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Myself, I like the Bard-barian: start at level 1 as a bard and alternate between barbarian and bard every level until 20.
As for whips, try the scourge for some lethal damage( I think there's one described somewhere in the Second Darkness AP). Maybe a Varisian scarf would be more to your liking, though.
For laughs(or groans) you could take perform(mouth harp) and treat your RL friends to a performance every combat(these instruments are quite inexpensive-if you can find one-and easy to play).
Another great weapon(new in the core book) is the elven curve blade. Either take the proficiency feat or be an elf/half-elf with 1 level in a class that grants martial weapon proficiency.
Top of the page. Woot.
Myself, I like the Bard-barian: start at level 1 as a bard and alternate between barbarian and bard every level until 20.
As for whips, try the scourge for some lethal damage( I think there's one described somewhere in the Second Darkness AP). Maybe a Varisian scarf would be more to your liking, though.
For laughs(or groans) you could take perform(mouth harp) and treat your RL friends to a performance every combat(these instruments are quite inexpensive-if you can find one-and easy to play).
Another great weapon(new in the core book) is the elven curve blade. Either take the proficiency feat or be an elf/half-elf with 1 level in a class that grants martial weapon proficiency.
I like bard variants a lot better than bards of th traditional 'here come the bad guys... lute solo!' variety, myself. Something along the lines of medieval heralds. I know there are a few floating around in various books, but I'm not near any of mine atm, so I'm not sure which.
Still, my problem is purely an aesthetic one. Never been able to wrap my head around the visual of the bard doing his inspiration stuff in combat, and though I'm sure any party would recognize the efficacy of the effects I still have a hard time imagining some parties allowing a bard to live long enough that they'd even make the connection.
Easier to imagine: 'We were surrounded by lizardmen intent on devouring us, but the gods must've been smiling on us that day, because I just started tearing thru them like mad. Then I notice that while the rest of us are fighting for our lives, Ffydwyl is over there playing 'Greensleeves'! Next thing I knew my axe was bisecting his face, magistrate.'
No you misunderstand, my main concern is that *as a player* I might possibly mostly be doing next to nothing during combat encounters, it's not mainly about character power.
Then give yourself something to do during combat. Spend your feats to be good with the bow or crank your Use Magic Device up and use wands and scrolls and such.
I actually wanted to play a Bard and someone else decided that they were going to play one. I was bummed. I was going to play a crazy jester who told horrible (and often times tasteless) jokes. He also was going to "invent" some of his own spells like break a leg that would do precisely that.
No you misunderstand, my main concern is that *as a player* I might possibly mostly be doing next to nothing during combat encounters, it's not mainly about character power.Then give yourself something to do during combat. Spend your feats to be good with the bow or crank your Use Magic Device up and use wands and scrolls and such.
I actually wanted to play a Bard and someone else decided that they were going to play one. I was bummed. I was going to play a crazy jester who told horrible (and often times tasteless) jokes. He also was going to "invent" some of his own spells like break a leg that would do precisely that.
Agreed, there is very little reason for a bard to just sit back in combat. Considering that Performing is a Standard to start you maintain as a Free. Now that you can cast spells while performing a Bard has even more option.
Actually with a large group of melee people I would advice against ranged attacks. It would be better for him to close into melee himself and help to flank. Even with Precise Shot, with so many friends in melee their is a good chance they will block line of effect and give the enemy with soft cover (+4 to their AC) against you. Considering that Bards get the class +3 to Acrobatics they can be highly mobile in combat. After all this is what you were looking at as a character concept, a bit of swashbuckler.
Remember that most of the Inspiring effects work just as well on your Bard as they do on the rest of the party. Bards are force multipliers, the more allies you bring to the fight the better you become, as your bonus effects more people. On top of that you also have less of a chance of being directly attacked yourself while you engage targets of your choice.
For a Favored Dex combat Bard, Weapon Finesse, Power Attack, Arcane Strike, Combat Expertise Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack... Whirlwind with Scorpion Whip... all possible combat options while pure buffing.
For spell casting a Bard doesn't need more then a 16 Cha to get full spell casting, you don't need 18, 20, 22 in the stat unless you're looking to boost the saves. So it is reasonable to build a Bard on Dex as the primary, Cha secondary, and maybe Int third.
Sirano would be mad...Indeed he would, Ciragno always gets pissy whenever someone mispells his name. =P
Huh... I had always seen his name spelled "Cyrano". Is it spelled differently between French and English?
I don't know why I didn't think of this before... but thank you lady Eladrin over a Gaia for being the muse on this one.
Catch of-Guard plus Improvised Weapon Master give an Instrument playing bard all kinds of weapon options in combat. Two examples come right to mind. First is the THF Guitar, nothing like axing bad-guys with your Ax. Second is either Fiddle or Violin for TWF (Fiddle and Bow in off-hand)
The you go, best two Feats and reasons to play bard. Because 'playing'/maintaing is a free action you can do so at the start of your round, and then make your attacks. With weapons likely almost on par with Great, Long, or Short swords.
Hows that for Bard awesome? On the plus side this kind of Bard is NEVER without a weapon as any Improvised Weapon will do.
(Laithoron's favorite Bard)
Y'know, I never thought of her as a Bard- more like Final Fantasy V's Red Mage class (only without the !Dualcast ability.) Shows you what I know. (Too bad her great-great-to the umpteenth generation-grandson's much-more physically oriented.)
Back on topic: I'm playing a Half Elf Bard in our group's upcoming Council of Thieves game. He refers to his masterwork fiddle and longsword as "his two most loyal traveling companions, Valna (the fiddle) and Cham (the sword)" comes from a noble house (Yay for the Rich Parents trait!), and I'm planning on making all of his songs up until I start taking Urban Savant levels knockoffs of actual songs.
Inspire Courage: Barry Manilow's Copa Cabana
Countersong: (random beatboxing)
So! Why play Bards? The party needs someone to (soak damage, chronicle their exploits, bail them out of jail for irritating Her Imperial Majestrix one too many times, get the girls) for them! They have a truly awfully named class ability for resisting opponents' bardic music! And nobody else is crazy enough to charge into battle playing a fiddle!
Classes like the Bard really became viable in our local games with the Spell Compendium. The Inspirational Boost spell in particular is very handy in our games which has some larger-scale combat, with many friendly NPCs. We also tend to let players play two characters to get a party size of 8-10 characters run by 4-5 players, which makes room for niche characters. Another use for the bard class is with the multi-classing rules. A bard combined with Rogue, Swashbuckler, or Warmage can be interesting.
Classes like the Bard really became viable in our local games with the Spell Compendium.
Indeed, there are quite a few excellent Bard spells in SpC. Bladeweave is another. Also sirine's grace, grace, improvisation, etc. Heck, Bards even get access to revenance, which is a limited resurrection-type spell.
Classes like the Bard really became viable in our local games with the Spell Compendium. The Inspirational Boost spell in particular is very handy in our games which has some larger-scale combat, with many friendly NPCs. We also tend to let players play two characters to get a party size of 8-10 characters run by 4-5 players, which makes room for niche characters. Another use for the bard class is with the multi-classing rules. A bard combined with Rogue, Swashbuckler, or Warmage can be interesting.
Spell Compendium is a enigma. It is simultaneously is great for rangers/ paladins/ bards and breaks wizards/ druids/ clerics.
Classes like the Bard really became viable in our local games with the Spell Compendium. The Inspirational Boost spell in particular is very handy in our games which has some larger-scale combat, with many friendly NPCs. We also tend to let players play two characters to get a party size of 8-10 characters run by 4-5 players, which makes room for niche characters. Another use for the bard class is with the multi-classing rules. A bard combined with Rogue, Swashbuckler, or Warmage can be interesting.
The Dragon Shaman's auras stack with bardic music, so you can get some pretty decent boosts. I believe bard/barbarian has been stated as good combo too.
I'm playing a Bard in Pathfinder Society and having a blast with it. In addition to inspiring courage you get a great selection of spells to mess with the enemies (grease and glitterdust, confusion, fear, etc. I know they're not as good as 3.5 but they're still solid). You also have a number of combat options with skills such as intimidate (w/ a range of 30') and bluff. Add a few feats for disarming and tripping with the whip and you're sure to always have plenty to do. With your help those big dumb sword guys following you around will have everything mopped up in a few rounds. Bardic Knowledge now makes it easy to get a 20 in all your knowledge skills, all the time (1 rank, 3 class bonus, 3 Int bonus, 3 half bard level, taking ten all the time) which is usually enough to get the bits of info you need. Top all of that off with UMD and a backpack full of scrolls to make sure that you always have the right spell at the right time.