So...I'm like, SUPER new to this. I made a Half-elf Bard with a chaotic good alignment (currently level 7, nearly level 8)for a different campaign and I really like playing as her, but she's pretty much useless when it comes to combat. Now I'm joining another campaign, and I'm wondering if there's anything similar, or there's something compatible with a bard that I can double-class in (since half-elves can do that) that would make me do well with weapons but still have the spells and skills for trickery and diplomacy that I do as a Bard (Speak with animals, Charm Person/Monster, Unnatural Lust, etc).
how about a fighter-bard combo or fighter-rogue combo or cavalier-mix, cavaliers also use charisma and are a hoot to play.
bards them self can be combat oriented. what stats are you looking at?
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bards them self can be combat oriented. what stats are you looking at?This. It's not your other character being a Bard that's making them bad in a fight, but other choices you have made (or, if you rolled stats, possibly poor rolling).
What stats do you have to work with in the new game?
Very true. Bards can do allot of things. It dose take time to know the system well enough to make them do what you want.
i prefer dex over str, with my bard i went with a 10 str and a high dex, took finess, and as soon as i could afford it took the agile magical ability for my weapon. not the only choice, but my fav
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One of the simplest ways to make your bard more combat orientated is with the Arcane Duelist archetype (APG). Barring that Weapon Finesse and the Agile weapon property allow for a dexterous fighter. Or if you want to multi-class fighter is the all around good choice. Or if you want make your character interesting and still use your charisma, oracle has lots of options to bulk up your bard without having to put points in another stat.
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One of the simplest ways to make your bard more combat orientated is with the Arcane Duelist archetype (APG).
I disagree, actually. Arcane Duelist doesn't inherently do anything to make you a better combatant except get you Arcane Strike. I mean, it's a fun archetype, and very good at what it does, but it doesn't inherently do any better at killing non-casters than a normal Bard with an extra Feat (from, say, being human).
I pretty much agree with the rest of the advice given, though I think if the OP likes literally everything about Bard, except the eminently fixable combat, they should stick with it.
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I know you like bard but you might want to consider magus. They mix fighting and spells very well. Also you might want to split levels between bard and rogue it adds a nice complentary mix of skills and after a few levles you can switch over to arcane trickster.
Maybe take a level of cavalier and then take the PrC Battle Herald from the APG. Full BAB for fighting and some good party buffing stuff. No spell progression, though.
Bard archers can do some good stuff. Arcane Duelist is not too shabby in combat.
A single level in Oracle (Lore) can get you some awesome stuff to go along with a bard, especially considering Sidestep Secret which allows you to use your Charisma in place of Dex for AC. With that you could focus more on Strength and Charisma without really gimping AC. You can burn feats for extra revelations which work REALLY well with bardic knowledges and such, too.
...tell us what you want to do in combat and then we can offer some suggestions about how to get there.
So far in my first game I have a shortbow and a rapier, and I just got a silver dagger (for some wererats that've been giving us trouble). Nothing fancy, really, since I'm so new to tabletop RPGs. I seem to favor running up to things and stabbing them, really only using the shortbow if being close to an enemy is a disadvantage. Also worth noting is the fact that when PCs have died (this has happened twice) I've immediately murdered whatever killed them with my rapier.
TL;DR: Give young Goku a sword. That's basically how I fight.
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The Arcane Duelist does more then just arcane strike. It allows the bard to sing and enchant his weapon (like a magus), then later sing and enhance party members weapons. As well as bonus feats and improved armour at 10th.
Eh, as a Bard, Inspire Courage is almost universally just flat out better than the weapon enhancements, though the Feats and armor are okay.
I'd never give up Bardic Knowledge and Versatile Performance, personally, but they probably are worth it...but they're hardly needed to make a Bard an effective combatant.
So far in my first game I have a shortbow and a rapier, and I just got a silver dagger (for some wererats that've been giving us trouble). Nothing fancy, really, since I'm so new to tabletop RPGs. I seem to favor running up to things and stabbing them, really only using the shortbow if being close to an enemy is a disadvantage. Also worth noting is the fact that when PCs have died (this has happened twice) I've immediately murdered whatever killed them with my rapier.
TL;DR: Give young Goku a sword. That's basically how I fight.
That...doesn't tell us much. What are your stats, your Feats? Those are what you use to build an effective combatant, not a specific weapon or style of combat (though some of those are better than others).
I mean, do you want to be a focused archer, or focused melee combatant? You probably need to pick one to actually be good at.
So one of the things about the bard, is they are good at a whole mess of things, but the only thing they are the best at is social skills and buffing. If you are looking for someone who is good at running up and stabbing dudes AND can cast spells, I recommend the Magus from ultimate combat. Their offense is far more straight forward.
I think in your case we need to start from the beggining. There are alot of things to consider when making a character that can fight and cast spells. The first one is class, but theres alot more to it. The kind of fighting you plan to do. Things to consider include the kind of weapon you are going to use, or if you will go strength based (where strength is your high physical stat) or dex based (where dex is the high stat and you take weapon finese).
By the way half elves dont allow you to 'double-class', they just allow you to get the favored class benefits of 2 classes. That not insignificant, but you still have to multiclass like everyone else.
Like someone already said, if you like the bard, they can be good at combat, you just need to make the right choices. You wont be as good as a straight fighter, but you will hold your own. Arcane duelist is a good choice, to give you a bit of combat umph without having to make a lot of specific other choices (feats and spells). The other thing to note is your bard buffs work just fine on yourself, inspire courage affects the bard as well as his allies, and spells like heroism, and haste are great ways to give yourself an edge in combat, and blur/mirror image are great ways to add to your defense when you get up into the thick of things.
What was the reason you selected the bard class? The spells? The music? The skills? The free whip proficiency? The buffing? The knowledgey bits? The social bit?
I've seen a really effective melee bard that used her whip to disarm and trip a lot. I've also seen a fighter/rogue type that dual wielded rapier and whip.