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Am I a powergamer? (or, a fine line between powergamer and being useful to the party)
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<blockquote data-quote="Roland Delacroix" data-source="post: 229712" data-attributes="member: 1753"><p>I'd stay with the Bard. At low levels Bards tend to suck, individually anyway. The best they can do is Spell Focus: Enchantment and max Diplomacy to wheedle a few bodyguards from the local noble. </p><p></p><p>At higher levels they get pretty awesome, with decent spells, good skills, and Bardic knowledge. With a wise selection of spells they can really rock. Rogues get more skills, but they are expected to blow half of them on the scout skills. Bards can max whatever they want, including UMD (best skill in the game mid-high level).</p><p></p><p>How big is your group? You keep saying you think the Bardic Songs suck, but in a 5+ player group thats not the case at all. Either you have a small group or you are underestimating the effects. +1 attack, +1 damage, and +2 charm saves means (spread among the group) prolly an additional 5-10 points of damage a round (they hit more, for more damage, and crits are better). The thing is YOU aren't doing the damage, your allies are, so its hard to see. If you understand that you can see that 'you' are prolly doing as much damage as the fighter (at low level). </p><p></p><p>It sounds to me like the main problem is you don't know how to play the bard correctly. I could be wrong, but when your focus is doing direct damage maybe the Sorcerer/Rogue is a better idea. Bards need to focus on their strengths, getting NPC allies with skills/spells and buffing their buddies. A bard should not be walking around without a 1/2 dozen pikemen the local lord assigned to protect his favorite storyteller, or similar.</p><p></p><p>Oh, and a single level of Rogue is NOT a very good choice for doing more damage. +1d6 Sneak Attack is peanuts. You need at least +2d6 to expect to do anything worthwhile. Since you have the Bard levels, maybe you can re-distribite a few points take a level of Sorcerer and go Arcane Trickster? That would compliment Bard nicely.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Roland Delacroix, post: 229712, member: 1753"] I'd stay with the Bard. At low levels Bards tend to suck, individually anyway. The best they can do is Spell Focus: Enchantment and max Diplomacy to wheedle a few bodyguards from the local noble. At higher levels they get pretty awesome, with decent spells, good skills, and Bardic knowledge. With a wise selection of spells they can really rock. Rogues get more skills, but they are expected to blow half of them on the scout skills. Bards can max whatever they want, including UMD (best skill in the game mid-high level). How big is your group? You keep saying you think the Bardic Songs suck, but in a 5+ player group thats not the case at all. Either you have a small group or you are underestimating the effects. +1 attack, +1 damage, and +2 charm saves means (spread among the group) prolly an additional 5-10 points of damage a round (they hit more, for more damage, and crits are better). The thing is YOU aren't doing the damage, your allies are, so its hard to see. If you understand that you can see that 'you' are prolly doing as much damage as the fighter (at low level). It sounds to me like the main problem is you don't know how to play the bard correctly. I could be wrong, but when your focus is doing direct damage maybe the Sorcerer/Rogue is a better idea. Bards need to focus on their strengths, getting NPC allies with skills/spells and buffing their buddies. A bard should not be walking around without a 1/2 dozen pikemen the local lord assigned to protect his favorite storyteller, or similar. Oh, and a single level of Rogue is NOT a very good choice for doing more damage. +1d6 Sneak Attack is peanuts. You need at least +2d6 to expect to do anything worthwhile. Since you have the Bard levels, maybe you can re-distribite a few points take a level of Sorcerer and go Arcane Trickster? That would compliment Bard nicely. [/QUOTE]
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