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I have support focused bard with the following feats etc
5 archivist bard /2 lore warden fighter
Adopted (halfling helpful) magikal knack (bard)
1 flagbearer/lingering performance
3 combat reflexes
5 bodyguard/arcane strike (fighter feat)
7 comat expertise (granted) swift aid abd phalanx formation
I stand in second line and buff everything.
Phalanx formation is optional.
This build requires gloves of arcane striking or it gets significant weaker
Oh boy did you come to the right place :)
I'm going to link the guide to the buffer bard here:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2qm1h?The-guide-to-the-buffer-bard
Most of what I build on bards comes from here.
Lingering performance is useful but I haven't really missed it.
1- Flagbearer
3- Extra Performance
5- Master Performer
7- Improved Initiative (Or Power attack, or Combat Reflexes)
9- Grand Master Performer
11- Discordant Voice
Take Aasimar FCB every level on inspire courage.
Grab a banner of the ancient kings, it doubles flagbearer bonuses, boosts inspire courage by 4 Effective levels, grants +4 ini, allows you to reroll failed will saves and is Bawwssss as hell since it automatically changes to your groups heraldry.
Grab a Dervish sikhe for +5 to bardic knowledge, +1 to inspire courage, and +2 to one of your performs.
at level 9 you are going to buff your pals for +10 to attack (+4 inspire courage, +2 master performer and greater, +2 flagbearer and banner,+1 sihke, +1 haste), +9 damage (+4 inspire courage, +2 master performer and greater,+1 sikhe, +2 flagbearer and banner), +30 ft movement speed, +1 attack at their max base attack bonus; this is only the BASIC buffs that came from banner, inspire courage and haste.
And these are all buffs that apply to you as well, turning you into a melee machine.
And also to any combat maneuvers checks, or ranged touch attacks from spells. Or summons. Or animal companions.
Last I checked they were printed especially for pfs, but they might have changed that.
I agree with you, extra performance in that build is a feat tax, needed for master performer and grandmaster performer.
Pfs does complicate things but only slightly tempers the raw power of the above build if the performer feats aren't pfs legal.
I'd go with imp ini arcane strike combat reflexes then
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They do curb the raw buffing power but you can still do plenty. I have never seen a useless bard at any pfs table.
I would note for the op that flag-bearer is not an equal substitute for good hope or heroism. I find at the boosts to saves from these spells becomes more valuable than the boost to attack, or attack and damage at higher levels. Good hope precast also applies to initiative.
They don't stack, but they do overlap, we usually keep both heroism and flagbearer up. It also helps for when the party moves out of the 30ft radius of flagbearer
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I have never seen a useless bard at any pfs table.
There is one exception to this to be aware of. If somebody else brings another buffer bard to the table one is redundant. If at all possible, I'd have a backup character for those times when this happens (it HAS happened to me a few times).
One feat that I really, really like is Harmonic Spell. Its almost as good as Lingering Performance for making your bardic performance rounds last and, every now and then, being able to switch performances as a swift action is an absolute life saver. Not often but when it happens it can be HUGE. I stopped a TPK once by being able to BOTH switch my performance to countersong AND cast haste AND move on the same round