Here's a build idea for you...

[robertthebard]

I'm working on this build in an online server I play a lot in, and thought I might share it out for opinions.
Bard/Arcane Archer/Weapon Master; mastery in short sword, with weapon finesse feat. As most of you know, I love the AA class, nothing like peppering enemies from a distance, wearing them down until they close, but then was always deficient in melee combat skills. The idea here is to cover that. There will be no dev crit type feats on this one. All Dex based, and the idea is that I'll be fairly competent with melee combat, as well as rocking out in ranged. The bard class, aside from meeting the AA requirements provides good buffs, and a few offensive/disabling type spells; grease and cloud of bewilderment for example.
The current idea is bard 10, with spellcraft and perform maxed out, along with points in UMD, and tumble, 10 levels of weapon master, and fill out with AA. Dex will be as high as I can get it with stat points/feats as well. Opinions, comments, somebody done it before?

[Legolas]

I don't think the weapon master class adds a lot of melee skill.
At 10 levels, using your weapon of choice, you'd get the Ki strikes (on a 1d6 damage weapon, good for an average +2,5 damage on 10 attacks), +1 to hit, +10 hitpoints (20 if you reroll), and a better critical hit profile.
In return, you lose -5 on all your ranged attack rolls and damage, and tie yourself to the feats and ability score distribution needed for the WM class.
One advantage of WM over AA is that the WM gets to pick the Discipline skill, but then so can the bard.

To improve your melee skills, I'd sooner consider Fighter or Barbarian levels. They grant a martial weapon proficiency letting you use a more effective weapon, and the same or slightly better hp increase. The Fighter class lets you pick a number of useful close combat feats, while the Barbarian class combines a modest Rage bonus with a movement speed increase which can only help your ranged capabilities. Cleric or Mage levels may also be an option. In fact I think a Wizard/AA can do quite well at ranged, melee and magic combat all. The exact preference though, would be defined by the world you play in and the items and opponents you'd face there.

[Stratos]

I agree with Legolas; WM is not worth it for your build, especially not considering all the feats you need to become one.

I'd go with Barbarian myself, for the speed bonus and Uncanny Dodge.

[robertthebard]

AA also gives you the martial weapon feat, I believe, as I couldn't use a short sword until after I started in AA. I think that short of whirlwind attack the other required feats are beneficial, even if you were to continue firing away. Spring attack seems to be useful so far. I think he will suffer from a lower attack bonus in melee, but since melee is a last resort for any archer...I really started out to go with quarter staff, but reconsidered with the dex going the way it is. Plus, the ac boost from using the shield when I do go to melee. So far, he's made it to lvl 3 weapon master, and while I'm not all that impressed, yet, I'm not really disappointed yet either.

[Cornbread]

Man, that is a kind of cool build. Lots of versatility and sounds kinda well rounded. I dunno why you didn't choose rapier if you are going with an elf. They get rapier and longsword for free so you can choose better weapons. Stcak rapier crit range with weaponmaster +2 to crit range and go with weapon finess that a high dex AA would go and that could work. You could go with Elf bard, RDD, AA for some weird shit. A Mighty bow, dev crit on rapiers would be pretty nasty to bounce between when fighting. It would take a ton of feats but it might work out better and adds alot to elvin strength penalty. Sounds kinda cool.


Sly

[robertthebard]

There is a Bard/RDD/AA posted somewhere here, a complete guide to building it, posted by TDC, that is a very competent build. When I went for my weapon focus on the melee weapon, I had a really good short sword that he was already using, just stuck with it. I've done rapier and kukri builds in the past, along with daggers. Never really used a short sword, so...This isn't a real power build, at least not so far, but it could be. I think my best overall build for power was a fighter/rogue/weapon master, using daggers, in Z's mod. There are some really nice daggers. I've done the dev crit in two weapons before as well, and I will personally never do it again. You lose a lot of feats that you could use to improve with the primary weapon, goofing off with the second one. Legolas may remember our tourney match, and that char was dual wielding scimmys and kukris, with dev crit in both, and she floundered badly against his entry, at least in being able to do a lot of dmg consistently.

[Cornbread]

Yeah, that is understandable then. I have been messing with elves alot lately trying to figure out some cool unique builds that aren't over done. I usually don't finish them though heh. I had an elvin rogue/blackguard that went with light armor and dex based A/C and weapon finess w/ rapier that ended up pretty fun. Maybe go for defense and make a bard/pale master/AA. I haven't checked out the specs, but being immune to crits and sneak attacks would definately come in handy in undermountain.

Sly

[Stratos]

Originally posted by robertthebard: There is a Bard/RDD/AA posted somewhere here, a complete guide to building it, posted by TDC, that is a very competent build. When I went for my weapon focus on the melee weapon, I had a really good short sword that he was already using, just stuck with it. I've done rapier and kukri builds in the past, along with daggers. Never really used a short sword, so...This isn't a real power build, at least not so far, but it could be. I think my best overall build for power was a fighter/rogue/weapon master, using daggers, in Z's mod. There are some really nice daggers. I've done the dev crit in two weapons before as well, and I will personally never do it again. You lose a lot of feats that you could use to improve with the primary weapon, goofing off with the second one. Legolas may remember our tourney match, and that char was dual wielding scimmys and kukris, with dev crit in both, and she floundered badly against his entry, at least in being able to do a lot of dmg consistently.

I briefly considered a scythe-wielding Bard/RDD/WM once, but never got around to do it.

[robertthebard]

Not a bad weapon idea, and a decent concept for it. However, with something like that, I'd probably just go fighter/wm. You'll still be able to achieve dev crit, if that's the goal, but your attack bonuses will be better coming in from fighter than from bard/rdd.