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Message: <blockquote data-quote="StephenHawking" data-source="post: 4427810" data-attributes="member: 70591">Our group has played it at 10th.One was the cha/int focus gnome, I was the dex/cha focus halfling.The first was cool, fascinate was an interesting control effect for regular monsters, restrained is a nice touch.  And with Lingering Song (feat) or Lingering Chorus (utility 10), meant they could lock down 2 creatures, felt very controller-like.  On the flipside, at 10th we ran out of encounters pretty fast, and were down to the at wills pretty quickly.  At will for the cha/int focus seemed sad, -2 hit was ok, but the saving throw one was situational.  More often than not though, he enjoyed the fascinate lockdown.Deafened wasn't that handy from Deafening Blast due to the new stealth rules.  Pyrotechnics was ok, but the bard ended up using fascinate at range, and daze effect while nice to grant CA wasn't stellar in combat.  Did work well vs a ranged monster though, since they couldn't shift and attack.The dailies of Burst of Awe, Glitterdust, and Soundburst were amazing.The other one, which I have more experience with was a melee focused halfling with dual wielding rapier.  The two weapon line of feats, and nimble blade, and rapier meant I hit as often as any melee'r could especially with powers like Immediate Assistance when needed and keep near max defenses.I used Distorting Strike vs the other that dazed, weaken was a nice touch on a solo because you're almost gauranteed to get hit by their 1 action, and as a melee bard you're trying to get CA more than not.Again, I ran out of encounters, but those I did have like tactical precision, as well as Combined Talent, really helped hitting as well as dealing more damage.  Also when down to at wills, inciting strike was pretty neat for me and a rogue teamed up vs a brute and took it down faster than a defender and striker did,All in all, I had more healing, and luckily, didn't get hit due to being a halfling in most encounters.  That said, I did have difficulties flanking in an encounter unless I went first, and even +2 vs OAs wasn't enough to keep me safe.  So the extra healing kept me on going when I did get hit, and the Lively step for example, could allow me to circle around monsters.  Regardless, it seems like I was just providing a +hit like a taclord would but more consistently.In hindsight, maybe I should've picked a medium sized race and used spike chain or a reach weapon?  Not sure if this would've helped my issues, but its definitely a consideration.Conclusion, fun times by both builds, though I felt a little lackluster as the melee guy, only buffing others really.  The cha/int one seemed much more controller like, especially with fascinate as its focus.</blockquote>

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