Build: The Bard Taxi, aka the Little Red Corvette Class: Bard (Warlock) / Evermeet Warlock / haven't thought about it (Prince of Hell?) Race: Tiefling or Eladrin for MAXIMUM POWAH, but any +CHA works
After much coaxing from LDB, Shadowshift and GTG, I finally did a write-up for Sim, the Bard Taxi. This is the character I use in the Red Mists adventuring company with said three guys. He performs the 'leader' role within the team, even though the company is actually four strikers. Maybe there will be some fluff here later. Maybe.
The bottom line is, nobody can beat this guy at alpha-strike teleportation. You get in before anyone can do anything, make your team blow a bunch of stuff up, and then you get out. You also happen to be invisible to just about everyone you engage, but that's a minor detail.
Tactical Niche: This build is an enabling leader. You have four primary functions:
Teleport allies directly adjacent to enemies, so that they don't need to waste move actions.
Grant said allies off-action attacks, to maximize their positioning advantage
Teleport allies to various locations within melee, moving them out of dangerous situations (grabbed, restrained, flanked, etc)
Teleport enemies to various locations on the battlefield, making them vulnerable to blasts, bursts, etc
Your core action is the teleport. The build uses a number of teleport enhancers to change Ethereal Sidestep into a teleport 6+, and utilizes Bard feats to convert slides into teleports that become teleport 6+. As a teleporter, you are virtually immune to restrained, grabbed, immobilized and slowed. You rely on the Evermeet Warlock's level 16 power to bring your allies along whenever you teleport. It makes it so that if you teleport 10 squares, so does your ally. You can string these teleports to move the entire party into position. You maximize initiative to allow you to do this first, before any enemies can act. Combined with your enabling and shutdown attacks, you effectively generate alpha-strike/blitz conditions for your strikers, so that the entire combat can be resolved within 2 rounds.
Also, with your slide powers now teleporting creatures, your Majestic Word becomes a save-button; your ally spends a healing surge + x, and then teleports 6 squares out of whatever danger they might be in, all without you getting your hands dirty.
Feat: Pact Initiate (Warlock Multiclass) → enables the Warlock PP
Feat: Acolyte Power (Ethereal Sidestep (level 10)) → grants teleport as an at-will move action
Feature: Feywild Wake (level 11) → become invisible to enemies you teleport away from, so you can muck around in melee
Feature: Mercurial Action (level 11) → extra move action to teleport more allies on top of AP
Feature: Mastery of Passage (level 16) → take an ally with you whenever you teleport, so long as it's less than 10 squares
General:
Feat: Improved Initiative → maximize your initiative so that your team can get into position before the enemy can act
Feat: Danger Sense (paragon) → maximize your initiative so that your team can get into position before the enemy can act; couples well with Baldric of Time (paragon)
Staggering Note (level 1) – enabling power, allows allies to make off-action attacks
Blunder (level 1 enc) – positioning/enabling power, like staggering note but you teleport the enemy where you want him first
Impelling Force (level 3) – positioning power, teleport the enemy adjacent to an ally
Song of Discord (level 5) – shutdown power, make the enemy provoke off-action attacks
Allegro (level 6) – positioning power, teleport the entire party ala the warlord catapult
Drums of the Wild Hunt (level 7) – positioning power, teleport your party adjacent to enemies, only useful til level 16. at 16 replace with Rhyme of the Bloodseeking Blade or some other off-action
Ethereal Sidestep (level 10, warlock) - grants teleport as an at-will move action
Whispers of the Dream King (level 15) – shutdown power, knock an enemy unconscious for a coup. Best mixed with Haste and a Ranger with Blade Cascade.
Haste (level 16) – someone (maybe you) gets a standard; you just have to pay with a minor action.
Balance of Fortune (level 17) – the next sequence of attacks by your allies get +1d4 to hit; best used as prelude to an alpha-strike maneuver (see two examples below)
Cloak of Translocation (level 9) → +2 AC and reflex when you teleport, which is always
Incisive Dagger (level 9) → +enhancement(!) to teleports
Helm of Heroes (level 10) → as daily, convert a free basic attack into a standard action
Gloves of Dimensional Repulsion (level 14) → +2 to teleports on anything but yourself
Ring of Retreat (level 17) → +1 to teleports
Planestrider Boots (level 18) → allows you to split your truly fearsome teleports (15 squares+) into two teleports, which you can chain to bring an ally along the entire distance, or to swap the position of the squishy (who's in a bad place) and defender (who wants to be in the bad place)
Ring of Dimensional Escape (level 20) -> +1 to teleports
Synergistic Items (optional):
Baldric of Time (paragon) → extra standard action when you crit on initiative (via Danger Sense)
Dice of Auspicious Fortune (paragon) → ensure that your daily power, Whispers of the Dream King, hits so that your ranger can do that 5-hit coup-de-grace
Eldritch Panoply, 2 items (level 20) → gain an additional teleport as a minor action, if you have nothing better to do with the slots (feet, weapon, neck, arms,hands)
At level 16 with all recommended items at +3: Arcane Familiar, Rubicant Blade, Incisive Dagger, Gloves of Dimensional Repulsion: +5 to teleports for you, +7 for others =
teleport 6 sq with ethereal side step
teleport 8 sq with majestic word
teleport party 9 sq with allegro
teleport self 10 sq and three allies 12 sq with rubicant blade daily power
At level 20 with all recommended items at +4: Arcane Familiar, Rubicant Blade, Incisive Dagger, Planestrider Boots, Ring of Retreat, Ring of Dimensional Escape: +8 to teleports =
teleport 9 with ethereal side step
teleport 11 with majestic word
teleport party 12 sq with allegro
teleport self 10 sq and three allies 15 sq with rubicant blade daily power
This build might not seem like much. You don't really attack; you just move people around a lot. The best thing I can do is to provide an anecdote.
At level 18, you'll have something like +19 initiative. With Danger Sense, you can expect to have around a 35 initiative; so you're probably moving before the monsters. Your party of melee strikers is 13 squares away from the solo – just out of charge range.
Here's a typical opening maneuver for you:
[minor] Allegro @11sq. Teleport the entire party 11 squares.
[free] Bardic Wayfarer @8sq. Split the teleport into two 4 square teleports, putting one of your allies into flanking position behind the bad guy, and then teleport back to your party. You are now invisible to this solo.
[move] Ethereal Sidestep @8sq. Do the same as above, with your other striker. Now both are in flank.
[action point] Gain an additional move and standard.
[standard] Balance of Fortune. Until the end of your next turn, any ally who makes an attack versus this solo gets +1d4 to each attack roll.
[standard-AP] Whispers of the Dream King. Use your Dice of Auspicious Fortune to guarantee a hit or various rerolls to ensure a hit. The solo falls unconscious (save ends, though he gets a save when he takes damage)
[move-AP] Convert to a minor to use Haste. Give it to your Ranger, who has Blade Cascade and is in flank against the unconscious solo.
Watch as the Ranger does a 5-hit coup-de-grace for 250+ damage, before he has even taken his own turn. The solo might wake up in the middle, but since Blade Cascade is a single power, every hit is a crit.
Let your to strikers actually take their turns, starting off in flanking position and with +1d4 to each attack roll they make.
'Queen' Maneuver (@level 16): Rubicant Blade (move) → action point (+move, +standard) → Dominate (standard) → Staggering Note + Helm of Heroes daily power (standard), 1 additional minor action, 1 additional move action, 1 additional free teleport (from bardic wayfarer)
Effect: Use the Rubicant Blade to move yourself + 3 allies (2 from the blade, 1 from your evermeet feature) 10 squares adjacent to the enemy. Dominate the enemy. Use Staggering Note + Helm of Heroes to give your heaviest hitter a standard action. If the enemy is still alive on his turn, have him run around in a circle to provoke from all your allies, who now surround him. You still have two teleports if any allies need to move a bit further. You can use Planestriders as a move and the Incisive Dagger as a minor if you need to move two more allies 8 more squares.
'King' Maneuver (@level 17): Allegro (minor) → Balance of Fortune (standard) → action point (+move, +standard) → Whispers of the Dream King (standard) → Haste (move->minor), 1 additional move action (from action point), 1 additional free teleport (from Bardic Wayfarer.)
Effect: Use Allegro to teleport your party 8 squares adjacent to the enemy, use Whispers of the Dream King to knock the enemy unconscious. Use Haste to grant your ranger a terrible standard action (such as Blade Cascade for 5 coup-de-grace attacks.) All of your allies' attacks against this enemy get +1d4 to hit from the Balance of Fortune. You still have two teleports if any allies need to move a bit further. You can use the Planestrider Boots if an ally needs to move 10 more squares.
Effect: 10 (party) + 18 + 18 + 13 (party) + 9 + 9 = 77 squares of teleportation as 6 actions. Teleport the entire party 23 squares and utilize your other 4 teleport actions (broken up with the planestriders) to move allies or say, hostages, in or out of danger.
FEATS Level 1: Improved Defenses Level 2: Unarmored Agility Level 4: Improved Initiative Level 6: Versatile Expertise Level 8: Pact Initiate Level 10: Acolyte Power Level 11: Superior Implement Training (Accurate dagger) Level 12: Walk Among the Fey Level 14: Danger Sense Level 16: Arcane Familiar Level 18: Bardic Wayfarer Level 20: Starblade Flurry
POWERS Hybrid at-will 1: Five Storms Hybrid at-will 1: Staggering Note Hybrid encounter 1: Open the Gate of Battle Hybrid daily 1: Stunning Palm Hybrid utility 2: Agile Recovery Hybrid encounter 3: Impelling Force Hybrid daily 5: Song of Discord Hybrid utility 6: Allegro Hybrid encounter 7: Drums of the Wild Hunt (retrained to Rhyme of the Blood-Seeking Blade at Level 16) Hybrid daily 9: Crane Dance Hybrid utility 10: Spring Up (replaced by Ethereal Sidestep Acolyte Power) Hybrid encounter 13: Furious Bull (replaces Open the Gate of Battle) Hybrid daily 15: Whispers of the Dream King (replaces Crane Dance) Hybrid utility 16: Haste Hybrid encounter 17: Balance of Fortune (replaces Impelling Force) Hybrid daily 19: Stunning Palm (replaces Stunning Palm)
ITEMS Thieves' Tools, Adventurer's Kit, Resplendent Studded White Gloves, Couatl-Feathered Fedora of Heroes, Potion of Healing (heroic tier) (2), Exodus Butter-Knife (paragon tier), Backup Guitar (Vistani Buzuq) +2, Siberys Shard of the Mage (paragon tier), Rubicant Guitar (Club) +3, Ring of the Rockstar Emperor (paragon tier), Glimmering Silver Translocation Cloak +3, Knee-High Planestriders, Dice of Auspicious Fortune (paragon tier), Solitaire (Citrine) (paragon tier), Cascading Strikes Accurate Ki Focus +4, Shimmering Feyweave Threads +4, Belt of the Witch King (paragon tier), Incisive Accurate Guitar Pick (Dagger) +4, Ring of Dimensional Escape (paragon tier), Wand of You-Can-Do-It! (Aptitude) +3 ====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======
You might be looking at the following build and wondering, why is the build a Changeling Monk|Bard hybrid instead of a Tiefling Bard? It's less powerful! And you'd be right. I'm too lazy to do a build out of the pure Bard proof-of-concept. Instead, what you see is my first LFR character, Sim. The variant you see above uses the Monk portion to double as a multi-target striker for situations where you need to deal with swarms or artillery who won't come out from the backfield. (This is only a problem before level 16, when you can only go places by yourself. After level 16, you bring the entire party to surround the artillery.)
You'll note that with the build, none of my daily powers actually do any damage. They're all powers designed to cripple: Stunning Palm, Song of Discord, Whispers of the Dream King. I couple those powers with the Dice of Auspicious Fortune and the Cascading Strikes Ki Focus to ensure a hit and shift the momentum of the combat. (Usually Stunning Palm just remains in stance mode so that I'm immune to daze and stun.)
I also use Inspire Competence with the Wand of Aptitude, instead of having Allegro (this isn't reflected in the build), because team Red Mist is terrible at Skill Challenges.
The main reason you see this combination though, is because Monks and Bards have mutually exclusive alignment restrictions in 3.5, and I've always wanted to make a Bard/Monk.
What? No synergy you say? Horrible stat combination, you say? LA LA LA I'M NOT LISTENING LA LA LA
I've not had the chance to play with this particular taxi, but a guy in our group plays a Warlock/Bard Taxi. (uses a Rod to get an effective pact boon of "all monsters teleport exactly where we want them") And they can be very very handy teammates.
"Nice assumptions. Completely wrong assumptions, but by jove if being incorrect stopped people from making idiotic statements, we wouldn't have modern internet subculture." Kerrus
Practical gameplay runs by neither RAW or RAI, but rather "A Compromise Between The Gist Of The Rule As I Recall Getting The Impression Of It That One Time I Read It And What Jerry Says He Remembers, Whatever, We'll Look It Up Later If Any Of Us Still Give A Damn." Erachima
I sent this to our bard player. I'm excited to see how we can make use of it. As I am playing a heavily enabling warlord, I'm imagining that the other players arms will get tired of rolling by the end of Bard Taxi and Bravelord.
I also play a build with some of these tricks and will say it is definitely a blast to play. This guy takes it to a whole other level though - nice work.
By my understanding, it applies to any teleportation generated via a power. The only teleport in here that doesn't come from a power is the free-action one granted by the Bardic Wayfarer feat, so I guess the dagger doesn't apply to that one. Everything else is power-based, though.
Property: When you use a teleportation power, the distance you can teleport increases by a number of squares equal to the dagger’s enhancement bonus.
Problamatic wording bolded.
Maybe it refers to you, the power user, and allows you to shove other creatures further? Maybe it just refers to powers that teleport yourself?
"Nice assumptions. Completely wrong assumptions, but by jove if being incorrect stopped people from making idiotic statements, we wouldn't have modern internet subculture." Kerrus
Practical gameplay runs by neither RAW or RAI, but rather "A Compromise Between The Gist Of The Rule As I Recall Getting The Impression Of It That One Time I Read It And What Jerry Says He Remembers, Whatever, We'll Look It Up Later If Any Of Us Still Give A Damn." Erachima
