The Halfling Bard

[Marvin the WarLord]

The problem I suffer is this...

After rejoining my old group after several months, I find that they have started a new campaign. I get to create a Level 5 character of any core race/class. I rolled the statistics, which were amazingly positive but inflexible (S-7; D-17; C-12; I-18; W-15; C-19) and so chose to play a halfling 1st level rogue/4th level bard.

Now I haven't played 3E yet and I haven't played a bard in years, so come to these boards seeking advice. The party is rather powerful and so "power-gaming" complaints aren't really a concern. Indeed, anything you do with that class will not outclass the aasimar wizard/paladin. I'm not looking for a fighter but more the equivilent of a story-teller and detective, yet I would still like to feel capable at something that can't be ignored by the Dm simply in favour of roleplaying out.

By this, I mean that while I highly like skills like Bluff and Diplomacy, they can be statistically ignored in favour of role-playing at times, which I approve of. Where else should a halfling bard/rogue focus at to start with, and what feats, skills and equipment should I be looking for to make me a truly useful and hopefully colourful party member?

Thanks in advance,
Marvin, the Warlord

 

[Songwind]

Support magics

My previous campaign included a human bard. He was pretty good in a fight, and was the party sneak. Where he really shone, however, was as a "support caster". He took a lot of the PC assisting spells from the Bard's list (like Cat's Grace and Bull Strength), and used them to make himself and the party Paladin truly formidable.

 

[Horacio]

He is good in most of tasks:

* Attacks like a cleric
* Uses magic both arcane and "divine" (can cast Cure light wounds, invaluable help sometimes! )
* Help in the "roleplaying" situations

But he is not very good in anything...
So yes, the support role is the best for him, the jack-of-all-trades who helps the specialist. YMMV, of course.

 

[Isida KepTukari]

Do you have Song and Silence yet? There was a cool section in there about instruments. If you had a masterwork version of said instrument you could either take the usual +2 to Perform, or take the other effect unique to the instrument. Increasing the DCs for certain bardic music effects or other things.

As for feats, do you have any character background or something like that we could work off of? I don't want to put too many words into your mouth!

 

[Marvin the WarLord]

Further details...

Cudjel, the halfling bard in question, and his partner, Harden (another new player who I teamed up with for brain-storming), an elven ranger/rogue, are the original private investigators.
Before they met, 50 years ago, things were quite simple for Cudjel. He was his village story-teller and Cunning Man (like a Wise Woman for halfings) and life was good. He wasn't the most attractive of men, but he was never short of women, wine or friends. The halfing people came first to him when children started to go missing. However, the elven merchants who had also lost some 40-year old "children" hired an elf to take care of things. The competition was fierce but it stereotypically gave way to a partnership. Since then, they ahve worked for hire... untila chance at greatness arrives in teh form of the otehr PC's, details not yet known to me.

Probably more usefully for you, the elf does the spotting, tracking, listening and the like while Cudjel deals with people and the more absract thinking. He also provides lots of minor information and small magics to ease the path. In personality, I'm still in the formative stage (probably leading to teh vaguety of his background)...

Tell me more about the instruments in Song & Silence, because they sound like the stuff I'm looking for but the book, alas, I won't be able to look at until its purchaser returns from Ireland where he took it to for a few weeks.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

First:
THE VIS (Very Important Skill) is: USE MAGIC DEVICE.
Max this Skill out. It becomes must valuable. You will be able to use most of the typical Utiltiy Wands (A wizard in your group? Ask him for a Wand of Shield, Wand of Magic Missile - often he might have enough of them to lend you one - or pay him, if you think it is neccessary...)
The other VIS is, obviously, perform. You must be versatile.
Do not forget: Both are Class Skills for Rogues and Bards.
So use your first level Rogue to gain maximum skill points ...

I played a straight elven bard, and in another group one of the character`s is a halfing Rogue/Bard.
Both aren`t good fighters - they could do it, probably, but that`s nothing I recommend you to go for (there are some situations, especially for Rogue/Bards in which you should intervene - when you win the Initiative, as an example, but most the time stay back. You do not have the hit points nor the attack bonus nor the raw damage in most combat situations to be really that helpful...)
Rely on buffing your players with spells (Bull`s Strenght, Cat`s Grace, on later level Haste and so on). Tell your wizards/sorcerer that enchantment & Illusion is your job (they can use their slots for more powerful spells).
Remember that Inspire Courage (or was it Confidence?) is a supernatural ability and thus cannot be dispelled (Though Anti Magic Fields or Silence will block it ...)
In Combat you might rely on a "Herald`s Trumpet". It gives your friends +2 moral bonus to attack and damage roll. An important Increase in power...
(And think of Inspire Greatness, available at 9th level)

Bards are fun characters. If you are able to play the character as if he had fun, you und your group will have fun too...

 

[el Voz]

With your 7 str never ever get into melee. That is your biggest weakness. Yes it is obvious but many people, ignore the obvious.

As mentioned eariler, be the support guy. I have seen our bard give our barbarian bulls str a lot. the bard sits down and cowers in the back while the barbarian takes all of the damage. Yet without the bard our fighters are super weak. Play up the high cha. Do illusions and have the bad guys chase the illusions.

A good bard, (party cooperation) makes a party stronger. than they appear on paper.

 

[Ammianus]

If the party is in combat, a bard who's good with a bow, and can sing (as opposed to simply playing an instrument), can be quite useful. You hang out safely out of attack-of-opportunity-land, sing the Inspire Courage version of bardic music, and take pot-shots at your opponents. Feats like Point-blank Shot etc. etc. are especially handy in such situations.

 

[UD]

Never forget the bards greatest ability: Bardic Knowledge...

 

[Spatula]

Re: Further details...

Probably more usefully for you, the elf does the spotting, tracking, listening and the like while Cudjel deals with people and the more absract thinking. He also provides lots of minor information and small magics to ease the path.

Obviously you should maximize Perform. Another skill to look at (and one only available to rogues and bards) is Decipher Script. And Read Lips. Both would be useful to a detective type. I don't think Use Magic Device is necessarily important for a bard, but if you go that route Decipher Script will give you a bonus when using scrolls.

Featwise, you might want to wait until you can get your hands on Song & Silence, as there are a bunch of bard feats in there. Spell Focus (Enchantment) or (Illusion) would be a good choice if you decide to concentrate on either school of spells.

For spells, I'd concentrate on enchantment and support spells. Divination spells would also fit in well with your character concept, but wouldn't be as useful in combat. Given your character's low strength, your contribution to combats are going to come from spells and your bard songs.

Other things to think about: You can't cast spells with a somatic (S) component in armor without suffering a spell failure check. You don't memorize spells, which means if you have any metamagic feats you can use them on the fly. All bard spells must have a vocal (V) component, so don't take the Silence Spell feat. The bardic music abilities can be very useful in a fight, but remember that you can't sing and cast spells at the same time - however, the combat songs last for a duration after you stop singing, so a good combat tactic is to sing for a round and then start casting.