I've heard great things about this class, but now I'm trying to build one and it just feels "empty". In particular, how is it better than an Urban Ranger? Is the "point" to be a master jack-of-all-trades? Are there some really great bard spells I should be on the lookout for?
BTW, this character is meant for Hell's Rebels, so I thought Charisma based would be good, but it looks like you can lead groups well enough with the Natural Born Leader trait from that AP.
It's a good Rogue and a poor Bard. That about sum's it up...
It's better than Urban Ranger in all the usual ways Bards are better than Ranger: It has better utility and versatility, but lower damage output.
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Well with fate's favored you get a +1 accuracy over full bab and you have +2 to all your saves and damage, and it scales as you level. You get free feats, any combat at lv4 and weapon focus at lv8, or you could get rouge stuff if you want. It's a swift action to activate this buff, one of the few that exist, so you're able to have it up when you need it and it doesn't ruin your action economy for it. Lingering performance takes care of all the rounds you need in a day. You still get bardic knowledge and you get a boost to perception and disable device so you're good at a bunch of skills. And evasion. Plus your spells are a lot wider uses than the rangers.
But if you're asking people to sell it to you, it might not be a class that's a good fit for you.
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The bard list is great and has some fantastic buffs available early. You get Heroism as a 2nd level spell. Haste, Glibness, Good Hope are also good for the team. You have some surprisingly good control with grease, glitterdust, mad monkeys, and rain of frogs.
That plus the generally awesome luck feature (fate's favored is almost mandatory), and bonuses to perception and rogue talents make you a better rogue than a rogue.
Bard in general is great, and archaeologist makes it more focused on single combat and traps. But it has a lot of options.
The point is pretty much to be Indiana Jones, in a silly way.
Most of what it enjoys over Urban Ranger though is the bugbear that I desperately hope doesn't de-rail this thread: Spells. Grease, Timely Inspiration, Touch of Gracelessness - generally, some tricks to help you deliver your attacks.
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Be Indiana Jones. Win all the ladies and /or gentlemen with your sheer wit. Always escape by the skin of your teeth and look dashing while doing so! Find the traps, see the plots (or pretend that you see them anyhow).
All the buffs, for you, for your friends, for you, for people who might be your friends later, for you, for people who used to be your friends but then there was that really weird night with a bottle of booze and well you both regret it but it's not really something you talk about anymore and I guess you should probably just let it go, but they always look at you in this weird way that seems to suggest that they know something that you don't and it's just kinda awkward now; Oh and don't forget you.
It's also worth pointing out that the bonus from archaeologist's luck is a luck bonus, which is otherwise pretty hard to come by and stacks with everything (including heroism). Also a very self-reliant character.
Play a race that gets extra rounds of performance as a favored class bonus. Take Fates Favored as a trait to increase your luck bonus by +1. Take the spell heroism as soon as you get second level spells. Also make sure to take lingering performance.
At 4th level you are +4 to all attacks, saves and skills, and +2 to all damage. You can do this for up to 24 rounds broken up into 8 times of 3 rounds each. A single point in a class skill gives you a +8 on that skill without bonus for a stat, except knowledge’s which are at +10.
Use criminal for your other trait to get disable devices as a class skill. I used a half elf and traded skill focus for proficiency with scimitar and went the dervish dance route. This was before fencing/slashing grace.
Take fast stealth and trap spotter for rogue talents.
Chose spells that boost your abilities instead of those that affect others and you only need a CHA high enough to cast your spells. Expeditious Retreat combined with Invisibility and fast stealth is insane. At higher level you get Gaseous Form, Teleport and other spells to make you an unstoppable thief.
... I somehow missed the archaeologist doesn't have Disable Device as a class skill. That feels like an error. I'd mistakenly marked it as a class skill on my char sheet, just because it seems like you should have it.
I used the archaeologist bard for a guy who was just over-the top lucky. While he had great skills, it was more that he happened to read about that monster. while I took the standard actions disabling traps, I fluffed it as "He was poking around and just happened to jam something into those gears."
Most of his spells were the immediate action ones, like windy escape and timely inspiration. Once again I played that as happy accidents.
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Bards are also masters of social-fu. Which is very useful in some types of games and pointless in others. I know in one campaign we probably dealt with about a third of the encounters without fighting. We even got the foes from a couple encounters to help us against other threats. When your foes are sentient beings with their own wants and needs, a good social character can make things a win-win.
That does feel like an oversight. Hrm.. You can fix it with a trait, but that is really annoying to have to do.
It's a bit "impossible" in Hell's Rebels as one trait has to be a campaign trait, and one should be Fate's Favored. So, unless you are taking a feat for more traits, you are just out of luck...
meh, it's missing a 3 on the skill. it's not the end of the world.
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That does feel like an oversight. Hrm.. You can fix it with a trait, but that is really annoying to have to do.
It's not an oversight, but I don't remember the particulars of the discussion--it's been a while. OTOH, once you hit 16th level you get it as a class skill through Jack of all Trades ;-).
One of the other minor goodies that archaeobards get is Uncanny Dodge. As other folks have said, Trap Spotter is a must for the class. I'm currently playing one through Shattered Star; L12 bard/L1 mysterious stranger gunslinger/L1 inspired blade swashbuckler. He's nowhere near the damage output of the party fighter or the rage prophet/barbarian/oracle, but with all his buffs running he can dish it out.
One other recommendation--if you want to punch up your damage a little more, take Arcane Strike. You can't use it on the rounds that you activate your luck, but you can use it on the off rounds when your Lingering Performance is keeping it going.