It's for a weekend adventure with a bunch of old gaming friends; we've just made the jump to Pathfinder for this year's game.
I know nearly nothing about Pathfinder, only 3.5. I'll have access to the books tomorrow.
The things I can't change: 3rd Level Gnome Bard.
The stats (can be slotted wherever): 18, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10.
Due to the whimsical nature of our reunion games, I plan on making him a burned-out "rockstar" who's been through the fame and fortune, crashed and burned in a whirlwind of booze, drugs, and willing gnome groupies, and has rehabbed and reformed and is on a new path...to ADVENTURE!
All in a sword-n-sorcery setting, of course.
Any suggestions welcome and appreciated.
P.S. I almost forgot - I get to create a "legacy" magic item that is something handed down through family or perhaps a mentor. It can be of significant power. I was thinking a musical instrument.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Gnomes get +2 to charisma and constitution, I believe, -2 to strength
So... provided you don't wanna be tossin' your hips out with them girlies
Str 10 (from 12) Dex 13, Con 13 (11+2), Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 20
Figured if you're burnt out on drugs, you shouldn't have too good of wisdom to start with... In fact, I would put a negative there, but, such is life.
Can't help you for spells, but if you want to be support for your party, Timely inspiration, a first level gives +3 to a failed save, skill check, or attack if it will make them succeed an is an immediate action. That's in the APG.
That's off the top of my head, and I'm making dinner for my family at the moment. I can return later to help more if you like.
Of course, thank you. As I said, I'm a Pathfinder noober.
I'm also trying to figure a good name - thought I'd make a mash of various famous burned out/dead rock stars, ala Sebastian Bach, Freddy Mercury, Kurt Cobain, etc. Gnomeo Void? Jimi Gnomerix?
Billy Gibbons' favorite guitar is called "Pearly Gates." Maybe a magic electric lute?
I'm just spitballin' here.
Okie doke, quick run down.
At third level, your gnome bard will have the following:
4 first level spells known, 6 cantrips known.
are piddly flash spells everyone knows, and you never ever run out of these.
My personal favorite Cantrips are
Prestidigitation - Clean, change the color of things, change the taste and odor of things for an hour, even warm up cool liquids to lukewarm at a rate of a pound per round. Lasts an hour, no need to concentrate, so if you sit around casting this spell your gnome can make a cleric's created water warm enough to take a nice wash as he's doing it, if you like. Or he can make some jerk's wine taste like fecal matter if he's being a poo head. Versatile and fun.
Mage Hand- make stuff under 5 pounds float to you.
and Message- as long as you can see someone and point at them, you can whisper in their ear.
Light is pretty self explanatory, and the staples like Detect Magic and Read Magic.
1st levels that are good.
Timely Inspiration
Grease make the big dumb armored dudes slip when they try to move around.
Hideous laughter the will save to beat with your charisma base is DC 16, that aint nuthin' to laugh at at 3rd level, keeps the opponent laughing and he can take no other action
and finally
Sleep takes out 4hd of creatures, again with a DC 16 save.
You can look up your spells online Here
To learn what other cool things your bard can do go Here. This is where you'll learn about class abilities like Inspire courage, Bardic knowledge, etc to familiarize yourself with them before your game.
Now, for feats, might I recommend
Spell Focus (Enchantment) - This increases the save DC on your enchantment spells, notice that I recommended that you take Hideous Laughter and Sleep? both of those are enchantment spells, your DC for those would go up to 17, which is pretty scary.
If you want to be an awesome rockin' bard, I would sink your other feat into Skill Focus Perform and whatever performance you are going to be focusing on, would give you a +3 bonus. So at third level, if you sank a rank in to Perform Strings every level, that gives you the following
3 (ranks) + 5 (cha mod) + 3(trained class skill) +3 (Skill focus) = +14 to perform. That means that even if you roll a 1 on your check, you are still performing exceptionally well. If you get your special magic item to be an instrument that gives you a bonus to perform, even better, you'll be the awesomeest rocking gnome bard of level 3 ever!
Assuming you want to play social. But lets face it, you're a tiny, tiny gnome bard. I am pretty sure your group isn't expecting you to open up a can of whoop posterior right away. You, however, can rock their socks with some pretty awesome performances, and disable foes like no other, if you play smart.
Aaaargh. The board ate my first post. I'll try to be brief this time...
Some of the big names on this board reccomend pouring your feats not into your performance but into your combat power. This'll help you pull your weight in a straight up fight when you arent casting spells. You'll have to decide if you watn to fight with a melee weapon or ranged... In the first case I'd spread your stats like so:
16 (18) STR, 12 DEX, 14 (12) CON, 11 INT, 10 WIS, 16 CHA (14)
With 16 STR and 16 CHA you'll be a potent fighter and caster. For feats I'd take arcane strike and power attack, for a constant boost to damage. At this level with a small longsword (weilded in two hands) you'd deal something like this:
+5 to hit, 1d6+8 to damage. (before inspire courage)
Very solid. If you prefer range, swap that STR and DEX score and take deadly aim over power attack.
As Hu5stru says, Spell Focus is a very solid feat. I'd reccomend saving it until later, though. If you want to be able to swing a weapon in combat the above feats are almost mandatory. Perhaps take it at 5th level? I disagree on the Skill Focus, however, as a high perform bonus really doesnt change much in the scheme of things... Besides, you'll be rocking out better than any of your party members already.
Now... as for this item... How much free reign do you have? Does it have to be something printed in the books or can you make up a bonus yourself? If the latter case, I'd heartily reccomend a bonus to your inspire courage, or failing that a boost to your Spell DCs. This is a question for your GM though...
Now, in a fight at this level, you're going to operate something like this:
If you have a surprise round you can drop a AoE spell early, something like grease or sleep is good... Failing that, you'll want to drop either a spell or inspire courage in the first round before either casting another spell or leaping into the fray.
When you level up a bit, your bardic performance will become a move action, and you'll be able to inspire and cast in the same round, which is amazing.
Also I'd like to mention that you have exquisite taste. You're basically playing my dream character, so far my GM hasnt run a game that would allow it... :(
Oh uh, I thought I should mention. There've been a few changes in power attack and bardic music since 3.5...
Power attack is a flat bonus and always gives a two-for-one return on to-hit>damage... Or three-for-one if you weild a weapon in two hands. It's now a very viable option for almost every class.
Bardic Performance now longer requires you actually perform, therefore you dont have to have your guitar out in combat (so a lot less wasted actions drawing and dropping your beloved axe). It also takes a free action to maintain it no matter what, so you only need to burn a single action to activate it. Really good stuff.
If theres any other questions, though. Fire away. We're all happy to help.
Great options. I may be forced to go with combat power (our group is shaping up to be a little light on melee) but that wouldn't fit my character concept at all! What to do...
I'm going with an "electric" Sitar that I call "Golden Hills" as my magic item; we'll see if the GM lets me bonus Inspire Courage.
Imagine Billy Gibbons, but shorter. Wearing cheap sungoggles.
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As Twigs says, a lot of people like to put in plenty of combat stats, but you can also just spam Daze, which is I believe a cantrip. It does have a 4HD limit, which I'd forgotten, but you can rotate it around each of the lower-level targets until you gain another level or two.
Also an option is summoning: they work great with inspire courage, and your buddies will always like the easy flanks. The build would be different to get Augment Summoning and Superior Summoning, but they're options again.
If you wanted a specifically melee bard, you could also go with the Dervish Dancer archetype in Ultimate Combat (not on the SRD yet, though) and the Dervish Dance feat from the campaign setting book. As long as you're using a scimitar, your dex is your str for both attack and damage.
Don't neglect Versatile Performance, either- every bonus you put into your chosen Perform skill, Focus or traits, what have you.. they get added to new abilities. A Wind insterument would give Diplomacy and Handle Animal, for instance. Makes your one Skill Focus count for three abilities at once!
Huh. For some reason I've always pictured ZZ top as Dwarves. Go figure.
It depends what you want out of your character, or rather... when you want to perform. Whether this is the byproduct of a very cruel GM or otherwise, my bards tend to do most of their performing on stage, in the taverns, in camp and on the road. They only carry their instrument when it's practical, and otherwise are fairly rogue-like in combat and style, possibly whistling last nights song to themselves as they go about their business.
When it's time to get down to business, they set down their guitar and get ready to kick some ass.
If it's the longsword that's the problem, consider breaking kneecaps with a heavy mace as an alternative, or just shanking people with a dagger. Again, it's a matter of taste.
If you'd rather be rocking out right through combat, I'd opt for a straight caster, or perhaps see if you can make your magic sitar a weapon in its own right... But keep in mind you probably wont be able to hold your own in melee. Things will pick up a lot next level however, with spells like glitterdust and pyrotechnics to blind foes, and some of your more powerful buffs. (Note that inspire courage isnt a morale bonus anymore, so it stacks with Heroism at 2nd level and Good Hope at 3rd... The latter of which is amazing in that it effects the entire party.
And if we're going to mention archetypes (think of them as sets of alternate class features), the Arcane Duelist from the APG is in the SRD (as is the Dervish Dancer as of a couple of days ago). This'll grant you Arcane Strike as a bonus feat, along with another slew of bonus feats as you level up, but keep in mind you lose both bardic knowledge and versatile performance if you take them.
But I'm beginning to suspect I'm rambling. Time to cut this short. :P
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You should check out all the bard archetypes that are available in the APG, UM, and UC.
In Ultimate Magic, there is a "celebrity" archetype that would go well with the flavor you are looking for. The ultimate magic content is available on the PRD. Another archetype I love, from the AG, is the court bard, that uses debuffs instead of the average inspire cougage.
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I think it is important that the bard can pull his own in combat, not only be a support bot. A good strength gives you that. So does Power Attack. However I think the most important feat at low levels might be Lingering Performance. If you activate Inspire Courage, you can stop maintaining it, but it runs for 2 extra rounds. Thus instead of having something like 11 or 12 rounds of bardic music (14 or 15 if you use the bard favored class option from APG), you can have the effect of inspire courage for 30+ rounds. Of course you'll need to spend a standard action to use it again every 3 rounds, but it's still better than running out of bardic performances in your second fight of the day.
I really don't think that power attack would be a great option, the bard having just a medium BAB...if you want to go for a bard that does some dicent damage, Arcane Strike would be, in my oppinion, a better option. It is not as strong, but it won't affect your already meager chances yo hit.
About the lingering performance, I completely agree, it's a realy god option.
This is all great. Like "Tony the Tiger" great.
So I'm thinking I'll try a balanced melee/caster Bard, taking Power Attack and Spell Focus (Enchantment) BUT....the key is my legacy magic item:
.
.
"Golden Hills" the Electric Sitar
Masterwork Axe (get it?)
Grants Lingering Performance feat
??? insert power here that involves my Axe going "to 11" (get it? GET IT?! Aw, c'mon...)
That way I can have my cake and eat it too. Our GM this year likes cool stuff, so I can probably convince him.
You guys like the feats, or should I swap in Arcane Strike?
Our group has turned out very melee light. Glad I found this board.