Choice feats for bards

[buzz]

My beloved barbarian bit the dust last night, so I'm going to be creating a new character for one of the campaigns I'm in. The rest of the party has the core roles covered, so I was considering a bard. I have yet to play one under 3.x.

So, help me twink. What are the choice feats for bard PCs?

 

[Thanee]

Well, spell focus and greater spell focus enchantment isn't all bad.

Bye
Thanee

 

[buzz]

Thanks, Thanee.

Is taking a Skill Focus in Perform worthwhile?

 

[Thanee]

I highly doubt that.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

Anyways, in general you should look for a concept first before bothering with feat choices.

For example, for some bards Weapon Finesse is a necessity, while for others it would be a waste.

So, if you describe something about what you have in mind, that would be mostly helpful. Or otherwise, if you are just collecting ideas on feat choices and character concepts, you might want to point that out.

Bye
Thanee

 

[vox]

Archer bards

I'm fond of archer-bards w/precise shot & point blank shot to start. If you take a couple of levels of fighter for weapon focus or other archer feats that works out well. The bard's singing as well as spells like heroism, cat's grace, haste (still excellent for archers), slow, greater invisibility all help archers especially. And the bard's armor limitations aren't as big a deal for an archer.

And since archer's don't really require any special skills (in game terms) you can be the dipolomat for the group or the sneaky guy or esoteric knowledge guy or whatever.

 

[Westwind]

Lingering Song is a really nice feat for Bards, although it hasn't been converted to 3.5 yet.

 

[orangefruitbat]

No, because your bardic abilities are based off ranks of perform (and levels of bard in 3.5E).

I would look at some of the following:
*spell focus and greater spell focus (enchantment)
*weapon finesse - cause you're going to want to have a high dex and use a rapier - it's in your idiom
*weapon focus (rapier)
*alternatively, go with the archery feats
*extend spell
*iron will (though sometimes, it's fun to lose)

 

[eris404]

My beloved barbarian bit the dust last night, so I'm going to be creating a new character for one of the campaigns I'm in. The rest of the party has the core roles covered, so I was considering a bard. I have yet to play one under 3.x.

So, help me twink. What are the choice feats for bard PCs?

Depending on the game you're in and bard style, there's some pretty good bard-specific feats in Song and Silence. If you think you'll be using the bardic lore ability a lot, there's a feat that increases the lore roll (Obscure Lore, something like that). If you think you'll be using the bardic music, Extra Music gives your bard extra uses and Extended Music (or something like that) lengthens how long the musical effects last.

 

[mercucio]

Subsonics, definitly the way to go once you hit 7th level (10 ranks perform requirement)

You can use your bardic music to affect your allies w/out opponents noticing, and can affect opponents w/out them noticing--the best of both worlds!

Also, Lingering Song is good as well.