feats for a Flagbearer bard

[ohako]

right, so, I'm perfectly happy with my Diva Style bard, a little of this, a little of that, but...

So Flagbearer + [b]banner of the ancient kings[/i] is a known good optimization. For a bard, feats are really important. And you know, I figure if you're gonna be extolling some ancient kings, they better be really ancient, yeah? so here's a super-beardy dwarf bard, horns, drums, oratory, and lots of armor and weapons

dwarf longspear bard
(have to get 13 Cha to start, and get +1 Cha on 4 and 8 for Flagbearer at 9)
FCB: take the special FCB (1% less arcane spell failure for 10 levels, hp on 11th)
feats
1st Toughness
2nd retrain Toughness to Phalanx Formation
3rd Arcane Armor Training
5th Shield Focus
7th Shield Brace
9th Flagbearer
10th Medium Armor Proficiency (from your FCB)
11th Arcane Armor Mastery

hmmm...no Combat Reflexes. I guess that's really good to have...

anyway, this guy eventually gets Flagbearer and ties his banner to a longspear. He's wearing medium armor and not suffering proficiency penalty or arcane spell failure, so heck, make it adamantine or something. Plus he's got a spear in one hand and a shield in the other. He's got the armor for the front lines, and can use his spear from the second rank, all while handing big bonuses whilst extolling said ancient kings.

What do you think?

[Gray Warden]

If you're married to the Dwarf Bard, or you simply don't care about performance, just ignore me.

If not...well, Dwarf Bard is quite a terrible idea in my opinion. I would just go Human and describe it as a very old, short and hairy man who's lived with Dwarves so many years he has started identifying like one of them, or who's so good at bluffing (and not so OK with his mind) he has actually convinced himself he's really a Dwarf, or simply reskin it as a Dwarf: you don't necessarily need mechanical tools to implement narrative solutions (as long as they don't affect the game mechanically, of course). You'd still get all the flavor of this character, plus coherent stats and an extra feat, which you can use to get Combat Reflexes. Eventually, you could even use the feat to get Racial Heritage [Dwarf] and pick the Dwarf FCB.
On this regard, I suggest you spend it on extra hp, as I don't think you actually need to spec so much into armor. You can already wear light armors and shields without any impairment, which grants you a more than decent AC, especially once you start upgrading both. Plus, by staying in second line, you won't be targeted that many times to need such an investment.

I'd make him like this:
(Very hairy, short and old, half-crazy) Human Bard, 16 14 12 10 8 14+2 (or 16+2 14 12 10 7 15 if you want him full-crazy). Swap Dex with Con if you prefer more hp and higher Fort, but you'll lose 1 AC, 1 Ref and 1 maximal AoO per round (I don't recommend it, especially if you're spending FCBs on extra hp)
Traits: Adopted(Dwarf[some Dwarf trait]), some trait (+1 to Fortitude? Reactionary?)
1 Combat Reflexes, Flagbearer (by starting with Cha 16, you don't need to wait)
3 Shield Focus
5 Shield Brace
7 Power Attack
9 Lunge

Phalanx Formation is not that necessary in a party with up to 2 other melee characters (and players who have a bare minimum sense of tactical positioning). Otherwise, if your party is melee-heavy and/or you plan on staying always in second line, you don't really need the shield feats, since allies will be your shield, so instead pick:
3 Phalanx Formation
5 Power Attack
7 Pushing Assault

[ohako]

mmm, I didn't you could stick a flag onto a spear except for the various banners to have them count for Flagbearer. meaning one hand for a spear, one hand for a shield, and one hand for a flag. That's why I put Flagbearer so late.

I know that dwarf bards are bad at doing bard things, buuut doing bard things with that sweet dwarf survivability seems cool. Plus Perform (wind), (percussion), and (oratory) seems like a potent mix.

Combat Reflexes + Pushing Assault is very cute, I like it. That's always the thing with Arcane Armor Training: you're never learning how to do something new, it's just fixing it so you can do whatever everyone else can do already.

More thinking is needed.

[Gray Warden]

You're right about Flagbearer. If you can't find another workaround that allows you to benefit from Flagbearer while using a reach weapon at low level, I suggest you push the feat chain down and pick Flagbearer as soon as you can afford a BoAK.

Here's however a cheap trick that lets you use Flagbearer quite effectively since level 1. Get the trait Community-minded: it makes the morale bonuses you grant to your party last 2 rounds more. Stick the flag to a longspear and hold it 1handed the same way you'd do with any flag. On 1st round start with Inspire Courage as a standard action, while also granting +1 morale bonus to hit and damage via Flagbearer. Move into position and wield the spear 2handed as a free action. Flagbearer is no more in effect, but Community-minded extends the bonus from the flag for other 2 rounds.

I don't understand the Perform bit. You can put ranks in those skills even if you're not a Dwarf.

As a side note, have you given a look to the Skald? It might fit your concept a bit better maybe (especially the Archetype specialising on percussion)

[AlastarOG]

Like grey warden says I'd stay away from dwarf too but if that's your flavor then... Go??

It just seems very complex for no reason.

Maybe you could play an aasimar or tiefling with dwarf as a base ?

As for feats, if your DM allows them:

Extra performance
Allows
Master performance
Allows
Grand Master performance

For a +2 to inspire courage

You also need a dervish sikhe for another +1.

Aside from that I enjoy improved initiative (singing earlier means more bonuses) and arcane strike.

[Slim Jim]

ohako wrote:

So Flagbearer + [b]banner of the ancient kings[/i] is a known good optimization.

Indeed it is.

Quote:

dwarf longspear bard

...and that is the antithesis of optimization. You are essentially (seemingly deliberately) choosing a class whose attribute requirements (high charisma) are directly counter to the race (dumps charisma), and then a combat strategy (melee) directly counter to the class (poop for a fortitude save).

With nearly all feats devoted to desperately raising AC, your poor dwarf bard doesn't have Steel Soul or Lingering Performance or Improved Initiative (among other dwarf or bard accelerants). His lack of a dexterity bonus and -10 move means he's plodding around in armor that's too heavy for his spellcasting abilities (kiss goodbye more feats trying to alleviate).

Better: halfling with dex and cha racial, for +2 ac versus the dwarf and take the trait Armor Expert. Eventually you're in mithral breastplate with zero ACP and don't need any of the three armor feats you took.

Rather than attacking with the longspear, you might want to consider employing Use Magic Device to deploy cheap wands and scrolls, then regrip your flagpole/longspear at the end of your turn (and then intercept/AoO off-turn like a typical reach-cleric). This negates any need for Phalanx Formation, and you can probably come up with something a lot more offensively useful than a weak stab attack. (You'd be surprised how much mileage you can get out of a wand of Grease, or throwing nets as a touch-attack with their control-cords wrapped around a mount's saddlehorn.)

Chaotic-neutral trick: pick up Wasp Familiar at 3rd, and treat it like a second pair of hands, as well as getting all the usual benefits of a greensting scorpion familiar.

Feats: 1. Improved Initiative, 3. Wasp Familiar, 5. (anything, but recommend something augmenting bardic abilities)