I’ve changed my mind after reviewing the thread: we have a Bard and a Rogue, so I’ll back off from a skill-focused class. Instead I’ll go Duskblade to provide a melee fighter and sacrificial meat shield.

For flavor, I was thinking a squire of a knightly order who found a magic sword, and wants to imitate the great heroes he heard stories about and loved as a boy. I’d be flavoring the Duskblade magic as sword magic, like the sword beams from the games. Just a few questions as I build him:

1. If he uses a Greatsword, can he remove his hand from the sword and put it back as a free action for spellcasting purposes? If he needs a free hand all the time, I’ll get him a Longsword instead.

2. I want to pick the Collector of Stories skill trick (from Complete Scoundrel). Would you allow that to work with the Knowledge Devotion feat (from Complete Champion)? If I’m reading it right, Collector of Stories gives a +5 competence bonus to Knowledge checks to identify a creature. Knowledge Devotion requires a Knowledge check to identify a creature and give a bonus to damage against that creature type, all once per encounter. Would you allow the skill trick’s bonus to apply to the feat’s skill check? If that’s too munchkin-y, I’ll probably keep both the skill trick and the feat for flavor purposes and just not let them interact.

Sorry about the flurry of ideas: I’m excited about this game!