Sage builds

[Crafty_Alex]

But, but, but, Hanibal needs an ability called, "I love it when a plan comes together."
 

</lurk> That's what the Tactician is for.... <lurk>

[Gentry]

Part of the problem with building a Sage is that the Sage is a Leader-style character. If you prefer to play a quiet backer (like you're into playing the cleric heal-bot so you can chill and text during the game), then Sage is not for you. At all. Considering all the great examples of Sage-built characters from assorted fiction properties that have been presented here, it's important to recognize that a Sage leads from the front. He makes his group better because he actually provides leadership in critical tasks (even more than the Captain, really--Cyclops is a Captain, Professor X is a Sage, and everybody knows which one's ultimately the stronger leader). So you, the player, need to be ready to exercise some leadership in order to get the most out of your Sage character. That may mean, and by rights should mean, that you have a conversation with the rest of the players in your group about how the PCs know each other and how they'll expect to operate with and around one another.

[jameswllorimer]

Thanks for the great response. So here's the challenge, does someone feel up to do a Hannibal Smith build, as a "visiual aid" to get my head around things finally.

[Bhurano]

With a bit of a delay, I present to you... Hannibal Smith from the A-Team.

Class:              Sage 20
Species:           Human      
Splinter-Race:   Savvy      
Speciality:   Adventurer      

Strength          12
Dexterity          14
Constitution   12
Intelligence   14 -> 18 (at level 20)
Wisdom           14
Charisma           12

Class Abilities
Assistance III
Best of the Best x9
Hand of Fate x2
Take Heart x2
Proven Worth II
Serendipity

Cross-Training
Cold Read (Assassin)
Gifts and Favors (Courtier) or Battle-Plan I (Captain)
Stalker or Rough Living (both Scout)
Human Nature (Emissary)
Sources I (Emissary)

Feats
Adventurer's Luck (from Adventurer)
Basic Skill Mastery (Officer)
Talented (Officer)
Glint of Madness
Fortune Favors the Bold
Lady Luck's Smile
Black Cat
Jinx

Origin Skills:  Acrobatics, Blend, Impress

Acrobatics   18
Athletics      19
Bluff                   19
Disguise           19
Impress           19
Intimidate   22
Investigate   18
Medicine           11
Notice           18
Resolve           19
Ride                     4
Search           16
Sense Motive   18
Sneak           18
Tactics           22

                   Level 1   Level 10   Level 20
BAB                   0         7         15 -> Mods and Forte not included
Fort                   2         6         10 -> CON-Mod. included
Ref                   3         7         11 -> DEX-Mod. included
Will                   3         7         11 -> WIS-Mod. included
Def                   2         6         10 -> DEX-Mod. included
Init                   3         8         14 -> DEX-Mod. included
Lifestyle           2         6         10 -> CHA-Mod. included
Legend           1         8         15
Proficiencies   4         8         13

Sneak could possibly exchanged with Blend... which would be thematically more fitting, considering the fact that the team needs to stay under the radar.

Also, this is my first Sage build ever. The decision was to show that fate itself is on the side of the team with all of Hannibals Chance feats. It begins slow, by handing them more "loot" and slowly scaling up, until finally anyone in Hannibals path seem to have a bad day per Black Cat and Jinx.

Glint of Madness - to better use Threats in combat - and Basic Skill Mastery (Officer) plus Talented (Officer) shows his military background and moreover helps to save some skill points.

When it comes down to combat, the guy is no slouch, just no comparison for most of his teammates. But he is the one who brings the best out of them... and fabricating the most ridiculous plans, which would doom anyone else but the A-Team.

Assistance allows Hannibal to accelerate the efforts of his buddies, like a break in, building something on the spot... but not during downtime, it's more of a hands-on-approach.
Best of the Best allows him to hand out the best skill bonus for any task at hand... let's just say good old BA is kickin' some ass and Face needs to fix something right now... with Hannibal right there he can hand out BA's crafting skill ranks to Face.
Hand of Fate nets him a temporary Chance feat for an adventure.
Take Heart allows him to hand out some more fighting spirit to his team
Proven Worth gives him and his team some more Action Dice to use... which is always welcome and
Serdipity - his gamebreaker - allows him or the GM to invoke more or less a streak of luck on purpose.
Which allows the greatest customization to any Sage is the Cross-Training ability... you can shape a Sage in nearly any direction... handing him a bit of a Captain's abilitys, allowing him develop more easily contacts (Emissary) and many other things.

I hope it helps.

P.S. the rest of the Team would likely be Soldier/Keeper (BA), Courtier or Emissary (maybe both, Face) and possibly, just possibly Burglar/Scout (Murdock)