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Hello, first time building a 2e character and I'm still not very familiar with the rules.
I am going to join a Extinction Curse game as a 3rd level Bard. The party is already composed by a 2H-weapon + animal companion Ranger, a ranged Ranger, a Monk and a Rogue with Druid dedication. The party has no spellcasting abilities, lacks knowledge abilities and would greatly benefit from buffs. Therefore: Bard.
All I definitely know is that would like to play a Gnome Bard, possibly with some kind of animal cohort (best if a mount).
For the Heritage and Ancestry feat, I was thinking about Wellspring Gnome + First World Magic for two extra cantrips, one of which probably being Acid Splash, both treated as Occult. However I am also partial to Animal Accomplice, which leaves the Heritage open.
As per the background, any one among Entertainer, Circus Born or Clown will do. I suppose Clown sounds better due to the free Virtuosic Performer, although it is worth mentioning that it's tied to Comedy, hence losing the +1 coming from a Virtuoso musical instrument.
The choice of the Muse is a hard one. Coming from 1e, I find it very weird that the old Bardic Knowledge, Versatile Performance and Lingering Performance, together with the other class features along the way, are now mutually exclusive. I guess the party would benefit from Bardic Lore (Enigma), but being Trained (at best Expert at level 15) in Lore on a class not even Int-based will often lead to failure, and feels quite lacking compared to the action economy boost given by Lingering Composition (Maestro), or the both out of- and in-combat (if focusing on Demoralize) potential of Versatile Performance (Polymath).
For the Bard feat, I know that Multifarious Muse would help with my doubts about the Muse, but I am also quite intrigued by the Animal Trainer dedication feat. Camel seems a great option for its flavor, for being a mount and having a good Support ability. Plus, it will eventually be able to reliably Aid my Performance checks, which synergizes well with both Lingering Composition and Versatile Performance.
As per General and Skill feats, I have no preference yet.
Overall, it is not clear to me the role I would have in the party. Apart from the one action every round to Inspire Courage and the occasional non-cantrip spell, I don't know how to reliably fill my remaining actions: Versatile Performance (Polymath) + Demoralize? Inspire Competence (Maestro) + whip + Trip? Heightened Acid Splash spamming? Something completely different? I can't really pinpoint one.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Yeah, i think you would be better with maestro. It looks like you have 4 different creatures in the party that are going to be in the front line (I'm including the animal companion and the rogue). So having defensive options like inspire defense (or at least linger performance on dirge of doom) would go a long way.
Anyway, for the racial cantrips, i am pretty sure electric arc would be suggested, as far as traditional wisdom goes. Besides the general DPR arguments, it is useful to have a bit of AoE when you have a party full of attackers like this. So it might give that little bit of damage to help kill off two enemies that a couple of your party members are focusing on.
I'd suggest Enigma for knowledge, though the Rangers & Rogue really should've been able pick up some.
I wouldn't try to acquire an animal at all. Bards don't have the actions to give commands. A tough battle will need you to cast a 2-action spell and a Composition, that is if you don't need to maneuver to save your own life, much less a fragile companion's.
Demoralize, Shield spell, and moving are generally how you'll fill your actions. Melee PCs often have a habit of going outside that 30' range for healing! May want Reach Spell for that.
As a Gnome and a Cha-caster, innate spells will serve you well, give a good variety to your Cantrip offense options. Note that tougher battles won't feature many Cantrips, and APs tend toward the tougher end.
Another spell to consider is Ray of Frost, simply for the range.
I wouldn't stress about AoEs too much. First because the Occult list is poor with those, but also because your party should be able shut down large groups fine (assuming they have a semblance of teamwork).
Though you have a lot of martial force, don't forget Magic Missile for high AC or flying opponents. Not great for standard monsters, it's valuable against bosses your friends struggle with.
If unimpressed with your feats, consider Sorcerer MCD to go pick up a good focus spell, perhaps a 1-action offensive one Elemental Toss to give you a good mix of options. (I don't think the focus powers of Bards are that great, so am biased.)
The party's pretty fragile IMO, and they may lean on you too much for healing when really they need to skirmish wisely. You'll be tapped fast and they'll have to learn to wait for out-of-combat Medicine healing so that you have reserves for boss fights.
Hopefully the Ranger w/ a pet can MCD Druid too so he can pick up Heal Animal as a focus spell! (Or maybe the Rogue can do that?)
Those that can should take Battlefield Medicine.
For an animal companion your options as bard are not that good (yet)
The 1 Action per round can hurt your action economy pretty bad (especially if you want to use many spells)
If you still want to use it consider the (next month) upcominc beastmaster archetype from the APG - although the animal trainer is certainly an interesting option for bard with its unique performance abilities
With the APG will also come a new muse that emphazises combat capabilities and would probably go well with an animal companion
And as Castilliano said, your group is somewhat fragile - with that the maestro muse would probably help somewhat but make sure you are not just a heal dispenser (certainly not a bards job)
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I wouldn't try to acquire an animal at all. Bards don't have the actions to give commands. A tough battle will need you to cast a 2-action spell and a Composition, that is if you don't need to maneuver to save your own life, much less a fragile companion's.
Demoralize, Shield spell, and moving are generally how you'll fill your actions.
Command Animal would simply take the place of the action I would spend to move, but instead of just moving 25ft, I would move by 35ft and also get a Support action. The opportunity cost of the Animal Companion is not in the action economy, but in the Bard Feat.
Command Animal would simply take the place of the action I would spend to move, but instead of just moving 25ft, I would move by 35ft and also get a Support action. The opportunity cost of the Animal Companion is not in the action economy, but in the Bard Feat.I wouldn't try to acquire an animal at all. Bards don't have the actions to give commands. A tough battle will need you to cast a 2-action spell and a Composition, that is if you don't need to maneuver to save your own life, much less a fragile companion's.
Demoralize, Shield spell, and moving are generally how you'll fill your actions.
Those were separate. Part one to address animals, and part two because you'd asked what made for good spare actions. That bonus movement is cool, but as a caster it's not that significant nor is the Support ability. At least not when measured against having to protect your mount. Fleet would do you better.
Yet yes, I agree a mount whose sole purpose is to transport you isn't so bad of an animal companion. Until it dies. Which it will.It's hard for a Ranger/Druid to keep their top-tier animal alive, much less a Bard w/ a lesser companion (that is, after upgrades become available). If it doesn't enter melee, great, that's that many fewer battles you have to protect it. Except AoEs happen.
Lacking AoE healing, you're going to have to choose between Soothe on your mount or the ally (or you) who failed their save vs. a boss's AoE. (Luckily, many of your allies should be able to evade it!) Being the only healer (who probably wants to cast their other spells too!) this will make for a rough situation.
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Thank you all for your feedback. This is what I came up with so far:
Ancestry: Gnome, either Umbral for Darkvision or Fey-Touched for Ray of Frost (innate Primal, so Trained at best). Which one would be better in the long run?
Background: Clown.
Class: Bard, Maestro Muse.
Stats: 8, 16, 14, 12, 10, 18.
Skills: Trained in Athletics, Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Clown Lore, Nature, Occultism, Performance, Society. Skill increases to Performance and another skill depending on how the game goes.
Feats:
1, Lingering Composition (Bard; Maestro), Virtuosic Performer (Clown), Animal Accomplice (Gnome)
2, Animal Trainer 1 (Bard; Multiclass), Impressive Performance (Skill)
3, Ancestral Paragon (General) > Burrow Elocutionist (Gnome)
4, Animal Trainer 2 (Bard; Multiclass)
By this point my combat routine would be [1] Move into position while mounted + Dazzle one enemy via mount Support ability; [2] Lingering Inspire Courage; [3] Demoralize (Frighten 1-2) or whip-Trip (Prone) depending on the enemy weak save. On the following rounds: [1-2] Cast; [3] Demoralize or whip-Trip. Repeat after Lingering Composition is over, or proceed round-by-round if the combat is under control. Out of combat, my character is a fairly good face, being able to communicate with people as well as with animals, while his familiar is used for scouting.
Between levels 5 and 6, retrain Animal Trainer 2 to Inspire Defense.
4, Inspire Defense (Bard)
5, Any (Skill), Animal Elocutionist (Gnome)
6, Harmonize (Bard)
7, Adopted Ancestry (General; Human)
8, Inspire Heroics (Bard)
By this point my combat routine would be pretty much identical for the first 3-4 rounds. After having laid down 3-4 rounds worth of buffs and debuffs, if the combat is under control, I would proceed with [1-2] Harmonized Inspire Courage; [3] Inspired Defense on a round-by-round basis (unfortunately Harmonize and Lingering Composition do not work together) to reduce the chances of lucky crits against my allies.
At level 9 retrain Animal Trainer 1 to Multifarious Muse (Polymath) and Impressive Performance to any other General feat.
2, Multifarious Muse > Versatile Performance (Bard; Polymath), Any (Skill),
[ ... ]
9, Any (Skill), Multitalented (Gnome; Human) > Animal Trainer
10, Quickened Casting
After that, I am pretty much open to suggestions or just to see where the game goes. For example, if whip-Tripping turns out to be a successful way to fill my spare single actions, I might invest into Assurance, Titan Wrestler and giving Athletics a skill increase; if not, I'll invest into something else.
The shaken condition is your friend. It tilts every single number in your favor- lowers enemy AC/saves (same as boosting your attack/DCs), lowers enemy attacks/DCs (same as boosting your own AC/saves). It makes the fight easier for martial characters, and also lets you get off spells more easily.
The fear spell+inspire courage likely gives your party better overall numbers, but dirge of doom has no save and good action economy.
I would also look into intimidate as a third source to demoralize opponents for when you want to harmonize the inspire spells.
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The shaken condition is your friend. It tilts every single number in your favor- lowers enemy AC/saves (same as boosting your attack/DCs), lowers enemy attacks/DCs (same as boosting your own AC/saves). It makes the fight easier for martial characters, and also lets you get off spells more easily.
The fear spell+inspire courage likely gives your party better overall numbers, but dirge of doom has no save and good action economy.
I would also look into intimidate as a third source to demoralize opponents for when you want to harmonize the inspire spells.
Dirge of Doom is great, but the opportunity cost is also great. Dirge of Doom competes with Harmonize for the 6th level Bard feat.
While the effects of Dirge of Doom are comparable with Harmonized Inspire Courage + Inspired Defense, the latter are boosted by Inspire Heroics, while Dirge of Doom isn't. Additionally, Dirge of Doom has only a 30ft range, while Inspire Courage and Inspired Defense have both 60ft range, which gives me the opportunity to stay well out of the fight. Finally, the effects provided by Dirge of Doom can be easily duplicated by spells (Fear) or even a skill (Demoralize), while the effects of Inspire Courage and Inspired Defense are harder to duplicate.
Ideally, I would cast Lingering Dirge of Doom at the beginning of the fight, lay down 3-4 rounds worth of buffs and debuffs, and then cast Harmonized Inspire Courage + Inspired Defense well out melee range while I wait for my allies to finish off the job. Unfortunately though this is not possible.
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Dirge of doom is a one action cantrip (so one action, no focus cost). That means that you can effectively use it to set up your own spell casting by targeting an enemy's saves, while also giving better numbers for for your teammates. It can be an effective opening move while insuring across the board benefits for allies.
In fact, it might be worth using dirge of doom as an opener before casting a fear spell in order to increase the odds of the enemy having a crit failure for that sweet, sweet fear 3. Even with more moderate results, it will likely take over the role of dirge once activated.
Obviously, once you have the ball rolling, you will want to transition to inspire focused tactics. But dirge of doom is an effective tool in your toolkit since it has extremely low requirements for use in return for the benefits.
Intimidation is another tool, and has the benefit of not clashing with other performances, but it lacks the AoE nature of dirge.
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I see. Given the feedback, I am under the impression that Inspire Courage and Dirge of Doom are the go-to Compositions, while Harmonize and Inspire Defense are not going to be that useful overall. Also, Quickened Casting is only a 1/day thing, which is not the kind of abilities I am a fan of. I guess I will modify my build as follows:
1, Lingering Composition (Bard; Maestro), Virtuosic Performer (Clown), Animal Accomplice (Gnome)
2, Animal Trainer Dedication (Bard; Multiclass), Impressive Performance (Skill)
3, Ancestral Paragon (General) > Burrow Elocutionist (Gnome)
4, Beast Speaker (Bard; Multiclass)
At 5th level retrain Beast Speaker to Multifarious Muse; Impressive Performance to any other Skill feat.
2, Animal Trainer Dedication (Bard; Multiclass), Any (Skill)
3, Ancestral Paragon (General) > Burrow Elocutionist (Gnome)
4, Multifarious Muse > Versatile Performance (Bard; Polymath)
5, Glad-Hand (Skill), Animal Elocutionist (Gnome)
6, Dirge of Doom (Bard)
7, Adopted Ancestry (General; Human) or Any (General)*
8, Inspire Heroics (Bard)
At this point, unless some new (and decent) Bard Feats* or Archetypes have come up, I might get Sorcerer Dedication to get a few more Occult spell slots. At 9th level retrain Animal Trainer Dedication to Sorcerer Dedication.
2, Sorcerer Dedication (Bard; Multiclass), Any (Skill)
[ ... ]
9, Any (Skill), Multitalented (Gnome; Human) > Animal Trainer Dedication
10, Basic Sorcerer Spellcasting (Bard; Multiclass)
11, Any (General)
12, Expert Sorcerer Spellcasting (Bard; Multiclass)
The thing with Dirge is it more or less gives you the benefits of both Courage and Defense (not exactly but similar) but in a smaller area (which makes sense honestly). Harmonize of course, does the same, and with the same area of course. It also doesn't play well with Lingering if you have that already. It plays ok with it, just not great.
So yeah, I think that both Harmonize and Dirge are good, but Dirge is generally a little more universally useful. Though as Burner suggests, if your GM is of the persuasion that the frightened condition stops as soon as you start another composition or as soon as the enemy exits the area, then I think Dirge gets a lot worse. To the point that I would probably skip it in most campaigns.
Edit: Corrected a misread of the rules.
I think Inspire Defense is generally better than Inspire Courage. The reason for that is that Inspire Defense is helpful for all characters, and Inspire Courage mostly only helpful for those making attacks.
That, of course, isn't always true. I think you should use Inspire Courage when there are numerous small enemies being attacked with attack rolls.
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I think Inspire Defense is generally better than Inspire Courage. The reason for that is that Inspire Defense is helpful for all characters, and Inspire Courage mostly only helpful for those making attacks.
That, of course, isn't always true. I think you should use Inspire Courage when there are numerous small enemies being attacked with attack rolls.
And Inspire Defense is only helpful for those being attacked.
Of course in a party made mainly of casters, Inspire Courage is not great, but then you probably wouldn't play a Bard anyway. On the other hand, in a party composed mostly of martial characters, Inspire Courage is gold, since higher damage means shorter fights, which in itself translates into less damage taken.
PS. Most of the Skill feats in my build are at the wrong level. Anyhow, thinking about 2) Group Impression and 4) Glad-Hand to quench the occasional fight before it starts with instant mass Make an Impression; 6) Trick Magic Item to use magic items, being the only caster; 8) Terrified Retreat and 10) Battle Cry to build on Demoralize.
Possible other feats would be 2) Assurance + 4) Titan Wrestler if whip-Trip seems a successful way to spend an action (and being able to mass Make an Impression isn't), and 2) Intimidating Glare (or at 6th in case the Rogue wants Trick Magic Item) in case there are many enemies that do not share my language (I can speak with animals though).
I agree, both Defense and Courage have their place. I think a lot depends on what you are fighting. Of course, I also have one player who would ask for Defense no matter what simply because he doesn't like getting hit, but that's a different matter. ;)
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How about Signature Spells? Fear has only one Heighten boost at 4th level, so I can just re-learn it as a 4th level spell. What are the spells that would actually benefit from being potentially heightened at every level?
I suppose for 1st level Soothe will do, but then what? How about Summon Fey instead?
Those are both excellent options. The party will love soothe for obvious reasons, especially as it seems as though your party may be a bit healing light. Summon fey is also a good choice, just depends on how much you decide you need the extra body in combat. Magic Missile is always good too (even if it doesn't quite hit every level it still has its uses). I'll try to look up some other spells when I get a chance.
Summon spells are best kept at the highest possible level but soothe is a solid choice