Bardic Snake - Brd (26), BG (3), PM (1)

Description
The Bardic Snake is an evil Yuan-Ti character. The Yuan-Ti are known as a deceitful and controlling race, and so the idea of one who would sing lies in order to weaken an enemy is fitting, as is the Bard's use of enchantment spells to control enemies. This particular Yuan-Ti is also an experienced veteran warrior and has dabbled in necromancy (hence the Blackguard and Pale Master levels). Because of these factors, this particular build has very solid role-playing qualities. However, it is made also as a power build designed to gain both Epic Divine Might and Hymn of Requiem while achieving high saves, spell resistance, and AC as well as significant power with enchantment spells. It is extremely versatile, with countless options for how to approach a battle. As such, there are very few types of enemies that this character is hard-pressed to deal with. In fact, this build tested favorably against most builds I tested it against in the Battle of the Builds mod. This is remarkable considering 1v1 completely ignores the important party buffing aspect of Bards.

Pros:
 * Between Epic Divine Might, Inspire Courage, Haste, Power Attack, Cleave, and the occasional Legionnaire's March, this build will be able to throw out tons of melee damage.
 * Buffed up with Inspire Courage, Haste, and Greater Heroism and with a full BAB character in the party to make Legionnaire's March effective, this build will achieve a reasonably high AB. Combined with Curse Song's -5 debuff to opponent's Dodge AC, and you'll be landing hits as much as all but the most dedicated fighter.
 * Hymn of Requiem becomes a game-breaking ability once you get it.
 * Extremely high saves combined with high Spellcraft and the Yuan-Ti's spell resistance make this build hard to touch with magic.
 * The Yuan-ti and Pale Master AC boosts combined with a high tumble skill, the ability to wear medium armor (ie. Mithral Full Plate) and the assortment of defensive options at your disposal (Inspire Defense, Song of Heroism, Displacement, Mirror's Image, Curse Song's AB and damage debuff on enemies etc) make this build relatively strong defensively against melee attackers.
 * This character has a unique ability to debuff opponent's saves better than ANY other build because of the combination of Bard abilities and the Blackguard's Aura of Despair. If you have Inspire Jarring on and throw down a curse song, enemies around you will have -7 will saves, -4 fortitude saves, and -4 reflex saves. This will greatly increase the effectiveness of the party's Wizard/Sorcerer. The huge hit to will saves also allows your own enchantment spells such as Mass Hold Person and Mass Charm Monster to be as effective as if a Wizard were casting them.
 * Use Magic Device is a rare skill, and this build will max it out. This will allow the use of any magic scroll possible. This is useful in countless instances, like if your cleric is dead and you need someone to cast Resurrect. In the end, your UMD is so high that this evil character can even equip the Holy Avenger sword!
 * Between inspirations, songs, and spells, bardic buffs to the rest of the party are second to none.
 * This build has the blackguard's Create Undead ability. When you first get it at level 15, your skeleton is pretty strong for a summon. At later levels, with inspire courage, chorus of heroism, and legionnaire's march active, the skeleton can boast 214 HP, 23 AC, +41 full AB, and do over 20 damage a hit. The Dinosaur Companion of a druid is much stronger, but a buffed up Blackguard skeleton is nothing to sneeze at.

Cons:
 * AB takes a bit of a hit in PvP as the character benefits greatly from Legionnaire's March, which does nothing to AB without a party.
 * Hymn of Requiem's damage can be resisted by immunity to sonic damage. However, it is worth noting that it is rare to see things that are immune to sonic damage and even if something resists the damage, your party still gets healed from it.
 * HP is pretty low. Song/Chorus of Heroism fixes this at later levels, but you can only have that up half the time. The other half the time, you just have to hope your AC, high saves, and spell resistance keep you alive.
 * Doesn't have anything that is insanely high. AB and damage are high, but still below that of some builds. AC is high (I saw it reach the high 60s today fully buffed and outfitted, and it can probably go higher) but some builds designed to maximize AC are better at it. When debuffs are taken into account, the DC of its high level enchantment spells are high, but not as high as a Wizard with spell focus feats, and it lacks any spell penetration feats to get through spell resistance.