Playing a bard

[Nifft]

Actually I am designing him to be a clown. He sounds and behaves as an English Gentlemen with frequent outbursts of clownish turrets.
How he behaves in combat... hmm I am definitely going for style over substance here. The Louder and flashier the better. Am probably gonna go the archer route.
Also any and all Wotc published is fair game.

Clownish outbursts, English gentleman, and archery. Let's see...

Human Str > Cha > Con > Dex > Int > Wis
Bard 6 / Barbarian 1 (skill ranks go into Intimidate and Ride at this level)
Feats: Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Song of the Heart (Eberron), Haunting Melody (Eberron)

Tactics: run around at 40 ft. movement rate singing Inspire Courage, shoot things with Rapid Shot, and if there's an opponent you can't run away from, Rage and kill it with your greatsword.

The hard decision is Bard first or Barbarian first. Bard gives +8 skill points and a better skill list; Barbarian gives +6 HP.

Good spells are:
0 - Summon Instrument, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Read Magic, Detect Magic, Dancing Lights
1 - Grease, Hideous Laughter, Silent Image, Cure Light Wounds
2 - Suggestion, Mirror Image, Glitterdust

These spells mostly target Will, but grease hits Reflex. Jester-esque spells IMHO are grease, hideous laughter and suggestion. I added mirror image in case you ever want to buff for melee, because sometimes it's just not something you can avoid, and glitterdust is a fantastic and flexible area de-buff.

For more clownishness in your outbursts, consider asking for the whirling frenzy variant. It's considered by some to be too strong, so be understanding if your DM say "no", but it does seem in theme for your dude.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Allegro]

I’d recommend picking up improved initiative. The fascinate class ability only works if an obvious threat isn’t present. Most of the time, unless you win initiative this ability will not work. A Circlet of Persuasion helps allot of the bard core skills. Additionally, I recommend some scenario planning. Undead and constructs are particularly challenging for a bard.

Spell Caster = Silence Spell
Giant/Ogre = Confusion Spell
Scouting = Minor Image or Invisibility
Undead = Buff the barbarian

 

[Artoomis]

For race, how about the LA+1 Catfolk, from RotW pg 92:

Medium Size
• +4 Dex
• +2 Cha
• 40’ Movement
• Level Adjustment +1
• Humanoid (catfolk)
• Low-Light Vision
• +2 Racial bonus on Listen and Move Silently checks.
• +1 Natural Armor bonus to AC.

Looks like great fun to me! I think this fits your concept rather well.

 

[Evilhalfling]

fasicinate never works - it has that huge delay time, and non-combat requirement, although if you have the subsonic music feat (diff requirments) then you can use it in the background, works much better.
song of the heart & lingering song are great feats, and the white raven manuver is worth the dip.
The Badge of Valor from Magic Item Compendium is good as well, and cheap.

As for concept - bards can make fine archerers, but english gentleman/clown says melee or caster to me, either take expertise and rely on your +4 inspire courage to hit things.
or buff the enchant/illusion as previously suggested.

 

[Mistwell]

I strongly encourage you to check out the Inspire Courage Optimization thread.

I disagree with the spell advice given earlier. You have an incredibly small number of spells available to you. Do not waste spell slots on spells that require saving throws. As a half-level caster, your spell DCs will not be able to keep up with the saving throws of your foes. Charm Person for example is a 1st level spell, and will have no prayer of working at higher levels.

Instead, focus on party-buffing spells (like Haste and the Elation spell from Book of Exalted Deeds), single-buff spells (like Invisibility and Displacement) and utility spells (like Alter Self, and Grease).

I disagree that you should be focusing on a ranged weapon like a crossbow. You are a party leader who buffs the rest of the party, not a striker. Do not waste a single feat on ranged attacks. You will get a great deal more mileage out of feats like Song of the Heart, Words of Creation, Melodic Casting, Lingering Spell, Lyric Spell, and Haunting Melody. Bards do Bardic Music well, so focus on that, not on ranged attacks.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

My guess would be either the randomly granted maneuvers, the Delayed Damage Pool, or both.

They add another layer of paperwork to playing the class, for players or for DMs running a Crusader NPC. And since the whole Initiator/Maneuver mechanic is still relatively new and thus, still unfamiliar compared to standbys like Power Attack, it's just easy to avoid Crusaders when offered the choice.

Just my guess. Peace.

Basically. It adds a lot of complication to the game. Granted, once you get used to it, it can be largely mitigated with things like maneuvers on index cards and such, but especially if new to ToB, it can feel daunting. Oh! Another reason Crusaders are annoying: Whoever decided what levels they get new stances at was clearly high. Realizing you'll need to burn feats or creatively multiclass in order to get your new level stances at a reasonable period of time (like, not 4+ levels after you qualified) or to even get them at all (in the case of level 8 stances) is enough to tick off anyone.

I'd have to agree with regards to the save negates spells, bard DCs will be poor, so you shouldn't take very many. They can still be good, as many foes at later levels have wildly divergent amounts of save bonus from one to the next, if you target the right save. Of course, if the DM tries to plug the glaring weaknesses of foes often (giving fighters iron will and other things to boost will, for example), this won't apply.

 

[roguerouge]

I strongly encourage you to check out the Inspire Courage Optimization[/URL] thread.

I disagree with the spell advice given earlier. You have an incredibly small number of spells available to you. Do not waste spell slots on spells that require saving throws. As a half-level caster, your spell DCs will not be able to keep up with the saving throws of your foes. Charm Person for example is a 1st level spell, and will have no prayer of working at higher levels.

Instead, focus on party-buffing spells ...

I disagree that you should be focusing on a ranged weapon like a crossbow. ...

Again, it really depends on what you want to do during combats. Some players find the selflessness required of the Inspire Courage optimizations a bit boring to play. It's possible to do the archer or enchanter/illusionist roles as well as bardic music. It's perfectly valid, if you devote your feats (the spell caster build towards Sublime Chord) or archer (through a level or two of fighter).

 

[avr]

One more idea - a one level dip into swordsage might fit your character nicely. You could pick manoeuvres like baffling defence and mighty throw to match the clown style, and there's a feat in the ToB which adds +2 to illusion DCs when you're in a shadow hand stance.

 

[Zurai]

This sounds intriguing I would love to hear more about this.

The best way is light multiclassing. If you have access to the Book of Nine Swords, one level every four or five in either Crusader or Warblade plus the Song of the White Raven feat gets you an instant advantage. Then add the Snowflake Wardance feat from Frostburn (Cha to attack rolls by burning a bardic music use) and a few choice spells, such as bladeweave (for rounds/level, one creature struck by your melee attack must make a Will save or be dazed until your next round), sonic weapon (+1d6 sonic damage), and sonic shield (+4 deflection AC, anything hitting you in melee takes 1d8 sonic and must save or be knocked away from you). Spice with various Use Magic Device buff wands to taste.

You can do it without Bo9S, but it'll be a bit weaker in melee. I wouldn't recommend trying a melee bard if you don't have access to an expanded spell selection - the PHB bard spells don't lend themselves to melee at all. PHB2 and the Spell Compendium are the good resources there.

 

[Darklone]

You can do it without Bo9S, but it'll be a bit weaker in melee. I wouldn't recommend trying a melee bard if you don't have access to an expanded spell selection - the PHB bard spells don't lend themselves to melee at all. PHB2 and the Spell Compendium are the good resources there.

Strong melee bard build:
Take a polearm and one level barbarian. Strength 18 at level 1 is great, Cha doesn't have to be that good. You need Extra Rage, Power Attack and perhaps Combat Reflexes till level 6.

Stay close to the party cleric and use group buffs.

Such a bard killed a campaign over here... the DM didn't find a way to challenge the group anymore in his humanocentric setting.