[3.5] Creating a Bard-barian

[Jarade]

So, I was recently discussing classes and multi-classing with a buddy who was new to the game, and he brought up the idea of a Bard-barian. (Yes, just multiclass barbarian/bard) I thought that this was a pretty funny idea, and would be a good edition to a campaign I'm running elsewhere, mostly as a break from the totally serious campaign we've been having so far, and add a fun, while still dangerous, bad guy.

The problem is, I have no idea how to make this individual become a decent recurring challenge for a group of seven level 9 characters. The one redeeming factor of this large group is that all but one of them are only mediocre at optimization, so there are no über wizards or pun-pun like entities.

Ok, now for the hard information:

Any 3.5 source is available.

I was thinking that he should be around mid-teens for level, but I'm not positive what it should be to appropriately challenging the group.

The Bard-barian must be Chaotic Neutral.

I would like to make this a recurring character, so means of escape would be nice.

And finally, a race more along the lines of orc, troll, or ogre would be much prefered to a normal human or elf, but this is just a color thing, so it is not required.

A way to turn an instrument into a usable weapon would be fabulous. (The image of a guy raging and bashing someones skull in with a lute after his ballad just makes me feel warm inside. )

Thanks for all of the advice in advance!

[HamsterOfTheGod]

There is a savage bard variant. That might be what you are looking for.

But I would make him more like the scoundrel type. The best way to be able to let him escape is for him not to be directly involved against the PCs. He's in on the action but more often than not the PC's need him. You just have to give them a reason to keep him around and no reason for them to be too angry with him. You know, he's in league with the smugglers but he's the PCs way in to the smuggler's den. He sells them out to the authorities but he ends up jail with them. He's stolen the artifact the rampaging giants are hell-bent on finding, the one's the PCs are tasked with stopping, but the PCs don't know that it's the bardbarian they're after...

He can buff and fight but when all else fails, he will escape by sneaking out or by using invisbility, gas form, dimension door, etc.

[Keld Denar]

More Bard and less Barian would be optimal, since most of a bards class features scale well, and rapidly, and most of a Barbarian's features...don't.

In fact, I wouldn't put more than 2 levels in Barbarian. That nets you Fast Movement (or Pounce), Rage, and Uncanny Dodge.

On your Bard side, you want to do everything you can to optimize your Inspire Courage. Song of the Heart (ECS), Badge of Valor (MIC), Inspirational Boost (SpC), and a Vest of Legends (DMGII) are all VERY nice boosts to IC. IC will help you do lots of damage when you Power Attack while raging with your big 2handed weapon. For that weapon, ideally you'd want something 2handed. A big club would be fitting, and clubs can be augemented well with various magic. You'll probably want to go with a vocal performance like Warchant or Warcry.

More to come...stand by!

[Blackjackg]

Goliath Savage Bard 3/Barbarian 2/Dawncaller 8

Nets you an ECL of 14, BAB of 12, Bardic Music equivalent to level 11. Goliath's mountain movement would make it hard for players to catch him under certain circumstances. I don't know about using musical instruments as weapons, but I think there are some feats that grant you bonuses with improvised weapons.

Might have to refluff Dawncaller somewhat, but the crunch is pretty solid.

Goliath, Goliath Barbarian Substitution Level and Dawncaller are in Races of Stone.
Savage Bard is Unearthed Arcana/SRD.

[Eldariel]

Rage Mage! Barbarian 1/Bard 4/Rage Mage 5/Sublime Chord 2/Rage Mage 3/finish with more Chord or Abjurant Champion or Sacred Exorcist or whatever. Then fly into battle singing and raging and throwing angry spells (Rage Mage has mechanics for that) and smashing things to bits. Style points for Arcane Disciple: Anything With Divine Power and adding an additional "Hulk Smash™!" mode to his repertoire.

'cause you have decent spellcasting, especially with Sublime Chord in the mix, getting the "Teleport the Ef Outta Here!" button isn't hard either. Like, on level 14 the above build has 6th level casting, free Quicken per Rage, decent BAB (1 Barb + 3 Bard + 5 Rage Mage + 1 Sublime Chord = 11).

[Jarade]

What books are the Rage Mage and the Sublime Chord in?

[Keld Denar]

Complete Arcane for Sublime Chord, Complete Warrior for Rage Mage.

Abjurant Champion, also mentioned, is in Complete Mage.

[Darrin]

Any 3.5 source is available.

Good, because you're going to need some Dragon magazine material.

I would like to make this a recurring character, so means of escape would be nice.

Hmm. Give him an ether scarab as a familiar/cohort. Or the Voidmind template could be an interesting twist... the controlling illithids could plane shift him away at a moment's notice. Otherwise, Boots of Big Stepping (MIC, 6000 GP) are a pretty great deal. Teleport without error up to 60' 3/day.

And finally, a race more along the lines of orc, troll, or ogre would be much prefered to a normal human or elf, but this is just a color thing, so it is not required.

Start with a desert half-orc (UA variant, no Cha penalty). Add the Magic-Blooded template (Dragon #306/Crystalkeep, +2 Cha, -2 Wis, +0 LA). Bard 3/Barbarian 2. Use the City Brawler variant (Dragon #349), which I'll explain in a bit. You can also combine this variant with the Spirit Lion Totem for Pounce (CompChamp) and Whirling Frenzy (UA).

Now add four levels of Battle Howler of Gruumsh (Dragon #311). Full BAB, full bard casting, more rage, and proficiency with all martial weapons and all armor. You have to take the feats Power Attack and Cleave... but at least they're pretty darned useful.

From there, dip one level into Eldritch Knight (or Knight Phantom or Jade Phoenix Mage if you prefer), and go into Sublime Chord for 2 levels. Finish off with Abjurant Champion and/or the rest of Eldritch Knight.

Bard 3/Barbarian 2/Battle Howler 4/Eldritch Knight 1/Sublime Chord 2/Abjurant Champion 5/Eldritch Knight +3

Feats:
1) Power Attack, Racial: Run (desert half-orc)
3) Cleave
6) Arcane Strike
9) Elusive Dance (Dragon #333)
10) FBonus: Headlong Rush (Races of Faerun/WotC preview)
12) Combat Casting
15) Leap Attack
18) Snowflake Wardance (Frostburn)

http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-...sive_Dance,all
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20030301a

A way to turn an instrument into a usable weapon would be fabulous. (The image of a guy raging and bashing someones skull in with a lute after his ballad just makes me feel warm inside. )

Well, there's a Cityscape web enhancement with a "lute bow", but that may only be good for a laugh:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070314a

Remember I suggested the City Brawler variant? Yes, it gets Improved Unarmed Strike and TWF with Unarmed Strike, but in this case we want to pick up the ability to reduce the improvised weapons penalty to -2... ok, not that great, but every bit helps. Now boost up our little bard-barian's Str as much as possible so he can lift some very heavy instruments. At this point most folks would be chanting "Harpsichord!" or "Pipe Organ!", which would be great, but unfortunately Song & Silence didn't establish any standard weights for these items. But as DM, if you want to give him a pipe organ he can lift over his head, go for it.

However, to really go "heavy metal" properly, I say we give our bard-barian a nice set of church bells. They're more portable than a pipe organ, you can reasonably set the weight to whatever you like (the improvised weapon chart in Complete Warrior goes up to 400 lbs), they are easier to fit into a bag of holding/handy haversack, fairly compact volume for shrink item shenanigans, and if need be you can summon a 10-pounder one-handed bell with the summon instrument cantrip (1d6 improvised damage).

If you really want to hulk out on the church bells (Big Ben is 16 tons, but there are some optimized builds out there for calculating the damage on throwing various planetary/celestial bodies), then you may want to consider a half-giant, maybe dip into Psychic Warrior for Expansion, and take a level of Hulking Hurler. Along with a reduction on the improvised penalty (which, sadly, doesn't stack with City Brawler), you get Really Throw Anything, which allows you to throw anything you can lift over your head. Add two levels of Bloodstorm Blade for Thunderous Throw, and you can full-round rapid-shot attack with a free auto-returning bell *while* power-attacking. Add Improved Bull Rush+Shock Trooper and six levels of Dungeon Crasher for all "The Bell Tolls for Thee" jokes you could possibly want.

[Zaq]

This is just brainstorming (I don't have the books open, so there's probably some nasty prereq or something I'm missing) but a Fist of the Forest (Complete Champion) fits the Barbarian fluff and opens up unarmed strikes as a viable means of attacking. Why is this important? Because it means that you can hold an instrument and still kick people to death. (Remember, an unarmed strike doesn't necessarily mean your hands.) I've got this great mental image of an unimaginably furious violinist fiddling away while he whirls around and kicks people in the face.

Just a thought.

[ZeroNumerous]

On instrument as a weapon: A guitar shaped like a greataxe made out of darkwood. Same properties as steel, just a little bit more costly.

[Eldariel]

This is just brainstorming (I don't have the books open, so there's probably some nasty prereq or something I'm missing) but a Fist of the Forest (Complete Champion) fits the Barbarian fluff and opens up unarmed strikes as a viable means of attacking. Why is this important? Because it means that you can hold an instrument and still kick people to death. (Remember, an unarmed strike doesn't necessarily mean your hands.) I've got this great mental image of an unimaginably furious violinist fiddling away while he whirls around and kicks people in the face.

Just a thought.

I was thinking of Perform: Oratory; a rage mage "singing" very loud, yelling out the verbal components of his spells in lieu of the song and smashing things with a big club while at it.

[DeathQuaker]

I once made a half-orc bard-barian (name: Grog Warstomper) that I was quite proud of, though never got much of a chance to play--but he looked decent on paper at least. It was I think about 2-4 levels of Barbarian and the rest Bard (this was core only).

He was a war-drummer--the kind of person who beats the drums to inspire his allies into a fighting rage. He didn't actually have the drums as his weapons--he had a bongo-type set hanging from his waist, so he could reach down and play them but otherwise have his hands free. He was designed to fight with fists (so he could alternate between drumming and fighting), with a backup sling I think for ranged attacks.

A fist-fighting Barbarian isn't probably optimal, but it was a fun concept. If you wanted something a little more hardcore, you could probably fluffify a double-ended-mace or hammer or flail to have hollow ends, that make a booming sound when they strike (or like the bells that another poster mentioned). Ooh, or a pair of darkwood clubs. Or anything that evokes the image of the Bard-barian beating his enemy with what appears to be a giant drumstick or set of drumsticks, and making music out of their lamentations. Of course when you have the opportunity to make them magical, they of course need to become Thundering.

[Signmaker]

Is anyone else picturing a half-orc Inspiring Courage via drumming on the heads of disheveled and broken corpses? Or is that just me?

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

*raises hand*

Yup.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Is anyone else picturing a half-orc Inspiring Courage via drumming on the heads of disheveled and broken corpses? Or is that just me?

I'm picturing Ewoks drumming on stormtrooper helmets in the celebration at the end of RotJ, actually. A horrible image of a half-orc, I know, but very amusing.

[AstralFire]

You're the DM. He's a recurring villain. I'd just make him Gestalt and have him dip a few levels in Rage Mage on one side, then call it a day.