Leiracal's page

Shoot. Was hoping to get SOMETHING out of that.

Well, since this thread (despite never receiving an answer) is the #2 Google result for "fochlucan lyrist spells" (where the first result is the Wizards page), I might as well share what I ended up with.

You can see the Google Doc here.

Level 1:
Scholar's Touch (Races of Destiny): Our home city has a huge library.
Cultural Adaptation (PF Humans of Golarion): Worth more in our roleplay sessions than the mechanical +2 it provides. I hear "You're not from around here" a lot.
Combined Talent (Complete Mage): For all those skill checks one player can ace but everyone needs to succeed.
Immediate Assistance (Complete Mage): A cheap reroll for skills.
Play Instrument (PF UM): Thematic flavor in case other instruments are needed.

Level 2:
Allegro (Ultimate Magic): We use 3.5 Haste, so free haste during a song is great, and Archaeologist's Luck counts as bard song for this purpose.
Alter Self (PF CRB): Mostly for disguise shenanigans, see Create Fetch.
Dimension Leap (Magic of Eberron): A cheap teleport that doesn't require line of sight to the destination.
Sonorous Hum (Spell Compendium): handles the concentration for higher-level spells.

Level 3:
Alter Fortune (PHB II): Allows reroll of any dice roll. Has an XP cost but we ignore those. Ergoe, priceless.
Arcane Concordance (PF APG): The only way my character gets metamagic on his spells... free to boot!
Create Fetch (Complete Scoundrel): Combine with Alter Self and a hat of disguise, and you can mentally command a real physical humanoid with any appearance you want. I should have thrown Ventriloquism into the mix as well.
Jester's Jaunt (PF APG): Tap the bruiser and teleport them to their opponent. Have fun full-attacking the first round!

Level 4:
Celerity (PHB II): Time Stop shenanigans.
Orb of Force (Spell Compendium): My one "This guy needs damaged RIGHT NOW" spell.
Ruin Delver's Fortune (Spell Compendium): Immediate CHA to any save or 4d8+CHA HP right before an attack.
Voice of the Dragon (Spell Compendium): Social-skill swiss army knife: +10 to Bluff/Diplomacy/Intimidate and one Suggestion.

Level 5:
Bard's Escape (PF APG): Tried a few "teleport the party into perfect position in the first round" spells, and this was the most versatile.
Mislead (PF CRB): Sublime Chords get 4th and 5th spells on the same level, so why get Greater Invisibility when you can get GI+Major Image in one spell?
Telekinesis (PF CRB): One of my previously listed highly-versatile spells.
Undying Vigor of Dragonlords (Dragon Magic): My "this druid magic isn't cutting it" healing spell: 5d6 + 1d6 per additional spell level sacrificed.

Level 6:
Brilliant Inspiration (PF APG): Target rerolls ALL d20 ROLLS, taking the better, until they get a natural 20. My party will love me.
Gemjump (Spell Compendium): The most versatile "teleport my party back to base, or the entrance of this dungeon, or to the throne room now that someone's familiar has thrown this gem in there" spell I found.
Heaven's Trumpet (Book of Exalted Deeds): Paralyzes foes in 120 feet for 1d4 rounds. My big AoE save-or-lose spell.
Hindsight (Spell Compendium): Mostly picked for thematic effect, though the high detail provided by looking back a short amount of time may prove tactically advantageous.

Level 7:
Arcane Spellsurge (Dragon Magic): Reduces all arcane spell casting time. This makes standard-actions arcane spells a swift action. Since you get one swift action per round, normally this doesn't let you cast more spells per round... but I've got Druid spells too, which are unaffected.
Energy Absorption (Complete Mage): A versatile energy reduction spell that provides 10 points until you choose to fully absorb one attack and heal for half.
Limited Wish (PF CRB): For when I need that one perfect spell. Or a Raise Dead.
Synostodweomer (Spell Compendium): When someone else absolutely, positively, needs to be healed NOW.

Level 8:
Polymorph Any Object (PF CRB): If you can't think of fun things to do with PAO, you're not being creative enough.
Moment of Prescience (PF CRB): Long-lasting spell that you can discharge at that one perfect moment. Adds CASTER LEVEL to one attack/check/save/AC.
Ghostform (Spell Compendium): A bundle of fun abilities that were very thematically appropriate.

Level 9:
Shapechange (PF CRB): Just too much fun to leave out. Sure, Sphere of Destruction is useful in any fight, but this spell is mostly a nod to my completely absent Wild Shape.
Time Stop (PF CRB): See Celerity.

After a decade of DMing, I'm finally back in a player's seat for a game of Pathfinder. For reference, this campaign allows all 3.5 content (converting as necessary).

Initially, the party was comprised largely of combat-heavy characters; there wasn't really anyone to disable traps, make critical Knowledge checks, or cast any interesting non-combat spells. I decided to cover those roles and build a character that would help the other characters shine at what they do best.

We were starting relatively low-level, so rather than suffer the first few levels of an Arcane Trickster, I took the Bard Archaeologist archetype, which basically swaps bard song for trapfinding, some rogue talents, and eventually evasion.

I'll admit, around level 6, I was looking to expand the character concept into doing something more. I'd been picking spells that let me do interesting and unusual things, especially out of combat: Tongues, Suggestion, Detect Secret Doors, Pilfering Hand, etc. I realized I still wanted to fulfill that niche for the team, but if at all possible, gain a lot more power, versatility, and options to help out in other situations.

The Sublime Chord/Fochlucan Lyricist combo was one which intrigued me, but I never got the chance to play (due to always DMing). As I looked at it, I realize this character was already set up for it. After several hours of planning (mostly involving skill points) and a few chats with the DM to ensure I was on the straight and narrow, I had a full build plan all the way to level 20.

Here's a link to the Google Doc showing the character's progression from 1 to 20. He ends up with level 9 Sublime Chord arcane spells (caster level 19), and level 7 Druid spells (caster level 13). Running Sublime Chord as written (i.e. a separate spell progression), the arcane 1-3 spells are Bard spells with a caster level of 9 (since Lyricist is boosting Sublime Chord, not Bard itself). I've lost a level or two of bardic knowledge and archaeologist's luck progression, and gained 1-7 divine and 7-9 arcane spells. In short, I've fulfilled my goal: I can do everything I used to do plus tons more spells.

...and that's where I'm a bit overwhelmed. I've got three levels of Bard spells which will never have a terribly high caster level. I've got Sublime Chord arcane spells which, for the most part, will be permanent choices. The Druid spells are obviously more flexible and can be optimized day-to-day, so I'm less concerned about them, but I'm still looking up all the interesting combos to be had. (Such as Nereid's Grace; the character has Sleeves of Many Garments, so he never looks like he's wearing armor, thus gaining CHA to AC from this druid spell.)

So, my big question: What are the best spell-selection choices from the Bard and Sor/Wiz lists to serve as kind of a leader/controller (pardon my 4e jargon) and out-of-combat/outside-the-box-thinker specialist to a party of hard-hitting combatants? I'm interested in extremely versatile spells (like Shadow Evocation or Limited Wish), spells with creative in- and out-of-combat applications (Telekinesis or Polymorph Any Object), and defensive spells (since my CON is mediocre). Druid spell guidance, or spells that take advantage of having dual casting, are also appreciated. (I found a spell that reduced all arcane spells to swift casting... since you have one swift action per round, it normally prevents two spells per round, but this character could cast a divine spell in the same round. Sadly, I failed to save the notes I took, so I have to find that spell again.)

Other notes:

• The other characters are a barbarian, a melee-focused druid, a sorcerer, and a fighter/alchemist.
  
• My character concept is roughly described as "singing cowboy hero explorer discovers his shaman heritage." It's come out as equal parts Sherlock Holmes, Indiana Jones, Malcolm Reynolds, and Storm.
  
• The character also has a wind theme (Sylph race and Wings of Air feat chain), but I skipped Air Bloodline from the Dragon Compendium because it'd lock out all Druid earth spells.
  
• The character has a legacy weapon firearm. Barring a feat combo that does something really amazing, I'll probably work my way to Snap Shot, since I'd rather not neglect this part of the character. I know that, with this character, I'll have the ability to cast spells every round, but I'm interested in also using the gun and special ammo to emulate hard-hitting spells as needed.
  
• I can pull spells from any Pathfinder or 3.5 source. The DM is pretty good about offering a sane interpretation of RAW; I can get away with most anything I'd allow at my own table.
  
• That said, I'm more concerned about always being useful than I am about bringing maximum power to every situation. I'm not interested in starting a cheese arms race, since that goes against my original goal of helping the other characters be awesome.

  Thoughts and suggestions?
  

Toymaker: Thanks for the clarification on the "+1 per five levels" AC bonuses. I hadn't noticed that they had different bonus names. In that case, they certainly both take effect. I was more concerned about applying Wis/Cha to defense... that seemed a tougher call to make.

I'm inclined to agree that a traditional ninja1/battledancer1 would get both bonuses. It's just tough because the gestalt rules from Unearthed Arcana change most everything about multiclassing, and they are a bit rough when it comes down to these things.

The call I made was to use the gestalt rules' guideline that a class feature gained by both classes only uses the faster or better progression of one class, as well as the judgement call that the features were the same by virtue of the same ability name and overwhelming similarities in the rule text. The player could then choose which class gave the "better" feature.

I wasn't allowing multiclassing (multiclassing under gestalt gets a little ugly) or prestige classes (same reason), so I wasn't as comfortable about a character with both abilities as I would have been in a normal game.

At any rate, the game must go on. Thanks for the help!

[EDIT: That's Unearthed Arcana, not Urban Arcana. Gotta put down the d20 Modern books.)

So here's a stinker of a question...

I'm running a gestalt D&D campaign. One of my players is looking to set up a ninja/battledancer. (Ninjas are in Complete Adventurer, and BD is of course in the Dragon Compendium.)

Now, the Ninja gets his Wisdom bonus to AC, identical to a monk. The Ninja character explicitly states that its Wisdom bonus to AC does not stack with the monk's Wisdom bonus to AC. It doesn't reference battle dancer at all, of course.

The Battle Dancer has the exact same text, word for word, for its AC Bonus class feature as the monk; however, it adds its Charisma modifier instead of Wisdom. It does not, however, state whether or not it stacks with the monk or ninja class feature of the same name.

My reasoning is that it does not stack. The class features are identically named and identical in rule text; to me, it doesn't matter that they reference different ability scores, in terms of deciding whether or not they stack.

The ninja class explicitly states it doesn't stack, primarily because ninjas can be any alignment, thus multiclass monk/ninjas are possible Battle Dancers must be chaotic, however, and monks must be lawful. (Though, ex-monk rules state that nonlawful monks retain all class abilities.)

I suspect that the intention is that the BD "AC Bonus" feature does not stack with the monk or ninja "AC Bonus" feature. Of course, my situation is even more complicated because I'm running gestalt characters.

A normal barbarian/rogue has its Uncanny Dodge class feature stack. A gestalt barbarian/rogue, however, does not stack its uncanny dodge; it uses the faster rogue progression for the class ability. (This is actually the one example given for gestalt characters regarding this rule.) In this case, I'm inclined to not stack the "AC Bonus" abilities simply because they're nigh-identical class abilities with the same name and rule text.

The alternative is that I'm looking at a level 1 gestalt character with over 18 AC while naked, most of which he retains while flat-footed.

Any thoughts? Would a ninja1/battledancer1 apply both CHA and WIS to AC? What about a gestalt ninja/battledancer 1?