PSA: Wyrm Singer solves 1 / 3 of the party composition issues of the Skald


Advice


Just for the record, the Wyrm Singer archetype from Legacy of Dragons grants a scaling bonus to melee rolls with inspired rage rather than +STR, so you can freely use it along DEX-based melee.

Archers and combat casters still get shafted.


Thankfully neither archers or combat casters really needed the boost.


So skalds are better when they are more like bards.

Sorry. I had to hit that one out of the park. It had to be done.

Dark Archive

umm So if i have 2 skalds in the party.. 1 a regular skald and one a Wyrm singer.... Oh oh..


Mr.Nightray wrote:
umm So if i have 2 skalds in the party.. 1 a regular skald and one a Wyrm singer.... Oh oh..

Add a Spell Warrior, a Bard, and an Archivist Bard for good measure.

Grand Lodge

It's a trap! Wyrm singer gives out Morale bonuses to Attack and Damage, so this really hampers Heroism, Good Hope, Flagbearer, etc. I'd look at Spell Warrior instead if you're looking for a less composition dependency Skald (before about level 15, where they run into issues vs say and Urban Skald.)

Quote:
So skalds are better when they are more like bards.

...when they are more like bards who also give out awesome rage powers to the whole party.

Seriously, Inspired Rage is about on par with normal Inspire Courage, but Rage Powers just put skalds head and shoulders above non-archetyped bards.


Markov Spiked Chain wrote:

It's a trap! Wyrm singer gives out Morale bonuses to Attack and Damage, so this really hampers Heroism, Good Hope, Flagbearer, etc. I'd look at Spell Warrior instead if you're looking for a less composition dependency Skald (before about level 15, where they run into issues vs say and Urban Skald.)

Quote:
So skalds are better when they are more like bards.

...when they are more like bards who also give out awesome rage powers to the whole party.

Seriously, Inspired Rage is about on par with normal Inspire Courage, but Rage Powers just put skalds head and shoulders above non-archetyped bards.

I second this. Ranged characters actually gain a lot even from vanilla skalds. Hit points and a boost to two saves is nothing to turn your nose up at. Add to that it can be turned on and off easily, the morale bonues can be extended with a trait. 1000gp gets them adaptive on their bow so they can gain the benefit to damage. Fast healing is also worth mentioning as something ever one loves.

That said, wyrm singer is bad. Heroism and Good Hope received a recent boost from encouraging meta magic. So they can offer +3 now making their attack bonus equal to the Draconic Rage until level 16.

Other archetypes offer much more than this does.


Bards rock--so much more versatile than Skalds. Everyone likes to be en-couraged by a Bard. Wizards, Sorcerers, Witches, other casters not liking the Skald so much...
The only thing a Skald has over the Bard is Spell Kenning, which is so much more Bardic than Skaldic.


Pathfinder Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Fourshadow wrote:

Bards rock--so much more versatile than Skalds. Everyone likes to be en-couraged by a Bard. Wizards, Sorcerers, Witches, other casters not liking the Skald so much...

The only thing a Skald has over the Bard is Spell Kenning, which is so much more Bardic than Skaldic.

I think both classes have a place and which works best will change depending on group composition and what the skald/bard plans to play.

I find that the base Skald works better in melee than the base Bard. The big difference here is a good Fortitude save, which can come up quite a bit. There are a lot of things that cause the front liners to need to make Fortitude saves.

If your group has trouble tracking bonuses, the Bard will be better just because it is easier to add their bonus. Since the Skald is giving a bonus to an attribute, technically it modifies a lot of skill rolls as well as giving a direct bump to Will and an indirect bump to Fortitude saves.

If your group has an Alchemist and Magus as the front liners, once again Bard will likely be better. The bonus from the Bard doesn't interfere with skill use or spells.

If your group does a lot of summoning, Skald will be better. The bump to Constitution means that the summoned creatures may take more than one hit to put down.

The Spell Kenning also gives the Skald a huge benefit in being able to handle unexpected situations.

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