Multiclassing a bard help

[Azazello]

Right now I am playing a lvl 3 human bard with pretty minimal scores:
Str - 7, Con - 14, Dex - 14, Int -16, Cha - 18, Wis - 7

I have picked only 2 feats so far (inproved init, melodic casting), but since the creation been rushed, our DM is alright with lateness in picking the other feat.

I like playing my bard in most non-combat situations, as I usually fill the role of a 'face', but in combat, my bard has been lacking in power. So I am thinking about multi-classing into something that will give me a little more 'oomph'. Right now the most likely class is a Warlock, probably followed by a Sublime Chord.

With light armor and low str scores, I do not see myself as a front line combat specialist. I do like hanging back, supporting my party with songs and dealing damage with spells, skills, ranged attacks.

Warlock seems like a class that has great synergy with giving +6 to diplomacy, a damage ability and some good utilities that should be usable in conjuction with singing through Melodic Casting (at least I hope it does that).

Possible prgression: Bard3/Warlock6/MindBender1/Sublime Chord 10

Just want to see any imput on skills, feats and just thoughts on build in anyone have experience.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

I don't see what oomph a Warlock will add other than the Take 10 on UMD. I'd just stick it out in Bard until Sublime Chord. If you want, you could dip Marshal (PH2 and freely available on wotc's site), which will let you add your charisma to things. The most popular being Motivate Dexterity, which adds to all dex and dex-based checks, which includes initiative. Note these bonuses (from the marhal's aura) also affect nearby allies. Motivate Charisma, so that charisma skills and checks then gain your charisma twice, is also popular.

You should look to getting the str to at least 10 (I'd say +1 from level up and a +2 str enhancing item is the best route) when you can, that's a real bummer, since it will not only hurt you for melee, but also reduce ranged damage.

As for what to do, that's a little tricky. The best thing for right now would be to drop Imp. Initiative, and pick up Point Blank and Precise Shot feats, and do an archer bard. Much later on, when you become Sublime Chord, you'll be able to take tons of blasting spells and really won't need the archery feats anymore.

Feats: If at all possible, get Song of the Heart at level 6. It's from Eberron Campaign Setting. Basically +1 to all bardic musics. +1 to inspire courage, +1 save DCs where appropriate, +1 hit die for inspire greatness, etc... If you're a good aligned Bard, consider Words of Creation (Book of Exalted Deeds), which doubles the bonuses from certain bardic music, including inspire courage. Using it also deals nonlethal damage to you, but in many cases it may be worth it.

General gist is to optimize inspire courage a little, use it both to buff allies and to make your ranged attacks respectable, and then go into Sublime Chord.

 

[irdeggman]

Bard spells when chosen well can be very controlling - try hideous laughter once or twice and see what happens.

 

[Azazello]

Well, I was thinking that 1d6 (later growing into 3d6) that I can cast at will and every round as a ranged touch attack would be far better than any ranged bow attack I could pick up as a bard, some warlocks abilities are quite impressive and they have unlimited daily uses. Mortalbane feat adds damage to all of them at 5 uses per day per ability. While still buffing through songs and tossing lvl 0-1 small control/utility spells to supplement warlock abilities.
Rioght now I am looking at either getting lvl 4 of a bard (and getting pretty much nothign in that progression) or Warlock lvl 1 that will give me a permanent +6 to my diplomacy intimidate, bluff, etc. Allso a 1d6 ranged damage that is indipendant from my Str attribute and can be laden with all sorts of fun debuffs and effects.

 

[Dandu]

Snowflake Wardance.

 

[Azazello]

Snowflake wardance, wouldnt that still get -2 damage due to my strength? Low str, light armor, 1d6 hitpoints/level. I do not want to be in melee

Also of note, party right now: Melee cleric, monk, fighter, rogue, fighter, bard (me)

Right now I am looking to either go caster of some sort, or staying bard, or heading towards a PrC of some sort that does not involve me being in the middle of combat.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Well, I was thinking that 1d6 (later growing into 3d6) that I can cast at will and every round as a ranged touch attack would be far better than any ranged bow attack I could pick up as a bard, some warlocks abilities are quite impressive and they have unlimited daily uses. Mortalbane feat adds damage to all of them at 5 uses per day per ability. While still buffing through songs and tossing lvl 0-1 small control/utility spells to supplement warlock abilities.
Rioght now I am looking at either getting lvl 4 of a bard (and getting pretty much nothign in that progression) or Warlock lvl 1 that will give me a permanent +6 to my diplomacy intimidate, bluff, etc. Allso a 1d6 ranged damage that is indipendant from my Str attribute and can be laden with all sorts of fun debuffs and effects.

I get that, but without you continuing to increase the eldritch blast damage, it just won't keep up at all, and will only be good to use with "rider" effects (the classic choice being sneak attack damage and SA-related debilitating ambush feats). You also can't full attack with eldritch blast. And the strength issue is not difficult to solve.

Another idea: Look at the reserve feats in Complete Mage. Those give you at will supernatural abilities (can be used while grappled, bound, or gagged, and do not have to worry about Spell Resistance, unlike warlock invocations), several of which are damaging abilities. They typically deal d4 (force, sonic, cold) or d6 (fire, acid or lightning) damage per spell level of the highest level spell you can still cast. For example, Fiery Burst is a 30 ft range blast of fire (5 ft radius, reflex save for half) that does d6/level. If your highest level fire spell was level 3 and you still had uncast spell slots of that level, it'd do 3d6. With slow bard spell progresson, Reserve feats won't do great damage, but later on when you get the Sublime Chord progression, they can reach up to 9d6 damage. For the cost of only 1 feat, instead of several levels of multiclassing.

My favorite damaging reserve feat is acidic splatter, which is a ranged touch attack (no save) for d6/spell level acid damage. Very similar to eldritch blast, though range is only 5 ft / spell level. But Bards don't get much for acid spells (Energy Substitution can fix this).

Another idea of something useful to do from range: Check out Libris Mortis, it has a feat that lets you force a will save on one enemy within 30 ft, failure leaves them shaken for few minutes. The DC scales with HD (10 +1/2 HD +cha mod). Can't recall the name right now, sorry.

 

[Dandu]

Snowflake wardance, wouldnt that still get -2 damage due to my strength? Low str, light armor, 1d6 hitpoints/level. I do not want to be in melee

Ouch. Didn't see that.

How do you feel about ToB classes such as the Crusader?

 

[Azazello]

Yeah, the dice werent kind to me at the end there.

Right now during the sessions, we are running at 2-3 fights per 'day' at about 2-5 rounds per fight, setting me up at about 10+ combat rounds where I would like to perform more than just hang out and sing, or throw a single spell here and there. Melee combat is not viable for quite some time due to low strength, availability of gear and nature of the party, and inability to play songs while shooting bows and swinging swords. This leaves me with either sticking to a bard class and keep doing the "I play the song and hang back 90% of the time" or to multiclass for a bit to something that synergises with the Bard.

A caster class that can do their damage while I maintain my songs seems like a great idea. Sorcerer and Warlock were the ones I have been looking at. There are quite a few things I like about sorcerer class, but with warlock:
1d6 damage at lvl 1 every single round (3d6 Eldritch Blast + Mortalbane feat, 5/day on EACH ability)
+6 to diplomacy (huge for 'face'-playing bard)
darkness, unlimited number of times, +2d6 damage 5/day (at lvl 2)
charm, unlimited number of times, at will (at lvl 6)
3d6 damage, unlimited (5d6 5/day) every round.
warlock still has 1d6 hit points per level and wears light armor.

The issue of what to do during some nights when we are going through 15+ rounds of combat and no breaks to rest/mem spells is pretty significant. Hideous Laughter spell is great, but darkness, at will, that damages everyone in it - even better. Complete Mage feats look good, but with so few spell slots, they still leave me with 10+ rounds of "I am just hanging back, playing my song"

 

[Dandu]

Keep in mind you won't pass your SR checks as a warlock.

Anyways... have you checked out the ToB Crusader? You get your maneuvers refreshed every encounter.