help me build a bard

lexoanvil said:

my stats are
18
16
14
12
10
8

i want a bard who wont be useless in combat but still have alot of options in out of combat situations. as a near full time DM ive never been able to sit down and play a bard so any advice on good feats and what equipment i should use are also helpful. a prestige class that is very bardish would be cool if you know any.

also only WOTC books

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You know, it'd be helpful if you said something other than "I want to be effective." Seriously, it's just polite to tell people what you want when you're telling them to spend their time building your character. I can build a dragonfire TWF blender Song of the White Raven bard with 9th level maneuvers, or a gold standard buffer with 9th level spells and war weaver benefits, or something else altogether, but that's all useless if I don't know what the hell you want to accomplish. "Very bardish" tells us absolutely nothing. "Useful" tells us absolutely nothing. You need to actually provide a concept and some image of what the hell you want your character to be other than "good" and "bard." You need to put forth at least a minimum of effort yourself.

OneWinged4ngel said:

You know, it'd be helpful if you said something other than "I want to be effective." Seriously, it's just polite to tell people what you want when you're telling them to spend their time building your character. I can build a dragonfire TWF blender Song of the White Raven bard with 9th level maneuvers, or a gold standard buffer with 9th level spells and war weaver benefits, or something else altogether, but that's all useless if I don't know what the hell you want to accomplish. "Very bardish" tells us absolutely nothing. "Useful" tells us absolutely nothing. You need to actually provide a concept and some image of what the hell you want your character to be other than "good" and "bard." You need to put forth at least a minimum of effort yourself.

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i belive my original request was some cool feats and equipment for the reason i have no idea to start, considering i rarely get to be a PC. infact the first few posts did just that recomended several feats and weapon choices and we later went into more detail because the concept seemed really cool. infact the only post on this thread that hasnt been helpful to someone is yours.

Well, some more info would have been nice. All I had to work on was assuming some generally useful melee bard, without even being sure that's what you want.

And if you've been DM up until now, have you never built classed NPC opponents? The process is exactly the same, it shouldn't be a difficult transition.

StreamOfTheSky said:

Well, some more info would have been nice. All I had to work on was assuming some generally useful melee bard, without even being sure that's what you want.

And if you've been DM up until now, have you never built classed NPC opponents? The process is exactly the same, it shouldn't be a difficult transition.

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fair enough but i rarley use statted out npc's unless i plan to use them for awhile which is not often. and there is a considerable difference of stating out an npc and understand how to manipulate a classes mechanics to something on par with my munchkin teamates. only time ive ever seen a bard in action was when my girlfriend would play one and while she did loads of cool stuff in town and around the dungeon the second combat came around she was nowhere near in league with her party, i didnt want a repeat of that. i probly could have given more info on what i wanted but ill be honest i didnt know were to start. if this were a class i knew very well i would have very little problem telling you guys what i need, also if this were an npc i would probly care alot less given the time ill be playing a npc might be a few min, where this character i plan to play for close to a year so i wanted it done the right way. but in all honesty i came here originally for a quick starting point of what people in the past have found to work well. and i got some stellar posts from people of what looks like solid advice.
so anyone who even sudgested a feat or two thank you alot your advice it has been fantastic.