blargney the second
blargney the minute's son
There's a feat in Bo9S that lets you Inspire Courage as a swift action.
-blarg
-blarg
[Bards] What options are there to make them more interesting
- Thread starter yipwyg42
- Start date
Darklone
Registered User
Some ideas:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=185400
IMHO multiclassing is the most important feature to beef up a bard. It all depends on what you want your char to be able to do. Bards do pretty well as
- archers (nearly singleclass with buffs),
- skirmishers (one level barbarian with reach weapon),
- supporters (marshal and dragonshaman multiclass),
- second rate tank (one level fighter for sword&board, Imp toughness and high con)
- and of course the face man with social skills and fitting spells.
With some of the new spells even an artillery bard seems possible... though he's always not as good as most other spellslingers. Except if you go for Sublime Chord.
So which races are you considering and what kind of bard do you want to play? And how are your attributes?
The bard as prestige class might be interesting as well if you're interested in more offensive spellcasting:
prestige bard
It's a good class for a rogue/sor who doesn't want to go towards arcane trickster though there might be other better prestige class choices.
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=185400
IMHO multiclassing is the most important feature to beef up a bard. It all depends on what you want your char to be able to do. Bards do pretty well as
- archers (nearly singleclass with buffs),
- skirmishers (one level barbarian with reach weapon),
- supporters (marshal and dragonshaman multiclass),
- second rate tank (one level fighter for sword&board, Imp toughness and high con)
- and of course the face man with social skills and fitting spells.
With some of the new spells even an artillery bard seems possible... though he's always not as good as most other spellslingers. Except if you go for Sublime Chord.
So which races are you considering and what kind of bard do you want to play? And how are your attributes?
The bard as prestige class might be interesting as well if you're interested in more offensive spellcasting:
prestige bard
It's a good class for a rogue/sor who doesn't want to go towards arcane trickster though there might be other better prestige class choices.
Last edited:
Li Shenron
Legend
If you're making a new character, then the variants in Unearthed Arcana are IMO very interesting, albeit only a few.
For an existing character, I would still rely on the old Song & Silence (or possibly CAdv but I don't know what it has reprinted). It had a bunch of good interesting feats and musical equipment that IMO were underestimated at that time.
It doesn't have prestige classes, but honestly I think that there are very few valuable ideas for a bardic PrCl, for me the base class itself is the closest base class to a prestige class, being the most specialized of all possibly...
For an existing character, I would still rely on the old Song & Silence (or possibly CAdv but I don't know what it has reprinted). It had a bunch of good interesting feats and musical equipment that IMO were underestimated at that time.
It doesn't have prestige classes, but honestly I think that there are very few valuable ideas for a bardic PrCl, for me the base class itself is the closest base class to a prestige class, being the most specialized of all possibly...
Corinth
First Post
Here's one that's more basic: Perform (Oratory)
Talk. Talk a lot. Give speeches and tell stories whenever you can. Worry less about fighting, shooting and casting. Worry more about coordinating, communicating and filling gaps. Follow less; lead more.
The class has everything it needs to make a leader, a herald, or a ruler. Do that. With Oratory as your Perform skill of choice, you can easily segway into a good synergy with Diplomacy (but you'll need DM permission to get it)- and that's another skill you ought to use a lot. Speak as many languages as you can afford to learn. You'll be the fulcrum by which your companions magnify their power, collectively as well as individually, and keep them out of trouble when not in the field.
Talk. Talk a lot. Give speeches and tell stories whenever you can. Worry less about fighting, shooting and casting. Worry more about coordinating, communicating and filling gaps. Follow less; lead more.
The class has everything it needs to make a leader, a herald, or a ruler. Do that. With Oratory as your Perform skill of choice, you can easily segway into a good synergy with Diplomacy (but you'll need DM permission to get it)- and that's another skill you ought to use a lot. Speak as many languages as you can afford to learn. You'll be the fulcrum by which your companions magnify their power, collectively as well as individually, and keep them out of trouble when not in the field.
airwalkrr
Adventurer
Darklone said:
Thanks for missing the point. What I meant was that there are plenty of options in the sources I mentioned that blatantly scream "THIS IS FOR A BARD!" They are hard to miss and many of them are quite powerful (as if the bard needed it). So if he is asking about stuff from WotC products, he either has none of them (in which case his post probably should have mentioned he was looking for recommendations on which to buy) or he owns them and has never looked at them or finds them unattractive for some reason.
Zaruthustran
The tingling means it’s working!
In all seriousness: bards are great fun, and plenty effective.
While Bard song is going, they're better fighters than an opposing Fighter (assuming equal Str).
Fighter: +1 BAB.
Bard: +0 BAB, but +1 Attack and +1 damage from Inspire Courage.
They've got almost as many skills as a rogue.
They've got spells.
They talk nice, which means they'll be handling most of the noncombat interactions, which means you as the player get to "do more" at the gaming table.
They're just sweet. Definitely take the Inspirational Boost spell, and take feats that improve or extend you daily bard song uses/allow you to do more things with your daily bard song uses. Make Wis your dump stat and forget about Spot and Listen--let the rogue or ranger do his job.
Max Sense Motive, the social skills, Perform, and knowledges. Either take language skills or plan on acquiring one of the Universal Translator magic items.
Strongly consider getting a level of Mindbender. Telepathy means never having to worry about language barriers. And you're still effective (can still manipulate via skills) even while silenced, gagged, at a quiet social setting, etc.
-z
While Bard song is going, they're better fighters than an opposing Fighter (assuming equal Str).
Fighter: +1 BAB.
Bard: +0 BAB, but +1 Attack and +1 damage from Inspire Courage.
They've got almost as many skills as a rogue.
They've got spells.
They talk nice, which means they'll be handling most of the noncombat interactions, which means you as the player get to "do more" at the gaming table.
They're just sweet. Definitely take the Inspirational Boost spell, and take feats that improve or extend you daily bard song uses/allow you to do more things with your daily bard song uses. Make Wis your dump stat and forget about Spot and Listen--let the rogue or ranger do his job.
Max Sense Motive, the social skills, Perform, and knowledges. Either take language skills or plan on acquiring one of the Universal Translator magic items. Strongly consider getting a level of Mindbender. Telepathy means never having to worry about language barriers. And you're still effective (can still manipulate via skills) even while silenced, gagged, at a quiet social setting, etc.
-z
Zaruthustran
The tingling means it’s working!
For combat options, you can go melee, ranged, or support.
For melee, pick up the Battlecaster feat. Wear mithril full plate, carry a heavy shield, and get in there and kick butt. With Inspirational Boost going you and your buddies are at +2/+2. Hooray: Improved Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization for *everyone*! Bad guys will go down faster, which means your fragile HP total hopefully won't be an issue. If you're worried about it, hit yourself with Blur first. Even the guy with True Strike and a +20 attack bonus will miss 20% of the time.
For ranged, follow any ranged guide. Bard song just makes it better.
For support, consider a whip and the Improved Disarm chain. I mean, whips are inherently cool, and you get the proficiency for free. With Inspirational Boost going your disarm attempts are at +8: +4 from Improved Disarm, +2 from the Boost, +2 from the whip itself. With the 15 foot reach, it's easy to get into a flanking position for another +2 on the check. Alas, you yourself do not provide a flank to your buddies (whips don't threaten).
If you really want to be good at disarming, use a longspear. It's a two handed weapon, so you'll get another +4 on your disarm attempt. Longspears also allow you to provide a flank to your buddies, and discourage enemies from quickly closing with you.
Lastly, consider the bard half-elf substitution level. You get an ability that lets you Calm Emotions, with a Will save DC = your Perform check. This is a crazy powerful ability. You essentially get to tell any creature to sit down and shut up, since Perform check totals skyrocket compared to the rate of Will save bonuses.
-z
For melee, pick up the Battlecaster feat. Wear mithril full plate, carry a heavy shield, and get in there and kick butt. With Inspirational Boost going you and your buddies are at +2/+2. Hooray: Improved Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization for *everyone*! Bad guys will go down faster, which means your fragile HP total hopefully won't be an issue. If you're worried about it, hit yourself with Blur first. Even the guy with True Strike and a +20 attack bonus will miss 20% of the time.
For ranged, follow any ranged guide. Bard song just makes it better.
For support, consider a whip and the Improved Disarm chain. I mean, whips are inherently cool, and you get the proficiency for free.
With Inspirational Boost going your disarm attempts are at +8: +4 from Improved Disarm, +2 from the Boost, +2 from the whip itself. With the 15 foot reach, it's easy to get into a flanking position for another +2 on the check. Alas, you yourself do not provide a flank to your buddies (whips don't threaten).If you really want to be good at disarming, use a longspear. It's a two handed weapon, so you'll get another +4 on your disarm attempt. Longspears also allow you to provide a flank to your buddies, and discourage enemies from quickly closing with you.
Lastly, consider the bard half-elf substitution level. You get an ability that lets you Calm Emotions, with a Will save DC = your Perform check. This is a crazy powerful ability. You essentially get to tell any creature to sit down and shut up, since Perform check totals skyrocket compared to the rate of Will save bonuses.
-z
Darklone
Registered User
Not true, True Strike:Zaruthustran said:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/trueStrike.htm
Blur grants concealment, True Strike cancels the targets concealment.
Similar Threads
