Bard/Warmage?

[Gwendol]

Hi!
Is there a way to combine the bard and the warmage? Lyric thaumaturge comes to mind, but I was wondering if there were others.

It seems to me the IC bonuses will stack nicely with orb spells, and the BFC spells the warmage can cast.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

There's Prestige Bard (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/prestigiousCharacterClasses.htm#prestigeBard), but it gets a +2 caster level bonus for divination, enchantment, and illusion spells and a -2 caster level penalty for necromancy and evocation spells. You could make that up with Practiced Spellcaster, though.

[Gwendol]

So, Bard/Warmage/Prestige Bard? Interesting...

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

So, Bard/Warmage/Prestige Bard? Interesting...

No, just Warmage/Prestige Bard.

[Gwendol]

Why? The pre-reqs for prestige bard seem to be somewhat hard to acheive for the warmage: perform 8 ranks will shoehorn you into a human with the able learner feat, and I don't see any 1st level illusion spells on the warmage list? Having two levels of bard to begin with will make the entry that much easier.

[Firebug]

Well because you can't take both Bard and Prestige Bard. In fact, in your world if Bard exists (the base class) then Prestige Bard cannot. And vice versa.
"If you use any of the variant classes presented here, the standard version of the class should be unavailable. For instance, you shouldn't include both the standard paladin character class and the paladin prestige class in the same game."

[Vaz]

Why? The pre-reqs for prestige bard seem to be somewhat hard to acheive for the warmage: perform 8 ranks will shoehorn you into a human with the able learner feat, and I don't see any 1st level illusion spells on the warmage list? Having two levels of bard to begin with will make the entry that much easier.

Perform (Apprentice).

Bookmark this thread (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=6832.0). Print It Out. Pin It Up. Remember It. Everywhere, everyday.

[Gwendol]

Perform (Apprentice).

Bookmark this thread (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=6832.0). Print It Out. Pin It Up. Remember It. Everywhere, everyday.

Ah, a feat.

But this still requires a setting which contains no Bard base class, unless I'm mistaken?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

It's often viewed as just another option for a given character, and not a setting-wide change.

The combination itself has its merits, but it's not something that will work all that well mechanically. A Warmage as a battlefield artillery caster wouldn't be close enough to the front lines for Bardic Music to have any effect anyway. If you want to make more of a skirmish mage who runs with a specialized squad, I'd recommend a Marshal (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20030906b) dip and/or the Draconic Aura feat in Dragon Magic.

[Gwendol]

Yeah, this doesn't feel like it will work very well. Either go bard (+PrC) or Warmage and try to expand the spell list as much as possible.

[gorfnab]

Warmage into Heartfire Fanner might work, if you can swing the skill prereqs.

[Psyren]

Why? The pre-reqs for prestige bard seem to be somewhat hard to acheive for the warmage: perform 8 ranks will shoehorn you into a human with the able learner feat, and I don't see any 1st level illusion spells on the warmage list? Having two levels of bard to begin with will make the entry that much easier.

You can dip a level of Beguiler as an alternative. Or Monk, because they get Perform for some ungodly reason, and then you can take Kung Fu Genius to add your Int to AC and your Warmage's Edge.

But the Prestigious Classes are intended to replace the base classes completely. Bard/X/Prestige Bard isn't meant to be allowed, neither is Paladin/X/Prestige Paladin etc.

[Roguenewb]

Is Bard/Prestige Bard even good? I'm pretty damn sure Paladin/Prestige Paladin is pretty terrible actually.

[Psyren]

As I stated above, the intent is that you do not combine the base class with its prestige version:


If you use any of the variant classes presented here, the standard version of the class should be unavailable. For instance, you shouldn't include both the standard paladin character class and the paladin prestige class in the same game.


The point of "Prestige X" is to:

- (a) represent fluffwise that these classes require a bit more training that normal (e.g. Bards have to learn magic, sneaking and song, so they could feasibly take a bit more effort than either being a rogue or being a sorcerer, while Paladins have to learn martial arts/chivalry/divine magic so they could feasibly be more complicated than a Fighter or Cleric etc.)

- (b) gain the abilities of those classes on a stronger chassis (e.g. a Sorcerer into Prestige Bard can gain more powerful spells than a straight Bard, and a Cleric into Prestige Paladin can gain more powerful spells than a straight Paladin etc.)

The difficulty of qualifying for those classes was intended to be their balancing factor, making the choice to pursue them primarily one driven by roleplay. But the ability to dip, as well as the power creep of newer classes like Beguiler and Favored Soul, made prestigious classes more favorable from a power standpoint too (in certain builds.)

[Gwendol]

How about Bard 6?/Warmage 1/Virtuoso X ?

Advance warmage casting with virtuoso levels, possibly adding another casting class to round it off?

Advance bard songs for buffing the party etc, use warmage spells for damage when needed.
Practiced spellcaster is likely needed, as well as arcane disciple to expand the spells known.

[IronFist]

It's often viewed I view it as just another option for a given character, and not a setting-wide change.
Fixed that for you.