Looking for opinions on this build
Half orc fighter/barbarian, power attack, cleave, specialization axes
drow bard - master of diplomacy
human druid
aasimar cleric of bane- honestly I would change this to duergar or deep gnome cleric, but that penalty to cha, ouch
paladin/sorceress, aasimar of course
halfling with +1 feat rogue1/wizard - do I really need rogue?



other than that, I was thinking about following:
add unknown levels of druid to half orc
add monk either to cleric of bane or to druid (lawful neutral approach)
do not skip rogue, do not skip open lock and disable device - I would really hate seeing breakable equipment to break

I'm not a fan of of weapon specialization since it only works with one weapon type, the extra damage reduction pure class barbarians get works with all weapons. Low level druid spells won't help high level characters, the BAB loss will reduce attack power significantly.

Pure class bard, druid and cleric work well, I wouldn't mix in monk, you loose a lot of spell power.

Paladin levels will slow down sorcerer progression, I wouldn't take more than one.

You don't need a rogue, traps can be survived and locks can be bashed, a character with at least one lockpick skill is useful to get a message if a door is magically sealed. Starting the wizard with a rogue level is less powerful on the long run but might feel better nevertheless, especially since you might level faster than you find scrolls. With a sorcerer in the party I'd make the wizard a diviner or transmuter for more spells per day.

First off, I would suggest keeping your Half-Orc with more levels in Barbarian than Fighter, preferably starting with Barbarian up until level 20 and then take up 4 levels in Fighter. Weapons-wise, I'd HIGHLY suggest taking Weapon Focus and (at Fighter level 4) Weapon Specialization in greatswords. You'll get one of the best weapon for Fighters and Barbarians in Chapter 6. ;)

Axes are okay, especially in HoF mode, but are paltry in normal mode. The best battleaxes are purchased by Deidre Galloway in Targos and one of the Underdark merchants south of Malavon's encampment in Chapter 4 (can't recall which) in HoF.

Second, unless you intend your Dreadmaster to use dialogue skills (namely in certain quests), don't bother with Charisma. There are hardly any uses for Turn or Rebuke Undead, especially in HoF mode. If you were to do, say, an Aasimar Paladin of Ilmater/Painbearer of Ilmater, then I could see having decent Charisma for the sake of all saving throws if you take 1 or 2 levels in Paladin and the rest in Painbearer. Worshippers of Ilmater in the game tend to feature a wealth of dialogue. I have yet to play a Dreadmaster, but I hear they do as well.

I would also suggest against having more than one party member with an ECL above their class level. That can stunt your party's progression by making them noticeably weaker. I would suggest, for one, having your bard as a Hunan rather than a Drow. Sure, your Dexterity, Intelligence and Charisma won't be as high, but you'll get farther in the class than you would otherwise. Also, you can easily get away with a ECL +0 race for your Dreadmaster of Bane and dump their Charisma in favor of Strength and Constitution. Clerics make decent melee combatants, especially either a Battleguard of Tempus or Paladin/Cleric of Ilmater. The former is automatically proficient with Battleaxes while the latter is automatically proficient with every martial weapon AND can equip the Paladin-exclusive weapon in the game. ;)