First Time PF Bard with Unbalanced Attribute Rolls, Need Help / Advice

[Ented]

So I'm a First Time PF Player. We are playing core only since me and 3 people are new to the Table Top RPG style and the two others are new to PF. Other party Members (6 man Party) are Dwarf Fighter (Melee/Tank), Halfling Rogue(Range), Dwarf Ranger (Range/Melee), Gnome Druid(Heals/Magic), Half-Elf Sorceress (Magic).

My 4d6 drop rolls came out as:
7 (2,2,2,3)
15 (6,6,3,2)
7 (2,2,3,2)
16 (6,6,4,2)
17 (6,6,1,5)
10 (5,2,3,2)

I don't know what to do with my 7s because they are so low, and since we are only playing core I can't figure out what to do. Aren't Bards supposed to be pretty balanced?

I read Treantmonk's Bard Guide and he says 7 is fine for Wis but do I dump Int?

Help and Advice Really Needed and Appreciated...

[Wind Chime]

Ented wrote:

So I'm a First Time PF Player. We are playing core only since me and 3 people are new to the Table Top RPG style and the two others are new to PF. Other party Members (6 man Party) are Dwarf Fighter (Melee/Tank), Halfling Rogue(Range), Dwarf Ranger (Range/Melee), Gnome Druid(Heals/Magic), Half-Elf Sorceress (Magic).

My 4d6 drop rolls came out as:
7 (2,2,2,3)
15 (6,6,3,2)
7 (2,2,3,2)
16 (6,6,4,2)
17 (6,6,1,5)
10 (5,2,3,2)

I don't know what to do with my 7s because they are so low, and since we are only playing core I can't figure out what to do. Aren't Bards supposed to be pretty balanced?

I read Treantmonk's Bard Guide and he says 7 is fine for Wis but do I dump Int?

Help and Advice Really Needed and Appreciated...

Str 7

Dex 16
Con 15
Int 7
Wis 15
Cha 17

Dump strength and intelligence they aren't main class abilities and don't effect saves and bards have skill substitutes so the int isn't anywhere near as bad as it would be with another class. Get dervish dance as soon as possible so that your strength doesn't cripple your melee damage.

[Bertious]

Hmm looking at your party and core only you seem to be the knowledge skill character so i would disagree with Wind Chime about droping intellegence. I would probably go

Human Bard

Str 7
Dex 16 +2 race = 18
Con 15
Int 15
Wis 7
Cha 17

I would focus on using a crossbow as the negative strength will not bother you and take the feats Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot looking to get Arcane Strike at level 3 then rapid reload and rapid shot when available.

The other viable build that i can think of would be to use a whip to aid another and stay behind the main fighter adding to his attack rolls or ac as needed in which case i would take the feats weapon finesse and extra performance giving you 13 rounds of performance per day at level 1

[John Kerpan]

The reason for dumping INT would be the versatile performance ability, which basically trains you in two skills at level two to the max of your perform skill in the appropriate perform category.

I would look at the skill list of the rest of your party members, and figure out how many skills you actually need.

The Rogue will be able to cover a number of skills, maybe the only one relevant to you is Knowledge Local.
The Druid/Ranger would be for Knowledge Nature
The Sorceress covers Knowledge Arcane and Spellcraft

So, given your bardic performance boost to knowledge, you can put one skill point into knowledge Planes, and even with the -2 from 7 you end up with 1+3+1-2 = +3. Put one point into performance (audio) and into performance (visual). You take your pick which ones, keeping in mind the versatile performance skills you will get in one level (Bluff or Diplomacy are pretty good, for example). You performance skill will be quite good (1+3+3)=+7 at level one.

There are other knowledges to put your last skill point into, but you should have the main ones (local, nature, arcana, planes) covered. Maybe Knowledge dungeoneering?

[Wind Chime]

Bards get 6 + int skills assuming a human that is 5 skills a level which is not bad at all. Once you start getting versatile performance you can then swap one skill for 2 (all of which get a class and a charisma bonus) and be very good at a multitude of skills with a low int.

[Cult of Vorg]

Does your group use the encumberance rules? If not, 7 Str for the win!

If so, then it's tough to handle even just weapon and armor that low. Definitely invest in a riding dog or pack mule for everything non-essential, and switch to bracers of armor asap. Crossbows and/or Dervish Dance. If you really want to be a lore master, then you could switch the int and wis.

If you don't want to be a master of all lore, consider dumping the Int. The bard gets abilities to make checks untrained, bardic knowledge will help with the knowledge rolls. Can you deal with 4-6 skill points per level, or do you need the 6-8 instead? (Human, Favored Class)

Strong charisma, so you could consider Sound Striker for the ranged attacks at 8th.

Dumping Wis can be fun for roleplay, but you never want to fail a Will save, and Perception is the most used skill in the game. Given the attributes you have to work with, though, it's probably either the 7 or the 10.

Alternatively, you could go combat bard, longspears are your friend. Str 17, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 7, Wis 7, Cha 10+2. 1: Power Attack, Lingering Performance, 3:Experimental Wordcaster (standard action summoning), 5: Spell Focus Conjuration, 7: Augment Summoning, 9:Combat Reflexes, 11: Discordant Voice.

[Eric Mason 37]

The crossbow wielding human bard sounds like a good build if you're sticking to core IMO.

[Pendagast]

Ented wrote:

So I'm a First Time PF Player. We are playing core only since me and 3 people are new to the Table Top RPG style and the two others are new to PF. Other party Members (6 man Party) are Dwarf Fighter (Melee/Tank), Halfling Rogue(Range), Dwarf Ranger (Range/Melee), Gnome Druid(Heals/Magic), Half-Elf Sorceress (Magic).

My 4d6 drop rolls came out as:
7 (2,2,2,3)
15 (6,6,3,2)
7 (2,2,3,2)
16 (6,6,4,2)
17 (6,6,1,5)
10 (5,2,3,2)

I don't know what to do with my 7s because they are so low, and since we are only playing core I can't figure out what to do. Aren't Bards supposed to be pretty balanced?

I read Treantmonk's Bard Guide and he says 7 is fine for Wis but do I dump Int?

Help and Advice Really Needed and Appreciated...

Elves get +2 to dex and Int. -2 to con.

So i would make an elf

S 16 dex 9(7) con 13(15) Int 9 (7) wis 10 cha 17

The dex can be bumped up at level 4 to have no more penalty and -1 int wont hurt the bard much.

If you went dwarf bard you'll get a hit to your cha, which is your primary score.

halfling might be a race you could work with too....

have you thought of other classes? Cleric or Fighter? they would do find with these stats

Cleric:

S 16
D 9 (+2 from human)
C 10
I 7
W 17
Ch 15

or elf Fighter:

S 17
D 17 (+2 from elf)
C 14 (-2 from elf)
I 9 (+2 from elf)
W 10
Ch 7

you could be one heck of a two weapon fighter/ archer/ switch hitter,

OR you could use elf curved blade and bow, slicey dicey and pokey pokey!

[Ented]

Thank you all so much for you're ideas. I'm thinking that I'll take a mash of what a lot of you are saying.

Also I talked to my DM and he said he would "look the other way on the encumbrance issue within 1-2 lbs so I'm thinking.

Elf: Str 7, Dex 15(+2), Con 16(-2), Int 10(+2), Wis 7, Cha 17
Human/Half-Elf: Str 7, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 7, Cha 17
Could put 2 points in Str(if eventually switching to bow), put in Cha or
make Cha 16 (+2) and Dex 17

I think I'm gonna stick to a Crossbow till the move/standard action to load gets annoying (unless rapid reload is worth it) then I'll probably go Shortbow (Longbow if Elf). If I switch I'll probably have put a point in strength to decrease the penalty.

For Feats I'm thinking Point Blank Shot, Extra Performance or Arcane Strike?

For Race I'm Really Unsure if I should go Elf, Half-Elf, or Human.

The benefit of human is I could take Point Blank Shot and Arcane Shot and get +1 to hit and +2 to damage within 30ft (only +1 damage beyond 30ft) whenever I have an available free action. Although with this setup I'm only going to get 7/8 rounds of Bardic Performance a day with my Level 1 Spells. While Extra Performance would put me at 13/14 performances...

[Eric Mason 37]

You might want to seriously consider getting Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot so that you avoid the -4 penalty if someone is in melee with the thing you are shooting.

At third level, Arcane Strike would be better than Extra Performance IMO. At really low levels, it's often better to attack rather than start a performance (foes often only have 5 or 6 HP so your melee characters are one-shotting them without any buff needed), and when the balance tips, you're going to have more rounds per day anyway.