helpful bard

[gossamar4]

I'm planning on embracing the bard philosophy of helping others achieve greatness, and interested in suggestions for what to tweak, plan for, consider, ect. to be the player shining the spotlight on OTHER players.

I'm planning on straight bard (possibly the song healer to boost wands of CLW to higher levels "cheaply"). I plan to focus on versatility, skills, and buffs. I would love a focus on: inspire courage, to give other players the boost they need.

I play PFS mostly so keep that in mind when making suggestions. Here's where I plan to start:

Human Bard 1

Str: 10 not melee?
Dex: 14 initiative, ac, ranged
Con: 12 extra HP
Int: 14 extra skills
Wis: 8 dump
Cha: 18 (16 + 2 Racial) primary

Feats:
(H) Fast learner (hp AND skills, or skills AND spells)
(1st) Lingering Performance (triple the rounds of performance)

Traits:

Maestro of Society (extra performances)
Reactionary? (+2 Initiative)

So here are some specific questions I have:

1. Are the 18 cha (bonus spells, performance, cha based skill use) benefits better than raising 1 or 2 other stats?

2. Should I plan on ranged (point blank tree) feats and/or dervish dance?

3. Other than gaining levels in bard, is there any way to increase "inspire courage"?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

[Magda Luckbender]

1. Probably not. For example, with just 3 more points in strength the character could have basic melee competence. Here's one person who played such a bard levels 1-15. Does s/he really need to be so smart? CON 12 is a bit low: CON 14 would be better for survival.

2. You could invest additional resources in martial skill, but to what end? Is it worth a feat to have better martial skill? If so, you would probably get more from Power Attack. It depends what you want the PC to do ...

3. Yes, but none are practical. There are some very expensive magic items.

[TGMaxMaxer]

Instead of Human, Take Musetouched Aasimar (especially for PFS where darkvision is a life or death on some low level scenarios, namely darkness-at-will-sneak-attacking enemies) Needs a $8 splatbook pdf(Blood of Angels), but is PFS legal. It also gives a couple of new decent masterpieces. With the Scion of Humanity trait, you also get to count as Human for feats/FCB, so you can either boost a bardic performance (at lower levels) or get new spells known at higher levels.

+2 Dex/Cha +2 Diplo/perform Glitterdust SLA (awesome at low levels).

Unless you are planning on maneuvers, you should have plenty of skill points with a 12 Int.

Use a Whip (since you can) to Aid Another often. Hitting AC 10 should be fairly easy.

With this build Str 12 Dex 17(15) Con 12 Int 12 Wis 10 Cha 17(15)

You have positive modifiers to all stats, have good dex and cha, and the Aasimar FCB is to increase a bardic performance by 1/2 levels.

Remember, unless you trade it out, Well Versed means perform does double duty so you don't really need all the skills. (at 1st level, spread them out, then retrain a couple out at the free rebuild when you don't need so many). You can get by on the big 6 creature ID knowledges (arcana, dungeoneering, local, nature, religion, planes)at 1pt per 2 levels with bardic knowledge and still be good. Then a few skills just to even out any armor check penalty (climb/swim) with a scattering of other skills (perform, social, perc, spellcraft).

My bard is sorta known as "Death by Proxy". Blistering Invective, Inspire Courage, and let everyone else mop up.

[Insain Dragoon]

If you just want to be helpful does that mean you wont be using spells offensively? If so then you don't need a CHA higher than 16. Also never dump wisdom below 10.

[Darksol the Painbringer]

To be honest, I wouldn't bother with being melee. Unless you're Full BAB (or get abilities that grant Full BAB), it's not worth your time.

Spells and Aid Another is the way to go. Being Halfling, you can Aid Another for up to +9 to Hit, AC, Saves. You can also Fight Defensively, granting even more bonuses to AC, CMD, and Reflex Saves, making any would-be attackers a joke, and confirming your friendly Martials lower BAB attacks. Building Tankey yourself will help you maintain these benefits, so dumping Wisdom isn't a great option.

You'll also focus on Buff and CC spells; Heroism, Dominate Person/Monster, Hideous Laughter, Wall of Sound, etc.

Starting at an 18 Charisma isn't the end of the world, but a 20 Charisma is more ideal. Having 6 Skill Points/Level means you can dump Int. For you to Aid Another more often via Bodyguard feat and Combat Reflexes, you'll need a much higher Dex score (16 works, though again, 18 is optimal).

Azata-Blooded Aasimar is ideal, granting +2 Dex and +2 Cha with no drawbacks; Glitterdust SLA is great utility early levels, and the Skill bonuses fit perfectly.

[MrSin]

Darksol the Painbringer wrote:

To be honest, I wouldn't bother with being melee. Unless you're Full BAB (or get abilities that grant Full BAB), it's not worth your time.

Bards do. Performance and buffs go a long way. They don't get full BAB+ though. Not the best, but far from the worst.

Anyways, if your going society I suggest you consider a backup plan for combat. There will be combat, and the day you sit at a table where everyone's a helpful whatever bad things can happen.

[Darksol the Painbringer]

MrSin wrote:

Darksol the Painbringer wrote:

To be honest, I wouldn't bother with being melee. Unless you're Full BAB (or get abilities that grant Full BAB), it's not worth your time.

Bards do. Performance and buffs go a long way. They don't get full BAB+ though. Not the best, but far from the worst.

Anyways, if your going society I suggest you consider a backup plan for combat. There will be combat, and the day you sit at a table where everyone's a helpful whatever bad things can happen.

If it's Society, then I suppose it could. Of course, if he does too well, then the GMs will complain and then they'll just nerf Bards, so it's probably best he does melee and die in the first few levels, before we lose the only buff bot the game has to offer.

[Atarlost]

MrSin wrote:

Darksol the Painbringer wrote:

To be honest, I wouldn't bother with being melee. Unless you're Full BAB (or get abilities that grant Full BAB), it's not worth your time.

Bards do. Performance and buffs go a long way. They don't get full BAB+ though. Not the best, but far from the worst.

Actually, they can get Full+ if they really want to. They already match full BAB power attack with inspire courage, power attack, and arcane strike. Heroism's 40+ minutes of +2 to attack from levels 4-10 and at 10 they can instead get a short term level/3 (max +5) attack, damage, and AC boost from Dance of a Hundred Cuts. It's a round lost at the beginning of combat, but you'd be effectively losing that anyways with move action performance, and it's better than weapon training.

[Theconiel]

If you are willing to play a halfling, there is a halfling trait (Helpful) that lets you add +4 instead of +2 when you use Aid Another.

[Darksol the Painbringer]

Theconiel wrote:

If you are willing to play a halfling, there is a halfling trait (Helpful) that lets you add +4 instead of +2 when you use Aid Another.

He can get the Scion of Humanity Racial Trait, get Racial Heritage (Halfling) at first level, and pick that character trait. Costs a feat, but definitely worth it over a -2 Strength; especially if he's going to try and be a Melee bard.

It also allows him access to several Halfling only feats which help with Aid Another as well as Fighting Defensively to grant nearby allies bonuses to AC, CMD, Reflex Saves, and more.