I found the
Merchant Prince prestige class the other day, and I immediately felt an urge to build a character on it. I know, the class itself is not very strong, and there are probably easier money to be had by being a better adventurer rather than being a capable businessman, but I like the idea of a Scrooge McDuck style businessman/adventurer, so thats what Im making. On top of making money by the means of a rather optimized business, I want my character to contribute to the party by being a capable rogue and a passable sneak attacker, but as Merchant Prince costs no less than 4 useless feats, and because there are a lot of other feats that I 'need' to get to complete the businessman theme, I am left with a character that is somewhat lacking in the combat department.
I added Sublime Chord for good measure, in order to keep 9th level spells within reach by level 20, just in case.
Can you help optimize this?
Books allowed: All, minus incarnum, psychic and Ebberon stuff.
Race:
Human (LN)
Stats:
St: 8
Dx: 14
Co: 14
It: 16
Wi: 8
Cha: 14 (All bumps goes here)
Build:
-1: Rogue 1 Feat (Favored in Guild), bonus feats (Merchantile Background), SA +1d6
-2: Rogue 2
-3: Swashbuckler 1 Feat (Negotiator), bonus feat (Weapon Finesse)
-4: Bard 1
-5: Human Paragon 1 Adaptive Learning (*SC prereq skill*)
-6: Human Paragon 2 Feat (Profession (Merchant)), bonus feat (Business Savvy)
-7: Merchant Prince 1
-8: Merchant Prince 2
-9: Merchant Prince 3 Feat (Craven)
-10: Merchant Prince 4
-11: Merchant Prince 5
-12: Sublime Chord 1 Feat (Improved Initiative)
-13: Sublime Chord 2
-14: Human Paragon 3 Ability boost (+2 charisma)
-15: Unseen Seer 1 Feat (Two-Weapon Fighting), SA +2d6
-16: Unseen Seer 2 Bonus Feat (Silent Spell)
-17: Unseen Seer 3
-18: Unseen Seer 4 Feat (Leadership), SA +3d6
-19: Unseen Seer 5
-20: Unseen Seer 6
My friends usually make tier 3 characters, and I want to be able to at least keep up with them in power. Thoughts?