Already read Treantmonk's Guide to Bards: Pathfinder Core Rules in the Guide to the Guides post.
Wondering what you guys suggest as a good Archtype, if any, for a Support Bard (level 5 Human)?
Vanilla bard. Support is in the spells. A lot of the archetypes make you give up Inspire Courage, which is THE support ability.
IMHO.
We have a large party...all the basics covered (cleric, wizard, rogue, fighter); so I'm purely for support.
Low strength (10 or 12) (so I'm not using a Whip to do maneuvers). Low con (12) so I'm not doing melee.
High Charisma (20). Perform (Oratory).
I don't have my laptop right now so I can't print my stat block.
I would like to be a Battlefield controller. Liberating Command, Silence, etc...
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I'd do Songhealer. I mean, you may as well put those wands to good use, right? Even with a cleric, you'll probably be using them anyways.
Besides, you don't lose any staple bard abilities.
Alternatively, you could consider Magician for the increased spell selection, but your melee guys wouldn't be to happy about that.
I would like to be a Battlefield controller. Liberating Command, Silence, etc...
Again, everything you can do through spells, which if you're human, you can pick up more of via the alternative human racial favored class bonus in the APG.
BFC spells, Grease, and glitterdust. Unwitting ally is a good one for helping out your rogue. Heck, bards even have summon monster spells for making more things to help the rogue out.
Bards are skill monkeys. With the Wizard you may not necessarily need two knowledge skill monkeys, but it could be helpful or... supportive. Cleric buffs are sacred, Inspire courage is better than Bless, because it gives to damage as well.
Really, there's no archetype that can make up for the support a vanilla bard gives. There just isn't.
Thanks guys. I'm going with a Vanilla build. If the party was void a Rogue I would had gone the Archeologist route.
Unwitting Ally is a great spell!!
My GM allowed me to take the feat "Unsettling Enchantment" from 3.5.
Gives a -2 to hit and to AC whenever you cast an enchantment spell against an enemy.
No save. If you can affect them with enchantments, you can use it on them.
That and Unwitting Ally allowed me to have a bard that was a pure caster. No matter what, I could always cast Unwitting Ally and apply a -2 to hit and AC to someone :)
Interesting...I'll ask, but really we've only been playing with Core+APG+UM+UC.
Interesting...I'll ask, but really we've only been playing with Core+APG+UM+UC.
It's not a balanced feat, but it does allow for a bard that only casys. Otherwise you will blow through spells, or have to focus on archery.
I tried an only caster bard. Bad idea.
No 3.5 stuff allowed =).
You might consider aiming for battle herald. 1 level behind on inspire courage from the cavalier dip, but your radius goes to 60' when you get into the PrC and you get to add charisma to your rounds/day twice. You have fewer rounds you can use on other performances, but most of your performance rounds probably go into inspire courage anyways.
Oh, Atarlost. Turns out Inspire Courage doesn't have a limit on range, other than "voice distance" and "sight".
Might not even have sight. I was playing a bard for 2 years before I realized that.
It's still not a bad choice. Lose 2 spell levels, but get some more martial abilities. If you end up going that route, I recommend Standard Bearer / Gendarme as the archetype. Doesn't get the useless mount, and you get a bonus feat.
I like the Arcane Duelist personally. Still have Inspire Courage, get Arcane Strike for free (great especially if Archer) at higher lvl you get medium armour. Otherwise its vanilla Bard
It gets heavy armor proficiency/casting, too :) .
The main difference between vanilla bard and the arcane duelist is that the AD loses the skill hurts the skill monkey function the bard has. Bardic knowledge, versatile performance, lore master etc mean the bard may well have the most skill checks to contribute to. On the other hand, bladethirst/mass bladethirst stacks with a weapon's existing enhancements and can be a pretty nasty weapons buff.
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We have a large party...all the basics covered (cleric, wizard, rogue, fighter); so I'm purely for support.
Low strength (10 or 12) (so I'm not using a Whip to do maneuvers). Low con (12) so I'm not doing melee.
High Charisma (20). Perform (Oratory).
I don't have my laptop right now so I can't print my stat block.
I would like to be a Battlefield controller. Liberating Command, Silence, etc...
Unless the wizard is a pure blaster (and therefore has BC covered), you may want to concentrate on buffing "gaps" that the cleric isn't covering.
With an Agile scorpion whip and Piranha Strike, you'll do credible melee damage (assuming you haven't also trashed your DEX).
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I like the Arcane Duelist personally. Still have Inspire Courage, get Arcane Strike for free (great especially if Archer) at higher lvl you get medium armour. Otherwise its vanilla BardIt gets heavy armor proficiency/casting, too :) .
The main difference between vanilla bard and the arcane duelist is that the AD loses the skill hurts the skill monkey function the bard has. Bardic knowledge, versatile performance, lore master etc mean the bard may well have the most skill checks to contribute to. On the other hand, bladethirst/mass bladethirst stacks with a weapon's existing enhancements and can be a pretty nasty weapons buff.
Yeah, the Arcane Duelist losessome skill monkying, in our game it doesn't matter - between a Rogue, Ranger and Wizard and the Bards natural high skill points, everything is covered. Of course, our game has 6 players, if only with 4 then vanilla may be a better choice