Hey guys, I'm building a fourth level combat bard (probably a halfling) and I need some suggestions on what spells I should use as well as if there are any archetypes I should look at. I'd rather not use the dervish dancer or dervish of dawn archetypes because I'd like the versatility of being able to buff my teammates.
The goal here is to build a bard that can hold their own in single combat though. He's starting out with the pipe of the sewers, so he gets the benefit of rat swarms to help him. I'm thinking he may be built around demoralizing opponents, so are there any good feats to make that work?
|
FWIW, Halflings do make excellent Dawnflower Dervishes.
I think you will want to take the Dervish Dance feat in any case, if you're a halfling. One thing to remember about demoralizing opponents is that there is a -4 size modifier to Intimidate for being smaller than the target.
Suggested spells:
1st Cure Light Wounds (I like to have it as spell, not just a wand, so I can move and heal someone who just fell unconscious), Expeditious Retreat, Grease, Liberating Command.
2nd Cat's Grace, Heroism, Mirror Image to start. Add Glitterdust and See Invibility as you level up.
By 7th lvl you will want a lesser metamagic rod of extend, to make Good Hope last 2 min/lvl.
I built a really fun combat bard a few years ago, and I think it was core rules only.
I went for a half orc, as that gave me a variety of cool stuff, especially great-axe proficiency. I think I started with something like a 16 str and a 16 cha, with most of the rest 10's or 12's.
Feats were basically arcane strike, power attack, and the like. I normally try to keep a high AC, but due to spells, I felt I could rely on mirror images and/or % miss chance.
For spells, it was kind of tricky because many of the spells are similar to a spell one level higher, so it is best to plan a few levels ahead. For example, I skipped Blur, because I was going to get Displacement a couple of levels later. I would generally try to get one spell to boost myself or my teammates, like Bulls Strength, heroism, haste, etc.. I would get one spell for defense like mirror image, displacement, and cure light wounds. Finally I would also get one kind of bard specific spell like hideous laughter, calm emotions, glibness, sculpt sound, etc. Some of these spells are just incredible and under appreciated. There are also the super useful spells like grease, glitterdust and dispel magic.
I don't really know enough about archetypes to offer any upgrades, but I honestly can't think of anything I would choose to give up from a core bard. All the features of the bard class are AMAZING, so I would just go regular bard unless there is already a similar character in the party, or you find some cool halfling thing.