Bard becoming a Bishop

[Martial_law]

So may bard changed career paths and became a bishop later in life (think direct intervention by a God to save his life.) So hes in the Church and spends much of his time doing LE work using the power of the church. Any thoughts on his behavior or difficulties in transition? He switched at lvl 12 from CE to LE and is a lvl 15 into whatever prestige class you suggest. Perform singing, otherwise Ill take whatever suggetsions.

[Waker]

Do you have any preferences for what the character can do? Did you want to focus on buffing the party, debuffing the enemy, being a face, a know-it-all? Knowing the details of the Deity may also be useful.

[Thurbane]

Evangelist from Complete Divine would be a good fit thematically, but won't do anything to progress your Bard casting or much for other Bard abilities...

[Matticussama]

Becoming a religious figure doesn't necessarily mean having to switch classes. A Bard could continue taking Bard levels, while putting ranks into Profession: Chaplain and Knowledge: Religion. Between the two, the Bard would have the knowledge and the practical skills to hold a high position in the church. Meanwhile, continuing to progress their Bardic abilities gives them the charismatic flair of a true believer who seeks to spread the word of their chosen deity. Perform: Oratory would allow them to give fiery sermons, while using abilities like Inspire Courage to.. well.. inspire courage in those listening.

[Thurbane]

Becoming a religious figure doesn't necessarily mean having to switch classes. A Bard could continue taking Bard levels, while putting ranks into Profession: Chaplain and Knowledge: Religion.
The only problem being that he has become LE, which by RAW, means no more Bard levels.

[Alienist]

Just a historical note: in the middle ages the Papacy was also a secular power, so much so that neither cardinals nor Pope were required to be members of the clergy, and the office was bought and sold.

Also, bishops had palaces and were considered the equals of princes.

Abbots also had a lot of secular power, and were often/usually(?) outside of the control of the local bishop, which made them 'interesting neighbours'.

[Pilo]

You may find a PrC, many bard PrC does not keep the non Lawful part, like Sublime Chord or Virtuoso. You might also ask your DM if you can ignore that rules.

[CaladanMoonblad]

The only problem being that he has become LE, which by RAW, means no more Bard levels.

Yup. That was my thought exactly.

Remember Pilo, you only have to be 1 step away to be a cleric. So if your new deity is LE, than you can be NE and still retain your bardic abilities AND get your new cleric abilities.

[Pilo]

From the SRD:

Ex-Bards

A bard who becomes lawful in alignment cannot progress in levels as a bard, though he retains all his bard abilities.

So he still has the abilities, and he cannot take any more bard level. Nothing prevent a PrC to improves his bard abilities.

[Telonius]

You could always ask for a rebuild as a NE Divine Bard (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#bardVariantDivineBard) . If I were DM, I'd allow it (possibly with an appropriate quest). You might find some more interesting PrC's to progress your abilities, since you'd be looking for Divine rather than Arcane advancement.

[Matticussama]

The only problem being that he has become LE, which by RAW, means no more Bard levels.

I completely forgot about that part, since my group tends not to strictly enforce class alignment requirements.

In that case, I would second the Divine Bard route and switching to NE instead of LE. You would be a bit of an outsider within the religious establishment, but with the charisma and skill to avoid most of the repercussions of not always following the law exactly to the letter.

[lsfreak]

Getting used to the new movement rules might be a little stressful.

I'd agree with Caladan and Alienist. Become Neutral Evil, stay as bard (or whatever, I like Lyric Thaumaturge for general bard builds), keep leveling like normal because being a bishop doesn't require a class change or anything.

[nedz]

You could always go Ur Priest.

[Lightlawbliss]

You could always go Ur Priest.

Ur-Priest walking around with actual clerics...Role playing opportunities.

[Martial_law]

As a LE, I lose all future bard lvls. If I went into Lyric Thaumaturge, it says I keep getting spells as a bard, would you DM's allow that or kibosh it?

[Martial_law]

Also could I have more spells available to me if I had a "songbook", and like a wizard I just copied songs into it?

[animewatcha]

Why not do an LE version of Devoted Performer. Bard/Blackguard?

[Martial_law]

I wouldn't be able to realistically get and use the feats. Id rather get other feats that will be more thematic.