Using as many classes as possible

[zioth]

I've played around in the past with characters that have one level of as many classes as possible. What I usually end up with is someone with ridiculous saves, medium to low BaB, and not much else.

Has anyone here come up with an effective character who has a maximum of two levels per class? Anyone care to try? Ideally, this character would be relatively effective starting pretty early, though a character who only comes into his own at level 20 is fine too. Standard equipment value, and let's say 38 point buy to give him a little boost. Level adjustments count as levels, so no more than +2 LA.

One level per class would be even better.


If you can get Still Mind somehow, you could make an okay unarmed fighter with minor spellcasting buffs (monk, psionic fist, enlightened fist, sacred fist), but I'm sure that's nowhere close to the best you can do.

[Ian Frost]

Half-elf Warlock 1/Binder 1/Marshal 1/Bard 1(sublevel)/ Cleric 1/X 15
X= anything fun, hopefully with diplomacy as a class skill

[Epimetheus]

Can't think of any builds right now, but you get good stuff from the following: (basically good charisma and wisdom help a lot)

Marshal 1: minor aura [Cha mod to something], 2 gives major aura lvl 1, which isn't always as good.
Cleric 1: 2 domain powers and turn undead, which can translate to 2 feats of a limited list [including Imp. Init. and Blind-fight], and Turning feat access.
Wizard 1: the type that gives up Scribe Scroll or the Familiar for something more useful and permanent. Specialists are good too. Especially the one with Abrupt Jaunt.
Druid 1: So long as you use the UA variant [Swift and Deadly Hunter] that gives up wildshape and armor proficiencies for Track, Wis to AC (when unarmored), and some other useless features you won't be able to access.
Rogue 2: Sneak Attack and Evasion (or Arcane Deflection). Tons of skill pts for UMD.
Ranger 2: Combat Style? and Track. Full BAB and good skills too.
Monk 2: Wis to AC, Imp. Unarmed Strike, Evasion (or Arcane Deflection), 2 bonus monk [or fighter, in the case of martial monk] feats
Bard 1: Inspire Courage? Although it's hard to break it without more levels to progress Bardic Music. UMD and knowledges.
Paladin 2: Divine Grace! Lay on Hands too, I suppose. I doubt you'd appreciate the alignment restriction, code of conduct, and excessive bonus to saves though.
Fighter 2: The most efficient way to get BAB and 2 bonus fighter feats
Any martial adept class 1 or 2: Cause maneuvers and stances will help you. Multiclass characters don't do spellcasting very well anyway. Swordsage helps by giving you Wis to AC for light armor, as well as free Weapon focus and a ton of maneuvers/stances.

There are so many good things out there; I'd suggest putting together something martially oriented. Your BAB is low, but with an excess of bonus feats and Use Magic Device you'll be fine. Scrolls/Wands of Divine Power correct the BAB issue, assuming you can get the caster lvl high enough. A friend Cleric/Archivist would be nice for that sort of thing, though I wouldn't know how you'd pay the favor back...

[Maat_Mons]

Here's one I did.  With the ability to take two levels of each class, I could probably do something similar with cleric 2 / human paragon 2 / church inquisitor 2 / et cetera.  Since ur priest wouldn't be in the build, that should open up more prestige classes and lead to fewer feats spent on prerequisites.  

Edit: here's a rough build:

Human; cleric (cloistered) 2 / human paragon 2 / church inquisitor 2 / holt warden 2 / earth dreamer 2 / ruathar 2 / contemplative 2 / paragnostic apostle 2 / divine oracle 2 /  thaumaturgist 2; earth sense, skill focus (knowledge [religion]), spell focus (conjuration); plant domain. 

That gets spells as a 19th level cleric, fort +9, ref +3, will +30, 6 domains, and 2 bonus feats. 

[Widow]

Close but not exactly all 2 or less:

Builds

THE FoP

This is the most dedicated Fiend of Possession build.  Everything is focused on you getting around without ever making yourself seen.  Any race is possible, therefore I will stick to 16 levels for the base build if you don’t have access to the above entry tricks.

Beguiler 1/ Telepath 1/Bloodline 1/ Marshall 1/ FoP 1/ Bloodline 1/ FoP 5/ Bloodline 1/ Uncanny Trickster 2/ Mindbender 1/ Thrallherd 1/

Racial Mods
Kaori/ Abyssal Skulker            2HD/ 2 LA
Human                                Replace Uncanny Trickster with 6 levels of Legacy Champion
Bladeling+Divine Minion           2 LA/ Fiend of Corruption 1/ Uncanny Trickster 1

Feats
L1 Otherworldly (If needed)
L2 Inquisitor
L3 Martial Study (Shadow Hand)
L4 Skill Focus Diplomacy
L6 Open
L9 Least Legacy (If needed)
L12 Open
L15 Mindsight
L18 Open

Bloodlines types that might be useful:
Devil L2 Dodge, L14 Alterness ( Cha, Con, Int +1)
Genie, Efreeti  L2 Improved Initiative, L 8 Dodge (Str, Cha, Dex +1)
Vampire L2 Stealthy, L10 Lightning Reflexes, L12 Alterness, L14 Improved Initiative (Str, Cha, Dex +1)

Right from the FoP handbook which I need to move to the handbook board and update.

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=7518.0

[The_Mad_Linguist]

Dragonwrought kobold sorcerer 2/ Singer of Concordance 2/ Ruathar 2/Mindbender1/MotAO2/Fatespinner2/Rainbow Servant 2/Unseen Seer 2/Sand Shaper 1/Sacred Exorcist 2/Divine Oracle 2?

[Maat_Mons]

For the cleric 2 / paragon 2 / church inquisitor 2 idea, I'm interested in opinions on which classes to use.  Here are some that could work.  (All of these except the paragon classes advance divine casting the first two levels.  The racial paragon classes each advance casting one of the first two levels.)  

Complete Champion
Holt Warden: skills 8, spells 3, plant domain or druid
Paragnostic Apostle: skills 5, spells 3

Complete Divine
Church Inquisitor: LG/LN, will +3, skills 4, spells 2
Contemplative: skills 13, spells 1
Divine Oracle: Skills 8, skill focus (knowledge [religion]), spells 1
Radiant Servant of Pelor: NG, will +5, skills 9, extra turning, spells 1, sun domain, Pelor
Sacred Exorcist: G, skills 10, spells 4
Seeker of the Misty Isle: elf or half-elf, skills 8, spells 2

Dungeon Master's Guide
Loremaster: skills 10, 3 metamagic or item creation, skill focus (knowledge [any]), spells 3
Thaumaturgist: spell focus (conjuration), spells 4

Frostburn
Rimfire Witch: skills 9, iron will, mark of Hleid, spells 1, Hleid

Lords of Madness
Keeper of the Cerulean Sign: skills 8, aberration banemagic, craft wondrous item,

Races of the Dragon
Singer of Concordance: dragonblood, spells 3, skills 8, Io

Races of Stone
Earth Dreamer: skills 10, earth sense, spells 1

Races of the Wild
Ruathar: BAB +6 or skills 9 or spells 3

Unearthed Arcana
Drow Paragon: drow
Half-elf paragon: half-elf
Human Paragon: human

Human, half-elf, and lesser drow would all work as races because their racial paragon classes can advance cleric casting.  Earth dreamer, holt warden, seeker of the misty isle all have good fortitude saves.  Church inquisitor, contemplative, divine oracle, seeker of the misty isle, and singer of concordance all give bonus domains.  

If I take all the classes that have a good fortitude save and all the classes that give bonus domains, that still leaves 4 levels to fill.  It's easy enough to tack on a couple of these classes, but which would be the most beneficial?  

[Maat_Mons]

Dragonwrought kobold sorcerer 2/ Singer of Concordance 2/ Ruathar 2/Mindbender1/MotAO2/Fatespinner2/Rainbow Servant 2/Unseen Seer 2/Sand Shaper 1/Sacred Exorcist 2/Divine Oracle 2?

How do you manage 3rd level divine spells with just 2 levels of sorcerer?  Actually, the 8 ranks in knowledge (religion) is stranger. 

[The_Mad_Linguist]

I'm a dragon.  I automatically qualify for anything that has "dragonblood subtype" as a prereq.  

Same way a red dragon or white dragon would qualify.

[fuinjutsu]

Assuming LA buyoff, You can get full cleric 20 casting with no dead levels, as follows:

Lawful Good Female Drow

Cloistered Cleric 1/Drow Paragon1/Paragnostic Apostle 2/Church Inquisitor 2/Divine Oracle2/Sacred Exorcist2/Contemplative2/Dweomerkeeper2/Combat Medic2/Fatespinner2/Sentinel of Bharrai2

Feats:

Fane of the Frog God: skill focus(Knowlege: Religion)

F1) Quicken Spell (needed for Dweomerkeeper)
F2) DMM: Quicken
1) Deepening Darkness (needed for PgA)
3) Southern Magician (needed for Fatespinner and Dweomerkeeper)
6) Dodge
9) Imbued Healing
12) Craft Wondrous (needed for Dweomerkeeper)
15) Sacred Vow (needed for Sentinel of Bharrai)
18) Vow of Obedience (needed for SoB)

Okay, so the Sentinel doesn't give you much, but i was getting desperate, okay?  I'm sure I could have used some Faerunian Prc with better stuff than Bharrai, but I'm too tired at this point, and anyway, that track feat is a great opening into Agent retriever if you've gotten that far.

[Maat_Mons]

Cloistered Cleric 1/Drow Paragon1/Paragnostic Apostle 2/Church Inquisitor 2/Divine Oracle2/Sacred Exorcist2/Contemplative2/Dweomerkeeper2/Combat Medic2/Fatespinner2/Sentinel of Bharrai2

Apparently, my job in this thread is to not understand how builds work.  How do you get 3rd level spells for paragnostic apostle with just cleric 1 / drow paragon 1?  

Unless I have miscalculated, that build has a base fortitude save of +2.  Isn't that a bit low after awhile?  

[fuinjutsu]

Cloistered Cleric 1/Drow Paragon1/Paragnostic Apostle 2/Church Inquisitor 2/Divine Oracle2/Sacred Exorcist2/Contemplative2/Dweomerkeeper2/Combat Medic2/Fatespinner2/Sentinel of Bharrai2

Apparently, my job in this thread is to not understand how builds work.  How do you get 3rd level spells for paragnostic apostle with just cleric 1 / drow paragon 1?  

Deepening Darkness = Deeper Darkness (3rd level SLA) 3/day.  Yay for poorly worded entrance prereqs.

Unless I have miscalculated, that build has a base fortitude save of +2.  Isn't that a bit low after awhile?  

None of those classes has a good fort save?  I seem to recall at least 3-4 of them having good fort.  Also, Ref = 0 is more worrisome, no?

Oh well, this is a theoretical exercise, anyway because lord knows no one with any sense would play this.

I mean seriously, 2 SENTINEL OF BHARRAI levels.

[lans]

2Fighter/2monk invisible fist and decisive strike/ totemist 2/Incarnate 2/Warblade 2/PsyW2/HexB2/Ranger2/Sword Sage 2/Crusader2

15 BAB I think the lowest save is +12, a good number of abilities from incarnum and manuevers.

[Maat_Mons]

None of those classes has a good fort save?  I seem to recall at least 3-4 of them having good fort.  Also, Ref = 0 is more worrisome, no?

Class: good saves
Cloistered Cleric: fort, will
Drow Paragon: ref
Paragnostic Apostle: will
Church Inquisitor: will
Divine Oracle: will
Sacred Exorcist: will
Contemplative: will
Dweomerkeeper: will
Combat Medic: ref
Fatespinner: will
Sentinel of Bharrai: will

You have fort +2, ref +5, and will +26.  

This is why I was shooting for earth dreamer 2 / holt warden 2 / seeker of the misty isle 2 in my build.  That gives +9 to fort saves right there.  It can reach base fort save +12 by 12th level.  It doesn't increase after that, but base fort save +12 is still alright at 20th level.  

[The_Mad_Linguist]

Cloistered Cleric 1/Drow Paragon1/Paragnostic Apostle 2/Church Inquisitor 2/Divine Oracle2/Sacred Exorcist2/Contemplative2/Dweomerkeeper2/Combat Medic2/Fatespinner2/Sentinel of Bharrai2

Apparently, my job in this thread is to not understand how builds work.  How do you get 3rd level spells for paragnostic apostle with just cleric 1 / drow paragon 1?  

Deepening Darkness = Deeper Darkness (3rd level SLA) 3/day.  Yay for poorly worded entrance prereqs.

IIRC, SLAs don't actually count for "xth level spells".  Just for "caster level y" or "specific spell z"

[vrischika111]

Cloistered Cleric 1/Drow Paragon1/Paragnostic Apostle 2/Church Inquisitor 2/Divine Oracle2/Sacred Exorcist2/Contemplative2/Dweomerkeeper2/Combat Medic2/Fatespinner2/Sentinel of Bharrai2

Apparently, my job in this thread is to not understand how builds work.  How do you get 3rd level spells for paragnostic apostle with just cleric 1 / drow paragon 1?  

Deepening Darkness = Deeper Darkness (3rd level SLA) 3/day.  Yay for poorly worded entrance prereqs.

IIRC, SLAs don't actually count for "xth level spells".  Just for "caster level y" or "specific spell z"

indeed, but P.A. also explicitely mentions SLA as alternate pre-requisite 

[fuinjutsu]

None of those classes has a good fort save?  I seem to recall at least 3-4 of them having good fort.  Also, Ref = 0 is more worrisome, no?

Class: good saves
Cloistered Cleric: fort, will
Drow Paragon: ref
Paragnostic Apostle: will
Church Inquisitor: will
Divine Oracle: will
Sacred Exorcist: will
Contemplative: will
Dweomerkeeper: will
Combat Medic: ref
Fatespinner: will
Sentinel of Bharrai: will

You have fort +2, ref +5, and will +26.  

This is why I was shooting for earth dreamer 2 / holt warden 2 / seeker of the misty isle 2 in my build.  That gives +9 to fort saves right there.  It can reach base fort save +12 by 12th level.  It doesn't increase after that, but base fort save +12 is still alright at 20th level.  

Eh, I almost always play fractional for sanity's sake, so I rarely care to keep track of saves.

And again, I gave myself the additional challenge of no lost CL and no dead levels, which is why my build came out the way it did.  Otherwise, I would never have used SoB, which doesn't get anything even remotely good until much higher levels.

[Maat_Mons]

If you don't like what sentinel of Bharrai gives you and your requirement is only that the prestige class has class features the first two levels, holt warden, earth dreamer, keeper of the cerulean sign, loremaster, ruathar, or thaumaturgist could be used instead.  Those classes don't tend to have great features (though augment summoning isn't bad), but they do have easier feat prerequisites. 

[Senevri]

Well, this isn't that good, but it amuses me, and it doesn't _completely_ suck, thanks to maneuvers...

Good-Aligned Elf Crusader 1/Warblade 1/Unarmed Swordsage 1/Cleric 1: Elf, Time/Stoneblessed 3/Ruby Knight Vindicator 1/Bloodstorm Blade 1/Bloodclaw Master 1/Suel Arcanamach 2/Jade Phoenix 1 bab/Shadow Sun Ninja 1/Fighter 1 /Deepstone Sentinel 1/Eternal Blade 2/Master of Nine 2

IL 15. Has three levels of stoneblessed, but that's required to enter Deepstone Sentinel as an elf, so...
And yes, it has levels in every single class in Tome of Battle.

*edit*
With two levels, you can actually be somewhat decent in Core.
Rogue 2/Barb 2/Fighter 2/Ranger 2/Bard 2/Dragon Disciple 2/Horizon Walker 2/Monk 2/Cleric 2/Arcane Archer 2.
Maybe replace monk or cleric with 2 Wizard levels so we can stack up on spells that can be put on Arcane Archer arrows. Immune to fatigue so we can rage without a downside, Archery tree, +1 inspire courage, Wis to AC, a rather large bunch of feats...

[Amechra]

Something Built of a Binder 1/Ardent 1 base with a mantle that grants Share Pain, Forced.

Practiced Manifester and Improved Binding.

Burn some PP after binding Dahlver Nar. Have fun taking 1/4th the damage from an attack while some poor sod takes the full amount.