[PF] Optimizing a Casting Focused Bard

[BTB]

What it says on the tin. Now there's a few questions to be covered here, so let's go through them. Casters are not my area of expertise, help is appreciated.

1. What will I be doing when not casting spells, as I will not have the staying power to do this constantly.

2. Spell selection, and whether any of the Bardic Masterpieces are worth the spell slot it takes to learn them.

3. Possible Archetypes, feats, save DCs may be an issue.

4. General advice.

The session I'll be using this in has talk of Synthesist Summoners being involved, so I'll need to keep a fair power level. And no, I'm not going to just play a sorcerer. I prefer this.

[StreamOfTheSky]

There aren't any archetypes very useful to a casting-focused bard, sadly. There's Magician, but it suffers from the unfortunate condition of "sucking."

I would suggest Dirge Bard or Chelish Diva. Former can affect undead with more abilities and cherry pick necromancy spells to add to his spell list. Latter is just a solid archetype that will let you cast in medium and later heavy armor and gets a *no save* frightened performance effect at level 8, as well as the ability to burn double rounds to pump save DC of other performances.

For races, Human is pretty solid for bonus spells known favored class bonus. Aasimar can add +1/2 each level to the effects of a performance. So, you could pick... Fascinate, to boost DC and number of targets. You'd do so in order to then use Suggestion, but they need to be fascinated before you can use suggestion, so may as well apply the favored class bonus to fascinate.

For spells... you probably want Arcane Concordance (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/a/arcane-concordance) as a spell known.

[BTB]

Dirge Bard is looking promising indeed, and that demoralize check bonus at 5th level comes early enough that I can wait for it. More spells known is always helpful too, and the save bonus seems less situational than well versed.

Also, awesome spell that is. As for when I'm not casting, I could probably put a few points in strength and carry a whip and some nets at early levels. Tripping and entangling is better than nothing. Thanks for the recomendations there.

[Norin]

I'm not familiar with PF, but if it works you should have a look at Sublime Chord PrC.

It's basically Bard10\Sublime Chord10 = 9th level spells.

Id say getting access to high level spells is good for a casting focused bard. :)

[Mystral]

How about rolling a sorcerer with the maestro bloodline? Twice the casting, fluff stays about the same.

[BrickSteelhead]

And no, I'm not going to just play a sorcerer. I prefer this.

Mystral, read the OP.

[BTB]

I'm not familiar with PF, but if it works you should have a look at Sublime Chord PrC.

It's basically Bard10\Sublime Chord10 = 9th level spells.

Id say getting access to high level spells is good for a casting focused bard. :)

Getting high level spells WOULD be great if they had Sublime Chord in Pathfinder. Heopfully there's a suitable replacement, but I doubt it.

[Psyren]

I recommend Sound Striker + Magician. When your spells aren't needed for control, you can simply use your Performance to blast instead, including converting unneeded spells into additional rounds of performance. Because you can use your performance to attack directly, you can focus exclusively on Cha/Dex and not have to worry about your physical stats as much either. In addition, Magician can let you expand your repertoire with combat-oriented spells from the Sorcerer, Witch or Magus list, without sacrificing your Bardic feel. You also gain some tricks with metamagic, and finally, you gain great facility with wands - treating them almost like staves. (You can capitalize on this synergy further by making a wand your bonded object.)

[BTB]

I recommend Sound Striker + Magician. When your spells aren't needed for control, you can simply use your Performance to blast instead, including converting unneeded spells into additional rounds of performance. Because you can use your performance to attack directly, you can focus exclusively on Cha/Dex and not have to worry about your physical stats as much either. In addition, Magician can let you expand your repertoire with combat-oriented spells from the Sorcerer, Witch or Magus list, without sacrificing your Bardic feel. You also gain some tricks with metamagic, and finally, you gain great facility with wands - treating them almost like staves. (You can capitalize on this synergy further by making a wand your bonded object.)

Sound Striker when I'm not casting is excellent, and fits my character's flavor. Honestly, I think I'll take Dirge Bard over magician, I should be fune with just those necromancer spells.

[doko239]

For archetypes, take a look at Sound Striker (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateMagic/spellcastingClassOptions/bard.html). You lose Inspire Competence and Suggestion, gaining some nice damage abilities. Depends on what kind of caster you wanna be though I guess. Edit: dang, beaten to it. I should read these threads more carefully :smallbiggrin:

Feats to look at:

Extra Bardic Performance: obviously.
Spellsong: maintain a Concentration-duration spell as part of your Bardic Performance. Fantastic for action economy.
Lingering Performance: Bardic Performance lasts for 2 rounds after you stop. Again, great for action economy, especially when combined with Spellsong.
Discordant Voice: Bardic Music makes allies deal extra Sonic damage.
Eldritch Heritage: Gain sorcerer bloodline abilities. Most useful bloodlines are Arcane (gain an Arcane Bond as a wizard), Sylvan (Gain an animal companion as a Druid), Infernal (Increase DC of Charm keyword spells by +2), or Maestro (grants you a modified Daze as a SLA, and is very thematic).

Traits:

Maestro of the Society: +3 rounds of Bardic Performance/day.
Rough and Ready: Use any tool associated with a trained Profession, Craft or Perform skill as an improvised weapon with no penalty and +1 to hit. You now threaten with your lute!

[BTB]

For archetypes, take a look at Sound Striker (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateMagic/spellcastingClassOptions/bard.html). You lose Inspire Competence and Suggestion, gaining some nice damage abilities. Depends on what kind of caster you wanna be though I guess. Edit: dang, beaten to it. I should read these threads more carefully :smallbiggrin:

Feats to look at:

Extra Bardic Performance: obviously.
Spellsong: maintain a Concentration-duration spell as part of your Bardic Performance. Fantastic for action economy.
Lingering Performance: Bardic Performance lasts for 2 rounds after you stop. Again, great for action economy, especially when combined with Spellsong.
Discordant Voice: Bardic Music makes allies deal extra Sonic damage.
Eldritch Heritage: Gain sorcerer bloodline abilities. Most useful bloodlines are Arcane (gain an Arcane Bond as a wizard), Sylvan (Gain an animal companion as a Druid), Infernal (Increase DC of Charm keyword spells by +2), or Maestro (grants you a modified Daze as a SLA, and is very thematic).

Traits:

Maestro of the Society: +3 rounds of Bardic Performance/day.
Rough and Ready: Use any tool associated with a trained Profession, Craft or Perform skill as an improvised weapon with no penalty and +1 to hit. You now threaten with your lute!

Those are all great feats, I'll probably take them once I take the ones to make my non-casting options viable at early levels (very important when I have few spells). One of my traits is already decided, and I prefer a non-instrumental perform, and lost versatile performance when I took Dirge Bard, so Rough and Ready is unnecessary. Tell me, which of those feats are most helpful early on, when my casting is most limited?