@MagicalMaster: Appreciate your strong defense and have noted the modules you mentioned. That being said and after several days of intense thinking about the relative merits of this and that in a context I know little about -- here is my latest build-out idea in development. A snapshot.

Carney Finn the Fifth [Level 7] - True Neutral ~~ Rogue 1 /Sorcerer 5 /Bard 1
>>Attributes
Strength ---------- 12
Dexterity --------- 14
Constitution ----- 14
Intelliigence ----- 12
Wisdom --------- 8
Charisma* ------- 17* [16 at start]

>>Skills [+Stat Mod]
Concentration 9+2
Discipline 10+1
Taunt 10+3
Heal 7-1
Spellcraft 7+1
Lore 6+1
Set Traps 6+2
Persuade 3+3
Perform 3+3
UMDvce 3+3
Parry 1+2

>>Selected Feats
Point Blank Shot
Toughness
Combat Casting
Spell Penetration
Skill Focus -- Set Traps

Summon Familiar
Bard Song
Sneak Attack

Questions at this point include:
Does Taunt "attack" require Melee proximity??
Does UMD benefit from some specific [non-lawful] alignment choice??

With Point Blank Shot I am imagining Heavy Crossbow as my main weapon.

The plan going forward would be all Sorcerer levels [2+1+1 skill pts] and carefully recording in personal journal a logbook of My Favorite Taunts [in verse]. Not sure about Spell Focus choices.

Sooo, whadda ya think?? Playable?? Suggested tweaks welcome. [-I really want to play with at least 12 strength but would be willing to take points from Constitution and Intelligence for extra Charisma.- ]

Thanks for your input!

I'll reiterate the warning that's already been given several times: you have to really know what you're doing to build an effective multi-class spellcaster. Every level you invest in something other than Sorcerer is a significant decrease in your spellcasting potential, so you need to ensure you're getting a significant and quantifiable benefit from your multi-class investment.

Counter-intuitively, your Rogue and Bard multi-classing is actually lowering your combat abilities in your current configuration, while your spellcasting power is about half that of a 7th level Sorcerer (for the first few levels of your career, a Sorcerer's spellcasting power roughly doubles every two levels). I'd strongly advise against this approach.

Ideally you want 18 starting charisma as a Sorcerer, but 16 is an acceptable starting number. To be clear, taking points out of charisma to invest into other stats (like strength) is a long-term sacrifice for short-term benefit. The higher the level of your Sorcerer, the more important charisma becomes.

Hide and Move Silently are too expensive for a Sorcerer. Learn the invisibility spell instead. It's more reliable and frees up a lot of skill points.

Set Traps isn't very useful for you; Your spells will be way better than any traps you can get.

Parry is literally a useless skill. This is not hyperbole: never use parry, and never waste skill points on it.

Point Blank Shot isn't very useful for you. While a (cross)bow isn't a bad backup weapon for a low-level caster, it's not worth investing feats in. Set Traps really isn't helpful for you; skip it. The other feats are fine. Go for spellcasting-related feats, like Spell Focus or metamagic feats.

Your highest priority is charisma, but in the short run it's not a big deal if you want to focus on defense first.

The problem with this character is that you invest a -lot- of feats and skills and stats in fighting ability. But sorcerers are very bad at fighting. You get few hitpoints and a lousy base attack bonus.

Sticking with pure sorcerer will benefit you much more. If you want your sorcerer to be able to shoot a bow a little, you can always play an Elf and get the proficiency for free. (Elves aren't the best sorcerers, but neither are they the worst.)

Or, if you want to play a taunting, bow-using swashbuckler type character... well, that's what a bard is for. Why go sorcerer at all? Bards can already cast CHA based spells and are pretty good in this game, actually. (Though much better with the expansions.) You can certainly add in a level of rogue or two for sneak attacks and better skills, and otherwise stick with bard. Take feats that bolster its bard-songs a bit, like Lingering Song and especially Curse Song. (Much better than Taunt, and you can RP it the same way if you want.)

A bard/rogue would need good DEX and CHA, but doesn't need extremely high scores in either. Decent INT and CON, and above-average STR won't hurt either. WIS can be safely dumped. (And who ever heard of wise swashbucklers anyway?)

An archery-based Bard/Rogue will work fine, as long as you bring a henchman. Rapid Shot is definitely a must, though. Improved Critical, Blind Fight and Called Shot would help if archery too. A sorcerer should focus on spellcasting feats instead. A rogue/bard should take Lingering Song and Curse Song at the earliest opportunity.

Combat Casting is useless, (It doesn't actually help unless you activate Defensive Casting Mode, which is bugged.) Spell Penetration is unimportant until late game. Skill Focus- Traps is fairly useless.

Yes. It also leaves you flat-footed. Typically better for melee characters than for archers/spellcasters. Use Curse Song instead.
Not sure what you mean
No. In fact, it hardly benefits sorcerers at all since they can already use scrolls. It does give you some neat monk boots and robes, I suppose. It's good for the bard/rogue.

Bad idea. Crossbows are good early on, but never get more than 1 attack per round.

Much better idea. Though like I said, only for a more bard-focussed character. Sorcerers should cast spells.

Set Trap itself is quite nice, by the way, though a bit of a hassle to use in combat. But you don't need Skill Focus for it.

Sounds like fun, but I'll stress again this concept would work much better as a rogue/bard focussing mostly on bard levels. Your stats look pretty good for a build like that, actually.

Oh, and as for modules to look for: I heartily second the recommendation for the Hex Coda. It's hilarious and very well written. The others in that list aren't my favourites, though they're all good qualities. I'd also recommend

Fester Pot's Almraiven & Shadewood (Story-focussed wizard-only adventures with gorgeous area design)

Baldecaran's The Cave of Songs, (Short-ish, doesn't require the expansions) Honor among Thieves, (like the name suggests, for rogue-type characters. Great non-linear adventure with many paths to success.) and The Prophet (Epic adventure with some fascinating moral quandaries and an amazing storyline.)

LaSphynxette's Madness & Magic (mid-length high-ish level adventure about cross-dimensional travel and world-changing magic, very fun)

There's tons more out there, but these are my favourites from the top of my head. All of them easily match any professional RPG I can think of.

Okey-dokey, I can do that!!

So lose the rogue,-Set Traps thing+ Stealth-Listen points and start as Sorcerer to get those feats. Still planning to take a level of Bard when I have saved up some points. > I simply will not play a game in which my Charname is nothing but a Spellcaster..... not my roleplaying style.

Cheers!

UPDATE: @ Jason_the_Iguana : That sounds like some really good ideas. Still w ork to be done!! :)

Seconding the Aielund Saga and Swordflight recommendation, they are also the modules most like Baldur's Gate, which you also expressed interest in.

I wouldn't waste your time on the OC, except perhaps for the prelude if you're a completely new player. The OC is a receptacle looting and corridor strolling simulator (I exaggerate, but it's really quite disappointing).

You're not exactly getting much from that bard level. Your spellcasting gets weaker, your combat ability gets weaker, the bardic song is utterly irrelevant, and you get all of two extra skill points. The bard's armor proficiency is irrelevant (you won't be wearing armor) and its weapon proficiency can be duplicated with a single feat or by playing as an elf. Bard does have a better class skill list, but the Rogue's is the best so if you're going to multi-class strictly for the sake of skill points that's the class to pick.

Another possibility which is derived from an epic build, Shock and Awe by Grizzled Dwarflord . I have shifted pts from Strength and Constitution to Intelligence for Versatility and Stealth that were not mainstream ideas in his creation.

Half-Orc Fighter4-Rogue4-Barbarian2 {2:2:1 ratio} [ Level 10 Concept]

Str------------17(19) *all additional pts to Strength]
Dex----------12
Con----------14
Intell---------14
Wis-----------10
Charisma---6

Skills Menu - [98pts+Stat Adj. Level10] (very tentative as I am ignorant of game situations, items, etc]

Concentration--------6 [4 +2]
Disable Trap---------10 [8 +2]
Discipline-------------- 8 [5 +3]
Heal---------------------5
Hide---------------------6 [5 +1]
Lore--------------------10 [8 +2]
Move Silent-----------7 [6 +1]
Open Lock------------5 [4 +1]
Persuade--------------5 [7 -2]
Search-----------------10 [8 +2]
Set Trap----------------8 [7 +1]
Spellcraft--------------10 [8 +2]
Taunt------------------ 10 [12 -2]
UMDvc------------------5 [7 -2]

Projected Level 10 Feats: Darkvision, Sneak Attack, Power Attack, Cleave, WF Greatswrd, Knockdown, Iron Will, WS: Greatsword, Toughness, Rage1, NOTE: do not have access to Tumble in my game. Mostly wearing Full Armor with Stealth Armor option.

. No idea at all about whether the balance between Concentration/Discipline and Trap/Search/Stealth skills is reasonable for Charname that is basically a versatile, fairly interesting Warrior who can adventure with Linu, the Cleric---rather than Tomi Undergallows

I am also considering a Level 20 profile of Rogue10/Fighter6/Barbarian4 but have little idea of how to compare the slightly better saves, the XP penalty levels 18-20], and the final Rogue feat it would afford.

I do not know enough to comment intelligently on how my version differs from the build by Grizzled Dwarflord. It is easily found at the Epic Character Builders Guild page.

@Darvin: I totally got how pointless minor levels of Bard really were in that situation. This seems a better route for getting Taunt with the Rage bonuses and besides~~my Half-Orc, Migdol Kalendra, looks cool on the screen....

Cheers and Thanks for the comments.

Sounds like a good build in general. But I have some tips anyway, of course.

STATS:
14 INT is very expensive for Orcs. I recommend leaving it at 12 and boosting STR further. (And possibly DEX, see below.) 1 more skill isn't worth 4 stat-points at character creation.
Skills Menu - [98pts+Stat Adj. Level10] (very tentative as I am ignorant of game situations, items, etc]

SKILLS:
Warriors do not need ANY points in Concentration. It's a waste.

Discipline, Hide, Move Silently and Taunt are all skills that are -only- worthwhile if you max out your skillpoint investment. It's as simple as that.
Search, Heal, Discipine, Open Locks, Set Traps, and to a lesser extent Disable Traps and UMD will be beneficial even with a partial investment, but
UMD still needs to be higher. 7 points (5 modified) will let you use hardly any items. You need a modified score of 10 at least at level 10.
Lore probably needs to go to boost the other skills. You can also take some points from search. Heal can also be sacrificed, since you can just drink potions.
Alternately, keep those skills and give up on stealth. If you plan on wearing heavy armour, stealth is a lost cause, pretty much, and when you really need it you can always chug a cheap invis potion.

FEATS:
Look pretty good. Iron Will is probably not going to help you, though. Your will save will truly suck even with that feat, so no use throwing good money after bad. (Or rather, throwing good feats after bad saves.)
Blind Fight would help a lot instead. Improved Critical would also help a lot, and you should be able to get it at level 9.

EQUIPMENT:

Wearing full armour and chopping with a greatsword is perfectly viable for this build, but in that case your stealth skills will probably see little use.
I also like playing hybrid rogue characters as... well, hybrids. I raise the DEX score a bit higher, wear a Chain Shirt and use a Large Shield and a single handed weapon (battleaxe, for orc, though sword and warhammer are also good) to compensate for the lower armour. Chain Shirt only gives a -2 stealth penalty, which is quite affordable. The shield gives another -2, but you can unequip it whilst sneaking. In comparison, full plate gives -8. Armour wise you will start off a bit behind, but as you find magic shields your armour class will improve until you're actually tougher than the full plate variant.
Your damage will be lower, but sneak attacks compensate (knockdown helps a lot here.) And I like this build conceptually.

It depends on how you see the character, I think. Is he a martial rogue primarily, or a warrior who can deal a bit of sneak attack damage as he charges into the fray? If the former, the medium armour option is a good idea. If the latter, you might consider just dropping the stealth skills and concentrating on knocking stuff down for sneak attacks.

Edit: Missed the bit on the XP penalty. With three classes, that is difficult, but as long as you always keep fighter and rogue within one level of eachother, you're actually penalty-free. Barbarian levels will never give you an XP penalty with orcs.

If you aim for something like 8 rogue, 7 fighter, 5 barbarian, you're good. (But you still need to be careful to raise the levles at the right time. If at level 14 you're at 6R, 5F, 3Bar and you take another level in rogue, you'll get a penalty until you take your next fighter level.)
10 rogue, 6 fighter, 4 barbarian will always net you a penalty for much of your game. It's a bit tricky. To simplify things, you could swap the fighter levels for more barbarian. That'll cost you feats, though, including heavy armour proficiency. (But it's viable if you go for the chain-shirt route.)

Your best approach would be to play human, then keep your barbarian and fighter levels balanced to avoid the XP penalty. Half-Orc is hurting you as much as it's helping due to your rather large intelligence investment.

Quick comparisons of various level-balanaced combinations:

R16/F2/B2 = base attack +16, 5 bonus feats, +11 fortitude, +10 reflex, +5 will, 140 skill points
R12/F4/B4 = base attack +17, 4 bonus feats, +11 fortitude, +10 reflex, +5 will, 120 skill points
R8/F6/B6 = base attack +18, 4 bonus feats, +12 fortitude, +10 reflex, +6 will, 100 skill points

for comparison:
R10/F6/B4 = base attack +17, 5 bonus feats, +12 fortitude, +10 reflex, +6 will, 108 skill points

While this is comparable to the above three configurations I posted, the fact that it necessarily entails an XP penalty is a problem. For the record, base attack +16 is the magic number that lets you get the maximum number of attacks per turn.

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Most helpful comments. Thanks.

Leaning towards the Martial Rogue rather than the Rambo-Galahad Hybrid and agree about the Sword and Shield versus Greatsword which also achieves a manageable(??) Arcane Failure penalty. [Note: how many Magic Missiles would a Level 8 Rogue fire-off via UMD+Scroll??]

Build ratio for Level 20 would be Rogue8-Fighter8-Barbarian4. I would only need 4 Barbie levels to get Ragex2 and Braveheart-ish Taunt level, the 8th Fighter level gets Bonus Feat, +Attack, [+Fortitude save also I think]

Chopping skills such as Concentrate, Heal, Lore and possibly Open Locks - as I will reach 19 Strength-Bash at Level 8 with MagicMissile/Knock as backups. -Keeping medium Trap skills; -Trimming Search, boosting UMD, Stealth and possibly Taunt ~the main reason for the Half-Orc Barbarian theme. >Two thumbs UP! ~Not sure about Discipline as Improved Knockdown is a priority

That clarifies the Intelligence-14 choice and I agree that it costs too much in Attribute pts. So I will put them into Wisdom-14, which combined with Iron Will + 10pts in Spellcraft should really help to fortify the 'weak-link' Will saves.
Whadda-ya think??

But then I can also get into the idea of Full armor + Shield+23Str with Buffs, Imp.Knockdwn, Rage, Haste and forget Stealth as a defining characteristic. ~But I have never experimented with setting traps, could be a lark! ~and that seems like a Stealth business which certainly cannot be attempted with Heavy Armor AC penalty.

Let me mull this over a bit with my trusted pad of graph paper and I will get back for an update.

Also contemplating Darvin's suggestion of building a Human Rogue with minor levels of Fighter-Barbarian which would avoid XP penalty. That character would trade, probably, 1 Strength, 2 Warrior Bonus Feats and +2 Attack pts --need to check attack bonus for extra Rogue levels-- while netting Extra Feat [Human], improved Reflex Save and the 24 skill pts I was hoping for from Intel-14 plus 2 juicy Epic rogue feats.....hmmmmm

Tnanks-a-lot,,.amigos!! Just the sort of inputs I needed.

ps: Snuffing out Concentration, Heal, Lore, Open Locks and taking 2pts from Search would net 23pts. !3 of those would disappear from lower Intelligence. THEN

+5 to UMD for 12-2+10pts
+2 to Discipline for 7+3=10,

with any remainders put into Hide-Move Silent (if I can do without Open Locks!!), or if I decide to spurn Stealth then more Discipline and Heal while dropping Hide-Move Silent. The latter sounds better actually as Invisible Potions could totally cover most situations when I would be Setting Traps so long as I have remembered to tether my Henchman....

NOTE: in the second half of the build I anticipate skill ratio adjustments as Trap skills, Spellcraft, Persuade and Search probably are near optimal levels.

Rogue's attack bonus is +3 every 4 levels, with sweet spots at multiples of 4. That makes 8, 12, and 16 the sweet spots.

My pen and paper instincts tell me this is a great idea, but this is a case where my knowledge of all the different rulesets is actually a problem. Immunities are really common and easy to come by in NWN, and even at low levels there are cheap potions and scrolls you can use before battle to grant you those immunities temporarily. This means it's easy to work around a low saving throw and putting substantial effort into boosting it is probably not worth your time.

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Great Info.....Thumbs up!!

My Starbucks is way over the top AirConditiioning-wise today and i am getting Brainfreeze so heading for home ..... with apologies if any of this today has been a bit incoherent !!!

BRRRRRR!!!!! :)

Well, I have mapped out a Path to Victory idea that ought to work fairly well and I am starting to become interested in a head canon beginning to emerge about my Half-Orc, Migdol Kaledorn.

With 18-Strength, 14-Constitution, !2-Dexterity, 12-Intel, 12-Wisdom, 6-Charisma ~Migdol would come very close to a certain worthy fantasy archetype, imho. In fact an interesting story-line around inner conflicts between Charname and Daelan of the Red Tiger tribe about which one of them is the Real Deal re the whole sensitive brute of the higher mind thing as he tosses into the corner yet another carefully sun-dried skull....

But I get that Min-Maxxing has become the norm in this format, completely ignoring the whole RP imaginative thrill of all the work they have put into the graphics. Alas, when power-gaming becomes the only standard in RL too, as if we all had to play at Le Bron's level or Go HOME!!

But as I did my mulling I decided against raising Dexterity since I will be wearing armor and would only get a Max +1 Bonus and also, more importantly, because I finally noticed that the duration of Barbarian Rage has a Constitution Modifier. I am guessing that Constitution 16 will get 6 rounds o' 'The Good Stuff' while 14 ranks will only get 5 rounds.

So boosting Constitution to 16 and cutting Wisdom back to 8 improves the crucial Rage tactic 20% for whatever Boss fights are coming AND I also get the only real "One Size Fits All" hole-fixer outside of the Cheat Console >>> 10% boost in HP.

Here is a quick roll-out of the map as it stands as of now. I think I am beginning to penetrate the Maze. [Just a couple of hours ago I decoded at least some of the mysteries of AB and BAB.....whew!!

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Migdol Kaledorn, Half-Orc, 31yrs, Rogue-Fighter-Barbarian [Sword and Shield Tricksy Damage Dealer]

Strength-18(23)....Dex- 12....Constitution-16.....Intelligence-12.....Wisdom-8....Charisma-6. {All additional Attribute pts to Strength.]

SKILLS: Attribute Mod+skill pts
Disable Traps [Lvl10]~10 [Lvl20]-15
Discipline 15------------26
Heal 5 ------------12
Lore 10-----------10
Persuade 5------------10
Search 8------------10
Set Trap 8-------------11
Spellcraft 2-------- 2 [+Skill Focus}
Taunt 10----------21 [+Skill Focus]
UMD 10-----------20
Lore 10-----------10

Autoimatic Class/Race Feats:
Darkvision, Barbarian Speed, Uncanny Dodge1, Rage1, All Armor, Simple-Martial Weapons, Shield, Sneak Attck

Levelling summary:

1) R1 36pts-12reserved POWER ATTACK
2) F1 3 pts --10 reserved CLEAVE
3) F2 3pts ---12 reserved: KNOCKDOWN, WPNFOC; LONGSWORD***
4) R2 9pts --- 5 reserved:
5) Bar1 5pts---2 reserved:
6) F3 3pts ---2 reserved: SKILLFOC; TAUNT
7 R3 9pts----0 rserved
8 F4 3pts-----2 reserved: WPNSPEC; LSWRD
9 R4 9pts-----0 reserved: IMPRVD CRITICAL
10 B2 5pts-----0 reserved
11 F5(2APR) 3pts-----0 reserved
12 R5 9pts-----0 reserved: SKILLFOC; SPELLCRAFT
13 F6 3pts-----0 reserved: IMPROVED KNOCKDWN
14 R6 9prts---1 reserved
15 B3 5pts ----1 reserved: TOUGHNESS
16 F7 3pts----1 reserved
17 R7 9pts----0 reserved
18 F8(3APR) 3pts----IRON WILL & IMPROVD PWR ATTCK /or/ 2WEAPON-FIGHTING & WPNFOC: SHORTSWRD
19 B4 5pts----o reserved RAGEx2
20 R8 9pts----0 reserved

A big emphasis I think will be gathering several items with 10+Spell Resist... To that end I am pondering Warhammer as main weapon, something I am always drawn to,

But I do not quite understand the whole Keen Weapons feature. I think I grasp that a 'Keen Weapon' scores a Critical on rolls of, for example, 17-20 rather than 19-20. But I need to find out whether that is something available from certain Blacksmiths or whether it is a scroll I should look for. Anyhow, I am OK with just Longsword and hopes of finding a cool shield with some helpful features in addition to AC.

I was also toying with the notion of Longbows as a means of drawing hostiles into a lovingly tended Minefield for a little Bodywork-over before the main event. But that probably doesn't merit a Weapon Focus Feat.

As always, thanks for any comments and cheers!!! PS--I am still tempted to hold onto at least Wisdom 10 and forego the Strength 18 just because a basic part of the whole Half-Orc adventurer for me is all about being as utterly unique and mysterious as possible... Cheers!!!

pps: My stats for Discipline might be wrong because I am not sure how additional points beyond 18 affect the Modifier
I am also unclear about how to do the math in 2Weapon Fighting with Rage. Will computer roll 3 attacks for both weapons with Critical chances, compare to BAB profile and calculate damages separately, in other words 6 separate chances for Criticals [or more with Haste] ~~all with 23+4 Strength

Build looks pretty good, but Skillfocus Spellcraft is utterly and completely useless to you. You will not get any benefit whatsoever. If you absolutely must have a rank or two in the skill, just invest some skillpoints (but really, better to just ignore the skill) but wasting a precious feat on it is... well, a waste.

Skillfocus: Taunt isn't quite as useless, but you would still do better with another feat. On the other hand, you get a good few bonus feats, so you can probably get away with it. Though you're still missing Blindfight. That's a pretty important feat for fighting invisible enemies, shadows, etc. There's more of those in the campaign than you'd think.

Also, two weapon fighting and weapon focus shortsword aren't really useful. Your DEX is too low to ever get the good two weapon feats.

Sorry, spell resistance items don't stack. Only the highest value applies.

Warhammers are good weapons. They inflict Blunt damage, which fewer foes resist than piercing or slashing. They cannot be affected by the Keen Edge spell... but that's an expansion only spell, IIRC. So you can ignore it.

There are some weapons for sale with the Keen property, which may or may not include warhammers. I forget. But honestly, it's not that crucial. Definitely nice, but a lot of foes are immune to crits anyway. Especially bosses.

Definitely bring a missile weapon. Or several. Throwing darts and axes allow you to apply your STR bonus and use a shield, for example, and are great early on until you find a bow that lets you do the same. (Look for a 'Mighty' one) But you're right that a weapon focus feat is not needed.

You're welcome! And sure, get more WIS if it fits your character concept. 1 point of STR won't cost you too much. Or lose a point of CON and find a CON boosting item somewhere to compensate. There are a lot of stat-boosting items in the campaign. (Hint: talk to your henchmen, even the ones you don't mean to use, and do their quests. You can get some very nice item rewards this way.)