Weapon based Clerics can do insane amounts of damage starting at level 1. Gorum gives you a d12 weapon out of the gate which becomes absurd with Magic Weapon and Weapon Surge for 3d12+3 damage at +6 to hit.
You also have access to true strike.
At level 4 you add in channel smite with Harm and it becomes disgusting!
Only problem till level 4 is that you can't harm while wielding a greatsword.
Also stats become spread rather thin. Was thinking about
STR 16 DEX 10 CON 12 INT 10 WIS 18 CHA 12
Alternatively you could go dark knight style using a one handed weapon weapon and harm in your or other hand for second attacks targeting TAC. Also I'm wondering, since fists have the agile property, does this apply to touch attacks?
Bards get Inspire Heroics which is better than legendary proficiency with weapons. If they take fighter dedication, by level 12 they can have expert proficiency with all simple and martial, and they are the best combat builds in the game.
They also get to be full casters with access to healing.
It is sometimes equal to a legendary proficiency with weapons.
Bards get Inspire Heroics which is better than legendary proficiency with weapons. If they take fighter dedication, by level 12 they can have expert proficiency with all simple and martial, and they are the best combat builds in the game.
They also get to be full casters with access to healing.
2 things to keep in mind is that inspire affects the whole party, so a bard inspiring his party will get better, but the fighter will also get the same bonus and still pull ahead.
and second, bonuses in the game are quite restricted by bonus types not stacking. there are plenty of sources of competence bonuses, none of which stacks with inspire. So it's more like "competence bonuses are more readily available to bards" rather than "bard can give the higher bonus".
If I had to choose between a fighter and a bard, I'll choose bard with fighter dedication every time.
It's bonus is either equal or superior at all times, but it costs all your feats.
On that line of reasoning I was helping a player make their bard tonight and we noticed that Telekinetic Projectile does a fat d10 of damage of whatever type the player can rationalize! And they can do that at will. I mean, she bought a weapon for her character but I doubt she'll need one. She also got Disrupt Undead just in case she runs into anything incorporeal.It cost 2 action, so double a single attack.When you first said this, I hadn't run any games yet and it made sense. Having run the game, here's my counterpoint. It costs two actions, the same as two attacks, but it doesn't take the -5 for the second attack which usually is a big enough hit that it causes second hits to usually miss. It also doesn't require an action to reload like a crossbow. The extra round casting seems to always justify itself. Our bard in the playtest was absolutely fearsome! She flew her crowbar through a goblin and nearly decapitated their commando leader with her grappling hook.
We started calling her Carrie White. Do not mess with our telekinetic gnome bard!
I do think TKP looks really solid, and in general I think Bards are well off using that as their main attack. But that doesn't make weapons useless. It has a 30 foot range. When you are that close, you run the risk of an enemy being able to close to melee and you might not have the breathing room to cast, but you can still swing a weapon.
And that distance is pretty crap compared to many ranged weapons. Even the light crossbow has it's use beyond just sniping-- if you can start a combat with a loaded crossbow in your hand, you can use it for an opening one action shot and then drop the thing. Inspire-Move-Shoot for example, then turn into an Inspire--TKP turret for the rest of the combat.
We built a halfling aberrant sorcerer with a light weapon focus today, and he's packing a dagger, sling, and crossbow just in case he needs it. Not like he needs the bulk for armor at 1st level.