why should i play a bard?

[Alex Mack]

PhD. Okkam wrote:

I wonder which archetype bard is the strongest, according to the community?

Bard has some of the best designed archetypes. As a consequence none are strictly supperior imo. A lot of them are really good though.

[The Shaman]

Alex Mack wrote:

Fedorchik1536 wrote:

Alex Mack wrote:

Dawnflower Dervish + Singing Steel: making barbarians look like weaklings since 2017...

What's Singing Steel?

A new kind of Mithril from AA2. A bard with an appropriate weapon or armor can activate his Bardic Performance one step faster.

So a move action becomes a swift action activation. It's pretty pricy, but for light armor it's only 750 GP extra. So basically you can get a chainshirt before you reach Level 2.

Woah, this is pretty great for the price, considering most bards wear light armor anyway. Isn´t that actually cheaper than mithral?

[Felyndiira]

zainale wrote:

Felyndiira wrote:

Full Support Bard, level 9:

Inspire Courage: +7 Atk/Dmg

+3 levels (with boost from banner of ancient kings)
+2 Master/Grandmaster Performer
+1 Dervish Sikke
+1 Three Reasons to Live

Flagbearer: +2 Atk/Dmg

Total: +9 Atk/Dmg to everyone.

That's very powerful at level 9.

what is the +1 Three Reasons to Live?

Three Reasons to Live

Also, Dawnflower Dervish 9/Medium 1 with +7 DEX modifier, Haste, Spirit Focus, holding a Banner of Ancient Kings and a ring of spell storing with divine favor:

To Hit: 6 BAB + 7 DEX + 12 Inspire Courage + 2 Flagbearer + 1 Enhance + 2 Champion Spirit + 1 Haste + 4 Divine Favor with Trait - 2 Piranha Strike = 33
Damage: 3.5 Weapon + 7 DEX + 12 IC + 2 Flagbearer + 1 Enhance + 4 Champion Spirit + 4 Piranha Strike + 4 Divine Favor = 37.5 Damage

Want to just delete enemies? Your to hit is higher than almost all enemies' AC at this level without rolling.

[zainale]

Silas Hawkwinter wrote:

zainale wrote:

I am thinking of supporting. but it seems like the only thing available. I tried a blasting alchemist. and it could not compete. I am currently trying a max int witch but it can't pop a hex to save her life.

Wait. What? A blaster alchemist can't compete?! What's in the rest of your party? Also a witch shouldn't be having problems landing hexes...

PS bards are awesome.

a universalist magic item maker has all the spell, a monk that hits things, a healing paladin, and a barbarian that eats things.

[zainale]

The Shaman wrote:

Three Reasons to live is a magical instrument that makes you count as higher level for the performance bonuses. It is detailed in the Archives of Nethys.

archives of nethys seems to get all the goodies.

[Cavall]

The issue is it's part of the adventures "key to the treasure" making it pretty much one of a kind.

Some things can't be bought in stores. 3 reasons to live would be one of them.

As for my fav archetype I love the court bard. Penalties to the enemy to hit and damage. Think how much you'd pay for a +1 To dodge and Dr 1/- slotless item. Now it's basically group wide. Everyone benefits from the court bard handing out massive debuffs and makes healing in combat almost unheard of due to missing.

[thorin001]

PCScipio wrote:

A Strength based bard can both attack in melee and support the party. Note that you don't need a particularly high Charisma to be an effective bard, just high enough to cast your spells.

Especially if you do not cast spells that require saves.

[PCScipio]

Glitterdust is just about the only "Saving Throw" spell that I take on my bards, because it reveals invisible creatures regardless of their save. The bard list is packed full of great no-save spells.

[Blackwaltzomega]

It should also be noted that the pre-buff Bard's baseline combat performance is roughly equal to that of a similarly well-equipped rogue in situations where flanking can't be taken for granted, and even when flanking is taken into account the rogue is only pulling ahead in damage, not to-hit unless you bring in debilitating injury from Unchained.

So the baseline for the unbuffed bard is about equal to a martial class, albeit a weak one, and then you consider that the bard has a ton of buffs, basically all of which boost him while boosting others. A wizard might not get much milage out of the haste spell he gives the rest of the party, but the bard can haste himself along with the martials and make damn good use of the boost, especially if it's an archer bard.

So as long as you don't specifically build a noncombatant the bard is keeping up with the party just fine. At his very worst, he is still just as good a fighter as a chained rogue, and with the amount of performance rounds you get and the sheer number of buff spells you have access to it is very unlikely you will ever be fighting at your absolute worst if you guys are smart with your resources.

[lemeres]

Silas Hawkwinter wrote:

zainale wrote:

I am thinking of supporting. but it seems like the only thing available. I tried a blasting alchemist. and it could not compete. I am currently trying a max int witch but it can't pop a hex to save her life.

Wait. What? A blaster alchemist can't compete?! What's in the rest of your party? Also a witch shouldn't be having problems landing hexes...

PS bards are awesome.

Yeah, that sounds like the GM is putting things out with exceedingly high saves (since both bombs and hexes have some degree of save involve- and this might be all three, since bombs tend to be fort or reflex, and withces tend to be will).

So there are only two possibilities:
1. Your GM is trying to force melee by making saves impossible to overcome. Sucks, but you can work around that. Bards are good for that, since they are multipliers for martials. So go for a melee or ranged bard in that case.
2. Your GM just has killer everything, and this is a high difficulty, high optimization game. This would mean high AC and DR too. In that case.... melee bard would be impossible (since they are not full martials, so they cannot meet the higher bar; exclude dawnflower dervishes in this assessment). In that case, either make a caster bard (since buffs don't care about enemies, and your party needs buffs to handle the challenges), or go with somehting martial so you have a chance to hit.