Bard 1 / Rogue 2 / Wiz 18 ?!?

[Calebro]

Intentionally plan for lesser reincarnate?

In another thread the question was posed whether splashing bard onto wiz for CLW was worth it.
Obviously it isn't.
But it got me to thinking.

Take the standard 18/2 wiz/rogue build.
Throw a level of bard into the mix early on.
With the bard bug about ASF, this would turn the early levels of a feeble weak toon into something useful.

Consider:
1. Rogue 1. Starting like a standard build.

2. Wiz 1. Continuing the standard build.

3. Bard 1. You now have songs, equal to a BaB +1 for all purposes. More skills. Better saves. Wand usage. Better AC via no ASF in light armor. More survivable.
Throw on some armor, sing a song, cast shield, grab a sword and jump in the fray. Wand whip if needed. Save your SP for when you need them.

4. Wiz 2. Continue the path, but act more like a casting rogue.... or a bard with more SP. Buffs and the occasional CC.

5. Wiz 3. Still playing the "bard's" role at this point, but with a better spell selection.
6. Wiz 4. Same deal, although your song is lacking.
7. Wiz 5. But that's OK, because your buffs just got a whole lot better.
8. Wiz 6. And your offense is improving as well.
9. Wiz 7. You now have sufficient power via FW/Stoneskin, and your UMD is raising enough that you probably don't need that wand usage (or the armor, or the song) quite as much anymore.

10. Rogue 2 / Lesser Reincarnate that Bard level into Wiz 8. Fall into the caster role now.

11+ Continue the regular path.

I can see this working VERY well in the right hands.
If the ASF issue gets fixed before you get to level 10 it's no big deal. Just do the LR then and you're no worse off than any other 18/2 build is at that point.
But if it doesn't get fixed in time, you're a whole lot better for it in the leveling process.

Obviously this would be geared more toward the casual player, not those of us who get a toon to 10th level in as many hours.
Thoughts?

[Noctus]

Skip the Bard level,
cast Mage Armor
cast Shield Spell
cast Master´s Touch
drink cure Potions (or self-heal with your spells if you are a Warforged)

---> same playstyle, without having to sacrifice a level or many turbine points for some small short-term gains.

[Skuz_Bukit]

Bard 1 / Rogue 2 / Wiz 18

First thing wrong with that is it adds up to 21.

[Anderei]

Bard 1 / Rogue 2 / Wiz 18

First thing wrong with that is it adds up to 21.

If you read his text with a bit more attention you'll see the idea does make sense.

--

@OP. Personally I too think the temporary bard level is not worth it. Especially for level 10, you are soo fast there it really doesn't pay off, investing the TPs in XP potions might make more sense Altough I do think you top notch on a new upcoming trend to take temporary levels for leveling and replacing them near the cap. For example the rogue splash makes much sense there to replace it to a pure wizard when you are 20 and get the capstone.

[Kriogen]

Bugs get fixed.

Wizard17/Rogue2/Ranger1 would make more sense. You can use cure wands, get martial weapons, and ranger gets 6 skill so easier to max rogueish skills (just like Bard). Ranger also gets you running speed boost. Usefull. You even get Bow Strength. Not very usefull, but it's there.

AC from armor? Elf/Drow can lower ASF with enhancements plus AC bracers and some Dex gives you more or less the same AC as armor.

Bard1 is not a good splash.

[Calebro]

Itrend to take temporary levels for leveling and replacing them near the cap.

That was kind of the entire point.
Remember, this was brought about because of a question raised by a poster in another thread.

If you read that thread you'd see that I even state that this wouldn't be for everyone, and that I myself probably wouldn't even do it, but it is an interesting option to consider with this new mechanic coming live soon.

Purely hypothetical, but quite useful if implemented properly.