[PFS] Direction for a support Bard

[RainyDayNinja]

I'm leveling up a PFS bard to level 5, but I'm not quite sure where to take him. I play him exclusively alongside my wife's Fighter (Elf with Weapon Finesse/Power Attack on an Elven Curve Blade), and right now he looks like this:

Emberkin Aasimar Bard 4
7/14/14/16/12/18
Traits: Reactionary, Desperate Resolve
FCB: +1/2 to level for Inspire Courage

1: Lingering Performance
2: Versatile Performance (Oratory)
3: Improved Initiative
4:

Spells:
1st: Feather Step, Grease, Feather Fall, Charm Person
2nd: Heroism, Ghostbane Dirge

Until now, I've been spending my turns in combat juggling a Lingering Inspire Courage and taking pot shots with a crossbow, but now I'm looking to kick it up a notch. I need a new feat (and now that I have more rounds of performance, I'm open to retraining Lingering Performance), and another 2nd-level spell (and I get a free spell swap on top of that), but I don't know what to take. Some ideas I've considered are:

1) Retrain Lingering Performance to Skill Focus, then take Eldritch Heritage to pick up a familiar.

2) Retrain Lingering Performance to Spell Focus (evocation), pick up Spell Specialization with Ear-Piercing Scream, and add a little blasting to my toolbox (Thundering Drums looks like fun when I get to level 7).

3) Pick up a more broadly useful Spell Focus, such as Enchantment.

Any other ideas on where I can take this? I'm not terribly interested in using a whip or focusing on Intimidate (I don't have any ranks in it yet) for Dazzling Display or anything like that, but I'm open to suggestions.

[Rory]

If you are an arcane duelist, you could have a rapier be your arcane bond and make it agile for half price. You'd have to pick up the feat Weapon Finesse to hit better. You'll never be stellar damage, but it is an option if you like weapon using.

If you are support (only), then pick up the feat Flagbearer to give your party a +1/+1 morale bonus within 30 feet of your that is nearly always up. This leads in to the Banner of the Ancient Kings, which is all sorts of nice bonuses for a bard.

For spells, Blistering Invective is great for area effect debuffing and doing a little damage. This would require some Intimidate skill points of course.

You could get into summononing flocks of summoned monsters. With the extra bonuses that you grant, they become okay damage, absorb damage, and act as flankers and delays. If nothing else, you get to roll a lot of dice.

Since you are built pretty much solely to help your wife's fighter, then I'd suggest maintaining focus on buffing her (Heroism, Good Hope, Haste) and debuffing monsters. Grease, Glitterdust, Slow, and Fear are great for drastically hampering foes without removing them as a threat. It allows your team to mop up with some fun attacking rather than putting away their dice on failed saves.

EDIT: Added Mechanical Suggestions

- retrain Lingering Performance into Spell Focus: Conjuration (good for Grease and Glitterdust, pre-req for summoning goodness)
- free retrain spell Ghostbane Dirge to Glitterdust
- pick up the spell Monster Summoning II at level 5
- pick up Augment Summoning feat at level 5, spamming the field with celestial eagles or small elementals
- save up madly for the Banner of the Ancient Kings, retrain the Improved Initiative feat into Flagbearer when you can get the banner
- pick up Good Hope (or Haste) and Monster Summoning III spells at level 7
- pick up Fear (or Slow) at level 8 (Dirge of Doom + debuff spell is a nice combat starter)

End State:
- great buffing
- good summoning
- good debuffing

[Malag]

Hey RainyDayNinja,

I haven't played bard to much as a player, but there is few things to recommend:
- Your wife's fighter might later struggle with Saving Throws and picking up Saving Finale spell (level 1) might help her out in overcoming them.
- Get some scrolls/potions of Lesser Restoration for low STR score
- Lingering Performance is great, but most of time you won't manage to waste all spells/abilities during a single PFS scenario. I would take Extra Bardic Perfomance instead if I had to choose.
- Usual common route for bard is to focus on archery due to higher DEX and lower STR. Taking exclusive casting route might leave you crippled a bit in specific encounters.
- Consider Aid Another. Using Aid Another, Flank and Inspire Courage, on level 1, bard could grant ally additional +5 to hit not including other possible bonuses.
- Your biggest question is, what am I gonna do in combat when opponent is immune to mind-affecting effects.
- Take a look at bardic masterpieces!

That's all I could think of at the moment,

Adam

[Fourshadow]

What is REALLY awesome with Thundering Drums is the Magical Lineage trait. Then, you can apply Intensified Spell to it for a whopping 10d8 sonic damage and still only use up a 3rd level spell.

I think most will dissuade you from retraining Lingering Performance. It is useful. Also, Inspire Courage is going to give you exactly what the spell Heroism is upon reaching the very next level. I don't believe morale bonuses stack... As for spell related feats, I don't think there is much better than the aforementioned Intensified Spell.

Have you considered Masterpieces? Some are quite intriguing. Also, they beat Spell Resistance as they are Supernatural.

[Brad McDowell]

What about the spells Saving Finale or Timely Inspiration to help the wife?

[RainyDayNinja]

@Rory: I'm not keen on the summoning route, because I want to let my wife shine, and that means not jockeying for melee attention. Flagbearer is an interesting feat, although the bonus wouldn't stack with Heroism. I'll consider it.

@Malag: Saving Finale does look good. I'll consider swapping that in. Also, I didn't see any bardic masterpieces that piqued my interest (at least, not that I could use Oratory or Dance for). Which ones do you recommend?

@Fourshadow: Of course, I'd have to take Additional Traits to make that work (and I have a magic trait, so it would have to be Wayang Spellhunter instead). I'd probably just go with a rod, although that means I can't combine it with Empowered Spell. Also, Inspire Courage is a competence bonus, so it does stack with Heroism. What masterpieces do you think are intriguing?

@Brad McDowell: I may take Saving Finale, but the bonus from Timely Inspiration doesn't stack with Inspire Courage (and scales more slowly), so it seems useless to me.

[Iacobus Higgenstrom]

Flagbearer - it's an always-up bonus that's a better use for your hands than pot-shotting with a crossbow. And it sets you up for a Banner of the Warrior Kings at higher levels. (Doesn't stack with heroism, but you weren't going to heroism the whole party anyway, and heroism doesn't get weapon damage.)

This alias has a link to my PFS bard's stat block if you want to look at some ideas. i have a similar bard (although he's human for all the spells!)

[Fourshadow]

Most of the really interesting ones are at the cost of a 4th or 5th level spell. I would only get them through the human FCB, though. Exchanging free spells known for free masterpieces known is very nice.

The lowest level one that I really like is Dumbshow of Gorroc, though some would say it is far too situational. But if you have ever had to fight plants or oozes, this will take them down. Plus, it could be useful on other enemies with bad Reflex saves and Spell Resistance won't save them!

[Sammy T]

Battle Cry (for the re-roll) and Flag Bearer (w/ banner of Ancient Kings to boost Flag Bearer and Inspire).

[Rory]

RainyDayNinja wrote:

@Rory: I'm not keen on the summoning route, because I want to let my wife shine, and that means not jockeying for melee attention. Flagbearer is an interesting feat, although the bonus wouldn't stack with Heroism. I'll consider it.

Skip the summoning then and just be:

- great buffing
- good debuffing

The summoned monsters were mostly +2 to hit flank buddies and some damage avoidance (for the cost of a feat and a spell choice or two), but are really a secondary feature only. You'll have trouble getting to use them prior to the battle being over on many occasions anyways. You'll have too many potential other actions to do too much summoning.

Flagbearer doesn't stack with Heroism or the more appropriate comparison of Good Hope. However, Flagbearer (with the banner) replaces Good Hope (spell choice, spell slot, and action economy), which allows you to pick and cast Haste instead. At level 7, you will add +5/+5 and Haste to your wife on the first round of combat.

It is the synergy of the Banner of the Ancinet Kings that really drives Flagbearer through the roof though. You get +4 Init with it as well as +4 effective bard levels with Inspire Courage. Crazy good.

[RainyDayNinja]

Ooh, I like Battle Cry! An extra little boost to attack rolls on top of Inspire Courage, and that re-roll is sweet.

Banner of Ancient Kings + Flagbearer would be nice, but it would be pretty late in my PFS career before I can get it.

[RainyDayNinja]

Minor Correction: my last 1st-level spell is Vanish, not Charm Person. Also, since I haven't played at level 4, my 2nd-level spells are still up in the air.

So I'm thinking I'll take Battle Cry for my level 5 feat, and then use my level 5 spell swap to switch Vanish for Saving Finale. For 2nd-level spells, I'm looking at Heroism, Glitterdust, and... Sound Burst? Investigative Mind? Whip of Spiders? I'm not quite sure yet. Whip of Spiders would be ballin' if I could use my regular spell DC as the DC of the poison and distraction of the swarm, but I doubt it.

[Jiggy]

RainyDayNinja wrote:

Ooh, I like Battle Cry! An extra little boost to attack rolls on top of Inspire Courage, and that re-roll is sweet.

Note that some GMs think the re-roll only applies to fear effects.

[Rerednaw]

Brad McDowell wrote:

What about the spells Saving Finale or Timely Inspiration to help the wife?

Bards FTW!

Both of these are excellent spells. My bards always take the former and the second fairly often. Re-rolls and retro-active adds can turn around a "oh crap or "just missed" situation.

I don't know the rest of your party makeup, but if there are not any other casters, then Glitterdust would be a level 2 spell of choice. Multiple uses, bypasses SR.

EDIT: Duh it's PFS. I'd drop Timely Inspiration based on that alone. Competence bonuses are common enough including your own class ability.
+1 on the retrain out of Lingering Performance, the higher you go, the less you need LP.

If you want to go with a simple set up you could be a ranged bard (Point-Blank shot, Precise shot and Rapid shot at 5th).

Spell-wise...well some folks swear by Allegro but I've never used it. Sound Burst is handy for area control. Invisibility is an oldie but goodie but you already have Glitterdust so it would be somewhat redundant. Hurm tough call.

[RainyDayNinja]

Rerednaw wrote:

Brad McDowell wrote:

What about the spells Saving Finale or Timely Inspiration to help the wife?

Bards FTW!

Both of these are excellent spells. My bards always take the former and the second fairly often. Re-rolls and retro-active adds can turn around a "oh crap or "just missed" situation.

I don't know the rest of your party makeup, but if there are not any other casters, then Glitterdust would be a level 2 spell of choice. Multiple uses, bypasses SR.

The bonus from Timely Inspiration doesn't stack with Inspire Courage, so I doubt it would be useful very often.

Glitterdust is definitely in, but I'm not sure about my third 2nd-level spell.

[RainyDayNinja]

Bumping this, because I should be hitting level 7 soon. My plan is to retrain Lingering Performance to a Skill Focus (Knowledge (something)), and take Eldritch Heritage (Arcane) to get a bonded item (which essentially boils down to another haste every day).

What I'm unsure about is what bonded item to take. I can get a rather expensive item for half price based on what it is, but I'm trying to balance gold savings against how long it takes for me to afford it.

Right now, I'm looking at a Ring of Wizardry II. That will cost 20,000 gp on a bonded item, and gives me enough spell slots to hand out heroism like candy. But I probably won't be able to afford it until level 9 or 10, even with the discount. I could go with the level I, so I can keep Heightened Awareness up all the time, but I'm not sure how impressed I am with that. Any other ideas?

[Kysune]

RainyDayNinja wrote:

Bumping this, because I should be hitting level 7 soon. My plan is to retrain Lingering Performance to a Skill Focus (Knowledge (something)), and take Eldritch Heritage (Arcane) to get a bonded item (which essentially boils down to another haste every day).

What I'm unsure about is what bonded item to take. I can get a rather expensive item for half price based on what it is, but I'm trying to balance gold savings against how long it takes for me to afford it.

Right now, I'm looking at a Ring of Wizardry II. That will cost 20,000 gp on a bonded item, and gives me enough spell slots to hand out heroism like candy. But I probably won't be able to afford it until level 9 or 10, even with the discount. I could go with the level I, so I can keep Heightened Awareness up all the time, but I'm not sure how impressed I am with that. Any other ideas?

Is that even legal to pick a wonderous item as a bonded item to get it at half price? Seems like a cheap gimmick honestly. Someone could save up 40k and later use that trick to get an 80k priced weapon or armor/etc.

-----
*goes on a short rant* Somehow there's a ruling to use Arcane Bonds to cut a 40k item in half to a 20k item but there's no ruling to allow rope to be made out of Darkleaf. So I'm stuck with a 0hardness 2hp Rope Dart in PFS....
-----

Ok, back to the topic. Silence is a pretty sound 2nd level spell, along with Heroism and Glitterdust. If you haven't taken the Triple Time masterpiece yet you may want to do that and sacrifice a 1st level spell known. +10ft movespeed to the entire party for 1 hour is pretty worthwhile.

[Fruian Thistlefoot]

Pageant of the peacock if you have the right performance and bluff skill. Make wizards look stupid on know checks.

Focusing on enchant works well. Just pick up some lesser rods. The one that works against constructs would be good.

A good 2nd level spell is glitterdust. Very versitle and effective.

[Deadmanwalking]

I'd definitely advise grabbing more save-or-suck spells. Your combat's mediocre due to your stats, but your Save DCs are pretty high due to 18 Cha, and can be raised higher with Spell Focus if you like (probably in Enchantment).

I'd particularly recommend Glitterdust. It's a hilariously awesome and useful spell at this level, and will potentially win whole encounters.

[RainyDayNinja]

I've got my spells picked at this point. Right now I'm just trying to figure out what bonded item to take (I guess I should have started a separate thread for that...)

[Drogos]

Did you go with Saving Finale? If you did, I would actually keep Lingering Performance. You are at a point when saving throws become more important and being able to grant extra rolls vs. saves and not have your inspire bonuses slack is pretty awesome. Plus you'll be getting to the level where you can start it as a move, greatly enhancing your buffing and spell casting economy.

As for Bonded Item, I'm not certain what your current gear or build looks like so I can't say for certain. I'd likely suggest wearable over something else, simply because I'm not a fan of keeping a hand tied up to be able to cast.