DM-Rocco
Explorer
What is your most ridiculous 4.0 Bard Build?
So, I was messing around with the bard trying to master all skills and here is what I came up with. You start with a buy out on your ability scores as a 13, 13, 13, 13, 13, 14. This build works best IMO with a human because of the extra skill and feat. Put the +2 in CHR so you stats are 13, 13, 13, 13, 13, 16. As he gains in levels I chose to increase his Intelligence and Charisma. Then level as follows to level 20:
Feats and skills
Level 1
Acrobatics
Arcana
Athletics
Bluff
Diplomacy
Dungeoneering (human)
Streetwise (warlock – pact initiate feat)
Religion (cleric – initiate of the faith feat)
Level 2
Retrain Arcana into heal
Arcana (wizard – arcane initiate feat)
Level 4
Retrain Arcana into History
Arcana (sorcerer – arcane prodigy feat)
Level 6
Stealth (ranger - warrior of the wild feat)
Level 8
Endurance (warlord – tactical leader feat)
Level 10
Insight (paladin – soldier of the faith feat)
Level 11
Nature (druid – initiate of the old faith feat)
Level 12
Retrain religion into Perception
Religion (invoker – acolyte of the divine secrets feat)
Level 14
Intimidate (fighter – battle awareness feat)
When I made this character in the character builder I added in the Novice power, Acolyte power and Adept power at levels 16, 18 and 20 but really you can add them earlier. Note: trying to pick powers out for this build can be a nightmare, even if you limit it to just Intelligence and Charisma powers. The shear number of power to chose from with the Novice power, Acolyte power and Adept power is mind-boggling.
This was just the quickest way I found to get every skill. In addition to every skill you have multiple encounter powers from multi classing into fighter, invoker, druid, paladin, warlord, ranger, sorcerer, wizard, cleric and warlock. Three of these classes make good use of Charisma, sorcerer, paladin and warlock, so at levels 16, 18 and 20 taking Novice power, Acolyte power and Adept power would work well. You don't need versatile master because you can just multiclass into the class you want the powers in and replace one of the above mentioned classes.
The build shines in a support role giving aid to your allies, specially if you take the right bard powers to support the party and the right at-will/encounter powers from your multiclassing. Of course, if you have a rogue in the party or are fairly well covered in the skill area, you can make a hell of a striker/leader by decreasing your Str, Dex and Wis scores and increasing your Int, Chr and Con scores. Then multi class into sorcerer and warlock. They provide you with good striker powers and the bard class gives you great leader powers.
You could even focus more points into Str and Wis and Chr and take multi class feats to get access to cleric and war lord for a total leadership role. Or even a stronger focus on Int, Wis and Chr for a more controller class by taking wizard, invoker and druid.
Many of the Bard powers can be chosen to fight at range. This doesn’t eliminate the need for higher hit points and a high Con. However, if your party has a striker and a defender or two in the party, having a bard that offers a variety of useful powers is truly amazing. By giving up a few classes, and thus a few skills, you can make a hell of a ranged striker, a versatile controller or an outstanding leader or something with a taste of many useful options.
The powers you chose are really up to the needs of the party, but the hardest powers to chose are from the Novice power, Acolyte power and Adept power. Being able to chose any power from any of your multi classes is almost a nightmare. I admit that I didn’t get a chance to look through every power, but out of the ones I did look through I chose to swap out Song of Storms for All Must Sacrifice, Song of Sublime Snowfall for warning Shout and Confusing Chorus for Curse of the Golden Mist.
The problem with building a bard is that you could easily miss a better power and not even know it unless you know all the classes like the back our your hand. I chose support powers for almost every bard choice, powers that let the party get some sort of a bonus or help control the battle field in the parties favor. For the Novice power, Acolyte power and Adept power I wanted powers that either played on this or gave him a useful attack power. Thus, I took All Must Sacrifice to aid in damaging a tough foe. Most of the bards powers aid the party, this one takes from the party you have been aiding to do more damage. A fair trade. Warning Shout helps make up for doing damage to your own party members by eliminating a potential attack. Curse of the Golden Mist could easily turn the tide of battle by tying up a difficult foe for many rounds. With a high CHR there is a good chance that enemy will never get to do anything throughout the combat.
For the paragon path I took the planeshifter path. It helps the group move and escape if need be. Although, there are a lot of good options for this build.
So, here is one totally insane build with a couple of variants. What kinds of bard builds have you come up with? You can take your build all the way to level 30 if you want to, but I think you will find it very hard to pick your powers. Try and stick to level 20 like I did if you find yourself having a hard time picking powers.
So, I was messing around with the bard trying to master all skills and here is what I came up with. You start with a buy out on your ability scores as a 13, 13, 13, 13, 13, 14. This build works best IMO with a human because of the extra skill and feat. Put the +2 in CHR so you stats are 13, 13, 13, 13, 13, 16. As he gains in levels I chose to increase his Intelligence and Charisma. Then level as follows to level 20:
Feats and skills
Level 1
Acrobatics
Arcana
Athletics
Bluff
Diplomacy
Dungeoneering (human)
Streetwise (warlock – pact initiate feat)
Religion (cleric – initiate of the faith feat)
Level 2
Retrain Arcana into heal
Arcana (wizard – arcane initiate feat)
Level 4
Retrain Arcana into History
Arcana (sorcerer – arcane prodigy feat)
Level 6
Stealth (ranger - warrior of the wild feat)
Level 8
Endurance (warlord – tactical leader feat)
Level 10
Insight (paladin – soldier of the faith feat)
Level 11
Nature (druid – initiate of the old faith feat)
Level 12
Retrain religion into Perception
Religion (invoker – acolyte of the divine secrets feat)
Level 14
Intimidate (fighter – battle awareness feat)
When I made this character in the character builder I added in the Novice power, Acolyte power and Adept power at levels 16, 18 and 20 but really you can add them earlier. Note: trying to pick powers out for this build can be a nightmare, even if you limit it to just Intelligence and Charisma powers. The shear number of power to chose from with the Novice power, Acolyte power and Adept power is mind-boggling.
This was just the quickest way I found to get every skill. In addition to every skill you have multiple encounter powers from multi classing into fighter, invoker, druid, paladin, warlord, ranger, sorcerer, wizard, cleric and warlock. Three of these classes make good use of Charisma, sorcerer, paladin and warlock, so at levels 16, 18 and 20 taking Novice power, Acolyte power and Adept power would work well. You don't need versatile master because you can just multiclass into the class you want the powers in and replace one of the above mentioned classes.
The build shines in a support role giving aid to your allies, specially if you take the right bard powers to support the party and the right at-will/encounter powers from your multiclassing. Of course, if you have a rogue in the party or are fairly well covered in the skill area, you can make a hell of a striker/leader by decreasing your Str, Dex and Wis scores and increasing your Int, Chr and Con scores. Then multi class into sorcerer and warlock. They provide you with good striker powers and the bard class gives you great leader powers.
You could even focus more points into Str and Wis and Chr and take multi class feats to get access to cleric and war lord for a total leadership role. Or even a stronger focus on Int, Wis and Chr for a more controller class by taking wizard, invoker and druid.
Many of the Bard powers can be chosen to fight at range. This doesn’t eliminate the need for higher hit points and a high Con. However, if your party has a striker and a defender or two in the party, having a bard that offers a variety of useful powers is truly amazing. By giving up a few classes, and thus a few skills, you can make a hell of a ranged striker, a versatile controller or an outstanding leader or something with a taste of many useful options.
The powers you chose are really up to the needs of the party, but the hardest powers to chose are from the Novice power, Acolyte power and Adept power. Being able to chose any power from any of your multi classes is almost a nightmare. I admit that I didn’t get a chance to look through every power, but out of the ones I did look through I chose to swap out Song of Storms for All Must Sacrifice, Song of Sublime Snowfall for warning Shout and Confusing Chorus for Curse of the Golden Mist.
The problem with building a bard is that you could easily miss a better power and not even know it unless you know all the classes like the back our your hand. I chose support powers for almost every bard choice, powers that let the party get some sort of a bonus or help control the battle field in the parties favor. For the Novice power, Acolyte power and Adept power I wanted powers that either played on this or gave him a useful attack power. Thus, I took All Must Sacrifice to aid in damaging a tough foe. Most of the bards powers aid the party, this one takes from the party you have been aiding to do more damage. A fair trade. Warning Shout helps make up for doing damage to your own party members by eliminating a potential attack. Curse of the Golden Mist could easily turn the tide of battle by tying up a difficult foe for many rounds. With a high CHR there is a good chance that enemy will never get to do anything throughout the combat.
For the paragon path I took the planeshifter path. It helps the group move and escape if need be. Although, there are a lot of good options for this build.
So, here is one totally insane build with a couple of variants. What kinds of bard builds have you come up with? You can take your build all the way to level 30 if you want to, but I think you will find it very hard to pick your powers. Try and stick to level 20 like I did if you find yourself having a hard time picking powers.
. This is converted over from 3.5e with as much "flavor" preserved as possible. This, for the most part, captures that "flavor."
