Best race for a bard?

[Particle_Man]

Gnomes can multiclass easiest.

Indeed. Druid 1/Rogue 2/Bard 6 (although human or half-elf would also work). Then get 1 more level of Bard and go into Fochlucan Lyrist in Complete Adventurer! You lose 3 levels of bardic ability, but you gain extra druid spells, and recover your BAB loss. And you saves are rather sick.

 

[satori01]

Human, the extra skill point and extra Feat are invaluable.
You want to take Melodic Casting when first can, so you can use Bardic Music and be able to cast spells.

The extra skill point by being human is in effect like a +2 to Int, and the extra feat makes it easier to reach PrCs, or take feats like Arcane Strike or Extra Bardic Music.

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Human or halfling. Elf isn't as good because of constituation penalty, dwarves and half-orcs have charisma penalties.

That said as long as you have at least a 13 charisma at level 1 your bard will be fine. Just bump it up with ability boost. Often its more important as a bard to have well rounded physical stats and charisma than just a high charisma, and one good physical ability score.

 

[Nifft]

You want to take Melodic Casting when first can, so you can use Bardic Music and be able to cast spells.

You can already do this. Play an instrument and cast a spell at the same time; alternately, sing and use a weapon at the same time.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Sejs]

Dire Mime.

 

[hong]

Dire Mime.

Tautology.

 

[satori01]

You can already do this. Play an instrument and cast a spell at the same time; alternately, sing and use a weapon at the same time.

Cheers, -- N

Right but with Melodic Casting you can Sing, Attack with a weapon, and the next round cast a spell w/o stopping the Bardic Music.

 

[Gnome]

If you are playing in the Forgotten Realms and want a more martial bard build, a Gold Dwarf would make an interesting choice: +2 CON, -2 DEX (no CHA penalty). If you take a level of fighter, you can get access to more weapons including the dwarven waraxe, and if you take the battle caster feat from complete arcane, you can cast spells in medium armor (including mithril full plate).

 

[Darklone]

Think about one level of Scout for hitpoints and trapfinding... but bard archers are pretty cool with fighter levels. Level 9? 4 ftr levels are best heading for Ranged Weapon Mastery.

That's great. Level 8 is good for bards song, get some boosts and take Haste, perhaps one fighter level. Feats: Weapon Focus, PBS, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot. Get some song boosts and a good str. Max dex and get Cha high enough for spellcasting, depending on whether you can buy that bow that allows you to add CHA to damage with your starting money.

Melee bard? Human, one level barbarian, str 18 and a polearm with Power Attack. Extra Rage with the other feat, next feats Cleave and Combat Reflexes. Always full Power Attack, with the typical buffs you'll still hit everything.

 

[The Souljourner]

Human all the way. And don't multiclass. Bards already get a little bit of everything, mutliclassing just hamstrings them. Balance your stats and feats so you don't focus on any one thing too much and you'll always be useful. If you try to be a specialist bard, you'll be screwing yourself... bards aren't specialists by design, so trying to shoehorn them into that will just make you worse at everything else.

As others said, a huge charisma is actually not all that necessary.. balanced stats are much more useful. All 14s is actually one of the best stat lines for a bard (can put a 12 in something if you're playing 28 point buy).

Just remember that you're pretty good at spellcasting, sneaking, talking, melee, and ranged.. and have the really cool and unique bard abilities. If you spread your feats fairly evenly among all your abilities, you'll do well and always be seen as an asset to the party (regardless of what anyone's preconceptions are).

-Nate