Where to go with a bard?

[sumi]

I am currently playing a campaign as a 10th level bard, who has a flair for singing his head off whilst taking his opponents down with a thousands cuts due to his +1 keen rapier and 10 Str. I wish him to be flamboyant swordsman rather than continue as just a Bard. However, the Duelist route seems very weak due to losing Elven chain and gaining little in return. An alternative is to pick up levels in fighter. Is there an alternative? :\

 

[Nifft]

I have a variant Duelist PrC:

http://klimt.cns.nyu.edu/~fishman/DnD/prc.shtml#duelist

... and a Feat that helps them out a bit:

Precise Strike [General, Fighter]
You can wound a foe with an expert strike.
Prerequisites: BAB 6+, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus
Benefit: When you inflict a critical hit on a foe using a finesse weapon in which you have Weapon Focus, you inflict an extra +1d6 damage.
Special: You may take this Feat up to 3 times, and its effects stack.

-- N

 

[TracerBullet42]

You could try levels in the swashbuckler class from out of the Complete Warrior book.

Or look into the the Kensai PrC (also in CW)...you'd have to forget continuing as a bard, due to becoming lawful, but it could be fun to come up with something "storywise" for the change and it's a pretty cool class...

 

[Ottergame]

There's a serious lack of bard stuff out there. Yeah, you can take a load of prestige classes, but very very few actually let you continue growing in bard areas, forceing you to forget about bardic knowledge and performing.

 

[Wombat]

You might want to look at Green Ronin's Skull & Bones -- you would probably like the Master of Fence PrC in that one

 

[Eldragon]

I think you are already well on your way to being the flamboyant swordsman. I can't think of any other class that defines the flamboyant swordsman more than the bard. Charismatic, wears no armor, quick of wit and quick on his feet. A particular class does not define a character... you do. In such a situation I would look into coming up with a lot of funny and in-character 1 liners that the character can spout off.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Check out "Cyrano de Bergerac." He fights a duel while composing a rhyme about his opponent. Very funny stuff, in keeping with your character concept.

 

[sumi]

Check out "Cyrano de Bergerac." He fights a duel while composing a rhyme about his opponent. Very funny stuff, in keeping with your character concept

I’ll sing you a song of other times and places,
And sights you may never see.
I’ll sing you a song of other times and places,
And things you may never,
That you may never hear of again.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is truely inspiring as my compositional skills usually range from
'Your going down down down
because me mates are hard, hard, hard'
to give them +2 to hit things - which they usually need or
'Drusila was a lovely lass who helped the party attack,
its such a shame to pick her bits up and put them in this sack'
type of lament which I am improving drastically due the amount of times I've had to compose one.

 

[sumi]

You could try levels in the swashbuckler class from out of the Complete Warrior book.

As I currently do not have this book can you give me an idea as to what sort of skills, feats and Special abilities such a class has.

 

[Wycen]

You could try levels in the swashbuckler class from out of the Complete Warrior book.

As I currently do not have this book can you give me an idea as to what sort of skills, feats and Special abilities such a class has.

Basically they have a fighter BAB and saves, and they start with Weapon Finesee. Then as they go up they get bonus feats and special abilities, like getting a bonus to AC, (or was it damage?). Sorry, I might be getting mixed up with the Unfettered.