I'm making this character for Carrion Crown, if it matters (I already made an Oracle of Life, but the GM asked me to make something else, instead, so this is attempt #2). My goal is to be a purely support/control character. The party is loaded with melee dps (all 7 other characters are melee focused and two of them also have animal companions that fight), so our front lines are crowded and I'd much rather enhance their ability to fight or interfere with or enemy's ability to fight than to fight myself.
From what I've seen of the first two levels of Carrion Crown, it's an undead heavy game, so I am going with Dirge Bard to make sure I'm a little better prepared for that. The character will be Human and start at level 2.
Stats are rolled, but if at all possible, I'd like to put my highest stat in Charisma. I kind of want to avoid fighting in general, and support/control the battlefield instead, whenever possible. Plus, Charisma is going to help my spells, bardic music, most of my skills, and eventually Sound Striking.
I've read Treatmonk's Bard Guide and I'm nervous. I don't want to invest the feats in Archery to be an "archer bard," as I'd rather invest in my music and spells. I want to dump Strength if possible and the party has (effectively) 9 front line combatants, so the Melee Bard is out, too. However, is a controller bard with dumped Strength viable early (before I get Weird Words and more spells/bardic music)?
As far as feats go, I know I want Lingering Performance. To further extend my Music, I like the look of Harmonic Spell, too, but is it actually worth taking? Flagbearer seems like a must, so I'll grab that, but when is a good time for it? Is it worth taking at 1st level (I'm Human, so I could theoretically take Flagbearer and Lingering Performance right away)?
Do you think it'd be a good idea to go for an Eldritch Heritage? I could take the Skill Focus thing instead of my Human bonus skill if I want to get one. Arcane seems pretty awesome and nets me a familiar and later on some cross-listed spells. Are there better options?
I like the idea of Dazzling Display, but I am pretty sure undead can't be shaken, and taking Weapon Focus is a pretty steep cost for someone uninterested in fighting.
Are there any other feats I should look out for? Is there any way I can have two Bardic Music effects going at once? Otherwise, right now, my plan looks like:
1: Lingering Performance, either Flagbearer or Harmonic Spell
3: Eldritch Heritage (Arcane)
5: Whichever I didn't take at 1st level
7: Improved Familiar
9: ?
11: Discordant Voice
For spells, I'm stuck on what to learn early on. Most enemies are undead, but Secrets of the Grave lets me use a small number of spells I couldn't otherwise. Plus, it gives me a free Necromancy spell from another list.
What are my best options? I believe that for my Necromancy Spell, the best ones are either Chill Touch (so I have something early to use to deal with undead) or Ray of Enfeeblement (so I have something to debuff people with later on when we fight something other than Undead (I assume we do eventually in Carrion Crown, right?). Depending on your reading of the ability, I could also theoretically take a higher level Necromancy spell (like Command Undead), even though I couldn't actually cast it until 4th level).
I don't actually know what to do with my regular spells, either, though. Normally, I'd grab Charm Person, Grease, and Silent Image. However, Charm Person won't really help at all with what we've faced so far (Secrets of the Grave gets by the mind-affecting part, but not the Person part). Grease won't trip ghosts (and I assume we're looking at facing ghosts, too). Silent Image requires a lot of GM fiat, and not only do I not know this GM well, but he's been fairly resistant to any sort of cleverness with our abilities in the past.
Are Masterpieces worth taking? The invisible wall one sounded good, for example. I need to know early, so that I can invest the right amount into the required Performance Skills.
Can anyone help with some good suggestions?