Playable 1-40 PvE. Not designed for PvP but could adapt relatively well. Works well in most environments.
This is a revision of one my earlier builds, found here.
While playing on a PW using that build, I had a ton of fun and came up with a few changes I feel would have made it even better. This version winds up with a better AB, is over the dispel cap as a bard, and has a few differences in feat selection. Notably, I abandoned Combat Casting and Improved Combat Casting... originally I thought they'd be really helpful, but in practice I found that the character doesn't need to cast during combat often enough to justify the feats.
Human, Non-Lawful, Non-Evil
Str 16 Dex 8 Con 14 Wis 10 Int 14 Cha 14
1 Ftr (1): Weapon Focus+, Luck of Heroes*, Strong Soul* 2 Bar (1): 3 Ftr (2): Power Attack*, Cleave*+ 4 Ftr (3): +str 5 Ftr (4): Weapon Specialization+ 6 Bar (2): Curse Song 7 Bar (3): 8 Bar (4): +str 9 COT (1): Extend Spell 10 COT (2): Blind-Fight+ 11 COT (3): 12 Bar (5): +str, Still Spell 13 COT (4): Knockdown+ 14 COT (5): 15 COT (6): Iron Will*, Improved Knockdown+ 16 COT (7): +str 17 Bar (6): 18 COT (8): Toughness, Expertise*+ 19 Bar (7): 20 Bar (8): +str 21 COT (9): Epic Weapon Focus 22 COT (10): Epic Weapon Specialization+ 23 Bar (9): 24 Bar (10): +str, Great Cha 1 25 Bar (11): 26 Bar (12): 27 Bar (13): Epic Prowess 28 Bar (14): +cha 29 Bar (15): 30 Bar (16): Armor Skin 31 Bar (17): 32 Bar (18): +str 33 Bar (19): Great Str 1 34 Bar (20): 35 Bar (21): 36 Bar (22): +str, Great Str 2 37 Bar (23): Lasting Inspiration+ 38 Bar (24): 39 Bar (25): Great Str 3 40 Bar (26): +str, Epic Skill Focus (Perform)+
* - Optional Feat + - Bonus Feat
Skills - Discipline, Concentration, Tumble, Perform, Use Magic Device, Taunt (or Spellcraft if you'd prefer extra save bonuses). Minor Spellcraft investment with leftovers.
Ending Vitals: Str 28 Cha 16
Unbuffed: AC 30 with mundane plate/tower shield 416 max hp Fort 31 Ref 28 Will 26
AB +41 with mundane weapon, +15 damage/hit
Self-Buffed (Bardsong & Spells, no Divine Wrath) AC 40 AB +51 with GMW'd weapon, +26 dam/hit Fort 33 Ref 31 Will 29
Wrathfully Self-Buffed (As above, with Divine Wrath) AC 40 AB +56 with GMW'd weapon, +31 dam/hit Fort 38 Ref 36 Will 34
FAQ: Q: Why'd you post this revision? A: Because I had a blast playing it and it takes advantage of a couple tricks I didn't know about when I designed the original character. Notably, taking epic weapon specialization as a COT instead of a fighter - this freed me up to take two more Bard levels and get over the dispel cap, a Good Thing in my opinion.
Q: Why are you taking so many non-epic saving throw feats? A: I felt that the original character's saves weren't as good as they ought to have been, particularly the Will save. It's certainly possible to swap them out for other feats, but in playing the first build I found that I didn't use Called Shot very much, for example, and I was already planning to drop Combat Casting.
Q: Then why make Spellcraft optional with Taunt? A: Part of the reason to bolster the saves using feats was to free up the skillpoints from Spellcraft in favor of Taunt. Taunt is an excellent ability in the hands of Bards, since it synergizes extremely well with their song.
I would actually consider dropping the build's strength back down to 26 and taking an epic skill focus in Taunt; in certain environments in fact I probably would do that - drop the two Great Str feats and take ESF Taunt and ESF Discipline.
Q: Why did you drop Improved Critical? A: I wanted Expertise mode more. I find that both Power Attack and Expertise are very useful abilities to activate once a Curse Song and Taunt have landed on an enemy. If I were going to swap a feat out for Improved Critical I'd probably remove Cleave - it's a really great feat early on, but not as great in later levels.
Q: Last but not least, why'd you drop Improved Combat Casting? A: I defended ICC in the original build because I expected I'd be casting from the front lines a lot, and taking AOOs from enemies with OnHit or Sneak Attack abilities really sucks... but the situations I was planning for didn't happen that often.
Specifically I found that if surprised, my partymates usually intercepted the enemies before they could threaten me with AOOs while I was spellcasting, and I only had to cast one or two spells before joining in myself. Without +12 in Cha gear, or bonus spell slot gear, this character won't have enough spells per day to be buffing multiple partymembers every fight. _________________ Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience.
This is a good rebuild. I like the feat choices as well, and the only thing I might suggest is taking Epic Skill Focus:Perform a bit earlier (as you may find you need it earlier). Perhaps at Bard levlel 19, and take the Grt STR at level 39.
This is a solid build. I love Bards, and play them a lot. Nice work Xylo.
*edit* Forget the ESF:Perfom suggestion. I misread the levels where you took the feats. Carry on, nothing to see here. _________________ Where I'm playing now: World of Greyhawk.
Edited By Cinnabar Din on 05/20/06 00:00
I also approve of your feat selection this time. It looks much better, and I like the emphasis you placed on saves.
My only critique has to do with your pre-level split, as I would go for Bard12/Ftr4/CoT4 to improve playability through Bardsongs and spells, and accelerate to Bard16 by Level 28.
You lose 1AB initially, though you easily make up for it by postponing CoT feats to Epic, and thus allowing you to use General feats for Great Strs. You could easily drop Power Attack and Cleave for the loss of 4 Cot levels in pre-epic( I think Bard9-12 easily trumps 2 CoT feats).
Personally, I would move knockdown down to an earlier level. I find it useful against low level undead who hit hard and have a low AC. I would probably take toughness and knockdown at level 3.
If you were playing on server where devastating critical was in play, you could switch Iron Will for great fortitude and drop armor skin for epic fortitude which would raise your unbuffed fortitude save to 37 (the minimum dev crit. DC), buffed you could only be dev. critted on 1. _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
Edited By Mithdradates on 05/20/06 09:12
This is very very solid, particularly for team PvP (the best kind!). Why not take bard at level one though, for the extra skill points? Not that big a deal, I suppose. Anyway, well done.
edit: just re read Mithadradates post, nevermind heh.
Edited By Ithacan on 05/20/06 12:57
No matter how good a build is it can always be customized and made better for someone's playstyle. Good suggestions everyone
I like the Dwarflord's suggestion of putting more bard levels up front and getting a higher strength in the end, as that will increase the bonus damage by +1 and end with the same AB. And probably make the character eligible for lasting inspiration a bit earlier.
The reason I put bard 1 at level 2 originally was to get 5 in my Tumble skill for the AC point, because I have a habit of taking skill dump levels at 2, 7, 12, etc. In combination with more bard pre-epic, however, getting the extra skill points at level 1 is almost a nobrainer. I can never have too many skill points.
I can't stress enough how fun this character is to play, and what a difference the high-level bard song/curse song combo can make in a fight. In fact, you're well-advised to seek out enough +perform equipment to get the full bard song benefit with this character - the level 26 bard/curse songs are +/- 6 AC (a step up from 5) and +/- 15 skill points. +15 to all your skills is better than having an Epic Skill Focus (Everything). _________________ Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience.
