So, I'm wanting to play a bard in Council of Thieves. It's gonna be about a 20 point buy (I get an additional 1 point given for being either Chaotic or Lawful, and an additional 2 points given for being either Good or Evil, for a max possible of a 23 point build). The races are core, plus Aasimar, Tiefling, and Dhampir.
Two traits, one of which must be a campaign trait and the other can be from anywhere. Another good house rule is that you get Weapon Finesse for free and also a free point in Craft, Profession, or Perform.
So, the idea I had was a self-serving bard with great socials who tricks the hell outta people. So, the question is, how do we get there?
What do you want to do in combat? Damage, control, buffs, debuffs, melee, archery, casting? Bards can be built to be good at one or two of those.
I would say that he'd want to be in melee (since I've really not been a huge ranged fan, in the past). I like the idea of debuffs, since there will probably be someone in the group who can buff. Sort of have it so that he's an easier time hiding his casting, if need be.
Do you want inspire courage? If not perhaps take a look at the court bard. They are a debuffer (they have satire which is essentially the opposite of inspire courage). If you do want inspire courage you might want to consider an arcane dualist or a chelish diva.
I think the chelish diva really could be a lot of fun. There's one in competition, but I'm gonna try to be competitive. What spells, traits, and feats would you suggest?
Are there any limits on source books? E.g. are the feats from the faction guide allowed? (I'm thinking of Master and Grand Master performer)
http://nethys.karuikage.net/feats.htm
For a melee bard you'd want power attack, weapon focus and discordant voice for sure. You may want Arcane strike to boost damage, or perhaps go down the feat tree to get shatter defences. For higher level play there is eldritch heritage feat tree (orc is good if you want to focus on melee) to consider.
saaaaand maaaaaan!
sneak attack and steal spell, awesome.... option to go into arcane trickster, without actually multiclassing first , FTW!
Party will be probably 4-6 people. Stealthy is definitely an idea. Either stealthy or buffs and debuffs. And yeah, Chaotic Good is the way I'm seeing.
Problem with the dervish is that inspire courage is self only, which may be a shame if there are other melee or archers characters.
You can build for stealth on a bard, you'll want a race with darkvision and perhaps skill focus stealth and eldritch heritage feat chain with the umbral bloodline. That gives a buff to stealth (cloak of shadows) and hide in plain sight eventually (you could also go for shadow dancer PRC if you want hide in plain sight quicker).
I personally had a lot of fun in CoT as a Rakshasa-blooded Tiefling Sandman bard taking Arcane Heritage for the Rakshasa bloodline. Ridiculously high Disguise checks with some subtle magic will get you anywhere. Not so much on combat abilities, but CoT has a lot of elements of espionage and intrigue, which the Sandman bard does quite wonderfully.
At level 3, my bard had a +34 to Disguise with Alter Self + Disguise Self, with a really high Bluff check and the ability to read thoughts. At higher levels, the modifiers get absurd enough that you could convince the local population that you were the Queen herself.
You must have given your DM some plot headaches!