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Grease, glitterdust, and hideous laughter are excellent low-level spells for this type of character.
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Confusion and Fear are lovely control spells as well. And Good Hope is a must-have, regardless of what kind of Bard you are, as is Haste if you have nobody else to cast it.
Mirror Image and Blur are good defensive spells, as is Blink, and Glibness is phenomenal in many roleplay encounters.
But my biggest advice is: You can't do this. Not a pure controller Bard anyway, you simply lack the spells per day to do it effectively. You need other things to do in combat.
Now, you can absolutely build a Bard who's very effective with the spells he's got, but he needs other things to do.
So you should likely pick a fighting style, either melee or ranged, and make sure to be good with it.
Do you have to prove that a bard can excel at controlling and debuffing? You might be better served by either making a great bard or a great controller rather than trying to do both.
If you want to play a charismatic controller that never deals damage, what about a fey bloodline sorcerer? High cha, bluff is a class skill for sorcerers, bonus to compulsion spells dc Put some points in int for more skills.
If you want to play the best bard you can, it seems silly to ignore the fact that the bard is capable of dealing some pretty decent damage. Rather than cast grease, then net them, cast grease then pepper them with arrows or slice them up with your falcata. Or better yet, cast Haste then the whole party can go to town.
If you want to play the ultimate tripping disarming whip using combat maneuver specialist, the lore warden fighter archetype is a great choice.
If you're dead set on a controlling and debuffing bard, the court bard might be an interesting archetype. Give your enemies penalties instead of giving your allies bonuses. Don't forget that the penalty applies to saves against your fear and charm effects. Weapon focus: net and dazzling display might be nice.
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7 levels; controller. Hmmm, tasha's is great, eventually tentacles is good in general. Bards suffer a lot from being behind on spells; can you do a summoner? There black tentacles is a 3rd level spell, and they can do insane damage.
The bard "thing" is buffing; good hope + birdsong yields +4 to hit and damage, +2 saves to everyone. It's pretty sick, especially with lots of combaty types around.
Beyond that, throw nets, around; they're great. And take dance and oratory to expand the list of skills you can do with charisma (adding acrobatics, flight, sense motive to the list).
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If you wanna focus on spells, consider taking the Magician Archetype. It allows you to add spells from other classes' spell lists to your bard one, letting you fill in the gaps wherever necessary. Oh, and Wand Mastery is FANTASTIC (lets you use your Cha. Mod. to set the DC for wand spells).
I also recommend looking up Treantmonk's Guide to Bards, which is a great help.
You may also want to consider he fact that bards are AMAZING buffers, a fact that is often overlooked by High-Damage optimizers. Remember, that bonus from Inspire Courage/(insert bard song here) is YOUR damage/healing/etc., and everyone benefits from it (especially summoned creatures, dual-wielders, and natural-attack-based PCs). Most of the time, people who bash bards aren't looking at the whole scope of what they provide for the party.
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You may also want to consider he fact that bards are AMAZING buffers, a fact that is often overlooked by High-Damage optimizers. Remember, that bonus from Inspire Courage/(insert bard song here) is YOUR damage/healing/etc., and everyone benefits from it (especially summoned creatures, dual-wielders, and natural-attack-based PCs). Most of the time, people who bash bards aren't looking at the whole scope of what they provide for the party.
This is a really good point. At 7th level round 1 of every serious fight can be you giving your entire side Good Hope + Bardic Performance for +4 to hit, +4 damage, and +2 to almost everything else. A properly made buffing bard can, with a couple of rounds of prep, probably be more badass than an unbuffed Fighter or other primary melee character...this just tends not to be notice sine the fighter's almost always getting those buffs too. When your party asks "So, how many buffs are you giving us?" and you tell them +5 to hit, an extra attack, +4 damage, +1 AC, and +2 to everything else...they will, as a rule, both know and appreciate how much good you are doing for them.
In Treantmonk's Guide to the Bard, he discusses the controller aspect of them in depth. It's Core only, but it's a great place to start, and where I intend to start with my controller bard.
As has been mentioned above, whips and nets are the controller bard's friend. Combine those with the nasty enchants that a bard has access to and get your spell DCs up and you can wreak some major havoc on the battlefield.
Don't forget some of the archetypes for a controller bard:
Archivist swaps suggestion for dazed or confused. Sandman pushes the bard far from its base of "party buffer" and instead makes it a beguiling rogue with build in sleep effects, sneak attack, spell thievery, and boosted DCs when your opponent doesn't see you coming. Dirge bard trades Jack-of-all-trades for an animated flesh puppet.
I really recommend the Sandman for your concept. Slumber Song combines well with your ability to lay down a nasty coup-de-gras.
You're not going to be able to do it without the help of your GM. However I suggest playing a controller archer bard. You don't have enough spells to lean on the complete caster route. Also if you didn't know bards don't have to use perform when they use inspire courage.
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It depends on what level you play true. This is very true early; around level 7 the bow will be rarely used; by around 9-10 you'll regret every fear you put towards archery. It's a general cost of mixed-casters; early the lack of feats and straight-BAB is almost unnoticeable; but into the mid it quickly becomes apparent, and as you get later it widens more. As you are starting late in the game, I'd concentrate on casting. Glitterdust, haste, and inspire courage should be your bread and butter; try concentrating on illusion, even the cantrip minor illusion is great. Be a gnome with spell focus / concentration on illusion, by 8 you should have 24 charisma. Glitterdust should be DC 23; able to blind out nearly any opponents, while inspire courage + good hope will give a +4 to hit and damage to allies. If you're really bored, throw nets... even untrained, they are easy enough to land.
On top of dazzling display i recommend you some perforamce feats.
First performing combatant and maybe master performer.
Then look at heroe´s display, dramatic display and masterfull display.
With a swift action you end up using dazzling display with some bonuses debuffing enemies who can see you, get +2 on attack rolls and combat maneuvers and then can attack. Together with lingering performance awefull. With savage display you could boost your damage then later.
If you use a trident, spear dancer could be nice too.
Also with the net consider dirty trick combat maneuvers.
Blinding etc is really nice.
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So (20 points)
Str: 5 (might be hard to carry nets, but you can always go to speed 15)
Int: 8 (I don't like to dump here; skill points are good for you. But versatile perform will give you more than enough, and you need them elsewhere).
Wis: 12 (a valuable save comes from this)
Dex: 12 (your AC will be a joke in the first place; but net)
Con: 16 + 2 belt = 18 (with no real AC, this is how you live)
Chr: 21 + 2 headband = 23 (all is concentrated here; next level that will give you a +7)
Headband +2
Belt +2
Cloak of protetction +3
Ioun stone +1 saves
crown of +3 Cha checks
Think that should be your money. Get 1 or 2 masterwork nets and call it a day.
Favored class bonus: stealth.
Maxed skills: Stealh, Perform: oratory, perform: dance, intimidate, perception
Spread rest amongst knowledges.
important spells:
1) Hideous Laughter, Silent Image (think big walls)
2) Glitterdust, Heroism
3) Inspire Competence, Confusion
Feats: spell focus / greater illusion, exotic weapon proficiency: net, toughness
AC: 11 (hide and move)
HP: 69
You'll be able to dodge and hide like a champ, and drop glitterdusts and confusions to destroy the battlefield. Nets are when you are bored. Forget armor; hp are your armor and shield.
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In my current game, one of my players is playing the Whip-Wielding Court Bard, and she's quite frustrating to deal with. Just as has been being suggested, she uses Whip and Net, but didn't take the EWP for Net, and just eats the -4 to hit, because she only needs to hit touch AC. She begins every combat with either a spell (like Hideous Laughter), a thrown net, or Satire. From there, she moves in and begins utilizing her combat maneuvers.
In combat, she did something fairly unique, getting herself up to Improved Whip Mastery (to threaten out to 10' and not provoke), but also spent the time building out the Dirty Trick feat chain, including Quick Dirty Trick. At level 11, she is currently able to get a total of -6 penalty (or more) to most rolls an enemy can do by performing Satire on round 1, then following up the second round with her two attacks performing Dirty Tricks: One to blind or sicken, the other to make shaken. If both of those stick, she can keep the enemy almost permanently debuffed between those three conditions. Even if an enemy uses its move-action to remove one, the following round she applies two conditions again. Even if an enemy moves in on her, her whip gives her the advantage to hit them with a Dirty Trick with an AoO, thanks to Quick Dirty Trick.
I'm truly going to fear when she's able to cast 5th level spells and throw around Mind Fogs around, she's even spoken of saving up money to buy a Persistent Metamagic Rod to use her Mind Fogs, Hideous Laughters, Confusions and Holds with, to "make sure they stick."
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It depends on what level you play true. This is very true early; around level 7 the bow will be rarely used; by around 9-10 you'll regret every fear you put towards archery. It's a general cost of mixed-casters; early the lack of feats and straight-BAB is almost unnoticeable; but into the mid it quickly becomes apparent, and as you get later it widens more.
Uh...not as a Bard. By 10th level you're at -3 from BAB, but +5 from Good Hope and Inspire Courage. Sure, you're behind the Ranger (beause you give him +5, too)...but the enemies you fight are predicated on the party lacking a Bard and his buffing ability, so you'll be hitting more than enough. Your Inspire Courage on it's own directly compensates for your lower BAB.
I'll repeat, you don't have enough spells, no matter how good they are (and they can be awesome), to cast one every round. At least, assuming a normal-ish number of combats per day (say 4-5 or so).
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Even normalish combat; what else do you need to do? Putting a few arrows in with no specializaion and minimal strength isn't going to contribute enough to the damage to be worth doing. You can drop 2-3 spells per combat; with confusion and Glitterdust you can take out clusters of enemies, while your song/inspire will bring everyone up on damage.
So better to spell focus up, get DCs high; and nets are a great way to do a little bit.
In short, your buffs will be better elsewhere, and being a charisma machine instead of a dex machine for 3 d6+5 arrows (12 Str, buffed) for far less to hit than the also-buffed fighters is going to increase your contribution far more in the long run.
My read on the bard in terms of optimizing him is in line with Deadmanwalking. You want to shoot for the balance between arcane-controlling and some form of damage out-put/martial control (whether that's net or whip).
It's his ability to adjust to the situation and provide effective solutions across the board that makes them useful -- on top of the all-too-awesome Inspire Courage.
So pick a direction: melee combat, ranged combat, or martial controller... and invest a few feats to make that a bit better. Then simply make sure your casting stat and necessary physical stat take priority.
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Even normalish combat; what else do you need to do? Putting a few arrows in with no specializaion and minimal strength isn't going to contribute enough to the damage to be worth doing. You can drop 2-3 spells per combat; with confusion and Glitterdust you can take out clusters of enemies, while your song/inspire will bring everyone up on damage.
So better to spell focus up, get DCs high; and nets are a great way to do a little bit.
In short, your buffs will be better elsewhere, and being a charisma machine instead of a dex machine for 3 d6+5 arrows (12 Str, buffed) for far less to hit than the also-buffed fighters is going to increase your contribution far more in the long run.
More like four d6+15 arrows by 10th (multishot, 1 Str, 5 buffs, 3 Arcane Strike, 4 Deadly Aim, +2 bow), for a decently focused human archer, actually. Being a Bard doesn't really require much in the way of Feat expenditure, allowing you to use them on a combat style, if you like.
And I'm not arguing that Confusion or Glitterdust aren't wonderful tactics...but you can be almost as good at them and doing respectable damage when you aren't doing them. And it's not like you're being selfish by using your bonuses yourself, they tend to apply to everyone.
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You can't be close to as good. You're +7 BAB, +2 bow, +4 buffs (5?) -2 rapid, -2 deadly aim... +9 to hit +dex... we'll call it +13, assuming you are dex and trying to be somewhat competent as a caster. For d6 + 15, average vs AC: 25 (typical / low for that level) would be about 40 damage, and that's assuming no ally steps in the way like they always do. And you'll be -2 to -4 on the DCs of your spells, so pretty strictly a buffer.
Compare with a ranger, same stuff, gravity bow and instant enemy available, can keep dex primary and almost strict. He's going to be +16/17, and able to instant enemy for +6 as a swift action. So 3d6 (will use one of his +1 for energy damage) +6 deadly aim +6 instant enemy (assuming it's not an undead or evil outsider, who are already enemies) -3 rapid -2 deadly. And 1 level from yet another attack.
You basically aren't doing relevant-to-level damage, where you can often end combats, AND have more spells, by just focusing on your Cha and spellcasting. Give those buffs away to the melees and competent archers; and spend your money on metamagic rods and +Cha / +save items.
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I wasn't saying you would be on-par with a Ranger. In fact, I rather explicitly said you wouldn't...but you'll be effective and relevant. An average CR 10 monster is actually AC 24 and 130 HP, so that's a third of their HP you're taking away, on average. I'd say that's a decent round of effectiveness. Oh, and that assumes no Haste, which will up the damage a bit (four attacks at +15 or so, plus one at +10).
That's a hell of a lot better than sitting on the sidelines because you don't want to waste one of your spells this turn.
And let's look at, say, an arbitrary 20 point buy Archer/Caster build:
Str 12 Dex 16 Con 12 Int 10 Wis 7 Chr 18
What'll he get for giving up that Dex and Str? Maybe +1 DC on spells? He'll be giving up another from Feats, of course, but that'll stil leave him with, by 10th level and focusing on it, a Chr of 24 and DC 19-21 spells. Which are very relevant vs. a CR 10 monster's low saves, and potentially useful even against their high ones. And definitely badass on crowd control vs. CR 6-7 minion types.
I'm not arguing a Bard will be better than a focused archer. I'm arguing that some investment in something to do when you aren't casting is well worth it.
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Except that you're assuming:
1) The Ranger has enough spell slots to have Instant Enemy cast on every enemy, every time.
2) Being -2 lower on your spell DC's is a gamebreaker (hint: It's not).
3) The only damage being dealt is that being dealt by the bard. Remember, he's granting a party-wide +2 to-hit & damage, and probably haste (I know you're a controller, but you DID take haste, right?), or a myriad of other buff spells that contribute to the party as a whole. And guess what? If there aren't other party members dealing damage to benefit from Inspire Courage, then he's out-damaging the rest of them anyways :P (Or you took the Magician archetype that benefits all your casters.)
Edit*: Ninja'd!
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3) The only damage being dealt is that being dealt by the bard. Remember, he's granting a party-wide +2 to-hit & damage, and probably haste (I know you're a controller, but you DID take haste, right?), or a myriad of other buff spells that contribute to the party as a whole. And guess what? If there aren't other party members dealing damage to benefit from Inspire Courage, then he's out-damaging the rest of them anyways :P (Or you took the Magician archetype that benefits all your casters.)
Actually, it's usually a good idea for the Wizard (or Sorcerer, or whatever) to cast Haste, so that the Bard can cast Good Hope and make that bonus to everybody a +4 (or +5 at 10th level). Coordinated 1st round buffs are a good thing. :)
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Are you +2 an item for Str so you q for deadly aim? What about saves? -3 on will, -3 on fort, - lots of hp? For what? 40 damage vs AC 24 (and worse vs tough opponents). after you do a buff round. Why not have about 50/50 or better of taking them out round 1? DC 23 will saves often do that.
You're -5 to saves on illusions by now (have +2 Cha item instead of +4, no spell focus on greater, can't be gnome, -1 low starting Cha). Also -1 3rd and 4th level spell.
It's just a weak option; it's trying to get bards to do what they can't that make them appear a weak class. If people would play bards as the high-charisma masters of buff and manipulation they were made to be, the GM wouldn't be arguing them weak in the first place.
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hehe, true. I usually play in Caster-light parties, so when I make spellcasters (usually mixed casters), I tend to think in terms of what I need to do, and not assume that someone else will do it for me (I've met relatively few buff wizards).
Edit*: Also, the new Freebooter archetype for a Ranger is super appealing. It's like giving yourself and everyone in your party your Favored Enemy bonus (well, 1/2 of it) as a move action all day against a single target. Yum.
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Are you +2 an item for Str so you q for deadly aim? What about saves? -3 on will, -3 on fort, - lots of hp? For what? 40 damage vs AC 24 (and worse vs tough opponents). after you do a buff round. Why not have about 50/50 or better of taking them out round 1? DC 23 will saves often do that.
You're -5 to saves on illusions by now (have +2 Cha item instead of +4, no spell focus on greater, can't be gnome, -1 low starting Cha). Also -1 3rd and 4th level spell.
It's just a weak option; it's trying to get bards to do what they can't that make them appear a weak class. If people would play bards as the high-charisma masters of buff and manipulation they were made to be, the GM wouldn't be arguing them weak in the first place.
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It's just a weak option; it's trying to get bards to do what they can't that make them appear a weak class. If people would play bards as the high-charisma masters of buff and manipulation they were made to be, the GM wouldn't be arguing them weak in the first place.
Except that if you factor in the extra damage the party deals due to their buffs and add it to their total damage, I think you would find that their damage is quite competitive. As Gnomersy mentioned, it isn't just the bard's damage: It's a +4 to-hit and damage for everyone else in the party. Heck, with buffs that big, a crazy caster with a decent str./dex. could contribute somewhat to weapon based combat (oh, and that's a party wide damage bonus, so it applies to spells, too).
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Are you +2 an item for Str so you q for deadly aim?
Huh? Deadly Aim required Dex 13, not Str.
What about saves? -3 on will, -3 on fort, - lots of hp?
Wis 12 and Con 18? I suppose so, but I've gained, what, +3 on Reflex and 3 points of AC for that? Which seems like a reasonable trade almost on it's own...
For what? 40 damage vs AC 24 (and worse vs tough opponents).
More than that, actually, I just didn't want to make a big deal out of it. And yeah, every round after the first, in every fight.
after you do a buff round. Why not have about 50/50 or better of taking them out round 1? DC 23 will saves often do that.
Well, DC 21 will, too. And you can do that instead of buffing if you think it'll work with the build I suggest.
You're -5 to saves on illusions by now (have +2 Cha item instead of +4, no spell focus on greater, can't be gnome, -1 low starting Cha). Also -1 3rd and 4th level spell.
Uh...18 is low now? Also, who said no +4 Item? Of course you have the +4 Charisma Headband, it's very reasonably priced for what it does and you're intending to be a spellcaster.
And you haven't really given up on Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus, just delayed them. They're likely your 11th and 13th level Feats. On Enchantment, not Illusion, probably. So you've given up more like -2 on your DCs, maybe -3 depending on level. Hardly the end of the world.
It's just a weak option; it's trying to get bards to do what they can't that make them appear a weak class. If people would play bards as the high-charisma masters of buff and manipulation they were made to be, the GM wouldn't be arguing them weak in the first place.
I actually agree to some degree. Bards out of combat effects are where they shine most. But in combat? They are gods of buffing, and can be highly effective backup combatants, pretty good spellcasters for a couple of fights a day, or both if you build them right. Why would you not want to be both?
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So if we agree on what makes the bard good (buffs), why not concentrAte on those and your control spells? The thread name says it all; make a control bad. Why take huge penalties to your primary save stats (which will keep your buffs up, as they are likely to keep you up) and lower hp?
You'll be doing a lot of good; you're just better off not touching real whips (occassional net is fine, I don't like whip because CMDs get even worse than ACs at these levels; better to get the -2 to hit/AC and remove the 5 foot steps).
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So if we agree on what makes the bard good (buffs), why not concentrAte on those and your control spells? The thread name says it all; make a control bad. Why take huge penalties to your primary save stats (which will keep your buffs up, as they are likely to keep you up) and lower hp?
Well, one can also play a Bard who's good at melee combat with a lot less Feat investment than the Archer variant, and thus even more focus on the spellcasting. If one desires.
And giving up slight defensive bonuses to actually be effective in your own right every round is well worth it, IMO.
I think the reason we are supporting the other side of this argument because (despite the specificity of the thread's title) what he seems to be trying to do is "prove that bards don't suck".
To do that, some of us believe that you build with a bit more flexibility than you're suggesting. After all, will the controller bard you're suggesting out-shine a true controller wizard or sorcerer? No way! So how does trying to be a sorcerer or mage with Inspire Courage prove that the bard is anything but "another class with a nice but boring buff option"?
The versatile approach has been shown to be able to get their control spell DC's within a few points of the focused caster controller build's, but is also able to contribute in a more well-rounded fashion.
Plus, his strategy doesn't look like this:
Round 1: Inspire/Glitterdust
Round 2: find a corner in which to cower fro any remaining combatants so you can conserve your almighty spells for the other fights you'll have in the day.
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Well, you are a wizard with inspire courage; and a buff they have no access to (good hope / inspire competence). In short, the best buffer in the game, that happens to be able to debuff as well.
My plan is
A) buff
B) if the fight is hard, choose to buff more, or debuff
C) If we have put up enough buffs and the creature has insane saves, toss nets. Make it easier for allies to hit.
It's really quite a bit better; allies keep getting more benefits, you get better saves. The wizard can control as well (if not better by 10), but can't buff as well and isn't useful out-of-combat.
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Well, you are a wizard with inspire courage; and a buff they have no access to (good hope / inspire competence). In short, the best buffer in the game, that happens to be able to debuff as well.
My plan is
A) buff
B) if the fight is hard, choose to buff more, or debuff
C) If we have put up enough buffs and the creature has insane saves, toss nets. Make it easier for allies to hit.It's really quite a bit better; allies keep getting more benefits, you get better saves. The wizard can control as well (if not better by 10), but can't buff as well and isn't useful out-of-combat.
Yeah, see here's how the combat bard is better. His decision tree looks like this:
1. Buff
2. Examine fight, if a spell seems warranted, cast it (buff, debuff, whatever), if not attack.
That third part makes you useful and effective (and feel useful and effective) every single round, even when you don't want to waste a spell on this one. And every round, he has at least two potentially effective options he can choose between, which allows for versatility, always a good thing.
And he's just made of win out of combat.
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And still -3 on saves, and truly loses the debuff. -3 to DCs is the difference between being worthy and not. And he's still a terrible archer. They do win the out-of-combat game though.
Question: Can a Cleric be a viable weapon-based combatant?
It's a legitimate question. The battle cleric is an iconic roleplaying character. Do you automatically stop taking spells with save DC's because you want your cleric to be a capable combatant?
Saying a -3 penalty to save DCs is the difference of being worthy or not is like saying that a -3 penalty to BAB makes a character unworthy of being a combat class, but there are plenty of examples (druid, summoner, cleric) where that simply is not the case. Yes, they may not be Optimal melee combatants in their own right (not including pets, etc.), but they are still fully capable of contributing to the party in a meaningful way.
Same goes for spell DC's. You may not be as good at debuffing as a specialist, but Save or Suck spells don't need you to be. You only need to be viable, not optimal, in order for your spells to contribute.
Also, if you factor in the damage provided by the bard buffs to party members, he's not a terrible archer at all.
Deadmanwalking is right. Archery bards are phenomenal. Between Good Hope, Inspire Courage, and Haste, you'll be pumping out a lot of arrows with great bonuses to damage. And you can easily get those out in one round. Throw in Arcane Strike for a little more damage.
And yes, clerics make amazing martial characters.
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In an optimal world, not really. They were great in 3.5, but times have changed; melee clerics and archer bards become "good buffers" that try to do things they shouldn't. But I do know the draw of both; and for the record one of the characters I play in PFS is an archer Evangalist (pretty much the same as an archer bard; with the Glory domain your round 1 is typically summon (lantern archon standard action)-sing-glory domain, give all +4 / +2, join them shooting next round. I'd be better if I didn't shoot; but not at early levels, and as a PFS character it won't spend much time @ high levels. I get they are fun to play; but they are bad, and not what you want to do to prove you can keep up in usefulness with fully-set up rangers, wizards, and support clerics for being useful.
So if you want to be powerful, you play buff/debuff. If you want to have fun, you can play whatever you want.
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Well, "bad" simply means far from optimal. The higher levels go, the more profound differences show. At low levels you seem to be able to do everything; with few and less powerful feats, there is little difference between a bard/archer or combat cleric or a combat-based rogue and have no regrets.
The damage starts to come around level 6, where extra attacks, ranger feats, second specializations start kicking in for the fighting types. Meanwhile the dedicated controllers have their higher stats, spell focuses, etc.
In short, the higher level you go, the more you wish you'll have focused. And this, these high levels where the Gish-casters start to fail, where rogues and their weak ACs / low damage output start to fall off the board. I think this is why PFS (and most campaigns I have been in) end around 10 (12 in PFS's case).
So they aren't bad; they just start to pronounce their differences too much at high levels. And since this character is starting at these high levels, might as well take the better-concentrated mode.
Okay. Define "bad" then, if you don't mind, as it appears we are using different definitions of the word.
"If it's not the absolute most powerful, it's bad". I can't think of any other definition that would allow for such a skewed perception of the game.
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Okay, so:
Let's look at, say, level 16. A dedicated Archery oriented Bard is probably gonna rocking a weapon of roughly equal stats as a Ranger. His BAB is 12/7/2 as opposed to the ranger 16/11/6/1, but the bard has Inspire Courage to bring his attack bonuses up to 15/10/5, just 1 lower than Ranger (and let's face it, that last arrow from the Ranger is PROBABLY gonna miss).
The Ranger benefits more from Deadly Aim with his higher BAB (-5/+10), as opposed to the Bard (-4/+8), but is now -1 lower to hit. The bard, however has access to arcane strike, giving him an extra +4 damage as a swift action.
Stat-wise, and archery focused Ranger is likely going to have higher Strength than our Bard, so let's cap him at around 20 (he still needs higher dex. to hit, which will make him slightly more accurate, and he wants a decent Wisdom score to use all those spells), putting him at ~+4 damage per arrow over the Bard from Strength, or +2 damage total (including the above factors).
Feat-wise, by this level, both archers will have the feats they need to be considered "archers". The Ranger does have access Instant Enemy, which will, of course, throw his damage through the roof (roughly +8 to damage and hit, if you stick to increasing the same favored enemy bonus)... against a single enemy, and he doesn't have enough spells to cast it on every enemy he fights during the day.
The bard is also rocking a variety of group buff spells, not the least of which are Haste (+1 to-hit and an extra arrow), Good Hope (+2 to-hit & damage), Greater Invisibility (because you attack flat-footed AC), and numerous other buffs that also affect your entire party, not to mention the fact that, if you went he Arcane Duelist route, you would also have penetrating strike, allowing you to ignore 5 DR per arrow.
Admittedly, the ranger will, more often than not, be able to outdamage the bard, and I will admit that there are likely some ranger buffs that I may have missed. But to claim that the bard is totally incapable of dealing damage just because he doesn't have Full BAB and tons of feats is crazy.
Edit*: Oh, and this same bard can still cast Irresistable Dance, Foe-to-Friend, Mirror Image, Hold Monster, Glitterdust, Grease, Dominate Person, Smug Narcissism, etc.
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Well, "bad" simply means far from optimal. The higher levels go, the more profound differences show. At low levels you seem to be able to do everything; with few and less powerful feats, there is little difference between a bard/archer or combat cleric or a combat-based rogue and have no regrets.
The damage starts to come around level 6, where extra attacks, ranger feats, second specializations start kicking in for the fighting types. Meanwhile the dedicated controllers have their higher stats, spell focuses, etc.
Having played a Bard from 4th to 15th level, I completely disagree with you. :)
Of course, he was hardly optimized, but that had very little to do with his split focus, and more to do with other aspects of the character.
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Level 16? First, you picked the level where the bard finally gets a 4th attack and 6th level spells (and being that he has the best high level buff in the game and end-game spells; fighting is hardly his tactic). The ranger also had Improved Precise for a while, the Bard will finally get it next level. So he is -1 straight off of that.
Then you comapre numbers:
Bard +12 / +7 / +2 . Can buff for +8 more if he spends a round.
Ranger +16 / +11 / +6 / +1 . Can cast gravity bow, and his swift action is instant enemy. +8 to hit and damage. If he really feels like it he can quarry his opponents. And of course he does; you cast it as your 4th level spell as well. And you don't have to cast it vs Evil Outsiders (my preferred favored enemy), and to a lesser extent vs undead (my second favorite enemy). He also has the greater snapshot / combat reflexes line, so opponents are threatened within 10 feet of him. And being that they can't have cover, it's pretty easy to declare a threat.
So the ranger is far, far better. Meanwhile the bard has PLENTY of spells by then; he should never be taking combat rounds to do his half-ass plinking.
So this is defining as "not good"; your buff is great, that song is flat awesome; but you should not be attacking yourself. If you had used those feats and such on metamagic rods / +6 cha items (I guess you have one of those anyway by now), you'd have been more useful (quicken metamagic rods are expensive, but without those expensive bows and bracers and such affordable).
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Um... bards don't get their 4th attack at 16... That's Rangers... arguably in their favor... The only real benefit bard gets is the access to 2 6th level spells that I didn't even take into account for this exercise...
1) You can cast Instant Enemy 3 times per day at that level. MAYBE 5 times if you use 4th level slots to prep it and have a decent Wisdom score. What happens if you fight more than 5 monsters that aren't your favored enemy?
2) I already know the ranger has more versatility with his feats when it comes to archery. I never claimed he wasn't really good at it.
3) Yes, your Ranger is very good against his favored enemies when they show up. Numerous DPR threads have shown that ranger damage skyrockets against them. But that is entirely situational. The bard can get relatively close to his damage potential against non-situational targets, is dealing additional damage via his buff spells affecting party members, and can do this pretty much all day, in most fights.
And again, the whole point was that he's contributing whether or not he's casting spells. He doesn't need to beat your ranger at the DPR game (hint: he won't), but that's not why he picks up the bow. He uses it because he can buff the party and add to combat with his bow, not to show off his l33t d33ps.
*Edit: Oh, and if I had wanted to, I could have grabbed Improved Precise Shot at level 15.
**Edit: Also, the fighter is laughing at the Ranger's archery at this level, getting +7 to-hit and +9 damage against everything, all the time, with more feats, and doesn't even need to put anything into Wisdom. Just leave the archery to him. Your ranger should be off hugging a tree somewhere.