My group is starting Carrion Crown this week. One player (my lovely wife) is considering a fighter/bard build, which would be a departure from her usual choice (rogues). Her concept is to focus on sword & shield fighting, then use the shield as a percussion instrument during bardic performance. She'll be playing a human.
I think it's wise to favour fighter levels early on, then switch to bard once the other characters (monk, alchemist, and witch) catch up. But she's wondering if simply alternating levels (ie. fighter, then bard, then fighter, etc.) would work.
Does anyone have any advice? Suggested feats or traits, good or bad experiences, etc.? Thanks!
Why not simply go straight Arcane Duelist? It nets you more of a combat focus, bards are already proficient in shields and longswords, and it means you don't have to dip another class and dilute the bard class features. Bards are a 3/4 BAB class, so you'll do well enough in a fight.
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Why not simply go straight Arcane Duelist? It nets you more of a combat focus, bards are already proficient in shields and longswords, and it means you don't have to dip another class and dilute the bard class features. Bards are a 3/4 BAB class, so you'll do well enough in a fight.
What is an Arcane Duelist? Do you mean the Duelist prestige class?
As I said, she'd prefer to take fighter levels first, so she can play the tank role in the early levels, before the rest of the party buffs up.
Arcane Duelist is the combat-oriented Bard archetype from the Advanced Players Guide. You get Arcane Strike as a bonus feat, and eventually gain the ability to imbue your weapon with magic, gain some bonus feats, get an Arcane Bond with your weapon, and the ability to cast in medium armor.
Remember that a bard suffers from Arcane Spell Failure in medium or heavy armor, which makes being the 'tank' tricky if you want to use your spells at all.
The Arcane Duelist is quite solid combatant.
If she's mostly thinking fighter/bard for the ability to inspire allies and the like, you also might want to take a look at Cavalier, as it's a full BAB class that gains several useful tactical abilities.
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Remember that a bard suffers from Arcane Spell Failure in medium or heavy armor, which makes being the 'tank' tricky if you want to use your spells at all.
This is (somewhat) mitigated by the fact that Bards can also use shields without incurring ASF. Since a buckler doesn't prevent you from using that hand for casting with somatic components, I would suggest going that route.
Nope, sword & shield. And she isn't interested in combat spells, so much as bardic buffs and such. If there were a spell-free bard variant (like the ranger skirmisher archetype), she'd probably snatch that up.
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Having spells allow for Arcane Strike, so don't call it all off on that.
Look at the archetypes in the APG. I'd recommend Arcane Duelist for the Bard. Also remember that bards don't need to make a musical performance anymore in order to use their "song" (now called "performance") abilities. She could take dancing instead.
Don't forget Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization. Dazzling Display is alos worth looking at--bards have Charisma, and Intimidate is good for that.
If she doesn't care about the bardic spells, then I recommend Cavalier again. If you go Bard/Cavalier instead of Bard/Fighter, you can take the Battle Herald PrC, which gives a bunch of bard-like abilities, while still letting you walk around in heavy armor, full BAB, and martial weapon proficiency. It's a pretty solid choice, providing great buffs to allies as well as a lot of tactical and leadership options.
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Brads do not get enough credit. You can make a light fighter with a bard with out multiclassing. And you don't even need a archtype to do it. Bard spells are not that great at dealing damage. Bard spells do a very good job at buffing and problem solving.
Example of what a level 7 bard can do with spells. The is where bards start buffing them selfs to close to full bab. Yes it takes a bit of time geting here. But when your buffing your self your party is geting the buffs at the same time.
Round 1: Move Action: Inspire Courage +2 to hit, damage Standard Action: Good Hope +2 to hit, damage, saves
Total: +4 to hit, damage +2 all saves
Or
Round 1: Move Action: Inspire Courage +2 to hit, damage Standard Action: Haste (+30ft move or +1 attack) +1 to hit, dodge AC
Total: +3 to hit +2 damage (+1 attack or +30ft move).
Im a big fan of bards. At first I picked it becous it was one of the two core classes I hade not played. After playing one I found out how versatal they can be. Fighter/Caster/Knowlage master all in one class. That can be the party face with out trying very hard.
My best advice if your going to play bard don't multiclass. If you do multicalss 2 rogue is the best way to go. You get the abilit to do traps and evasion.
So, my suggested build, up to level 10.
Assuming a 20 point buy
Str 18
Dex 14
Con 12
Int 10
Wis 8
Cha 14
1st level: Cavalier. Feats: Weapon Focus (Longsword), Practiced Tactician, Outflank (bonus feat).
2nd level: Cavalier:
3rd level: Bard: Arcane Duelist archetype. Feats: Arcane Strike (bonus feat), Precise Strike.
4th level: Bard: Feat: Combat Casting (Bonus feat)
5th level: Bard. Feat: Lingering Performance
6th level: Battle Herald.
7th level: Battle Herald. Feat: Paired Opportunists
8th level: Battle Herald.
9th level: Battle Herald. Feat: Allied Spellcaster
10th level: Battle Herald.
The basic tactic will be to use your standard action for the Tactician ability, granting allies Outflank. Then the move action will be spent on Inspiring Command. Pincer Maneuver is a good choice for an often used Inspiring Command, to further increase the flanking bonuses.
Because of Lingering Performance, you can stop maintaining the performance/inspiring command and allow it to last for two more rounds, allowing you to greatly stretch out the rounds/day of bardic performance. This becomes even better once Inspiring Command becomes a swift action, as you basically only need to spend a swift action every 3rd round on the ability.
The rest of the time, you can be up in melee range with a shield and longsword. Ranks in both Diplomacy and Intimidate are required for Battle Herald, but keep Perform (Oratory) maxed out to take advantage of Versatile Performance, allowing you to use your Perform check in place of Sense Motive.
I am making a Fighter 1/ Bard 7/ Eldritch Knight x for Season 7 and season 3 campaign in Core PFS.
I am looking forward to level 8...lol!