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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Delemental" data-source="post: 2530386" data-attributes="member: 5203">The tricky part here, regardless of what stats, spells, feats, and skills are used, is that it seems that the group, including the DM, is prejudiced against the Bard.  It does little good to have a +15 Diplomacy at 2nd level if the DM is one of those "no rolling for social interaction" types, or minimizes the effect of such skills ("Well, with that roll the merchant's attitude shifts from Neutral to Friendly... he still won't sell you the potion.")If you don't know already, talk to your DM and find out how he plans to deal with social skills.  If it's going to be glossed over, then best not devote a lot of resources into that.As for the group's complaints about the bard's abilities, there are ways to improve it.  the Extra Music feat helps with the number of uses per day, and I believe there are spells and magic items that can boost the effect.  And a +1 bonus to hit and damage at these low levels is nothing to scoff at; consider that a 4th level fighter's BAB is +4, so the bardic music represents a 25% increase in his base fighting ability.  And your group doesn't even have a straight fighter, making that boost an even bigger percentage.For Bardic Knowledge, it's true that you can roleplay or use Gather Info.  However, this kind of searching for information takes hours to accomplish, wherreas Bardic Knowledge is something that the character knows right now.  And don't forget that a bard can make a check for information regardless of the circumstances, whereas the information might not be available in the location the party is in (nobody in the hamlet of Pigs-Droppings is going to know the name of the second son of the third to last Emperor of the ancient Burgodeen Empire).   And even if the Bardic Knowledge fails, a bard has Gather Info as a class skill, plus he had a good Charisma and the ability to influence attitudes, which would help make the search go faster.What it really boils down to is that if your game is a combat-focused one, the bard isn't going to have a lot to contribute other than support.  Bards shine in social interactions.  IF you do want to have some melee ability, then the best advice I can give is to focus on combat maneuvers rather than damage output.  The whip was mentioned; combine it with Improved Trip.</blockquote>

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