Amurion's page

Probably a core bard focusing on melee. I don't have much time to look at the other archetypes.

First decide what kind of bard you want to play. Caster, melee, archer?

Stay away from Combat Maneuver Specialist and sword and Sword & Board. Large and str 18? Don't play Skirmisher.
Combat Maneuver Specialist is fun at lower levels but at higher it will not be as fun. You can't trip dragons and other creatures and disarm won't work times when you meet foes without weapons. True you are large but you are not a full BAB class. If you still want to play a Combat Maneuver Specialist go for trip. You can trip creatures using natural weapons, but you can disarm them.

Sword & Board is no good. You need on hand free to cast spells.

With the rolls you got I would say Archer or Two-Handed Monster. You can actually use a longsword as a Two-Handed Monster.

Since you are large I think you shoudl play a melee bard. Combat reflexes is good.

Second, you want to play a Core Bard or an Archetype?

Core bard is really good and so are some of the Archetypes.

Because you are large you should put some high stat in dex,
Advice:
Str: 18
dex: 16,
Con: 16 or 14
Int 14 or 16
Wis: 12
Char: 16

If you play the core bard or an Archetype with bardic knowledge 14 int is fine, if not go for int 16. You REALLY want all the skills you can get and boost to int is nice for knowledge skills.

I'm playing a human Arcane Duelist with int 14. It's great but more skills per level would be nice. She has traded her Favored Class bonus to skills/HP for more spells.

The Arcane Duelist (from the APG) is a very very good melee bard.
There are lots of good Archetypes like Sound Striker, but Sound Striker needs a good char, but 16 is good.

I'll post more when I you answered.

Edit: I agree with Sean FitzSimon. Go for the core bard.

The party composition has one either sorc or wizard (I can't remember which) a cleric, a half-orc fighter, a rogue, a dead sorc. I think those are the bases. I was also considering a ranger, but I felt the bard would be an interesting addition to the party. I originally had the idea of a large cloaked storyteller sitting the back corner of a tavern telling grim stories. He is probably going to be more melee focused, but I don't want to sacrifice my AC too much by going with two handed weapons, although they would pack a wallop, however even a large long sword deals 2d6+STR.

To really take advantage of being large you want a whip. Melee weapon ranges are doubled and whips are melee weapons with a fifteen foot range. I've heard that UC has a feat chain that lets you use whips against adjacent targets without suffering AoOs and to threaten the entire reach of a whip. For you that would be thirty feet.

To mitigate the downsides of being large consider either investing in UMD and wands of reduce person or getting a wizard or magus or witch a few pearls of power to reduce you with so you can function in enclosed spaces. Or show up with a scorpion whip and wait for the GM to decide 8'3" is medium after all.

If you're going to multiclass to anything other than Battle Herald take at least 5 bard levels.

It would help to know the composition of the party you're going to be in.

Sean FitzSimon wrote:

Not familiar with the Half-Ogre, so I'm gonna ignore that bit. Also, good lord, your stats are insane. Moving on.

You need to come up with a concept for your Bard. This concept should include both a combat style you'd like to pursue and a party role. Until you've got this it's gonna be downright difficult to offer you any advice. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Combat Styles

• Archer
  
• Sword & Board
  
• Skirmisher
  
• Throwing Weapons
  
• Two-Handed Monster
  
• Combat Maneuver Specialist

Character Roles

• Knowledge Expert
  
• Artificer/Craftsman
  
• Stealth Specialist
  
• Party Face
  
• Dungeon Specialist

I don't think a bard has enough feats to really do sword and board properly or enough spells known to be an artificer. Stealth specialist is also kind of an uncomfortable fit because even though it's a class skill and bards have several nice stealth assist spells they still have the problem of all their spells having audible components and being unable to silence them.

So, I will be playing a bard for the first time tonight and I have no idea what works well for them or not. What I have so far is a Half-Ogre Bard who is large not medium (DM didn't think that being 8'3" would work for being medium).
Rolls were 18,16,16,16,14,12. We are starting at second level. Any help would be great. Specifically I am looking for stat placement, skills, feats, spells, and equipment. I have some ideas, but I would like to see what experienced players have to say.

Thanks