Please indulge me.
I've come up with a fantastic character, a Dervish Dancer wielding a scimitar who's almost as viable as a Fighter!
I've painstakingly taken hours in Herolab, trawling through the books and SRD to optimize him as carefully as I can.
I've wrestled with Weapon Finesse, eventually throwing it out for a strength build. I've considered Exotic Weapon proficiency on an already feat starved class.
So, I have the character, he's a level 4 Dervish Dancer and can keep up as a striker for two of three fights a day. I'm happy with him, it all fits.
However, I keep looking at him and thinking, what is this guy offering that a Fighter or a Rogue or a Ranger isn't?
Why play a bard? There are a few nice spells dotted around the list, but most is extremely situational and not as good as a sorcerer.
Can anyone please shed some light on what I'm missing? What does a bard bring to the table that a Fighter or Sorcerer doesn't?
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A bard wins non-combat encounters (bluff, diplomacy, intimidate, fascinate, suggestion.)
A bard always knows a little bit about all subjects, and can often give the party the information it needs to achieve its goals (Bardic knowledge.)
A bard can make skill checks for many skills it has not invested many points with by substituting the value of its best skills. (Versatile performance)
One of the main ways you are gaining combat effectiveness and competing with the fighter, also makes the fighter better at the same time (Inspire courage).
A bard makes the other characters in the party better at their jobs (Inspire competence.)
A bard can use a renewable resource (Bardic Performance) to prevent or remove spell effects on the party (Countersong, distraction)
A bard gets some very powerful battlefield control spells at lower levels than other casters.
A bard can heal.
A bard can learn to play the Nine String Balliset, and call himself Gurney Halleck.
The problem with the Dervish Dancer bard is his inspire courage exc can only affect himself. Any other bard the inspire courage on the group can be huge.
Depending on the concept of the character a dervish dancer / Rogue can be very interesting. Vanish with a rogue is just fun. Using your Preform dance for you Acrobatics check...fun. I got one stated and in my pocket for the Skull and Shackles AP when it come out.
In my opinion if you want to build a maximized character choose a different class, if you want to have FUN play a bard (or any other class) with a interesting back story.
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+1 on all that above.
Plus, chicks dig musicians.
Has anyone played a Dervish Dancer?
Am I being selfish choosing a class that can't inspire courage in his team mates?
Not selfish, but you should be aware that it is a choice that is going to be a bit weaker than a regular Bard, and not set up for many traditional "Bard" duties. Like many Paizo archetypes, it is purposefully a bit weaker than the baseline class. Self-only performance is a huge loss, as are the removal of Bardic Knowledge and the weakened Versatile Performance. You'll still have all your buffing spells, so you can still help out the party a bit. Fleet is okay, and your level 12 ability rocks. Just don't expect to be an offensive caster or combat monster, or that the experience will bear resemblance to playing a traditional bard.
Following Mort:
Paizo has crafted Pathfinder so that players have a lot of flexibility in crafting their characters but the cost is that the further you go from the 'iconic' role of the class the less effective you tend to be. The Dervish Dancer build you suggested sounds fun and playable but after all that optimization work it strikes me as somewhat mechanically weaker than an equivalent fighter.
Probably bard is not the class you're wanting to play. I ended up with my character the same way (started off building a bard, wanted more combat focus, rebuilt, rebuilt, rebuilt, hey I've got a fighter!).
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You made a character that can perform in combat as a fighter, but can also cast spells and has 3x the skills, and you're asking why play one?
Some really great advice here thanks.
The DD gains a pretty cool ability @ 12th. 'Dance of Fury'
Allowing him to combine a full attack with a move action. Moving around the battlefield taking his attacks every 5ft.
Now this is a pretty sweet ability, and one that really sets the DD apart as a class.
My question is, how does Acrobatics stack with this?
I can't find the rules for this, is moving through a threatened square a free action with Acrobatics? Or is it a standard action?
i.e. Can I move around with an acrobatics check to negate AoO's while taking the attacks?
Skills, buffs, and versatility.
Action
None. An Acrobatics check is made as part of another action or as a reaction to a situation.
There is no separate action required for Acrobatics. It is just part of your normal movement, but choosing to move in this fashion reduces speed by 1/2. No more complicated that that. You can avoid AoO while using Dance of Fury with no issues.
Bards are a class you play to support other players, to have flexibility, and to maybe not be the guy who rolls the highest numbers, but you help them get there.
They're party-oriented.
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viable?
striker?
optimise?
offering?
What does any of this stuff mean?
Play a bard because you enjoy the experience of playing a character with those options and those limitations.
Or, why not start with the character you want to play and then find the class that fits?
So with all the brilliant replies I thought I'd post the build and let people chip in again with their expertise.
Quellan Taramede
(6)Bard (Dervish Dancer) of Sarenrae
STR 19 (4th,8th)
DEX 16
Con 14
Int 8
Wis 8
Cha 14
Traits:
Flame of the Dawnflower (+2 Fire dmg on crit)
Undecided ??? Maybe society bard trait for +3 rounds of battle dance
Feats:
1 - DD - Weapon Focus Scimitar / Human - Power Attack
2 - DD -
3 - DD - Furious Focus
4 - DD
5 - DD - Extra Performance
6 - DD
7 - DD - Arcane Strike
8 - DD
Quellan uses a Scimitar two handed using his 'Battle Dance' to grant himself haste and a +3 to hit and damage.
He moves at 45 feet while dancing and he gets improved critical on his scimitar.
The idea is to carry on to 12th as bard and then switch to Paladin for 4 levels to gain better saves and an extra smite per day as vengeance oath arhcetype.
The idea is he'll then gain another 6 levels of bard to gain his battle fury ability
He will then pick up skill focus Performance Dance to increase his acrobatics even more.
There is little reason to play a bard if your campaign consists entirely of combat encounters, one after the other. (Although if you have a large party, inspire courage + heroism will become one of the most powerful tricks you can get...)
A lot of classes become suddenly more interesting and viable in RP-heavy campaigns. In the kind of campaign where an entire evening might pass without a single combat encounter, the bard is like the king of all classes. (Spellsong! Spellsong, gawdammit!)
Slight issue. I believe that the Battle Dances are an "or" situation, not "and." You have to pick Inspire Courage OR Rain of Blows OR Razor's Kiss, not all three at once.
Battle Fury is a level 20 ability, so if you take 4 levels of Paladin you won't be able to get it without going into mythic/epic levels. Also, taking 6 extra levels of Bard after 12 will only get you to level 18, not high enough for Battle Fury.
Also, since you are worshipping Sarenrae anyway, have you considered Dawnflower Dervish? Similar flavor, but Inspire Courage is twice as effective and you get Dervish Dance for free. You don't get the special Battle Dances, which isn't that painful since their individual abilities aren't that great. You do lose Dance of Fury and Fleet, which might be a dealbreaker, but overall I think the Dawnflower gives up less and is a bit more powerful. Just an option to consider.
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I'd suggest the Dawnflower Dervish instead of the Dervish Dancer.
You then can almost dump your STR (not quite, carrying capacity matters, but you can definitely afford a 10) since your damage with the scimitar
is based on DEX.
A one level dip into Urban Barbarian is then very cost effective as Controlled Rage allows you to pump your Dex.
You're slightly better off starting with L1 Urban Barbarian and then going Dawnflower Dervish (more hit points) but its no big deal.
You end up with a character who is quite competitive in combat, at least when raging and dancing. But you also have lots of skills, some bardic abilities, and some spells. Depending on how much you spend on Cha and Feats you either have useful debuff/combat spells or you just stick to the (fairly decent) buff spells.
And grab a wand of Reduce Person (its very effective for this build).
I'm playing the above in PFS. She is a lot of fun to play with all her skills, she has lots of personality, and she is quite versatile. While not doing the raw damage of a barbarian she certainly contributes a lot to combat. Especially in PFS her versatility is huge. She can be the front line figher, the archer, the healer (wand of CLW) or even the mage as required.
Thanks guys,
I realise I meant Dance of Fury not Battle Fury in the earlier post.
I'll take a look at the Dawnflower Dervish now.
Mort I can't find this Dawnflower Dervish you speak of? The only one I can find is a Fighter archetype below.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/fighter/archetypes/paizo---fig hter-archetypes/dawnflower-dervish
Found it.
How many Dawnflower Dervishes do Paizo need!
It seems what I want may be the Arcane Duellist..
Can anyone please shed some light on what I'm missing? What does a bard bring to the table that a Fighter or Sorcerer doesn't?
In your example above, he can buff the heck out of himself, while the fighter cannot and the sorcerer wouldn't want to.
In general, bards are the best 5th wheel class. If you have a standard 4-character party, a fifth character to take is bard. If any of them fail, you can step in to fill their shoes or help them do better:
You have almost as many skills as the rogue (he's incapacitated, you can sneak around).
You can fight a little, just like the fighter (fighter down, you can fight until he is back on his feet).
You can heal, just like the cleric (cleric gets hurt, you can cast the healing spell on the healer).
You can cast spells like the wizard.
On top of that, you are the buffermeister, the face of the party, the cheer-squad and the know-it-all.
Can anyone please shed some light on what I'm missing? What does a bard bring to the table that a Fighter or Sorcerer doesn't?In your example above, he can buff the heck out of himself, while the fighter cannot and the sorcerer wouldn't want to.
In general, bards are the best 5th wheel class. If you have a standard 4-character party, a fifth character to take is bard. If any of them fail, you can step in to fill their shoes or help them do better:
You have almost as many skills as the rogue (he's incapacitated, you can sneak around).
You can fight a little, just like the fighter (fighter down, you can fight until he is back on his feet).
You can heal, just like the cleric (cleric gets hurt, you can cast the healing spell on the healer).
You can cast spells like the wizard.On top of that, you are the buffermeister, the face of the party, the cheer-squad and the know-it-all.
The bard can also simply take the rogue spot in a four-person party. (To the extent that party composition is even that important in PF.) The bard is much better than the rogue at everything but trapfinding, and traps aren't so dangerous that you need someone who's worse at everything but handling traps unless your DM really goes crazy with them. The bard can also take the cleric role perfectly well. (There are things that the cleric is substantially better at, but the bard compensates in other ways, primarily in the skills department.)
...
In your example above, he can buff the heck out of himself, while the fighter cannot and the sorcerer wouldn't want to.In general, bards are the best 5th wheel class. If you have a standard 4-character party, a fifth character to take is bard. If any of them fail, you can step in to fill their shoes or help them do better:
...
I find this to be untrue and also kind of discrediting the capabilities of a bard. I have played and seen played bards as core members of a party. Particularly the pathfinder variant has been considerably boosted compared to the D&D 3.5 variant, so that this "5th wheel" analogy stemming from 3.5 times is very wrong IMO.
Bards are generalists, and you can turn them into specialists. In some areas (such as group buffing) they will shine like no other class, others they will fill acceptably.
So what I want to say here is: A bard is a very valuable member of a party, regardless of its size. In fact, I found it to be very valuable if the party is small, since the bard can take over many different roles and duties :-)
If the following statement is true:
I want to play a character who is mobile, whirls around with a scimitar and does amazing amounts of damage. I do not care much about skills or spellcasting, I just want to maximize my ability to hurt things in melee.
Then play a fighter specializing in scimitar. Maybe take the Mobile Fighter archetype and the Fleet feats to improve the character's mobility.
If, instead, the following statement is true:
I want to play a mobile character who can sometimes do some pretty awesome things with a scimitar. BUT I also want to be able to cast spells, support the party, and have a decent amount of skill points, and I am willing to sacrifice being awesome in melee ALL the time to be able to get these other things.
Then play a Dervish Dancer bard. (or other Bard)
And if THIS following statement is true:
I want to whirl around with a scimitar really well, be mobile, be really skilled, but I don't care as much about spells (but maybe have SOME spells), and am willing to give up the possibility of combat feats for skillmonkeying
Then play a ranger. Not THAT ranger, but a ranger.
I find this to be untrue and also kind of discrediting the capabilities of a bard. I have played and seen played bards as core members of a party. Particularly the pathfinder variant has been considerably boosted compared to the D&D 3.5 variant, so that this "5th wheel" analogy stemming from 3.5 times is very wrong IMO.
You are correct on every count but one: it's NOT untrue that bards make good 5th wheels, because they do. I don't deny that they can take on one of those specialist roles - quite the contrary, that's WHY they make such good 5th wheels.
Well, looking at both the Dervish Dancer and Dawnflower Dervish archetypes, I have to day that my comparison would be this:
Dawnflower Dervish: gives up very few abilities (Bardic Knowledge, Loremaster, Dirge of Doom), but gains double BP bonuses (self only) and the Dirvish Dance Feat (Dex to Atk ans Dmg), both of which are very useful in combat.
Dervish Dancer: gives up a large # of abilites (above, plus Versatile Performance, Suggestion, Soothing Performance, Frightening Tune, Mass Suggestion, and Deadly Performance), and gains a number of (non-stacking) performances which provide the benefits of Haste (slightly improved version)/Imp. Critical/+6 AC & Ref/enhanced land speed (trumped by Haste).
he also gains the ability to substitute the Dance skill for Acrobatics, to make a full attack while moving (provoking AOOs), and to make a slightly improved Whirlwind attack (as per the feat, but more opponents).
All said, I favor Dawnflower Dervish, as you will get better bonuses from Inspire Courage (which will only affect you either way), you don't have as many BPs that are actually useful in combat (or which can be obtained with a spell or feat), but which can't be stacked (save for with the spell Virtuoso Performance), and you actually get a feat (not just a BP that acts like one) for "free" which you can always use (instead of having to activate, at the cost of something else.
Furthermore, I have come to love Bards. I am currently playing an Arcane Duelist who is a master party buffer and (with Arcane Strike, a belt of strength, a +1 weapon with Weapon Focus, and a couple of spells), gets a +35 atk and +30 dmg at lvl 15 (I can post all buffs if you'd like). Stack that with TWF and the fact that nearly all my buffing spells help the party, and you've got a monster beloved by all!
So, why wouldn't you want to play a Bard again? Unless you just really like a ton of feats or a particular archetype from another class, Bards can make excellent melee characters.
Well, looking at both the Dervish Dancer and Dawnflower Dervish archetypes, I have to day that my comparison would be this:
Dawnflower Dervish: gives up very few abilities (Bardic Knowledge, Loremaster, Dirge of Doom), but gains double BP bonuses (self only) and the Dirvish Dance Feat (Dex to Atk ans Dmg), both of which are very useful in combat.
Dervish Dancer: gives up a large # of abilites (above, plus Versatile Performance, Suggestion, Soothing Performance, Frightening Tune, Mass Suggestion, and Deadly Performance), and gains a number of (non-stacking) performances which provide the benefits of Haste (slightly improved version)/Imp. Critical/+6 AC & Ref/enhanced land speed (trumped by Haste).
he also gains the ability to substitute the Dance skill for Acrobatics, to make a full attack while moving (provoking AOOs), and to make a slightly improved Whirlwind attack (as per the feat, but more opponents).All said, I favor Dawnflower Dervish, as you will get better bonuses from Inspire Courage (which will only affect you either way), you don't have as many BPs that are actually useful in combat (or which can be obtained with a spell or feat), but which can't be stacked (save for with the spell Virtuoso Performance), and you actually get a feat (not just a BP that acts like one) for "free" which you can always use (instead of having to activate, at the cost of something else.
Furthermore, I have come to love Bards. I am currently playing an Arcane Duelist who is a master party buffer and (with Arcane Strike, a belt of strength, a +1 weapon with Weapon Focus, and a couple of spells), gets a +35 atk and +30 dmg at lvl 15 (I can post all buffs if you'd like). Stack that with TWF and the fact that nearly all my buffing spells help the party, and you've got a monster beloved by all!
So, why wouldn't you want to play a Bard again? Unless you just really like a ton of feats or a particular archetype from another class, Bards can make excellent melee characters.
What spells do you use? I'm interested in making a bard and I'd like to know what you use.
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My spell list at 15th lvl looked like this:
0th: Resistance*, Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Mage Hand, Mending, Prestidigitation
-1st: Magic Aura*, Feather Fall, Grease, Hideous Laughter, Liberating Command, Silent Image
-2nd: Allegro*, Versatile Weapon*, Darkness, Invisibility, Pyrotechnics, Silence
-3rd: Arcane Concordance*, Blink*, Good Hope*, Confusion, Slow
-4th: Greater Invisibility**, Freedom of Movement*, Echolocation*, Dimension Door
-5th: Mislead**, Cloak of Dreams*, Shadowbard
I gave up a 4th lvl spell to get the Masterpiece of the 4 Winds (Control Weather 10min/lvl), which I mainly used defensively (Windstorm winds prevent normal ranged attacks, and I was using chain kukri by DM approval).
The asterisks indicate which spells I used to buff for fights, though I would use Mislead preferentially to Greater Invisibility and stay near my image using Bluff to make them think I was still attacking from the same positon while moving randomly relative to the illusion (bonus miss chance to the unwise ;} ).
I also had an amulet which allowed me to use Versatile Performance for 10rnds per day and wands of Divine Power, Bull's Strength, and Spell Immunity (Dispel Magic and various divinations so I could maintain Invisibility).
My bonuses fell out like this:
Atk: +11 BAB, +9 Str (18 Str, +6 belt, +4 Bull's Strength), +1 Weapon Focus, +3 Competence (Inspire Courage), +2 Morale (Good Hope), +1 Allegro (essentially Haste), +4 enhacement (Versatile Weapon, overrode my +1 weapon enhancement, but gave the ability to bypass most other DRs), +2 Invisibility, +5 Luck (Divine Power), -2 TWF
Total Atk bonus: +36/+36/+36/+31/+26
Dmg: 1d6 kukri (Strongarm Bracers and a sizing weapon), +9 Str (see above), +1 Dirty Fighting, +4 Arcane Strike, +3 Competence (Inspire Courage), +4 enhancement (Versatile Weapon), +2 morale (Good Hope), +5 luck (Divine Power), +1d6 Sonic (Discordant Voice), +1d6 untyped (Savage Display), +Shocking Burst (+1d6 electric, +1d10 on a crit, 2 points of Bladethirst), +1 bleed (2 points of Bladethirst, stacking)
Total Dmg: 4d6, +28, +1 Bleed, +1d10 on crit
-Note that I used my amulet of Versatile Performance or the spell Shadowbard to stack Inspire Courage and Bladethirst.
The bonuses I gave to my allies were:
Discordant Voice: +1d6 Sonic dmg
Competence: +3 atk/dmg
Morale: +2 atk/dmg, +3 saves
Allegro: +1 atk/dmg, +1 AC/Ref, +30 ft movement, extra attack when making a full attack
Arcane Concordance: +1 DC to all spells, Empower all spells (we had a lot of spell-based dmg dealers, I just wasn't one of them)
Total ally bonuses: +6 atk/dmg, +1AC, +3 Fort/Will, +4 Ref, +1d6 sonic dmg, +1 DCs, the extra attacks, greater mobility, and free benefit of the Empower Spell feat
I can easily see this character having even better atk/dmg potential as a Dawnflower Dervish at the small penalty of fewer bonuses to his allies.
Edit: I also got the +1 AC from Allegro, as well as the 20% miss chance from Blink and 50% miss chance from Greater Invisibility/Mislead (60% total), and my mobile tactics with Mislead (moving randomly in relation to my perceived image in 5-ft steps) actually increased my miss chance against most creatures with a successful Bluff check on each attack I made or recieved (~85% miss chance when grounded, ~95% miss chance when flying with Cloak of Flying, before Blink or Invisibility).
Also note that I was using Eternal Wands form the Magic Item Compendium for the 2/day uses and higher caster lvls, and that our group has house ruled in 4th lvl eternal wands (Divine Power) as CL 16 items that cost the same as a regular 4th lvl wand (eternal wands usually cost a touch less than their normal equivalent).
@master_crafter: I can see two problems with your calculations: First, bull's strength and a +6 strength belt don't stack with each other, as they are both enhancement bonuses. Second, you mentioned "extra attacks", which I assume you mean that you are getting one extra attack from Allegro, and one extra attack from Divine Power. Unfortunately, you only get one extra attack, because the description of Divine Power specifically says that the extra attack does not stack with the extra attack from haste or similar effects, or with weapons with the speed quality.
I find this to be untrue and also kind of discrediting the capabilities of a bard. I have played and seen played bards as core members of a party. Particularly the pathfinder variant has been considerably boosted compared to the D&D 3.5 variant, so that this "5th wheel" analogy stemming from 3.5 times is very wrong IMO.You are correct on every count but one: it's NOT untrue that bards make good 5th wheels, because they do. I don't deny that they can take on one of those specialist roles - quite the contrary, that's WHY they make such good 5th wheels.
This.
Back during the beta I said, "A bard can't be a good fifth choice until he's a good first through fourth choice. Otherwise you are just better off with another of choice 1~4."
I feel that Paizo succeeded in making the bard a good choice no matter how many people are in the party (actually I kind of take that back -- if you have more than 5 people in the party the buffs provided by the bard simply increase in value beyond the point of ridiculousness).
I like those spells Master Crafter. I'll definitely take them into account.
@master_crafter: I can see two problems with your calculations: First, bull's strength and a +6 strength belt don't stack with each other, as they are both enhancement bonuses. Second, you mentioned "extra attacks", which I assume you mean that you are getting one extra attack from Allegro, and one extra attack from Divine Power. Unfortunately, you only get one extra attack, because the description of Divine Power specifically says that the extra attack does not stack with the extra attack from haste or similar effects, or with weapons with the speed quality.
Our group was using the fact that it is only treated as a temporary bonus for the 1st 24 hrs, after which we houseruled that it became an inherent bonus and would stack, but even so, I'll take the -2 atk/dmg and be happy if it was ruled otherwise. Besides, I could always get a wand of Enlarge Person.
As for the extra attacks, one was from allegro, but the other was from TWF (note the -2 penalty in the list of attack modifiers from TWF).
Good eye though. :)
@master_crafter: I can see two problems with your calculations: First, bull's strength and a +6 strength belt don't stack with each other, as they are both enhancement bonuses. Second, you mentioned "extra attacks", which I assume you mean that you are getting one extra attack from Allegro, and one extra attack from Divine Power. Unfortunately, you only get one extra attack, because the description of Divine Power specifically says that the extra attack does not stack with the extra attack from haste or similar effects, or with weapons with the speed quality.Our group was using the fact that it is only treated as a temporary bonus for the 1st 24 hrs, after which we houseruled that it became an inherent bonus and would stack, but even so, I'll take the -2 atk/dmg and be happy if it was ruled otherwise. Besides, I could always get a wand of Enlarge Person.
As for the extra attacks, one was from allegro, but the other was from TWF (note the -2 penalty in the list of attack modifiers from TWF).
Good eye though. :)
Well, you've certainly got a monstrous bard there, with or without the +2/+2, and you have a little bit of GM love on some house rules, but just to make it a little more convenient. I could see essentially the same build working out in pathfinder society. I do have to assume that your maximum bonuses don't line up for the majority of combats, as you have a pretty lengthy buffing routine which is also somewhat dependent on doing things in the correct order, but even cutting out 2 or 3 buffs, you still have some serious effectiveness, and when you do get the chance to "alpha strike", it must be glorious.
Yes, yes it is. I once did 317 dmg in a round with 4 hits, 2 of which were crits, one for triple (love for the critical hit deck).
In our games, though, we tend to have some forewarning of a battle and most of my buffs last 1 min/lvl or 10 min/lvl, so getting all of them up isn't normally too difficult, especially if the bad guy is explaining his master plan. But to be fair, this character was second only to the wizard in regards to how weak he was until he hit 10th lvl, after which he skyrocketed to stardom.
As for DM love, if the eternal wands hadn't been house ruled, I'd have just taken a staff with those spells. It would have cost a little more than double, but the benefits would have scaled better too. And I could have just as easily been using a chain whip or dagger whip, both of which only require whip proficiency to use if memory serves, or have switched out another feat for whip mastery. After all, my weapon was hardly where my damage was coming from. :)
I'm also curious on how you can get Divine Power as it is a Cleric only spell with a Range of Personal, and wouldn't Versatile Weapon only be +3 at 15th (+1 per 4 levels, max +5)?
Also agree with Mabven in that you've made a fun character ... and I'm guessing the GM tries to NOT give you the time to prep if possible.
I assume he is using Use Magic Device skill for the wand of Divine Power, and it is possible he is using an item (ioun stone) or feat to increase his caster level on Versatile Weapon.
Why play a bard?
You're allowed to sing at the table.
Oh sorry missed the last lines about a wand .. I don't own a MIC to look it up, but memory had me thinking the eternal wands were limited to level 3 spells, Divine Power being level 4? I suppose as a GM, I'm just a tad more magic stingy than his GM ;) ... well, more than just a tad.
Why play a bard?
You're allowed to sing at the table.
Best answer so far!
Role play, Role play, Role play!
Furthermore, I have come to love Bards. I am currently playing an Arcane Duelist who is a master party buffer and (with Arcane Strike, a belt of strength, a +1 weapon with Weapon Focus, and a couple of spells), gets a +35 atk and +30 dmg at lvl 15 (I can post all buffs if you'd like). Stack that with TWF and the fact that nearly all my buffing spells help the party, and you've got a monster beloved by all!
So, why wouldn't you want to play a Bard again? Unless you just really like a ton of feats or a particular archetype from another class, Bards can make excellent melee characters.
I playd a Arcane Duelist too. A Great class.
But if the OP's attitude is: "There are a few nice spells dotted around the list, but most is extremely situational" perhaps Bard is not for him.
When you find spells like "Heroism, Feather Step, Versatile Weapon, Mirror Image, Silience, Haste, Good Hope" to be extremely situational the bard might not be the class for him and some situational spells have actuallt won they day for our party, stuff like: Jester's Jaunt, Purging Finale.
Bards can be anything and do anything. Buff, spells, Face, skills, fight. They are great. Great to RP too.
A bard can learn to play the Nine String Balliset, and call himself Gurney Halleck.
Now bards look even cooler than before.
Does a bard need a free hand to cast a spell? Or is the 'somatic' component covered under Dance?
Does a bard need a free hand to cast a spell? Or is the 'somatic' component covered under Dance?
A bard needs a free hand for any spell which requires a somatic component. He could have a light shield in that hand, as that is a specific exception for light shields.
Does a bard need a free hand to cast a spell? Or is the 'somatic' component covered under Dance?
Yep, needs a free hand. Although Spellsong lets you disguise it as a dance. Am I the only person who things Spellsong opens up an entire library of spells that are normally limited by being observed? Only the bard gets it. There's a case to be made that the bard with Spellsong is the most versatile enchanter in the game.