This is a party support build. Get all the buffs you need in one compact package. Can cast all Cleric Buffs, all Bard buffs, fully powered Bard Song/Curse Song, War Domain for Aura of Vitality, Healing Domain for Empowered Healing. This would make a poor solo character, but will seriously pump up any party she is in.
She can go well over the +20 cap for herself, and can buff the party with +4 to Str, Con, Dex, and an effective +18 for the entire party with Aid, Bless, Battletide, Prayer, Bard Song/Curse Song, and Taunt. If the party does not already have +5 or better weapons, she can use GMW for another +5 as well (including the Str buff, that's an effective +25, with only +12 counting towards the magic AB cap!). Not to mention the damage bonuses from Song, Darkfire, etc., and the skill bonuses as well (makes her Taunt more effective, and helps the party with IKD, Disarm, and resisting the same from the enemies).
I found 2 similar builds in the search engine: Support Corssbow Master (Cleric 20 Bard 16/ Barb 4): Click Here Ancilla (Cleric 17/Bard 20/ Sorc 3): Click Here
Here is the build: Cleric(23), Bard(17), Human STR: 10 DEX: 12 CON: 14 WIS: 14 (26) INT: 14 CHA: 14 (16)
Options: You can drop UMD to max Taunt if you want to be able to Taunt spellcasters (I left UMD just high enough to use the best monk boots). As is, you will be able to taunt all non-spellcasters quite effectively, but probably will fail against spellcasters (although with Song/Curse Song active, you have a slight chance even against them). You could drop 3 levels of Cleric and 2 points of Wis to reach Bard 20 and take Lasting Inspiration. You could drop Wis to 20 to pump Str, but since DP raises it to 18 anyway, I didn't think that was worthwhile.
Domains: War is a must for Aura of Vitality. I picked Healing for party support. Trickery, Magic, Knowledge, are all made redundant by the Bard levels. You could take Plant if you want to cast Creeping Doom and Barkskin, or one of the elements if you want to turn elementals, or Good if you want to turn outsiders. Str would give her another Str boost and earlier DP, but Don't do much for the party.
TM
Edited By Kail Pendragon on 05/28/09 18:25
I'd definitely go Epic Bard. Bard 23/Cleric 17 looks better to me
Fine build _________________ The world is grey, the mountain's old The forge's fire is ashen and cold No harp is wrung, no hammer falls The darkness dwells in Druin's halls...
~ Summoning - Khazad-Dúm
I tend to favor Cleric over Bard because I find the high level Cleric spells more useful than the high level Bard ones. Also, it gets hard to pump Perform high enough to use the full song above level 20, and you don't gain that much from it compared to level 16 anyway.
Like I said, I would consider 20/20 to get Lasting Inspiration (that is quite nice), but I think I'd prefer 23 Cleric over 23 Bard.
TM
Those are some buffs....
It does get all cleric spells, so it can also work as a caster, not awesomely powerful, but 23 cleric is decent if your enemy doesn't has very high SR.
Sure is made for party enhancing, but it would still survive alone, using the self buffs it gets strong, and +60 ranged AB sure is good, might work better ranged/casting than melee, maybe WF and EWF on a bow, or also Exotic Weapon for composite bows.
If you're not convinced that it's good alone, make some summons and buff them to pretend you are in a party.
17 uses of the bard song should be well enough.
Nice build.
Quick modification to improve ranged AB:
Take Weapon Proficiency: Martial at level 1. Move Extend Spell from level 1 to level 3 (replacing WF: mace). Move Zen Archery up to level 9. Take WF:Longbow at level 15. Move Empower Spell to Level 18. Take EWF:Longbow at level 21 instead of EWF:Mace.
You lose WF/EWF:Mace and Blindfight. You get Zen Archery earlier, and pick up +3 to your ranged AB (now 37), and get 3 or 4 ranged attacks instead of 1 or 2 (now 37/32/27 unbuffed, 63/58/53/63 fully buffed, not counting the -5 to enemy AC from Curse Song or -6 from Taunt).
Losing Blindfight isn't that bad for her since she can cast True Sight. The only time it will hurt is against enemies with SC V or Empty Body.
This would make her less effective at melee, but more effective at shooting arrows from behind the fighters she has buffed up, which is where I would expect her to try to stay most of the time.
TM
I often find it is better to use a light crossbow with Clerics, rather than a bow...you get to wear a shield which you can have at a minimum of +5 with magical vestament...however you'd have to take it off to cast bard spells ...+ with all those spare 1st level spells you can bless a stack of bolts and on-hit kill Rakshasa's _________________ Grrr...hear my roar!!!
Good point. You could just replace the WF:Mace with WF:Light Crossbow and maybe replace Blindfight with Rapid Reload.
TM
Quote: Posted 03/09/06 21:31:06 (GMT) -- krsboss
I often find it is better to use a light crossbow with Clerics, rather than a bow...you get to wear a shield which you can have at a minimum of +5 with magical vestament...however you'd have to take it off to cast bard spells ...+ with all those spare 1st level spells you can bless a stack of bolts and on-hit kill Rakshasa's
Considering spells are mainly buffing, shield will be easy to control, she won't be in melee anyway, great idea.
Since when can you wear a shield while using a crossbow? (Or am I misunderstanding something here?) _________________ Captain's Log, Stardate 6051: had trouble sleeping last night... my hiatal hernia is acting up. The ship is... drafty and damp; I complain but... nobody listens.
It does get all cleric spells, so it can also work as a caster, not awesomely powerful, but 23 cleric is decent if your enemy doesn't has very high SR.
Sure is made for party enhancing, but it would still survive alone, using the self buffs it gets strong, and +60 ranged AB sure is good, might work better ranged/casting than melee, maybe WF and EWF on a bow, or also Exotic Weapon for composite bows
Composite bows are not exotic weapons. They're martial weapons. _________________ Captain's Log, Stardate 6051: had trouble sleeping last night... my hiatal hernia is acting up. The ship is... drafty and damp; I complain but... nobody listens.
You cannot use a shield with xbows. _________________ Inactive for a while
But you can with a sling. Might be a good idea to go with sling if there are good slings and/or projectiles around.
Nice build Tattoed Monk, I'd love to have such a support in my party. The goodness of cleric and bard together. And cleric buffs not far from being undispellable. Well done!
Cheers, Kail _________________ To hear the sound of Freedom, many gave their lives They fought for you and me Those memories will always live inside us, and now it's our time to be free
Okay, so let's consider the the Weapon FOcus feats to be your choice - she has room for a WF:(any simple) and a EWF:(any simple). I will also leave Blindfight optional if you want to have her take Martial Weapon Prof, Rapid Shot, etc. It only makes a difference of 3 AB, and since this build does not focus on her AB anyway, it's not terribly important.
She'll cast all of the long-duration buffs on the whole party after every rest. In combat, she'll be popping off Songs, Curse Songs, Taunts, and short-duration group buffs while her fighters tear up the enemy. By the time she finishes all of the buffs, there probably won't be anyone left to attack, anyway.
TM
I guess I should add: cool build idea, TM. I quite like this one and I'd be betting you'd have parties fighting each other over who'd have you in their party. _________________ Captain's Log, Stardate 6051: had trouble sleeping last night... my hiatal hernia is acting up. The ship is... drafty and damp; I complain but... nobody listens.
I have just started a character like this here. Another thing that is nice about 17 bard instead of 16 bard is this allows you to cast a level 6 bard spell with only 16 cha. If you are a 16 bard you now need 22 CHA to cast that one level 6 spell.
But I got Auto Still II in epic levels on mine. When i tested casting my bard spells in plate armor and tower shield, it never failed.
So I start out with 14 str, 8 dex instead of this, so it can use plate with no worries.
I also agree with taking the cleric levels early. I also agree that 23 cleric is more useful than 23 bard. I also agree to take lingering song (and I actually got extra music on mine).
How much UMD/perform did you go for? I have planned to have 27 (+3 from cha) UMD, 27 (+3) Perform thinking thats all that is needed.
Quote: Posted 05/28/09 17:36 (GMT) -- Erombil
I have just started a character like this here. Another thing that is nice about 17 bard instead of 16 bard is this allows you to cast a level 6 bard spell with only 16 cha. If you are a 16 bard you now need 22 CHA to cast that one level 6 spell.
But I got Auto Still II in epic levels on mine. When i tested casting my bard spells in plate armor and tower shield, it never failed.
So I start out with 14 str, 8 dex instead of this, so it can use plate with no worries.
I also agree with taking the cleric levels early. I also agree that 23 cleric is more useful than 23 bard. I also agree to take lingering song (and I actually got extra music on mine).
How much UMD/perform did you go for? I have planned to have 27 (+3 from cha) UMD, 27 (+3) Perform thinking thats all that is needed.
Please check the date before requesting info like this. This build is 3 years old. Monk, iirc, still comes by, but it isnt a guarantee.
Yes, auto still works with ALL spells, regardless, if you can qualify for them. Bard cannot, but cleric can, so it will work with bard spells too. What was the point of stating that?
Im not sure where you get the 22 cha thingy. I guess it could be true, i dont play much anymore, but again, since Monk did it that way, what's the point?
By lowering dex to 8, there is a worry with full plate. To get the full AC with full plate you need 12 dex, so you are 4 short, or -2 ac. Some can rely on spells, but with low caster lvls, that wont last too long.
wrt UMD, it depends on the environment. What items are available on your pw? Perform, check the tables. According to my research http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Bard_song stopping at 27 leaves you 8 short for full lv 17 bardsong.
The last thing, your build sound alot different from Monks. It has been happening alot lately for some strange reason, but if you have a new build, DONT post it under another thread. THis is considered rude and off topic. Especially since this is 3 years old. _________________
Quote: Posted 06/23/04 21:16 (GMT) -- Anuis
Suolucider, Blitz 04, avado, Quisition, Boourns, ... welcome to the guild! Anuis
Makes me feel OOLD!!
sorry then, All I needed to sAy wAs I Agree with 23 levels of cleric over 23 levels of bArd, And getting lingering song. I wonder whAt you would hAve sAid if I posted A whole build with the only difference in being using heAvy PlAte with eAse. So I went AheAd & posted here. Sorry for the A's.
1) You were not rude Erombil. You had every right to comment on an existing build.
2) There are no rules about commenting on an old build.
3) Monks last post was in March.
Feel free to cross the bridge Erombil. Don't let bitter old avado scare you off. He just barks, but doesn't really bite
...+ with all those spare 1st level spells you can bless a stack of bolts and on-hit kill Rakshasa's 
