This is my 1st bard and after a lot of research and debating, I've decided on a Dawnflower Dervish.
Here is what I've put together so far, any suggestions or tweaks would be greatly appreciated.
Race: Elf (fluff)
PFS(20 pt buy)
str = 10
dex = 16 (18 racial)
con = 14 (12 racial)
int = 9 (11 racial)
wis = 7
cha = 16
traits:
Blade of mercy (for enforcer combo and fluff)
Maestro of Society? (something useful and fluff)
or
Warrior of Old?
feat:
dervish dance
arcane strike
or
enforcer
I'm not a min/maxer, and tend to add a lot of roleplaying fluff to my characters, but I also don't like playing a character that is not effective or can't contribute to both: encounters and role playing. Of course this is only lvl 1, but anything "wrong" with what I've got here, or I should consider for needs/prereqs/ect down the road?
You could add in 2 levels of order of the cockatrice cavalier. Later on. Perhaps banner bearer archetype or however it's called. That would give you a damage boost through challenge, increase your BAB to get your second attack earlier and, best of all, give you dazzling display. If you already want to use intimidate, for enforcer, that would be a good fit. If you do I'd take maestro of the society to offset the performance rounds lost by the dip. Or magical knack to offset some of the casting power lost.
Apart from that the build looks good.
Why is there sound striker in the title?
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I apologize in advance if this is too long or min/maxish. The archtype combo requires quite a bit of work to make it effective but at no point does it ever sacrifice flavor.
Just to start does this have to be an Elf or can we use an Azata-blooded Aasimar? They are pretty much the paragons of being a bard with +2 dex and +2 chr, a glitterdust spell-like for early combat, and a +1/2 lvl favored class bonus to bardic performance.
From a fluff standpoint the Azata tend toward CG and often make great followers of Sarenrae. The enforcer combo for non-lethal damage fits very well into the redemption aspects of this god.
Traits: Take Blade of Mercy and Maestro of the Society.
Feats: Dervish Dance and Enforcer make this character brutal starting at level 1. You will have dex to hit and damage, and make free action intimidates which almost auto-succeed. They do not get a save, you must beat a static DC of 10+HD+wis for the target. Look toward a keen scimitar so that you can frighten them on a 15-20 later.
Take Arcane Strike. I later took the Moonlight Stalker feat line and used Mistmail to gain concealment.
Masterpieces: Take Dance of 23 Steps. Dodge bonus to AC and stacks with combat expertise from the Moonlight line.
Take Pageant of the Peacock. You now know so much it puts the wizard to shame.
At level 7 you get Symphony of the Elysian Heart also known as Mass Freedom of Movement.
Late game look to take Requiem of the Fallen Priest-King and Legato Piece on the Infernal Bargain.
After maxing the number of attacks from Weird Words look into a Paladin dip. This gives excellent saves and I feel brings great flavor; an Aasimar who uses Legato to call in his Azata brethren to redeem Evil-doers.
What does an Azata point buy look like? With our racial:
STR = 7
DEX = 18
CON = 14
INT = 13 (for Moonlight Stalker feat line)
WIS = 7
CHA = 18
Warning: Weird Words was a hotly debated ability. It is a very attention grabbing ability at tables and requires large amount of dice as well as a lot of on-the-fly math. It requires many rolls from your GM, many rolls from yourself, and in general can break the flow of the game if not quickly resolved. If you still want to use this skill keep in mind that no official FAQ has been released and for the time being it seems that none will be. This means the skill bypasses DR etc.
If you aren't ok with this consider the Thundercaller archetype. It is better than Sound Striker in every way and much less of a headache. Unfortunately you can't combine this with the Dawnflower Dervish.
Can you please explain how the favored class for the Aasimar helps?
"Bard: Choose one bardic performance; treat the bard as +1/2 level higher when determining the effects of that performance."
Since every bard level gives an additional 2/day performances... Does this just mean that every 2 favored class levels gives them an additional 2/day on top of the regular 2/level?
or
i.e. Inspire Courage = +1 attack and damage (+2 at lvl 5)
So, taking favored class at least 2 times (+1 lvl), at lvl 4 they would have a +2 attack and damage?
i.e. Inspire Courage = +1 attack and damage (+2 at lvl 5)So, taking favored class at least 2 times (+1 lvl), at lvl 4 they would have a +2 attack and damage?
This
I'm entertaining the idea of the Azata-Blooded Aasimar. Changing out Scion of Humanity (look human), and Truespeaker (extra languages)alternate racial traits. Stats for the 2 pt buy:
Str = 10
Dex = 18 (16+2)
Con = 12
Int = 14
Wis = 8
Cha = 16 (14+2)
I'm curious, what your thoughts on Int vs Con?
12 or 14 for either. As a bard, does an extra skill outweigh an extra hp? Plus the bonus to all Knowledge skills?
or
As a combat based bard, do hp outweigh skill points and Int skills?
Well, from a statistical standpoint a bard already has a ton of skills but not a ton of hp, so relatively speaking a +1 to hp is going to add a heck of a lot more per level than a +1 to skills.
Also, as far as favored class bonus goes, note that the Dawnflower gets a doubled benefit from battle dance... meaning that a level 8 aasimar dawnflower can be rolling along with a +6 inspire courage. +6.
Does Scion of Humanity allow an Aasimar to use the human favored class option to add a spell (1 lvl lower than highest) to the bard's spells known list?
It would seem to if it affects feat prerequisites, but I wouldn't bet on it. By the way, you get Dervish Dance for free so you don't need to go taking that one. Since I'm just kicking around here waiting for a d/l here's some other thoughts on a Bard-
Allegro: a spell that lets you haste yourself on the same turn you started your bardic performance.
Dazzling Blade: a delayed spell which with your reasonable charisma you can try to throw some blinds around against hostile bruisers. Its level 1, swift action to cast, and then just hangs around until you zap something with it, so you got nothing to lose trying anyways.
Skill Focus & Arcane Heritage Feats: lets you get a sorcerer bloodline power and has great fluff. Arcane bloodline could give you a bonded scimitar (like a wizard) which makes it cheap and easy to improve your weapon enhancement and lets you cast an extra spell per day. Fey Bloodline gives you the awesomeness of the laughing touch power.
Power Attack Feat: Most people would disagree, but I'd possibly drop 2 charisma, pick up 3 strength, and take power attack later on. The damage bonus is only one handed, but its still about 20% more depending on what you have going on, and it applies on scimitar crits. Either way, when you have that absurd battle dance bonus plus haste and heroism, whats a couple ab?
Moonlight Stalker Feat: I'm actually not a big fan of this one here; you need a 3-feat chain with an int requirement AND you need concealment, all for a +2/+2. By comparison, your battle dance is giving you +6/+6 and even arcane strike is giving you +2 damage.
FYI sound striker Bard is up for Errata and has been for months, unless they very recently finally came up with a decision on how to handle it. Expect the archetype to get beat down with the nerf stick, and based on the devs initial proposed changes very hard.
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You use the Aasimar favored class bonus on Weird Words to gain more attacks sooner.
The Pageant of the Peacock masterpiece uses bluff in place of all int skills so normally you can just take HP each level. Keep in mind much like Sound Striker there is a chance the nerf bat will be falling on this as well.