I'm having trouble building a bard NPC/Cohort for a game I'm playing. I've read through the guides, but I'm still having trouble.
Here's what I've got to work with:
Race: Half-Elf
Stats: [16, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10] Array
Starting Level: 9th
Anything Paizo is allowed, 3rd party would be on a case by case basis.
We'll assume normal PC WBL since it's coming out of my character's pocket and he's got some money to spend.
My goals right now are party buffing and some capability in combat. I think that this is pretty doable under normal circumstances using either the standard bard or the arcane duelist archetype.
The problem is that this character will always have the disadvantage of being a few levels behind.
So, given my goals, what are my best options? Can I build something that will hold up in combat?