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I recently had an idea for a support character in Pathfinder Society, a bard who adamantly professes that they are not the hero of the story, that they're just sticking around to be able to record the deaths of the actual heroes (the rest of the party). To that end I wanted to make a bard that can survive just about anything so he can endure just about anything, urging his allies to greater feats until their last breath.
Direct offensive capability is at the bottom of the list of priorities, while planting buffs and debuffs one the group along with having good skills-coverage are at the top alongside survivability.
Honestly if you are just doing bard song and casting buff spells, it is pretty unlikely you will be targeted very much anyway. I might take Great Fortitude to bump you weak save, but other than that I wouldn't overly worry.
This might be a great character to build toward dazzling display though, as that will give you something effective to do even when you have nothing to cast. Although that might be too heroic flavored for you.
High con and Toughness should be fine for survivability, and cha doesn't need to be all that high for a buff caster.
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Halfling Bard -
Str:8
Dex:18
Con:14
Int:10
Wis:10
Cha:16
Traits: Armor Expert & Fate's Favored(practically required for halflings)
Feat: Weapon Finesse (grab Fencing Grace ASAP)
Wear a mithril agile breastplate, wield rapier/heavy shield - and there ya go. Solid saves & very solid AC. Once you get the breastplate, your AC will be sitting at 23 before any magic.
Bards don't really need much help to cover skills & buffing - that's sort of inherent unless your archetype trades away bardic knowledge and/or versitile performance.
You could easily switch around the stats a bit to be more caster-based, but if you're going primarily for buffs you don't need to worry about DCs. Heck - my PFS bard's Cha is only 14. You might drop the charisma to beef up str or wis a couple points.
For debuffing without worrying about DCs - grab Blistering Invective.
Traits: Armor Expert & Fate's Favored(practically required for halflings)
No..it is not.
Read again- the racial bonus is racial, not luck. Which is a nice little message about halfings- they say it is luck, so you underestimate them, but it is pure skill.
There is an alt trait that gives them a +2 luck bonus to most d20 rolls, but it only works 3/day. So...it is a bit of a gamble. Sure, with fate's favored, that goes up to +3...but you might run out at the worst time.
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I'm not sure if you're stating that the bonus halflings get is a competence bonus, which it's not as it's a racial, but you are correct in that Fate's Favored doesn't apply to their bonus to saves. It would, however, work on their alternate Adaptable Luck racial trait, though.No..it is not.
Read again- the racial bonus is competence, not luck. Which is a nice little message about halfings- they say it is luck, so you underestimate them, but it is pure skill.
Adaptable Luck is pretty terrible though. I'd much rather have a +1 to all saves all the time than a +2 to one save or attack 3 times per day.
I'm not sure if you're stating that the bonus halflings get is a competence bonus, which it's not as it's a racial, but you are correct in that Fate's Favored doesn't apply to their bonus to saves. It would, however, work on their alternate Adaptable Luck racial trait, though.No..it is not.
Read again- the racial bonus is competence, not luck. Which is a nice little message about halfings- they say it is luck, so you underestimate them, but it is pure skill.
Realized that mistake rather immediately, and edited it rather quickly. I am surprised you actually managed to see it and write a response in the couple minutes it took me to change it. But thus is the risk of my writing style, I suppose.
And I still say that the extremely limited use still seems like an issue. Particularly when you are also using a trait on it, which could be used on a constant save raising feat.
3/day you get a +3...and then a +0 the rest of the time....versus a +1 to reflex+will and a +2 to fort all the time.
DM for your table and make your bard an NPC.
;) Your welcome!!!
In something higher-level than PFS, a Skald's Raging Song could fit the ballot pretty well.
If you really want to be invincible? Take two levels in Enlightened Champion Paladin, for +2 AC and +Cha to all saves; or one level in Lore Oracle with a divine SLA to qualify for Divine Protection and get roughly the same thing. Add a +X Mithral Buckler, play a Gnome, and using only Cha and Con you're the most defensive character on the team.
EDIT: Although actually, a Lore Oracle focused on recording the world with a Breadth of Expertise or similar feat could accomplish much of the same thing without multiclassing.