Bard's magical items

Dandu said:

Why is he healing in the first place?

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Obvioously, because there¡s nobody else capable of doing it

You could also create an item that grants 3/day or so the spell Inspirational Boost, from Complete Adventurer

Inspirational Boost

(Complete Adventurer, p. 153)

Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting, Sonic]
Level: Bard 1,
Components: V, S,
Casting Time: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 round or special; see text

When you play your instrument, sing your song, recite your epic poem, or speak your words of encouragement, you fill your allies with greater confidence than normal. While this spell is in effect, the morale bonus granted by your inspire courage bardic music increases by 1.
The effect lasts until your inspire courage effect ends. If you don't begin to use your inspire courage ability before the beginning of your next turn, the spell's effect ends.

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But feats are the right place to go if you want to help a feed-starved Bard. The feat Song of the Heart, from ECS, is a good place to start

Song of the Heart

( Eberron Campaign Setting, p. 60)


[General]


Your bardic music reaches the depths of its listeners' hearts.
Prerequisite
Perform 6 ranks, Bardic music class feature, inspire competence ability,
Benefit
When you use inspire courage, inspire competence, inspire greatness, or inspire heroics, any bonus granted by your music increases by +1. Thus, a 15th-level bard with this feat grants his allies a +4 bonus on attack rolls, damage rolls, and saving throws against fear when he uses inspire courage, rather than the +3 he would normally grant. If he uses inspire greatness, the same bard grants up to three allies 3 bonus Hit Dice, a +3 bonus on attack rolls, and a +2 bonus on Fortitude saves. Also, when you use fascinate, suggestion, or mass suggestion, the saving throw DC increases by 1. If you have the Haunting Melody feat, the saving throw DC for that effect also increases by 1. If you have the Music of Growth feat, the bonus bestowed by that feat increases to +6. If you have the Music of Making feat, the bonus on Craft checks bestowed by that feat increases to +6. If you have the Soothe the Beast feat, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus on your Perform check to improve the attitude of an animal or magical beast.

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And if she has no Dragon Blood, and if you regard Sorcerer and Bardic Magic to have the same origin, you can tweak her backstory a little bit so that he gets the Draconic Heritage feat, hence, not needing to spend a really valuable feat slot on Dragontouched feat to get Dragonfire Inspiration. If you do so, though, I suggest you choose the type of dragon, so that it does not completely break you game

Draconic Heritage

( Dragon Magic, p. 17)


[Draconic]


You have a greater connection with your draconic bloodline than others of your kind.

Prerequisite
Sorcerer level 1 (this is when you decide Bard's and Sorcerer's magic are basically the same)


Benefit
You gain the dragonblood subtype. Choose one kind of dragon from the list in the table below. This is your draconic heritage, which cannot later be changed unless you undergo the Rite of Draconic Affinity (see page 59 of Races of the Dragon). Half-dragons must choose the same dragon kind as their dragon parent. When you declare your draconic heritage, you gain a bonus on saving throws against magic sleep and paralysis effects, as well as on saves against spells and abilities with a descriptor that matches the corresponding energy type. This bonus equals the number of draconic feats you have. In addition, you gain the corresponding skill as a sorcerer class skill.

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Dragontouched

( Dragon Magic, p. 18)


[General]


You have a trace of draconic power, a result of dragons in your ancestry or a spiritual connection between you and the forces of dragonkind.
Prerequisite
CHA 11,
Benefit
You gain the dragonblood subtype. You gain 1 hit point, a +1 bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks, and a +1 bonus on saving throws against paralysis and sleep effects. In addition, you can select draconic feats as if you were a sorcerer of your character level.

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Dragonfire Inspiration

( Dragon Magic, p. 17)


[Draconic]


You can channel the power of your draconic ancestry into the attacks of your allies.
Prerequisite
CHA 11, bardic music, dragonblood subtype,
Benefit
When you use your bardic music to inspire courage, you can choose to imbue your allies with dragonfire. This choice is made when first activating the ability, and the choice applies to all allies affected.
Each ally so inspired loses the standard morale bonus on weapon attack rolls and damage rolls. Instead, he deals an extra 1d6 points of fire damage with his weapons for every point of morale bonus that your inspire courage ability would normally add to the attack roll. For example, an 8th-level bard using this ability would add 2d6 points of fire damage to his allies' attacks.
Special
If you have the Draconic Heritage feat or if you are a half-dragon, the extra damage is of the energy type (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic) that corresponds to your heritage or your draconic parent instead. It your feat or your parent is not associated with one of these energy types, this feat has no effect for you.

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And it was mentioned before, but if she ¡s going melee, a Crystal Echoblade of Harmonizing, together with a Songblade if she goes TWF, can be great. Stunning Surge (MIC 44), Vampiric (MIC 45), Enervating (MIC 34) and Domineering (MIC 33) are good mods to her main weapon, so that she does not get trashed if engaged

Off the top of my head?

Your suggested items seem okay.

DMG Items for Bards:

Circlet of Persuasion - Lot's of good stuff for the price.
Pipes of Pain - Be careful with these, since they affect allies as well as enemies.
Pipes of the Sewers - Think of it as Summon Distraction.
Chime of Opening - Not really Bard specific, but it's in the general class of magical music, so...
Chime of Interruption - See above
Lyre of Building - The ability to , once a day, render every structure within hundreds of feet to be absolutely indestructible is not to be under rated. Ironically, it's titular ability, building only works once a week.
Cloak of Charisma - Odd factoid on this is that, as written, the caster doesn't have to wear the Cloak, they just have to have it in their possession. The item itself is essentially slotless.
Cape of the Montebank - Excellent tool for dramatic entrances and exits. Bards, not being good close combat types, can use it for one instant get away per day.
Drums of Panic - Power to scatter foes en mass
Boots of Striding and Springing - Again, battlefield maneuverability is often better than armor class, and Bards have functional limits on the latter.
Rod of Splendor - The +6 Charisma is nice, as is the instant Liberace suit when needed, but never underestimate the ability to throw an instant party.
Eyes of Charming - Pricey at 56k, but not too shabby in combat or out.

Admiral's Bicorne (Stormwrack | pg 131). This 51,000gp item does four things. The first part is +5 Profession Sailor (depending on the game its either useless or ok). The second is +5 on all Cha based checks, including Leadership score. The third is the wearer's voice is magically amplified so he can be clearly heard by anyone within 100ft, allowing any class features and effects that depend on hearing the speaker to benefit from the increase range. And Forth, all allies that can hear you gain a +2 moral bonus on attack rolls, saves and skill checks (self included).

Also consider stealing bardic performance feats and making those into items. I'd suggest the feat "Dragonfire Inspiration" (Dragon Magic | pg 17-18). With that, each time he starts up an inspire courage, he can chose to drop the bonus to hit and damage for 1d6 fire damage per bonus sacrificed. I'd charge at most 8,000gp for it and allow for other variants of the four standard energy types (acid, cold, electricity and fire). Make it a slotless item and I'd bump it up to 10,000gp.

Question: Do the rules currently say anywhere how far a Bard's voice can be heard when raised in song?

Not explicitly. Listen checks for everyone!

Doubt it's anything other than a house-rule, but my group has also rolled spot/listen checks after 30ft, depending upon which type of performance the bard is using.

The Marshal's auras (which rely on his voice) extend to 60ft, so that could also be a reasonable houserule.

Some instruments explicitly state a range. An alpine horn, for instance, has a range measured in miles.

I was just looking at Pipes of Pain. For 12k they're kind of broken.

At first, everyone within 30 feet is entranced by the beautiful music. (pretty easy Will Save, DC 14) After that they're sound-sensitive, taking 1D4 of damage per round for 2D4 rounds, and during that time they take double damage from sonic attacks.

After that they're sound sensitive, well, forever. Any sound leaves them shaken, and it's a Curse effect, so it never wears off. They need to get Remove Curse to be free of it, and there's no limit

So while the Save isn't that hard, and the damage isn't huge, the fact that they're Shaken pretty much all the time until they can get it removed, makes this more than the average item.

In many ways it's more of a plot device than a true weapon-type thing, but that's what makes it fun.