Ok, so I'm making my orc bard from my little family party. I am definitely going with the Arrowsong Minstrel archetype. Yes, it lowers his spellcasting a bit but it works with the theme of him being the one to teach his little sister how to use a bow.
I'm thinking of taking Lingering Performance at level one. Level two gives Precise Shot as a bonus feat. Then for character level three, I'm thinking Fighter dip. It gives me a bonus feat allowing for both Point-Blank Shot and Rapid Shot to be taken right away. It also gives proficiency with all martial weapons, allowing him to be able to use an Orc Hornbow for a smidgen more damage. After that, Arrowsong for the rest of the build with no more archery feats needed. I might plop in Manyshot if there's room, but I want him to be more of a support character that's ok with a bow, not a ranged DPS character.
For the point buy spread, I know it's not the best but I did what I could with the orc's VERY not suited to this class racial adjustments. I ended up with 12 Str, 14 Dex, 12 Con, 8 Int, 10 Wis, and 15 Cha. I figured that he could sacrifice one skill point a level, whether or not I put the FCB into skills or HP.
I could also drop Str as far as the calculator will allow, which still ends up at 11 for an orc, leaving 2 points to bump Int back to 10. Until I get a hornbow, Str only affects the carrying capacity and the melee attacks. Which he will not be making unless he has no other choice.
As for traits, these are the ones I'm considering for various reasons.
Combat:
Courageous: +2 trait to saves against fear.
Dedicated Defender: +1 trait to Atk and overcoming SR when next to a dying or disabled ally.
Inspiring: Standard action, can speak words of encouragement to grant a +1 morale bonus to an ally within 30 feet who can see and hear you. The ally can use this bonus on any d20 roll of her choice before the start of your next turn.
Killer: When you confirm a crit, do extra damage equal to the weapon's crit mod. Trait bonus, not multiplied by the crit.
Reactionary: +2 trait to Initiative.
Faith:
Indomitable Faith: +1 trait to Will.
Irrepressible: Can use Cha instead of Wis for Will saves against charm and compulsion effects.
Social:
Adopted: Allows you to take a Race trait of a race not your own.
Feral Speech: Gain Aklo, Aquan, Auran, Giant, Ignan, or Sylvan as a bonus language.
Life of Toil: +1 trait to Fort.
Maestro of the Society: Gain +3 uses of bardic performance.
Unintentional Linguist: +1 trait to Linguistics and gain Abyssal, Aquan, Celestial, Ignan, Infernal, Protean, or Terran as a bonus language.
Race:
Brute: When you roll a crit threat, you add your weapon's crit mod to the damage. Don't have to confirm, doesn't multiply if you do.
Deadeye: +2 trait to Perception involving sight.
Elven Reflexes: +2 trait to Initiative. Requires Adopted.
Linguistic Genius: +1 trait to Linguistics, class skill, and gain bonus language from your racial list. Requires Adopted.
Ratfolk Avenger: +1 trait to Dam against foes that have damaged your allies. Requires Adopted.
I'd suggest that a bard doesn't need Cha 15. So long as they're casting buff spells rather than attack spells, starting at 13 going to 14 at level 4 should be acceptable, especially if you take a feat or trait which extends bardic performance. That gives you 6 stat-buy points to put back into other stats.
Hm, that's a possibility. I can bump Int back to 10 to eliminate the penalty and put the rest into Wis.
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A 6th level caster can start at a 12 and be able to easily keep up with minimum caster stat. You could even start with an 11, but you'd need a +2 stat item at 7th level to get your 3rd level spells.
Personally, I wouldn't try to fight against the racial modifiers. I'd embrace the strength bonus and the fact that I'm not going to be casting offensive spells, and whack things with a big stick like a proper orc.
Something like s20 d12 c14 i6 w8 ch12
In any other situation I would - just go all barbarian and give him a greatsword. But I've got the image in my head and the flavor works out with two other characters so I want to at least try to make something that will be a little useful this way.
Here is a quick and dirty single class Orc Arrowsong Minstrel.
20pt buy
11,15,12,8,10,15
Arrowsong Minstrel
1. Arcane Archery spells
...
...
4. Arcane Archery spell
...
4. Stat bump
6. Arrowsong Strike (single target)
8. Arcane Archery spell
...
8. Stat bump
12. Arcane Archery spell
...
12. Stat bump
16. Arcane Archery spell
...
16. Stat bump
18. Arrowsong Strike (multiple targets)
20. Arrowsong Archery spell
...
20. Stat bump
Feats
1. Lingering Performance
2. Precise Shot
3. Point Blank Shot
5. Rapid Shot
7. Manyshot or Clustered Shots
9. Intensify Spell
11. Iron Will
13. Arcane Strike
15.
17.
19.
I see. I'll keep that in mind.
As for the traits, I think I can live without Maestro. Since Lingering Performance is basically tripling my performance uses, 3 more aren't really going to do all that much. Going to cross off Inspiring too. If it was a swift action, I might consider it more as it does stack with Inspire Courage. But a standard action to give a single ally +1 for a single turn ain't that great.
I think I like Linguistic Genius over Unintentional Linguist since it makes Linguistics a class skill as well as giving a boost to it and a bonus language. Same with Feral Speech as that don't even give a skill bonus.
I can cross off Elven Reflexes too. That was only there as an option in case I wanted a different combat trait than Reactionary. But while Courageous and Killer are ok, Reactionary is better.
I really like Irrepressible. Charm and compulsion effects are the worst spells to be affected by in terms of anything involving a Will save. So being able to use a stat that will give a +2 and eventually more is better than a trait that gives a flat +1 to the save.
And the traits that give a little bit of a boost to damage are ok, but I think I can live without them just fine.
So that cuts down the list to just a couple of options.
Combat:
Reactionary
Faith:
Irrepressible
Social:
Adopted or Life of Toil.
Race:
Linguistic Genius, which will require Adoption.
For Social traits on a Bard, I like Memorable. Inspire Courage is a mind-affecting effect, so its effects will last 1 additional round after they would normally end. The only stipulation being the effect must have lasted 2 or more rounds in order for this trait to activate. No problem, we are taking Lingering Performance at level 1, anyways.
Now, with a single shout/roar, spending just 1 round of Bardic Performance gives the family Inspire Courage/Discordant Voice for 4 rounds! And this is, ultimately, the entire point of having a Bard. Archery should be a far second on the list of priorities, in my opinion.
In fact, I would drop Rapid Shot, and probably take Arcane Strike earlier. That eliminates Manyshot and locks in Clustered Shots at level 7 (Arrowsong Minstrel counts as full BAB for combat feats)... but we still don't have a 2nd attack until 8. Now you don't have anything giving you a penalty to your attack.
Arcane Strike is beautiful when combined with the Gloves of Arcane Striking. Adding your Arcane Strike bonus to Aid Another is awesome. Oh, and it turns your arrows into splash weapons.
Dropping Rapid Shot could look something like this:
Orc
11,15,12,8,10,15
Traits:
Irrepressible
Memorable
Feats
1. Lingering Performance
2. Precise Shot
3. Point Blank Shot
5. Arcane Strike
7. Clustered Shots
9. Iron Will
11. Discordant Voice
13. Extra Performance
15. Master Performer
17. Grand Master Performer
19.
Another option, is Ace Trip...
1. Deadly Aim
2. Precise Shot
3. Ranged Trip
5. Martial Focus
7. Ace Trip
9. Lingering Performance
11. Discordant Voice
13. Iron Will
I like the look of Memorable. Guess I know what traits I'm giving my bard. I'll take a look at those feats.
So. As an arrowsong, I get two bonus spells from the wizard list at level one, then level 4 and 4th levels after. It doesn't specifically say they have to be level one spells, but it's a safe bet that's the intent. There are some other restriction so they wrote out a list of what arrowsongs can take.
The level one spells on the list that are level one are Gravity Bow, Longshot, Magic Weapon, and True Strike. I'm definitely taking Gravity Bow but I'm unsure of the second spell.
'... and sorcerer/wizard spells of the evocation school.' It's a little more than the exact list there. Though you still don't want attack spells due to your low spells/day etc. Maybe magic missile as the second in case you want to use a wand?
That could be useful.
Pretty sure True Strike could be used with Ranged/Ace Trip, if you decide to go that route.
Yeah. Maneuvers are considered a type of attack, I believe.