Need help with bard!

[Kalenz]

Hey, guys! Tried a rogue but changed my mind, now i'll go with a melee bard, and wanted to hear your opinions about him!

Bard/Human, Dervish Dancer archetype

20 Point Buy: Str 7, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 7, Cha 16
all increases from level go to dex
the str may be a problem for incumbrance, but i will use handy haversack to help with that, and I dumped wis because bard already have a nice will save and I needed some more points, but if chose dumps aren't a good choice, tell me so i can see what I can change ^^

Favored Class: Hp
Skills:
I will maximize perception, perform (dance) and use magic device, the rest I think I will put in social skills to have a good use of my cha, and some points on other things.

here is my list of spells, I tried to choose some out of combat buffs and avoid some spells with saves:
(1) Alarm, Anticipate Peril, Feather Fall, Grease, Silent Image, Unseen Servant
(2) Alter Self, Detect Thoughts, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Silence
(3) Gaseous Form, Haste, Phantom Steed, Slow, Speak With Animals, Tiny Hut
(4) Dimension Door, Dominate Person, Virtuoso Performance, Hold Monster, Modify Memory, Dance Of A Hundred Cuts
(5) Greater Dispel Magic, Dream, Shadow Evocation, Shadow Walk, Mass Suggestion
(6) Dance Of A Thousand Cuts, Overwhelming Presence, Programmed Image, Project Image, Greater Scrying

and here goes the feats:

(1) Arcane Strike, Weapon Finesse
(3) Dervish Dance
(5) Improved Initiative
(7) Weapon Focus: Scimitar
(9) Combat Reflexes
(11) Improved Critical
(13) Critical Focus
(15) Bleeding Critical
(17) Defensive Combat Training
(19) Toughness

I know dervish dancers lose the team buffs of the bards, but in compensation I get some nice self buffs, and on level 12 I can start to full attack and move at the same time, plus the rain of blows and dance of a hundred cuts make a very nice combo, raising both my attack and ac ^^

[Porphyrogenitus]

Dumping your Str that low is going to hurt your damage output, at least until you get an agile weapon. Unless you're starting at a high enough level to start with agile magic weapons, this will be a big negative. Add to that 7 str makes it hard to wear even light armor + gear unencumbered; even with a Haversack, which, again, you won't have initially unless you're starting at a high enough level to be properly geared.

If you survive to 19th level without toughness you prolly won't need it there.

[Kalenz]

About the str, thats exactly why i took dervish dance feat, it let me use my dex instead of str for damage with the scimitar ^^ and i was thinking about using bracers of armor to avoid the incumbrance with armors, but it still would take some time to buy it. should i rise to something like, 8? Or, maybe, a wand of mage armor would do the trick.. what you think?

and what would be better on the place of toughness? I could put dodge to raise my ac, but at that level i will already have something like ~50 ac when buffed, so i dont know if that would be usefull too.

[Silent Saturn]

What level are you starting at? Worrying about what feat you'll take at 19th level may be a bit premature. Also, since you get a battle dance that lets you pretend to have Improved Critical, you may not need to worry about taking it as a feat either.

Your spell list looks alright, but I'd see if I couldn't find room for Gallant Inspiration. I know you're not building a support bard, but that retroactive bonus to ANY skill check or save can really save a group's bacon. And the situations it comes up in (and the various disasters it can prevent) are common enough, and varied enough, that you'll never really find yourself lacking in opportunities to cast it.

[KestlerGunner]

-I'd take Weapon Focus earlier.
-I'd remove Improved Initiative - you can only buff yourself, so it's not as important for you to go first like an ordinary bard.
-I'd take the Lunge feat. You are relying a lot on pulling off a full attack with dervish dance. Lunge will help with that, and will synergise with combat reflexes.
-I'd take Dispel Magic as a level 3 spell. It's so important.

[Corlindale]

I second Gallant Inspiration (though it doesn't work on saves). Great power to help your allies hit, and even better since there are no stacking issues with Inspire Courage on allies for a Dervish Dancer.

You miss some very good buff spells, such a Heroism, Good Hope and Brilliant Inspiration for high level. There are also some nice immediate action spells that won't eat your action-economy. Saving Finale could be worth it, for example - it only works on you, but I still wouldn't say no to a reroll on a crucial save.

Despite what you said, you seem to have quite a lot of save spells at high levels. That may not be so effective if you're not going for a high charisma.

Remember that the human favored class bonus can give you 1 extra spell known each level. That's amazingly good, and you should really think about using this option.

Your stats seem to be missing your racial bonus from being human?
7 str is very low, whether it's viable depends a lot on whether your GM does encumbrance by the book (the Ant Haul spell can help here, though). 7 Wis can also be a bit risky, will saves are quite important.

[Atarlost]

I'd drop charisma. You won't land stuff with saves and you probably won't play long enough to get 6th level spells so 15 is adequate. You can put your level 16th level stat boost into charisma if you get that far. That will let you buy one of your dump stats to 9. Doing so with strength will help your load limits, which is probably better than the +1 to will save you'd get from doing so to wisdom.

If you're willing to depend on a headband you can drop charisma to 14 and buy off wisdom or strength to 11, or wisdom to 8 and strength to 9. If you're willing to both rely on a headband and put your level 16 stat boost into charisma you can drop it to 13 and buy your strength up to 13 to qualify for power attack or your wisdom to 10 and your strength to 9.

[Bertious]

That low a strength will hurt as wearing studded leather and using a scimitar will put you at a medium load.

[Kalenz]

Hey guys! Sorry for taking too long to answer, i got a problem with my internet >.>

So I read your comments, and decided to do a change on my stats, here we go!

Str 9, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 14

So, now I have enough str to avoid the problems with encumbrance, and raised wis to 8 to get +1 to will saves, then later on I will use a headband to get the 6 level spells ^^

I also did a little change on spells:
Traded Unseen Servant for Saving Finale
Traded Silence for Gallant Inspiration
Traded Slow for Good Hope
Traded Overwhelming Presence for Brilliant Inspiration

What you think?

[Atarlost]

Those are all good swaps for you, though silence does have merit as a caster crippler since its save can be avoided in some groups. (Friends can voluntarily fail the save, and a silenced fighter is not something most casters enjoy dealing with. Sure they could have a silent dispel prepared, but you're trading your second level slot to cost them a fourth. If they're spontaneous they're using a full round action to dispel while standing near a fighter, and if they're prepared you can silence the fighter again since you're spontaneous and they probably didn't prepare two.)

Speaking of dispelling, I'd try to work that into your level 3 lineup in place of gaseous form or speak with animals. I'd also put Good Hope or Haste first alongside Dispel Magic or maybe phantom steed if the party needs it, followed by Dispel Magic if you didn't take it at level 7 and the other of Good Hope and Haste. It might help to know who else will be in your party. Haste is a waste if you have a Summoner (who gets it as a level 2 spell) or Cleric (who gets Blessing of Fervor at level 7).

I'd also put Dance of 100 cuts, virtuoso performance, and dimension door as your first level 4 spells. Hold Monster and Dominate Person are going to be hit or miss. Modify Memory may be useful on cooperative NPCs to see memories and on low level NPCs to erase evidence so can be considered a general utility spell.

[tonyz]

I like heroism rather than good hope -- it uses a lower level slot and has a longer duration, so you can throw it up on your front line guys well before combat. Also saves your third level slot for haste, dispel magic, and all the other goodies in that level.

[Seriphim84]

I notice you are still lacking a Human Stat bonus. I would recommend simply buying your Dex to 16, adding two to it for being human and then you don't have to have any negative stats.

Also, I would recommend the Dawnflower Dervish. It gives you the same base ability, but better. It also allows you to still do regular Bardic Performances like Fascinate and Inspire Competency and gives you Dervish Dance at first level with no Prereq saving you two feats.

[Black_Lantern]

20 Point Buy: Str 10, Dex 17(including bonus), Con 14, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 14(don't worry you'll hit things just fine with your buffs)
all increases from level go to dex

Favored Class: Hp
Skills:
Perception
Put a point in all the knowledge skills eventually and call it good
use magic device
spellcraft
perform skills
Versatile Performance (Ex)

At 2nd level, a bard can choose one type of Perform skill. He can use his bonus in that skill in place of his bonus in associated skills. When substituting in this way, the bard uses his total Perform skill bonus, including class skill bonus, in place of its associated skill's bonus, whether or not he has ranks in that skill or if it is a class skill. At 6th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the bard can select an additional type of Perform to substitute.

The types of Perform and their associated skills are: Act (Bluff, Disguise), Comedy (Bluff, Intimidate), Dance (Acrobatics, Fly), Keyboard Instruments (Diplomacy, Intimidate), Oratory (Diplomacy, Sense Motive), Percussion (Handle Animal, Intimidate), Sing (Bluff, Sense Motive), String (Bluff, Diplomacy), and Wind (Diplomacy, Handle Animal).
feats:
(1) Arcane Strike, Weapon Finesse
(3) Dervish Dance
Consider: Toughness, Dodge, Improved initiative, mobility, Spring Attack, and lingering performance. Also you could build this guy strength focused and skirmish to deal okay damage and buffs. I personally suggest staying with the normal inspire courage because it's effectively a lot more damage for your party.
Traits:
Reactionary
(whatever else)

[Deyvantius]

So a Dawnflower Dervish can also inspire his allies? I thought one replaced the other

[Seriphim84]

Deyvantius wrote:

So a Dawnflower Dervish can also inspire his allies? I thought one replaced the other

For the Dervish Dancer it does. But at the bottom of the entry under Dawnflower Dervish:

PFSRD wrote:

When the Dawnflower dervish uses the inspire courage, inspire greatness, or inspire heroics bardic performance types as battle dances, these performance types only provide benefit to the Dawnflower dervish himself. All other types of bardic performance work normally (affecting the bard and his allies, or the bard’s enemies, as appropriate).

This ability alters the standard bardic performance ability.

This might even mean that the Dawnflower can use Inspire Courage as the standard performance instead of the battle dance but that's open to interpretation. Either way, they still get all the listed performances.