Choice feats for bards
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buzz
Adventurer
Thanks for all of the great ideas, folks. As per Thanee's request, I'll provide some more info, namely: I have no idea if I'm going to run a bard or not. 
The campaign is set in a world much like ancient Greece (in its decline), so all of the PCs tend towards cultural types of that era. The other PCs are a paladin/sword of Hieroneous, a cleric/Eye of Mithra*, a wizard, and a rogue/ranger/Dervish with a bloodline level from UA. Ergo, we have the fighter, cleric, wizard, and rogue spots filled, ergo, I figured I'd try a "support class" like bard.
The game is pretty combat-heavy, so the bard would need to be able to hold their own in a fight. However, so far our usual tactic of combating threats head-on seems to be less than successful, so I figured that a class that could make combats easier, instead of just being a damage machine, might be useful.
Archery and Weapon Finesse seem like the way to go combat-wise, but what I'm most interested in are feats that will enhance a bard's signature abilities, i.e., bardic music and spellcasting.
I'd prefer to have all the PC's levels be in bard, or a bard-related PrC. I'd be willing to consider at most two levels of a fighting class. How does a ranger/bard combo sound? (Ranger is the other class I'm considering.)
*The actual PrC is Eye of Horus, iirc, from FR. The player renamed it for his god in the campaign.
The campaign is set in a world much like ancient Greece (in its decline), so all of the PCs tend towards cultural types of that era. The other PCs are a paladin/sword of Hieroneous, a cleric/Eye of Mithra*, a wizard, and a rogue/ranger/Dervish with a bloodline level from UA. Ergo, we have the fighter, cleric, wizard, and rogue spots filled, ergo, I figured I'd try a "support class" like bard.
The game is pretty combat-heavy, so the bard would need to be able to hold their own in a fight. However, so far our usual tactic of combating threats head-on seems to be less than successful, so I figured that a class that could make combats easier, instead of just being a damage machine, might be useful.
Archery and Weapon Finesse seem like the way to go combat-wise, but what I'm most interested in are feats that will enhance a bard's signature abilities, i.e., bardic music and spellcasting.
I'd prefer to have all the PC's levels be in bard, or a bard-related PrC. I'd be willing to consider at most two levels of a fighting class. How does a ranger/bard combo sound? (Ranger is the other class I'm considering.)
*The actual PrC is Eye of Horus, iirc, from FR. The player renamed it for his god in the campaign.
derelictjay
Explorer
Multi-classing with the bard is very fun, Had a bard/fighter/dualist combo, and the bard multi-classes well. Loss of spell levels don't hurt too much, bard's list ain't that great (but very useful in a pinch). The bards main claim to fame is his music and bardic knowledge, which ain't hurt too much by multi-classing. And the bards skill list really helps out a fighter type character.
On the side, if you go with a melee bard, prepare to go unconcious really easily (they tend to have lousy AC). Take defensive feats over offensive feats. If you take archery, god help you if the baddies get past your frontliners, you bards in for a world of hurt.
On the side, if you go with a melee bard, prepare to go unconcious really easily (they tend to have lousy AC). Take defensive feats over offensive feats. If you take archery, god help you if the baddies get past your frontliners, you bards in for a world of hurt.
Kelleris
Explorer
Several people have already mentioned Arcane Strike, and I thought I'd just point out that there are actually two 3.5 versions, one from a Dragon and one from Complete Warrior.
The Dragon feat allows you drop a spell slot as a free action and gain a bonus to you next attack roll equal to twice the spell's level, and a bonus to damage equal to +1d6 per spell level. A bard can pretty much grab this right off the bat. This is the one I prefer.
The Complete Warrior feat has a requirement of 3rd level spellcasting, so 7th level of bard. It works the same way, but the bonuses are +1 and +1d4 per spell level to all attacks in the round.
Personally, I think they goobered up the CW feat pretty bad. Consider: a hasted 16th-level bard set up for dual-wielding can drop a 6th-level slot for +6 on all of his 7 attacks for the round, and gain a total of 42d4 points of bonus damage! Nuts. I also don't like it because they nerfed the arcane-smiting-with-glowy-sword-of-doom flavor out of it. Plus it gets better on two different levels; as you get more attacks and as you gain spell levels. Why they made the changes escapes me.
So, yeah... Dual-wielding melee Bard. Use the CW version of arcane strike to turn your spells into pain, boost your AC with the Two-Weapon Defense feat tree (it's like a shield, but one that you can use without being proficient and without ASF). Pick spells that are sometimes really useful and sometimes useless like comprehend languages or locate object or neutralize poison, since you can always turn them into fiery hurting anyway.
Voila - melee bard.
You can also make an interesting melee bard using the Dragon arcane strike and EWP (a really big two-handed weapon), but that build tends to run through its resources in one good battle.
P.S. High-Dex bard + spells like blink or invisibility + chain shirt + Two-Weapon Defense feats and fighting defensively + 5+ ranks in Tumble = the highest AC you'll see outside of a monastery
The Dragon feat allows you drop a spell slot as a free action and gain a bonus to you next attack roll equal to twice the spell's level, and a bonus to damage equal to +1d6 per spell level. A bard can pretty much grab this right off the bat. This is the one I prefer.
The Complete Warrior feat has a requirement of 3rd level spellcasting, so 7th level of bard. It works the same way, but the bonuses are +1 and +1d4 per spell level to all attacks in the round.
Personally, I think they goobered up the CW feat pretty bad. Consider: a hasted 16th-level bard set up for dual-wielding can drop a 6th-level slot for +6 on all of his 7 attacks for the round, and gain a total of 42d4 points of bonus damage! Nuts. I also don't like it because they nerfed the arcane-smiting-with-glowy-sword-of-doom flavor out of it. Plus it gets better on two different levels; as you get more attacks and as you gain spell levels. Why they made the changes escapes me.
So, yeah... Dual-wielding melee Bard. Use the CW version of arcane strike to turn your spells into pain, boost your AC with the Two-Weapon Defense feat tree (it's like a shield, but one that you can use without being proficient and without ASF). Pick spells that are sometimes really useful and sometimes useless like comprehend languages or locate object or neutralize poison, since you can always turn them into fiery hurting anyway.
Voila - melee bard.
You can also make an interesting melee bard using the Dragon arcane strike and EWP (a really big two-handed weapon), but that build tends to run through its resources in one good battle.
P.S. High-Dex bard + spells like blink or invisibility + chain shirt + Two-Weapon Defense feats and fighting defensively + 5+ ranks in Tumble = the highest AC you'll see outside of a monastery
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