seeing the Diva Style line of feats got me thinking about a bard/devoted muse. let's see
human
silver balladeer bard 7/devoted muse 4
traits: ???, ???
starting abilities
Str 7, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 11, Cha 16
feats
human Weapon Finesse
bard 1 Diva Style
bard 3 Weapon Focus (rapier)
bard 4 +1 Dexterity
bard 5 Combat Expertise
bard 7 Improved Feint
muse 1 +1 Dexterity
muse 2 Fencing Grace
muse 3 ??? (funky feinting feat) (maybe Skill Focus (bluff))
muse 4 Diva Strike
So, let's see, you get perform as a move, 3rd level bard spells, panache and some deeds, things to do when you feint, things to do when you could feint but don't, Cha to damage (a little), Dex to damage, Cha to AC, Dex to AC, you get the idea.
what do you think? what would you improve? and is there any good ways to boost the critical multiplier of a rapier?
Dex to damage at 9th level, with 7 Str? That's a hard, hard road you're taking there. Not that you're useless before then with bardic performance and spells, but you can't do anything much in melee with 1d6-1 damage counting bardic performance - even if feinting makes that hit a lot.
If you'd consider a more martial archetype like arcane duelist that'd help, and/or taking a dip in (inspired blade) swashbuckler early instead of one of the levels of devoted muse later on.
Okay, good point. Switch Diva Style to 9th, and get Fencing Grace at 3rd. Also maybe instead of Fencing Grace I could spend a trait on Varisian Tattoo, and get Starry Grace with a mithral keen starknife. How’s that?
You should also look at the divine fighting technique Deana's shooting star. Which you can find HERE. Basically lets use charisma for attack and damage.
Chobo, when you see a character build which ends at exactly 11th level odds are good it's intended for Pathfinder Society (PFS) games. Last I heard Desna's Shooting Star wasn't legal for those.
A grace feat would make your damage at level 3 acceptable, yes. A rapier more so than a starknife, since you're not going to want to throw your best weapon at an enemy with no way of getting it back and the rapier has a better base damage. 18-20/x2 is actually a slightly better crit value than 20/x3, similarly if keen - 15-20/x2 vs. 19-20/x3. The killer trait slightly increases the effect of criticals if you're concerned about those.
Well, the devoted muse prestige class has a ton of stuff that keys off of critical multiplier (assuming you’re wielding a glaive), so I figured that of the finessable Grace weapons, starknife would be an option. Seems weird to rock a starknife for Shelyn, though.
If you want to you could try a strength build and go with the glaive. Stats would be (taking the dual talent human trait +2 to stats):
S: 15+2 (7 points) D:14 (5 points) C:12 (2 points) I:13 (3 points) W: 10 (0 points) CH:13+2 (3 points)
Level ups to Str (4th level) and Chr (8th level)
That's a cool thought, actually. Interestingly, the Devoted Muse prestige class has Weapon Finesse as one of its prerequisites, one of the very few prestige classes that does, I think.
Still, a straight Strength bard with the Heirloom Weapon trait for the glaive could be interesting. A little worried about 12 Con, though. For a frontliner...maybe?
feats
1: Diva Style
3: Combat Expertise
5: Improved Feint
7: Diva Strike
9: ???
11: Diva Advance
I think for the Dex build one trait should be Threatening Defender. Maybe Maestro of the Society or Magical Knack for the other one.
Why a glaive with a strength based bard? There are better weapons and if you're not going into devoted muse then the crit value doesn't matter so much. Or if it does, there are x4 weapons.
Greater feint is the obvious level 9 feat for offense on the strength based bard, though lunge could also work, or combat reflexes for defence.
So, okay, there's a lot going on.
a) Devoted Muse requires Weapon Finesse. So you're probably supposed to use the feat with the class.
b) Devoted Muse has a bunch of powers that key not off of scoring a crit, but of having a high crit multiplier when you hit someone who's been 'flourished'. So while a rapier is probably best for a bard because of their proficiencies, I think starknife enters the conversation too (it's finessable, has a high crit multiplier, and you can take Starry Grace).
c) I suppose you could go Devoted Muse with a light pick, but I don't think there's a 'Picky Grace' feat, in part because, well, while it's piercing, you're not really doing graceful things with it.
d) The kicker with that is that the picture of the 'iconic' PrC person is holding a glaive, and is probably using the feat Bladed Brush to do so.
e) Bladed Brush is...weird...for a couple of reasons (you need Slashing Grace in order to deal Dex to damage, and Slashing Grace has language that prevents it from being used, also...Dex-and-a-half damage?). So, that's probably why it's not available in PFS. While theorycrafting, I like to stick to PFS availability rules, because most of the time they make sense (that 'soothe bystanders watching your goose murder people' power, oof). It's possible that Bladed Brush is stuck on a chronicle somewhere, but I doubt it.
So.
a) what weapon should a finesse bard/devoted muse use?
b) if you wanted to make a 'Shelyn-focused' glaive-wielding bard, what would you do?
I'll take a shot at b:
The good thing about using two-handed weapons is that the builds are not feat intensive. Power attack and furious focus are a must, throw in combat reflexes for reach and you're usually done. You could go with the arcane duelist archetype for a more martial approach or choose an archetype that you feel is more thematic.
Edit: you also might consider this feat Link
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