Singing bypasses SR?

[Zanticor]

Hi all,

My bard has some tough choices to make about picking a prestige class. All options are a lame and the virtuoso sublime chord combo has been shot down my DM. We don't do Bo9S cheese and I won't try nasty inspire courage exploits and this leaves me a bit afraid of ending up with a not very useful bard. I'm thinking about going seeker of the song from Complete Arcane and am looking for stories about people who tried it. Is it any good? Is it worth giving up the bards spell, music and lore progression? An other thing that struck me was the refrains you get with the different songs. The songs are supernatural abilities (su). Does that mean you bypass SR because the are not spells or spell-like abilities? It seems a good selling point for the class. Also the saves get quite high. I hope that isn't just a goofy idea I had and that it means that by singing, the fire that comes from your hand becomes non magical. Please discuss!

Zanticor

 

[Starbuck_II]

Is it any good? Is it worth giving up the bards spell, music and lore progression? An other thing that struck me was the refrains you get with the different songs. The songs are supernatural abilities (su). Does that mean you bypass SR because the are not spells or spell-like abilities? It seems a good selling point for the class. Also the saves get quite high. I hope that isn't just a goofy idea I had and that it means that by singing, the fire that comes from your hand becomes non magical. Please discuss!

Zanticor

Yes, Supernatural bypass SR unless the song says otherwise (they don't).

 

[insanogeddon]

sweet like candied candied candy

I played one, DM lets us downgrade actions so I can do a swift action as a standard if choose = 2 potential blasts per round.

The build was really powerful tho its one that needs patience. SR is irrelevant, constructs are toast the only issue was concentration checks when maintaining songs.

My build was focused on the class tho, I went in as a Harpoon Specialized Bard 1, Fighter 4, Occult Slayer 3, Master Thrower 2 with the feats extra music, mage slayer, pierce magical protection and pierce magical concealment (The 8 level loss on 'caster level' does not effect supernatural abilities !!).

In retrospect I prob would have swapped 2 monk levels for 2 of the fighter levels as tho +2 dam (harpoon specialisation) was good for killing, unarmed for subdual and improved grapple would have been handy to russle some of the more difficult casting cattle.

Between harpooning (dispelling their buffs) and roping casters, the damage boosts of occult slayer, master thrower and x2 damage readied throws when spell casters attempted to cast and my ability to save easily with evasion or be resistant and nuke as a swift action made for a pretty sweet sweet build.

 

[insanogeddon]

Other option:

Without a centered build it might be a poor decision.

Complete Mages: 'Lyric Thaumaturge' is very hard to beat as a bard class (even if only as a 5 level dip) adding sonic damage can add up exp. when on non-damaging sonic mind effecting spells.

Bards also make really good 'Keepers of the Cerulean Sign' (lords of madness) and outclass mages vs abberations and have cool powers, story and are very harper like in having 'bigger fish to fry' and mystery without the utter poxyness harpers inevitably entail.

Another interesting option for bards id 'Dracolexi' (races of the dragon) they get (su) burnination and some cool party boosts unavailable else where like fatigue removal and sweet sweet powerwords and some bonus language spells.

The final suggestion would be 'Combat Medic' (Heroes of Battle) for some sweet boosts, healing, defense and evasion.