wait...what?

[nightshade]

Hey,

i joined a friends campaign and decided it was a good idea to make a human Rogue1/Barbarian 1/Beguiler 1  
Now I am stucked and don't know how to advance the character any further.
My first thoughts were to create a char that is able to be the skillmonkey with somewhat fighting power since our party lacks both.
We've got 2 new players playing Wizard(conjurer) and Cleric (both range focussed) and one experienced player is going Fighter/Wizard/Swiftblade (a little fragile atm).
I could possibly change my feats/stats but not my class choices.

stats (32pb):
str: 14
dex: 16
con: 14
int: 14
wis: 10
cha: 10

feats:
craven, knowledge devotion, extra rage
i also use the whirling frenzy and pounce variants.

The damage is quite nice at the moment. With Frenzy and Bulls Strength(cleric) I constantly hit with 2d6 (greatsword) +9 + (1d6+3 SA) + 1-2(Knowledge Devotion), thats 24 damage average for each hit.

I hope you can help me to make this character viable for the mid-high levels. I got another level at the end of the last session, so he is level 4 now.

[Lycanthromancer]

Continue with beguiler, nabbing Practiced Spellcaster ASAP?

[Bloody Initiate]

Gotta confess, that's an odd mix of classes in there. The Beguiler really threw me... it's a good class but a bit odd next to Barbarian.

However, since you've already:
Acquired 1d6 Sneak Attack
Acquired +2 BAB
Acquired the ability to spontaneously cast 1st lvl Arcane Spells
Acquired the ability to Rage

I think you need to pick a few dippable PrCs and bee-line toward them. You have a smattering of prerequisites.

I'm really not sure WHICH PrCs though. I always tended to avoid PrCs that required as much jumping around as you've done, but since you've already done it, you are free of that concern.

Really though, you've already jumped around a lot, pick a primary and secondary party role and start aiming to fit into those places.

In the mean time, consider a dip into a martial adept class (Warblade is looking the best for you since you already have a class that runs on intelligence). Perhaps first take your second level of either Rogue, Barbarian, or Beguiler. That will put your 5th level in the martial adept class with an initiator level of 3, allowing you to take second level maneuvers right away. After that you're PrC-ready and you can start dipping everywhere.

[Lycanthromancer]

Rage-mage?

Also, Craven.

[ninjarabbit]

What exactly are you trying to achieve with this character because this build looks very unfocused. You'll be struggling later in combat due to your low BAB and spellcasting and rage don't mix.

However you still have the makings of a very good skillmonkey. Because of this I'd recommend progressing in a skillmonkey class(es). Another level or rogue will get you evasion and a level of spellthief will get you another d6 sneak attack dice.

[Lycanthromancer]

Actually, swordsage looks like it could work well there. Maybe a mix of factotum and swordsage. Take Craven, a few rage-feats, and go to town.

[Bloody Initiate]

Actually, swordsage looks like it could work well there. Maybe a mix of factotum and swordsage. Take Craven, a few rage-feats, and go to town.

I thought Swordsage too but saw his wisdom was 10. I suppose you don't NEED a good wisdom to do well as a Swordsage, but it feels like a waste to spend more than a level or two in a class that benefits you most on a stat you dumped.

[Lycanthromancer]

Actually, swordsage looks like it could work well there. Maybe a mix of factotum and swordsage. Take Craven, a few rage-feats, and go to town.

I thought Swordsage too but saw his wisdom was 10. I suppose you don't NEED a good wisdom to do well as a Swordsage, but it feels like a waste to spend more than a level or two in a class that benefits you most on a stat you dumped.

It's basically just ignoring the +Wis to AC. This is easy enough to ignore.

[Mixster]

If you want to do a little bit of everything, play a factotum

[Ithamar]

See if you can "retrain" Barbarian into Warblade, at least that has a tad more INT synergy.  But you're still rather unfocused.

Warblade 1 / Rogue 1 / Beguiler 2 for level might be workable, though far from optimal.

[Monotremeancer]

I could possibly change my feats/stats but not my class choices.

I'd try and make use of this and then follow Lycan's advice

[nightshade]

Wow, thats a lot of replies. Thank you all for contributing.
I like the input so far, and I tend to use the Swordsage/Factotum Idea. I think i need to read the handbooks carefully.
If you have more Ideas just throw them at me, i could also need some advice on the build.

Another Idea that came to mind is to make some use of Arcane Strike (as long as it works with Rage) and just use magic outside of combat.

[weenog]

I would keep going with Beguiler up till I got my 3rd-level spells, then hit Swiftblade.  Possibly making a brief detour into Shadowdancer beforehand to pick up Hide In Plain Sight. Possibly making a one-level dip into Shadowdancer for Hide In Plain Sight when reasonably practical, but not at expense of delaying Swiftblade entry any further. (Note that hiding doesn't take an action, but is done as part of movement -- such as when spring attacking.)

Also would definitely pick up Practiced Spellcaster: Beguiler to make up for the lost CL.

[gorfnad]

Take a look into Unseen Seer (CM) for more sneak attack damage and access to the spell Hunters Eye (PHBII) from Advanced Learning.