Dancing Themed Bard Boss [3.5]

[Aemoh87]

I am trying to make an Orc boss who is a bard themed around dancing. Slippers of battle dancing and the Fire dance spell from this web enhancement (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20031017a) are primary influences. He cannot have an ECL higher than 12th level. Any cool suggestions, I am lost :(

Remember he is immune to fire damage too!

[Keegan__D]

I don't see the purpose of that spell. Am I missing something?

[Runestar]

Dancing Bear build? (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872622/Challenge:_Optimization_Circus!)

In summary, a rogue/barbarian/bear warrior/thief-acrobat build.

[Rhaegar14]

We can't really help you that well if we don't know anything about your players; some of the best builds that would work for this thematically would get thrashed by mid- to high-optimization characters.

[JadePhoenix]

Battle Dancer feat (PHB2) - +2 to attacks if you attack while using bardic music
Snowflake Wardance (Frostburn) - +Cha to attack with one-handed melee weapons, duration based on Perform (dance)
Irresistable Dance + Smiting Spell (PHB + PHB2) - whip others into dancing for you

[Talionis]

I don't see the purpose of that spell. Am I missing something?

I'm with you... I'm confused what benefit or in what situationsmthis spell would be worth casting. You can only move... That pretty much stinks. The ray at the end is only worth anything if you do nothing but move for more rounds than your caster level. I guess it could be used for kiting?

[Swooper]

That spell is... nearly useless. It takes a standard action to maintain the dance each round, meaning he can't attack while doing it. :smallconfused:

[Psyren]

For fluff, you could model him off Levistus, who loves to dance, challenge foes to single combat swordplay and toy with them. If a teammate's allies jump in, he then retaliates without mercy and goes all out.

[Volos]

That spell is... nearly useless. It takes a standard action to maintain the dance each round, meaning he can't attack while doing it. :smallconfused:

He could be using it to buff his allies, who in turn attack the PCs and keep them off his back. Then once the dance is over he can blast the biggest threat or heal himself. Not useless, but definitely less useful than same level bard spells.

[Demons_eye]

If you could get your check high enough it would be awesome to start the fight by dancing in (Using extend meta magic) and blasting them for a whole hell of a lot.

[Talionis]

Well unless your enemies are blind, you can't sneak up on them and "power up" because by dancing you become a human light house.

[silver spectre]

I am trying to make an Orc boss who is a bard themed around dancing. Slippers of battle dancing and the Fire dance spell from this web enhancement (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20031017a) are primary influences. He cannot have an ECL higher than 12th level. Any cool suggestions, I am lost :(

Remember he is immune to fire damage too!

Have you checked out the fire-souled template and the heartfire fanner PRC from dragon 314?

They seem a little underpowered to me, but I like the flavor of them and you can give allies bonus feats.

[Aemoh87]

That spell is... nearly useless. It takes a standard action to maintain the dance each round, meaning he can't attack while doing it. :smallconfused:

He could haste.

The boss doesn't need to be the hardest enemy ever, just interesting.

[Coidzor]

Inspire Courage Optimization. (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=9830.0)

A melee gishing bard or bardblade augmenting a bunch of lesser companions so that they become threats to the party might make for an interesting encounter.

Do you have access to the Tome of Battle? Bard/Crusader is pretty good too. Bard/Warblade though, you can acquire Warblade (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060802a&page=2) from the WOTC site as well as all of the maneuvers from the web enhancement (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20061225a).


He could be using it to buff his allies, who in turn attack the PCs and keep them off his back. Then once the dance is over he can blast the biggest threat or heal himself. Not useless, but definitely less useful than same level bard spells.

Maybe not useless, but it is pretty darn pointless. It's a 4th level Bard Spell. Bards get those at 10th level with sufficient charisma. Bards get Inspire Courage +2 at level 8. They get it without needing to sacrifice all of their actions and they can end it voluntarily and still have the effect persist for 5 rounds after they stop singing.

That, and Inspire Courage can be made better. This is a weak blast/ok healing spell that requires one to spend CL round to do or heal CLd6 damage. AKA, not worth it, since the only time one has time to dance for that long is out of combat for healing and wands are the kings of out of combat healing and this spell doesn't change that.

And damage. Oh man, Even unoptimized inspire courage has better damage returns.


He could haste.

Even if he was using 3.0 Haste which gave extra actions, this spell specifically forbids any other actions.

[Lord.Sorasen]

He could haste.

The boss doesn't need to be the hardest enemy ever, just interesting.

Is it absolute necessity that he use this spell? I'm wondering if you might consider dragonfire inspiration (I think is what it's called) instead: which would grant all your allies fire damage bonuses far greater than fire dance would, and it would essentially look and feel the same.

If you really really want to use this spell, though, you need to think of things he can do while dancing that don't require him to, well, do anything other than dance and move. The only idea I can really think of is having the boss lair littered with traps triggered to set off fireballs, and have your orc dance around setting them off. But I imagine you want to do more than that. A battledancing orc should, logically speaking, be battling while he dances, which is why I'll again suggest dragonfire inspiration.

[Aemoh87]

Is it absolute necessity that he use this spell? I'm wondering if you might consider dragonfire inspiration (I think is what it's called) instead: which would grant all your allies fire damage bonuses far greater than fire dance would, and it would essentially look and feel the same.

If you really really want to use this spell, though, you need to think of things he can do while dancing that don't require him to, well, do anything other than dance and move. The only idea I can really think of is having the boss lair littered with traps triggered to set off fireballs, and have your orc dance around setting them off. But I imagine you want to do more than that. A battledancing orc should, logically speaking, be battling while he dances, which is why I'll again suggest dragonfire inspiration.

The Boss is an Orc and I don't want him to wipe the whole party, I thought alot on dragonfire inspiration and I still might do it with DM cheats. Warblade is another thing I am considering. I was planning to have the whole battle area lit with normal fire per the DMG.

Remember he doesn't have to be a good character in the long run... just one interesting encounter. Some interesting fluff about the character is in dances he can predict the future, so he will be not only fighting the party but predicting the outcome of the parties goal. Essentially it's going to send this out of place desert into an ice age and he will reflect that in combat, but I already have his cold side finished.

[Lateral]

He could haste.

Haste doesn't work that way.

[Rhaegar14]

Haste doesn't work that way.

It does if you're a swiftblade! :D

[Coidzor]

It does if you're a swiftblade! :D

Which is awesome and in keeping with a bard gish given a dragon magazine feat (Chaos music, IIRC) and vest of legends to cover up the loss of IC from swiftblade.

But the spell is the spell. Though, given it's the DM, the skies the limit for what the spell actually has to entail.

I'd go so far as to recommend something that either stacked with IC or provided a buff to the IC effect though.