Here is a Bard that is meant to be able to go through mods taking advantage of melee, arcane and (some) rogue skills. Not a power build to be sure, but plenty of dungeon-crawling fun.

Below this write-up, I will post a second version (dual-wielding) that I also toyed around with.

The Explorer - (Bard 26 / Rogue 10 / RDD 4)

Human
Playable 1-40, PvM
(designed for Single-player Mods)
Any non-Lawful Alignment

STR 16 (32)
DEX 12
CON 14
INT 12
WIS 8
CHA 14 (16)

1 Rogue 1 - Toughness, Skill Focus: Disarm Trap
2 Bard 1
3 Bard 2 - Armor Prof: Heavy
4 Bard 3 - STR 17
5 Bard 4
6 Rogue 2 - Weapon Focus
7 Bard 5
8 Bard 6 - STR 18
9 Bard 7 - Knockdown
10 Bard 8
11 Bard 9
12 Rogue 3 - Curse Song, CHA 15
13 Bard 10
14 Bard 11
15 Bard 12 - Blind Fight
16 Bard 13 - CHA 16
17 Rogue 4
18 Bard 14 - Still Spell
19 Bard 15
20 Bard 16 - STR 19

21 Rogue 5 - Epic Weapon Focus
22 RDD 1
23 RDD 2 - [STR 21]
24 RDD 3 - Armor Skin, STR 22
25 RDD 4 - [STR 24]
26 Rogue 6
27 Bard 17 - Epic Prowess
28 Bard 18 - STR 25
29 Bard 19
30 Bard 20 - Great Strength III
31 Rogue 7
32 Bard 21 - STR 27
33 Bard 22 - Great Strength IV
34 Bard 23 - Lasting Inspiration*
35 Bard 24
36 Rogue 8 - Great Strength V, STR 30
37 Bard 25
38 Rogue 9
39 Rogue 10 - Great Strength VI, Crippling Strike*
40 Bard 26 - Epic Skill Focus: Perform*, STR 32

AB 40 - [BAB 25 + STR 11 + WF 1 + EWF 2 + EP 1]
AC 30 - [Base 10 + Plate 8 + Dex 1 + Tumble 8 + RDD 1 + Armor Skin 2]

buffed
AB 56 - [40 + Bulls 2 + GMW 5 + Warcry 2 + Song 2 + Curse 5]
AC 45 - [30 + Mage Armor 4 + Haste 4 + Song 5 + Curse 2]

HP: 360

Saves (+8 verses spells)
Fortitude: 17
Reflex: 25
Will: 20

Skills: 284
Perform 43, Spellcraft 43, Tumble 40, UMD 40, Open Lock 42, Disarm Trap 42, Lore 8 (for RDD), Search 26

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This build was put together as a Bard-of-all-trades. I've always pictured the Bard as someone that was never quite trustworthy (in a law-abiding sense) and it seemed to me that they should have some nice thievery skills at their disposal.

This is definitely falls into the RP / Single-player mod category as it could be more combat focused. However, my goal was to have a bard that could also act as the party thief (in a limited sense). Opening locks and disarming traps as well as having some combat and arcane power available. Ideally you would use this in a mod that would make use of disarming traps and opening locks (perhaps by giving XP for it).

As such, the Rogue levels were taken for skill dumps in Open Lock and Disarm Trap. If necessary, you could skimp on something and put points into Set Trap as well. Due to the skill point starvation, I completely disregarded any attempts to have stealth. You can either fall back on Potions/Rings or your 2nd level Bard spell if you need invisibility.

The RDD levels are only there to bolster the AB and get it up to 40. You could take more, and it would make a stronger build. But I just didn't want to be an "RDD Build" and after testing I didn't think it really was necessary.

I tested it in the Novice to Epic mod and it performed as expected. The roughest part is in the beginning levels. After about 8 on, it gets considerably better. The Ultravision/Darkness combo also helps add to your combat effectiveness.

I purposely left the Weapon Focus empty as you could either go one-handed and a Tower Shield or pick a two-handed weapon for extra damage. Either way would work, so it would depend on personal preference. I noticed that many mods (at least the ones I've played) seem to use Rapiers as the "Bard" weapon. So you might take that into consideration.

I REALLY wanted more skill points, but the only way to do that is to gimp your Con or your Dex. Either one would work. And with Cat's Grace, you could make up the Dex later in the build.

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Pros
- Bard Spells
- Bard Song
- Curse Song
- Decent AC
- Decent AB
- Un-dispellable buffs (other than Mords)
- Disarm Traps
- Open Locks

Cons
- Rough early on
- VERY Skill starved
- no Taunt
- Performs best in party (though not necessary)
- probably won't see full utilization of Song
- weak saves

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Similar Builds
These use similar classes, but are all RDD 10 and/or have much less Bard.
The Fairy Dragon /Bard17/Rogue13/RDD10 by Bruce Lee 72
The Scoundrel /Bard 17/Rogue 13/RDD 10 by mphacon

The closest is mphacon's well done "Scoundrel" (and indeed, I did hesitate to post after reading his build write-up). But my intent not so much a Bard-Rogue mix as it was a Bard with a minor amount of Rogue levels. Plus the obvious smaller amount of RDD. Also, mine nets two Bard Epic Feats which I used for Lasting Inspiration and Epic Skill Focus: Perform. And mine is also un-Dispellable (other than Mord's). Dual-Wield version

All right, here is a second version that, while weaker, I actually prefered to play. The only *big* difference is that it is dual-wielding (Aargh, I'm such a sucker for dual-wielding ).

As such, you lose some AC and HP, but I ran this version through a single-player mod and rarely had any difficulty, so it's definitely do-able. The big reason I went with two weapons was to take advantage of the extra weapon properties that can be found on various short swords and daggers (haste, AC, etc.)

The Explorer (part Deux) - (Bard 26 / Rogue 10 / RDD 4)

Human
Playable 1-40, PvM
(designed for Single-player Mods)
Any non-Lawful Alignment

STR 16 (32)
DEX 14 (15)
CON 12
INT 12
WIS 8
CHA 14 (16)

1 Rogue 1 - Toughness, Two-Weapon Fighting
2 Bard 1
3 Bard 2 -Weapon Focus: Rapier (or Shortswords)
4 Bard 3 - DEX 15
5 Bard 4
6 Rogue 2 - Ambidexterity
7 Bard 5
8 Bard 6 - STR 17
9 Bard 7 - Still Spell
10 Bard 8
11 Bard 9
12 Rogue 3 - Curse Song, STR 18
13 Bard 10
14 Bard 11
15 Bard 12 - Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
16 Bard 13 - CHA 15
17 Rogue 4
18 Bard 14 - Blind Fight
19 Bard 15
20 Bard 16 - CHA 16

21 Rogue 5 - Epic Weapon Focus: Rapier (or SS)
22 RDD 1
23 RDD 2 - [STR 20]
24 RDD 3 - Great Strength I, STR 22
25 RDD 4 - [STR 24]
26 Rogue 6
27 Bard 17 - Great Strength II
28 Bard 18 - STR 26
29 Bard 19
30 Bard 20 - Great Strength III
31 Rogue 7
32 Bard 21 - STR 28
33 Bard 22 - Great Strength IV
34 Bard 23 - Lasting Inspiration*
35 Bard 24
36 Rogue 8 - Great Strength V, STR 31
37 Bard 25
38 Rogue 9
39 Rogue 10 - Epic Prowess, Crippling Strike*
40 Bard 26 - Epic Skill Focus: Perform*, STR 32

AB 40 - [BAB 25 + STR 11 + WF 1 + EWF 2 + EP 1]
AC 26 - [Base 10 + Chain 5 + Dex 2 + Tumble 8 + RDD 1]

buffed
AB 56 - [40 + Bulls 2 + GMW 5 + Warcry 2 + Song 2 + Curse 5]
AC 41 - [26 + Mage Armor 4 + Haste 4 + Song 5 + Curse 2]

HP: 320

Saves (+8 versus spells)
Fortitude: 17
Reflex: 26
Will: 20

Skills: 284
Perform 43, Spellcraft 43, Tumble 40, UMD 40, Open Lock 42, Disarm Trap 42, Lore 8 (for RDD), Search 26

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Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Cheers. You would get better saving throws by taking 4 RDD levels pre-epic (without losing much).

Bard(16) has saving throws (F/R/W): 5/10/10 while Bard(12)/RDD(4) has 8/9/12. So you gain +3 fortitude and +2 will and -1 reflex. That's the magic of multiclassing.
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Quote: Posted 11/29/06 08:17 (GMT) -- Kamiryn

You would get better saving throws by taking 4 RDD levels pre-epic (without losing much).

Bard(16) has saving throws (F/R/W): 5/10/10 while Bard(12)/RDD(4) has 8/9/12. So you gain +3 fortitude and +2 will and -1 reflex. That's the magic of multiclassing.

Good point. I originally had that level split when designing the build, and as you say, it didn't really lose much. But during my mod testing, I (Debug) tested both versions and found that during certain (pre-epic) battles, the the better Bard song (and spells) made the boss fights much more winnable. So for the sake of leveling I saved the RDD till later.

But you are correct, in the long run, you'll eventually get your bard songs, but the saving throws would be lost.

A good suggestion. Thank you.