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Halflings get the best buffing racial trait, Helpful Halfling. It turns aid another from a last, best resort into a practical and free option.
Going to bodyguard feat path makes for a great addition to the front line, as does the cautious fighter, blundering defense path. On offense, I favor readying an action to aid since it gives you the most bang for your buck, either when an enemy goes for a big attack or when your party really needs to land a hit.
And the +4 from aid is only the start. Lots of ways to increase it from there!
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I'll agree with all of Ironbar's great suggestions. I like a whip myself with the nice long 15-ft reach and aiding from there. You can also go the trip or disarm route if you want ... though you don't have the STR or BAB to make it anything more than a "hope I roll well..." Sometimes you get lucky or you might get a wizard target that you can disarm his staff.
Just what I like to do!
halflings bards are set up to be great dex based combatants. go for a bow, or a light weapon and do TWF. Find ways to be mobile and be the flanking buddy for the other party members with Low BAB and you'll hit often enough. or just stay back and use that Bow, IIRC, there's a build that actually uses the bow as the instrument.
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The great thing about aiding with a whip is that it requires no additional investment. You could choose to invest in archery or finesse fighting if that sounds fun, but the whip-aider can just focus on improving their performances or spells
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With a halfling you are going to be use a small weapon and have little or no STR bonus. If you go a melee you are going to want to get DEX to damage and that takes a while to get online. Figure 5th level before you get DEX to damage minimum.
Ranged combat faces some of the same issues but with ranged combat you have more flexibility to choose your target. This can allow you to pick of targets that are almost dead and finish them off. Doing this will require some investment in archery feats, but all you really need is precise shot (which does require point blank shot). After that you can decide who much you want to go with the ranged combat feats.
The bow is a good choice but not the only choice. Halflings have some racial feats and traits that work with slings. War Slinger allows you to reload as a free action, the feat slipslinger style gives you a +1 to damage, allows you to reload the sling without provoking an Aoo. The other feats in the style allow you to use alchemical weapons with the sling. Going this route will take some investment in feats but gives the character a unique build.
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1) Use intimidate on the bad guys. Giving them a -2 to hit, skills, and saves is a decent debuff.
2) Use feats like antagonize or the divine fighting technique of Iomedae.
3) Use spells like biting words that have multiple uses per casting.
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1) Use intimidate on the bad guys. Giving them a -2 to hit, skills, and saves is a decent debuff.
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The -4 size penalty on Intimidate checks against foes larger than you makes this a bit problematic for a halfling or other small character: The Taunt feat will probably work better and probably save you a skill...
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The -4 size penalty on Intimidate checks against foes larger than you makes this a bit problematic for a halfling or other small character: The Taunt feat will probably work better and probably save you a skill...1) Use intimidate on the bad guys. Giving them a -2 to hit, skills, and saves is a decent debuff.
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A halfling could also take the alternative racial trait Creepy Doll, which eliminates the size penalty to intimidate.
One could go with a whip and the dazzling display route, to have an AoE demoralize.
On another note the bard in my group is mostly using her turns to restart her performance, after ending it with purging or saving finale, after the fighter failed/messed up again.
If you want to make greater use of a whip, you can always dip one or two levels in mysterious avenger swashbuckler and take the Agile Maneuvers feat. You can also consider Weapon Focus (Whip), Slashing Grace, and Whip Mastery, if you are willing to invest additional feats.
I've played bards that use a whip and a bow. Both of them can do really well if you have the right build.
If you decide to go with the archer route, get a Tuned Bowstring. It's expensive, but it means you will never run out of Performance rounds.
If you go with the whip, you will have to decide on whether you want to just trip or do damage. Both options will take quite a few feats.
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If the rest of the party are handling the encounter just keep performing and save your spells for later.. We have a non-combatant bard in our War for the Crown game, and we are at the stupid level of play where there are so many buffs flying around that we rarely get past two rounds per combat. He doesn’t need to cast anything in round 2 or the rare round 3.
Look around, study the situation, ready in case you need to use a saving finale.
Dance like it's nobody's business.
But seriously, it's usually a matter of getting a bardic performance going, and then getting haste or something going. And then...usually the rest of the party can handle it on their own. Combat rarely lasts more than like 4 rounds. And the martials are usually going full blender mode anyways. Just hang out and see if any specific need develops.
The bard does not need to be an expert at what he does after starting a bardic performance and casting buff spells. What he does at this point is not the main focus of the character. The main focus of the character is providing boost to the party which he has already done with bardic performances and spells.
While a being a focused archer is feat intensive the bard does not need to be that good. At minimum all they need is proficiency with the bow. Point blank and Precise shot would be useful. Often the bard can target foes that are not in melee combat with the party. Having those two feats will very useful, but not absolutely necessary. I would recommend those two feats, but a bard could still take a few feats before taking them.
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What's "optimal" will depend a bit on your party size and composition. If you're a party of three with one member being non-damage focused, your bard's damage will matter a lot more. If you're a party of 6+ with some big blenders, your bard's damage will be inconsequential.
If you want to have more to do outside of buffing, you should consider the skald. If you want to be a halfling or gnome while doing this, then use Desna's divine fighting technique to get charisma to your attack and damage with starknives. If you want all your allies to benefit without affecting their spellcasting, then use the spell warrior archetype. You may instead consider the court poet if using charisma for attack and damage, but that is unlikely to benefit your teammates much.
Melkiador while you statement is completely true, and I agree with it a hundred percent. What the original poster was asking was not how to be optimal, but rather how to be useful after buffing the party. A character does not need to be fully optimized to be useful.
In first situation you propose a low strength small bard is probably not going to be a good choice. In that situation very few bards would be a good addition to the party. An archeologist bard might fit, but they give up all performances for a luck bonus on nearly everything. But a small race like halfling is a poor choice for an archeologist in that situation.
I would also like to point out that while the bard spell list is great for buffing the party it also has a decent amount of enchantment and illusion spells. They get Hideous Laughter as a 1st level spell and hold person as a 2nd level spell. Feats like spell focus can make these more useful and allow them to remain useful at higher levels. Casting Hideous Laughter on one of the fighters protecting the boss can work even at high level.
A character does not need to be fully optimized to be useful.
Hence, why I put "optimal" in quotes.
In first situation you propose a low strength small bard is probably not going to be a good choice. In that situation very few bards would be a good addition to the party. An archeologist bard might fit, but they give up all performances for a luck bonus on nearly everything. But a small race like halfling is a poor choice for an archeologist in that situation.
I'm not sure if you are still addressing me, as that doesn't seem to be in line with what I said. Archeologist halfling bard can be fine going for either dexterity or charisma to damage, but archeologist doesn't sound like what the poster wants, as it gives up on party buffing except for some spells. I recommended skald because it can get charisma to attack and damage at first level, and it still buffs allies with songs, while having the same spells.