The Bard's Melee Weapon powers

[Joshua Randall]

I am asking if you also feel the Bard's Melee Weapon powers - and only his Melee Weapon powers - are noticeably weaker

Yes.

The melee weapon powers are fairly lackluster.

You really need a weapon/implement like a songblade, or to multiclass into swordmage so you can use your sword as an implement.

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[Merlin the Tuna]

Don't get me wrong, I like Guiding Strike, it's just too bad that the Ardent has a melee at-will that does all that, and more, in that it makes a penalty to all defences, not just one.

Yeouch. I wasn't aware of that (I claim the "Who cares about Ardents" defense), but the Bard does at least have the White Lotus feats to buff up his at wills. White Lotus Enervation in particular works nicely with Guiding Strike, and Riposte is, as always, a solid one to put on a semi-defender.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Yeah, I love the White Lotus series for the buffs to At-wills. It's just too bad that bards have to blow feats on them to make their At-will attacks as good as those of other classes.

Even without buffing At-wills with feats, it's still fun playing a melee bard, and the flavour is too delicious to let something like being slightly suboptimal, if not exactly underpowered, ruin the fun.

 

[Felon]

But beyond that there are no real wins in heroic IMO. You can't beat Rhyme of the Blood Seeking Blade - a truly awesome ranged weapon power.

Preach it. The bard archer build (which I simply refuse to call a "barcher") is serious business. Too bad there's only one ranged at-will.

 

[Ryujin]

Preach it. The bard archer build (which I simply refuse to call a "barcher") is serious business. Too bad there's only one ranged at-will.

Not a bad idea to at least have a melee at-will, anyway, for when you're cornered.

 

[Aulirophile]

Preach it. The bard archer build (which I simply refuse to call a "barcher") is serious business. Too bad there's only one ranged at-will.

Daggers and Farbond Spellblades are also Ranged Weapons. Both my Valorous and Cunning Bard cheerfully used RotBB.

 

[Mengu]

I am asking if you also feel the Bard's Melee Weapon powers - and only his Melee Weapon powers - are noticeably weaker, for the most part, when compared to his - and only his - Implement or Ranged Weapon powers, and If so, I was also wondering if you agree that's a problem, or not.

I do feel they are weaker for the most part, and depending on your outlook this could be perceived as a problem or not. If you think you can make an exclusively melee build bard with only bard poweres, then you're probably going to be disappointed with some of the power selections, melee powers are lacking in both quality and quantity. But I see the Bard melee powers as having more options. For a bard, I think a weapliment is pretty much a must have, whether you want to be primarily melee or range. You're meant to be both.

It is possible to make a pretty decent pure melee bard, with a few key power swaps, dilettante, etc, but it eats up a lot of valuable feat slots. I'm not sure if I ever would go that route. I love the flexibility of switching between melee and range without worrying about weapon swapping, using songblade weapliment, and I have better things to do with feats.

 

[Thorvald_Grimbjorn]

Thanks for all the answers, guys.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Talib is a dwarf bard.

Which means that for the price of a feat, he gets a Waraxe.

Which means that he can enchant it with the Quick ability (lets you make an attack when you hit as a daily).

Which means that at the beginning of combat, or when he gets in over his head, or when he gets close to the BBEG, this is his pattern:

1. Debuff enemy AC with CA/Guiding Strike/Whatever, or buff your own attacks. As a Cunning Bard, I can set up Flanking basically whenever I want (slide an ally every time an enemy misses them).
2. Action point. Hit him in the face with an axe power (or with a power that gives you a melee attack, like Stumble), newly helped by the buff/debuffs/etc.
3. Activate the Quick ability. Hit them in the face again.
4. Minor action to heal self or ally who is in trouble, for icing on the cake.

Given 1d12 damage, and three or more attack rolls in the round, and possible crits on top of that, he is a frickin' threat in melee. Given quick healing abilities, sliding powers, and a decent CON, he can survive the round or two it takes to dish that out and get out of the melee lickety-split.

75% of the time, he's leading from a distance, dropping mockeries and buffing defenses. And he's never going to be in the thick of it like a warlord or a fighter or a rogue. But about once per day (maybe more, depending), he can slide up behind a goblin, slice him three times, and slide away, all with a smile on his face.

Dwarf Bard is an unorthodox build, but I did want a bard who could get up in someone's face and make them regret it. Talib does that well. He can't do it often, but once every other combat is more than enough, given that he's got more than enough ways to slide out of trouble when he doesn't want to show someone what's up.

I don't really miss that +1 from my no-Cha-or-Int-bonus race in the slightest. Having a bard chop a dude's head off is much, much cooler.

 

[Thorvald_Grimbjorn]

I know versatile Bards have several good options - that's why they're versatile, after all. But personally, I think Melee Bards are woefully unsupported (though obviously not to the extent of the Battle Cleric or the Bestmaster Ranger, and others), which I think is a shame, not only because they're my favourite archetype, but also because their powers tend to be very iconic for the class as a whole - I mean, what represents a Bard better than attacking an opponent while singing, your allies' spirit being revitalized and strengthened by your magical song?