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Bards are proficient in light armor so you could still get a better AC. What's your bulk going to look like?
Lingering Composition explicitly says to increase your focus points by 1 so I do believe you'd start with 2.
Pft... not crazier than any other sprite riding a corgi into battle. CHAAAAAARGE...!!!
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Any way you could switch your DEX and WIS? 16 DEX and 14 WIS would probably work fine. Occult list has access to Mage Armor. Leather armor also isn't too bad as far as penalties go. Either armor option and the better DEX should give you an AC of 17 at level 1 - which is not terrible.
It looks like you should have 2 focus points. You get 1 automatically as a class feature for composition spells - the same place where you get Counter Performance. You get a second one because the Maestro muse gives you the full Lingering Composition feat - which in turn increases your focus pool by 1.
Counter Performance is not too bad. It does come with an opportunity cost that you may not realize. Casting any Composition spell will immediately end the effects of other Composition spells. So if you cast Inspire Courage during your turn, then cast Counter Performance as a reaction to an enemy's action it will end the Inspire Courage effect for all of your allies that have their turn between when you used your reaction and when your next turn starts and you can cast Inspire Courage again.
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In addition to the good points stated above, the Drakeheart Mutagen helps with AC if you can buy it.
Reach spell is excellent to attack from afar and thus be less likely to lose hit points. Get Electric Arc if you can. It is already good by itself and even better with Reach spell.
Counter performance specifically targets effects with the Auditory or Visual traits. There are many effects which look like they should have these but don't. You will not be able to counteract those. Also it costs a focus point and you can only use one of these in most fights at low levels.
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I would totally wear a chain shirt with that setup. The speed penalty is negated by the mount and the flexible trait let's you ignore the penalty to Acrobatics and Athletics. Leaves you with a -1 to stealth and thievery, buy looking at your dex those are probably not your focus anyway.
Also get hefty hauler ASAP.
What are you planning on doing with Int 16. Lots of Lore checks?
You can make a good Sprite bard with Int 8 if you want. There is plenty of room there to adjust your Str and Dex for optimal armour use. But you are in a large party so you will hopefully have a relatively reliable front line to be behind and you have a little more latitude with your AC.
I would totally wear a chain shirt with that setup. The speed penalty is negated by the mount and the flexible trait let's you ignore the penalty to Acrobatics and Athletics. Leaves you with a -1 to stealth and thievery, buy looking at your dex those are probably not your focus anyway.
Also get hefty hauler ASAP.
Unless I've missed something, chain shirts don't have a speed penalty.
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Thanks folks, really helpful.
I didn't look at the traits of a chain shirt. So I think it would be -1 to all STR and DEX skill checks other than Athletics and Acrobatics. So that would hose thievery and stealth I guess? And yeah, a -1 isn't bad.
The Drakeheart Mutagen looks great. Probably not a thing until level 3 or so (I'm assuming such things will be readily available given the setting).
I'd have missed that Counter Performance is a Composition spell. Oyi, that does suck. But good to know.
I think I did the stats in the wrong order? It's 8 Str, 14 Dex, 12 Con, 16 Int, 10 Wis, and 18 Chr.
Reach spell seems really cool. The extra action seem non-trivial on a bard (who probably wants a composition up at any given time). But I'd not considered it, thanks!
And does hefty hauler add 1 or 2 for a tiny creature? I'm thinking 1.
There are some *weird* bulk rules around tiny. As I read it a tiny person carrying a light item treats it as nothing (the exact word is "none". A tiny person carrying a negligible object may well treat it as light! Gah. It's all silly. I may ask in the rules forum if I can't find anything.
But seriously folks, all that helped a lot.
Lingering performance is your friend here. Yes, the first round you can't reach, but with LP, for the next 2 or 3 rounds, you have a lot more options.
* Am I crazy playing a character with such a poor AC in 2e?
Some will say yes,I will say... stay out of the way and you will be fine. I had a cleric in my Abomination Vaults game who had 7 less ac than the fighter and monk.
Yes when he was hit it was dicy, the crit range was pretty dire... but he was able to avoid that most of the time.
