Bard vs Skald MC

[Tegu8788]

Can someone with better skills than I crunch the respective healing powers given by the Bard and Skald MC feats?

[allonym]

They're both daily powers, and the 1/day Majestic Word is just much more flexible - It takes two minor actions to activate the Skald's Aura heal - one to activate the aura from you, and one to activate the heal from them or someone next to them. Unless you have some kind of ability which requires a Skald's Aura, say, a Skald's Aura power taken with Dilettante, I would recommend taking Majestic Word.

In terms of healing ability, the difference is 1d6 HP vs slide 1. In terms of the actual numerical power of the heals, the difference is far too small to be definite one way or the other, especially on a daily power. It depends on the situation.

[Sol]

They both just take one minor action on your part - the skald heal can be triggered by any ally in the aura as a minor action on their turn.

The Majestic Word has a slide and adds your charisma modifier to the heal, but has one less d6 than the skald aura.

[tcrudisi]

If you are in doubt, take Majestic Word. It heals 3hp less, but that slide 1 can be huge on an ally.

You already spend a minor action to activate the aura, so you obviously have minor actions to spare. Your allies might not. That's another point in favor of Majestic Word.

If you are a Half-Elf and you've picked up a Skald power, take the Skald heal. But then it's a no-brainer. Otherwise, I take the slide 1 over ~3hp.

[MeeposFire]

Well actually majastic word will heal more at high levels (it is always 1d6 behind but that cha mod WILL get higher than 6 at some point) however the big bonus to skald is that it gives you access to martial feats and game elements which can be really nice for many classes (I use it with my elemental hexblade for light blade support).

[allonym]

however the big bonus to skald is that it gives you access to martial feats and game elements which can be really nice for many classes (I use it with my elemental hexblade for light blade support).

Master of Stories is a 'Multiclass Bard' feat, not something like 'Multiclass Skald', and it does not state anywhere in the feat that you count as being a member of a martial class for the purposes of pre-requisites. By RAW, I do not believe that you can use the Skald multiclass (Or, say, the Executioner multiclass) to pick up martial feats.

I also think this was intentional - a multiclass feat allowing you to qualify for both martial and arcane feats would be very powerful.


Well actually majastic word will heal more at high levels (it is always 1d6 behind but that cha mod WILL get higher than 6 at some point)

This is a good catch (I forgot about the cha-mod entirely) but only if your base class has some kind of charisma focus.

[Zaq]

Note that some parties will let you activate the Aura before combat, if you could reasonably be expecting a fight (for example, if you happen to be in a dungeon, and you're about to open a door). Expect table variance on this one, but I find that my minor actions are in short supply these days, and my allies are more likely to have a spare minor than I am. (For reference, I'm playing a level 16 Runepriest, MC Skald.) For that reason, if we assume that the Aura can be activated ahead of time, the Aura is better than Majestic Word, at least on a daily basis.

That said, when you get down to it, it's exceedingly unlikely that you'll be swearing under your breath, saying "if ONLY I had taken Bardic Dilettante instead of Master of Stories!" or "if ONLY I had taken Master of Stories instead of Bardic Dilettante!" You'll get pretty much the exact same benefit out of them.

[fieminamor]

I know, I know, this is an ancient thread. But I just played a bard through 30 levels, and I have a question for my next character...

How many heals do people allow Skald's Aura or Majestic Word to provide in the single encounter when it's used? Only one heal (this is how I played my MC Cleric's Healing Word on my Bard), or two/three [scaled]? Or different for Aura vs. Word?

Thanks! :)

[darkbard]

Only once per encounter, once per day.