 2 0
16th 3 3 3 1
17th 3 3 3 2
18th 3 3 3 3




Then, like a musical adept,
To blow the pipe his lips he wrinkled,
And green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled,
Like a candle-flame where salt is sprinkled;

Spoiler: Snapshots
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Levels 1-5:
Bard 5

Rattenfänger von Hameln spends his early levels focusing on misdirection and general utility. With the ability to change form as a move action, high bluff and disguise skills and spells and bardic music abilities focused on confusing and misleading foes, he eschews traditional combat roles entirely.

Snapshots:
  • +17 bluff check before items, spells or circumstance modifiers, combined with move action disguise self at will and illusion spells.
  • Inspire awe is quite effective at these levels, thanks to a high DC and wide area of effect, providing a sizable debuff to most foes. Fascinate combined with high bluff and perform checks can give a party an excellent advantage or even avoid encounters entirely.
  • Spells such as grease help against the foes not vulnerable to bluffing, fear or illusions, and while Rattenfänger is not a combat-focused character, medium BAB and decent weapon and armor proficiencies keep him from being completely vulnerable.
  • Excellent utility both in and out of combat thanks to wide variety of skills, further augmented by spells and abilities like loresong, inspire competence, mimicking song, improvisation and share talents.


Levels 6-10:
Bard 5/Master of Flies 3/Fatemaker 2

As the game develops, Rattenfänger von Hameln’s pied piper abilities develop further and give him several powerful new options both in and out of combat. Master of Flies is an interesting prestige class that gives Rattenfänger several swarm-based abilities right off the bat: he can summon several swarms per day, he take swarm shape himself, and he gains a pied piper ability that summons vermin to him to do his bidding.

Dark Speech deserves a mention all on its own. This is an incredibly flexible feat with several possible options. The two that Rattenfänger particularly focuses on are dread and unity. Dread provides a broad fear effect to nonevil characters who hear it, forcing weaker foes to flee outright and making those of comparable level shaken (which stacks with inspire awe and intimidation to layer fear effects). It can even be used to force stronger foes into attacking Rattenfänger, forcing them into the swarms that he surrounds himself with. Against evil foes it is perhaps even more potent, charming and improving their attitudes. The other powerful ability Dark Speech provides is unity. This allows Rattenfänger to bestow a hivemind on the swarms and vermin that flock to him, with a myriad of benefits: this gives him even greater control of vermin around him, and perhaps most importantly, by bestowing an animal cunning on normally nonintelligent creatures, they can now be affected by morale bonuses and can perform actions such as aid another.

Rattenfänger’s Fatemaker abilities have not developed much yet, but he does make good use of them: charm person and sanctuary are both excellent spells to add to Rattenfänger’s toolkit. He also now can use wands of restoration without requiring a use magic device check, helping to mitigate the ability damage he takes from his Dark Speech ability. Summoning and controlling swarms fails to break his sanctuary, forcing opponents to make Will saves if they wish to attack him. Meanwhile, charming is incredibly powerful when backed by his strong debuffs. Increases to Charisma are incredibly welcome, as that is the driving stat behind all of his abilities. Finally, as Rattenfänger remains very skill-focused, the ability to boost perform, intimidate and bluff checks is incredibly useful.

Snapshots:
  • Bluff and disguise remain potent parts of Rattenfänger’s toolkit, and now intimidate catches up.
  • Ability to layer fear effects between inspire awe, Dark Speech’s dread and intimidate can completely disable opponents.
  • Rattenfänger can control and constantly surround himself with swarms and vermin in combat and either prevent foes from attacking him with sanctuary or force them into these areas with Dark Speech.
  • Many ways to debuff opponents between fear effects, Doomspeak and the various sickening, poison and distraction effects of his swarms, as well as spells such as glitterdust and silence (seriously, casting silence on a swarm and having it surround a caster can really ruin their day). Doomspeak in particular is one of the most powerful debuffs in the game, and when combined with charm or fear effects to take advantage of the lowered Will saves becomes even more powerful.
  • Ability to supercharge skills, attacks and other checks by creating a hivemind to bestow intelligence on his verminous companions and instructing them to all perform aid another checks, in addition to increases from abilities such as loresong and Confidence of the Fated.
  • Swarm shape allows him to evade many common types of attacks and gives him incredible freedom of movement, providing flight or climb speeds and letting him squeeze through tiny spaces.



Levels 11-15:
Bard 5/Master of Flies 3/Fatemaker 7

Rattenfänger spends his next five levels focusing on Fatemaker to augment his abilities. This comes into play most significantly with his aura of confidence. This supernatural ability can remain active whenever Rattenfänger von Hameln is conscious and provides a broad morale bonus to all adjacent allies. Of course, in Rattenfänger’s case, adjacent allies often numbers in the hundreds or even thousands, as he is constantly surrounded by teeming swarms of insects and other vermin. Ordinarily many of these would not be affected by morale boosts, but Dark Speech bestows on them a cruel intelligence that allows such boosts to apply. Rattenfänger can use his own swarm shape to increase his area as well, providing the boost to even more allies.

Rattenfänger also uses the Fatemaker’s sneak attack to add a new flavorful debuff to his arsenal thanks to Sickening Strike, and his spells continue to take advantage of these debuffs with spells such as suggestion and charm monster. He also gains access to a couple of incredibly useful defensive spells: resist energy shores up one of the biggest vulnerabilities for his swarms, and restoration allows him to cure off the ability damage he takes from his Dark Speech.

Rattenfänger also adds a new way to use his social skills with Wanderer’s Diplomacy. While all of its uses can come into play, most significant is social agility. This allows him to use his supercharged bluff check in place of diplomacy to change the attitude of unfriendly foes. In addition to working off his best skill, this also takes only a standard action without any penalties, meaning it can even be used in combat situations. He can also use it in concert with charm spells to convert friendly charmed foes into fanatics, using the epic usage of the diplomacy skill.

Snapshots:
  • Aura of confidence works well alongside Rattenfänger’s swarm abilities and Dark Speech’s unity, allowing him to buff the swarms he is constantly surrounded with and giving them considerable bonuses to checks such as aid another.
  • Sickening Strike provides a new no-save debuff to work alongside his other debilitating attacks.
  • Fatemaker spells provide new offensive options and shore up many of the defensive vulnerabilities of his swarms.
  • Wanderer’s Diplomacy allows him to quickly convert unfriendly enemies into temporary allies or turn mere allies into fanatics and servants.



Levels 16-20:
Bard 5/Fatemaker 10/Master of Flies 5

Ego manifestation is a terrifying and thematic capstone to the Fatemaker class, and Rattenfänger von Hameln makes great use of it. While its combat applications are obvious, and the major boost to intimidate checks are something he loves to take advantage of, Rattenfänger also uses the fact that he doubles in size to drastically increase the area of his swarm shape ability and aura of confidence allies. Thanks to this ability he can now become a huge swarm, which is not only a terrifying threat all on its own but also gives him dozens of squares that are affected by his aura of confidence. With this bonus increasing to +2, this means that most of his verminous allies should almost always succeed on most aid another checks, allowing Rattenfänger to receive phenomenal bonuses to attacks or skills when necessary.

His final feat, Undead Empathy, gives him the opportunity to influence the attitudes of the undead. Previously his best bet against undead was to swarm shape and avoid the encounter (as most mindless undead do not have a way of attacking swarms), but now with Undead Empathy he can stop them from attacking him outright or even turn them into allies. The dread function of his Dark Speech and Wanderer’s Diplomacy both help here; as Wanderer’s Diplomacy allows you to make a standard action bluff check in place of the usual diplomacy check to influence another creature’s attitude, it should apply here as well. (Even if your DM rules that this is not the case, Rattenfänger still possesses a fantastic diplomacy check.) Under the right circumstances, Rattenfänger can even use this feat to add undead allies to his army of vermin.

Snapshots:
  • Incredible intimidate checks alongside his already formidable bluff checks.
  • Undead Empathy allows Rattenfänger to convert undead as well as vermin to his cause.
  • Ego manifestation alongside swarm shape lets Rattenfänger assume the shape of a huge swarm and gives him many adjacent squares for his aura of confidence ability.
  • Extreme aid other checks, made reliable by Dark Speech’s unity and the aura of confidence, can easily boost Rattenfänger’s skill checks into epic levels or guarantee that attacks land.



And ere three shrill notes the pipe uttered,
You heard as if an army muttered;
And the muttering grew to a grumbling;
And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling;
And out of the houses the rats came tumbling.
Spoiler: Fatemaker
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Fatemaker was a difficult class to work with, as the majority of its abilities are easily duplicated by other methods. I decided to break down ways in which it differentiated itself from similar classes such as the bard. In particular, the aura of confidence ability stood out: while the effects were smaller than you might get from bardic music, the fact that it did not need constant actions to maintain was interesting, and the “adjacent allies” presented some interesting flavor (and a fun challenge) to build around. I thought a lot about what builds specifically benefited from the lack of an additional action to maintain the ability, while not being overly restricted by the adjacent requirement. With that in mind, Rattenfänger von Hameln was born.

Rattenfänger is not restricted to merely the aura of confidence ability, however. His build benefits from every aspect of the secret ingredient:

Take-charge appeal: As a Charisma-focused build, untyped bonuses to his primary stat are a huge boon for Rattenfänger.

Confidence of the Fated: Morale bonuses are not hard to come by, but the size of the bonus is significant by the later levels of Rattenfänger’s career. Rattenfänger uses his skills offensively, such as using intimidation to debuff opponents and using Wanderer’s Diplomacy and Undead Empathy to convert enemies into temporary allies. Being able to add as much as a +10 bonus to these checks when needed is huge, potentially even pushing Rattenfänger into epic uses of said skills.

Sneak attack: While raw damage has never been Rattenfänger’s preferred way of dealing with opponents, sneak attack opens up access to Sickening Strike. In addition to being a powerful no-save debuff that works well with Rattenfänger’s typical combat tactics, this is also near-perfect flavor for the verminous Rattenfänger von Hameln.

Aura of confidence: This was the original inspiration for Rattenfänger von Hameln’s build, and influenced many of his build choices. While the “adjacent allies” restriction is normally quite limiting for this ability, Rattenfänger is constantly surrounded by teeming swarms of rats and insects, and by using the power of his Dark Speech he can even give these swarms a semblance of intelligence in order to allow vermin to benefit from his bonuses. While the bonuses themselves are fairly minor, he can still take advantage even of minor bonuses such as these by instructing his thralls to focus primarily on skills and Aid Another actions. It's also worth noting that this is only possible because of the fact that the ability does not require an action to maintain once activated; Rattenfänger is reliant on several abilities and spells with Concentration durations, and while he has some ways of mitigating these costs (Swift Concentration and sonorous hum), the near-constant nature of the aura of confidence allows him to maintain both his aura and his swarms throughout the day.

Ego manifestation: Righteous might is an excellent combat boost, but even more important is the boost to the intimidate skill, which is unique to the Fatemaker. In addition, by increasing to large size, Rattenfänger significantly increases the number of potential adjacent allies to be affected by his aura of confidence ability, and increases the size of the swarms he can shape into.

Spells: The Fatemaker’s spell list seems plain but is near-perfect for Rattenfänger von Hameln. The charm and suggestion line of spells work well with his pied piper motif, and he has quite a few tools to neutralize opponents and soften up their Will saves to make sure these spells land. Of course, these spells would have been available to him as a bard. What would not have been available is the powerful healing spell restoration. This gives Rattenfänger a reliable way to cure the ability damage he takes by using Dark Speech’s potent powers.

Skills: Fatemaker’s high skill points and huge skill list allow Rattenfänger von Hameln to keep all of his relevant skills as high as possible. It even adds intimidate, one of the major missing elements to the bard’s skill list.

Entry requirements: The Fatemaker’s entry requirements are no burden to Rattenfänger von Hameln, who uses his powerful bluff and intimidate checks to quickly neutralize or recruit opponents even in the midst of battle.


Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats,
Brown rats, black rats, gray rats, tawny rats,
Grave old plodders, gay young friskers,
Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins,
Cocking tails and pricking whiskers,

Spoiler: Equipment, Sources and Variants
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Equipment is of course important for all characters, though Rattenfänger doesn't require much. Ability score boosters are the most important, especially for his Charisma and Constitution scores. Ways to increase his Fortitude saving throw (by far his weakest point) are also important. A decent light armor that does not interfere with spellcasting is also important. Spiked gauntlets will allow Rattenfänger to still threaten foes without preventing him from playing his pipes or casting spells. Wands in general can provide general utility thanks to Use Magic Device, and wands of Restoration are particularly useful.

Sources
  • PHB/SRD: Bard class, Skill Focus feat
  • PHB2: Wanderer's Diplomacy feat
  • Planar Handbook: Fatemaker prestige class
  • Savage Species: Master of Flies prestige class
  • Eberron Campaign Setting: Changeling race, Undead Empathy feat
  • Races of Eberron: Quick Change feat
  • Dragon Magic: Inspire awe alternate class feature
  • Dungeonscape: Mimicking song alternate class feature, loresong alternate class feature
  • Book of Vile Darkness: Dark Speech feat, hivemind rules
  • Champions of Ruin: Doomspeak feat
  • Drow of the Underdark: Sickening Strike feat
  • Complete Scoundrel: Skill tricks
  • Spell Compendium: All spells not listed in the SRD



Please note that Sickening Strike and Doomspeak come from a Faerun source, and therefore may not be permitted in all settings (though the feats are not otherwise setting-specific, and Sigil can act as a bridge between settings). In cases where it is not permitted, replacing Sickening Strike with Complete Adventurer's Staggering Strike is an excellent alternative. Doomspeak is a bit harder to easily replace, but there are some good alternatives. Dark Whispers from Elder Evils gives you another powerful way to use your Dark Speech ability, staggering masses of foes, while Shape Soulmeld from Magic of Incarnum can give you access to the Strongheart Vest, which allows you to slightly reduce the ability damage you take from said ability.

Speaking of Elder Evils, if you have the ability to dedicate yourself to an Elder Evil, that is an excellent choice. It is thematically well in line with Rattenfänger's flavor and frees up several feats in the build. Rattenfänger would make a fantastic herald of Kyuss, the Worm that Walks, though the creeping horror of Father Llymic would also be an appropriate avenue for Rattenfänger's abilities.


Families by tens and dozens,
Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives--
Followed the Piper for their lives.