roguerouge
First Post
So, uh, how are you going to rationalize a Vow of Nonviolence with aiding everyone in your party in their melee combats? Make sure to talk that decision through with your DM before you get your heart set on that choice.
Playing a bard
Nifft
Penguin Herder
If I were you, I'd stay away from the Book of Exalted Deeds. The book is full of broken stuff, which is supposedly balanced by the DM's ability to take it all away if you ever let someone else sneeze without saying "bless you". IMHO it's a fight waiting to happen, which will cause conflict within many groups. Don't bite that golden apple.
- - -
You can do fantastically well with just one spell and one Eberron feat: inspirational boost and Song of the Heart. If you want to survive with lower Int and/or Con, it's just one more feat to take Melodic Casting. That leaves you two free Feats if human, or one if you are some other race.
I personally like the Bard Archer, and shortbows are perfectly capable of dishing out the damage, since most of your damage will come from flat bonuses instead of extra dice.
If you're concerned that you might find yourself in melee, consider the Barbarian 1 / Bard 6.
If you're not concerned about melee -- and with that party, I don't think it should be much of an issue -- then just go straight Bard 7. Being able to cast haste will nearly double your party's damage output (for 7 rounds). Melodic Casting is important to cast while keeping your song up, so take that. Now the build looks like:
Human - Str 14, Dex 14, Con 12, Int ??, Wis ??, Cha 16 (15 +1 at 4th level)
Feats:
1/ Melodic Casting, Point Blank Shot
3/ Song of the Heart
6/ Rapid Shot
Spells:
0/ Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Message, Prestidigitation, Read Magic, Summon Instrument
1/ Cure Light Wounds, Grease, Inspirational Boost, +1 free
2/ Glitterdust, Mirror Image, Suggestion, +1 free
3/ Haste, Glibness (for combat days vs. social days)
Cheers, -- N
- - -
You can do fantastically well with just one spell and one Eberron feat: inspirational boost and Song of the Heart. If you want to survive with lower Int and/or Con, it's just one more feat to take Melodic Casting. That leaves you two free Feats if human, or one if you are some other race.
I personally like the Bard Archer, and shortbows are perfectly capable of dishing out the damage, since most of your damage will come from flat bonuses instead of extra dice.
If you're concerned that you might find yourself in melee, consider the Barbarian 1 / Bard 6.
If you're not concerned about melee -- and with that party, I don't think it should be much of an issue -- then just go straight Bard 7. Being able to cast haste will nearly double your party's damage output (for 7 rounds). Melodic Casting is important to cast while keeping your song up, so take that. Now the build looks like:
Human - Str 14, Dex 14, Con 12, Int ??, Wis ??, Cha 16 (15 +1 at 4th level)
Feats:
1/ Melodic Casting, Point Blank Shot
3/ Song of the Heart
6/ Rapid Shot
Spells:
0/ Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Message, Prestidigitation, Read Magic, Summon Instrument
1/ Cure Light Wounds, Grease, Inspirational Boost, +1 free
2/ Glitterdust, Mirror Image, Suggestion, +1 free
3/ Haste, Glibness (for combat days vs. social days)
Cheers, -- N
One tip for bards: you need to make sure you have a strong focus, or you'll be pretty weak. The problem with a dual focus of Archery and buffing is it's not very synergistic. The good casting PrCs don't tend to improve your BAB very well, and usually you give up some spellcaster levels to take gish PrCs. The bard can fill different roles, but you should pick one and stick with it or you may find yourself spread a bit too thinly.
If you want a party buffer in Eberron, the War Weaver is perfect. Check out Caelic's Recaster/Sublime Chord War Weaver here (search for "Caelic's Recaster/Sublime Chord War Weaver"
). You get to make single-target buff spells target the entire party in one cast, and at high levels, you also get the ability to Heal the entire party at once! Unfortunately, your BAB will be pretty low so you'll be a poor archer unless you decide to pick up Divine Power (and there's probably a better second spell to pick up).
If you want to go all out with Inspire Courage rather than using spells, do something like a straight Bard with Words of Creation and a bunch of other items and feats and spells that boost your Inspire Courage. This playstyle might be a bit boring, but I suppose it lets you buff the party and shoot arrows effectively at the same time.
Here's an interesting archery build to consider: Bard 8/Arcane Archer 2/Sublime Chord 2/Eldritch Knight 8. Level 9 spells, tops out at 17 BAB, and the fun fun ability to center neato spells like, say, Antimagic Field on your arrows.
If you want a party buffer in Eberron, the War Weaver is perfect. Check out Caelic's Recaster/Sublime Chord War Weaver here (search for "Caelic's Recaster/Sublime Chord War Weaver"
). You get to make single-target buff spells target the entire party in one cast, and at high levels, you also get the ability to Heal the entire party at once! Unfortunately, your BAB will be pretty low so you'll be a poor archer unless you decide to pick up Divine Power (and there's probably a better second spell to pick up).If you want to go all out with Inspire Courage rather than using spells, do something like a straight Bard with Words of Creation and a bunch of other items and feats and spells that boost your Inspire Courage. This playstyle might be a bit boring, but I suppose it lets you buff the party and shoot arrows effectively at the same time.
Here's an interesting archery build to consider: Bard 8/Arcane Archer 2/Sublime Chord 2/Eldritch Knight 8. Level 9 spells, tops out at 17 BAB, and the fun fun ability to center neato spells like, say, Antimagic Field on your arrows.
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