Oh, to build a bard

[Azazu]

I'm trying to build a good bard char.

I need help.

Im using the Monte Cook version from BoEM2.

28 point buy. Elf

5th level. Low magic.

I want him to be a good al round character. That can hold his own in battle and be a good addition to a group.

He will be a cohort.

Any WOTC (no Realms stuff) and Kalamar stuff is cool too.


Thanks

 

[Surfal]

VBard

Playing an elf VBard your only real combat option is archery. With a 28-point buy you can have S10 D16 C12 I10 W10 Ch16. With PBS and RS he'll be a credible archer, with RAB of +6 or +4/+4. If you really want to min-max him you can drop the Int to 8 to get a +1 strength bonus to damage with a mighty bow.

Max out perform, listen, hide, move silently and he's useful when stealthy. That leaves you two more maxed skills or some lesser combination; I'd lean toward sense motive especially if no one in your party has it (and you don't drop his wisdom) and escape artist.

As for spellsongs...I've never built a variant bard before, but from what I see he gets 4 songs and can sing 10 times per day with that Cha. My take:
- Inspire Courage; basically the same as the base bard's ability. My party has found this essentially constant quasi-prayer spell to be invaluable.
- Minor healing; having another character capable of healing is always handy, but if your group is loaded with healing you might reconsider.
- Deflect blow; seems like a good "preserve the mage from horrible death" type song. You probably won't use it very often, but when you do it will save someone's life.
- Stun; another "save somebody's life" spell, though this time of an offensive variety.

 

[yennico]

I'm trying to build a good bard char.
...

I want him to be a good al round character. That can hold his own in battle and be a good addition to a group.

For inspiration you can use this
link.

Hope that helps

just my 2 cents
yennico

 

[Azazu]

THANKS

Thanks for the link, it was helpfull.

I do like Monte Cook's Bard but i was wondering what if anything has been released as to the changes to the 3.5 bard.

Anyone???

thanks

 

[Delgar]

I have an elven female bard in the game I'm running. She's scary! She's also one of the damage dealers in the group!

Although my group is definately a strange mish-mash, but very interesting non the less. For more information check out my story hour below, it also has a link to the character sheets.

Delgar

 

[Darklone]

Monte Bard in low magic ...

Well. The abovementioned spells look nice. Though at lvl5 thanks to deflect blows, you could even play a bard with a greataxe. (Assuming a bit of multiclassing for proficiencies).

You won't have GMW... so that's rather bad for a bard assuming you don't get wands so easily.

Another option than the archer above might be a bard with longsword, shield and breastplate for high AC. (Legionnary type). Especially since Montes Bard has no spell failure chance.

Interesting Kalamar feats might be (depending on what you want): Eyes of Fury/Fearsome Appearance chain (at lvl6 Commanding presence, you'll have a nice charisma) or perhaps shield specialisation as well as spell focus to enhance your stun ability DCs somewhat. Since you can cast two notes per round (or stun someone plus bash him), a level of rogue might be interesting as well (try to talk your DM into stacking levels for evasion ?).

If I were you though, I'd give feats like Intensify Song in the BoeM2 book a second look...

Spellnotes: I'd say deflect blow (one level1 dude killed an ogre singlehandedly with this one), sonic dart for an archer type or songstrike for the high charisma dude (two per round kill many many enemies), inspire courage (you're a bard after all) and minor healing.

Point buy... I second the stats given above. But I would still advice to think about one level in another class (barbarian or rogue?) ... (though multiclassing restrictions may apply)