| Kylosera |
My stats are as follows:
STR - 10
DEX - 19
CON - 12
INT - 14
WIS - 16
CHA - 18
I'm playing a Ninja right now, 2nd level, and I have to say I'm enjoying myself. I love the playstyle, even though I'm sure I'm doing it wrong. The problem is that I don't help my group enough, and I want to change that. My feat path is already kind of wonky since I had to take Weapon Finesse at level 1 to even attempt to deal melee damage. I was thinking about multiclassing as a Bard, but I don't know if that's a good idea at all. Please help, and thank you :D
Suthainn
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A level of Archaeologist Bard with the Lingering Performance feat (and if possible Fates Favoured trait) would certainly add a ton of bonuses to you pretty much all the time, it also gives access to the Saving Finale spell which helps ensure you don't fail saving throws as well as having other spells such as Cure Light Wounds on your list which makes wands of them far easier to use.
| Kylosera |
I actually custom-made my race, but my GM has been really nice about letting me get what I want with it - my character is half Sylph, half Undine(a Syldine, if you will), with Breeze-kissed, Dark Vision, Swim, and Amphibious as Racial Traits. The best(or worst) part is that my character already has Perform, and constantly plays their lute because of their back story. I like your recommendation Suthainn, and I'm excited to try it out. When do you think I should look into multiclassing?
| Desidero |
Archaeologist is a very strong dip, but it loses the bard's ability to really boost the whole party, which I think is what you were looking for. If you want to really help your team I recommend looking into Intimidate feats such as Enforcer or Dazzling Display. This would really help your team out and allow you to get Sneak Attack off more easily.
| Kylosera |
Dazzling Display looks amazing - do I need Weapon Focus and proficiency, or is it one or the other? Desidero, would you still recommend the Archaeologist, or is there another Bard archetype that would work better if I'm focusing on support? And uh... for Enforcer, is that nonlethal in terms of like, an attack with a weapon that deals lethal damage that doesn't kill, or a weapon like a sap that specifically deals nonlethal damage?
Suthainn
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It depends how you want to help support your party, either by making yourself more deadly and efficient in combat or by buffing them. If you want to buff them, then going all out standard bard from now on might be an idea, use your ki to go invisible and then cast buffs/sing to your hearts content and you can still follow Desideros advice and spend your feats focusing on making yourself an intimidater as well!
Alternatively (and my preferred option), help your party more by murdering the ever loving hell out of your enemies. As Justin notes, an odd level is great for a dip so you can pick up Lingering Performance immediately, I'd suggest 3rd to get the bonuses running ASAP. If your GM will let you grab Fates Favoured immediately as a trait or swap one for it, awesome, if not you might consider the Additional Traits feat at 5th as this will effectively double the boost from Archaeologists Luck. Your attacks will hit more often and harder, this works especially well if you're going Two Weapon Fighting, as the buffs from the bard apply to every single one of your attacks.
After that, just keep on with the Ninja levels to up your sneak attack, with the ability to go invisible almost at will from the Vanish trick you should be set up to deliver sneak attacks most rounds (make sure and use Vanish at the *end* of your round to set you up for the next round and to ensure you're invisible when it's the enemies turn to attack).
Other than that make sure to try and hit targets that don't want to be in melee, using your invisibility to get past their guards when possible. Item wise you might want to consider eventually looking at a pair of 'Sword of Subtlety', not cheap but +4 hit/dam is pretty amazing and given you'll be almost always invisible and sneak attacking can help save a good chunk of cash.
| Desidero |
Dazzling Display looks amazing - do I need Weapon Focus and proficiency, or is it one or the other? Desidero, would you still recommend the Archaeologist, or is there another Bard archetype that would work better if I'm focusing on support? And uh... for Enforcer, is that nonlethal in terms of like, an attack with a weapon that deals lethal damage that doesn't kill, or a weapon like a sap that specifically deals nonlethal damage?
You would need both the prerequisites for Dazzling Display. If you choose to pick it up make sure to check out Shatter Defenses as well. Maybe even Deadly Stroke if you end up really high level.
Re: Enforcer: Neither. Any time you do non-lethal damage. This can be with a weapon that specifically deals non-lethal damage such as a Whip, or by any other means of doing non-lethal damage (Blade of Mercy Trait, Bludgeoner feat, Frosbite Spellstrike, etc).
Taking a dip in Archaeologist is pretty good if you have the Fate's Favoured trait- especially good for you as you're pretty low on both to-hit bonuses and static damage. On the other hand, it does eat up your swift actions and delay your Ninja progression... So really either way is viable.
All of the advice you've received so far is really solid, anything you choose would end up pretty good. There's even some wackier stuff you can do like take two levels of Paladin for massive bonuses to all your saves and some Lay on Hands (make sure to take Reward of Life).
| Guardianlord |
Mysterious stranger is a good choice for better damage, and it uses your best stats, quick clear can be easily offset by a lucky enchanted gun (I like my double pistol for 2 shots in one round against touch and ranged sneak for my ninja), 2 double pistols and vanish kinda makes up for lower BAB.
Gunslinger will not raise your saves by much though, equipment is usually a better decision for increasing saves than class levels (too many and Ninja loses sneak damage, and advanced talents). Shadow leather, DEX belts, cloak of resistance, ring of protection, and amulet of natural armor should help with survivability. Agile, Keen Wakizashis should help with melee damage, poisons can help you debuff enemies a little (for the first few levels anyways).
I would be careful about invisibility and bardic performances, as it reduces your stealth, and you lack evasion for when wizards play whack-a-Bard with fireballs. It would be circumstantially beneficial to the party, and eat up your already valuable actions (Draw, move, vanish, wait by enemy. Then full round attack+sneak, then vanish and wait again).
| Kylosera |
I really like Justin and Suthainn's idea, dipping in to Archaelogist sounds like what I want to do. For whatever reason, I'm one of the only ones that ever hits anything (Wakizashi+Weapon Finesse helps) and it's important for me to do damage, but I want to help the party more as well, so Desidero also has a good path for my character too. Archaelogist really fits perfectly with my character from a background stand point, so I don't think I'd go for Gunslinger or even Paladin as a second class, though they both sound good in their own ways. I'll let you guys know what I end up doing, and post on here again so we can talk about how it worked out.
Tomos
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Dip Cleric for lots of (1d6)channel positive, Ki Channel Feat from Inner Sea Gods will be very useful; recharge 1 Ki in exchange for 1d6 healing.
A few low-level spells per day, plus use all divine scrolls/items without much trouble. Boost your weakest saves.
Domain suggestions: Darkness, Travel, Travel(Exploration), Chaos