Ok, I know it is a preety old idea, but want to refresh it anyway. Have a couple of additions to it too.
The idea is to get a high Diplomacy check while still be able to play the character in a game.
This will be a level by level progression. And yes, I only have the first 2 levels figured out. Will wait for a bit help with that leadership thing (that I dont fully understand).
Changelog:
[spoiler]July 07: Added level 3 guide
Changed level 1 feat Skill focus (diplomacy) to Sociable personality
The marshal Skill focus feat is now (diplomacy) rather than any.
Replaced book names with acronyms. Added acronym list.
July 06: Created thread[/spoiler]
Acronyms:
[spoiler]ECS: Eberron Campaign Setting
RoD: Races of Destiny
UA: Unearthed Arcana
[/spoiler]
Stats: I would say to start with an old character to get the +2 to mental stats. The -3 to phisycal stats would hurt if you were actually fighting in the first place. Using point buy 32, the stats would look like : STR 8(0) DEX 14(6) CON 16(10) INT 8(0) WIS 8(0) CHA 18(16). The end result will be: STR 5 DEX 11 CON 13 INT 10 WIS 10 CHA 20.
Level 1So, a Half elf Bard 1 with the Racial Substitution Level from RoD. This replaces Countersong (mostly useless) with Soothing Voice. To use Soothing Voice, you need 3 ranks in Diplomancy. So, what does it do ? It makes you roll a diplomacy check that becomes the Will save DC for the affected creature(s). If the target(s) fails his save, he becomes affected as if by the calm emmotion spell. This means that the creature affected cannot take violent actions or do anything destructive. And it suppresses morale bonuses granted by spells and negates rage and inspire courage, surpresses fear effects and confused is removed. A big list here, right ? You only have to be within 30 feet of the target to do this.
The tactic is to ready an action to use Soothing voice in case any enemies decide to charge or attack you (or approach you for that matter). Because usually, you wont have chance to influence the tide of battle at this level (bard and stuff...) .
After the target has been calmed, in the next round spend a full-round action to use diplomacy on it at a -10 penalty. With any luck, it will stop from being hostile and shift towards unfriendly (if not indiferent). Then just take your time to make him helpful
.
Skills, feats and whatnot: Put 4 ranks in the following: Diplomacy (duh !) , Bluff , Sense Motive , Knowledge(Nobility) ; That takes care of 16 skill points. 8 to go. My advice: Use Magic Device 4, Hide/Move Silently 2 (so you can hide and sneak diplomacy someone
)
Buy a Masterwork diplomacy tool (bag of pot, diplomacy diploma of merit, lawyer's suitcase of resolve) for 50 GP. As added option, you could get some skill shards for those times you really need a boost. For +1 it costs 10 GP; for +2 it is 40 GP and so on (price is 10 times the bonus squared)
As for feats, get the Sociable personality (RoD)
Get the Polite and Honest traits (UA) for an added +2 to diplomancy-fu.
End result: At level 1 you will have: 4 diplomacy ranks, +2 from racial trait, +5 from CHA bonus, +2 from Polite and Honest, +2 from tool for a total of +15 on your dice result. Throw in a skill shard and it becomes something in the range of +16 - +25.
Level 2So, you survived the battles by letting the rest of the party kill things that you dont befriend with. You learned things that help you ascend to a higher level. Level 2 in this case. What to do next ? Take the Marshal class from MiniH. Not only do you get Skill Focus as a bonus feat (take Diplomacy), but it gives you a Minor aura of your choice, that lets you add your CHA bonus to certain rolls, depending on the aura. This is a no-brainer - take Motivate Charisma and you have another +5 to every CHA checks and CHA based skill checks. If this wasnt enough, you get proficiency with all simple/martial weapons, all armor and all shields (except tower), +2 to Fort and Will saves. It has a slightly higher hit die, but only 4 skill points and 0 BAB at level 1. Who cares ? you are still not fighting.
Feats, skills and stuff: Get Diplomacy, Bluff, Sense Motive and Konwledge (nobility). That way, you get synergy bonus from skills.
Now that you have skills at rank 5, you can take the Complementary Insight feat from Races of Destiny that gives you +3 synergy bonus from skills instead of +2. The only problem is that you dont get bonus feats now. So, if you are allowed retraining, try to retrain a flaw. You have flaw: none. Take one that wont affect you too much (Inattentive, Murky-Eyed, Noncombatant would work). When you take a flaw, you get a bonus feat. If you are not allowed to do this, wait until you are level 3.
End result: At level 2 you will get +18 from level 1, +5 from the marshal minor aura, +3 from Skill focus(diplomacy), +1 from Diplomacy, +6/+9 from skill synergy (depending on that feat) for a total of +30/+33. And this is without Skill shards. That Soothing voice DC looks preety hard to beat right about now
Level 3The life of an adventurer is never easy. But you like it. You have learned many many things, the most important one being: you cant diplomance anything. things like undead, animals, oozes plants and constructs still ignore you. So, what to do? Focus even more on your primary skill. For level 3, grab Dragonfire Adept. Not only you get a breath weapon, but you gain dragontouched. minor bonuses to some skills and hp and +1 bonus to saves against sleep and paralysis, you can also select draconic feats as if you were a sorcerer of your
character level. You are level 3 now...you get new options if you want... The big bonus with this class is it's invocations. Grab Beguiling influence for a +6 bonus to Diplomacy, Bluff and Intimidate.
Feats skills and stuff: 4 skill points to distribute now. Put one in diplomacy. The rest 3, you can put in Bluff, Sense motive and Use magic device. You will need another skill besides diplomacy maxxed out at level 10 (13 ranks) so you can qualify for the Exemplar prestige class.
As for your third level feat, lets get rid of one of those nasty un-diplomancable things. Pick up Undead empathy from the ECS. Now, not only are you allowed to use diplomacy on undead, but you also get +4 bonus when using it on inteligent undead. Bring on the liches !
End result: At level 3 you got: +33 from level 2, +1 from Diplomacy, +6 from Beguiling influence for a total of +40. If you find yourself face-to-face with a Ghoul, make him firendly and invite him to a beer with your +44 modifier on inteligent undead.
