[3.5]Bardy Cohort

[Skevvix]

I'm going to be picking up leadership at 9th, and I want a Robin to go with my Bats, but I wanted to check to see what others thought of my concept before I submitted him for approval. Our group is pretty well balanced, except that we don't really have any "oh ****" help right now. Our only healing are bedrolls and a half charged clw at ECL8, so I want my cohort to be great at support. So a DFI Bard was pretty much the first thing I thought of, and I like that he can be a great support helper without outshining any of the actual PCs.

Build rules:All content allowed -ToB(even 2nd, 3rd party material(we have a jedi and a wookie already))
No LA buyoff
up to 2 templates
2 Flaws
2 Traits
Rolled 4d6 drop lowest (reroll 1s) distributed as needed


What I have so far...
Build stub: Race: Human
Template(s):Savage Progression

Feytouched LA+0
ACF: Eberron Bard(ECS), Bardic Knack(PHB II)

STR: 10
DEX: 19(+1 at 8) >20
CON: 14
INT: 14(+1 char 4) >15
WIS: 13(+1 at 20) >14
CHA: 20(+1 at 12,16) >22

Flaw1: Dragontouched (http://dndtools.eu/feats/dragon-magic--62/dragontouched--747/)
Flaw2: Dragonfire Inspiration (http://dndtools.eu/feats/dragon-magic--62/dragonfire-inspiration--733/)
Human: Nymph's Kiss (http://dndtools.eu/feats/book-of-exalted-deeds--52/nymphs-kiss--2073/)
Char1: Melodic Casting (http://dndtools.eu/feats/complete-mage--58/melodic-casting--1918/)
ACF3: Song of the Heart (http://dndtools.eu/feats/eberron-campaign-setting--12/song-of-the-heart--2675/)
Char3: Enlarge Spell (http://dndtools.eu/feats/players-handbook-v35--6/enlarge-spell--897/)
ACF6: Haunting Melody (http://dndtools.eu/feats/eberron-campaign-setting--12/haunting-melody--1346/)
Char6: Words of Creation (http://dndtools.eu/feats/book-of-exalted-deeds--52/words-of-creation--3168/)
Char9: Storm Magic (http://dndtools.eu/feats/frostburn--68/storm-magic--2784/)
Char12: Magical Aptitude (http://dndtools.eu/feats/players-handbook-v35--6/magical-aptitude--1827/)
Char15: Chaos Music (http://www.realmshelps.net/cgi-bin/featbox.pl?feat=Chaos_Music)
Char18: Lingering Music (http://dndtools.eu/feats/complete-adventurer--54/lingering-song--1776/)

Build will start with 7 levels of Bard and progress to War Weaver for CL 8,9,10 and then pick up the first two levels of Sublime Chord, then back to finish out WW, giving those CLs to the SC, before grabbing Stormsinger, which goes to SC as well. So when I get to ECL20 he should be at 19, since I'll take Improved Cohort for my lvl15 or 18 feat, and casting 9th level spells and sharing the juciest ones with the whole group. One of the main driving factors for WW is, as said at the start, we have ****e for heals, and this way if IC heals are needed it'll top off the rest of us as well. With his high DEX I'll arm him with a shortbow with splitting and the like on it so he can plink when he's done buffing.

So how does this look to everyone? Are there any PrCs that advance casting and bardic music that would work better than Stormsinger? Nymph's Kiss is really the only feat I have to lose IMO, and I am thinking about it so I can get Extra Music.

[Skevvix]

So does anyone have any insight for bards as cohorts?

[sleepyphoenixx]

I'd replace Nymph's Kiss with a Draconic Heritage that gives you a better energy type on your DFI. RotD offers Amethyst and Battle dragon heritage which change it to force or sonic respectively.

Since you say all content is allowed you should definitely look into the Heartfire Fanner PrC (Dragon 314, p. 23).
It lets you give bonus feats and free metamagic to your allies with bardic music and lets you prolong the duration of the spells and abilities by a number of rounds equal to your Charisma bonus.

If you can get your DM to allow Prestige Bard you can get all bardic music and IC +4 with only Prestige Bard 1/Heartfire Fanner 5 with a Vest of Legends and Chaos Music. That leaves room for PrCs like War Weaver and a Mindbender Dip without sacrificing music effectiveness.

Using Beguiler as the base class for a Prestige Bard seems counter intuitive at first since it makes you MAD but it has several benefits.
Not only do you get to 9th level spells without Sublime Chord, you also get any bard spells automatically (since Beguiler automatically knows all spells on his list) but also a lot more spells per day. You can raise your Charisma with bard spells alone by +16(Inner Beauty - +4 sacred, Nixie's Grace +8 enh, Snowsong +4 morale) so saving throws for your abilities shouldn't suffer too much.
Draconic Heritage:Battle Dragon gives you perform as a Beguiler class skill so the requirements for Prestige Bard are no problem.

A build could look like this:

Human

1 Beguiler 1
2 Beguiler 2
3 Beguiler 3
4 Beguiler 4
5 Beguiler 5 - Silent Spell DCFS-> Lingering Song
6 Beguiler 6
7 Prestige Bard 1
8 Heartfire Fanner 1
9 Heartfire Fanner 2
10 Heartfire Fanner 3
11 Heartfire Fanner 4
12 Heartfire Fanner 5
13 War Weaver 1
14 War Weaver 2
15 War Weaver 3
16 War Weaver 4
17 War Weaver 5
18 Mindbender 1
19 Unseen Seer 1
20 Unseen Seer 2 - Silent Spell DCFS-> Words of Creation

Feats:
1:Dragontouched, Enlarge Spell(B), Negotiator(F), Draconic Heritage:Amethyst(F)
3:Dragonfire Inspiration
6:Skill Focus:Perform
9:Melodic Casting
12:Chaos Music
15:Song of the Heart
18:Mindsight

That gives you 9th level spells as a beguiler plus all bard spells (CL18), full bardic music including Inspire Courage (with a Vest of Legends), Heartfire Fanner and War Weaver abilities, telepathy and mindsight.
The Mindbender and Unseen Seer levels are pretty much filler and can be replaced with any class that adds full arcane casting.
Feats could probably be shuffled around a little, too, depending on what you want first.